The First Ever New Year's Clark Family Pop Quiz *Answer Key*

The first EVER Clark Family New Year’s Pop Quiz Answer Key

1.We did enjoy a GRAND trip to the GRAND Canyon over Spring break, however, as luck would have it, both times we had opportunity to view a spectacular sunset we arrived 10 minutes late. Such is the life with kids.

2. Emily explored many a land by visiting our local library. She does hope to visit each of those OTHER exotic places some day.

3. YES we painted our kitchen. Can you believe it? The queen of indecisiveness (Me—Kathryn) finally chose a color and painted while Mike was at scout camp, Emily was at YW camp and the rest of the kids were farmed out to cousins.

4. Trick question…Tim did learn to play the piano BETTER, but his new instrument is the Tenor Saxophone.

5. Sierra both learned to ski and on the 5th of January was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are very proud of her.

6. The thought of Savanna sluffing school at this point is laughable. Around the dinner table we often ask what was the best and worst part of each person’s day. Her answer is almost always, the best: going to school and the worst: having to come home. She is doing great despite her diagnosis of needing bifocals! (We are still working on getting the right prescription)

7. When discussing things with other adults (say at the grocery store or library), they often comment on what a good ‘little’ boy Ethan is. He is apt to remind them that ‘actually…I’m a medium boy’. I’m so glad that despite turning 4 this week that he is still a ‘medium’ boy. He also helped our budget by quitting diapers! (Yeah, they’ve been apart of our lives for 13 years!) and he loves to quote from the movie UP! If you haven’t seen it yet, may I suggest it.

8. Mike has kept busy at work by spending lots of money! He has over 6 million dollars on contract for different projects that help keep our military planes flying. The more amazing number though is the MILLIONS of dollars he is saving the government by implementing some of the test programs and procedures he has helped develop. Too bad there are so many thick heads in the government as not everyone is on board. (Have to get their piece you know.) He also joined Kathryn on a bike race and some mountain biking. (OUCH—that is tough!) And the herding cats comment could pertain to his position as scout leader, father or all the civil service yahoos he works with daily.

9. Kathryn really got into biking this year. It was a lot of fun to ride in the Red Riding Hood bike race for breast cancer awareness and the Legacy Parkway Fun Ride. She also is finally learning ins and outs of her camera so some day she’ll really be able to rock the images…I hope. Also she has embraced the blogging world after some encouragement from friends and family and has made more blog entries then she EVER did trying to keep a journal.

10.We really do hope you had a GREAT Christmas and that your New Year holds many great things. And figgy pudding and rootbeer couldn’t hurt at all could it? Thanks for your love and friendship.

Love, The Clarks Mike, Kathryn, Emily, Tim, Sierra, Savanna, Ethan

The First Ever New Year's Clark Family Pop Quiz

The first EVER Clark Family New Year’s Pop Quiz.

(In lieu of the traditional Christmas Letter)

1. True or False: During our Spring Break trip to the largest hole on Earth otherwise known as the GRAND CANYON, we were overwhelmed by the magnificent sunsets.
2. This year Emily was a worldwide traveler, did she visit:
1. Italy
2. France
3. Washington State
4. The Library
3. What is the new color of our old Kitchen?
1. Navy Blue
2. Brick Oven
3. Periwinkle
4. You painted your kitchen?
4. Which new instrument did Tim learn to play this year?
1. The Double Belled Euphonium
2. Piccolo
3. Tenor Sax
4. Piano
5. This year was a monumental year for Sierra did she:
1. Go Skydiving
2. Get Baptized
3. Go Scuba Diving
4. Go Skiing
5. Wait a minute there is more than one right answer!
6. As usual, Savanna had a GREAT year. Did she:
1. Start Kindergarten
2. Learn how to sluff class
3. Learn to ride a bike backwards
4. Learn to juggle chainsaws
7. Ethan kept us all busy this year. Did he:
1. Become a ‘medium’ boy.
2. Break the 13 year straight diaper wearing streak in our family.
3. Consider changing his name to Russell and joining the Wilderness Explorers (Tribe 54, Sweatlodge 12)
4. All of the Above
8. This year Mike kept busy at home and work did he:
1. Spend 6 Million Dollars
2. Go mountain biking (and survived)
3. Herd Cats
4. (Predictably) All of the above.
9. Kathryn had a fun yet busy year as well, did she:
1. All of the below
2. Bike over 50 miles in two different bike races
3. Torture her children by practicing her photography skills
4. Start blogging at www.thekatstopshere.blogspot.com
10. As the New Year begins, the Clark Family wishes you:
1. A Very Merry Christmas (in the past tense)
2. A Happy New Year (in the present tense)
3. Some Figgy pudding
4. A can of rootbeer!

I need this in writing...

I was taking Tim to basketball practice and I handed him his new Christmas Basketball. I said, I have written your name on it and here is your bottle of water.

He said, "I don't know how I'd survive without a good Mom....It makes going to college and on a mission kind of scary."

I told him he has a few years. {thankfully}

{Ka-Ching} That's the mommy register collecting payment. ;)

Catching up on Christmas

C--omfortable pajamas. Like usual we spent the day decked in our jammies, eating good food, playing games and not worrying about anything.
H--appy. The memorable faces we saw during our delivering of neighborhood Christmas gifts. I love doing this, it is one of the only times we make contact with some neighbors in the year, but over the years it has created friendships. The neighbors next door invited us in and offered us tea. The neighbors on the end are now used to us doing that and last summer they even walked the two houses away to sit and chat for 20 minutes! One neighbor down the street invited us in and told us about all her family traditions. My kids sang for her and listened politely. The comment after by Tim was, I'm really glad we did that and Sierra gave her a great big hug. I think it was more than our night that was enriched. And one last one, the primary teacher. None of my kids had her this year, but she is well into her 80s and has taught Emily, Tim and Sierra. Savanna is next on the docket. She sometimes gets forgotten in the rush not only by the ward, but by her family. I think she is the most thankful of anyone that I have ever given a gift to. I've received thank you calls (multiple times) in the middle of the summer for Christmas gifts. She is a unique individual, and my kids love her. Her smile and tears are what makes Christmas Christmas for me.
R--eunions. Christmas is a time to be with family and there was no shortage of that this year. We had a great time With Mike's family & Brooke's family on Christmas Eve. Word to the wise, Andy is probably lying about being a Werewolf and Brooke's Mom definitely is! Reuninoning on my side of the family was a treat too. So nice to see my niece Heather after 18+ a little months in Argentina on a LDS mission. I love my nieces and nephews. Everyone of them is a great friend and example to my kids.
I--ce cream. Mike's family had a tradition of ice cream sundaes on Christmas Eve so I meant to keep that alive with them on Christmas day...but we forgot. They were yummy for Ethan's birthday though.
S--anta...ours is a bit slow in the head giving Tim his Christmas wrapping paper and all. But, he's still a hero and I'm glad my kids are appreciative of his efforts.
T--raditions. We have a ton of them and they really make the season for me. I can't even share all of them as some are secret.
M--erry & bright. The lights...that will still be on for some weeks. I call it therapy.
A--ngels...they many friends that have made our Christmases bright this year and in years past. This year was a year of not many worries but there have been plenty that were not and I can't tell you how many angels have helped us a long the way. I only hope that we have been angels for someone else.
S--atisfied. Says it all.

FOUR

Four is awesome and thankfully four is STILL Medium. I don't know what I'd do if Ethan had decided he was big today.


Happy birthday to my AWESOME {sweet, lovable, filled with spunk, funny} MEDIUM GUY!

So Naturally...

So it's been a crazy month, school, church, family party, work wise...like usual. And my house is more out of control...than usual. So we need a good cleaning.

So NATURALLY...I started a new project.


We've been through many sets of Christmas stockings...pretty much one set per new child, and frankly I've hated them all. I've been especially unhappy with the stockings we have used for the last 3 years since Ethan was born.

So a late night trip to Joann's (Yeah for 70% off clearance on Christmas items BEFORE Christmas) + dusting off my sewing machine = Merry Christmas Stockings to me. :)

Ridiculous!

Shoes...MANY MANY SHOES.... We have a shoe closet that regularly gets overrun with too many shoes. 7 people times 2 feet each = too many shoes. Yesterday Sierra cleaned out the closet so we could get rid of those shoes that are not needed at the moment and so we could open the front door. Gotta be able to get to all those yummy neighbor treats ya know.



This is the result. Sierra counted 98 shoes. When she told me I said 98 shoes or 98 pairs (I feared the worst) She said shoes, then said I'll count how many pairs...a couple seconds later she said, HEY wait a minute I could just divide by 2! Score...out of school but still learning. {insert evil laugh} And lest you think that we are organized enough to have ALL the shoes in pairs let me disabuse you of this notion. We are NOT. (Not all shoes are pictured...as they climbed several stairs.)

And despite removing about 3/4 of the shoes from the closet our bucket runneth over. What do you do with YOUR shoes?

So learning at home brings me to my next ridiculous thought. School. Still. In. Em, Tim and Sierra got out of school on Friday...Savanna had to go two more days this week. For very important things like Pajama Day. Now I'm not knocking PJ day...sounds like a blast and actually it's been quite peaceful and frankly she loves it...but really can we call it school? I think not. :)
p.s. Thanks Grandpa Clark for new jammies to wear.

And this picture brings me to my next. Presents...maybe not ridiculous...more exciting than not. This is the first time in 12 years we have been able to put presents out before Christmas Eve. I do feel a new era dawning in the life of our family. :) Could I hope for the traditional 1000 piece puzzle to come back between Christmas and New Years?


P.S. Don't you love Ethan's rockin' wrappin' skills? He is a great shopper and very proud of his'presidents'.

Perfect for today

What it looks like...

Today is the busiest shipping day of the year. This is what it looks like.

Some of these... bundles of that...
a bunch of those...
a gaggle of these...

stacks of these... Rolls and Rolls of these... A few of those...
lots of this...

Bags of that...
Stacks of these...
More of that...
Rows of this...

Exhausted, Tired, Spent...and Happy.

A Real Rosie the Riveter

Last night was the annual Christmas party for Mike's extended family. A big shabang for all the descendants of Grandma Peterson. She has 4 kids, 28 grand kids (if I remember right--I once made a picture with individual mat spaces for each grand child's high school picture. It about killed me) and something like 80+ great grand kids? Really I don't know how many the count goes up regularly. But it was well over 65 a couple of years ago. She is amazing because she can remember every name and sends a birthday wish to each one including spouses. Wow... is all I can say.
She is a real trail blazer. She played tennis in high school and was very good at it. She once went on a double date where the boys asked the girls to go play tennis after one serve from her they decided they should do something else. Her name is Joye...but when she was born her parents spelled it Joey. Because of that she snuck into some opportunities that women just didn't get in her era. She was a sheet metal worker at Hill Air Force Base during WWII and for a some years after that. She had to deal with constant discrimination from being kept out of an Algebra class taught in high school to being passed over for promotions and jobs. She is a master gardener, crocheter, and cook. Not to mention a dedicated nurse and wife as she cared for her husband whom was bedridden for more than a decade.

She reminds me a lot of my Grandma Thornley and even keeps the same kind of cookies in her kitchen for when the great grand kids visit. She doesn't ask for much, but has given a lot. Most notably a legacy. A legacy of love, faith and dedication. What a blessing for my kids to know her. I'm so grateful that I can call her MY grandma too. We love Grandma Peterson.

Overheard near Ethan...

Ethan has a new favorite dinosaur it is the 'Try-Sierra-Tops'. It's my new favorite too.

Upon finding out that someone had spilled soup on Tim's coat and he would be unable to us it, Ethan magnanimously offered support.

"Tim, when you get smaller you can wear my coat."

Last week as I was taking Ethan and his best friend Katie home from Joyschool, he tried to tell me something very important about the construction workers we saw. I didn't understand what he was saying, but he was so insistent I agreed with him anyway. In desperation he lamented, "Why is my Mom so MEAN to me???"
Katie answered, "Yeah, she IS mean!"
To which I bust out laughing and tried my best to defend myself, but it isn't easy when 2 three year olds gang up on you. I guess I REALLY am the meanest mom on the block.

Today, as Ethan was getting out of the car, he tripped on the seat belt. I reached out my hand and murmured. "Careful". He answered, "I was careful, Sheesh!"

Walking out of Target yesterday Ethan was wearing his fireman dress up hat as any good 3 year old might. He reached up for my hand and said, "Mom...I love you." I could feel the smiles from the tired, haggard shoppers behind me. Yep, I'm one lucky Momma.

Ethan, I love you too.

An open letter to online shoppers everywhere...

BUT, especially the ones that shop with me. :)

Dear Customer,
Thank you so much for putting your trust in me. I will do all that is possible to make sure your order arrives in great condition as fast as possible. But there are a few things you could do to help the process along.

• PLEASE include your REAL phone number on your order. I WILL NOT call you multiple times during dinner, or sell your number to the evil telemarketing fairies. I hate them too. BUT, once in a while, we have a simple question on the expiration date of your credit card or need to know if you are in Apt 12 or Apt. 20.

• PLEASE if you DON'T include your real phone number CHECK YOUR EMAIL...OFTEN. Sometimes we really do have a question that can be cleared up with just a few strokes.

• IF you must send something back, PLEASE include your NAME and your ORDER NUMBER. Strangely, I have no magical powers to figure out who sent the package back ESPECIALLY when the return address is NOT the name we sent it to. Yes we have more than 3 customers.

That's not too hard now is it???

Oh yeah, Merry Christmas!

Love, Me.

Nine

For almost a decade this girl has been sunshine in our family!


Happy Birthday Sierra!

Ugly Cookies...

Ethan and I decided to make cookies today. It turned ugly. Thankfully these are not chocolate chip cookies so my self created Chocolate Chip Cookie Master reputation is still intact.

And darn...I LOVE Gingersnaps.

TRADITION--LIGHTS aka A Perfect Day

Another day of tradition. You see we are creatures of habit. We do something once, we usually do it again, and once you've done that well...TRADITION.

Mike and I started going to see the Christmas lights in Salt Lake City the year we met. It was actually the time I first knew I would marry him even though I didn't know his last name yet. But that's another story.

We have gone to visit the lights as a family ever since. Last year we added a train ride to the equation and now Frnt Rnner as Ethan called it is a tradition. Yesterday we had our perfect day.

Train ride, dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory, A serendipitous meeting with Santa and of course lights. Here are some of my favorite images of the evening.
CONFIDENTIAL TO BROOKE & HER MOM: I can't wait for our next night at the lights and another tradition. And to Brooke's Mom...dress warm! :)

CONFIDENTIAL TO ANYONE WONDERING WHY I WOULD PUT A PICTURE OF SAVANNA LIKE THAT IN A PERFECT DAY POST: Isn't she cute? She was mad at me for putting 2 ponytails in her hair instead of one...or was it she was mad because she couldn't drink my entire bottle of water in one sitting. Who knows...but it was a good photographic moment none the less.

Another Must Read...

If you want to learn about Faith...what it is, how to really apply it...

If you want to learn about Prayer...

If you want to learn about Forgiveness...

If you want to learn about Grief...

If you want to learn about an amazing person who didn't know she was SO strong...

You MUST read this:
Go on...you won't regret it.

Honest Scrap Award

One of my friends, Brenda, awarded me the Honest Scrap Award. I accept and will pass it along to other bloggers who will be named later.

There are rules to this deal. They are as follows:

1. Present this award to 4 others whose blogs you find brilliant in content and/or design or those who have encouraged you.

2. Tell those people that have been awarded the HONEST SCRAP AWARD and inform them of these guidelines in receiving the award.

3. Share “10 honest things” about yourself.

Here are my 10 things.

1. I am a terrible housekeeper.

2. I don't want to be a terrible housekeeper.

3. Some days I would be totally happy to sell my business and be a 'normal' mom. (OK many days but not all days...some days I love it.)

4. I really try to understand my in-laws but sometimes I just don't get them. But, I still love them. I'm sure there have been many times they don't get me either. Give and take I guess.

5. I wish I could convince Mike to go skiing with me AND go to musicals with me. I know, two things totally not related. Even though he doesn't I still love him. ;)

6. Sometimes I wish we could move out of Utah. Not forever, just as an adventure. But, on the other hand, I am EVER so grateful for living close to [most] of my family and for the closeness my kids have with their cousins.

7. I wish my kids were closer with their cousins from the 'other' side of the family and I try hard to encourage those relationships.

8. I keep my Christmas lights on through the whole month of January, not because I'm some weird Christmas wacko...but because I think it's good therapy to battle the emotional letdown after the holidays.

9. I am really proud of my kids. They make many good choices. I am trying to be better at acknowledging those rather than harping on the bad ones.

10. I am slightly obsessed with photography right now. And I don't apologize for it.

OK my 4 people to pass this on to:

Amanda
Marni
Brooke
Amy
Lisa

Oops that's 5. I guess I'm not good at following rules.

It *might* be a bad sign...

when your 11 year old SON comments on how nice it is that you cleaned the fridge.

Things that are DONE!

I run around trying to accomplish things and let's face it, many of the things Moms do are UNdone almost before we get them DONE. So, as a reminder to myself that SOMETIMES we really do get things done, here goes: (Sorry for all the ! exclamation marks...its just these are really exciting for the poor schlops that live in my house...in other words ME!)

1. Bump Beds! (Tim and Ethan are now bunk bed owners and goodbye crib...for good.) {Thanks Mike!}

2. Organized Garage! I can now park my car in the garage for the winter. :) {Thanks Mike, Emily, Tim & Sierra}

3. New Remote for our Automatic Garage Door Opener. (Those of you that don't have garages will hate me for this, but...darn we built our garage for a reason it wasn't so my car had to sit outside in the snow.) :) You see our remote broke 5+ years ago and on a whim Mike went to see if there was such a thing as a universal garage door opening remote. Ta Da! There was and it took him all of about 35 seconds to program it. We won't ask the question of WHY it took him so long to get it in the first place...at least we won't ask it often. {Thanks Mike!}

4. Christmas decorations DONE! *Whew* {Thanks Emily, Tim, Sierra, Savanna, Ethan}

5. Christmas Shopping {almost} DONE! (1 to buy...have to wait a couple weeks though and 1 to make) Good thing because tomorrow starts the 'CRAZY BUSY' time of year--shipping wise. {Thanks me!}

It's nice to COMPLETE something once in awhile rather than just start things all the time.

TRADITION--The Tree

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

For me Christmas and traditions go hand in hand. As a child we would cut down our tree from out backyard. Get it near the house and realize we would need to cut a whole through the floor to the basement if we were to make the tree fit. I remember some years decorating the tree with hand made cookie ornaments, once it was fabric covered styrofoam balls. One thing was for sure it was good, happy memories. (As a parent I'm guessing I didn't notice the ensuing chaos that occurs when kids and Christmas trees get together.) I remember one year as a senior in high school, it was just me and my Dad at home. We were both busy and waited till nearly Christmas until we got the tree even in the house. I decorated the tree mostly on my own. As I was decorating one afternoon, I got a call from a friend. He was the second oldest in his large family and was going through the 'I wish I was an only child' syndrome. I think he called for some sympathy. He didn't get any. In fact, I gave him a lecture about 'Some day...you'll have to decorate your Christmas tree on your OWN. I can tell you, you won't like it." The one thing I learned that year was that Christmas is for families. If you have one treasure them. If you don't, find one to substitute. But definitely don't take what you have for granted. I think that is when it became rooted in me how important family traditions were. After my Mom died it was the previous family traditions that we did that reminded me of her. Santa showed up for a year or two after, then one year he forgot to come. While I knew the truth, the magic of that particular tradition helped keep my memories of a time before alive and well. The next year I took over. And I've never looked back. For some, traditions can be burdensome and unnecessary, but for me it is a connection that transcends the time it takes to do them a place long before and will stretch for years ahead. For me...traditions matter. In this light, it was very apropos that a friend of Mike's would share a tradition of their family and became OUR family's 1st tradition.

The TREE. Our tree will never win awards for beauty or matching ornaments, but it will last in the hearts of my children forever.

The tradition is simple really. We choose an ornament each year to represent something important that has happened to our family. When we decorate, no one puts any ornaments on the tree until the story of our family through ornaments is told. Each person gets an opportunity to place their symbol, their representation of what is important to us on the tree. That seems normal enough, but we haven't confined ourselves to typical ornaments...well, see for your self.

Some of my favorites:

The ornament that started it all. A small crystal glass temple given to us by Mike's friend for a wedding present. The pink ribbon was from a paper ribbon from another present.

The next year...Mike and I graduated from Utah State University. Those tassels represent much study and growth, but most importantly the emphasis we as a family put on education.

The year Emily was born. These first tennis shoes of Emily's were a gift from a neighbor. I think she DID wear them once before them came part of our Christmas tree lore.

The year we built our house. This hammer head is conspicuously missing it's handle. We replaced the handle 3 times in the 10 month long house building journey. It represents hard work, dedication, determination and getting things accomplished.

Tim has shoes too, he wore them with his blessing outfit.

Sierra's ornament is a binky. She never actually used the binky, we used it to announce her pending arrival by hiding it in an Easter egg for her Grandma and Grandpa Thornley to find. Funny thing was a few years later Easter fell on April 1st so we once again hid a binky as an April Fool's joke.

Savanna's ornament is her bonnet from her blessing outfit. It was supposed to be the little orange Pumpkin hat we got for her to come home from the hospital in a day before Halloween but when it came time to decorating the tree we couldn't find it. We have more than one accidental ornament...and now they are beloved.

Ethan's ornament is once again a binky. This time it is one he used. The boy was picky and had to have the special binkies or there was heck to pay.

We have had key chains, toy airplanes, a cast iron fry pan(mini size for the year the Olympics came) and science fair awards for different years. This year we chose to commemorate the opportunity to visit the biggest hole in the ground we have ever seen.

The GRAND CANYON.

What are YOUR traditions?

TRADITION--The Turkey

Our traditional Thanksgiving Turkey!

He's getting a bit dog eared and bent, but he's faithful--and...and...colorful. (if you can't say something nice after all.)

Handmade feathers.

And the turkeys who made them (minus Mom and Dad)

Somethings that made the feathers this year:

Swimming Lessons
Hill Air Force Base
The *Click* of a Camera
Band
Football
Jesus
Testimony
A Big Loud Dinosaur
Family
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
Mountains
Hiking
School
Native American Picture Writing
Allowed (As in am I ALLOWED to bring this...to wherever...) Ethan LOVES Allowed!
The Holy Ghost
Booms
Skiing
Scriptures
Music
Smiley's
Amazon

Yes, we have MUCH to be Thankful for...

My bootie...

No don't take that wrong! *glare* I am now part of the boot sisterhood. I got these beauties for $24.98 via Black Friday. Now I just need somewhere to wear them. :)Ok Brenda...it's your turn!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know I should write a great big list of All the things I am thankful for, because there are MANY of them. I am really very blessed.

BUT...

I think tonight I'll just be thankful for my great husband Mike...who thinks I'm nuts and still loves me and my fun-lovin' sister in-law Brooke whom I'm going to spend the wee hours of the morning with.


Watch out crazies here we come.


Oh and I'll get to that other thankful list another time. :)

My life in comics (again)