New Year's Eve Party

We normally don't celebrate New Year's eve.  We just haven't made the effort.  The last fun New Year's eve we celebrated was a few years ago when we lived in Provo.  Our kids (we either had 2 or 3 at the time) were put to bed and then Adam's brother and his wife (Lance and Nancy) came over.  This was before they had kids.  We played games and ate yummy snacks.   I really enjoyed it.   I look back on it as "that one fun New Year's Eve."
We'll this year we decided to have a little party.   This was not an adult only party, it was a family party.  We invited 2 families and together we had 6 adults and 9 children. 

Here's the whole group

First we ate dinner.  Larry brought a yummy rotisserie turkey and we provided rolls and sandwich fixens.  We also ate fruits, chips, and veggies. 
Before and after dinner the kids ran around and played.  They had a blast just running and running and playing and playing.  They were loud and crazy and happy. 
At some point, we played our first game - a Pringles challenge.  We got the idea from EvantubeHD, although we simplified it a bit.  We got 6 flavors of Pringles.  We passed 1 flavor out at a time, and after everyone had a chance to taste it, they would take turns guessing what flavor they thought it was.   Most of the time they were stumped, but I think maybe 2 were guessed correctly.  It was fun.  A few months ago our family did the same thing with ice cream and that was fun, too. 
By this time my 2 youngest really needed to go to bed and so Sara conducted a few of her games while I put the kids to bed.  They played New Year's bingo and a little table Canadian curling. 
When I got back downstairs the games were done and everyone was settled down, watching the movie Minions. 
After the movie the kids were itching to do our New Year's countdown.  One of the families had brought New Year's hats and noise makers, so they passed those out to everyone.
Now in preparation for this party, I did a little pinterest search to gather ideas.  The best idea that I took away from my search was to do a balloon drop at midnight (or at our own appointed "midnight").  I bought a plastic table cloth, duck tape and balloons.  Earlier in the day, Ella blew up most of the balloons and then Adam helped her secure them to the ceiling with the tablecloth and the duck tape.  Ella also headed up the sign making and the streamer hanging.  She's a little party go getter.  I thought the balloon drop was brilliant.  The kids loved it and it brought a certain excitement to the countdown.  As the balloons fell, everyone cheered and used their noise makers.  

Balloons stayed nice and secure until the right moment

Beginning of balloon drop

Balloons falling...

And falling...

Balloon drop complete!

We broke out the Martinellis bubbley (we aren't an alcohol drinking kind of crowd, and of course I'm talking about the adults) and we toasted to the near year.  We also had a few laughs, as everyone became a little silly.  One would have guessed that there had been alcohol in those Martinellis bottles.  

As we prepared to drink the Martinellis

Lots of laughing going on!

Sam forgetting the concept of personal space with his noise maker

Gracie in her party get up and probably her 3rd outfit of the evening

Lots of fun and smiles

Ella getting her noise maker on

As the celebration winded down, the other two families packed up and moved out (this was probably around 10:30). 

What a fun night!   I'm so glad we did this.  It was the perfect way for our family to ring in a new year.  

Happy New Year!  

Snow day!

We lived in Utah for 18 years.  We've been gone now for almost 3 years, but the kids still think they want to be in the snow... Go figure.  So we had a snow day a few days ago up near Lake Tahoe.  We went with some friends and spent a few hours up there.  It was a non-official spot just off the freeway where people just parked and played.  It was actually a little dangerous, too!   People were sledding into other people and sledding into a cement barrier the whole time.  It's a wonder no one got hurt. 
The kids all had a fantastic time.  

Adam and the kids at the top of the hill

Ella and George riding with our friend, Larry

Ella, Grace and Larry coming in for a landing...and what happened to Grace?  It seems she has toppled...

I bundled Hannah up in about 4 layers and put her in a pack on me.  She fell asleep for a little while and otherwise just hung out.   We still have some snow clothes leftover from our Utah days and then we borrowed a few items from friends.  The right clothing makes a big difference!   Oh - and especially the right gloves!   I'm going to start buying snow gloves (as opposed to regular mittens)  just so we'll be prepared next time. 

Adam

Miss Ella

Miss Grace, eating snow

Henry and his friend, Ethan

Adam, George, and Sam

Me and snuggle bear Hannah

 My boots... I wore these boots when I was in college 15+ years ago and worked at a horse ranch.  I went there a few times a week, rain or shine (or snow)  to feed the horses, etc.  When I graduated and left the area, I brought the boots to my parent's home and put them into storage.  That's where they've been until recently I came across them and brought them to my house.  I wore them on this trip and it was the first time since college that I've worn them.  They even had horse feed (among other stuff....) on them.  It kind of felt like they had been frozen in time.  It made me happy.  I loved my college experience and I loved working at that ranch.  I have very fond memories of those years. 

A view of my snow boots

 But back to the point!  This turned out to be a fun day and I think this will tide the kids over until next year.  It's nice to not live in the snow, but then to be just a few hours away in case of an emergency...at least that's the way I see it!

The Great Room-switcharoo

We have 6 kids and we live in a 4 bedroom home.  Not bad, really.   But as I'm here all day long and this home and this family are my life, I like to dream up new and better ways to do things.  What I would really love is 1 (or 2!) extra bedrooms.   But since that most likely won't happen any time soon, I came up with a new plan for the kid's rooms.  We decided to give it a try. 
The 3 rooms for the kids are small, medium and large in size.  We put Henry into the small room all by himself.  He's really into Legos and he has a lego table and since he's the oldest we thought it made sense for him to be alone. 

Henry's New Pad (Bed frame is in pieces in garage and will be put together at some point)

We put the 2 youngest boys, Sam and George, into the medium room.  And my dream is that we can get the train table up and running and put into their room.  Right now it's in the garage and in disarray.  I think they would really enjoy this. 

Sam and George's Room

The large room now houses all 3 girls - Ella, Gracie, and Hannah.   The girls are in a bunk bed and Hannah is in a crib.  This one is a little tough for me because I think babies should have their own room.  Already we've had a difficult time with the girls waking her up and vice versa.  But with what we have to work with, it was just too difficult to give her a room of her own.   So for now this is how we're doing it. 

Girl's Room 1st View

Girls Room 2nd View

One thing I like about this arrangement is that we can start to decorate their rooms (our home is still full of blank walls) in ways that make sense.  When Henry and Sam were sharing a room, for instance, what decorations that were appropriate for Henry weren't appropriate for Sam since they have a 6 year age gap and different interests.  But now I think we can make it work well. 

BUT!   One of the tricky things about this move is that the stairwell and the hallway are now full of a bunch of stuff that I need to go through.  It either needs to be thrown away or put into the garage or organized into their rooms.  There was so much stuff!   I felt like we were actually moving, without going anywhere. 

The Hallway Mess

The Stairwell Mess

We will see how this goes.  Hopefully we can get each room organized into a way that works for the kids and that they can settle into their new spaces. 

Reflections on our journey

We have been on a long, strange journey that will soon come to an end.  It all started in November of 2012 when we moved out of our home in South Jordan, UT.  We were supposed to move into the home across the street from us, but it all fell through at the last minute.  Not knowing what to do, we quickly put our belongings into storage and started off on a very long adventure.  At the time, we had NO idea that we would be without a home for the next year and a half!  And I'm so grateful that we didn't know!  Knowing that would have been discouraging, to say the least.  It was all very stressful and hard to deal with as it was.

Part of the problem was that we were at a crossroads with Adam's business and so after careful contemplation and prayer, we decided the best thing to do would be for him to end his business and to look for a job.  So not only were we without a home, but we were also without an income.  

Since that time, where have we been if we haven't been in our own home?  We started off in a hotel, positive that the job and home would come quickly.  

From there we went to stay at Adam's sister's house.  We were living at her house when George was born (only about 2 1/2 weeks after we got there!) and we stayed there for just shy of 2 months.  

Next we went to stay with a friend of mine from college.  She and her husband have 5 children of their own and so there were 4 adults and TEN children in that home for 3 months.  We just stayed there until school got out.  

Small interjection - I'm humbled and in awe over both of these families, who so willingly and lovingly allowed us into their homes.  It was hard on everyone involved and they were so kind to invite us and to help us for so long.  I'm sure they were both abundantly blessed for their service to us.  

At this time our journey took a small turn and we headed west to live with my parents in California.  The funny part about this was that we thought that our journey was ending and that we had found our destination.  BUT it wasn't and we hadn't.  It was just another step, all the while getting us closer to our goal.  

In January of this year, Adam got a job!  We were ecstatic.  He moved up to the Bay Area and we stayed back here, in hopes that we could join him within a few months.  But we didn't realize that finding a home would prove to be so difficult!  We looked and looked and looked.  Most of the homes were either too expensive or already taken by the time we got to them.  We looked all over north and east bay.  

Adam traveled back down to visit us every 2-3 weeks and he would stay for the weekend.  This was both good and bad.  It was good because we got to see him and be with him.  It was bad because it was an emotional roller coaster for the kids.  It was pretty hard on them.  

After a while we finally figured out a good city to live.  It had a good reputation and good schools.  Plus, it was a little pocket of less expensive housing.  All good things!  We looked there for a while until we finally found "the one".  I about had a panic attack when I first saw the listing.  It fit all of our criteria almost perfectly.    We were the first to submit an application and we got it.  Move in date was June 2nd and Adam just took our belongings up there yesterday.  The kids and I will join him Friday.  

Some interesting things from our journey: 

-We had a baby in the middle of all of this!

-When we first left our home, Sam was only 18 months old.  Now that we are moving into a place once again, George is about 17 months old.  That is a crazy idea to me!

-We potty trained TWO children during this time - one at the hotel and one here at my parent's house.

-Before we left Utah we had a yard sale and sold many of our belongings, which included most of our furniture.  

-Most of our belongings have been in storage for a year and a half.

-I've lived out of a suitcase for the majority of the last year and a half.  I can't tell you how excited I am to have my own closet and dresser!

-We have been blessed beyond belief in every way possible.  I know that God's hand has had everything to do with that.  I believe in a God of miracles and I'm grateful for every blessing and miracle that we have received.  

-We experienced 1 Christmas in the hotel and 1 Christmas here at my parent's house.  Both Christmas's were times of high financial distress and so any presents that the kids were given were brought to us by the goodness of others.  Another humbling and miraculous experience.  It's amazing how quickly and thoroughly people are willing to give.  

It feels like our journey is now coming to an end.  I hope that is the case.  However, I look back at this time with a softness of heart and with gratitude for a loving Father in Heaven who has blessed us so much.  We have grown in many ways and hopefully become at least a little better and stronger through these experiences.  

Updates from the last post

I know, it's a lame post name, but I guess it accomplishes it's purpose.  

Let's just go down in the same order as last time:

1.  Sicknesses - just before we took George to the doc yesterday for his pink eye, Sam's eye started showing signs.  But George by far has had the worst case of it.  He looked so terrible.  His eyes became very swollen.  He hardly looks like himself in the picture.  

My nurse neighbor came over and helped me get him all cleaned up.  She also gave me some...eurythromyacin (something like that) to put in his eyes right before bed.  When he woke up this morning he looked so much better!  

Yesterday was a long hard day and all I wanted was a good night's rest.  BUT then at 3:30 Gracie came into my room a little upset and as I was holding her and  walking her back to her room she threw up all over the 2 of us.  I have this weird "save the carpet" mentality when kids are throwing up on me and so I try to catch it all on my body...I know, kind of odd.  It just happens.  So that was interesting.

She hasn't thrown up since, but MY stomach has been growing more and more uneasy all morning...dun, dun, dunnnnn.  Hopefully this isn't a bug that gets passed around! I'm really very much done with sicknesses!

Sam is fussy and just wants to be held and so he, Gracie and I will just rest and watch movies today - as much as we can!  

2.  Adam's job - Adam started his new job yesterday and it went great!  And he will move into a house with roommates tonight (he's been in a hotel the last two nights).  Kind of funny that he will be living with roommates for a few months.  Back to the bachelor life for him.  Well, kind of, at least!

The kids are REALLY missing him and Henry skypes him on his phone all the time.  They've all kind of gone downhill in behavior since he left, too.  I guess it's a stressful and confusing thing for all of them.  

But the job is going well - yay!

3.  Dad/hospital - Dad is still in the hospital.  They have figured out that he is bleeding internally and they think it's his stomach.  His low red blood count is very low.  And last night in the middle of the night his numbers dipped so low that they gave him a blood transfusion this morning at 5.  The next step is to look in his stomach with a scope, but apparently they can't do that until tonight or tomorrow because they're waiting for his blood thinning medication to wear off.  So for now we just wait!  Hopefully life in the hospital isn't too rough for him.  

Even with lots of craziness, we are still being blessed so much.  Last night our good neighbor from next door brought a delicious BBQ meal for me and the kids.  And my parents have good friends that have been visiting them in the hospital. 

Now if I could only pry Sam off of me for 5 minutes so I could use the restroom... :)

What a day.

Wow - today has been very...full.  Let me explain why:

1.  For the last 2 weeks I have been sick and I can't seem to kick it.  This last week has been the worst part - I just feel so crummy every day.  But the problem is that I haven't slowed down at all.  And I'm up coughing half the night.  That's probably why I'm still sick!  And today is no different.  I still feel lousy.  This morning was amazing, though, because I stayed home from church with Gracie and George and I slept off and on through a movie I watched with Gracie and it felt wonderful.  But once noon hit, I went back to full speed the rest of the day.  

A few of the kids are sick, including 2 who now have pick eye (2 of us are already almost over it). Poor little George has swollen, gunky eyes.  

2.  Adam moved up to San Rafael today to start his new job tomorrow.  It's exciting and sad all rolled into one.  The house feels empty without him here.  Henry was pretty sad after he left.  Here is a picture of the kids all giving him a hug right before he left.

This will be a hard few months apart!  

3.  My dad went to the ER this afternoon and got admitted to the hospital (remember that we live with my parents right now).  He had trouble walking and was short of breath and very pale.  They ran a bunch of tests and came up with no conclusions.  They'll do one more test in the morning and then go from there.

So - that's it.  I'm sick, the kids are sick, Adam moved and my dad is in the hospital.  That's pretty much our day in a nutshell.  

Potty training!

Sam started potty training today.  I don't really want to potty train a child right now, but we decided we needed to do it since he keeps taking his diaper off and peeing on the ground.  So today was a good day to start.  

We got a potty chair and some reward candies and toys.  We also got some underwear out of storage and we were set.

The day started out a little rough, but he got the hang of it after a while.  And by the end he was so sad when I put his diaper and jammies on.  

This picture depicts what potty training is like for child #4 - his business has become everyone's business!

Plus, another upside to all of this is that once he is officially potty trained, we will then only have ONE child in diapers.  Geesh!  That will be nice.  

Here's hoping that he does this quickly!  

Go Sam!  

Merry Christmas from the Clarks!

Tomorrow is Christmas and we wanted to take a minute to express gratitude for a multitude of blessings that have been poured out upon us this year.  In the midst of many trials, we have felt an over abundance of love, support and blessings, almost like a cushion surrounding us and protecting us.  We thank our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ for these blessings and we know that all of the good things in our lives are because of them. 
We hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas and we hope that the new year ahead finds you all happy and well. 

                                                                  Love to you all,

                                                                    The Clarks

Confession

Here's my confession (which is probably stating the obvious):

I do not miss the Utah cold winters.  At all.  Not even a little bit.  

I love, love, love the weather we've had in California.  It's my kind of climate!  A week or so ago it was a little colder, but it didn't seem to get below 50 during the day and the nights were just below freezing.  But yesterday it was in the 80s and today is in the 70s and I love it!  The slight fluctuation is great.  

People often tell me that they like the whole boots and sweaters thing or how they love 4 seasons, but I'm perfectly content in this weather!  

These pictures are from our walk yesterday morning.  It was a beautiful day.  

I really couldn't be happier with our current climate and I am so grateful for it - no matter how short or long we get it.

Avila Beach

We've made it to the beach a few times since we've been here.  It's best if either one of us goes with the 3 older kids, or both of us go with all of the kids.  A few weeks ago I went with just the 3 olders and it was pretty fun.  It was actually nice to be somewhere without the stress of the younger kiddos.  I quite enjoyed my time there. 

I thought this was a cute house on our walk from the car to the beach.  I love the siding style and color.

Cute little beach walk.

Gracie, Henry and Ella.

The kids absolutely love it - they love all of it.  The water, the waves, the sand. 
The weather has been perfect for the beach.  Hopefully we can get a few more trips in before school starts.

Oh Budget!

We moved to San Luis Obispo 2 months ago.  The move was a crazy time, let me tell you.  It took us 3 days and we had an interesting run with the budget truck.  But we made it.  Moving is a beast, I tell you! 

Here we are as we were leaving South Jordan.  We had to pull over even before we go to the freeway because the DVD player in the car wasn't working... (major problem, I know!)

Here we are driving through Las Vegas.

Here we are in San Luis Obispo, parked in front of my parent's house.  We made it!

We made a decision!

Well, we finally made a decision.  We're moving to San Luis Obispo (my home town).  It's super unexpected, actually.  I never would have guessed we'd end up there.
We have felt along this whole process that the place we went was important - almost more important than the job.  And for us with this experience, the place came first - then the job quickly fell into place.  The inspiration came from prayers offered in the temple.  And as soon as we decided we would go there, the idea of what job to do came to Adam and it's all worked out since. 
We're nervous and excited and sad all at the same time. 
We leave June 5th, which is less than 2 weeks away.  So much to do! 
Hooray that we can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. 
And who would have ever guessed - I'm still surprised at what the answer was. 

Planning for...something...

When we first left our home, we first went to my parents house and spent 3 weeks there.  Then we were at the hotel for 4 weeks.  From there we went to Chelsey and Brent's house for 7 weeks.  Now we are at my friend, Sarah's, house and we have 3 weeks left.  The deal was we could stay until school gets out and school will be out in 3 weeks.  SO...where do we go?
We have a few options, but we're not sure about any of them.  We are kind of in denile, I guess.  We have hope that a miracle will happen in the next few weeks and then we don't have to choose our next place because we will be on our way to our final destination.  That's our hope, at least.  We are trying to have faith that it will work out that way.  "But if not, " we will still believe and we will continue to wait for the right opportunity to come our way.
But regardless of where we are going, we have a lot of preparation to do.  Most likely we will be leaving the area (and the state) and so we have a normal list of deeds that must be done, PLUS, we have a little list of things we want to do before leaving.  This is what is on that list so far:

-Hike Y Mountain
-Walk around BYU campus and eat BYU creamery ice cream
-Visit temple square in SLC
-Walk around the grounds of the temples in the area (Draper, Jordan River, Oquirrh Mountain, Mount Timpanogos, Provo)

We did have visit the copper mine on the list, but it is closed for the season due to a landslide.  It's all kind of exciting, plus sad at the same time.  We've both lived here since 1995 and so it's a sad to plan to leave.  And we have so much to do and 3 weeks really isn't a lot of time!  
So we are definitely planning and preparing to go somewhere in 3 weeks.  Where we are actually going to is the question that will be answered soon...

Look Mom - no hands!

I think my mom will appreciate this.  I am learning how to buy clothes at 2nd hand stores and I kind of like it!  I've mostly had an issue with buying things second hand (clothes, couches, etc) if I didn't know where it was coming from.  Kind of grossed me out.  But recently I've bought some things for my kids at Kid to Kid (local 2nd hand kids store) and I bought a few shirts for myself at Plato's Closet (local adult 2nd hand store).  It's not bad.  I especially like the prices!  You have to be patient to dig around, but in some ways it's even better than buying at a regular store.  For instance, I needed some boy vests in specific colors and so I shopped at 2 different Kid to Kid's and I was able to find just what I was looking for.  You can find most colors at any time of the year - you don't have to wait for a certain season like you would at a regular retail store.
Anyways - this probably isn't a big deal to most people, but it kind of is for me.  I think I'm finally starting to grow up.

For Sale

We had a huge sale yesterday at Chelsey and Brent's barn.  What did we sell, you ask?  Most of our belongings.  We have wanted to do it for some time now, but we've dragged our feet a bit.  But yesterday we finally did it and we found much success.  There were a lot of people there and we sold a lot of our stuff.  Whatever is left we will sell next week at our next and final sale. 
We did this for 2 reasons.  1.  We have felt promptings to do this for some time now.  2.  We just don't have the storage room to continue to store everything.  We have to fit our belongings into 2 storage units (instead of the 4 that we've currently been using) and there is just no way everything will fit in just 2. 
Yesterday was an emotional day.  Adam was much braver than I.  He sold all of his tools, and if you know Adam you know that he loved his tools.  That part breaks my heart a little.  And at the end of the day as we spoke about our experience he told me that through it all he wasn't sad but he was filled with gratitude. I didn't feel like that during the day, but as I pondered on his words I, too, was filled with gratitude.  Not because it was fun to sell all of our belongings, but because we have been so richly blessed.  We have witnessed so many miracles and so many tender mercies.  And I know that the Lord's hand is in our lives and for that I am so grateful. 

P.S. Thanks to Chelsey and Brent for being so patient with us and for allowing us to use their barn for so long. 

Finding my center

By nature, I am a very high stress, anxiety laden individual.  I do not do well under stress.  It takes over my body and I crumple - my mind stops working and I don't function very well.  Kind of an unfortunate feature of being me!
Since the beginning of this whole situation, we've been under a tremendous amount of stress.  The event that started us down this path was our decision to try to buy the house across the street.  And that in itself was SO stressful, as anyone who has ever bought a house knows.  Then when we didn't get that house and we already had new renters moving into our current house, that was crazy stressful!  And it all kind of snowballed from there. 
The good news is that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  And when I was baptized a member of this church, I also received the gift of the Holy Ghost.  If I am living in accordance to the laws of the gospel, I have a right to the help of the Holy Ghost/Spirit of God in times of need.  And that is how I have found my center throughout this experience. There is no other way to explain the times of calm and faith and hope (given my nature).   I often lose that center, but I can find it again and again and without that I would not be able to survive.  
I know that it is through the Atonement of Jesus Christ that I am able to have the help I need.  The Atonement can help to lift our burdens through the Spirit, if we choose to allow it.   In Mosiah 24, verse 14 (in the Book of Mormon) it reads, "And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions."   The first time I truly experienced this lifting of burdens was the week we moved out of the house.  I had gone to the temple the weekend before and I had a strong feeling that everything would be fine and that we would end up in the place where we were supposed to be.  That assurance gave me SO much strength.  I was able to make it through a really tough week, without feeling the burden that was being placed on me.  I know for certain that I was receiving strength that week.  There is no other explanation.
So throughout this experience we have had a lot of ups and downs.  But I know that the ups are because we are willing to come unto Christ and we can find hope and strength through him.  How grateful I am for that.
These last few weeks have been particularly hard for both Adam and I.  But last night we spent some time at the temple and we were both strengthened and renewed in our faith.  We have been so very blessed in this journey and I bare you my witness that it has been through the Grace of God.
So grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the help that I can receive because of it.      

I need an oulet

I have so much in my head that just goes around in circles and festers.  There are many frustrations and stresses and just plain stuff to deal with right now.  So I thought that maybe I could blog about it to at least give it somewhere to go.
There is a lot of history here that explains our current situation, but I think I'll talk about different parts of the story as I go.
Today I have 2 sick babies - Sam and George.  They both have bad colds.  Poor little Georgie can barely breath from such a stuffed up nose.  And Sam.  Oh, Sam.  He is not a good sick patient.  He gets SO fussy when he's sick.   He already has fussiness issues and so it's REALLY hard when he gets sick.  This morning he screamed and screamed at 6:30 in the morning and woke Sarah up (we live with Sarah and her family) after she had planned to sleep in today (sorry, Sarah!!).
Sam tends to get ear infections easily and so I am taking him into the doc at noon to see if he has one this time.  MUST GET HIM BETTER!
I also decided to make him an appointment with Dr. Jerry Duggar - a holistic chiropractor in Bountiful.  I am getting desperate to figure out how to help him to be a happier child.  He has eczema all over his body and he is ALWAYS fussy.  I've listened to similar experiences with friend's kids and I am starting to believe that he has something going on inside of him that we can help with.  We just need to find what it is.  Dr. Duggar says that eczema is almost always associated with gut issues.  I think that he might be able to help us figure this out.  But I will make the appointment Monday since they are out of the office today.  
And George is having neck issues.  He needs a little bit of help from a physical therapist, but the first available appointment is June 3rd, so I made the appointment and then we'll be on a cancellation list until then.  Hopefully we can get in sooner.
These are just a few medical issues, I guess.  But there is so much more to talk about and so I will plan to do other posts.  What could I have to talk about, you ask?  So much, I tell you!  Here is a brief overview: We are completely exhausted in every way, we have a new baby and we're trying to adjust to 5 children, we are looking for a job, we're living in someone else's home, we haven't been in a home of our own in 5 months, and all of our belongings are in storage.  So you see - I'm just getting started.

Update - Sam does have an ear infection.  Mommy senses, I tell you.     

Update on our lives

So, just a little update on our lives...

1) Amy is still pretty darn sick from pregnancy. It's a bit tough to keep up with everything at home, but we're doing ok. We want to thank Chelsey and her kids for coming over and helping clean one day and Jen for taking the kids for a while today. It is very appreciated!

2) Sam is now standing a lot and is a very funny boy. He loves getting into every drawer/cupboard he can and has already broken some items. He crawls all over the house and talks a lot (nothing understandable, of course). Oh, and he took his first steps this last week. He'll be walking around in no time.

3) The other kids are doing well, enjoying summer and a lot of time outside with friends.

4) Amy was released as the 16-17 yr old sunday school teacher and then called to be the activity days leader. Although I'm not sure how much of that will get done till she is feeling better.

5) We are still enjoying living in South Jordan. The house has been good for us, but we are still trying to get the basement organized. I finally have the garage mostly organized and under control. It's been a nice ward and a nice neighborhood.

6) I was called as the assistant deacons quorum adviser/assistant scout master. It has been lots of fun so far. We have a great group of boys. We spent 4 days a few weeks back up at Hyrum Reservoir boating, swimming, and having fun - this was our "scout camp" this year.

7) This week I made arrangements to leave my business, Kyazma Business Consulting. I am leaving the company and selling my shares in the company. It wasn't totally my choice or decision, but in the end, I believe this is going to be a huge blessing. I have worked on this business really hard for the past 2 years and it has been a really great learning experience. I leave Kyazma in good shape and in good hands. We have grown from 2 employees to 7 and revenues are going to hit nearly 1/2 a million this year, with a lot of great opportunities in the pipeline. This year we added clients like KSL (Desert Media), IHC, Megadyne, Huntsman Chemical, Lightspeed (ADP), Celtic Bank, Gluten Intolerance Group of America, the Reier Group, Sorenson Construction, Clyde Co, and many others. I am proud of the progress we made and the bright future the company has because of our efforts. Now I am ready for the next adventure. I do have a number of great options right now, and am close to finalizing my new chosen opportunity. I will let you know when that is finalized and what the opportunity is. It's going to be pretty exciting here. The nice part is that buy leaving my company, we are able to pay off some debt and make financial progress that we have wanted to make. Also, I will be able to transition upward in my career and into an industry that I am very excited about. It feels a little like coming home.

8) We are all working hard to be healthier and eat healthier. I have lost 35 pounds in the past 2 months and am already feeling a looking better.  I have a long way to go, but we have a long way to go - if you know what I mean. This change has been good - and better than dieting, for sure. It's a good place to be headed.

9) I am blogging regularly now over on my blog, clarksystems.blogspot.com. Check it out if you want.

10) And lastly, look at this...we're updating our blog. hahaha.

Thanks to everyone's support and love. We love you back!

Adam

Green Smoothie Girl!

So. Adam and I have been working on changing our diets a bit. We like the idea of eating more whole foods and we're trying to get away from processed foods. This is a process (no pun intended) for us.
A few months ago we went to a wellness workshop by Dr. Jerry Duggar and his wife Tammie Duggar. All in all it was great and it was a good motivational experience for me. We've tried to incorporate a few things that we learned there. And I bought Tammie's cookbook - it's called "Scratch" - it's all about making food from scratch. We have tried several of the recipes and we like most of them. Some are fantastic and then there are also some that I haven't loved.
But like I said, we're still working on this whole food diet thing and we're hoping to get better and better.
Adam's brother, Jess, and his wife, Jen, have been drinking green smoothies. They went to a little class by the Green Smoothie Girl and they have added these smoothies into their lives. Jen was telling me yesterday that she has more energy and she can tell if she hasn't had her green smoothie. This got me thinking. And then last night I dreamt of green smoothies and so this morning I looked up the website. It is http://greensmoothiegirl.com/. It looks pretty cool! And this lady travels around teaching free classes and next weekend she's going to be really close to us. I got tickets for Adam and I to go. And I wanted to try it before the class and so I got a recipe that was linked from her website (at least I think it was). It is made up of frozen mixed berries, banana, kale, and water. We had it tonight for part of our dinner and it wasn't bad. The kids all liked it and Henry LOVED it. He kept saying it was the best smoothie ever. The only problem is that our blender didn't blend up the kale very well because it is not a good blender. The smoothie was pretty chunky! Oh well - we'll keep trying and maybe get a new blender soon because we've been wanting a new one anyways.
But something else I'm happy about is that she isn't just about smoothies. She promotes whole food/raw food eating in general. I'm excited to see what else she has to say.
So that's it. Check it out if you find that sort of thing interesting and let me know what you think.

Sam's Birth

I know, I know.
I've been thinking about this blog a lot lately and I really want to start blogging again.
Since Sam is now 9 months old, I thought it would be nice to first blog about his birth... :) This is a good place to start, right?

Sam was born on May 30th, 2011. My water broke in the middle of the night - I believe it was around 2:00 or so. I woke up immediately to the feeling (which was actually just one little squirt). I had my bag packed and so I just grabbed a towel that was on the end of my bed (just in case) and told Adam - "my water broke, we need to leave now." He jumped up, told me that it was all going to be okay, and then got dressed (or whatever he did then).
My mom was sleeping in Henry and Ella's room and so I poked my head in to tell her we were leaving. I wanted her to come, but I didn't know how to do that since she was with the kids.
I went upstairs (we were living with Adam's parents at the time) and I told Chris we were leaving and that it would be great if somehow she and my mom could both come to the hospital to be there for the birth.
And just like that we were off! It didn't take too long to get there because there was no traffic in the middle of the night. They got me all checked in and hooked up to IVs and all of that good stuff in no time. Chris and Carole (our moms) were not far behind us. I had been worried that the baby would come fast if my water broke, but the labor actually took about 5 hours. That was a great blessing because I was able to get enough antibiotic in me (strep b positive), which had been a concern of mine.
Not long after getting there Adam noticed that Kaitlin (his sister) was on facebook because she was having a hard time sleeping. So Adam asked her to go up to the house to be with the kids when they woke up. She agreed and that was a huge blessing! Thank you Kaitlin!
For some reason my blood pressure had a hard time with the fluid that was accompanying the epidural and so a few times it dropped down kind of low. That made me feel sick almost the whole labor.
We had asked Gillian (Adam's sister) to come to the birth. I called her when we left for the hospital, but then we didn't call her again until it was almost time. She rushed over and it was great to have her there. It was a full room with Gillian and our moms and I'm so grateful they could all be there.
Sam was born around 7am (I can't remember the exact time now) and he was 8 pounds, 6 ounces - our biggest baby yet. The doctor asked if anyone wanted to cut the cord and since Adam didn't want to (not really his kind of thing), Gillian decided to do it. So Gillian cut Sam's cord.
That's about it. Oh - and it was Memorial day! He came 1 week early and was born on Memorial Day.

This is me right after we go to the hospital (mind you it was in the middle of the night...).



This is Sam not long after he came out.


Happy and tired new parents!


Big sister Ella meeting Sam for the first time.


Henry meeting his best little brother Sam for the first time.


Gillian came back to the hospital later and painted my toe nails - my favorite hospital gift ever!