The Clark Family

Most Handsome Guy In The World

2012-02-02T17:14:00.001-07:00

This is a movie of Jeremiah kissing himself in the mirror. He did this in our hotel for about a half hour. I only caught the end of it but, it's pretty cute!

A Cross-Country Journey

2012-01-28T19:17:00.000-07:00

Christopher, Jeremiah and I just moved from Provo to Washington DC. Along our way we made some fun stops and saw some incredible things.

We made a stop at a rest area and Jeremiah played in the snow for the first time in his life. He was so excited at first but once he started playing with it for a while he began examining his hands, whined a little bit and flapped his hands in the air. He didn't realize that snow was so cold.

Nauvoo was incredible! We were able to see the temple and visit some of the Church members' homes. One of the highlights included running into my High School Painting teacher who is currently serving in Nauvoo with his wife as a senior missionary couple. The old cultural hall (#5 on the map) was currently being renovated but because I knew Mr. Laney (my old teacher) he took us on a private tour of the building. Chris and I were able to slow dance on the same old floor that Joseph and Emma danced on...such a sweet moment.

The spirit is so strong in Nauvoo. Tears came to my eyes as I walked around and looked at how much the early saints had done and dedicated to the Lord.

Just a few miles away from Nauvoo is Carthage Jail. We were able to have another private tour and spend some time walking around in the jail where Joseph Smith Jr. was kept under false charges of treason. We stood in the same room that Joseph, Hyrum, Willard Richards and John Taylor were kept in and saw the bullet holes left in the walls from the angry mob. I knew I would cry at Carthage but, I also assumed that there would be a terrible feeling that accompanied my tears. However, to my surprise, I was met with a soft, sweet spirit that left me feeling only grateful for sweet Joseph and hopeful for the future.

Along our trip I made an effort to stop at some of the restaurants featured in "diners, drive-ins and dives" on food network. My absolute favorite place was a little "dive" in Cincinnati called Terry's Turf. There best menu item is a burger with a burgundy wine with wild mushroom hamburger topping. AMAZZING!!! I'm not necessarily a burger person but, I could eat a burger from Terry's any day!

We made it safely to DC 2 days ago and are so happy not to wake up and drive 8 hours!

Some updates on Jeremiah (14 Mo. old)

He now does sign language for: "please", "thank you", "more", "diaper", "bye", "drink", "milk", "water", "eat", and "help".

He verbally says, "mamma", "dadda", "please", "nana" (banana), "gawa" (grandma/grandpa), "go", "hi", "bye", "hot", "wow", "ish", and "jus" (Jesus).

He runs around like the Tasmanian-devil and his favorite toys are: cell phones, remote controls, pots, pans and silverware.

We love you all and are so grateful for all of your love and prayers!!!!

My little Turkey

2011-11-29T21:01:00.001-07:00

Thanksgiving was wonderful! We were able to spend time with family that we love and to reflect on the things we are most grateful for in life. Jeremiah helped me make this little halloween decoration for our fridge; all of the feathers are cut-outs of Jeremiah's little hands.

This time last year I was holding a little Jeremiah in my arms. I went into labor Thanksgiving night and gave birth about 21 hours later. Jeremiah will always be my little Turkey. He reminds me of the wonderful things in life.

We celebrated Jeremiah's 1st birthday on Saturday. I still can't believe it! He doesn't even know that he's 1 or what a birthday is but he sure enjoyed his birthday cake and loves playing with all of his new toys and gifts.

Celebration and Trouble

2011-11-15T15:50:00.002-07:00

CELEBRATIONS

Grandpa Clark came to visit this past week. SO FUN! We love seeing him and spending time with him. While he was here we had a large party at Grandma Christensen's home (the home of all partying) to celebrate November family birthdays. Little Jeremiah, his wonderful grandpa, Kofi (11.11.11. So Cool!) and Christina Myers all blew out candles. It was so nice to be with everyone and spend time eating, talking, playing games and more than anything, just being around each other.

Although, it is not quite Jeremiah's birthday he was able to open a gift from G&G Christensen. He got 3 little stackable, noisy cars that he LOVES.

TROUBLE

Lately, Jeremiah has been getting into all kinds of trouble; he pulls everything off of the tables, all the books off the shelves, all the food out of the fridge, sticks everything in the trash, pushes all the buttons he can find, touches every knob, heads straight for the plunger every time the bathroom door opens, and escapes the house anytime someone opens the door. Some days I think I'm going to lose my mind trying to take care of him. It's a good thing he's so darn cute.

Sweet Moments

2011-11-09T21:15:00.002-07:00

Every day of my life is full of sweet little moments. One of my sweet little moments of today happened when Chris came home during lunch and literally swept me off my feet. With a handsome smile on his face he took me in his arms and began dancing with me in the living room. Only seconds later, we felt tugging at our legs. Apparently, Jeremiah didn't want to miss out on all the fun. So, the three of us slow danced around the living room together while we listened to Brett Raymond.

Another sweet moment took place when I took Jeremiah out for a walk. He laughed as he did his "waddle run" down the sidewalk, throwing leaves up in the air. He turned back to look at me, gave me a big smile and then waited for me to catch up with him so I could see a pretty leaf he found. He pointed at the leaf and said, "huh?". I never know what "huh?" means so I just told him that the leaf was red. He looked at me, said, "ehhhdah" and then clapped his hands.

What would life be without the people I love most? As I think back on all of the "sweet moments" in my life I am unable to say that a single one of them didn't include someone that I loved ,whether, in spirit, thought or physical presence.

I am so blessed by each person in my life. All contribute to my happiness and "sweet moments".

Thrifty & Nifty

2011-11-03T23:50:00.004-06:00

About a week ago I ran out of diapers for Jeremiah. As I was contemplating buying and searching for good deals I was so sickened by a realization that I had. I spend way too much money on something that my baby poops on!!! In an effort to save money and make myself feel better, I searched for a good "not too expensive" cloth diaper. I read a lot of reviews and talked to a lot of moms and found that I could get the best deal for cloth diapers on Ebay. Initially, cloth diapers can appear to cost more money because a cloth diaper costs anywhere between 4$ - 20$ a piece and a disposable diaper are about 20 - 40 cents a piece. However, when I calculated all of my costs over a two year period (including water and electricity for cloth) I saw a clear winner. Cloth diapers (all expenses included) cost about 1/5th of the money spent on disposable diapers. I wish I would have switched to cloth diapers earlier!

Now, you do have decide whether the money is worth not having to deal with more hands-on "stinky diaper time" or if you feel like you can go a little more green and save yourself some green. I was definitely worried about dealing with the diapers but, I have found that it's much simpler than I anticipated. You just need to get a good system going that works for you. And...if you're dealing with poop anyway, what's one more step?

One downer about cloth diapers is they take up a lot more space. I couldn't put all the cloth diapers in my diaper bag without having to sacrifice something else I needed like: a change of clothes, wash cloths, medicine, water, snacks, my wallet, toys or baby blanket. When I searched online for diaper bags I was unsatisfied with either, the price or the size of the bag. I found a bag that I really liked, made by Petunia Pickle Bottom, and guess what the price tag revealed?!? A whopping $160! WHAT? So, I thought to myself..."Hey, self. You can make one of those!" And, that's exactly what I did!

I picked myself up some supplies from JoAnns for just over $15 and made myself a cute, spacious, multi-pocketed, multifunctional, custom "AriAnn" bag! Check it out.

I am proud of myself for being able to save some money by just putting forth a little effort.

You too, can save a lot of money by researching and thinking about ways/alternatives to things that you buy and use everyday. Give it a whirl! :) I'm sure you'll come up with a lot of great ideas and probably much more quickly than I did.

Create

2011-11-01T20:36:00.002-06:00

I love creating things! My favorite things to do include: drawing, cooking, painting, sewing, paper crafting, writing music, taking pictures...anything.

Eventually, I hope that I can earn income for my family by doing some of the things that I love.

Over the past two weeks I have been fiddling around with a new camera and have already taken over 1000 pictures of Jeremiah(my favorite subject). :)

2011-10-31T17:16:00.002-06:00

This Halloween we dressed up as characters from "How to Train Your Dragon". Chris and I were vikings and Jeremiah was a baby dragon. Jeremiah loves his costume; both times that we've let Jeremiah wear his dragon costume he's ran around the house "RAWR"ing. It's pretty cute!

We enjoyed a fun Saturday at Great Grandma Christensen's home where we paraded around the block and had lots of fun treats. I think we were all sick to our stomaches by the time we left.

Tonight we will be spending time with G&G Brown. Jeremiah's uncles are excited to take him trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. After tonight I'm sure our stomaches will be turned into petrified candy!

Pumpkin Love

2011-10-25T15:32:00.002-06:00

♥

Every time I've taken Jeremiah to the store he has grabbed at and cried for the pumpkins outside. I always felt like I was in a hurry or didn't want to spend more time in the busy parking lot but, yesterday I decided to let him have a little fun. We sat outside the local Smith's store for about a half an hour so that Jeremiah could play with (pound on) the pumpkins before grocery shopping. When it was time to go into the store Jeremiah wasn't going to come without bringing a pumpkin with him. So, he happily sat in the cart with his pumpkin while I shopped for and bought the items I came for. As I put him in his car seat he threw a bit of a fit as usual but as soon as I set his little pumpkin down beside him he giggled and clapped his hands. I don't know what it is about his little pumpkin...maybe, he loves it because it's orange or because it makes a cool sound and feels funny but, more than likely he loves it because everyone else he sees has one. Since we've been home I think he's been without his pumpkin only to sleep. Today, I told him that he could only play with the pumpkin outside and I set it on the porch but, now he walks to the door and pounds on it every hour. Who knew that an .80¢ pumpkin would be more fun than a $20 truck?

Oh...if only pumpkins could be bought year round!

Personality

2011-10-23T17:36:00.008-06:00

♥

Jeremiah has been developing quite the little personality. It's been interesting to watch him interact with other people, especially, other children. Jeremiah now sings, dances (squats and waves his hands in the air), claps, screams, talks and gets into mischief more than ever before. If you're looking for a fun time just hang out with Jeremiah for a few hours.

After about an hour into Stake Conference today, Jeremiah decided that he had had enough. So, Chris took him out in the hall to play. Jeremiah was in baby heaven! Chris said that as soon as he set Jeremiah down he ran over to the first kid he saw and said, "HUH?!!" about 1in from the kids face. When the boy didn't respond he went to the next child and did the same thing. Jeremiah continued to do this to ever child he saw. We knew that he had finally found a worthy friend when he stopped to play with a little boy and then began sucking on his head. But, that didn't last long. As soon as Jeremiah heard a little boy crying he walked over and put the toy that the boy was playing with into the boy's mouth. HA!

I'm going to need to teach Jeremiah about personal space!

Goals

2011-10-05T14:25:00.002-06:00

After I had Jeremiah I kind of lost myself a little bit. I felt like I stopped progressing in a way and that I was stuck in a land of "sleepless baby-ness". A few months ago I decided I would take my life back and started setting weekly and monthly goals for myself in order to become a better me, a better mom, wife and woman of God. This month my goal is to write in my journal every day as well as continuing my past goals (reading scriptures every day alone and with Chris and Jeremiah, praying daily, reading my patriarchal blessing weekly and exercising 3 times a week).

It's so easy to get caught up in the unimportant things in life. I think too much about my hair, my clothes, what my future home will look like, making everyone in the ward cookies, picking up all of Jeremiah's toys every 15 minutes etc. As I listened to General Conference this past weekend I was reminded of the important things. I think it's time I spend more thinking about and doing better things. No!.. the best things. Setting goals to do not just good things but the best things, I believe, will bring me closer to the Lord and greater happiness.

Setting, working on and achieving goals has brought me so much happiness. It's a skill that I learned as a Young Woman and I am so grateful that it was taught to me.

These are a few things I have learned about setting goals:
1. Set small goals in order to achieve greater ones
2. Repent and Start each day new (don't let a day of "failure" get you down)
3. Write your goals down and make a plan
4. Make your goals positive (state them in a positive way). Rather than say "I will not be the fat me that I am" say, "I will eat 3 servings of my favorite vegetables every day."
5. Don't overwhelm yourself and set too many goals at once.
6. Reward yourself with good things that are not contrary to your goals
7. Pray for help and guidance
8. Report to (or brag to) a spouse, realative or friend. Ask them for suggestions and help.
9. Read your scriptures, the ensign and conference talks. They will motivate you and even help you see examples of others reaching their goals.
10. Tell yourself every morning that you are wonderful and that you can accomplish anything you want to with the help of the Lord.

If you haven't been setting goals lately, I challenge you to do so. Come on this adventure with me and become a better you. If you can't think of goals I'll give you a list of a few of the goals that I would like to meet.

Read to Jeremiah 2 hours a day everyday
Go outside for a walk just to enjoy the day 2 times a week
Take 1 picture a day of something that made me smile
Tell my husband that I love him in a new/different/special way everyday
Finish the Book of Mormon 2 times a year
Write missionary letters every fast sunday
Re-memorize all of the scripture masteries

IF I CAN DO IT SO CAN YOU!!!!! You are AMAZING!

The Joy of having a Boy

2011-09-28T20:10:00.001-06:00

Jeremiah makes me SO happy. I know I say this all the time but, he really does!!!
He is now waddling all around the house and picking things up and carrying them with him wherever he goes. I showed him that he could put things in a little purse that I had so that he could carry that around instead of an arm full of stuff. He loved that idea! But, soon it wasn't enough. He has now found one of my decorative baskets and fills it up to the brim. However, the basket gets too heavy for him to carry around. HA...so he just sits on the ground and stares at it perplexingly.

Jeremiah has also become quite the little climber. He pulls his bumbo seat off of a dining room chair and uses it to climb onto the chair and then uses the chair to climb onto the table. He has tried climbing on top of, into, and out of everything in our home. Yesterday, I heard him screaming and found him stuck in his toy bin. Apparently, he can climb in but can't climb out.

He loves pushing around a toy fire engine that I found him at the DI. The engine has a hole in it for legos but he fills it with everything he can think of and pushes it around. I think he found that this was easier than trying to carry a big basket full of toys. We also know that if there is anything missing in our house it's either in Jeremiah's toy bin or in his fire engine. In a single day I found: my keys, chris's measuring tape, a cup, a cell phone, one of our decorative monkey's from Africa and one of my necklaces inside of his fire engine.

This afternoon, after Chris's career fair, Jeremiah and I walked around and gathered candy from the baby admiring ladies at career booths. On our way home I gave him a sucker with a wrapper on it thinking that he would just play with it. Evidently, he gnawed on the sucker long enough to get the wrapper off. Since he was so clever we just let him have the sucker. :) Lucky Kid!

Happy Days

2011-09-24T21:47:00.003-06:00

This past Thursday my husband surprised me with a cute little box and a note for my birthday. Excitedly I opened the box only to find a whole bunch of mud! YES! Just what I wanted :S Actually, it turns out that this was his way of telling me that I was going to run in The Dirty Dash (a 10k race in Midway Utah). I had been wanting to run the race and kept asking about it but it was too expensive to register so late in the game. So, it was a great surprise and a wonderful present!

Today we ran The Dirty Dash. I couldn't believe how much I enjoyed getting so dirty. What a great memory.

And, to top the day off, I went to the General Relief Society Meeting. I enjoyed all of the talks but the one that really spoke to me was the talk given by Elder Uchtdorf. I adore him! Not only is he the most handsome apostle (in my opinion) but also extremely sweet and funny. I genuinely feel his love for me and for the members of the church. He hit on 5 points that stem from his thoughts on the Forget Me Not flower.

1. Forget Not to be Patient with Yourself

I think it's so important that we don't get down on ourselves for not being perfect. A problem that many of the women of the church have. Why is it that we believe we have to be the perfect mom, wife, cook, pianist, painter, etc? And, what is perfection? Is our vision of what perfection is warped?

2. Forget Not the Difference Between a Good Sacrifice and a Foolish Sacrifice.

Sometimes we focus too much on trying to go the extra mile but the sacrifice we make in order to do so might not be wise.

3. Forget Not to be Happy Now!

We should enjoy the blessings we currently have and life in happiness along our quest for perfection.

4. Forget Not the "Why" of the Gospel.

We often focus on the "What" (what do I have to do now?) and "How" (how the heck am I going to find time to do this?) but, as we remember the "Why" it makes the "What" and "How" so much easier to see and do.

5. Forget Not that the Lord Loves You

:) We are beloved daughters of our Heavenly Father and He LOVES us! We are loved by the most magnificent being in the entire universe.

Wow! It's so wonderful that we have modern day apostles and a prophet who leads our church and speaks on behalf of God. We can hear exactly what Heavenly Father wants us to know.

I am also posting a few pictures of Jeremiah because I know you all enjoy seeing pictures of him more than hearing about our lives. :) I took these over the past 2 days.

Oh...to sleep like a baby! I swear Jeremiah can sleep in ANY position.

We all have BYU jerseys so that we can sport them when we watch the games. The picture on the left is Jeremiah in football line position. We thought this was funny.

Thank You

2011-09-20T12:11:00.003-06:00

This morning on my way home from driving Chris to his meeting I stopped to let a girl cross the street. The girl happily smiled, waved and mouthed a "thank you" as she crossed. I was so touched by this small gesture of appreciation. I didn't realize that a simple "thank you" could change or set the mood for the day.

In 2003 Elder Oaks gave a talk called "Give Thanks in All Things." In his talk Elder Oaks outlines some of the things that we should be grateful for and why it's important that we give thanks.
As I read this talk I realized that showing gratitude not only lifts the receiver but also blesses the life of the giver. When I give thanks to others and to God I am more positive and see potential/present problems in a brighter light. It's often hard to be grateful for our trials especially while we are in the middle of them. However, Elder Oaks assures us that we will be blessed as we search for things to be thankful for and show our gratitude for those things.

I challenge each of you today to thank at least 5 people ,including God, for something. As you make yourself more aware of the good that you are being blessed with it will become more easy for you to see them each day. You will find that there are so many things to be thankful for that you wont know how to give thanks for all of them. HOW GREAT IS THAT?!?

Some of the things I am grateful for today are: the nice weather, the food in my refrigerator, my husband, my baby boy, dish sponges, my ability to hear and see, work, and the internet.

This morning Jeremiah was crawling around with a flavored stick that he got from the doctor's office. I thought that this picture might make you smile and hopefully make you grateful for children, laughter, humor, smiles, wealth enough to have a device that has internet capabilities and your ability to see this picture that has traveled through space so that you can view it miles and miles away. :)

I want to tell you all that I am so thankful for you and for all that you do. My life is beautiful because you are a part of it!!!

Elder Oaks "Give Thanks in All Things" 2003

One step at a time

2011-09-14T21:58:00.004-06:00

Jeremiah has been eagerly trying to walk for the past two months now. It's been incredible to watch him go from sitting to standing, standing to walking along the couch and finally walking along the couch to walking. I love watching him concentrate on and try new things. He has a curiosity and spunk that I admire. Every day is a new adventure with Jeremiah; every day we learn something new together! I am so glad that I can tag along with such a great boy and experience the world through his incredible eyes.

Here is a video of Jeremiah learning to walk.

The American Idol Experience

2011-09-01T20:37:00.004-06:00

Jessica Dixon and I decided that it would be a fun idea to go to Houston this year to try out for American Idol. So, we bought tickets and flew out to Texas without a clue in our minds as to what would happen when we arrived. Since neither one of us is 25 years old yet, to rent a car would cost us an arm and a leg. So, we decided to go with public transit. But, not having traveled very much alone we didn't know the first thing about getting around.

We arrived at the Houston airport and we were greeted by a big warm hug from Mr. Humidity when we walked off the plane. Yuck! But, despite the weather we were determined to make our trip wonderful. With our Carry-on luggage in hand and a smile on our faces we headed outside to the bus station. Unlike other cities I've been in the bus maps in Houston were extremely confusing. Rather than trying to figure out how to get from place to place on our own we just decided to ask people around us for help. We talked to a nice old man who told us what bus to take to get downtown. As we rode the bus we giggled and pointed out the window at the unfamiliar sights around us. When the bus driver directed us off the bus we realized that downtown was a very loose term. Apparently "downtown" was miles and miles and miles big. 3 1/2 hours, 4 bus trips and miles of walking later we had reached the Galleria (a mall that Chris Moyes, my sister-in-law's husband, told us was a cool place to go). As we walked in, we realized that we were extremely underdressed. The Galleria was an upscale shopping center with the Armani story being at the Low end of expensive. But, we were sweaty, tired and very hungry so we ignored the fact that we didn't fit in and just found a place to rest and eat.
By now, my phone had been dead for about 2 hours and it was 9 pm. Because we didn't know where else to go or what else to do we caught a bus down to Reliant Park where the auditions would be held. We were dropped off on the opposite side of the Reliant Stadium but didn't find it a huge obstacle because how far around could it be to the other side? Right?... NO! We began walking down the dark street with our luggage dragging behind us. When we finally figure out we were heading in the wrong direction we were exhausted and didn't want to walk anymore. We were lost and our excitement about being in Houston was fading quickly. With no way of calling anyone and no way of figuring out where we were, we sat down on the side of the road. As we looked around us to see where we had plopped down we noticed that there was an electric outlet on a TREE! What? Yes! There was one tree that someone hadn't taken Christmas lights off of and there was a plug right there on the tree. We hurried and plugged in our phone and thanked Heavenly Father for such a great tender mercy.

While we were waiting for our phone to charge Jessica noticed that just a block down there was a grocery cart. What luck!!! When we were rejuvenated enough to get back up and wander some more we put all of our luggage in the grocery cart and began pushing it in the opposite direction we had headed last time. It was only when we began passing a lot of homeless people that we feared we were not in a great part of town. Just as we were beginning to worry we heard a shout from behind a bus that had just stopped. A boy ran across the road to us and knew by the looks of us that we were from out of town. He shouted at us and asked if we were trying out for american idol. We replied in the affirmative and he said that he would like to accompany us to wherever we were going because he too was trying out for american idol. He said, "what the heck are you two girls doing out this late on this side of town? Ya'll are going to get yourselves killed. Let me push your buggy and I'll come with you to wherever you are going." Well...we didn't know where we were going but, we thought it might be a good idea to try and find the other side of the stadium. Eventually, three hours later, we reached the other side of Reliant park. We didn't realize that the place was so big.
When we found the line of anxious talent waiting to register we were so happy!!! Ah...we had made it. As we sat in line there was an awkward silence around us. Jessica and I thought it would be a fun idea to have some entertainment to keep us awake through the next 7 hours so, we brilliantly began asking people to sing their audition pieces for us. We had NO IDEA that once we got people singing they would NEVER stop! Our night was long and filled with music. We met incredible singers and some that were not so incredible. It was so fun to meet people that were so different from us. We loved the black texan accent and enjoyed the weird questions that some of the people asked us. They said things like, "Ya'll are married? How old are you? Ya'll have kids too? Crazy! You're baby daddy still around? My baby daddy not. I'm gonna hunt him down and beat his a**. How long you been married? Wow...and he don't beat you? Ya'll are lucky!"

At 9am we were finally able to register. Now that we endured long enough to get our orange wristbands we were so excited to get to Sugarland so we could sleep at the Smith's home.

After a few bus rides and people telling us where to go, we reached the sugarland station. But, guess who doesn't have phone battery again??? Yep...so we trail off again on foot. As we were almost about to break out in tears we spotted a taxi at a gas station. Another tender mercy. The man was able to get us to the Smith's house (which we would have NEVER made it to on foot).

The Smith family is so sweet and kind. They had fresh towels and a nice cool bed waiting for us when we arrived. It was so nice to relax and finally get some sleep.We enjoyed being with the Smith girls so much that we hung out with them most of the time we were there. They were a blast to be around; it was like having a 24/7 "girls night".

On Friday morning we arrived at Reliant Park Stadium around 5:30am. We sat like cattle in cages that they shoved everyone into. At 8am they let us into the stadium and we did a lot of filming. When they were done with their filming they instructed us on how the audition process would go. There were 12 booths in the middle of the stadium. A line of 4 people were to approach every booth and the judges would direct them to sing in turn. They then say "yes" or "no". If they say "yes" you get a golden ticket and go to one door and if they say "no" you get your wristband cut off and walk out another door.

When it was our turn we walked up and it appeared as though the two judges were playing rock-paper-scissors. Apparently they were fighting over going to lunch and neither of them wanted to be there. The girl that lost at rock-paper-scissors wasn't very happy. She looked at us with a nasty stare and just told us to sing. I don't think she even listened. She said "no" to the whole line after us until she was able to go to lunch! HAHA...we felt like we did a great job (Jessica sang "angel" spectacularly and I sang "a-tisket a-tasket" better than I expected) and there were people around us who also didn't make it and were incredible!!!!! American Idol makes it look like half of the people who show up are bad or weird but in all truthfulness only about 2 % of the people trying out are jokes, 68 % are average and 30% are amazing! What's silly is that only 1% of all the people who try out actually make it past the first round of judges and half of those are the jokes that aren't even good at singing. But, that's show business! :)
We had such a great experience trying out for American Idol. We didn't come into it expecting anything, we knew that we didn't have great odds. It would have been cool if we got through but, we had a good time just being a part of something so big.

Houston was a BLAST! We had so many great experiences and met some great people. I am so grateful that Jessica and I were able to have the American Idol experience. We had such a great time bumming around together but we are glad to be home. I've decided that I like my life as a wife and mom way better than partying all night, sleeping all day, being around crowds of people all the time and standing in front of cameras all day. But it was worth it just to be with Jessica and hang out with the Smiths. I actually think the highlight of our trip was playing with the girls in our bedroom and just hanging out.

If you're thinking about trying out for American Idol DO IT! It's a once in a lifetime opportunity that will rock your world. I've never been a part of anything like it and I don't think I'll ever try out again but I am glad I did!

Traces of Love

2011-08-18T16:51:00.002-06:00

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautiful tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schenk's lawn. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt form making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my nails from helping weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheek and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived. "
— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Sister Hinckley knew what life was all about and so does my husband! Chris is such a hard worker. He wakes up at 5 every morning, plays with the baby, feeds him, gets ready for the day, puts the baby back to sleep and then goes to work. He usually comes home during lunch to eat but, most of the time he comes home to help a neighbor move, fix a car, fix a leak, give a blessing or to just spend more time with Jeremiah and I. He usually gets home around 4 or 5 and from the time he gets home until he goes to bed at night he is serving everyone around him. We all have choices to make and Chris chooses every day to show his Love for God and for others by working hard, serving willingly and giving freely.

While I was mending/cleaning Chris' work jeans this past week I found myself with tears streaming down my face. As I held his well worn pants in my hands I saw physical evidence of Chris' love for me. I know it sounds silly. I know that Chris loves me but, I was so touched when I looked at his tattered pants.

Here on this earth we are surrounded by traces of love in all forms. The Lord has left traces of his love for us here on the earth. What are the traces of your love?

Cougar Spirit

2011-08-17T17:27:00.001-06:00

The weather has been quite beautiful here in Provo. I've been taking Jeremiah on walks around the newly re-landscaped outskirts of campus. It's been so pleasant to watch all the students start moving in and feeling the growing excitement as school is about to begin. I love being on campus when its busy and full of students. Although, BYU can be demanding it is a place where the spirit can be felt and where lessons both spiritual and temporal are learned.

A major hot/exciting conversation topic in our home is BYU football. This year is BYU's first year as an independent team. The BYU football program is unique in it's design. It is unlike any other program in the world and it always has been. Players abide by the honor code and work towards achieving the missions of BYU; they are clean, good, and upstanding young men. At BYU we will never have the issues that so many collegiate programs are being investigated for taking part in. Some question whether or not going independent was a good move for BYU but, I believe that the decision will bring BYU's unique program more publicity, creating a greater opportunity to share The Gospel of Jesus Chris t.

Last night Chris, Jeremiah and I went to meet the team. The entire practice field was crowded with energized and enthralled fans. As we wondered around watching little kids get their pictures taken with the cheerleaders, the dads buying jerseys, and families waiting in long lines waiting to see their football heros we were overcome by excitement and anticipation for the upcoming season. While we were there we were able to see Jake Heaps, Ross Apo and Kyle Van Noy. They are great young men and I was so impressed with their congenial charm.

I asked a couple of my friends from the football team to tell me about what they love about BYU football. I will add my quotes from them as they send them to me.

"BYU Football....Its a way for us as players to play to our highest potential, and as we have success and are more exposed to the Nation because of that success, we can share the Gospel with others...I love BYU football because its taught me things like hard-work, dedication, commitment, setting priorities, and the list continues to grow..."
-Water Kahaiali'i #71

The Clarks will always bleed blue and most definitely be sporting our BYU blue attire. :) We can't wait for the upcoming season!!! GO COUGS!

Back in the Swing of Things

2011-08-15T15:48:00.001-06:00

It's been over 2 weeks since we've returned from China and we are still trying to kick our life back into gear. It's been tough getting back onto a normal schedule again.
Jeremiah has finally seemed to let go of his fear of us leaving him again; he now lets us enter another room without shrieks of terror. If there's one thing I've learned about babies it's been how forgiving they are. I can bonk his head, accidentally leave him in his crib for an hour after he's woken up from a nap, or forget to change his poopy diaper and he still loves me and greets me with a big "I love you mommy"-smile. There is something to be learned from these babes. They are truly a sweet little gift and they have so much to teach us.

Shortly after we had been home we realized that our house was not very "baby-proof". Our apartment floors were falling apart and since we have such an interesting landlord (bless his heart) there was no way we would ever get it fixed unless we did it ourselves.
So, here's what we did the week after we got home. TADA!!!
Now Jeremiah can cruise all he wants and I don't have to worry about what nasty pieces of old flooring he can put in his mouth.

Before After

Chris recently celebrated his 28th Birthday. Boy am I glad he was born! Where would I be without him?
We had a simple stay at home celebration which was all he wanted after his hard day's work. But, that didn't sit well with my family so, we celebrated a tad bit more with them later in the week.

Jeremiah is cruisin' around all over the place now. He goes from room to room faster than I can turn around to see where he's going. He now stands up and walks from one piece of furniture to the next. Every once and a while he'll get daring and let go for a few seconds but then slowly lowers himself to the ground and realizes that for now he can get around faster by crawling. He babbles non-stop and tells us all kinds of stories...if only we could understand them. One of his new favorite things to do is hold onto the front of the entertainment center and dance (stomp) and sing (Bah bah La La Ba Wa) with whatever is playing on the TV. Jeremiah has developed such a sweet relationship with Chris. Whenever Chris gets home from work or comes through the front door Jeremiah jets straight toward him greeting him with smiles, giggles and high pitches squeels. Daddy then usually spends about an hour tickling and playing with Jeremiah. They are so fun to watch.

Here is a picture of happy Jeremiah just after I watched him finish eating a potato bug. He puts whatever he can find into his mouth and locks it shut whenever I try to take things out of it.

Jeremiah also enjoys the taste of fresh soil...mmm...Yummy!

New Tricks

2011-06-22T13:27:00.000-06:00

Jeremiah Crawls!!!!

He figured out how to get around just in time for Grandma and Grandpa Clark. He was so determined to get his own toys. Every time we put him down he got straight up on all fours and tried to maneuver his way toward's whatever he was intrigued with. He would grunt and sometimes get so tired he would just collapse onto his stomach and sigh. But, after hours of frustration he can finally go wherever he wants to. It's such a great thing for him but not so much for me. :)

Jeremiah SWIMS!

I know it sounds crazy right?!

A woman in my cousin's ward in Alpine teaches swimming lessons to children of 6mo -16. While at a swim lesson for my cousins toddlers she asked if she could give Jeremiah a "float lesson" since he had just turned 6 months and could now be considered for swimming lessons. I was a bit nervous but she assured me that he would be ok. So, we gave it a whirl. She took Jeremiah into the water and pushed him under. As she backed away she watched to see what he would do. Amazingly enough, Jeremiah flipped himself over and pushed his belly into the air, making it so he could get his mouth out of the water enough to breathe. WOW! It was seriously the coolest thing I've seen a baby do. It turns out that most normal babies know how to float as an instinctive survival tactic.

You can find out some more about infant swimming at www.infantaquatics.com

Awesome Weekend

2011-06-12T20:25:00.002-06:00

It's been beautiful in Provo for the past week now. I can't believe it! We thought that we'd better use up the sunshine while we have it. Who knows what next week might be like. Provo has such crazy spring/early summer weather; one day it snows and the next it's bright and sunny as ever.

We took our cute little picnic basket filled with great summer foods (grilled chicken, pasta salad, watermelon, fresh veggies and juice.) and made our way up the canyon.

We had such a fun time playing on the grass and taking walks in the woods. Jeremiah was mesmerized by the tiny inchworms that fell from the leaves. I held some of them on my hand and he just giggled as he watched them scoot.

I forget how much I enjoy feeling the grass under my feet and the sun on my skin. Ah, and the fires, marshmallows roasting, grilled steak, fresh air... the smells of summer just make my soul happy. We will definitely be doing this more throughout the summer.

On Saturday our favorite Provoian friends, Tim and Danielle threw an Epic Trivial Pursuit Party. There were over 50 people who came to the participate in the fun. Everyone was divided into groups and each group represented on of the colored game pieces.

There is nothing that makes me feel more unkowledgeable than those trivia questions. Truly, i think I might have known 10 out of 50 answers to the game questions. Luckily, we had a couple of more experienced team members to saved our tushies.

Today, just when we thought life couldn't get better. We went to a baby blessing for cousin Miwa. She is so beautiful and so calm. I haven't seen a more pleasant baby. Her blessing was sweet and the spirit was strong as it always is when these special little people come to earth. I am taken back by the purity and innocence of these little children who bless our lives. I have a testimony of God's love for all of his children and of His sacred and special relationship with children.

Isn't our Heavenly Father's plan incredible? Being pregnant was an amazing experience for me. Our bodies are distinctly made to bear and birth children; by no small miracle, these infants receive a body of flesh and bones and come into this world according to the Father's design. I am so blessed to be a mother and to take care of and nurture one of God's children. And, as I looked into Nancy's (Miwa's mamma') eyes today I knew that she knew she was a woman of God and that she also felt blessed to be a mother here on earth.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints couldn't be more true. I am made aware of the existence of our God every day of my life and am constantly a recipient of His tender mercies.

Chris and Jeremiah are two largest tender mercies in my life. I am so happy to have been sealed in the temple to my husband to know that I will be with my sweet family into the eternities.

I love me some Jeremiah

2011-06-09T17:40:00.001-06:00

Jeremiah was having a rough day yesterday. He seemed to be quite fussy for no apparent reason. We tried EVERYTHING but, nothing seemed to be working. So, we decided to take his two favorite things and combine them into one. His first favorite thing is water. Jeremiah was born loving water and even smiled during his first bath at the hospital. His second favorite thing is being outside; he really likes watching bugs, animals, and cars. So, we took his bathtub outside and let him play in his birthday-suite. I don't know if I've ever seen him have more fun. I let him play until the water got cold. Maybe 2 hours. I am tucking away this little trick for the next time he's fussy but, I'm sure it wont work again. That's just how babies roll.
I've been teaching Jeremiah some sign language. He can say "more" and can kind of say "please". I have found that the fastest way to get him to learn is by sticking some bits of banana bread in front of him. He knows he can't touch it until he makes the right sign. What a smart cookie!
We're still waiting for Jeremiah to crawl. He's been sitting up for almost 2 months now but just finds that he can get where he wants to by rolling instead of crawling. It's pretty funny to watch. But, we hope he'll crawl by the time Chris's family reunion comes around so that he can show off his new tricks to his grandma and grandpa Clark.

3 Years

2011-06-06T22:54:00.004-06:00

Chris and I just celebrated our 3 year anniversary this past Friday! What a sweet day it was.
Friday evening Chris and I drove to the Salt Lake Temple to do some family sealings. On our way we talked about our favorite memories from the time that we met up until now. I hadn't realized how much we've done together until we started our list. I am so grateful for these beautiful memories! I think it's important to regularly look back on the blessings and great times that we have in our lives. It makes us thankful and gives us a sense of happiness and fulfillment.
No one knows but, before we went to the temple on our wedding day we decided to go to Einstein's for a bagel. We had left Provo a lot earlier than we needed to (We were nervous that we would be late for our own wedding.) So, we had a whole bunch of extra time to kill. :) We only though it appropriate to return back to that same little Einstein's bagel shop up in the avenues. While we sat outside the shop and talked, Chris had his cousin Robert show up in a suit to surprise me with a large bouquet of beautiful flowers. I can always tell when Chris is going to do something "cute" because he always gets this quirky smile on his face moments before it happens. It really is quite adorable but... a dead giveaway!
The temple was magnificent as usual. I cried as we held hands and were able to "repeat" in a sense our marriage. There is no greater joy than knowing I will be able to be with my husband and little Jeremiah forever.
To seal up all of the goodness at the end of the day we went to The Roof. It truly was a magical time. I wish that for a while I could just freeze time at that moment and linger a little longer.

Being Married to Chris is such a joy. Each day is an adventure that I look forward to. I wake-up with a skip in my step and a smile on my face just because I know that I am his wife. He is such a hard worker and is always concerned for mine and Jeremiah's wellbeing. I love that he leaves me little notes every so often just to remind me that he loves me. He knows exactly what I need and what keeps me going. He is romantic. He is funny. He is smart. He is honest. He is good. He is strong. He is talented. He is everything I could ever want and more.
Chris and I have been quite blessed. But, marriage isn't always sunshine and roses. There are definitely some cloudy and rainy days. But, the rain isn't so bad when you walk through it together. Throughout the course of our marriage I have learned much of sacrifice, selflessness, love, devotion, forgiveness, and how to become more like the Savior. What a beautiful plan our Father in Heaven has created. I am so thankful for the joy that the gospel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints brings into my life.

Some Firsts

2011-06-03T00:00:00.001-06:00

Memorial Day weekend was a big one for Jeremiah! We went to ID to visit Chris's sister Sarah and her cute new husband Chris Moyes. (yes...there are now 3 Chris' in the Christensen Family. And that doesn't include the Christinas) We were worried that Baby Jeremiah was going to be a terror in the car but, it turns out he is the most amazing traveler in the world!!! We couldn't have had a better or more beautiful drive.

When we arrived in Rexburg we were starved. We must have been complaining because Sarah and Chris took us to a place where they serve more food than I've ever seen. They took us to BIG JUDS! Big Juds has 1 lb, 2 lb, and 5 lb hamburgers; they are probably as big as a regular sized dinner plate and stacked about 5-6 inches high. Jeremiah couldn't take his eyes off of everyone's food; his drooled as he watched us eat. So, we decided he could have a fry to gnaw on....he was in heaven!

The next morning we packed up and made a special trip to some Lava Hot Springs so that Jeremiah could play in the water. What a blast! Seriously, we couldn't have had more fun. Later in the day we decided that it had been far too long since we've been on a camping trip and made a decision to risk taking our 6 month old son. Jeremiah did great during the day but, night time was little rough. He doesn't sleep well when he's outside of his crib. We woke up to rain and after a few hours of hiding out in our tents we decided to bail and go back to the Moyes' adorable apartment. It was so nice to just hang out, watch movies, eat, talk, and take a breather.

This trip introduced a lot of new things into our babies life. He had his first experience camping, first experience swimming, first time traveling for more than 2 hours in a car and first tastes of frenchfries, ice-cream, and gatorade.

I am so amazed at how aware Jeremiah is. He seems to comprehend things easily and can impressively read/pick-up on emotions. He has been so fun and interesting to watch grow and learn.

WE LOVE YOU!

Baby take over

2011-05-24T21:27:00.002-06:00

Jeremiah has been extremely hard to entertain the past few days. I can't seem to make enough funny faces and still get things done around the house. So, for about 2 hours a day I've been taking Jeremiah to the duck pond at the bottom of the BYU "stairs of death". Today there were at least 30 tiny baby ducks waddling around the pond and Jeremiah was more than fascinated. I set him in the grass with a bunch of bread and let the ducks swarm around him. He LOVED it! He used to try and make duck quacking sounds but this time he just smiled and watched them with big eyes. After we get back from visiting the ducks he is usually more content and can sit on his own playing with toys...I think the ducks, grass, water and all the passing cars might satisfy the stimulation that he's trying to get. Thank you duck pond!!!!!!

Since we've had Jeremiah we've outgrown our little apartment. We have been looking for a bigger place but it just seems kind of silly to move just to move again in a few months. So, right now Jeremiah's crib is in the living room and all of his toys are in a big basket next to our couches. I don't think I ever realized how much space babies take up and how much stuff they need. We now have baby clothes all over our bedroom floor because they wont fit in the dresser...mostly our whole house is just babyfide! Ah...blessed will be the day when we have a bigger home that's all ours and Jeremiah can have his own space!

Blessings

2011-05-17T13:57:00.001-06:00

We were truly hoping that teaching seminary was the right job for us. But, we have felt very strongly lately that the Lord would have us serve in some other capacity.
Through a turn of many recent events, we have decided to stay in Provo for the next couple months. I will be trying to finish schooling and Chris will be working/studying hard for the GMAT and a set of 6 long tests to enter into the financial world.
Chris is extremely talented and with his background in math, he understands much more than most of the business and economic majors at BYU and has consistently outscored almost all of them in the upper level financial classes he has taken. We have high hopes and have truly felt that this is the right direction for us to head.
Jeremiah continually brings us Joy! He is such a happy baby. He can't seem to stay still and is always trying to move; he is truly "bigger than his body gives him credit for." He sits up unsupported and scoots around the room. (We think he will be crawling very very soon!)
I am still trying to lose my last 14 or so pounds of baby weight....man it's a nightmare! But, slowly it has been coming off. If anyone has some helpful tips I would greatly appreciate the help!!! :D

To all of those mamma's out there....remember that it took 9 months to gain it, so it should take at least 9 months to loose it!!!

PS - my Mother's day was WONDERFUL!!!! I love being a mamma'!

WE DID IT!

Life

2011-04-06T17:04:00.014-06:00

Chris and I have been sharing one laptop for over the past year now. I'm not just trying to come up with excuses for why I never post...but, it has definitely been a struggle to post while sharing a computer with a man who's busy with school, work, and getting espn updates. :)
Just two days ago Chris found a way to get internet to our OLD pc desktop. So, now I will have no excuse for not posting more often.

Our lives are wonderful and BUSY! Jeremiah is just over 4 months old now and keeps us on our toes. He smiles, laughs, rolls over, plays with toys, and is almost sitting on his own. He loves attention and lets you know when he isn't getting enough.
Chris is finishing up school here in about a week. He is extremely excited to graduate and move on to the next best thing. He is still teaching seminary at Lehi and loves it. He has had a rough semester with these new kids, but he loves them and wants them to love the scriptures. We will find out whether or not Chris will be hired full time by the end of next week. ( I'll keep you posted)
I have been busy trying to keep up with Jeremiah. He is so fun but, such a handful! Our days are composed of ongoing cycles in the pattern of eating, playing, and sleeping. I can't wait until he starts to have longer periods between eating times!!!!!

Some new things about Jeremiah
- Loves his bouncer! He still hasn't figured out how to jump very well, but he enjoys sucking on the edge of the seat.
- Loves watching Daddy play basketball!
- Just ate his first solid food!
- Chews on EVERYTHING!
- Pulls his covers over his face when he sleeps.

Our Baby Jeremiah

2011-01-20T16:18:00.001-07:00

Jeremiah Ero Kekoa Clark has been such a joy in our home! He's been a lot of work but so far it's all been worth it.

He weighed 7lbs 6oz at birth and has been steadily growing. Most babies drop in weight the first few weeks after birth but, Jeremiah just keeps getting bigger! He will be 2 months old next week(time flies by so quickly) but already fits into most of his 3 month old clothes.

After coming home from the hospital we were to blessed to have Grandma Clark come stay with us. I don't know how I would have survived without her help. It was so nice to have her motherly expertise and help around the home.

This past weekend we were able to bless Jeremiah in church. Dad Clark flew into town for the special event and almost all of our family from the area was in our sacrament meeting. Jeremiah had over 20 men circled around him. It was truly a beautiful memory that I will treasure forever. I am so grateful for so my husband and the other worthy priesthood holders who were able to participate in this special moment in my life and the life of my baby boy.

Here are some recent pictures of Jeremiah!

Updates

2010-08-30T23:26:00.001-06:00

Over the past 3 months Baby has grown so big that my belly feels like it's going to explode. He moves all the time now; kicking, punching, and rolling have become his favorite pass-time activities.

Chris recently started teaching Seminary at Lehi High School. He's only had a few days there so far but he loves it! He teaches 2 periods a day, each period containing about 30 students.

He also started school today at BYU. He's not too excited about it but is motivated to graduate next April.

We've had lots of crazy things going on but Heavenly Father has seen us through all of our ups and downs. We are so blessed!

Alien Heart Beat and a Visit with Zo and Quanda

2010-05-24T14:05:00.012-06:00

Chris and I went to see Dr. Watabe in American Fork last Thursday for a prenatal visit to check up on the baby. As part of the check up we were able to listen to our baby's heart beat for the first time.The sound of the heart beat was so strange, it truly sounded like an alien was living inside of me. And, other than being alien, the heart beat was about 165 bpm which I thought was high but apparently is completely normal for a growing baby.
The doctor said everything was absolutely perfect and couldn't be better. Baby is growing beautifully and life couldn't be better!

You can listen to the Alien Heartbeat below:

We also had a great time this weekend visiting Larenzo, Quanda, and little Nia in Toelle. Because they live so far away we spent a lot of time just hanging out and catching up. It was so fun to be with them.
Little Nia Loves Chris; she was always trying get his attention and, when he didn't give it to her she would just come plop down on his lap. Pretty Cute!

Nia has gotten so big since we last saw her. She is about 2 1/2 years old but the height of a 5 year old boy.

The fun we've been having!

2010-05-19T15:49:00.004-06:00

Chris LOVES rice crispy treats! So, trying to be a good and nice wife I decided that I would make him some for our Family Night treat. It turned out that we only had stale rice crispys and not enough of them. So, Chris took matters into his own hands and added a box of cherios to the mess I had made. YUM!

Just a about a month ago Ben (one of Chris's many cousins) and Christina were married in Montecello Utah. On our drive back from Montecello we decided to take a family tour of Arches National Park. It was so beautiful and we definitely had a great time climbing on all the Rocks.

My little Sister Sarah who is just graduating this spring from Mountain View High School won the Gates Millennial Scholarship. She will have ALL years of her college schooling paid for (meaning all the way through a PHD if she chooses) as well as housing costs! She's so amazing and we're so proud of her! The family all went to celebrate Sarah's great achievement at one of our favorite gathering places, Sam Hawk! SOOOO GOOD!!!!!

Every Spring during General Conference we are blessed to be able to spend time with Daddy Clark :) One of the days that Chris looks forward to throughout the year is the day that he can spend with his Dad skiing. It was so fun to have dad around for a while and to be able to laugh, play games, talk, and enjoy being in each others company.

In early March Chris and I found out that we were going to have a baby! It's been such an exciting adventure. I have been so blessed and haven't been extremely sick. I've had good days and some bad ones but, overall I've been doing wonderfully. My little tummy bump gets bigger everyday it seems. I've already had to buy some maternity clothes because the rubberband that holds my jeans up just isn't quite cutting it anymore.

Tomorrow, May 20th, Chris and I will be going in to see the doctor and listen to our baby's heart beat which is something I've been looking forward to for a long time now. We're so excited!!!

We love you all and will keep you updated.
Love, Chris and Ari

Baby on it's way!!!

2010-05-08T09:26:00.003-06:00

Our cup runeth Over

2010-01-28T21:57:00.000-07:00

I finally found a job. Hooray!!! I will be starting Feb. 1st as the receptionist for cornerstone homes!

We have also found insurance!!! Life is so good. We are now currently enrolled on 4 different policies; two with Aflac, one with Blue Cross, and the fourth with American Family. Heavenly Father has been sending us so many blessings. Everything we've been worried about has been solved through Him. Thanks for your prayers everyone. We definitely needed them and we absolutely felt them!

With Love,

Ari and Chris

Catching up

2010-01-19T19:31:00.002-07:00

The holidays were wonderful! We are so grateful to have been able to spend them with our wonderful families. Chris and I were able to spend a lot of time with my family up until and including Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. We were able to go see Grandma, Grandpa, and Seth before they left to see Sam off on his mission. It was so nice to participate and be a part of the Brown family Christmas traditions this year.
In the afternoon, Christmas Day, after everyone had opened presents and rested a bit, Chris and I drove to the airport to get on a plane to Virginia! (HOORAY!!!) Flying on Christmas wasn't my first choice but, now that I've done it I can personally say it was AMAZING! The tickets were half the price that they usually are and the airport was completely empty, which made getting through security a breeze even when the security level is raised to "orange"(High risk of terrorist attacks).
Being in Virginia with the Clarks was a delight. We are extremely happy that Abby and Joshua stayed an extra day so that we could see them. I had never met Joshua but have heard great things about him. Now that I've met him, I can say that he is absolutely adorable and that it's obvious that he makes Abby happy. (And he totally rocks at guitar hero!) ;)
For New Years, we all went out to Pennsylvania where we had some fun adventures. We spent one day driving around most of Pennsylvania's highways until we found Hershey Park. Chris was a bit flustered with all of the driving, as was Dad, who we were following. However, I think the rest of us enjoyed the ride with each other; we laughed a lot, had fun singing with the radio and telling stories. Despite the cold cold weather and crazy drive, Hershey Park was fabulous. We met up with the Hockers (such a cute bunch) and had a blast wandering the chocolate dream world of fun. There really is something there for everyone. I don't even like chocolate very much, but i found out that Hershey makes a lot more than just chocolate. They make Twizzlers!!!!!!! :D So happy!
Pennsylvania was full of a lot more than chocolate however. We spent pretty much the rest of our stay in a quaint little home just outside of Gettysberg. We played games, talked, laughed, stayed up way later than we should have, slept in way later than we should have, and ate a lot of food. :) It was a perfect recipe for a fantastic vacation.
Gettysberg is a marvelous place, definitely worthy of our time. We were able to see the famous sights of places on the battlefield and stop by the Gettysberg museum. The museum was a treasury of the memories and facts about the war. I believe it brought a sense of love, sacrifice, and gratitude for not only the men who fought, but for their families on both the confederate and yankee sides.
After returning to Virginia we just "hung out" with the family and enjoyed being part of the clark "everyday life". Because Mama' clark loves Chris so much she let Chris teach an early morning seminary class. He was definitely born and raised to be a great teacher and leader. It's a joy to watch him thrive and see the way that he smiles while he teaches.
We arrived back in Utah on the 6th of January. Just in time for us to figure out how to get Chris into the classes he needed. Heavenly Father is sure watching over us.
I am now currently trying to find a job and have tried to spend my free time cooking so that I don't bother Chris while he's trying to study.
Things are going well for us and we are so happy and so grateful to be where we are in life.
We love you all!

Leonid Meteor Shower

2009-11-19T10:48:00.004-07:00

~~Meteor lights up early morning sky~~

When Chris and I we were dating, we somehow got by on maybe 2-3 hours of sleep a night. However, since we've been married, Chris and I have usually gone to bed at a "reasonable" hour. So, I thought we'd mix things up a bit and pull a "late" night to watch the Leonid Showers. Around midnight we started heading up the canyon to find a good look-out spot. Little did we know that we didn't need to drive anywhere to see the most amazing Meteor shower ever. While crossing University and University we saw a huge burst of light that lit up the entire sky. It looked as though someone had turned on Stadium Lights all over the city and then shut them off again. It was truly incredible!
We drove up and found a place at Squaw Peak to watch the showers, hoping that the rest of the morning would be as incredible as what we had just seen. After about an hour of laying in the cold, we still hadn't seen anything that compared to the light that came from the meteor we had seen while driving up.
There's been buzz about the "Fireball" Meteor all over Utah. Supposedly, it's the biggest meteor we've seen in over 200 Years. It lit up the entire Western Sky! and... according to Chris it almost burnt up Denny's!
We had such a fun time together. The lack of sleep was worth every minute!!!

GO TEAM!

2009-11-10T15:34:00.007-07:00

Chris has been playing on an intermural football team this season with a couple of friends. They usually have the worst luck when it comes to weather, however, they always manage to slip by. They are just entering the play-offs and won their first big game!!! Everyone made fantastic plays and everyone played better than they ever have before. Chris was an amazing quarterback! I was so impressed, and I think he was pretty impressed with my great sideline cheers. :)
After the game we were all so excited and happy that we made it through the first play-off game. So, we all went to Denny's for a "close-to-midnight" treat. So Fun!!! Hopefully they boys will end up making it through another round. (Who knew that intermurals were so intense? ...)

Ridiculous!!!

2009-11-06T20:17:00.001-07:00

BYU vs. New Mexico

Here is a link to a video of a recent BYU womens' soccer game. Can you believe it?

Happy Halloween

2009-11-01T18:01:00.006-07:00

We had an exciting and fun Halloween this year. We spent Friday evening with Jenny and Kofee and watched the "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (Totally creepy!) just for daddy Clark. :) We ended up sleeping at Grandma's house and woke up early to the sound of children screaming and running around the house. Apparently they were excited for Grandma's Halloween bash!!! I don't blame them...it was quite the party. Everyone knows that Grandma's house is the place to be for fun, food, family, and lots of exciting conversation! (that last bit was just for you Jenny). It was my first year participating in the traditional Christensen Halloween Parade. With Grandma leading the way, the heard of loud monsters, ice cream cones, doggies, witches, cowboys and girls, and even Super-tie men sang as they marched around the block. SO FUN!!!

After the fun events with the Christensen Clan started settling down and the kids all went home to trick-or-treat. Jenny, Chris, and I ventured to a well known Halloween store in the area. We were trying to find a great "Asian" wig for Jenny's Captain planateir costume. However, Chris and I got sidetracked ,while Jenny was debating between a few wigs. Can you guess where I went off to?...that's right... I was looking at all the cute baby costumes! So adorable, I know it's wrong, but sometimes I just want a baby so that I can play dress up with him/her. (I guess this is probably good evidence that I might not be ready for babies yet.) And Chris...well, he was looking at the "cool" masks and hair spray colors. And, as you can see from the picture, we ended up coming home with BYU colored hairspray!

Halloween night, Chris and I used the Lagoon tickets that Aunt Michelle gave us. Every year at the amusement park they have a "frightmares" theme during Halloween. The park was full of haunted music, employees dressed to scare, and even some haunted houses. I'm not the biggest fan of haunted things so, Chris, being the good husband that he is, road on all the fun roller coasters with me. It was just fun to be out together!

All in all our Halloween was FANTASTIC! We love you all and hope that your day of spooks was a great as ours.

For all Eternity :)

2009-10-27T13:23:00.003-06:00

David has waited his whole life to be married. We are so thrilled that he met such a wonderful girl. Jessica is a doll and is always so pleasant to be around. The two were married this past Saturday and the day was absolutely beautiful!
This is probably no surprise to a lot of you, but as of right now, NO ONE knows where Jessica and David are. Dave has decided to keep their after-wedding-getaway a complete secret! The only hint we have is that they had to drive 5 hours. (They are definitely troopers!) We can't wait for them to come back so we can finally hear about their secret paradise!!!!

I have still continued to crave cake and I think Chris might finally be getting sick of eating the leftover batter!

This is just such a funny picture and even though it really had nothing to do with Jessica and Dave's wedding I thought you would all enjoy it!

I love you like a Fat kid Loves Cake

2009-10-18T17:10:00.017-06:00

This past week Chris, David, Jessica, Aaron(Jessica's little brother) and I had a fun cake experience at our house. (Cake is one of my least favorite foods, but I've had a weird craving for it lately. I've baked 5 cakes in the last week and a half. WEIRD! Chris is confused, but I think he's ok with all the cake. :) )

Here are some of the cakes we decorated together. We each made our own frosting colors, some were quite interesting. Jessica and I made our cake into a baby(if you could call it that), and the boys decided to take a trip back to the 80's and make a cake of craziness!

Big Deal!

2009-10-07T21:21:00.005-06:00

This is our first blog post!!! Hooray! It's a pretty big break through considering I've changed the way the blog looks almost a thousand times but never posted anything.

This past weekend was Kaity and Peter's wedding. It was a beautiful day. Chris and I were able to attend the temple ceremony in Salt Lake on Friday morning. I didn't think I would cry but how could I not? It was a sweet reminder of the temple covenants Chris and I made when we were married over a year ago. It's the first time we've been back to the Salt Lake temple since our wedding. And, we were sealed in the next room over from the one Kaity and Peter were sealed in. So, we loved being there even more than we already did that day.

One thing that Chris and I didn't get to experience on our own wedding day was the convenience of being able to leave after just taking a couple pictures and going out to eat with grandma. HA! And the bride and groom have to stay to take pictures FOREVER! (Sorry Kaity and Peter)
Only Joking. Pictures are fun and you will love them for the rest of your life. It's so nice to look back and have a memory captured on a small piece of "special" photo paper :)

Here are some snaps from their wedding day: