Sunday, April 29, 2012

"Moonlit Serenade" Prom 2012






Cassidy had a great time at Prom last night!
They took lots of pictures, ate at Bucca de Beppo, danced the night away
and played games at a friend's home.
Thanks, Austin for taking such good care of our girl!

Monday, April 23, 2012

Our Humble Abode


It is always fun to look back at pictures as a child and remember the home you grew up in.
I realized that I had never taken pictures of our home,
 so last week, I took a few for memory's sake.


Family Room

Clark and Bennett's room.
I love their old sports pictures framed and hung above their beds.
This furniture my Dad had growing up as a young boy.
Back in his day it was painted white, but we had it refinished to the orginal maple wood.

Hall bathroom which also doubles as the guest bathroom.
Not ideal, but it works as long as I polish it up everyday!

 The master bedroom...still a work in progress with no end in sight!
The only redeeming part of this room
 are the pictures of each of my babies at 6 months of age
framed and hung above the bed.

As a little girl, I used to love to go down to my Grandma Clark's basement master bedroom
and look at all her family pictures hung on a peg board in a nook of her room.
She had a framed picture of each of her children at the age of 6 months.
The baby girls wore a delicate locket.
I thought they were so beautiful and angelic
and I knew I wanted to have that as a keepsake when I had babies of my own.

My baby girls are wearing the tiny "add a pearl" necklace
 that my Grandma Clark gave me as a baby.
My older cousin Jane and I were the only grand daughters to receive the necklace,
as she passed away at the age of 49 when I was just about 4 years old.

I love this room!
We call it the Living Room or Music Room.
It is the warmest and brightest in the house.
Lots of beautiful music, good conversation, and occasional Sunday naps are had here.


Several years ago for Christmas we decorated this basement room as a gift for the kids.
Up until then it was a plain, basically empty room with lots of toys.
Now it is a great hangout for the teenagers!


Cassidy's room
This used to be Haley's room, too, until Tia got marrid.

When Tia moved out, we did a little redecorating to make this room Haley's.
(Haley and Cassidy are enjoying having their own bedrooms for the first time!)

This furniture was my Grandma Meldrum's original bedroom set when she was newly married.
My parents also used this furniture for the first several years of their marriage.
When Curt and I got married this was ours for our first 10 years.

It is creaky and old and only a full sized bed.
My kids are shocked that both Curt and I could fit in it!
I have always loved this set and the tradition has been to pass it down to the first daughter.
Brett and Tia had their own furniture when they got married,
but someday this will be passed on to them, keeping with tradition!
This house is by no means perfect. 
Every so often I dream of an updated kitchen with granite countertops and newer appliances,
a bigger garage, more yard, a private guest bathroom,
 but as I look around, I really do love this house of mine!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Toro Track

Track season is in full swing!
Clark is running the 100, 200, 4x100 relay and 4x400 relay.

The first few meets were freezing (Robin even brought her portable heater),
but as of this Saturday, while running in the Queen Creek Invitational,
the temperature should only by 100 degrees!  YIKES!

I have loved receiving pictures from other parents of Clark running.

This is the last leg of the 4x400 relay at the Toro Invitational in March.
(Clark's team won!)


Maria Nissen took this cool shot!


Clark's friend Cannon took this picture at last week's meet.
This was a grueling last leg of the 4x400 relay. 
The runner nipping at Clark's heel is from Brophy and the guy is crazy fast!
He is a junior named Devon Allen and his times already qualify for the Olympic trials.

Clark gave it all he had, but just couldn't hang on the last 15 yards.
(You can tell he is struggling by his form!)
After this race, he literally collapsed just off the track! 
It took him a good 20 minutes to be able to talk and walk.

It doesn't help that he is nursing a hip injury, but he never complains.


This is my favorite picture!
These three are so dang cute and it warms my heart
to see them cheering each other on in their individual events. 
Clark's goal for the season was to qualify for the state meet.
We are looking forward to May 12th!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

It Finally Happened...

Bennett is taller than Clark!

Clark says Bennett may be taller but ne will never be stronger!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Easter 2012

We had a busy, but wonderful Easter Weekend!

Bennett loves to make money.  He has more ideas than I can keep up with.
This Spring he and a friend bred and sold rabbits.
Not just any kind of rabbit, but the cute floppy eared kind.
 They timed the births to perfection and had
Furry, floppy eared baby rabbits ready to sell Easter weekend.

I was a huge skeptic!

I quickly became a believer when he easily sold all 5 rabbits for $35.00 each and
people came from over an hour and a half away to purchase one.

 They even rented the baby bunnies out to a family for a party the night before they sold them!


 Last year we began the tradition of an easter egg hunt with the kids.
This tradition is different from the one the kids grew up doing with cousins.
We had 25 eggs filled with money.
The "golden egg" had a $50 bill.


 The girls gave up after about 15 minutes.
Haley and Cassidy only found 2 eggs each and Tia let Brett do most of the hunting.




No one is more motivated by money than Clark!
With his persistance and competitive spirit, he found the coveted egg!

Sunday we attended our Sacrament Meeting Easter Program
and loved that Haley was able to join us.
E.T. and Kristin hosted a delicious dinner with Grandpa and Grandma
who shared an Easter message and their testimonies.

We are truly blessed!



Friday, April 6, 2012

It's About Time

Clark has had a milestone week...

After one year of having his permit,
he finally decided it was time to get his license.
Curt and I were in no hurry for this kid to be legal,
as we all know that teenage boys are expensive to insure.

After two loooong hours at the DMV,
he did it and here's the proof!


Now, rewind two years to the day he got his braces on.

(I wish I had the picture that Dr. Mason showed us 
of when he was 10 years old and just beginning treatment!)


 The "before" picture with THE BEST ASSISTANT, Haley!


I didn't realize they put in the permanent bottom retainer
before they even take the braces off.


Clark warned me before his appointment,
 that one of the things that he truly can't stand
is the feeling of tugging on his teeth. 
 I thought he was being dramatic!

Look at those squinted eyes and clenched fists...he was going crazy!

He did discover that he loves this little sucker!


Impressions for the top retainer.
Just hoping he wouldn't gag!

Everytime I see Haley at work,
 I am amazed and impressed at everything she can do and how well she does it!


The group that made it all happen!

The "after" picture.
I think it is one of my new favorite pics!
Love what orthodontics can do for the smile.
All the money, pain and patience is soooo worth it!

We are now officially done with braces...YEA!
Now it is time to get those darn wisdom teeth out!

Monday, April 2, 2012

Conference Weekend

Conference Weekend is the BEST!

Especially when it involves TWO new cousins!!!!!
Saturday evening while the guys were at Priesthood,
Haley, Cassidy and I cuddled Carson and Jen's new identical twin girls!
Jen is amazing!  She carried the babies to 37 weeks, gained only 50 pounds
and delivered without complications two of the cutest little babies we have ever seen!

Haley with Claire who weighed 7 lb 4 oz
and Cassidy with Tessa who weighed 6 lb 12 oz.

 It was hard to leave these little munchkins!

Cassidy was loving every minute of the choir during the Saturday afternoon session.
Of course the camera didn't show Elder Archuleta until the very last second!

 Cassidy, as usual, took notes with an artistic flair!

Sunday Brunch included the traditional egg omelette, cinnamon pull-apart rolls and fresh fruit

We loved watching the messages from our prophet and apostles in our jammies,
but we kept the tradition of attending the final Sunday afternoon session at the Stake Center.
We ended the day with dinner at Grandpa and Grandma Clark's.
We loved all that we heard and now have a lot of work to do!