MEET COCOA CLARK!

On Thursday, the kids last day of school, they had just come home and we were still outside talking when this little kitten came walking down the sidewalk, walked right into our garage, through the door into our home. We brought her into the backyard to let the kids play with her for a little while. I went inside and the next thing I knew they had made a little house for her from a box and had named her 'Cocoa'. Addie thinks she is her baby and wraps her up in her silky blanket and carries her all around. She has already given her a ride in the stroller. Ava is absoblutely beside herself, it is very cute to watch her squeel with delight watching her. Well, needless to say, we still have her and the rest is history (unless she pees in the house and then she is history!!!)

WE'RE SO ORIGINAL!

Andy Clark

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Lynne Clark

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YUP, HE JUST GOT A LITTLE HOTTER!

As stated before, Andy likes to keep this delicious moustache after he shaves off his beard just for kicks (and to torture me). Well this time he's living on the edge and decided to go to work with it. This morning the first thing Christian said when he saw it was, 'Mom, I hope you don't make dad shave that off like you did last time. I think he looks really cool with it because he looks like Larry Bird.' We were laughing so hard, Andy almost went to shave it off right then!

I LOVE ANDY!!!!!!!

Today I was having one of those awful days that you just want to crawl back in bed and start over. By noon I was in tears and called Andy to vent. He just listened and let me rant and rave while I am sure he had better things to be doing! I felt much better and went on with my day when my doorbell rang and there was someone standing there with a bouquet of flowers from my wonderful, fabulous husband. So there I was in the kitchen in tears again! Thank you Andy!

MY HOMETOWN WEDDING

I just did my first wedding here at the temple. I was nervous since I hadn't done it before and the landscaping was still dead from the winter and the weather had been full of rainy days. We were able to make perfect timing in between rain storms and got some pictures. Phew!! This one was my favorite, as you all well know it is always windy here but it worked with us to make some of the pictures come more to life with the motion of the wind.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANDY!!!

Andy's birthday pie
Andy and his sweetie pie
Eating BBQ in Texas
Andy and Addie on Christmas morning
Andy and Christian in Island Park

father/son outing

Andy & Isaac in Yellowstone

Andy & Isaac at Henry's Lake

Andy & Addie at the sand dunes

Andy & Ava

Andy taking Isaac on a ride



Today Andy turned the big 35! We went out to dinner at Applebee's with Jeff and Mary then back to our house for cherry pie and chocolate cupcakes. It was a fun evening. What a wonderful guy Andy is, he is always so patient and kind. He is an amazing father who thinks the world of his kids. We are all so grateful to have him in our lives. We love you so much, Andy!!!! We hope you enjoyed your big day!

AVA'S BIRTHDAY PICTURES

AARGH!

#1-So since it isn't nice to point fingers, I won't mention any names but a certain someone in our house has dropped 2 cameras in the past year and broke them both! I really need to invest in a kids camera! So I am again cameraless which in turn makes my posts not quite as interesting.
#2- I have been sick with an awful head cold going on 5 weeks now. I didn't even think this kind of thing happened in this day in age. I kept thinking surely I was on the tail end of this misery when the next morning all the symptoms would start to come back. I finally thought, enough is enough, I have got to get back to my old life, so I went to the doctor (of course, my favorite doctor is in Paraguay at the moment). So hopefully things will start to clear up for good this time. How grateful I am for my health!!!
#3- Today Addie hit her mouth on a stool and now her front tooth is wiggly. The dentist said, if left alone with no pressure, the tissue should harden around it and it will be fine. The problem is, Addie sucks her thumb ALL the time. We have been thinking it is getting time to help her stop this habit but now it is in full force. So all day I have been wrapping her thumb in bandaids and tape. She isn't quite on board with the idea and keeps sneaking off to pull off the tape. So when you see Addie next and the tissue has hardened around her tooth but her tooth is protruding straight out...you'll know why.

AVA'S 1ST BIRTHDAY!

one year ago...

...today

love those teeth!
she's on her way

Ava today on her big day

___________

tiny Ava

Today Ava turned one year old! This past year has gone by so fast, it seems like just the other day that she came into our family. We feel very blessed to have her with us and can't begin to describe the joy she has brought into our lives. She has a very sweet spirit and we couldn't love her more!!

DISNEY PRINCESSES ON ICE- WEEKEND!

a morning Easter egg hunt before gettingt ready for the show
grabbing some food before the show
intermission, more sugar please
the grand finale

My sisters and I are always thinking up any excuse to get together. We saw that the Disney on ice show was coming to Salt Lake so it sounded fun to get us and our little girls together for a girls weekend. The girls got decked out in their dress up clothes and we had fun at the show, it was actually pretty good. Then we took the girls to Gardner Village to the candy shop and the little girls had sugar on a stick and the big girls had A LOT of yummy fudge. All and all the weekend was very fun and like always it was over too soon. Maybe we can see if there's a monster truck show soon, the girls are into that, right?!

AROUND THE HOUSE

Ava's new playpen
The kids ready for church
My girls who wouldn't take pacifiers as infants suddenly think they're great!
Addie going to her friends birthday party

SIMPLY DIVINE!

For the March Enrichment me and my friend Tiffany made 100 cupcakes. It was fun to decorate them and to see them all together when we were done. The hardest part was trying to keep the kids out of them! I must say, they were pretty tasty too! Thanks Tiffany!!!

THE GREATEST JOB ON EARTH!

My sister, Leslie Lewis, sent me a quote she forwarded on from their Lewis Family Conference. It really struck me and inspired me to step back and reprioritize my efforts and possessions. It is hard to be a mother and trying to be a good one also is downright exhausting! But this time is so short and so rewarding! I couldn't keep it to myself so I'm sharing it with you... Thanks Leslie, you and Joseph are such wonderful examples!

"When considering how to spend your time, it might be good to ponder on this hard and immovable truth: In all of eternity, in the endless realms of time and space that we have and will yet exist, we only have one very short window of 20-30 years to be parents in mortality. We only have our children as little children in all of that time for just a few short years. That thought has whispered urgently to me pausing me, prompting me, empowering me to lay aside other pursuits for now and bask in the sunlight of my children's youth. It is a path through a place in time that I shall never be allowed to trod again and so I resolve to enjoy and celebrate every step I take."

And on that note, I am grateful today that I surrendered and put the chores aside and laughed with my children. We made crazy faces with scotch tape on each other, we were all laughing so hard we had tears streaming down our cheeks! I'll sure remember that a lot more than I would the clean counter (that would have just gotten messy again!).

OUT OF ORDER

Just so you know, I am not able to get my computer to connect to any internet connection. I probably won't be doing anything with my blog for awhile until I get this figured out. Anyway, I thought I would let you know so you don't keep checking it and wondering if I fell off the face of the earth. Hopefully, we'll be back in business soon!

THAT WAS WEIRD!

If anyone has tries to visit our blog lately, it had been taken over by annoying wallpaper! So here is the new look. Hope it is a little more pleasing on the eyes!
FYI: my new obsession...cupcakes! My sister Kristi and I are determined to come up with the perfect oversized cupcake. Let me tell you, if you are ever looking for a fun quest, this is the one! I'll keep you posted when I get some pictures.