Whats Up?!

Well, we've had a lot going on...I just haven't been very good about taking pictures and documenting it! Karlee has been busy in the midst of cheer competition season...they took 1st place a couple weeks ago and she glowed for days!! It's so fun to go with her and hang out at competitions...she has 2 more to go this year! Audree has been busy learning piano (pretty much on her own!!) she has been practicing "It's a Small World" and wants to play it in the upcoming school talent show! Spencer has been enjoying the spring-like weather around here by taking me out to play soccer with him...it's a blast and he's quite competitive with me! Rylee has been playing basketball this season...and she is so competitive and determined! She is the team's leading rebounder and loves to play defense! In her last game there was a girl on the other team who was quite a bit bigger than everyone else...after she had frustrated a few girls on Rylee's team, Rylee begged to defend her! The coach put her in and she was all over that girl...she may be short, but she uses all her best skills!! We LOVE to watch her!


Karlee worked really hard on her science project this last month. We decided to do it on cheerleading! We tested which stretch would help get your toe-touch jumps the highest. Several girls on her team helped us do the tests and it turned out pretty good!! In fact, out of the entire 5th grade her project was one of the ones chosen to go on to the District Fair! Nice Job, Kars!


Today is Valentines Day! I was planning to do a big family dinner to celebrate...but, my Grandma Nemrow passed away this past week (which is sad for me, but good for her...she lived a long life full of family and she was very sick). So, I am flying out to California tonight to be with my family for the funeral. Anyways, I still wanted to celebrate Valentine's with the kids and Jake. So, I woke up early to make waffles, strawberries, bacon and juice for breakfast! We gave eachother Valentines and small gifts. It was a fun morning...nobody even seemed to mind getting up early! Here are the kiddos headed out to school for their big Valentine's Day parties! I will miss everyone the next couple days...but we are going to try out "FaceTime" on my new Ipad! I love you guys so much!! I am the luckiest mama in the world and I am so grateful that Jake is my very best friend! Happy Valentine's Day!

MLK Day!

This year we decided to make the best of a day off school for Martin Luther King Day! Holly and Sam invited us to come stay with them at their family cabin and we all had the "Pass of all Passes" to ski for free up in Ogden. So, we hung out at the cabin (the kids had a blast playing on the Wii and playing board games) on Sunday evening and we woke up early on Monday morning to head out to the ski resort. Unfortunately, everyone in Utah with a "Pass of all Passes" had a similar idea...the place was packed...but we all had a great time! All of the kids got on the lift and we were impressed with how well they skiied...even Audree, who used to hate going skiing is now a big fan and quite talented! The kids loved having their cousins there to hang out with too...I think it may have made them a little braver as well! It was a great day and we were so glad we got to spend the day together! Of course, that night we headed home for our annual MLK get-together with the Ward family...no pics, but good times were had by all! We are so glad we have a reason to get together with them at least once a year...the chicken, watermelon and corn bread is always a treat! Thanks everyone!

Snow....Finally!

So, this year has been surprisingly "snowless"! In fact, this was the driest December on record here in Utah. We have been living in a sunny icebox all month. So, when we woke up to snow this morning the kids could hardly wait to get out and play! In fact, the whole neighborhood was buzzing with kids in their snow gear (luckily the snow hit on a Saturday!). Anyways, the snowman and snow fort turned out great and the kids had a fabulous morning with their friends and the snow. It was so nice to have them playing outside again!

Christmas Day!

Our Christmas Day was practically perfect in every way! The kids are so good not to wake us up until 7:00...so we even got a pretty good night of sleep! We all got spoiled rotten...we asked Santa to just surprise us this year (no big long lists of all the things we could ever want!)...and Santa delivered! Karlee was stoked about her new sewing machine, Rylee squealed with delight over her "fluffling", Audree couldn't wait to pull out her guitar and play us a song and Spencer was super excited about his Lighting McQueen race track. Grandma GiGi made all the girls adorable aprons and Spencer tried to fly in his new Superman cape! What a great morning! This year Christmas was on Sunday, so we went to church for an hour (which always sets just the right mood for Christmas day!) and then we just hung out here and at Grandma Clarks and played all day. Merry Christmas everyone!




The next week Grandma GiGi and Grandpa Nemrow came to visit us. We didn't get any pictures, but we had a great time with them. A dollar movie (Dolphin Tale), Trafalga, and just hanging out! We love when they come to visit!

Oh My Christmas-time Fun!!

Well, let me try to catch you up on all of our December fun...it was WAY too busy to try to blog it all as it came and went! December was Clark Chaos at it's best and we made sure to squeeze every bit of fun out of it...so here are some of the highlights!
Audree invited me to come with her class to see the Nutcracker ballet on a field trip...what a fun day! We got to see it at the Covey Center for the Arts in Provo and they really did put on a great show for the kids (we loved the real snow that fell during the winter scene!). Audree was SHOCKED to find out that the lady with the kids under her dress was actually a MAN...so funny!!

Karlee worked hard on her wax museum project about Babe Didrickson during the month and she was really excited on the day of the big Wax Museum. Me and Spencer came to see her and she did a great job! It was a bit hard to make her look as "manly" as Babe was...but we pulled the hair back and did our best (Karlee was glad that Babe never wore any make-up!) Anyways, we were so proud of Karlee's hard work...I think Babe would have been proud too!

Audree has been a part of the Mapleton Children's Choir since September and has been practicing these Christmas songs from the beginning. It was so fun to go and see her big performance (which included a duet solo in the song "I Saw Three Ships"). She was beautiful and sang like an angel...it really helped put us all in the Christmas spirit...a big thanks to Aunt Sarah and Grandma Clark for coming to cheer her on!


The day after Audree's Christmas concert we were lucky enough to go to Spencer's Preschool Christmas Program! These preschool programs are some of our favorites! Spencer was as animated and funny as any of the kids have ever been! His favorite song was "I'm Gettin Nothin For Christmas"! It was so fun to watch! It will be sad that we can't go back to any more of Mrs. Wall's programs after this year!

A couple nights before the Big Day we had our annual Clark Christmas Party! We always look forward to this one! It was great...pizza, games, prizes, gift exchanges (including a hilarious adult white elephant exhange...Adam brought a rat in a cage!!) and Santa made an appearance! We even got the kids to do a nativity this year...Audree, as Mary, riding in on Millie, as a donkey, was a highlight!







And then, just a day before Christmas Eve we had some time and decided to head out for our first day on the slopes! This year...EVERY single kid wanted to ski and they are all doing it on their own! Jake and I are stoked...I believe it maybe one of Jake's proudest accomplishments.

My Baby is 5!!

So, Spencer's birthday is actually tomorrow...but since Saturday is a better day to celebrate...we partied today! We decided to make this a family party and take him bowling! We bowled, had pizza and cupcakes and opened presents...I think the best present of all was letting him believe that he beat us all at bowling! Actually, he was pretty stoked about the Hot Wheels scooter he got, he said,"I've wanted this my whole life!" It was a ton of fun...one of the funniest things is that they celebrated his birthday at preschool earlier this week and he has been wearing his crown ever since...he loves that thing, ha ha! Also, on Thursday Jake and I took him out for a birthday lunch at the mall and while we were walking in to the restaurant he asked us, "Can you have the chefs sing to me?"...we laughed so hard and we asked the waitress if the chefs would come sing to him!! He seemed satisfied when the waitresses did it instead! So funny! We are simply smitten with this boy and couldn't be prouder of how he's growing up! Happy Birthday, Bubba!

One Great Saturday!

December is so full of fun...sometimes it's overwhelming! This last Saturday we had plans to go to Karlee's cheer competition, but it would be done at 2:00 in the afternoon and we actually had the whole evening free! So, we decided to meet up after the competition and go see the lights at the temple! I am so glad we did!

Karlee's competition went great! She performed magnificently (nope, I'm not biased!). Her team took 2nd place and it was a blast to spend some time with Kars and watch her team! I am so impressed with how well she handles the pressure and she performs with grace and a professional attitude...what a kid!

Jake and the kiddos met us at the South Towne Expo Center and we headed up to SLC. We shopped around (we all loved checking out the cool gadgets at Brookstone) and got dinner at Applebees. Then we took Trax over to temple square...the lights were fabulous and we braved the 24 degree weather to check them all out. It was actually a relaxing and fun evening together.