I Made It

This is not a very high quality photo-

but it says what I am feeling right about now.

After months of preparation, crafting,

wrapping, cooking, shopping, planning,

cooking, shopping for my mother's gifts to give out,

cleaning, cooking, going to parties,

throwing parties, cleaning before and

after parties, cooking, and trying to 

please everybody-

 I'm pooped.

As one sister said during RS's

"good news moment" today-

there is 364 more days until Christmas :)

It's a bit of a let down,

but also a huge relieffffffffff-

Christmas 2010 is now

a memory.

I really want to be more organized 

next year and way thinner

so I look better in all those 

candid photos being snapped!

Gingerbread houseapalooza

We've had a family tradition of making

gingerbread houses the week before Christmas

at our house for the last, oh I don't know,

too many years now. Each year I think to myself-

I'm not going to stress myself out trying

to make homemade houses this year!

But someone always brings up the

question- when are we making houses?

So, of course, if someone really is

excited about making the dang things,

I'll make them. And I'm always glad I do :)

We had a heck of a group make them this

year! All my kids (but one whom I won't

name, since she moved away to Iowa-

but if you look at her blog, you can

see she's carried on the tradition!

With amazing houses of their own

I might add :)

 As you can see- our gingerbread is 

really good! Good enough to eat

as Will is demonstrating.

He tried a little bit of everything

in front of him!

Our official food tester :)

 When we weren't looking- Mags

grabbed the spatula out of the frosting

bowl and started licking it!

The frostings pretty decent too :)

(Mallory thought it smelled bad while it

was mixing. She asked me if it smelled 

bad because it wasn't finished cooking yet. 

When I let her taste it, she thought

it smelled okay then :)

 Some of our finished products-

Lisa and kids-

Mal did almost all the decorating by

herself! I hope you can see the 

cheddar bunnies in the windows :)

We raided the pantry to get the 

decorating goodies.

As soon as the picture was taken-

Mal ate all the candies off one side

of the house! (I love being a grandma!!

eat all the candy you want!

It's Christmas :)

 Here is Sierra's house. 

Each year she picks a different 

holiday theme to decorate her house.

A few years ago she did a white trash

trailer house, last year was a farm.

This year she picked to do a jail house.

What says Christmas more than

bars on the window?

 In the front is the "inmate" with

a ball and chain attached to his leg.

The back is protected by the guards

with pretzel guns.

Can't wait to see what next years theme is.

 Brad, Ash and Mags did the most colorful

house! See their black snowman on the side?

He has a big red nose :)

Isn't is amazing that Brad can't look

like a normal boy?

 Look how cute Tommy and Sophie's house is.

And how very symetrical it is too :)

Tommy did the chimney and smoke that's coming

out. Then he just bugged the heck out of Sophie

the rest of the time. See her cute pink snowman

with dreadlocks? You should have seen what

Tommy tried to put on the snowman's head!

We'll hope this marriage lasts :)

 Here's Mags with his tongue out again!

When they were leaving and he was giving

Grammy a kiss goodbye- this is what he 

looked like too, only aimed at Grammy's face.

Maybe a little too much sugar? hehehehe

 Here is Eddie throughout the whole house

making party. Doesn't he look enthused? 

We had a blast and I'm glad we once again

made houses. But I don't know if I'll

do it again next year!! ;)

 Just a bonus story-

Because of a crazy fluke and an

ancestor who looked to his families future-

Eddie, all his siblings and their spouses 

have burial plots

by each other. 10 spots. 

Eddie is demonstrating

below where his plot is. a little creep you say?

I agree! Plus knowing and seeing where 

I will someday

be "laid to rest" is MORE than a bit creepy!

But he does look cute, eh?

 And this picture is for Kira-

look how cute Mallory is on Santa's lap :)

Merry Christmas 

all my dear friends

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Just a few Ho, Ho, Ho's

The time to blog is very slim-

but I thought I'd share some

Holiday cheer :)

BYU's Museum of Art

I don't know if you are familiar with the name Carl Bloch

He was a 19th century Danish artist who painted

some of the most familiar and beloved artwork

of the Savior that we use in the LDS church.

The paintings that I grew up with in Primary

and seeing on the walls of the ward buildings 

and on the fronts of the Ensign.

I got to see the originals last night.

They are amazing!

And no I didn't travel to Denmark to see them

(I wish I had!!)

They are on display at BYU's

Museum of Art 

now until May 7th.

Even Sierra's favorite one was there.

The tickets are free- as is the parking.

You go online to 

http://moa.byu.edu/

What a wonderful experience it was.

I got 12 tickets and took as many of my family as I could

get to go. They had a wheel chair there that my mom

used. Her good friend Glenda pushed her around and

read every one of the descriptions to her.

You can rent an I-Pad that has all the info about each painting

on them for 3 bucks. 

I am planning on going back, by myself, renting one and spend

the day with my new friend Carl Bloch.

I could sit and analyze them each for a lot longer

time than my dear family had the desire to :)

If you have the time, go.

Say What???

   Don't tell Sierra I told you this- but sometimes she says the darnedest things and doesn't even realize how silly it is! Last Sunday as we sat around the house after church and lunch, Sierra was thumbing through a catalog we received in the mail. She blurts out, "well that's the dumbest thing I've ever seen!" So I am obliged to ask what she's talking about. "Listen how stupid this is", she says, "it's a picture frame with the words LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT written on it with a picture of a mammogram in it."
    Well my mom and I do a double take at her, and I ask "A picture of what???"   "A mammogram, you know those pictures they take of the baby before their born."
     Oh my goodness, when I could finally catch my breath after laughing so hard and  explained to her that a mammogram is NOT a picture of an unborn baby, but of womanly parts, I thought she would die laughing. I'm glad she can laugh at herself and can handle when we laugh with her. It was a classic "Sierra" moment!

Octoberfest

 A few pictures of the adventures we've had in October!

Some of the girls (and poor Stevie and Will) got to visit 

Gardner's Village. Stevie graciously took our picture :)

We had such a great time, but I will never go on a school

break weekend again, I couldn't believe the crowds.

But the weather was awesome and the company was

wonderful. 

I really think the Halloween spooks are playing
games on me with my pictures, so
be patient because they appeared in what
ever order they wanted :) I'm sure
it's not my fault :)
I've been in a crafty mood as of late,
here is one of my latest endeavors-
a flowery shower curtain :)

I had a lot of fun making this happy
shower curtain :)


Randomly enough, now we have our Halloween
celebrating Chicken McNuggets :)
This one's for you Kira, I know it can't be
Halloween without the McNuggets =)
We calculated we've had these babies about
16 years now. I think I started getting them when
Brad was in 10th grade- October 1994.
They really are a part of the family...heart, heart
( I know the nuggets in the back with the marching band
hats on are even older than that. I found them at a DI.
Someday they'll be worth something, *Your inheritance*)

Now by some crazy happenstance-

we have the newly painted front porch.

It's gray as you can see with black, gray, and white

speckles in it. Not so found of the specks, but oh well.

Eddie put sand between coats of paint so we won't slip.

only trouble is, the sand is like sandpaper now, so there

won't be a lot of bare foot walking on this sucker.

It about tears the flesh right off the bottom of your 

feet. Kinda hope it wears off fast :)

Now to the good stuff :)
Here we have Brad, Ash and Mags -
AKA- Han Solo, Princess Leah with Yoda and
Luke Skywalker.
What a hoot!
Mags promptly took out all my McNuggets
 with his light saber!
Protector of the universe :)
Ashley is pretty darn creative and talented.
she made all the outfits.

I wish this could have been my "grand finale"
photo. I LOVE Will as Squirt from
Finding Nemo. 
He's so darn cute.
I also love Lisa and Josh's great grins!
But I love
Little Red Riding Hoods'
(Mallory)
face the best of all.
She did not want her picture taken,
or to be dressed up. Someday
this picture can (and probably will)
be used as blackmail. :)

Just take a second and enjoy her face.
It makes me laugh every time I look at this pic.
Lisa and Josh look so calm.
love it.
Now we have Tom and Sophie
Tommy is supposedly :/ a superhero
incognito. whatever. lazy boy :)
Sophie on the other hand is AWESOME
in her Grandpa's WWII sailor uniform.
How cool is that?
She has amazing makeup happening too.
It was great to have them all together for awhile.

Finally, I thought you'd like to see the house
decked out for the season.
I finally made the swaggy banner
things for the front porch.
I like them :)
And the snow?
well, it was a spooky
year this year for Halloween.

Thanks for looking :)

FYI-

all the Halloween stuff got put away today.

I was a little bit glad to see it go away 

for another year ;)

On to Thanksgiving! 

MEN vs WOMEN (warning: crazed woman writing)

Lately, I've wondered more than a few times,

WHY MEN AND WOMEN ARE SO DIFFERENT-

and why did women get the short end of the deal

back in the Garden?

I understand that it is my off balance hormones

speaking, but it doesn't make me any less curious.

Am I the only one who has wondered

why men have it easier in so many areas of life?

Take camping for example-

they have to use the restroom-

so they stand on the opposite side of the truck

and problem solved.

I have to go- bad- and often-

I have to hike a mile away to find a tree

big enough to hide my white behind, take

toilet paper with me, squat and hope something's

not going to bite my back side.

Is this fair?

I think not.

Now let's look at the hairdo issue.

I just cut Eddie's hair the other day-

"how do you want you hair cut?"

"Shave it all off! I don't want to mess with it!"

But then I ask him- "how should I do my hair?"

"Oh I love long hair!! Let it grow!"

How come does he get to shave his off

and I get to have long hair that takes hours to do?

Is this fair?

I think not!!!

Now let's discuss a subject every man HATES to

hear about :)

Why is it every month for the past 40 years

I've had to put up with cramps, bloating, not to

mention a ton of inconvienence, and

what is their equivalent? huh?

Finally, now that I don't have to put up

with that every month junk anymore-

Mother Nature -as a joke now tortures me with

hot flashes!

Eddie freezes at night while I throw the blankets off the

bed before I burst into flames.

How come! What's up with this?

When do things ever get even?

What do men have to go through?

or do?

go to work?

what do I do everyday?

And who birthed all those babies?

I know in the Garden of Eden, Adam was told

"by the sweat of thy brow....."

well, I've had more sweat on my brow (thanks to those

stupid hot flashes) for the last 7 years

than Eddie's had all his working career.

Is this fair?

I guess it is, because that's the way it goes.

When I get to create MY own world-

you better believe

I'm gonna spread the joy-

I'll take the 40 years of bloating-

but the men on my world-

they get the dang hot flashes! :)

Self Realization

I think I found something out about myself that I 'm not sure if I like or not. I have realized that I'm not as forgiving as I should be.? It's one of those things- I can call myself fat, but if you do, I'm gonna get real mad at you things. The other day as I was walking in a large, annoying store, a mom and her kids were walking toward me in the aisle. The mom was pushing a shopping cart with a little one in the seat, a carrier in the basket portion and a little boy about 4 years old walking backwards beside her. I had no cart, just me walking in the aisle. The closer they got, I started worrying the little boy was going to run into me, because he was walking backwards not looking at me. I had no where to go to get out of the way, I was pinned between boy and shelves. The little boy looked up right in time to dodge me and they went on their way. I played out the scene in my mind, with the mom saying something like, "Bobby (little boy:) watch where you are going!" and I would reply politely, "No problem, Isn't he cute?" and we would be on our way. But as it was all going down, the mom, even though she was aware of the situation never said a word. We came within a fraction of an inch of him running into me. But because the mom didn't utter a sound, I was a bit frustrated. I was ready to be forgiving and even complimentary, but because the other adult involved acted like nothing was wrong, I was perturbed.

So here's my dilemma, why can I be nice and forgiving IF the other party asks for forgiveness, but if they don't ask or act sorry, why does it make me upset? I've a a few of these situations lately that have brought this reaction in me to the forefront of my mind. I guess I better get one of those stretchy WWJD bands to wear on my wrist, and whenever something like this happens again, I will snap that bracelet until I either stop having bad thoughts or get a big welt on my arm :)

Thanks for listening :) xoxoxo

Some Things That Make Me Smile :)

Here are a few recent photos that just make me smile :)

Eddie got the chance to take a work related trip to Boston.

He almost turned it down because "I'll miss the opening day

of the muzzle loader hunt!"

Oh my goodness. Are men weird or what?

After a bit of talking to- he changed his mind :)

and got to visit a part of the U.S. he's never been to before.

That thought alone makes me smile,

The picture below is of Fenway Park-

home to the Boston Red Sox.

Now Eddie is in no way a baseball fan,

so when he came home with multiple picture of this

ball park and calling it with much familiarity,

and in a manly voice-

the Big Green Monster,

that really made me smile. :)

I'm so glad he went, and btw, so is he. He says

we both need to go back a spend a while site seeing!

This next pic of a little boy with a great big grin

really makes me giggle.

It's Mags.

He has grapes stashed in his mouth like a squirrel

and was hamming it up for me.

When I asked him "should I get the camera

and take your picture?"

He quickly nodded yes and reloaded with

fresh new grapes! What a nut.

He's only two. What are we gonna do with him when

he realizes how goofy he can be? They

say the nut doesn't fall far from his dads tree :)

************************

This picture gets me smiling in a misty eyed kind of way.

For a couple of weeks my Uncle Neil was here from CA.

This is my mom and her posse.

Starting from the left-

Uncle Lynn and Aunt NaDean (mom's sister)

Uncle Eldon and Aunt Colleen (mom's brother)

Mom

Uncle Neil (mom's brother)

only Aunt Faye was missing.

If you look close at mom's face- you notice it's kind of

raccoon-y looking.

That's because the crazies went fishing- in a boat-

and got totally sunburned.

When she's with her posse, she'll

do things I would never dream she'd do.

Climb in a boat. Neil has a walker right now,

did that stop him? no.

I love that my mom's family LOVE to be together.

It's a great example for their children.

I love being with my sisters

and I think my kids love to be together too.

What a legacy to pass on.

This next picture puts a sad little smile on my face

just because I know how hard Sierra worked

with this darn sheep.

And how much she learned to love it.

Kevin.

I feel bad the sheep didn't show any better

than she did. I'm not sure why

she could get such high marks at the

county fair and then not so good ones at State.

I hope Sierra is still proud of her efforts

because she should be.

Sierra never quit, she learned she could do hard things,

and I was the MOST proud when-

we learned Sierra's sheep came in last of her class-

Sierra held it together, with her head held high

and still loved her sheep.

We Clark girls are known for easy tears.

something I hate about myself -

so I was extra proud of my girl.

This last picture was taken at the fair.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

And of course it made me smile while

I gagged a little bit :)

deep fried chocolate covered bacon. ?

who doesn't love that?

Smile.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Yard Sale Saturday

I'm having a yard sale Saturday.

What started out as a "family thing"

has turned into a "Wendy thing".

Our garage has been FULL of junk
(don't tell mom I said that :)

since we moved into our house, a little

over 1 1/2 years now.

We couldn't take it to DI because

it's all good stuff. (sarcastically said-

don't tell mom again.)

We have to sell it. Get our money's worth

out of it.

The time has never been right for a yard sale,

until now.

I was offered the use of a friends yard who lives

right across the street from Central school-

that is prime property for a sale!

Who could turn that down?

But the day she is having her sale is

tomorrow.

Only problem?

Sierra left today to go to Lake Powell

with her "other" family.

(does it seem like she spends a ton of time with them,

or that just me? How serious is she getting?

and am I the only one who's a little bit nervous about it?)

So Sierra's out of the picture.

Eddie has the chukar hunt.

Can't miss the chukar hunt.

One of the stake presidency is going with him,

can't disappoint the stake presidency.

My goodness-

where does our allegences lie?

(I know that's spelled wrong, I'm too lazy to look

it up. you get the picture)

So I seriously haven't been able to sleep

at nights, thinking- "how am I going to be

able to set all that crap up by myself?"

You should see how much stuff there is!

And it's good stuff, let's not forget that.

I am happy about the idea that the garage will

be empty (er).

Just not happy that at one time, I had tons

of offers to help, and now,

better offers (for them) have come up

and I'm stuck :/

Oh well.....

I'm having a yard sale on Saturday!

Some of this good stuff could be yours!

But right at noon- whatever is left is going to DI.

Some Thursday Thoughts

So many things to talk about today.

But I'll keep it down to just the most important

things rolling around in my skull.

+ I want more money, so I'm going to start charging

the city for the use of my newly laid blacktop in front

of my house. The area where they clean out the ditch

and leave all the dead branches, rotting apples, used

plastic bottles, whatever is stuck in the ditch.

The refuse they leave there and think fairies will clean up

after them. They want a raise? Me too. frustrating.

+Last week we helped with a funeral of a gentleman in our

ward. He was an athlete of world class caliber.

His family had all his trophies, ribbons, newspaper

articles and accolades on display.

They spoke of his prowess in the athletic world.

He broke world records and still holds a few.

An amazing feat.

They never mentioned he was on the YM General Board

or that he served in the Stake YM presidency

or that he was in many Elders quorum and HP presidencies

or that he spoke in youth conferences and firesides.

We had him speak at a stake girls camp a few years ago.

When I die- I want everyone to know

I served my Heavenly Father the best I knew how.

I felt so hollow for him.

His children didn't know him.

They looked at him with "worldly" eyes.

how sad.

+Book review!

I didn't realize how fascinating the history of Egypt could be!

I just finished the book "Nefertiti" by Michelle Moran.

What a great read!

I Googled Nefertiti and found the book to be

historically sound.

And on the plus side- it is

a smut-free book, sometimes hard to find :)

This is a bust of Nefertiti found in the studio of

an Egyptian artist named Thutmose.

The author tells her story in a totally believable way.

She puts facts and fiction together to weave a

hard to put down story!

I'm a fan of the Hunger Games, but this story

was every bit as entertaining.

This bust is a computer generated depiction of

what Nefertiti actually looked like.

She is one tough woman.

The life span of ancient Egyptians was much shorter than ours.

they matured quicker?

She was only 15 when married to

17 year old Amunhotep the future pharaoh.

This bust depicts her in her very early 20"s.

She had an unheard of at the time- six daughters,

while trying to have one heir to the throne son.

The picture below is what the experts think is her

mummy.

The author comes up with an explanation of

how the body is mutilated. And it's very believable :)

As when I read about the pioneers, or any

of those who came before us, I am amazed

at how people would survive, live, love and progress.

I am floored when I read of how civilized these people were

and yet how paganistic and superstitious they could be.

A great, quick, grab you by the collar and run read.

Good thing Thursdays are made for rambling,

I certainly did my share.

I'm still frustrated with the city though,

wish my want for my $ could come true too.

but let's not start that again :)

Lake Powell - Red Neck Style

Over the Labor Day weekend-

Eddie and I got to go to Lake Powell.

Lucky, lucky, lucky, you'd say.

And you'd be right :)

We left early Friday morning- 5 am

(the best time to travel in my opinion)

And headed for the Bullfrog area of Powell.

I've never been to this end of the lake, so I was

pretty stoked!

Just before Hanksville we stopped at a scenic

viewing area. It looks

like a eagle scout project where

the scout put up metal pipes to point out

points of interest. Notice that Eddie is looking at

"Brigham's Butt"

This should have been my first clue to the

tone of the trip.

We went with Kim
(this is him driving his AWESOME boat!

It is yellow, beautiful and fast.

You feel rich just sitting in it.

I loved riding around in it, seeing the sights.

That is Mike in the background.

I love him :)

We also went with Marla-

Kim's wife, Eddie's sister.

Two of the most generous people I know.

This is Marla's favorite seat on the boat-

It is the very back (stern?)

She even sits there when we are going

scary fast across the water.

She is brave.

On the way to Powell,

we had Mike and Jeromy ride with us.

We were to stay with Kim's relatives on a new houseboat

they just purchased. They told us all about this new boat,

it is 54 feet long, can sleep tons of people-

(that's good, cause there is going to be 22 of us)

has a slide, the luxury edition.

We are so excited! The closer to the lake we get, we

start seeing houseboats. We point out one

that we think it's going to look like.

Kinda like this one ------>

What a beauty!

When we get to where our houseboat is docked,

we see our boat.

But let me tell you a little bit more before I

show you it.

Our boat was a floating liquor store.

Eddie and I brought ONE case of water

for the two of us to share.

one.

One lady on the boat had 8 cases of Corona's in a bottle.

eight.

one lady.

Oh my,

this makes for exciting nights :)

and afternoons,

and lets admit it-

mornings.

Even the kids-

a 3 year old, 7 year old,

two 11 year olds,

a 15 year old and a boy 17ish

are drinking what I think is hard core for kids.

Coke.

a 3 year and coke?

imagine that all day.

a little hyper.

anywho, the unveiling of our houseboat-

This was the "Weekend Locators"

maiden voyage.

Yep, a trailer park trailer that floats :)

complete with the dark wood paneling.

Not quite what we were expecting, but

we had a blast on the darn thing.

Turns out the owners did look at a time share into

the bigger, fancier boat- but wanted something

they could use when they had the time to use it.

Who can blame them.

Sherry- the owner, told me not to take

this picture, she didn't want anybody to know it

was her boat :)

We slept on the top, under the stars-

it was beautiful. Really the best place

on the boat.

(when the holding tanks in the bathroom got full,

inside the cabin was not so fun)

The boat we stayed on might have been a little bit red necked, but we

still had a TON of FUN. Eddie even went down the crazy slapped up

slide quite a few times! Each time you'd reach the bottom, your bottom

would slap the end of the slide, I'm sure it hurt :)

Notice the stack of 2x4's under the end of the slide-

they were used to get the angle of the slide just right :)

We did see some of the most beautiful scenery on God's earth!

And while we were viewing it - in my head is playing "How Great Thou Art"

(seriously, hymns play through my mind the whole time we sight see-

it's just so beautiful.)

But blaring out of the speakers of the boat is that song Brendon Frazier

dances to in Encino Man (? or George of the Jungle?) about

"my monkey don't dance, my monkey don't......."

or we are listening to Metallica-

so I hide in my little hymnal head :)

According to the maps we have of Lake Powell-

up almost every little fingerling of the lake are ruins

and petroglyphs. We only see one set of any of them-

but those we see are fabulous!

I hope to see the DVD in the next life of

the person who drew these pictures-

just to see who it is, what it depicts and why he drew them.

Kim and Marla bought a blow-up drag behind the boat thing from

a guy on KSL.com- he said the tube had never tipped over..... ever.

So our gang had to prove that wrong. Of course we tipped it over

multiple times :) I rode it for a while- I don't think my arms and

shoulders will ever be the same :) Luckily I rode it with small

children on board, so no tipping while I was on it.

This picture is of Eddie and Marla-

they had a heck of a ride and just a few minutes after this

picture was taken, they had a phenomenal tipage :) Marla flew

off first- then Eddie flew! I am surprised something wasn't broken

on either of them! But they both had a blast.

Mike, Jeromy and Travis all rode it at once-

that's a lot of weight!

That sucker bounced so high, it took MY breath away.

They had the worse wipe-out- bumping into each

other while flying through the air and pushing each other down to the

bottom of the lake :) Travis came up hurt, he looked hurt

(and how could he

tell he was hurt after ingesting all that beer?)

It must have been a pretty big booboo :)

This is Eddie's usual pose for my camera :)

Worn out from all the fun :) poor boy.

We had a great time, LOVE my family

and their quirky ways. They are so generous.

fun and crazy!

It made for a memorable, bloggable weekend!

I hope to go again next year!

but, maybe stay in a motel.