O Christmas Tree

The tradition of getting our fresh Christmas tree continues, except this year the 6 Clarks picked-out our tree in record time! We picked the coldest day of the winter so far to take family pictures and get our tree!
I used the pictures for our Christmas card and you would never guess that we were sooooo freezing! I even had to take Quincy's picture an hour later because she was crying in all of the others. A little hot chocolate and a candy cane did the trick. We also told her she could have her picture taken with Daisy and that perked her up for 10 seconds so we could get a grin out of her. So even though you can't see Daisy in the picture, she was sitting there and got cropped out. The other kids were champs.
Anyway, we used the bribe of telling the kids that we could go pick-out our tree next if they were good.
So here we are, next to our choice. We were out of the car, in the tree field, and back in the car in 10 minutes! Loaded on the car in 20. This usually takes a good hour or so but because of the nippy weather, we really didn't care WHAT our tree looked like. Sam and I were so glad that the kids felt the same!
But it's funny how sometimes, whether you spend 1 minute or all day on something, the shorter way turns out better. Because it fits perfect into our cozy little family room. I debated putting it in our front room where it can be seen from the street, but I like to have it where I can see it all day, next to the fireplace and stockings.
The kids did an awesome job decorating it! I LOVE CHRISTMAS!
Quin on the way home...whew what a big day!

Christmas Recitals

It's always a joy watching Millie perform in her Christmas recitals...
First was her dance performance at the Festival of Trees. We love going to the Festival of Trees, it's a fun tradition, but I swear the whole population of Utah was there the same night we were! She danced to "Let it Snow", the same routine from the filming of the Disneyland parade.

Sambo opted to go to tumbling instead of watching "boring dance"

Isn't this a lovely pose?The next week she performed at a recital at Summit Academy. Here she is dancing a lyrical:


Then last week was her piano recital. Even though she won't admit it, she really likes piano. She really dislikes practicing, but she loves to perform her songs once she knows them.
She did a great job, below is a clip of her playing one of her songs, a duet with her teacher Jill.


She is also lucky because her friend next door takes from the same teacher so they get to hang-out together.
I'm so proud of her confidence and the way she glows when she is on stage. Good job Mills.

BTW: Watch for her on Christmas morning on channel 4 dancing in the Disney Christmas parade. She is wearing a snowman costume. Also watch the backgrounds for maybe a glimpse of our family?

Little Mommy

During Thanksgiving break, I walked upstairs and I had to grab my camera because this is what I saw:Quincy was wiping and changing her cousin's diaper! This cousin is only 3 weeks younger than her but outweighs her by 10 pounds. She did this all on her own and I love how Bode is just chilling and letting her wipe his bum and put on his diaper like she's a grown-up!

Oh I love this girl.

Thanksgiving at the Cabin

I've mentioned before our excitement about being able to go back to our family cabin in East Canyon. We spent 4 days there over Thanksgiving weekend and I can't begin to explain how good it felt to be back there. As usual, yummy food and lots of fun things to do....or not. You can do nothing if you want and it's the perfect place to do everything and nothing. Besides eat and relax, here's a taste of what we did:

Four-Wheeling

Making Fudge and licking the bowl!

Exploring Outside

Traditional breaking the "Wishbone"

Play the Wii together

Lay Around

Play with Cousins

Target Shooting with Uncle Kirk (even Millie did it)

Helping Uncle Shad paint

Getting in the tubby lots

Wathing the BYU vs. Utah football game!

(They are supposed to be making a "Y", they are avid Cougar fans)

Good Times I tell you!

Back Burner

The blog has been put on the back burner lately. I have been up to lots of stuff.
Stuff like:

Christmas Shopping.
Designing Christmas cards.
Sewing.
Recovering from a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend.
Christmas decorating.
Doing our tradition of finding and cutting down a Christmas tree.
Church calling.
Working at the hospital.
Planning neighborhood Christmas parties.
Planning friend parties.
Planning family parties.
Carpooling.
More driving, mostly to Mtn. Green and back.
and such.

Oh yeah, and this:www.hotchpotch.blogspot.com

Starting a business is lots of work! Holy cow. But it has been so much fun to spend so much time with my sister. We are doing this for fun and with encouragement from many.

This is what I have not been up to the last 2 weeks:

Cleaning.
Cooking.
Doing laundry.

Nope, those things have also been put on the back burner the last couple weeks. Because of that, this is what my room looked like yesterday:

Yep, that's a gigantic pile of dirty laundry on the floor, thanks to my kids gathering all the clothes from their hampers. This picture really doesn't do the hugeness justice! And my bed isn't made!

But notice I said yesterday. Because today I sewed 16 pairs of Christmas PJs/nightgowns trying to meet a deadline and some elf did ALL of my laundry. He's the best ever I tell you. Thanks.

And the kids have been awesome. They think it's pretty fun to see everyone's family pictures when I'm doing cards, and being my mannequin when sewing.

I will post Thanksgiving and other happenings soon. I hope.

HALLOWEEN 2009

Finally...Halloween pictures! I just want to eat them up, even when they look a bit scary or silly.

Miss Wednesday Addams:

Mr. Mummy:


Mr. Harry Potter:


Little Miss Chickee:

Disney

Whew! What a marathon.
We're home from California. We left last Tuesday and got home yesterday. Some flew, but we drove. Grandpa Tom was so generous (as usual) and offered to drive a Suburban-full of us: Me, Millie, Quincy, Aunt Heidi, Alix, and Cole. Considering we had a nursing baby, a recently potty-trained 2 year old, and a Grandpa who developed Diverticulitis (so random) during the trek, the drive wasn't too bad!
The reason for this trip was that Millie had the opportunity to perform in the filming of Disneyland's Christmas Parade with her dance studio. This will be on TV on Christmas morning for the next 3 years. The family and friends were asked to be extras in the background so we dressed-up in winter clothes and had to pretend it was Christmas...pretty funny watching what people will do to be on TV!
She also was lucky to participate in the filming of a musical number with "Tiana" the latest Disney princess from "The Princess and the Frog." It was fun being around the cameras and excitement of a famous person!
We spent 3 days in the Parks and we had the time of our lives! The girls LOVED meeting all of the Princesses and Fairies and characters and getting their books autographed. It makes me happy that the older ones (Caitlyn, Millie, Ellie) don't think they are too old for this.
I always love watching my kids when it's their first time to Disneyland, they can't believe what they are seeing! It was so funny to see Quinny's reactions, at first she was overwhelmed with the "real" characters and princesses. She wasn't sure about them and didn't want to get too close. She was happy as long as I stood between her and them. She loves her autographed book too and wanted to go on all of the rides. She took good naps in her stroller everyday. She had a little mishap with her thumb but it was okay.
We couldn't have asked for better weather and it wasn't crowded! We were able to get on the rides with minimal wait time. We went on every ride and many of them 2 or 3 times. That place gets funner and funner each time, seriously!
So happy our cousins could join us from Minnesota! Thanks for a great time and supporting Millie during her performance. She did such a great job!
Thanks Grandpa, Grandma, Nate, and Heidi for everything...we had a blast!
But it was exhausting, wasn't it?