May Happenings at the School

We attended the first annual Spring Fling at the elementary school.  Clark applied tattoos with the Student Council's booth, Katelyn had a performance with her Hollywood Kids group, Jake won 2 packages of brownies after his third try at the Cake Walk, Carlee got her snowcone, hotdog and played carnival games, and I won a Great Harvest bread basket at the raffle.   All in all, a success and a fun Friday night.

Clark is applying the tattoo of choice

Singing "Oh, The Thinks You Can Think!" from Suessical, the Musical

Kate's duet, "Notice Me, Horton".  She plays Gertrude McFuzz.

A week later was the Multi-Cultural Showcase in which classrooms all around the school represented different countries.  Each class picked a country and the kids learned about its culture and history.  They made crafts, presentations, drawings, videos, learned to speak words in the language and even helped make food samples.  When we arrived each child got a passport to be stamped at each country they visited.  When they had three stamps, they earned a homework pass.  Clark's class did Russia, Katelyn's class did Brazil, and Jake's class did Australia.  While Katelyn was studying about Brazil, my parents were in town.  Since my dad served his mission there, Katelyn took him into her class one day and he taught the kids about the country.  He even taught some hand motions and mouth noises when you enjoy something.  Kate also brought in some Guarana soda for her classmates to try.  It was a fun night full of interesting facts about different countries.

Clark welcomed the parents and visitors to the Multi-Cultural Showcase and led the audience in the pledge of allegiance

Each Student Council member recited "A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step" in different languages including German, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic, and Tagalog

Jacob said the Pledge of Allegiance with sign language

 
The school also hosts a Family Picnic Lunch every month.  Parents bring lunch, a picnic blanket and everyone eats out on the playground.  The kids sometimes eat and relax with us and other times, they eat quickly and head off to play kickball or hang from the monkey bars.  Our kids look forward to it and each has taken a turn choosing the lunch but the favorite and most requested is Subway, of course!

Carlee, Clara, Amber, Nedra

Julie, Sara, Katelyn, Mia

Cathy, Audrey, Jen, Jessen

Ella, Jax, Lacee, Melissa, Brandy, Kobee

The Taylors and Allreds--accidentally clothing coordinated and very cute

First picnic lunch for Dad

Spring Sports

Spring sports is a crazy time in our household.  Baseball is at least 4 times a week with games and practices, soccer is twice a week, and there is piano, dance, Hollywood Kids, activity days, and scouts.  For the last three months, it has been really hectic getting the kids to all of their practices, games, and lessons.  We basically live out of our car--eating, changing clothes, doing homework, and coordinating drop-off and pick-up times.  It is so fun to watch the kids do their activities and sports but it is such a relief when the season is over. 

Clark played baseball again this spring and was on the AAA Giants team.  He definitely improved and gained more confidence than last year.  Last season, he got hit with the baseball 2-3 times and looked for the walk instead of hitting the ball.  This year, he had some great hits and not from the ball hitting his body (that didn't happen once).  He was a better hitter, fielder, and gained a lot of confidence.  His team only won two games-one during the season and the first game of the championship bracket so as a whole, they weren't very good but this actually helped Clark a lot.  He was one of the better players on the team and he learned a lot about where the plays should be and how the game is actually played.  Clark got to play every position, including catching and pitching. 

(For his perspective on the season, you'll have to read his blog.  It is quite funny.  My sister says that Clark unfortunately has my athletic ability and Joe's ego so it's a double whammy ;)  Truthfully, he did really well this season and we are proud of him.)

This ended up being a double into the outfield

Clark's favorite positon was shortstop

These two loved playing in the dirt and making mudpies and sandcastles.  They were always filthy and there was way too much red dirt in my house during the season. 

Jake also loved buying stuff from the snack shack.  One game, he brought $7 from his bank and spent it all buying his family drinks and different kids/strangers/friends RingPops, Tootsie Rolls, popcorn, AirHeads, and Sour Punch Straws.

Getting ready to pitch

Winding up

There it goes!  See?  The tongue's out!

Waiting for the catcher

What a guy!

Jake played soccer this spring and due to his age, had to move up to the 7-9 year olds bracket.  Despite being small and young, he did awesome and really knows how to hustle.  Jake loves soccer and plans to be a professional soccer player when he asked me what career makes the most money and I answered with professional sports. 

He is such a cute little dude running around the field and it makes me laugh because he is sometimes distracted when running next to someone.  Forget the soccer ball . . . He likes to make it a race and watches the other players to make sure he is faster. 

Blue Powerade, the drink of my champion!

HI

Hello everyone, Clark here. So I haven't been doing my blog for 2 years. But now I promise to keep it up. So please check it out.

- Clark

Anniversary Getaway

Joe and I got to have a little getaway to celebrate our 13th anniversary.  We went to Sedona, Arizona and stayed at the Hilton resort.  My parents came down for the week and graciously watched our kids for 3 days while we enjoyed peace, quiet, and no commitments.  We drove there late Tuesday night after Clark's baseball game and arrived at 3:00 in the morning drinking caffeine, eating snacks, and talking the whole way.  (Okay, I did take a couple of quick naps along the way)

Wednesday morning we slept in, headed to the gym, and had an early lunch at Ken's Creekside.  I had an amazing pear and apple salad and Joe got a yummy burger.  The restaurant was recommended to us by one of Joe's  colleagues and it was delicious.  After lunch we went to Tlaquepaque, a unique outdoor shopping district with nice restaurants, fancy art galleries, and upscale stores.  Joe helped me pick out a gift that he has been secretly planning since Christmas but it never happened then, so he did his research and found the store in Sedona for my anniversary/Mother's Day gift.

After spending some time in the little village, we walked through the town enjoying the red rocks, tourist "traps", and shops selling artifacts and handmade items.  Later that afternoon, we got some ice cream and drove out to Jerome, an old mining city on the side of the mountain.  It is known for being the most haunted city in the United States.  Tourists especially love to visit Jerome around Halloween and eat at The Haunted Hamburger restaurant.  It is a really laid-back town with some interesting buildings and people that live there.  I loved the signs on the store doors.

Another sign read, "Dogs welcome but children must be leashed"

We enjoyed a romantic dinner at Cucina Rustica that evening and sat outside with firelit torches, candlelight, and background music played by a guitarist.  It was so nice to enjoy our food and conversation without wrestling kids or telling them to behave because we are in a restaurant!  The food was great too. 

Thursday we woke up to watch The Royal Wedding recap and then headed over to Devil's Bridge for a hike.  The dirt road leading to the trailhead was pretty beat up so we didn't venture very far in Joe's little car and I think the hike along the road was longer than the one to the bridge but it was fun.  When we got to the bridge, we laughed at the people daring each other to walk further along the bridge.  The bridge was fairly wide but it was a long way down with some pretty strong breezes!  Your mind starts to wander and play tricks on you when you stand out there but it was fun.  Joe took pictures while I walked to the middle.  Then a man from Greece offered to take some pics of us together if Joe would walk out to me.  He didn't make it quite to the middle but we got some pictures anyway.  The photographer told us to kiss and took about 30 pictures of us.  It was like our engagement pictures all over again.  He kept yelling at us to do different poses and it was funny.  Then we hiked down to the bottom of the bridge to see how thin the bridge really was and headed back to the car.

Happily married for 13 years!

Devil's Bridge

Here I am!  Right in the middle!

Under Devil's Bridge

That afternoon we went swimming and then got ready for a delicious dinner at The Barking Frog.  The dessert was a sampler trio and we thought there was no way we would eat it all but it was so yummy that we gobbled it up.  The server was surprised and laughed when he brought us a box to take the dessert home but it was already gone.

Bell Rock

Friday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and then checked out.  We had some time to kill so we went to the outlets for the "swap meet" and talked to different people about their Indian jewelry, whistles, and photography.  We hit the road early afternoon, grabbed dinner in Kingman at a yummy Thai restaurant, and came home to find our kids happily enjoying their grandparents.  We had a really great time and it is always so fun to reconnect and spend time together without life's busy-ness.  I am so grateful that Joe is my husband and my love for him grows deeper and deeper every day as he serves me and our children and is the best he can be for us.  Happy 13th Anniversary, Joe!  Love you!