The Champ

Presenting the Utah County Football Conference 3rd grade Champions:
The Lone Peak Knights


Saturday was Sambo's championship game vs the American Fork Cavemen. They played at Lehi High School on the turf and they thought they were Big Time! The Cavemen were undefeated so we knew it would be a tough game to win. But they pulled it off with the score 7 to 6. Other than a false start, Sambo did a great job and we are really proud of him! He has had such a great experience with this football team and LOVES it so much. It has been fun to watch him learn and grow. I can't say that I am sad about the season ending...daily practices were getting old :)

He is wearing gold socks so he would stick out...those numbers were hard to see!

On a different note, Sambo was also chosen to be Student of the Month for 3rd grade. He got the best report ever from his teacher. Good job Sam. What a champ.

The Pumpkin Bandit Strikes Again!

Every year for the past 4 years, our jack-o-lanterns always disappear the night of Halloween. The first time this happened, we were baffled. See here and here for a little history. We have learned not to place out our carved pumpkins until literally moments before it's Trick-or-Treat time to avoid them getting swiped.

Having uncarved pumpkins on the front porch has never been a problem. They have never been taken. We had 3 large pumpkins on the porch when we left for St. George a few weeks ago. When we came home, we found that 2 big ones were gone! Only mine was left {the ugly one with warts all over it}.

Our first thought was that it was Daisy and Chops, but we couldn't imagine how they were able to carry or roll those heavy things off. Who knows???

While we blame Daisy as the suspect, we really have had no solid proof of this crime.

This year, we caught her in the act:

This pic was taken at midnight on Hallow's Eve. BUSTED!!!

Halloween part 6: Halloween!

Autumn Fairy:

The Grim Reaper:

An Army Guy: {correction - an army guy with a bloody injury}

Little Miss Cinderella:

Little Miss Cinderella laughing at Nacho Libre:

It was nice having Halloween on a Saturday this year. We started out the day with Sam's football game then lunch at In and Out Burger. They won! On to the semi-finals!

Then we came home and carved pumpkins. Millie even carved her own pumpkin and did a great job! We love to keep the seeds for toasting. Yum. This year, BS did something extra cool with the jack-o-lanterns. He poured some concoction on a roll of toilet paper and placed it inside the pumpkins and flames were coming out for a good 2 hours. It was way cool because it was pouring rain and the flames burned strong!

Because of the cold rain, the girls dressed up as a football player and a spider for trick-or-treating to stay nice and warm. BS took the kids and met up with many friends/neighbors for a fun night. The rain even stopped eventually. When they returned, we warmed up with hot chocolate and chicken noodle soup in orange pumpkin bread bowls. I was dressed as Belle, but darnit, didn't take any pics of myself ;)


As usual, this year was a candy success! Kids put all of their treats together and filled a box AND a paper shopping bag. Holy cow. A few days later, they had already forgotten about it and it sits in the laundry room waiting to be eaten. The favorites are all picked out.

Today was a great day. What a fun month! And I haven't even posted about St. George or Deer Hunting yet!

Halloween part 5: Halloween costume parade & parties!

Last Friday was the big costume parade at school! I hear there are are schools who have banned this tradition...so sad. Here they are looking all dressed-up:

We love seeing all of the kids in their costumes...so many creative people out there. Afterward we had class parties which is also a blast.

That night we had 2 more parties...one for the family and one for Mom and Dad. We attended half of each. Wait till you see what BS dressed-up as...

Halloween part 4: Halloween Cat

"Halloween Cat, Halloween Cat,
Why do you meow and meow like that?
Neither I nor the moon,
like your tune,
so SCAT, Halloween cat."

Our kids love that chant...

But somehow, the 6 Clarks ended up with our own Halloween Cat.
What? Why?

Because little Quincess loves, loves, loves animals. And because her dad is a sucker. He couldn't tell her no when she looked at him with her big dark brown eyes and asked him for a kitty. We went to Grandma Judy's house where her cat (actually Aunt Jenny's) had kittens. She fell in love and wanted one really bad. Next thing I know, we are bringing it home. The kids have named him Casper.
Actually, we justify it by hoping that the cute little kitty will grow into a vole/mouse catching machine. It better!

We are not cat people. It will not be an inside cat (even though the kids keep bringing it in). I hope Suncrest is not too cold for the little guy. Too bad it had to be introduced to snow the 1st day! We've had it for 3 days and every time I go to leave, I have to pop the hood to my car because it crawls underneath and climbs up and lays on the engine. I'm guessing because it's warm? With as much running around as I do, the engine is always warm. I really hope I don't forget to check...

Here's Quin showing her Halloween Cat dress:

Halloween part 3: Party!

Grandpa and Grandma G are on a Mediterranean Cruise as we speak. Lucky! They left a week ago, and will be gone another week. Because Grandma likes to plan way ahead, and it takes her 2 weeks to pack,(exaggerating) she thought she better have her party the very first weekend of October so she would have some time. It worked out great because it was also General Conference weekend and we LOVE being at the cabin for that. We went up Saturday morning, watched/listened to conference, and did all of the usual cabin activities:







We also emptied out the crawl space under the old cabin. We found treasures! Among other random things, there was enough food storage to last a loooong time. Problem is, how old is it and how long does it last? My parents decided to get rid of all of it. Except, there was an old wheat grinder that belonged to my Grandma G and I was stoked to use it. I was even more excited that there were like 100 cans of whole wheat. I've been wanting to try grinding wheat and making homemade wheat bread. We tested out the grinder and the wheat, and it was perfectly fine :) I've got some baking to do.



Now on to the fun Halloween part...

Of course, it started with yummy food. Finger foods, dip, and drinks. I love these paper plates/napkins:


Then it was coloring and pinata:






In this pic, Millie is taking her last hit....this is seconds before it broke, you can see the candy through the crack. Good job Millie!



Grandma wanted it to be a costume party. It was a miracle that we had our costumes ready (mostly). Whew! I knew this month was going to be crazy so I tried to get it all done in September. So glad I did. Can you find Sambo? Check out Will in the 2nd pic.




She gave us these cool masks :)