Beautiful Fall Colors

The trees have be SO fantastic this last week. Today I had the camera in the car and so I couldn't help pull over and take a picture of this GORGEOUS tree that caught my eye. Isn't it so beautiful?

Thursday's Hero

Today we went to BYU to see Adam's brother, Ammon, be honored as "Thursday's Hero."
My understanding of what Thursday's hero is someone who the BYU football team chooses who they feel represents a good attitude and character in the midst of adversity. Someone correct me if I'm wrong... :)
We all went with Ammon to tour the football office and facilities and then we went out to the field where football practice was going on and Ammon got to be in the middle of all of the football players and they talked to him and gave him gifts and it was great! I think that it's even going to be on the news. It was a lot of fun.

This is one of the players presenting Ammon with a big Y flag that they were all going to sign before the afternoon was over.


Ammon chatting it up with head coach Bronco Mendenhall.


Ammon chatting with quarterback Max Hall and...some other guy.


All of us on the practice field.


And one of my favorites - Henry with quarterback Max Hall.

Way to go, Ammon - that was so cool! Thanks for letting us come share that with you.

Confession

I bought some new pants a few weeks ago and I couldn't decide between the smaller size and the bigger size. I wore them around the house for a while trying to decide (I had purchased the smaller size) when I spilled food on them. So that was my decision. But now that I have completely committed to them I now know that I should have exchanged them for the larger size. I feel complete buyer's remorse and I hate the feeling! They are just a little too snug to be flattering and I just feel sick about it.
Does anyone else do this or is it just me?

Vanessa

Hey everyone - this is a little publicity for my friend, Vanessa's, blog (mostly for the ladies). You can find the link for it at the bottom of my friend and family list on the side of my blog page.
Vanessa is probably the most talented person...ever. And on her blog she does a lot of tutorials on how to do the things she does. Plus, it's just fun to see all of her creations.
And then it's also nice to see what her family is up to. She has 4 children and a husband who is serving in Iraq (for only 5 more months - yeah!). She is one amazing chica.
If you read this, Vaness, I hope this doesn't embarrass you - just know that I love you! I figured you didn't have a big enough following for your blog (ha ha)...

Lost sippy cup

So, we've had a sippy cup go missing I think around Tuesday, maybe, and it had milk in it! It's so sad. I'm sure it's around here somewhere! And I'm pretty much come to terms with the fact that I will just have to throw it away when I find it. The idea of cleaning it out does not appeal. This sort of thing is frustrating to me! I like order and this is very much out of order...

Funny...no...ridiculous story

So we went to the Gap today (Henry, Ella and I). We were in the men's sale section and there was this huge row of shirts - well, there were 2 rows - one on top and one on the bottom. I was engrossed in my searching and I sort of heard Henry say "this one is perfect for me." A moment later I look over to him and he is almost completely undressed (everything was off but the diaper, which was about to come off). I guess he was going to try on the shirt that was perfect for him or something. This is where the ridiculous part comes in. I go to put his clothes back on and his shirt was no where to be found. I searched and searched and SEARCHED through those blasted shirts and his shirt was GONE. I kept shaking them around in hopes that it would fall to the bottom, but it was not there.
We had some other shopping to do in the store and so we went around for a while and every once in a while I would come back to that spot and shake the clothes around and look under and over the shirts and still - NO SHIRT! I even asked a bunch of the sales associates, but they didn't know anything about it. So the whole time we were at Gap, Henry was wearing jeans, flip flops and no shirt. I wonder what people must have though of me!
Finally at the end I said a prayer (per Adam's request) and that time I was blessed to find his shirt under the other shirts. I guess it finally fell through.
Isn't that just the most bizzare thing? It was so ridiculous, I tell you!

For the love of Bounce and Chuck

I've decided that 2 of my favorite things are Bounce and Chuck.
Bounce, meaning Bounce Dryer Sheets (outdoor fresh scent), smell SO BLASTED GOOD! I bought some at the store yesterday and ever since I have felt like one of those febreeze commercials where the people can't stop smelling it. It sure does smell great. And I love to go into my laundry room because the whole thing smells like it. It's just so fantastic.
Has anyone ever watched Chuck? Last year was it's first season and I really liked it. Although, it ended with the writing strike and so it's been off for about 9 months. The second season just started this week and I've decided that I REALLY like it a lot. I think it's my favorite show. It's on at a bad time (monday night at 7) and so I usually just watch the episodes online at nbc.com and it's great because you get to watch it with no commercial interruption. :) I sound like a commercial myself! Plus, you can watch it when you have the time (for instance, I just watch Monday's episode last night). Anyways, if you haven't seen it yet, check it out!

Happy Birthday Henry!

Today is Henry's 3rd Birthday! What a big boy!
We are so grateful to have Henry in our family. He has been such a joy these last 3 years. Henry is a really good boy with a lot of spirit and he is a great big brother. Here are a few pictures of his life so far:





Happy Birthday, Buddy! We love you so much!

New Hair Cut

So I got a little crazy and got a pixie hair cut last night. Well, I've been planning it for about a week or 2, trying to gather opinions, etc.
But you know what? I think I love it. I just showered and styled it for the first time and it was probably THE BEST experience of my life. It was so easy! And my hair has never been easy. For the most part it was already in place before I did anything and that is just NOT like my hair.
It's actually pretty fun.
Pictures are now here for your viewing pleasure (hopefully pleasure).

3 blessings

I know I'm post happy lately, but I just can't help it.
I wanted to tell you about 3 blessings from today.
Blessing #1: I went to the doctor to get a refill on my allergy therapy stuff that I've been taking (some of you remember my story about it a while back) and they said that my body is no longer allergic to any of those things and I am done (after almost a year of taking it). Yeah! I'm not sure what that all means, but now I can (someday) get pregnant with a POSSIBLE hope to not be AS sick as before, since one of the things I was allergic to was progesterone. Supposedly...? We'll see, I guess! It was well worth the shot.
Blessing #2: I bought wipes at Costco today and when I was checking out the checker scanned a $3 off coupon for the wipes for me. I thought that was so nice of her.
Blessing #3: Adam has been given a new responsibility at work. They asked him to be over training the new sales team members. I guess he's in charge of designing the program and implementing it and he'll get to do some of the training, which he loves. He said that he's done a few trainings already today. This is a great change because Adam loves doing this and he is so good at it. Way to go, baba!

Cute Ella

This is a dress that Ella's Aunt Brooke made for Ella's cousin, Maggie. We've borrowed a lot of Maggie's clothes and Ella finally fits this dress and it's so cute on her!

Old friends

Our good friends, the Warrens, surprised us on Saturday night. They called and said they were in town and wanted to come see us yesterday. They came over for about an hour in the morning before church. It was so fun to see them! Emily is on the left and Laura is on the right. And the picture below is a picture of me and Emily about 15 years ago! The Warrens lived in San Luis Obispo for a few years when I was about junior high age. I babysat for them and I LOVED them. They moved away and we've been good friends ever since. I used to visit them all the time and we've just kept in touch. It's fun to watch the kids all grow up and it was so much fun to see them yesterday.

Yummy quesadillas

This is probably my favorite quesadilla. It has refried beans, cheese, tomatoes, avocados, salt pepper and onion powder. Mmmm...I wish I had one right now!

Loving the outside and the water

Henry and Ella love to play outside and they love to play with water. These 2 pictures are of them water the garden this last week.
The baby pool in the front yard came about because Henry started splashing in a puddle that was in the street in front of our house. I didn't want his clothes all wet and so I his swim suit on. Then as he started LAYING in the water I decided it was time to borrow our neighbors little pool.
They had a ball in that little pool. Ella was a sleep the first round, but she happily joined in second round.

Note the absolute fullness of Henry's diaper! It soaked that water right up!

By the way

Just so you know, I'm posting a lot right now because I finally downloaded our pictures to our computer...

Bird House

So I bought this bird house at Roberts one day to paint for our downstairs bathroom. Henry loved it from the moment we got it. He kept saying that it was his birdhouse. Well, I painted it and put it on the counter in the bathroom and occasionally he would get the stool and climb up there to pull it down so he could take it outside to play with it.
So then one day I was trying to convince him to let me cut his hair and I came up with this idea. I said what if we put his hair into the birdhouse after we cut it and the birds can use it to make a nest. Well, he actually liked the idea! So we did it - just a little, though. He didn't let me give him a complete haircut, but I got to cut at least a little off and we put it in the birdhouse and the birdhouse now lives outside by the front door (hair and all).
Now I just need to get another birdhouse for my bathroom!

Butterflies to our garden

The butterflies have finally come to our garden! I've had this bizarre desire to attract butterflies to our garden and so maybe 2 or 3 years ago, Adam bought me a butterfly bush for mother's day. Well, we left it out in the store container too long and it died. Then last year maybe...?...Adam surprised me with a garden in our front yard and he planted this butterfly bush over in the corner. It was pretty sick last year and we thought that we might lose it. But we didn't! It's now a beautiful bush and finally we now have butterfly visitors - hooray!
PS If you know the difference between butterflies and moths and this one is a moth - just keep it to yourself because I like to believe that it is a beautiful butterfly. :)

Yummy Yaki Soba!

We at the Clark house love to eat this yummy dish called Yaki Soba. An old friend from work, Pepper, introduced me to it and it's an easy, yummy meal. You get it at an Asian market and it looks just like a ramen package, but it cooks up just slightly different - instead of the liquid remaining to make a soup, the noodles soak up the liquid, then you add the noodles to sauteed vegies and you sprinkle the packet on top. Voila! Adam and I used to eat it when we were dating and first married, but then I think I got sick of it or something and we haven't had it for years until a few weeks ago. I had to photograph this momentus occasion! And look - everyone likes it! Hooray for Yaki Soba.

Poopy in the potty!

Henry went poopy in his little potty for the first time yesterday! Hooray! Way to go, Henry!

Cravings for sweets!

Does anyone else have problems with eating sweets? My goodness. I've tried to stop this week because I am completely out of control with it. I didn't have any for a few days, then for 2 days in a row I talked myself into eating a few treats. Then last night we were at a corn feed for my brother's ward and somehow I managed to stay away from all of the yummy treats. And now for today...I want a treat right now I can't stand it! THat's why I thought I'd write about it here to get support from other sugar addicts. :)
Anyone have any suggestions on how to be better with it?