Cabin Trip 2011

We were so excited for our 4th annual trip to the Ward's cabin with the Nemrow side of the family this year! It's always one of our favorite things we do during the winter! Unfortunately, this year most of the Nemrow's weren't able to come with us, but Travis, Katie and Bristol didn't want to miss it and neither did we...so it was on! It was a shortened version (just 2 nights) with only a few of us...but we had enough fun for the whole crew! It was the usual hot cocoa fest with tubing and hot tub thrown in for good measure...a Jazz game on tv one night with a good Jenga game going on...some book and magazine reading....some games on the Itouch...creating a half-pipe tube run down the driveway (even the dark of night didn't stop us, we kept tubing under the porch lights!)...riding the snowmobiles...Jake taking extreme tubing to the next level (and a crash for the ages!)...dancing to some tunes in the cabin...just general good times! We are so glad we went and the kids have been asking incessantly when we get to do it all again...next year I hope! Anyways, here are some photos...Katie and Travis thanks so much for joining us! (p.s. Jake and Travis- you owe me big time for not posting any pics of you in your speedos...I was tempted to introduce the world to "Tuxpedo" and "Tigress"!)

What We've Been Up To!!

It seems like life just keeps on keepin' on around here. I haven't had anything extraordinary to blog about lately...so I thought I'd just catch you up on what's been going on.

First of all...Audree is quite the artist. She LOVES to color and draw. But I didn't realize until just the other day that she might take that talent to the streets...maybe she's a "grafiti artist". Unfortunately, If she does take her work outside she will be caught very quickly, since she never forgets to leave her signature on her artwork. Like, when she decorated my living room the other day! What a little stinker! Don't worry, her little brother confessed to the crime with her...in fact, he even said, "Yep, we did it when you were making the soup!". AH HA!



We also have been working hard on Karlee's first science project. We decided to test out which Orbit gum flavor lasts the longest. It was a fun project because for a week, every night after dinner the whole family took a piece of gum and we all timed how long the flavor lasted! It was a fun little project and here's how the board turned out when we were all finished!


Then we had a really great Valentine's Day! The kids all loved their class parties at school! Then we had a little family party in the evening, pizza for dinner and Valentine's for all! What Rylee was really excited about though was the "date" she had that evening! Rylee absolutely LOVES to go on Daddy-Daughter dates (and Jake is really good to take all the kids out on these individual dates fairly often!). So, she brought home some free tickets to a "Flash" (NBA d-league team that plays at UVU) game. She asked him if he would go on a date with her on Valentine's night...I obviously had no choice but to give up my date and let them go...she was so excited and talked about it for days! They had a great time, but Jake said all she wanted to talk about was other guys!! Ha Ha!

A Day on the Town!

Last Saturday we decided to head out for the day...about this point in the winter we start to get really tired of hanging out inside and watching tv. We were going to take all the kids skiing...until we read the paper and saw a model train show happening at Thanksgiving Point. Spencer saw the picture in the paper and REALLY wanted to go see the trains....plus, Audree wasn't thrilled about skiing. Unfortunately, Karlee and Rylee were stoked about skiing...what to do? Well, we decided to split up for awhile and meet up at Grandma's hot tub later!

So, I took the little ones up to the "Train Show" and Jake headed up the mountain with the big girls! The train show was just a whole bunch of model train set-ups and a bunch of vendor booths...Audree, Spencer and I were entertained for about an hour. We really liked the big "Thomas" train that went fast and the enormous lego world (really, it was about a 30 foot by 30 foot display completely built out of legos!)... and then we decided to go get some treats! It was a fun little outing.




I don't have pictures of the girls skiing, but Jake took some video for me and they are doing GREAT! We are just excited to see them really enjoy it!

The hot tub was a great end to the day too...thanks, Judy for keeping it hot and ready for us! What a fun way to spend a winter weekend.

A trip, A funeral, A wedding...

So, it has taken me a couple weeks to blog this because this family has had the Flu for a week! 5 out of 6 of us (Jake is the lucky escape artist) had the Flu last week and it was awful and it lasted forever!! We have all recovered and I think I am ready to get back to the grind.

So, after Christmas we headed back out to California (we have been out there a LOT the last year!)...this time for my Grandpa Nemrow's funeral and Brooke & Kyle's wedding. This trip was not about relaxing in the sun. Luckily we had lots of new toys and such to keep the kids busy in the car.

The funeral was a nice day to remember my Grandpa. There was a great turn-out...all of his kids, almost every grandchild and many great-grandchildren were there to pay their respects. My Grandpa Nemrow was a character...a great story-teller, a loud man, a lover of college football and he really loved his family and was so proud of them. All of this was mentioned...nobody mentioned that I was his "favorite grandchild"...but I will let it slide this time! Anyways, he will be missed and I am glad that we could be there for his funeral.




Brooke and Kyle's wedding was a actually a lot of fun! It was a lot of work to be the mother of the flowergirls/ringbearer, a "bridesmaid" of sorts and the photographer...I was running around like a crazy person! It was a bummer that I was so busy running around I didn't have a chance to chat with everyone who was there...but I made sure to take some time out to hit the dance floor! Rylee was the "queen of the dance floor!" and rocked out all night...we all did our best to keep up. Karlee caught the bouquet and Spencer caught the garter...and then the two of them shared a great little dance! Anyways, it was a fun evening and we are all glad to have Kyle as part of the family! Congratulations guys!

Christmas Day finally arrives!

After a full month of activities, traditions and festivities of all sorts the big day finally arrived! I guess the kids have been pretty good this year because Santa made a stop at our house and spoiled these kiddos rotten. It was a perfect morning. We spent the day relaxing, playing games, putting toys together, charging our newest electronics...when I say "we" of course that is everyone except Jake...he spent the day sleeping...I guess we all did exactly what we wanted! Spencer even got his first "big boy" bike and he picked it up in minutes (unlike the months we spent teaching his big sisters to ride). What a fun day!

Clark Christmas Party!

We all look forward to this family party all year! Which is why Karlee was SO BUMMED when she woke up throwing up the morning of the big day! We kept trying to get her better, and she just wouldn't pull through. In the end, me and Karlee stayed home for dinner...she kept it down and so we went over to see Santa, play Christmas Bingo and then we headed back...the rest of our clan stayed at the party until 11:30 at night...it was quite a "hoppin' partay"!

It's a SNOW DAY!

So, for the first time any of us can remember (including Jake, and he's been around awhile now)...school was closed for a snow day. The storm covered the roads with about 2 feet of snow and when we woke up we got a text message from the school telling us school was cancelled...then we checked the district website just to be sure and it was official! It was the last day of school before Christmas break...so the only bummer was that the kids missed their parties and Karlee missed doing her class Christmas play...but who can complain about staying home and hanging out? So, here's how we tried to fill our day...

Of course, we made a snowman...we couldn't find anything for eyes...so we just gave him some sunglasses!

We had some friends over for lunch...Hotdogs anyone??

And, my personal favorite of the day...this one made me laugh all day...Karlee, Audree and Makayla played...school! Yep, they had the day off and the best thing they could think of to play was "school"...they are hilarious!