We Ski Free at Three

What's almost better than going skiing?
Having your kids beg you to take them skiing!
Sam and I were so happy when Monday morning the kids came into our room and jumped on our bed asking us "when are we going skiing?"
We looked at each other and said, "Today!"
So we took advantage of Alta's "Ski free at 3:00." Even though it's only from 3-4:30, we figured this was a perfect gap for the first time back on the slopes, especially for Will. And especially since Quincy was coming along.
I can't tell you how awesome it was.
Everyone has visions or dreams of things that they want in life. One of mine has been to have my whole family skiing together and everyone loving it! This definitely happen today.
I think it is such a great family activity that we can do our whole lives together.
The kids skied awesome and Quinny had a great time in the backpack. And it was REALLY cold, like 17 degrees. No whiners, couldn't believe it. We were especially proud of Will...he's just a little guy and remembered everything he learned last year.

The kids wanted to go again so we also went yesterday with our friends. It was snowy but still lots of fun.
I have a feeling we will be doing a lot of Alta skiing at 3:00. This is not a cheap sport...especially with 4 kids!
Good Times.

35 and 33

We can't decide if it's a good thing or a bad thing, having birthdays right after Christmas.
This year, it was definitely a good thing. After all the excitement, chaos, fun, and work leading up to Christmas, we needed a break! And we needed a break together.
Sam took care of that for us. He arranged for Aunt Candice and Uncle Doug to come stay with the kids while we had our birthday outing.
We went to Settebello for lunch, then to Gateway.
We saw "Sherlock Holmes"
Shopped
Ate Dinner
Shopped again - and this was a HUGE sacrifice for Sam - he's hates shopping!
Saw "Avatar"
Spent the night at the Marriott downtown
Slept In!

The plan was to go skiing but it was way stormy weather and Candice needed to get to work so we grabbed brunch and headed home. We decided we would go the next day and bring the kids along.

Thanks babe and Happy Birthday to Us!

Christmas!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

After the craziness of presents we feasted on quiche, cinnamon rolls, and fruit smoothies. Yum!

Spent the afternoon playing together with our new stuff, then we headed to Grandpa Judy's for

some hot tubbing!

Another successful Christmas :)

Done.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve.

Today it was just the 6 Clarks.

We started the day off swimming and going down the water slides at Lifetime.

Then a couple of hours of downtime while mom wrapped and made final preparations.

Then we went to Tepanyaki, one of our favorites:



Here's the part where they toss shrimp in your mouth - here we are in action- we were 3 for 6:




I've never seen these kids eat so much in my life! I had my share too.

Next we went to the movies to see "Alvin and the Chipmunks." Of course, we had to have frozen Cokes and popcorn (even though we weren't one bit hungry) because Quinny insisted! Oh how she loves her "pop pop"

The movie was really good, but went later than we realized. Our plan was to take the kids to the shelter downtown and make a donation (the kids too) but we were starting to get anxious about the night ahead.

So we headed home, tracked down where Santa Claus was online (he was in Brazil at 8:30 pm), decided we had enough time to carry on our tradition of putting on our Christmas jammies and exchange gifts with each other. A month ago the kids drew names and each had a chance to go shopping and pick-out a gift for that sibling. They really enjoyed doing this and did a great job choosing a perfect gift.

Here they are, ready to open the first gift of Christmas:

Today was as close to perfect as you can get...

...until Sam started assembling the surprises and was up almost all night!

Pre - Christmas

The fun continues...

First, here's the kids in their Christmas outfits ready for church:


By the way, our ward was split just a couple weeks ago, we have lots of new families to meet! I also have a new calling - Activity Day Leader! I am excited especially because I will be with Millie!

Then, we had the lovely annual Christmas sing at Ridgeline Elementary:




Then, one of our favorite Uncles came home from his mission 2 days before Christmas!
Welcome home Sean! We went to the airport to greet him then had a party at Grandpa Judy's!


Millie and Sean are tight! The brothers: Sam, Sean, Adam, Jake


The Party:

Here is Quin looking so cute in her party outfit from Hotch Potch:

*And in between all of the events leading up to Christmas, Mom is sacrificing sleep - sewing and sewing, card making and card making....in order to meet deadlines for Christmas orders. She also thought she needed one more thing to do and offered to help her friend sell adorable headbands that are in high demand. Hustle and bustle. Whew!

Pre - Pre - Christmas

Because Sam and I have families that live close (within an hour both North and South), and also because we are so blessed to have such an awesome neighborhood and friends, there is always a get-together of some sort, and especially around the holidays. It all starts about the 1st weekend in December (yes, we did just get Thanksgiving over) and from there it's just party after party after party. This is a good thing! We love parties!
So, this post is about a couple of the events we had a couple weeks ago. Though there were other parties, these are just the ones I took pictures. To my friends and family who are reading this, I would like to thank-you for the fun times at Christmas parties this year and I would really like pictures from you if you don't see your party below (especially Whitney) :)

Neighborhood Hayride with Santa:
We hosted the 2nd annual neighbor party where we donate to a charity instead of making/giving neighborhood gifts. Everyone came with a donation, rode with Santa on a hayride, sang carols, enjoyed hot chocolate and doughnuts, and mingled. It was super fun, and a great turn-out.
For some reason, Santa Claus looked a heck of a lot like Grandpa Tom! Quincy was really nervous and scared of him at first, but after a few minutes with him, she warmed up to Santa not knowing who he really was! But thanks to him, she is no longer afraid of Santa! The boys had no idea either. He did a really good job.

Family Party at the Cabin:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

P.S. Happy Birthday Sam! We love you!

Christmas Card