More Halloween and old stuff

We FINALLY carved our pumpkins Halloween night.  Whew! I was tempted to let Aveline “help” goop the pumpkins, but… I decided I didn’t want to have to give her a bath later. I couldn’t find my bag of tea candles, so we used humongous old Christmas candles instead.  And we actually got some trick-or-treaters! Travis got some while I was at work, but he didn’t answer the door since we didn’t have any candy.  Right when I got home a little girl knocked.  So I gave her the only thing I could find–an entire unopened box of theater candy.  I had to give her something! And she was pretty excited, too.  After that we went to Walmart and bought some candy.  I love giving out candy! (And eating the leftovers…)

I also found some more pictures of Aveline.  Enjoy! (Click pics to make ‘em bigger.)

Our pumpkins! (lemme tell ya, it’s tough making a phone stay up to take a timed picture with it; this is the best we could do!)

Aveline’s 1st USU hockey game! (I think this was in Sept.)

Love the zamboni

The Clark fam at Tuscano’s– fantastic food!

Daddy giving Aveline green beans for the 1st time–she loved them! New favorite food!

Start teaching while they’re young!

Hanging out with my men folk (hubby & dad)

First encounter with Ferdie–Grandpa Pett’s cat

Sleeping baby!

Phantom Time!

Our ward’s Halloween party was tonight.  We went as the Phantom of the Opera, Christine Daae, and the monkey music box.  The party was fun times! There were a lot of creative costumes.  I love Halloween!  (Click on the pics if you want to make them bigger.)

The Phantom of the Opera and the monkey music box :)

My little monkey!

The Vortex Maze of DOOM

Oct 22 Travis and I went to the American West Heritage Center. First stop: their Haunted Hollow. It was pretty good! The theme was classic creep-o’s, like Lizzie Borden, Jack the Ripper, Sweeney Todd, etc. Travis even got a “shave” from Sweeney. Kid friendly but still made me jump a lot–I’d totally recommend you go!

Then we went to their freakin’ corn maze. I went a couple years ago with my 4th/5th grade class and it took us like 20 minutes tops. So I was thinking, yeah, this is gonna be quick. EEEEE! No freaking way. We spent a hour and a half in that Pit of Despair and came out the entrance–twice. We even tried using the map! Twisting, zigzagging, dead end after dead end!! Miles of switchbacks! Hordes of man-eating corn hogs! The end of the world! Never did make it out. Curse you! It is so ON! We are going back for a rematch. I’ve been to many a maze, and this is the first time one’s kicked my trash.

Earlier that same day we made a trip up Blacksmith Fork Canyon. We met up with my family and Uncle Mike & Co. Roasted hotdogs and drove a dune buggy. We just missed the fall colors; which is too bad because that canyon gets all bright pink. Maybe next year!

Blacksmith Fork River

Halloween!

Yay! Halloween is almost here! It’s my favorite holiday.  Every year our friends throw an awesome Halloween party, and this year Travis is going as The Phantom of the Opera, I’m Christine, and Aveline is a monkey (from the auction at the beginning). We went to the Green Canyon corn maze a couple weeks ago; it was kinda disappointing this year, though.  So tomorrow we’re going the the America West Heritage Center’s corn maze and Haunted Hollow.  Woo hoo!

Travis’s practicum is going well, he’s working with adults who have bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.  I think he still prefers working with adolescents, but he’s doing a great job and is enjoying this practicum.  He’s started to look at internship sites, seeing as how he has 1 more semester to graduate.  There are some in Arizona, Wyoming, California, and a couple in Utah he’s looking at.  I’m voting for staying in UT, but sites are VERY limited here.  Cross your fingers we can stay!!!!!!

I’ve moved to swing shift when I went back to work.  Travis starts work @ 4AM.  That means on Mondays–practicum days–I see Travis for 20 min before he leaves, then Tue-Fri I see him for about 45 min before I go to work.  Then when I get home at 7pm we have a couple hours before he has to go to bed.  So I don’t see him all that much.  I’ll be blunt–this sucks.  I have to tell myself to be positive and say at least we have jobs! A lotta people don’t.  And at least we don’t have to put Aveline in daycare, we have enough to meet our needs, and God bless the weekends!!

Baby update: Aveline is getting to be  (or thinks she is ) quite independent.  She’s on baby food now–rice cereal and peas.  We get to give her another new food Sunday.  She loves to try to feed herself.  She also loves standing up.  If she has something to grab onto she can do it all by herself for about 10 sec… Who needs crawling, right?  Loves “crinkly” things, kicking insanely fast, dancing, and reading/eating books.  Outside fascinates her–loves watching the cars, shredding leaves, and scrunching grass.  Lately she’s taken to making a sort of high-pitched Tarzan call.  She weighs about 12 lbs and is about 23 in. long now.  Love my baby girl!

Loves to turn the pages herself

Copying our silly faces

Ready to go outside

Standing up

Mmmm… feet!

Woo hoo! Candles!

Sept. 2:

For the past few weeks Travis told me to keep Fri (Sept. 2) open.  I was curious… then, when I was leaving for work Travis told me to text him when I was on my way home.  When I did he said, “Wait! Can you give us 15 min?”  Hmmm….”us”? So I rode my bike around a couple extra blocks before going in.  I saw Todd in the driveway (Travis’s coworker).  He just said hi and scurried off into his car.

I walked in and the first thing I noticed was the kitchen table was gone!  Then I saw it in the living room–set up with crystal wine glasses, formal settings, and a delicious smell coming from a huge pot covered with a cookie sheet. (cookie sheet?!) Later we added tea candles and 2 long-stick candles to the table.  Travis said dress up!  How much “dressed up”? “I’m wearing my tux!” he says.  ”You have 30 min before everyone gets here.”  Travis, Todd, and Jared had been reading/talking about the “Men are from mars, women are from Venus” book, and got the idea to make their wives a fancy-pants, candlelight surprise dinner!!!

I dressed up myself and Aveline.  Lisa and Marissa came soon, looking very nice.  Travis and the guys seated us and served us pozole, homemade tortillas and rolls, sparkling peach cider (i.e fake wine), and chocolate-dipped strawberries with French vanilla ice cream.  It was all homemade and delicious!!  I was absolutely impressed and gave Travis a million brownie points.  Awesome times! It was a ton of fun and totally made my day/week/month.

Pozole-a Mexican dish garnished with radishes and lettuce. We didn’t take a picture of the one Travis made, but it looked pretty much like this!

It’s about thyme!

Yeah…. It’s been a long time since I’ve updated, so I’ll mostly do a picture splurge to explain what’s been happening.  Just read the captions!  Oh, and I don’t have a picture, but Travis’s brother is going to be a daddy! That means I’ll finally be an Aunt!  And an update on Aveline–she’s just started teething.  She prefers to chew on her hands instead of a teething ring.  I just bought a new, smaller teether today.  We’ll see if she uses it… and she scoots backwards while lying on her back.  She’s pretty good at it; shoves her head in the corner of the bassinet regularly. It’s about time to get a crib!  She pays attention to 2-3 books at a time now.  Her favorite seems to be the colors book.

Travis is (hopefully) starting his last year of school next week, and will start looking for internships.  It’s likely he’ll end up out of state, but I’m crossing fingers, toes, arms, eyes, and ears that he’ll get one nearby.

My mom’s birthday was yesterday! To celebrate we’re going to the Box Elder county fair and rodeo Friday.  I’ve never been to a rodeo, we’ll see how it is. And now… enjoy the bajillion pictures!  Just click on them to make ‘em bigger.

My dad graduated just before I had Aveline so I didn’t go to commencement. Proud of you, Dad!

Pett Family reunion in Peterson, UT. I woke up at about 5am to use the bathroom, looked in the mirror, and found a huge spider on my face!!! Yeah, freaked out.

Pett Reunion, July 2011

Already going bald…. ;-)

4th of July parade in Magna. It sprinkled rain–just enough to make it nice and cool.

“Princess Leia” homemade earmuffs for the parade. I was afraid of the sirens hurting her ears. We used them for fireworks, too.

Bear Lake KOA, Aug 2011

Inside Minnetonka Cave (not bad for a phone with no flash, eh?)

About to enter the cave

A chipmunk we saw at Minnetonka cave with Travis, his siblings Justice and Kylee, and Matt.

Playing with Aveline at Willow Park Zoo

Cherry Hills, Aug 16. Right before we found out Aveline had been in a car accident… no one was hurt, thank heaven! The car needed fixing, though.

Cardiac Canyon at Cherry Hills, my favorite ride.

Pirate’s Cove. After pics and while waiting until Grammy brought Aveline to us we played at Brittany & Micah’s. After we got Aveline we took her to Davis Hospital.

Cache County Fair. Aveline slept during the whole thing–except for the walk to and from the fair. She was awake for that…

Dad’s birthday (Yeah, Steven wrapped it.)

Grandpa, Aveline, and Travis’s arm

We were at the Pett reunion for his actual birthday, so they bought some brownies and decorated them until we could get home

She loves that frog!

Just barely learning to push up on her hands to lift her head

She loves to gather blankets and snuggle them!

Man-eating orb spider by my kitchen window. I found him Aug. 23 and he’s still here…

A “friend” I ran into on the way home from work

Aveline’s baby blessing, July 2011

I hadn’t put up any pics of the Clark side for Aveline’s blessing, so although long overdue, here it is!

Whitear cabin at the Pett reunion. You can’t see it well, but there’s a double rainbow!

My Rubber Ducky

Hey! I realized I never actually posted this… it was saved in drafts July 10!  So here’s a tidbit, and then I’ll post something more substantial soon!

Aveline is just so cute after a bath. I just had to share this!

We’re getting ready for a family reunion, and so I hope it goes well. It’s Aveline’s first camping trip…  cross your fingers!

Working on Sunshine

Today I had to go back to work.  :( I didn’t/don’t want to go back! I want to stay home with my baby!  But at least it seems like my new supervisor is very chill and easy-going, and is totally okay with whenever I want to come in as long as I get my work done.  One plus–Travis gets unsupervised daddy/daughter time.

Aveline was so cute when I got home! Travis had just finished feeding her.  I sat down next to them, and as soon as she caught my eye, she got this huge smile and started making all sorts of jibberish baby noises! She kept smiling and “talking” to me for a good 5 minutes! Pretty long for her attention span.  I’ve rarely seen her smile that big! It made me feel loved and missed.  Especially since she usually will only have “conversations” with Travis.  She’ll just kinda stare at me… And now she just fell asleep on me.  I love you, Sweetie Pea!

Baby Blessing

Aveline had her baby blessing today! We had a lot of family and friends come down, and a lot supporting from out yonder! Travis gave her a wonderful blessing.  It made me cry! I’m so proud of my baby girl and her daddy.  I love them both so much!  She wore the same dress I wore for my baby blessing (thanks, mom!).  She’s growing up too fast! Afterwards we had a brunch at our house/apartment.  It was a bit crowded, but thanks to a lot of help from everyone I’d say it went pretty well!  And a special thanks to our neighbors for letting us borrow their window cooler for the summer–made being inside bearable!

Aveline has taken a liking to having daddy copy the sounds she makes.  She’ll make a weird sound, wait, then smiles and flails when Travis mimics her.  It’s cute to watch.  She gets her shots on the 7th… .  And just the last few days she’s developed a new cry–or blurt, I should say.  At night when she wants to play, she’ll kick both legs at the same time spread her arms wide, and blurt.  Loudly.   BA!……silence……BA!  It’s so stinkin’ cute it’s really hard to resist.  But she has to learn night time is for sleeping, not playing.  Or being way freaking cute.  Okay, she can still be cute.  But cute while sleeping!

Baby blessing

Some of the family who came… Travis’s was way efficient and booked it to our house! We took pics there with his family later. When we get them I’ll post!!

Travis dressing her. She looks like an ewok!

Bath time!

She’s got a lotta growing to do to fit in daddy’s chair…

First 4th

 

Well, Aveline survived her first Fourth of July! Slept through it, actually. And I was so worried about the noise scaring her or hurting her ears! But I guess it shouldn’t surprise me; after all, she did sleep through a diamond saw going through metal in our living room…

It was a bugger pushing her stroller up The Spawn of Evil hill (800 east), but we made it! We set up camp on the HPER field- a pretty good view! You can even kinda hear the music from the stadium.

To bring the decibel levels to below 80, you’re supposed to have your wee ones wear earmuffs. But… Aveline’s head is to small. And besides, where do you get earmuffs in July? So with some inspiration from mom I made some with a fat headband and lots of those flat round cotton things you use to get off makeup. She looked so cute! Like Princess Leia!

First Father’s Day

This was Travis’s first Father’s Day being a daddy!  He got a “New Dad” shirt and Reese’s- his favorite. On Sunday we had dinner with my family to celebrate, and on Tuesday we met in Ogden with Travis’s family.  Travis is such a good daddy! I love him so much! And my dad is amazing, I love him! Happy Father’s Day!

Also on June 16 was Travis’s birthday. He had time friends over for games. Fun times!

On the 15th we went to Lagoon with my family- my mom got cheap tickets from work. Grammy Clark watched Aveline for us! Fun, fun! Except on the way up I almost hit someone!

I was on the highway in the fast lane when I noticed someone jogging along the median! Just as I thought, “That’s a stupid place to run!” They dropped something in my lane… and went to get it! AHH! Brakes! BRAKES!! They got out of the way just in time. Getting hit by a car at 65 mph would not have been pretty. Stupid person!! I could’ve killed you! I am soooo, so glad I noticed you jogging.  I might not have been able to slow down enough so you had time to get out of the road! Next time run on the side, not in the middle!

Willowy Peacocks

On June 10 we went to Willow Park.  It was Aveline’s first time at the zoo!  I think I was more excited than she was–pretty much slept the whole time.  But it was still fun!  And this time one of the bobcats was awake!  They’re Travis’s favorite .  Other times we have gone they’ve been asleep.  And this weekend we saw Faith & Jacob (Travis’s brother & his wife) in “The Sound of Music.” They did great! Oh, and I finally got my garden planted.  FINALLY!  It’s infinitely harder to do a garden with a newborn.  But fresh veggies are worth it!

Coming up this week: Lagoon trip, Travis’s birthday, Travis’s first Father’s Day being a daddy, and potentially spending some time with my parents.

Travis’s bobcats

Willow Park Zoo

It’s a duck! Or a swan! I can’t remember…

They let the peacock wander freely–he’s on the roof

You can’t really see him, but there’s a bald eagle in there, I swear!

Nap time after her first time in church

Watching TV with dad

Hanging out

She looks so cute… and disgusted.

Family pictures

Our first family pictures with our baby! She’s 1 month old today.  Enjoy every moment;  it’s insane how fast time flies!

 

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We had our baby!!!

Aveline Elizabeth Clark was born May 6, 2011 at 7:57pm, 7 lbs, 0.4 oz, 19 in. Dark gray eyes and very dark blond, almost brown hair.  She is so cute! I love my little girl.  She gets hiccups all the time–sounds like a squeaky toy; also very cute! We got it on video.  She had really chubby chipmunk cheeks when she was first born.  Cute! They’re still chubby but now they don’t stick out as far… and she has long hair on her ears! She’s also our little night owl.  Sleeps GREAT during the day.  Nighttime… yeah. But she’s already doing better; last two nights I got a couple hours in at a time.  Felt awesome! Chalk one up for behaviorism and operant conditioning. (Well, her parents are in therapy and education…  ;))

Quick note on the labor: It really wasn’t as bad as I thought.  Travis was sooo supportive; used music therapy to help me through contractions.  I didn’t need the epidural until I was dilated 6 or 7 cm. Actual pushing was only 30 min!

Travis is such a good daddy.  He “dances” with her and she helps him lead music.  I love my hubby!

There’s just so much to say about my little sweet pea! I could go on for pages.  But… seeing as how most of you don’t want to read a novel, I’ll just let the pictures say my 1,000 words.   Then Travis will take a turn at the blog!

This is Travis now.  As Aubree said, a picture can say 1,000 words.  I’ll agree 110% with all that has been said so far.  Enjoy the pictures below and whatever you may think or hear, just remember one thing: my daughter is cuter than yours !

(Click on the pictures to make them big.)

Holding her for the first time

Holding Daddy’s hand minutes after birth

My sweet pea!

Playing with Daddy

Fishy face

Sleeps with her mouth open–just like her dad

Her hands are so little!

Sound asleep

Hairy ears!

She gets this look when we burp her…

Sing along with Daddy

I didn’t pose her, honest! I found her like this and had to take a picture. :)

Sound asleep–again.

Best Mother’s Day ever!

Sunset Ice Cream

Phew! It’s been a while, and I need a break so… here I am! We’re upgrading  to a 2 bedroom apartment in a land far, far away… about 50 feet. Same address; only change is from basement to main floor.  Yup.  It’ll be tough, but we’ll just have to get used to it.  Usually I’m one of those people who, when they actually start a project, they work feverishly for hours straight until it’s done.  In the past when I’ve moved, I could have everything packed, moved, and unpacked in a few days.  But this time… I’m 8 1/2 months pregnant.  I run outta breath after going up and down the stairs.  So… I’m gonna have to put aside my independent streak and get help.  Travis does a ton, but he’s also in finals week and working full-time. Thankfully we have family and friends close-by who can give us a hand! Thanks in advance, everyone!

Things that’s happened since the last update: I’d gone to the hospital 3 times; the nurses said if the baby waits until 37 weeks then we’d be good to go!  However, the drugs worked a little too well and now I’m 38 weeks. Travis joked that now that Aveline has permission to come, she’ll come late! I hope he’s wrong!

We saw Sunset Boulevard with my brother-in-law & his wife and had ice cream afterwards–fun times!  Later Travis and I went to stake conference–with an ice cream social after!  And we’ve gone to a couple taste tests for the nutrition dept.  and… got free Aggie ice cream cards! Hooray for ice cream!

Thanks once again to USU’s infamous foresight regarding student planning, Travis has had another semester added on. New perspective graduation date: May 2012.

I’m now a private math tutor.  I charge $26/hr but I only work 1 hour a week… It’s fun to keep up on teaching and bring in a little extra $ while I’m on leave (I go back to work in July).

Alright.  Time for some chocolate, and then back to work!

To labor or not to labor…

Last night Travis took me to the hospital.  I’d been feeling tight all day and after dinner it got worse.  I felt stupid, but like Travis said, better safe than sorry.  Turned out it was a good thing… after hooking me up to monitors and doing tests they found out I was having contractions 2-3 min apart and had started to dilate! That surprised me, since they just felt more really tight than painful.  The nurse gave me a small (and way more painful) shot to stop the labor.  Jodi (nurse) said that if I were at least 36 weeks they would’ve let me go all the way! But since I’m at 34 wks they want to give the baby more time for lung development and such.  The medicine worked within minutes (and made me shivery and sick), but they monitored me for a while after to make sure.   We were there for about 3 hours, got home @ midnight.  So… we very well could have the baby any day before Easter! In the meantime, I have to drink a whole freakin’ lake of water every day and stay off my feet as much as possible.  And start maternity leave immediately.  Darn.

On a side note, Aveline (the baby) usually wakes up is is active around 10:30pm every day.  Sure enough, at that time she woke up— and went straight to the monitors and started kicking at them! You could hear a loud “Thunk!” among the heartbeat sounds from the monitor every time she hit.  It was kinda funny.  That’s my girl!  She already has a feisty, independent personality.  You show those monitors!

We finally get to see!

During the last Dr. appointment, our Dr. said that our baby was measuring smaller than he’d like.  So he ordered an ultrasound–just in case.  I wasn’t too worried;  my mom all had smaller-than-average babies.  We just got back from the ultrasound, and everything looks fine! Everything is perfect except her size.  Right now she weighs 4 lbs.   Makes for a less-painful delivery, eh? (That’s what I’m hoping… we’ll see…) The last couple times she was waaay shy; kept hiding behind her hands, so we haven’t gotten any pictures.  This time she moved just enough for Dr. Craig to sneak in a few! She’s still trying to hide, but you get to see some of her face! In one it looks like she’s smiling.  And in another she has chubby cheeks! Cute!  :D

Still tryin' to hide, but smiling!

 

Aveline Elizabeth Clark

Quick Catch-up

Yeah… I haven’t been so great about keeping this updated lately.  So…. I made a quick catch-up collage of what we’ve been doing. Also, just to let ya’ll know the baby is doing fine–she’s a feisty one! Kicks like a pro soccer player.  Oh! And we have decided to name her Aveline Elizabeth Clark!  (sounds like Av-ell-linn). On the last visit the Dr. said she measured a bit on the smaller side; but he said that could be because she’s transverse and it’s harder to measure that way.  (Laying horizontal instead of vertical).  On the 17th he’ll measure again and if she hasn’t flipped the right way yet (vertical) he’ll do an ultrasound just to make sure.  I’m crossing my fingers she’ll be smaller–easier delivery. Genetics are on my side–my mom had small babies, I was 5 lbs. And now it’s time to go to our Stake’s Valentine dinner, catered by the Blue Bird.  So… See ya!

Drinkin' Egg nog (Hmm.. don't remember if it was Christmas or New Year's)

USU Hockey game. We won 16-2. Ha!

26 weeks along

This is what happens when you're pregnant and eat a pineapple.

 

Travis and my cousin. Cute!

Deer running amok in Logan... proof they were @ our house

 

Making the 2nd annual Christmas breakfast

And no, I didn't do my hair Christmas morning.

White Elephant at the Pett Christmas Party

And… just got back from the dance.  Ate sweet & sour chicken and SubZero ice cream with the Garrett’s, Shipley’s, and Paige’s!

Stake Valentine Dance

Close Call

Almost had a head-on collision on my way to pick up Travis from class today. 700 N in Logan turns into a twisting hill w/ opposite lanes of traffic divided by a cement barrier. I was going up the hill and some lady decided she wanted to go down the hill–on my side of the barrier! Gees! I had to swerve over as far as I could.  I honked the horn, and as she passed me she didn’t even slow down and gave me a look.  Hello?! Things like this make me seriously question the IQ of humanity. At least she didn’t hit me and my baby.

It’s a…

On December 27 we went to the doctor for another ultrasound.  The specialist said it was the most difficult one he’d done all month! The baby was all curled up–knees touching forehead.  He had a hard time getting all the measurements and data he needed–we have to go back Jan 4 to try again since he couldn’t get measurements for the spine.  Everything he did see looked healthy; that’s good! We didn’t get to see the baby’s face because everything that could possibly be blocking the face was blocking the face.  Hopefully when we go back we’ll get to see the baby’s face and get a 3D picture.  But… we did get to see if we’re having a boy or a girl!  And–it’s a little girl! We’re having a daughter! We’re way excited.  I left the picture CD in Brigham… so I’ll have to post some later.  Not that you can see anything, really– there is a good picture of her leg! Most likely I’ll wait til after Jan 4 and hope for good pictures then…

Christmas was great.  We spent Christmas eve at my grandma’s, Christmas with just us, Christmas afternoon with my parents, then after-Christmas in Magna with Travis’s family.  We went to my Uncle John’s for New Years; played games, ate fajitas and a bunch of junk I shouldn’t have eaten, fooseball (Michelle and I kicked butt), and a big breakfast afterward.  Busy and fun!

Proud Daughter

Hey everyone!!  My Dad just got his grades–straight A’s!  Plus this was his last semester–so now he is officially an Utah State University college graduate!  Bachelor of Science in Business.  He’ll walk in the May commencement ceremony.  Since coming back to school, he earned one B+ and all A’s!  He freakin’ studied his butt off (Err… I mean “worked hard”) and completely deserves it.  And he was worried about going back to school…  Way to go, Dad!

Catching Up…

Merry Christmas!  I hope everyone has a great one.  On Dec 10 was Travis’s Granny’s annual Christmas program at the Magna senior center.  Travis was up to accompany Jacob (his brother) and Faith (Jake’s wife) on “O Holy Night,” play a “Sleigh Ride” piano duet with Jacob, and play a clarinet/flute/piano arrangement of “Angels We Have Heard on High” with me and Jacob.  Travis arranged the song, of course. But… Jack Frost had other plans.  It was so freakin’ cold in Logan that it murdered our poor car’s battery.  Ryan Jensen from our ward came 3 times, yes 3, to jump our car.  First in our driveway, then it died again when we stopped to get gas, and then it died AGAIN when I had the audacity to turn on the heater.  He went with us to Autozone and loaned his tools for him and Travis to put in the new battery.  (Thanks, thanks, thanks Ryan!) Needless to say, we missed Granny’s program by mere minutes.  But Granny really wanted to hear Travis and Jake’s “Sleigh ride” (I assume it’s a yearly tradition), so they played it anyway while Faith and I were the best darn page-turners ever.  They couldn’t have done it without our amazing talents.

While in Magna I finally got to meet one of Travis’s good friends, Gabriel.  We got pizza at the Pie, ate it at Gabriel’s house, and watched a couple episodes of “Community.”  We had a lot of fun; it was nice to finally meet the famous Gabriel Travis has told me so much about.

I got a new calling last week.  I’ve been released as a Relief Society teacher, and now I’m 1st counselor in the Primary presidency.  Today I played flying cars, chased down an escape-artist, fed about twenty dolls from a plastic chicken leg, sang “Popcorn Popping,” and pointed at pictures of Jesus.  Man, life is tough.

My parents’ anniversary was Dec 18.  We went down and visited them.  They’ve been married for 26 years and counting. They were at my grandparent’s watching the BYU game.  While we were there, we saw a squirrel in the backyard zipping back and forth through the trees, grabbing walnuts like a madman.  Travis and I played “Angles We Have Heard on High,” as per my dad’s request.  And although shoveling driveways is great and all, I really hope they did something other than that for their anniversary! (Yes, I’m talking to you, mom and dad!) Happy anniversary, love you guys to pieces! But not really ’cause pieces are hard to hug, so I just love you period! Also, my dad just took his final Final, and I do believe he’s taken all the classes he needs to get his degree!  I’m so proud he decided to go back to school, and has done so well.

And last but certainly not least, we will find out if we’re having a boy or girl next week! We’re both way excited to find out. And then Travis will finally want to talk about names! Yay!

Hot chocolate at Hatch Family Chocolates

Travis napping after church. Yes, I was bad and took this--but he looks so cute all curled up!

17 weeks along, though now I’m at 19.

Clark family pictures, around Thanksgiving

Clark family boys

Clark family girls

Something!

It’s cute and it’s awesome, but make it stop! It gets a smiley face because I’m starting to feel the baby move a little more–very sweet–but he/she’s “fluttering” in my tickle spot! I’m being tickled from the inside!

My Birthday!

Yep, it’s official. I’m now a quarter of a century old. But you know what? Travis gave me Harry Potter Legos.  If I still get Legos for my birthday and get all excited building Hogwarts, then I figure age is just a number. You’re only as old as you want to be! Thanks, Travis!  And just to clarify, my birthday was yesterday, not today…

Also that Sunday John and Emily Shippley (in our ward) invited us to dinner.  Emily made yummy chicken salad baked inside croissants. We played my Harry Potter Lego game and a new one called Betrayal at House on the Hill.  Weird name, but it’s actually fun.  Travis made a dark chocolate fudge cake with cream cheese frosting and sprinkles. And then later that night, Michelle and Steven came over and made me another chocolate cake, birthday banner (yes, they did spell my name wrong…), and put my dishes away.  My parents called and left a voicemail of them singing happy birthday.And on Dec. 4, the day before my birthday, my mom took me shopping at Sears in Ogden and bought me 2 sweaters for my birthday. Michelle was there, too.  Fun times!

Also, Travis just finished up with the American Festival Choir’s Christmas concert.  They did 3 performances. It made for quite a weekend, but he did it.  I went to the first, and they did a good job, as always. And Travis looked pretty sweet in his tux.  He’ll be singing in the choir during next semester as well. Ya’ll should go see them! They’re singing “Elijah” for their Easter performance.

My cakes

One of the sweaters my mom bought me

‘Tis All a Flutter

Guess what, guesswhatguesswhat? This morning at work, about 5:30 AM, I felt my baby move!! It was way neat! It felt like someone trying to tickle me from the inside, only it didn’t tickle because it wasn’t a tickle spot.  Slightly down and to the right of my belly button.  SOO cool!  Holy monkey! There it is again! Right as I’m typing this! It’s 8:30am and I just got home… sweet.

Thanksgiving

We heard our baby’s heartbeat at our Dr. appointment Monday! It was cruisin’ along at 144 bpm–perfectly normal. It was really neat to hear.  Another reminder that there really is a baby in there! At the next appointment (the same day Travis proposed to me) we’ll find out if it’s a boy or girl!!

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. Three Thanksgivings, in fact! We spent a couple days in Magna and had a tasty dinner, saw the lights on Temple Square, took Clark family pictures, and I slept while Travis went to the after-Thanksgiving sale. He got a leather massage chair w/ ottoman for $80 and some DVD’s.  Very nice to come home to after shoveling snow at 4am for work. (Just to clarify, Travis shovels, not me!) Then on Saturday we had our own Thanksgiving. I roasted cornish game hens and we had them with asparagus and red potatoes. Mmmm! And THEN on Sunday we went to Brigham and had Thanksgiving again the the Marble side! There we decorated my mom’s tree and had a fooseball tournament. Yeah, I totally kicked trash. Just don’t put me on goalie, though…that’s another story. Driving back home through the canyon was crappy, though. I went like 35 and it took us an hour to get back (normally like 20 min). They really, really needed to send up the plows and dump a jillion gallons of salt on the road…

On Nov. 27 we put up our own Christmas tree and finally decorated it Monday. I haven’t quite finished putting up the other decorations, but I did successfully tear apart the laundry room looking for Christmas stuff, scatter boxes and clutter all over the living room, and neglect the dishes for far too long! Man, Martha Stewart would be proud!

The Clark's @ Village Inn after Black Friday shopping

Lights at Temple Square--about the spot Travis had proposed

Our cornish game hens

Me and my sister decorating Mom's tree

Travis relaxing in the massage chair

Our Christmas tree!

Hairy Halloween

Travis has a Flowbee–a hair buzz cutter thing you hook up to a vacuum, so no hair gets on the floor.  He’s cute either way! but I personally like his hair longer… so when he decided to cut it today, here’s about how it went:

Travis: I’m going to Flowbee cut my hair!

Me: Nooo!! Don’t cut it!

Travis: Yes!

Me: I’ll hide your Flowbee! Where is it?!

Travis:  *Runs, grabs Flowbee, locks bathroom door*  Ha Ha!  I’m going to cut it right after I shower!

Me: No you can’t!  Because I have the vacuum out here!

Travis: …. oh, crap.

On another note, here’s some pictures of our Halloween. We went to a party out in Howell that was fun. Carved a pumpkin (a week later…heh heh), and a little before Halloween I made dinner in a pumpkin, from-scratch pumpkin pie, and baked pumpkin seeds. Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin. Speaking of, I just noticed our carved pumpkin now has green fuzzy friends on it. I’ll get Travis to take it out.

Dinner in a Pumpkin!

Cutting off the top

Pumpkin goop-yum!

 

Scrabble tile and Harry Potter

Oh! There Really is a Baby in There…

Travis and I just got back from my 1st ultrasound.  It was exciting! The jelly they put on me for it was actually pretty warm. Like Icy Hot without the Icy.  The baby is only 5 cm long.  And man, is he/she active! While the doctor was taking measurements, the baby was “standing up”, stretching, kicking, etc.  It was awesome.  Travis saw a tiny little heartbeat.  Actually seeing the baby really made things more real to me.  I was looking at the screen and I thought, there he is! There’s my kid!  Wow. Just, wow.

The doctor said the baby looks healthy and I am 12 weeks and 2 days pregnant, due May 14 (One day sooner than we thought).  Parenthood, here we come!

P.S. Update: We found a car in Ogden–a ’98 Toyota Corolla exactly in our price range and in great shape.  Only it’s burgundy.  But I can forgive it.  :) I love having an automatic and being able to drive again!

P.P.S Today I made 2 pumpkin pies completely from scratch–a real pumpkin, homemade crust. Took 3 hours but it sure is a ton better than the canned stuff!!

Our baby!

By Small and Simple Things…

You know, the Lord knows when you could use a pick-me-up.  I’m not complaining, but life has been difficult lately.  Car’s dead, don’t really have money for a new one, morning sickness stinks, blah blah, on and on.  Then, today in institute we briefly talked about miracles.  How they don’t create our faith, but rather confirm it. They are usually not Moses-Parting-the-Sea huge miracles, but rather are small and simple things.  That being said, after we got home from class, we had our own little miracle.  Someone had folded some money and shaped it around Hershey’s kisses and left it by our door.

No, it wasn’t a “Moses” miracle per say. But to me it was big nonetheless. (Yes, I really did use “nonetheless”!) Because in the service was kindness and thoughtfulness.  It was a big reminder that God is aware of us. And not only is he aware, but he loves and cares for each of us deeply and personally.  One way or another, things will work out.  I know that if we do our best, follow the Savior, and show that same love toward everyone around us, the Lord is going to take care of us.

When it rains, it RAINS! Good thing I like rain…

We were in Magna this weekend to celebrate Travis’s Granny’s 89th birthday. It was a good party. I met a lot more of Travis’s family. Granny recited a Halloween poem–she has a memory for recitation that puts me to shame!  We had fun hanging out with Travis’s family. I went shopping for maternity clothes with Bev (mother-in-law) and she bought me 2 cute shirts and a pair of pants! I was very excited.  Thanks, Bev!  It also happened to be their regional conference–in the Salt Lake conference center. With Pres. Uchtdorf and Russel M. Nelson. Yeah, that was awesome.  Since it was regional, not general, conference, there were more seats available. We weren’t front and center, but we were close enough I could see their faces without looking at the TV screens! I also didn’t “lose my lunch” the whole weekend. YAY! Maybe morning sickness is wearing off… KNOCK ON WOOD!

Rain, rain, rain. Yep. The sky was weeping  because it knew what was coming next… Sunday night on the way home from Magna the car up and exploded. Okay, so there wasn’t any flame-age, but it gave a mighty CRUUNKAHH UUURT POP! And died. We were able to get off the road. I thought we popped a tire. Nope. Just blew out the transmission is all. And it’s cold. And still raining.  Yeah.

Dad to the rescue! We called him at about 9pm and he said he’d come over and tow us to Brigham. We were pretty close to an exit and a gas station, so we slowly limped there.  (Overheating in the process.) Towing the car was a chore, since it wouldn’t go into reverse or neutral.  Because of this, Travis had to hold the clutch in the whole time.

All was well until 1 mile south of the Box Elder County line on Hwy 89.  Then there was a pop, jerk, smoke, and sickly stench.  Yeah, towing wasn’t working so well.  We ended up taking our valuables and left the car on the road. Spent the night at my parents’, called the work sick line, found a tow truck, found a shop. And we lucked out there. After insurance we only have to pay $20 for the tow. And Baugh’s Auto didn’t charge us anything!  The damage: $1,535–if they used salvage parts. Sick. Obviously, we’re not getting it repaired.

We got the car to my grandpa’s–only a few blocks away from the shop, and after literally dragging it out of the shop, since they couldn’t put it in reverse to get it out.   We looked at some cars and realized getting a used car from a dealer would put us out about $6,000 (which we can’t do; have to pay the baby on the way, student loans, Travis’ surgery, regular bills, and I can’t work as much).  At grandpa’s we asked to keep our car there for a bit and said good-bye. We were gathering all our stuff and putting it in my dad’s car, when my grandpa rushed out of the house. He had just thought that he could sell his car to us, handed us the keys, and said take it on a test drive.  Talk about shock, surprise and wow, gee, like really?! It’s very, very well taken care of, leather seats, digital and automatic everything. Works great, new tires, no rust or scratches, and has an average of 5 stars on consumer reports.  No, it’s not a cute, compact sports car, but it’s roomy for the coming baby, gets pretty good gas mileage, we can afford it, and I know grandpa’s not gonna rip us off.  We’re going to talk to him more about it tomorrow.

Woo Hoo!!

Great news! I’m pregnant! Yup, Travis and I are going to be parents! We’re so excited.  We found out on September 28 after I went in to see the doctor about not being able to eat and losing weight. The culprit: morning sickness.  The doctor was pretty excited to tell me, too.  He’s a not your usual doc–instead of posters of anatomy of the eye and how to prevent flu, he has a Green Bay cheese hat and bobble-heads.  According to the computer and the receptionist, my due date is May 15, 2011.  This will be the first grand-baby on both sides of the family.

My first appointment with an obstetrician is Nov 1.  It was supposed to be on Oct 18, but after that clinic mailed us the paperwork we found out they wanted full payment before the birth, and then later we could get reimbursed some by our insurance. Almost $3,000!  Hard to believe, but we don’t have that kind of cash on hand. They were very inflexible, so I had to cancel and find another doctor.  They got me in as soon as they could, since right now I’m roughly 11 weeks along.

3 days ago I went with my sister and bought my first pair of maternity pants. I love them! If you look at me you still can’t tell I’m pregnant, but I’ve grown enough so that my pants push on my belly.  And I’ve discovered that when something pushes on me, I get sick. So…lovin’ the new pants!  I only got one pair since they are a bit more expensive than normal pants, but still!  Also on my list of things to avoid: anything orange flavored, and minty/peppermint flavored toothpaste. So far kid’s bubble fruit flavor is working out.

 

Called to Serve

Hi all!

For the first time in several months, you’re finally hearing from Travis!  Aubree usually ends up beating me to the punch on getting this thing done, so by the time I think about it there’s been three new posts and a few pictures.  Oh well!  I guess that’s why I married someone much more on the ball about things than I am (one can cut a kid with ADD some slack, right? Right?!?)!  This blog post will quickly highlight a variety of random things from the past few weeks.

Aubree here! A while ago we went down to Magna and Kylee (Travis’s sister) made freakin’ good chocolate cupcakes. Later on we went out to Weinersnitzel’s. It was my first time there! It was pretty good, if I do say so myself.  We also went down to St. George for Adam’s farewell (Travis’s cousin). He’s in the MTC now and then off to Germany! Let’s see… oh! We saw the Scarlet Pimpernel  at the Eccles Theater, it was pretty good.

Travis also auditioned for the American Festival Choir, led by Craig Jessop. Their first concert was Oct. 9.  It was awesome! They were accompanied by an orchestra and Mac Wilberg was a guest conductor.  I am so proud of Travis! Even though I could only see half his face every once in a while….

I was tutoring with Bridgerland Literacy twice a week (they teach reading and life skills to both adults and kids). It was great–but they ran out of funding, and Oct. 28 they will be forced to close their doors. It’s really quite sad. It was a good program. Darn money!

Travis’s brother just got married on Oct. 7 in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It was a great ceremony and Faith looked beautiful. As far as I know everything went relatively smoothly. Then again, our big job was to pick up and deliver 300 orange creamies, so we probably had the least amount of stress.. Kylee made the cake/cupcake tier, which looked great. We’ll try to post some pictures soon!

Whew! Okay. Now we’re mostly caught up. A tout a l’heure!

Bob the Tomato

Today I made my first attempt at canning. Homemade salsa with homegrown tomatoes! (I would’ve used homegrown green peppers too, if the stoopid plants would’ve produced more than 2 mutant peppers! *sends evil glare toward peppers*) It took NINE freakin’ hours, but I did it!  I knew it’d take a while, but I didn’t think it’d take that long to make 8 pints.  Maybe it’s partly because I’m new at this and slow. Now… who wants to be the guinea pig and try it first?

Finished product

I’ve never done any canning before, so I really hope that this ends well! Thanks mom! I couldn’t have done it without you! Or your recipie! Or your steamer!

I’ve been on a food storage kick lately: Froze eggs, zucchini, eggplant, and corn, canned salsa, dehydrating apples. I’m dehydrating bananas tomorrow. I feel all domestic! (Like that’ll last long…) Travis cored and peeled the apples and helped shuck the corn.

Travis has a pretty busy schedule this semester.  He works full-time for USU (4am-12:30pm) and is going to school full-time.  It’ll be interesting to see when he fits in sleep.  But he’s doing great so far! And late afternoon he auditioned for the American Festival Chorus, conducted by Craig Jessop.  He made it! (As it should be; he’s amazing!) In fact, he’s at the first rehearsal right now. Waste no time! FYI, the first concert is October 9.

Hurricane a Comin’!

WOO HOO!!! Yeah! Steven (my brother) and I just got back from riding bikes in the torrential downpour! We rode to BestBuy to buy Steve a laptop.  On the way there it was fine.  But on the way back– DRENCH! SPLASH! CRASH! THUNDER! AAHH!   POURING SHEET OF ICE DEATH! It was awesome! There wasn’t a dry spot on my pants. Completely soaked. As Steven shouted while we were riding, “Great day for a bike ride!!” 8-D

Wet, wet, wet! Just don't laugh at my hair...

Pett Family Reunion

Aug 12-14 was the Pett family reunion.  For those who don’t know, that’s my (Aubree’s) mom’s side of the family.  We stayed at Rendezvous Park by Bear Lake. The camp spot itself was pretty barren, but we had plenty of fun to make up for it! We shared a cabin with my sister and my parents. We even got to use bunkbeds!

The first full day we drove to Minnetonka Cave.  Travis hadn’t been there before, so it was his first time.  Sadly, most of the pictures I took inside the cave didn’t turn out too well…. but there were tons of fat little chipmunks running around, and I got good close-ups of them! The cute lil’ buggers would practically run across your toes! I’m guessing they’re used to tourists feeding them.  At the end of the cave tour (which is intense–886 stairs roundtrip!) they turn off the lights. Man, talk about dark! The second time the turned out the lights the shined a laser pointer on a diamond ring–made for some cool effects on the cave walls.  That time they shut off the light I wasn’t next to Travis.  I called his name and then immediately felt him grab my hand.  Who knows how he found mine in the dark when there were other people all around, but I thought it was sweet.

And of course, we also spent time at the beach.  That was fun. I didn’t even get that burnt this time! We dug the traditional hole by the water, went out on Jessica and Tyler’s paddle boat, buried people’s feet, and ate tons of junk food–followed by another traditional milkshake with the family.  I got blueberry and I think Travis got raspberry-peach. Mmm mmm good!

Oh! And that weekend was a meteor shower.  It was great watching it at Bear Lake! No clouds and no lights. Some of them were pretty huge! The next night Travis and I went stargazing on the beach and saw a few leftover meteors.  My dad found a frog (a big one!) and I held it. The trip was a lotta fun, but we were both glad to be back home!

P.S. Prepare for an onslaught of not-so-high-quality pictures!

Pett Family Reunion, Rendezvous Beach, 2010!

New Record

Travis’s mom emailed us some coupons for free bowling, so yesterday we used ‘em.  (Thanks, Bev!) It was a lot of fun.  The alley wasn’t crowded and we never had to push the reset button!  On one game Travis got a record 6 strikes (or at least that’s a record since I’ve known him…) And I got TEN.  Gutters.  ;-) Yup, I didn’t think it was possible but I scored my lowest ever.  As Travis pointed out, even the 3-year old bowling next to us  got a strike.  Mind you, it did take like 5 minutes for his ball to reach the pins. I don’t think physics applies to bowling…

Tomorrow a coworker and his wife are coming over for a double-date sort of thing.  We’re going to have cheesecake and play Munchkin, maybe watch a movie afterward.  I think it’ll be fun.  Now I just need to make myself do some cleaning so they’ll be able to walk through the door.

My cousin, Kyle, just returned from serving a mission in Honduras.  He gave a really good talk on Sunday, and then the family had a potluck  lunch at my Aunt’s after church.  After that we went to my mom’s for dinner.  Hooray for free food! And family!

Facilities Revolution!

Wow.  We actually did it.  We made it official. Man, I hope it all works out! Here’s the back-story: Travis and I both work for facilities on campus.  Our boss is….well, she’s just something else.  I consider myself a friendly person. I get along with people and I can say that I’ve never genuinely disliked anyone.  I won’t sit here and complain, but I will say that this supervisor reallllly takes the cake. Not in a good way.  One major issue is we end up doing her building because she sits in her office and plays farmville.  Then she puts on her timecard that she did the work.  That’s not only irritating, it’s time card fraud (quite illegal).  Some people have been working with her for years, and apparently this and other complaints have happened before.   But nothing has really been done about it. Our cluster got together and decided that enough’s enough.

Today 7 of us met with our supervisor’s boss and the Boss-Boss. (Two couldn’t make it and one didn’t want to participate.) They had us come in One-on-one and discuss our concerns.  Apparently she’s had complaints before.  They told me that they were going to seriously investigate this over the next few weeks.  If their findings coincide with our claims, they will take action.  They reassured us that it’s against the law for anyone to retaliate against us for speaking up.  They asked me if, if necessary, I’d be willing to testify in a grievance appeal if my supervisor chooses to appeal disciplinary action. I said I would.

It’s kind of scary and kind of exciting that something is actually being done. I don’t like complaining or getting people in trouble.  But sometimes you have to take action.  I hope that we did the right thing.  I also hope that they don’t fire her. Discipline does need to happen, but it’s hard to find a job these days.  I wouldn’t want her to not be able to support herself.  I guess all that we can do now is keep doing our job and wait until the investigation is complete.

Fill Your Lamp!

Today we harvested the first fruits of our first garden–Zucchini! Okay, so a zucchini is technically a vegetable, but… yeah. I’m going to use them to make zucchini bread. Yum! Side note: whenever I made zucchini, pumpkin, or banana bread and add chocolate chips, all the chocolate ends up on the bottom, resulting in a sticky gooey mess on the bottom of my pan.  Why?! Anyone know how to fix that?

So our heads got cut off...but look at the zucchini! Yay!

Anywho. My cousin got married in the Salt Lake temple on July 31.  We were invited to the sealing.  Since you don’t wear your temple clothes to that, I grabbed my Sunday clothes and off we went.  It wasn’t until later that I realized that my temple recommend was in my temple bag—which I left in Logan.  So Travis and my family headed into the temple while I had to wait outside.  It reminded me of the parable of the 10 virgins.  When the bridegroom came, my “lamp” wasn’t filled with oil.  I had to stay behind while my family went into the “wedding feast”. I felt so sad! My husband was up there and I had to stay behind. It made me reflect on my life, and whether I was living so that I could be with Travis and my family forever.  What an eye-opener! That experience just made everything seem so much more real. Literally, that’s what’s going to happen if we’re not living according to the Lord’s gospel–we’re going to be separated.  So, note to self: Renew efforts, make changes, and remember the words of Joseph Smith: “…shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory!”

Garden of Eden

I am so excited I have to share.  I’ve attempted to grow things many a time, but this is the first garden that’s actually produced anything! Well, it hasn’t yet, but there are many starts. I think Travis’s help has off-set my black thumb of death (as opposed to a green thumb).I’m pretty sure if Travis didn’t help we’d have us a mini-desert isolated in our backyard. See for yourself! And the squash and corn was planted from seed, even!

First Anniversary

May 22 was our one year anniversary! It’s amazing how fast it goes.   That just makes it all the more important to enjoy every moment! We went to dinner at Chili’s– where we had our first date. Travis gave me red carnations and lotsa chocolate, along with a card. I made him a card and wrote a little love note and made breakfast in bed for him.  It was fun times.  We look forward to a lifetime and beyond of more anniversaries!  Love you mostest, Travis!  You’re my favorite!

EDIT: I was looking at our posts and noticed I never published this one, even though I wrote it a long time ago… Well, better late than never!

Pioneer Day Weekend

This last weekend for the 24th we went up to Magna and spent the weekend with Travis’s family.  Travis and his brothers had a “guys night.” No girls allowed, so we had our own girls night.  (“We” meaning myself, Bev [mother-in-law], Kylee [sister-in-law], Faith [brother-in-law's finance], and Jaqueline [other brother-in-law's "friend"]) Gees that was a lotta parenthesis! The girls went to the Gateway. We bought an Oreo caramel apple–it was dipped in caramel, then white chocolate, then rolled in Oreo dust. A-maz-ing. We hit Artic Circle last and got free French fries with our milkshakes.  The guys went to Nickelcade and topped it off with a slurpee.  Travis won a bag of marbles and got the new highs score for Mrs. PacMan.  Fun times!

Earlier on Saturday Travis and I drove to the copper mine in Bingham Canyon.  I’d never been there before.  It’s a pretty humongous pit! And the trucks they use are gigantuous. We took a picture by the tire they had on display—and that’s just the tire! Add on the rest of it and you can imagine the thing’s no toy Tonka dump truck!

Spirit Lake

Here they are, as promised! Some pictures from our camping trip to Spirit Lake up in the Uintah mountains:

On the hike to Hidden Lake--just my dad's compass skills to get us there, no trail!

One of 3 boulder fields we attacked

Takin' a break

Travis conquered the hike!

Frolicking in a freakin' muddy meadow... and yes, we actually frolicked! (Or at least I did...)

Travis and I both caught fish in the river, but sadly there wasn’t a picture taken.  You’ll just have to believe me when I say the fish were the size of, say, killer whales. Or minnows.  Take your pick.

You In Taaz!

Land-de-gocious! It’s about time for an update.  June 21-23 we went camping with my (Aubree’s) family at Spirit Lake in the Uintah mountains. There were still patches of snow–but, surprisingly, I swear it got up to 80 degrees during the day! Travis and I both fished the river with my dad.  Travis caught the limit! We ate those fish for dinner this last Sunday. I’ve never had any luck with rivers, but this time I caught a rainbow trout and a native cutthroat.  And, man, that stupid cutthroat! The bugger kept nippin’ at my worm and getting away. I had to try 6 times before I got the upper hand! (insert evil laugh here).

The highlight of the trip was the hike to Hidden Lake. It pretty much took all day.  There’s no trail–all we had was my dad armed with a compass and map.  Good thing he’s one heck of a map reader, or I would’ve been wandering the wilderness for 40 years. Travis’s “favorite” part was having to cross 3 boulder fields.  Yup.  A field that grows boulders. Really, really big ones. My dad would point out a landmark to aim for, then we’d all frolic from  rock to rock until we got there.  Check for missing limbs, all good, next landmark. I actually thought it was fun! I’d do it again for sure. Travis… well, Travis might have some, ah, “prior engagement” come up just before it’s time to go. Okay,okay. He liked most of the hike as well. But I think other parts were his favorite. I’ll try to post some pictures soon!

On a side note, we both applied for full time with facilities (right now we’re part timers). There’s 2 openings and 18 applied. We’re hoping one of us gets in.  That’ll mean benefits and a much larger paycheck.  Wish us luck!

UPDATE!!! Travis just called and HE GOT THE JOB!!!! YESSS!!!!

Jolly Green Giant

We planted our first garden on the 14th! In the picture the tomato plants look a bit..ah…”shell shocked”, but they actually look really good now.  I’m excited! I hope everything grows; I have a notorious black thumb of death.  But I figure Travis will be a good counter-balance and they may have a chance.  We planted tomatoes, eggplant, green peppers, zucchini, spaghetti squash, and red corn.  Yes, it’s a hybrid that contains antioxidants and the kernels inside are literally a deep red color.  Looks weird.  Travis has this master plan to give our future kids red corn, so when they go to school they’ll insist that corn is red, not yellow… Anyway.  Wish us luck!

The War’s Not Over Yet!!!

Holy mother of  asparagus mudwamps!  I’m convinced all spiders have a personal vendetta against me.  This morning I went to get some water and lo and behold, an arachnid the size of a freakin’ nickel was laying in wait for me in the sink.  Who knows how it got there? There’s a strainer covering the drain. It was brown, pulsing, hairy, and inches away from attacking my hand! Spray! Get the spray!! I grabbed the spider-killer and told Travis to spray it.  He drenched the sucker. But to no avail! They’ve developed an immunity! We got the insect killer spray.  Nothing! It’s scaling the sink wall, gearing up to retaliate.  I ran to the bathroom and swiped the rubbing alcohol.  Poured half down the sink.  Nada! I opened the cleaner closet… what chemical weapon can I use? Lysol with Bleach? That’ll work! Bwaa haa haaaa!!!! Take that! And that! Ha HAAA!!

I take a step back.  Blow the smoke off the end of the bottle, spin it around, and stuff it in my pants pocket like a cowboy after a street duel. This battle’s won. But I have a feelin’ this war’s not over yet…

Zombies!!

Woo hoo!!! The semester is almost over! (At least that’s what Travis, my dad, mother-in-law, and Michelle are thinking. But I don’t have school… Woo hoo!!) Travis just finished up his practicum and loved it.  He had his clients make and decorate drums for the last session.  He also made a CD for them of the songs they had written and sung during the practicum. Oh! And the Elder’s Quorum had their pinewood derby this weekend.  Travis didn’t carve his; he just painted it red and called it “The Brick.” He taped some pennies on the back for weight and called it good.  And he got 3rd place!!

I quit my job.  Yay!!! No more people hanging up and cussin’ at me! The new job is with facilities on campus like Travis–at 4 in the ‘A’ freakin’ ‘M’!  Nooo!!! But the hours are the only downside.  I’ll be guaranteed weekends  and holidays off, not have to work with ornery customers, easily get days off for vacations, and have the rest of the day to sleep, sleep, and play.  I’ll start either Friday or Monday next week.

It’s finally Spring!

It was a wonderful day today! We walked down to Jamba Juice and then to Adams Park to drink our smoothies. Yay for two for one coupons!  And if it were just slightly more breezy we could’ve finally flown our kites…

I planted several Alyssum in little terracotta pots a couple weeks ago, and so far only one seedling has survived my black thumb of death.  I’ve named it “Jack the Survivor.” The tiny stem is shaped like an ‘s’ because he keeps stretching toward the window and I keep turning the pot. Live, man! Live!

Travis had “man-richment” today. (The elder’s quorum get-together).  They grilled burgers and worked on their pine wood derby cars. Well, some did.  Travis said he did more talking than building…

I’m teaching in relief society tomorrow. Man, I’ve had a hard time with this lesson.  There wasn’t a lot of material this time I had a hard time coming up with things, so I hope it works out! Thanks Travis for letting me ramble about it to you! I actually most of my epiphanies while talking it out. (I said epiphanies… not necessarily good epiphanies…)

And on May 20 Travis is going to be doing entertainment/music therapy for a nursing home in Brigham City.  He went there about a year ago, and the residents are still requesting him! My grandpa is in the bishopric for the nursing home’s ward, and he asked Travis to come back.  They should hire him on as a therapist once he graduates!

Eggs!

Happy Easter! Man, it’s been a long time since we’ve written. Things just get busy! I planted some purple flowers in little terracotta pots.  I hope they grow! I don’t have much of a green thumb, but it’d be nice to have some flowers.  For conference Travis and I made a huge breakfast–vanishing breakfast rolls, scrambled eggs, maple sausage, and hashbrowns with peppers and onions.  (We went to 3 stores last night to find the stupid things!) Then, in-between sessions, we dyed easter eggs.  I colored designs on mine with white crayon, so mine are better… Yesterday we had dinner with my mom and she gave us chocolate bunnies and some candy in plastic eggs.  We hid the bunnies for each other; Travis hid mine in the shower! Good thing they were in sealed plastic bags! We also had scented bubbles and blew them all over the living room.  We were going to fly kites (I have a yellow robot on mine and Travis has Batman on his), but alas, tis not a breath of wind in sight.

May Wii have a larger tax return next year?

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Two weeks later, and we’re back on with another update!  Add us to the long, long list of people that have promised weekly updates and fell out of the loop after a short amount of time .  In either case, Travis here with your next volume in the epic journey of the Clark family.  I sit here and write while Aubree is on her own journey on a little series of puzzles that I have set up for her.  Each clue leads to more chocolate, which means that by the end of the five puzzles she’ll be stocked up on chocolate for the next day or two.  I am told that she has a little something made for me hiding in the fridge.  I don’t know what it is, since she has it on lockdown and only she is allowed to access it.  I almost got a glimpse when I went to get milk to put on my cereal.  She put a stop to that and made sure she got the milk instead.  I’m looking forward to seeing what’s in store…

This past week saw plenty of zany adventures here in our abode.  Our tax return money arrived to a grand total of $1400!  We divided the amount three ways and used some of it to pay off some student loans, a little will be going towards building some food storage/72 hour kits, and the rest was used for fun.  What did you do with that fun money you ask?  Well, I’ll tell you!  Nintendo Wii!  Yep, we bought ourselves a Wii and a few games to go with it: Zelda: Twilight Princess, Lego Batman, and EA Active Personal Trainer.  You’ll hear more about the personal trainer in a minute, but needless to say we’ll be having lots of fun with it!

Last night saw our stake’s own Valentine’s dance, which turned out to be a lot of fun!  I wont’ lie, though.  Aubree and I went mostly for the free food catered by Firehouse Pizza.  We got there about 25 minutes after it started as Aubree’s parents came by to drop of some things and we chatted with them for a bit.  Anywho, we enjoyed a fabulous dinner and then danced for a little bit.  We even ran into some friends that we hadn’t seen in quite a while there.  Good times!  Afterwards, we went over to Wal-Mart so Aubree could get some “secret ingredients” for my surprise treat that’s hiding in the fridge.  I took advantage of the time to get the stuff for Aubree’s surprise scavenger hunt with puzzles.  We then came back to the apartment for some…

Workouts.  I told you above that I’d tell you a little about our new fitness regime: EA Active Sports Trainer.  It’s advertised as a gym in a box.  Inside, we got an exercise band and a nifty little leg strap.  The leg strap is used to house the nunchuck and keeps track of your leg movements (running, lunges, etc.).  After a short 20 minute workout last night, I was feeling pretty well… well… worked out, sweat and all!  We’ll be each starting a 30 day challenge mode on it that’s supposed to get us in pretty decent shape.  We’ll see what happens!

My schooling continues to go well, though perhaps I should take a moment to tell you about my latest music therapy endeavors.  I’m working at a place here in Logan called YouthTrack.  It’s a treatment facility for adolescent male sex offenders.  I’ve led three sessions with them there, and I’m having a great time doing so!  I can’t share a lot of information due to confidentiality issues, but I’ll say that we’ve had fun playing percussion in forming drum circles, come up with our own 12 bar blues song, and done some rap (yes, I have been rapping with these outstanding individuals )!  Over the next nine weeks that I have with them, we’ll be writing one or two more songs to put on a CD for them to keep.  I love it!

And that’ll wrap it up for this week’s update.  I’ll be coming back in a bit to add some pictures to the mix so be sure to come back again!  Thanks for reading another week, and more to come on a slightly irregular schedule… ciao!

Travis & Aubree Clark

Belated Ice Cream

Gees! It’s been a long time since this has been updated.  It was Travis’s turn… but I’ll go ahead and write something. Well, Travis just started another music therapy practicum.  This time he’s working with adolescent male sex offenders.   It seems to be going rather well; he says he relates to this age group and has lots of ideas on possibilities for sessions.  Oh! And a few days ago he surprised me by making a chocolate cake, buying oreo ice cream, making chicken alfredo for dinner, and giving me a card.  That was quite nice!

This last weekend we had dinner with Lisa and Jared (Lisa is a past roommate) at Hamilton’s.  I tried grilled lamb for the first time… loved the lamb! was not a fan of the cilantro… then that night we went to a hockey game with Mindi and Nate. (Mindi is one of my best friends.) We played against Colorado and won 3-1.  Man, was that a violent game! Like Travis said, most of the game was played on power plays, since there was always someone in the penalty box!

Last week My dad, Michelle, and I saw a movie, “Music From the Heart”. It was surprisingly good! Afterward we had lunch at the Bluebird.  I had a crescent sandwich with avocado and tomato—very awesome! And this coming Saturday afternoon Travis and I are planning on going to a movie with my parents, since my dad got free tickets. Lotsa movies!

Phew.  There!  Done and done.  Now… where’s that ice cream?