From the Beginning

I guess if I am going to try and do our summer justice I may as well start at the beginning of our travels...The kids and I took a trip to Bryce Canyon for a family reunion. My dad and sister Elise and her kids were there and we were so busy trying not to lose any kids and we don't have any pictures of the group of us - pitiful really. It was great to see the aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.

My dad took Clark on a hike down into the canyon since I was really not up to a strenuous hike, so after the reunion was over and my dad and sis had to leave I decided to venture on a few 'walks' with the kids. That ended up being a little more than I bargained for. We went on a little hike outside the canyon to see this waterfall and cave. Clark had a great time and Bella did OK, until I was trying to take a picture inside the little cave - she was not interested. (see picture) But Clark had a great time and walked with his walking stick that he brought from home and had all shaved down with his pocket knife - he is becoming quite the scout.

Now the real adventure begins...we drove back into the canyon and I thought it would be fun to take a little walk along the rim of the canyon so we could just see it. I went inside the ranger station/gift shop and asked about a little walk and they said it was easy for kids, etc. Great. I jump on the little shuttle bus so they could drop us off at one point and we could walk around to the next and get back on. When I was getting off I asked the bus driver which direction to go to make sure the bus would get us at the next spot. He said either way, but he would recommend going to the next spot because then my walk would be all downhill. Great. So we stay on the bus and get off at the next spot and start our walk. What the little bus driver failed to mention was that this section was the LONGEST rim walk in the park. An hour later we finally get to the next spot. Here I am, the pregnant mom carrying my toddler UP and down this path - but wasn't it all downhill you ask? Overall the elevation did decrease, but there were many up and downs. Needless to say we were WORN OUT after that excursion. I gave Clark the camera to take pictures and he took enough to publish his own travel guide so I just posted one of the canyon here and our 'end' pictures.

Finally home

What have we done this summer?

put over 3000 miles on the car
bought lots of gas
took over 200 pictures
saw lots of relatives
went to 2 baseball games (2 different home teams)
went to the zoo (and it was a balmy 72° :)
saw the golden gate bridge
went swimming
went to the beach
went to the mountains
lit fireworks
and the list goes on.

But, we are finally home again and despite the great trips there is 'no place like home'. Once I get my life back together again I will make a few blog posts of all our adventures.

Updo

I was doing Bella's hair today and it was a frizzy disaster. I should have taken a picture. Anyway, I had just done mine and the flat iron was out and hot so I decided to try it out on her hair. WOW! She looks so different! Of course, still cute.

Princess

Going back a few days...my cousin got married a few weeks ago and she had her reception on Saturday. Bella had a cute little dress and to match and some flowers for her hair. She looked really lovely - just like the princesses that she is really into right now.

It's a...GIRL!

Everything looked good...still due mid October. Clark thinks we should adopt a brother for him now.

May Adventures

I haven't been a great blogger as of late...really I have never been all on top of it, but time for some more random journaling.

The Pinewood Derby:

Clark made a great car that won at least 6 races, but he didn't place in the top three. He was a little disappointed, but had a good time designing and making his car. I don't have a good picture of him and his car - maybe we will take one tomorrow when he gets in his scout uniform again!

Wading Pool:

The warm weather comes and goes, but during a 'hot spell' a couple weeks ago I got a little wading pool that we can have outside in the back yard. Bella LOVES it and asks everyday to go swimming! "I need my swim suit!" "I need water." It has been really nice the last couple of days, but too cold for swimming - she will just play in the empty pool for a while, but it just isn't as much fun as when it is full of cold water to splash in.

Mother's Day:

I had a lovely Mother's Day and Clark and Ryan and Bella were really sweet. On the Friday before Mother's Day Clark had a mother's day program in his class and gave me a really nice card. The kids had learned all sorts of songs that they sang to all the moms. It was really cute. I would post the video, but it was almost 30 minutes long and I don't think anyone would actually watch it except for me.

Memorial Day:

We went on an excursion today to several cemetaries and found the graves of several of our ancestors. I was amazed at the number of people and flowers at all the places we went. Living away from where my ancestors were buried I didn't realize how many people actually went on Memorial Day. It was a fun little hunt today. Clark took pictures of all the head stones and Bella went around picking up flowers that had fallen over, spinning the wind mills and running away from me. I am tired.

Latest Happenings

Here are some of the recent pictures from our house...

Bella decided to dress herself. She has been good at UNdressing herself for a while, but this was the first successful attempt at getting a full outfit on. Notice the backwards shirt and the pants that don't match. Although it is hard to tell in the pictures, she even put on shoes too - Sunday dress shoes. Nice work!

Baseball games have started. Clark is still getting used to kid pitch, but is having a good time. The weather has improved and is it really nice to sit outside in the sun and watch. Way to soon it will scorching hot so we are enjoying while it lasts!

Finding Spring

Since Spring can't find me here, we had to go find it! (As a side note - it snowed AGAIN today). Ryan finished finals last Saturday and on Monday we headed south for some much needed sunshine and relaxation. It is great to get a way, even for a couple of days. It was WARM and BEAUTIFUL and so nice. A few highlights...

We got to wear summer clothes....

climb trees and smell the flowers.

Clark and Bella (who is doing her newest trick - a wink) They loved being outside and having fun.


Fun at the 'Sand Dunes'. The sand is really red - kinda cool. Although, all pockets and hair were filled with the super fine sand before we left.


Time for some swimming!!!

Bella liked applying her own additional sunscreen (and eating it too I guess!)

What warm adventure is complete without ice cream?

Can I go back? It really was so nice to get away and we had a fun time.

Where, Oh Where is Springtime?

This is what it looks outside my house right now (actually this was almost an hour ago - there is even more now!)...why can't spring come and STAY???Can you see the tree blossoms COVERED in snow? Why is it still cold?? Why is it still snowing hard? Clark thinks we should go sledding. I thought I wasn't going to get dragged out to do that again this year!

UPDATE:

Here was the final total:

OVER FOUR INCHES!!

Baseball Season

Clark does get representation on the blog just not for Easter! He has just started another baseball season. This year he had to tryout and everything. I hope this isn't getting too high pressure! He is getting better all the time and this year is on the Dodgers. Practice just started so our next few months will be full of baseball fun! He wanted to make sure we could see his #2!

Happy Easter

So, Bella got a really cute dress, which had a matching dress for her baby doll (adorable). And poor Clark didn't get any new clothes. Honestly, he has 3 dress shirts and a relativly new pair of pants, sweater and ties. So, I didn't take a picture of him, but he looked as handsome, as always. And Bella really doesn't have any summer dresses so she needed it.

We went to our ward Easter egg hunt on Saturday and each kid was able to get 18 eggs - all filled with multiple pieces of candy, so Bella really didn't need anymore sweets. So on Easter she got some sunglasses, toys and lipgloss. Clark got a few treats and some summer sandals. (I am holding out hope that summer will come!!) I tried to take pictures of Clark at the Easter Egg hunt but he ran off before I could even catch one. Oh well, he had a good time and got more than enough sweets!!

An Original Dr. Seuss Poem

Can you believe it, could it be?

Could we really be having number THREE?

Yes it is, yes it's true -

And in October is when I'm due!

Have I been sick? Not too bad.

But if I get really fat I might be sad.

Clark wants a boy; Bella wants a girl

Will we need a ball or a dress to twirl?

We are all ecstatic and oh so happy

I am now ending this poem, so it doesn't get sappy.

Temporary Pets

A couple background items:

1. We live in a new neighborhood and a few new homes are started each month. Before the housing moved in it used to be farmland.

2. Although I like animals, I really don't like them in my house very much. We had fish before we moved and I really liked those.

OK, now the story. We have a bucket that we keep outside in the garage for organic material to put into the garden for compost. A few weeks ago I had a plate of egg shells, potato peels, etc., that I was taking out there. The bucket was empty and had been cleaned the day before. So I go over to the bucket and was about to dump my stuff inside only to see a bundle of furry movement at the bottom. Now, props for myself here. I didn't scream; I didn't run in the house like a crazy person. I calmly went inside and told my father-in-law that there were what I thought to be 3 mice in the compost bucket. Then I came downstairs and told Ryan.

I wanted to be as far away as possible from any little mice. But not everyone followed suit. Ryan went straight upstairs to check it out. He comes back to tell me that there were FIVE, yes that is right, FIVE mice in the bucket. It gives me the chills just writing about it. At this point he picks up Bella to take her up to see the the little mice. Apparently she thought they were great. She talked to them and said, "Hi cute little mouse," and "stay in the bucket, don't get out." WHAT? I see mice and I see germs, disease, etc., not cute little pets. So they were her "not allowed to touch pets" for a few minutes before they were taken out of the garage and to a new resting place.

Other side notes: 1. We have traps in the garage so this kind of thing wouldn't happen. 2. Clark was SO disappointed when he came home from school that they were no longer with us. He really thought we should have waited for him to see them. The pictures had to suffice. 3. We are no longer using the compost bucket.

For the brave souls who want to see, here are a couple pictures. I can hardly even look at them. My only consolation is that they have only been in the garage and not in the house.

Valentine's Houses

I really like the idea of Gingerbread houses at Christmas time, but I struggle with the execution of getting our houses done during the holidays. So, a couple years ago I decided we should start a new tradition of making Valentines Houses. (I actually want to call them 'Love Shack's but don't want my kids going to school and telling their teachers they make love shacks at home...) Anyway, last year, with the house selling we didn't get to our houses but this year the tradition was back on track. Bella LOVED eating the candy and is really upset today that she can't get the candy off. Clark had a good time making his house and his house is already a mess since he breaks the frosting to get those candies off to eat. Good times.

Happy Birthday Clark!

How come our kids grow up so fast? Is it possible that NINE years ago Clark was born? I guess so, since today was his birthday! He was such a cute little baby and he is still a cute kid!

He lucked out and had a great day at school - Field Trip all day! They went ice skating in the morning and then to a museum after lunch. Ryan, Bella and I met the class at the museum and walked around with Clark. It was really fun. We had his special request for dinner - Shepherd's Pie - and then Ryan's sister and her family came over for cake and ice cream.

We are so grateful to have him in our family. I can't even imagine our lives without his playful grin and contagious laugh. He loves to play sports (basketball, baseball, wii sports, ripstik, etc.) and also is becoming a great pianist. We love you Clark!!! Happy Birthday!!

A Bench, A Lightswitch and A Chair

Time to guess the common link again. Bench, Lightswitch, Chair. Hmm.

This is how scripture reading went down tonight. Ryan, Clark and I are sitting on the sofa reading and Bella is running around like a crazy lady (normal). I have a bench against the wall in living room and Bella often gets on it and then jumps off. Tonight she was doing this crazy ritual but then she noticed the light switches off to the side. So she turns on one light and turns the other off. Nice. Clark starts laughing. Bella jumps off the bench. We continue to read. Bella climbs back onto the bench and turns both lights off. We are sitting in complete darkness. Clark is in hysterics. Bella laughs, turns both lights on...waits a few seconds...turns both off. Clark laughs harder. (Ryan and I are also laughing, but trying not to egg her on.) We ask her to turn them on, but she has jumped off the bench and has no intention of turning them back on. So I get up, turn on the lights and move the bench so she can't reach the light switches when she climbs back on the bench. After a minute of the lights being on, she goes back to the bench, climbs up and tries to reach for the switches only to hit the wall. This time I was the one that was smiling. It was priceless. She got so upset that she couldn't reach time any more. (Meanwhile we are still trying to read.) So Bella gets off the bench and we see her a minute later carrying a little chair from her table over to the wall. We are almost done with our chapter, so we start speed reading through the last verse and get the last phrase in, right as the lights go out, and Clark breaks into laughter, again.