Preparing the Nursery

Over the past week, my mom and I have been preparing the room next door to ours for Boston.

It needed a lot of work. It looked very... poopy and the walls were pretty gross. But my mom and I went through and cleaned everything and fixed up the holes in the walls. The top shelf in the closet was warped so my mom was able to screw it down so it looks normal again. We painted the closet and the ceiling white and the walls are a light gray.

It took all week but it got done (give granted that my mom did most of it).

We only need to take the tape off. And my mom would like to fix the wood trimming everywhere.

I took pictures the entire time (as much as I could anyways) and I will be posting them later tomorrow hopefully.

If you didn't know my ideas at all, I wanted the walls to be a light gray and then I'm going to put different colors of blue.

I was able to get a cute little bean bag with a football, basketball and baseball on it (and maybe another sport) that is blue and then I plan on getting some blue frames to hang. I would also like a either a long curtain for the window or just one of those top things (I don't know what they are called). I also want a blue bedding set but I've been very.... particular about it.

I really did not want a blue with little animals on it or boats or sports or anything like that. I really just wanted a normal blue (preferably with a little bit of another color and a fun design).

And guess what... tonight I found one!

On Facebook, I ran into this group called Davis and Weber County Virtual Yard Sale!!! which is basically a yard sale online. It is for the Davis and Weber County area (however, other areas sometimes are on there too)

I've been able to buy many things from people to help build up our baby item supply (including a crib and mattress and changing table).

But I saw a post about this super cute girl bedding and I was just frustrated cause I always see so much stuff for girls but hardly anything for boys so I just added a little comment on the post about how I wish I could find boy bedding like this cause it's so cute but I swear it's impossible...


Well, turns out the same lady selling the girl bedding set had a matching boy set!

She told me that her husband accidentally burnt part of the bumper and she showed me a picture and it's not really that bad.

I asked her how much, expecting it to be $30 or $40.

And she surprised me with $10.

I told her I was sold and will hopefully be picking it up later tonight!


I feel blessed that I have been able to find some awesome things for our little boy at such small prices!

Not only have I found great stuff on the Facebook page, but I also got a super nice (pretty much brand new) bouncer on KSL for $5 and a table top swing for FREE on freecycle.org.

James' sister, Kathie, was very kind to give us a box of items that she had for her boys. I love all of it (Kathie, I love the dinosaur bedding but I really wanted something else.... so I hope that it is ok that I might not use it)


I have been very careful with my spending on our little boy even though some people in my family think I'm not. I specifically set money aside so that I could do exactly what I'm doing.

So I don't feel bad at all for my spending on Boston.



Anyways... I'm super excited for finally getting the nursery put together and show you my ideas.


And in less than 4 months, little Boston will be here!

(and shortly after that, a little boy cousin for Boston to play with)

Welcome to 2013!

Happy New Year (a month late)

So I have been trying to hard to keep my blog up-to-date but when we went to Canada, I wasn't able to upload all my pictures like I thought I would and so it was all put behind and I still haven't added all of those pictures and stories.

BUT I've decided that I'm not going to. I do not want to be stuck in the past anymore. It's making it really hard to stay up-to-date with the present. So for 2013 I am starting fresh!

If you would like to look over our Canada fun you can check out my Facebook page or I will be making a photobook eventually of all of the stuff (including any stories there are to tell)

So for my first little bit I would like to say that on January 3rd, we found out we were having a little boy. The first time I felt him was that same day and it just increased as the days went by. Going from feeling like popcorn to now full on kicks! A few days ago (Jan. 29th), I felt him kick me with my hand on my stomach for the first time. I thought that was pretty cool. And then yesterday (Jan 31st), James felt him kick for the first time. He wasn't sure if that was really it. He explained it as "a bump that he didn't think I was physically capable of making on my own."

I guess that's a good way to explain a kick from a baby.

Yesterday was also my mom's 50th birthday! Her and I spent it getting the nursery prepped for painting (I have taken before pictures and when it is finished, I will show you the before and afters).

We will be having a family dinner tonight for my mom which should be super fun.

I am currently on my lunch break from the dental office and when I got to my parents to eat, Vidalia was asleep on the couch. After about 10 minutes, her head popped up, saw me and just had this huge grin. She walked across the room and found the marble toys. She then brought me over pieces of the tower and had me put it back together. Then when it was done, she went and found the marbles and started to play right in front of me.

I just ate my lunch the whole time (minus helping her put it back together).

It was pretty funny. Later she ate lunch (kind of) and I asked her to smile to me.

This is what I got...

I have to go back to work now so that is all for now. I will definitely work harder at keeping you up-to-date on the Clarks.

Primary Blog

So as I'm sure most of you know, James and I were called as Primary teachers when we moved to Pleasant View.

also... we go to church at my parents ward, not the ward we live in. Which I feel has upset some people

but what people need to understand, I have lived the last 4 years of my life not going to a ward where I know people and no matter how hard I tried.... People just didn't seem to care to get to know me. When James and I got married and had moved to Logan, one of the first things we did was find out our ward and attend. We did this and for the first few weeks, it was pretty normal that people didn't know who we were. But we introduced ourselves and met a lot of people. I got a visiting teaching assignment and it was great.

However... After 6 months.... people still had no idea who we were. We were "new" every week. And then out of the blue, my visiting teaching companion moved and didn't tell me. Told everyone BUT me.

It was very frustrating and it soon became very clear to me that if we were going to stay active, we needed to be in a ward where I felt people actually cared about us.

So that is why we are attending my parents ward. Sorry if it upsets you but I'd rather feel that people care about me.

Sorry for that little rant..

Anyways! We are primary teachers. We originally taught the 4 - 7 year olds. Why such a large gap? Well, the ward is small. So there weren't many children. But then our stake got all switched up and we got some people added to the ward and we got enough children that our 4 -7 class had to be split up so now we teach 4 - 6 (lol doesn't seem like much of a difference... but it is)

We have 4 kids in our class. 2 boys and 2 girls.

They are adorable and I've had a lot of fun teaching them and getting to know them.

I've used a lot of websites to help me figure out how to teach our lessons and I've decided I'd really like if I could post every week about the lesson we had. And I can post some of the activites we do and if I use a site to help me, I can help direct others to those sites.

So hopefully very soon, I will be able to think up a name and get that started. (I keep all my coloring pages so I should be able to add past lessons (maybe not where I got things though... cause I might not remember))

Message me if you can think of any cute primary names!

Madi

So I meant to write this all out and post it for all of you the day after it happened but then I got busy with work and I was just tired and a little stressed with the thought of all the things I was trying to get done. But I did write most of this on a piece of paper the day after it happened. 

On Monday, September 10th 2012, something happened.  A friend of mine from high school was in a terrible accident. And she didn't make it. It was a shock. It still is!

I wasn't incredibly close to her, especially after we graduated. But I did know her and I believe we were friends. Her name was Madisen Savage (or Madi for short).

I didn't really know her before our senior year. I mean, I knew she existed but I don't think we ever talked. So what was different about that year?

Chamber Quire

For those of you who don't know what that is, I'll tell you.

Chamber Quire is a choir at Weber High School (they have them at most, if not all, high schools too but they are usually called something else.) But this choir is the high and mighty of choirs in school. Only 32 members can join. 16 boys. 16 girls.

This is where I truly met Madi.

She was such a sweet girl and I loved being around her. She always made everyone around her filled with joy.

I'll admit there were times she annoyed me but... as I write... those times don't even matter.

Here is a picture of the Chamber Quire and I've circled Madi in red (and I've pointed me out... as you can see)

She was beautiful.

Her family had a viewing for her the Thursday following her passing and then another viewing on Friday as well as the funeral. I had to work so I was unable to go to anything on Friday but James and I did go the viewing on Thursday. It was very nice. We were taken into a room where they had a slideshow running of pictures of Madi and some of her favorites songs playing.

Row by row they would invite people to go back to see her and her family. I hadn't cried about it at all but knew that it was coming. While we were waiting in line, a very dear friend of mine, Kirstie Bastow,  came up to me and we hugged and it just all fell out of me. I cried and cried and cried. I just couldn't believe she was gone. It was only a few days before that I was laughing about something she put on facebook.

After that, I got the chance to meet her dad (I had never met any of her family before) and he was a very sweet man. I told him who I was and how I was in choir with Madi and he knew who I was. Even though I had never met him. He laughed with us for a little bit and gave us both hugs. He then talked about something Madi wanted at her funeral when the time came...

Something funny right here. Madi loved bacon! (but I mean... who doesn't? It's candy, right?)

And I found out that she had told her family that when she died, she wanted a bouquet of bacon roses at her funeral.

And there was. It was awesome. I would have taken a picture but I didn't feel like it was an ok time or place to do so. (had I been at the funeral though)

It was very funny.

We then walked over and saw Madi. She looked as beautiful as ever. It was crazy to me that she was actually gone. I just stared at her... waiting for her to sit up and say "Gotcha!" cause .... well, that's the type of person she was.

After that, we met with her mom. Once again, I had never met her before, but she knew who I was. We talked for a little bit and it was great. We then hugged and once again... tears just flowed out of me. I felt so bad but her mom just hugged me tighter than anyone before.

James got me some tissues and soon I was better.

We got the chance to see a lot of my friends from high school (mostly chamber quire buddies).

It was very nice to see everyone. Sad under those circumstances but nice.

After all that, we met up with Shay, Greg and Nikelle and hung out for a little bit.

We all live so far (yet not) from each other now.

Shay is in Bountiful and Greg and Nikelle are in Salt Lake. I'm sure Colette would have been at the viewing as well if they could have. 

Through all of this, I realized something. I'm not scared of death. I mean, you know how everyone is always so scared to die? They haven't lived their lives yet?

Well, I honestly am not worried. When it comes, it'll come and I'll take it gracefully. However, I hate watching people I love go. I know they are in a better place and that they are fine and happy but it still hurts to watch people leave.

But it does help that I know of our Heavenly Father's plan. It helps a lot actually. I don't understand how people can get through the death of a loved one not knowing they'll be able to see them again.

Well, in closing, I would just like to show you some pictures a picture of Madi I found. ( I thought I had more but I looked and looked and looked and can't find anything... sad day. Wish I had taken more pictures in high school. Especially with the amount of things we all did together in Chamber Quire)

This was at a dance in high school... It was... Morp 2008. The theme was Stuck on You (and I honestly  can't remember if the theme was also duct tape or if EVERYONE just decided it was) but it was way fun.

At this one, me, nikelle and colette created a giant sorry board. And the couples played together. It was way fun. We were the pieces. We then had dinner that was made by... Nikelle's mom and some other women if I remember correctly. Or something like that.

The dance was way fun and I enjoyed getting the chance to spend time with everyone. 

(Madi is in the white and I am right under her.)

Madisen Savage was an amazing person and I am so glad I got the opportunity to meet her and become her friend. I still think of her and I pray for her family.

Love you so much Madi!

Playing Catch Up

So I said this in an earlier post but I would REALLY like to catchup with everything so I can start posting things that are happening in my life right there and then.

So I would like to catch you up really quick on somethings before I continue posting anything.

So first off,

On August 17, Jeremy and Crystal finally got married! It was beautiful! I have pictures I will upload later for you all to see.

I have been trying to get a job and have been applying to many places. I hadn't had much luck and then my aunt Linda let me know that the dental office on washington was in need of a new employee. So TA-DA! I got the job and that is where I've been working for a couple weeks now. I started training in the first week of september and have been working there every week since.

It's a fun job. I collect and then clean and sanitize all the doctor's equipment. Some days it is very slow and I do a lot of just sitting and then other days I don't get a chance to sit for almost 2 or 3 hours.

It's great and it's nice to get the extra income (even though I am only working about 14 hours.)

We got Chloe spayed this week (FINALLY) and it was pretty funny. I will have a post with some of the pictures of that day. and tell you some stories.

I think that is it for now. So I will now continue trying to play catch up with pictures and some more personal posts that I did not feel should just be thrown in this one.

Daisy has super powers that I didn't know about....

So I put this on Facebook, but here they are now for you to see (even though I'm sure you saw them.)

I was inside doing... something (I don't remember what) and I hear barking. Super annoying barking. And so I get up to go yell at Chloe (because she is the one who barks)

I stand up and realize... Chloe was sitting right next to me..

Daisy is barking?

So I walk out to the deck to get Daisy to come in. Our neighbors grandkids were over so I figured she was barking at them... But wait... I walk out and instead of her standing right by the kids... she is.. to the left?

So I try to find her and this is what I see...

So I run inside and grab my camera (cause that's what I do)

I could not figure out why she was there OR how she even got there.

I then saw it. There was a cat in the tree. Silly Daisy chased a cat up a tree.

Chloe seemed uninterested in the cat (either that or she couldn't see it)

But it was so funny.

I called Daisy down and so they came running..

running...

NOPE!

The cat was still up the tree! Daisy had to get it!

Chloe couldn't figure out how Daisy got up the tree.

Well... you see...

She jumped.

And jumped again..

Then stood up.

Weirdo dog.

The Ride Home

So we ended our trip at the Zoo. We were there for... the time it was open til it was about to close (seriously. It's one big zoo!) and so now here are some pictures of us leaving.

or well... Vidalia in her carseat.

We were playing a game with her. 

This is how she would play peekaboo. It was funny.

What a sweet kid.