Holy Hot Peppers!

So the other night during dinner Gage asked, "Mom, what will you give me if I eat this pepper?" I responded, "a dollar". He didn't like that plan and said he wanted a new toy. I came back with, "two dollars". Amberly then jumped in and said how about something from the dollar spot at Target. Gage agreed to this. I love negotiating with younger children. I'm sure one day they'll get smart about it, but until then...

So here's one of the peppers...Gage taking the first bite as Amberly anxiously watches... and Carrigan taking her first bite. Amberly was really nervous about taking a bite. Her face cracks me up! But she did it!!!

Amberly's reaction. She was the only one who cried. Gage was pretty proud of himself!

Even though his lips were burning, he was ALL smiles! They all GUZZLED milk afterward!! I guess were making a trip to the dollar spot at Target!

Wilkins Family Halloween Party 2009

Halloween fun! We started at Grandma and Grandpa's with dinner and then moved to the church building so that we could have lots of running room. We bowled, pinned the nose on the pumpkin, the annual sack race, trick-or-treated, ate yummy treats, and the new favorite-- glow in the dark tag! Ben brought glow-in-the-dark bracelets for everyone and off we ran. The kids LOVED it! What a good time. Thanks Uncle Ben for putting on a very fun Halloween party! Click on the picture for a bigger view

Clark Family Halloween Party 2009

What a fun time!! After arriving and unveiling everyones costumes we devoured chili, cornbread, Janell's famous little smokies, chips and salsa, and much much more. Soooo yummy! Then the games began-- cake walk, creepy feely box, who's the ghost, bobbing for doughnuts, digging for worms, passing the apple, and trick-or-treating through the house. Everyone had such fun costumes again this year. Kevin and Britney even announced the arrival of new little one in May! Yay! Thanks for the good time Clark Family!
Click on picture for a bigger view.

"Spooktacular"

Our town puts on a Halloween Spooktacular every year. We had so much fun!! We were warned that the Maze of Mayhem was pretty scary (I'm a wimp and don't do scary) and so we avoid that but enjoyed many of the other attractions. This was the favorite-- the Krazy Kars! The tractor pulled these cars and they bounced and wobbled every which way. They had a blast!! They were bouncing so much I couldn't get a clear picture. I need to figure out my camera!

Emmalin is loving Halloween. She has been given a lollipop at evey party or event!

Bummer, he missed!Amberly was the big winner tonight! There was a Ring Toss game where you got to keep the bottle of soda pop if you hooked a ring around the bottle neck. Amberly was the only one in the family who could do it. Kimball tried several times with NO luck!

Amberly with her prize!

Carrigan playing more games. All the kids walked away from this fun night with stuffed animals, fun glasses, and tons of candy.

The girls LOVED this PINK firetruck. The firefighters were even wearing pink uniforms. It was for breast cancer awareness.

Another fun "Friday Family Fun Night"!

Pumpkin Carving

This year we let each of the 3 older kids design a feature on the Jack-O-Lantern. Carrigan did the eyes, Amberly the nose, and Gage the mouth. It turned out pretty good! They sure are proud of their creation and can't wait to put it on the porch Halloween night! Our glowing Jack-O-LanternWe also did some cookie decorating...

I love nights like these when we can just enjoy being together as a family and having fun!

Ward Halloween Party

We had lots of fun at our Ward Halloween Party!! We ate chili, cornbread, hot dogs, and dirt cups, we marched in a costume parade, we played carnival games, and the grand finale-- we Trunk-or-Treated!!!

"Angel" Carrigan with her doll Sarah. This is becoming a tradition to dress Sarah up as well. This year she went as a pumpkin. Carrigan and her friend Taylor Swift (Olivia).

"Movie Star" Amberly with her friends Ethan and Haley.

"Ninja" Gage and his favorite prize. His arm was sore the next day from playing with it so much!

Amberly hoping to win a cupcake in the cake-walk.

Kimball as a "sunburned scuba diver"

Kimball received an award for "most creative costume". He soaked in Kool-aid to get the sunburned effect! Tiffin's Creamy White Chili received an award for "1st Place - Ward's best Chili". Kimball competed in the chili cook-off as well. His "El Chilo" took 4th place. Not too shabby!

Happily looking through their loot from the Trunk-or-Treat!!

Emmalin, our little cheetah, got in on the candy action as well. She LOVED this lollipop!

It was a super fun time for all!! Gotta love Halloween!!

Happy Halloween

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Emmalin's 1st Birthday!!

We celebrated Emmalin's 1st birthday yesterday. She had a great day opening presents and eating cupcakes. What a joy this little girl is! She keeps us smiling and laughing. Gage often tells us how much fun it is to have a baby in the house. She is growing so fast even though we have told her to stop! She is standing now and we expect her to take her first steps any day. She's a happy baby and delights in making her brother and sisters laugh!

Look what wandered into our yard

This little fella made their day. Our neighbor, Royal, brought his turtles over for the kids to see. They love to find and feed the turtles roaming around in Mommer and Papa's backyard, but they are not the size of this guy! He was so fun to play with.

FHE - Watchmen on the Tower

This was one of our more successful FHE's. We had the kids climb up into the fort of their playset and asked them what they could see. They were able to see over our fence into the neighbors yard and beyond. We pointed out that they wouldn't be able to see those things if they were on the ground. We then read the parable in the scriptures where it talks about the nobleman that asked 12 servants to go and plant an olive tree and then build a tower. From this tower they would be able to see dangers that were coming and warn the others. We talked about how the Prophet and Apostles are watchmen in the tower watching over and protecting us and warning us of things that will harm us. We learned little fun facts about our Prophet and Apostles so that we could get to know them better. For example, President Monson's favorite color is yellow. For a fun activity we built towers out of marshmallows and toothpicks. We all had a good time and looked forward to watching General Conference the coming weekend.

Bubble Blowing

Being able to blow a bubble has been a long time dream of Gage's. I have been trying to teach him for a while now with no success. One night during Scouts, his Den Leaders, the Darnells, taught him how to do it. They have the magic touch!! He is so excited and was able to teach Amberly as well! There is lots of bubble gum blowing going on around here. They have competitions to see who can blow the biggest bubble!

The Most Wonderful Time of The Year

I LOVE this time of year! What's not to love! So many things to love! The Autumn colors, the smells of pumpkin and caramel, cooler days (at least the mornings and evenings), candy corn, decorating the house, and our family's favorite-- choosing Halloween costumes!

I thought it would be fun to revisit some of Kimball's past Halloween costumes! He always makes this holiday a fun one for our family.

It's hard to tell in this picture, but he is wearing a HUGE Afro wig!

Oh, Kimball, thanks for the laughs. Can't wait to see what you come up with this year!

Fun in the Arizona Deserts

I've posted before about the hikes that the Clark men and boys like to go on. These guys are crazy and fearless! I say my prayers every time they go. After the rain last Friday night they decided to go on one of their night hikes and see what wildlife they could find. These are some pictures of their finds.

Kimball worked late that night and didn't get dinner...luckily the eatin' was good in the desert!


They find these guys laying in the road. It's nice and warm on the asphalt.

You lookin' at me? Because it had just rained the desert was full of these big toads.

Can you see it? Scary how easy it would be to walk right up next to one of these!

Scorpions everywhere!It's always a fun time time for them and they have the best stories to tell.

Back To School

I thought these two were excited when they left for school this morning...

...check them out after!!! They LOVED their first day! This is them excitedly telling me about it! Gage is now in 2nd grade with Miss Sanchez and Amberly is in 1st grade with Miss Byers.

When I asked them the BEST part of the day Amberly said, "we got to take turns holding the class pet, Captain Piggy". The class has a guinea pig. This guinea pig gets to go home with one of the students each weekend. Amberly can hardly wait for her turn!

Gage's BEST part is that he gets to sit next to his buddy Garrett. He loved hearing the stories about Garrett's summer. Something about a skunk that walked into the camp fire and a bear he shot and is now a rug in their living room! Who knows!! Gage also said the day was so fun he felt like he had only been there an hour!

It was tough to get them to sleep tonight because they are so excited to go back tomorrow! Yay for school!

(just a note-- the star and heart on their shirts are to cover up the school emblem. Just gotta keep my kiddos safe.)

Gage's Baptism

Saturday was a special day for our family. Gage is our oldest child and therefore the first of our children to be baptized. What a sweet experience it is to watch your children make righteous choices! I couldn't be more proud of Gage. He was surrounded by friends and family who came to support him on this most important day. He definitely felt the love. His Mommer (Kimball's Mom) gave the talk on baptism. His Grandma (my Mom) gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. Both gave amazing talks that invited the Spirit into the Chapel and we are thankful for their testimonies. Gage and all of his cousins sang "I Am a Child of God". It was sweet to hear their cute little voices, even when the word weren't quite right. Aunt Ashley played the piano. Aunt Kristi lead the music. Uncle Scott and Uncle Jordan offered the prayers. Papa and Grandpa were the witnesses. Kimball, the most proud Dad, performed the ordinances of baptism and confirmation.
Afterward we congratulated Gage and celebrated with some of his favorite treats-- sugar cookies shaped like him in his baptismal clothes, oatmeal butterscotch bars, and rice krispie treats. The kids ran and played while the adults visited with one another. Kimball and I both come from wonderful families. We are truly blessed. Thanks to all who came. It really meant a lot to our family! Gage was all smiles the whole day and told us he felt very special.

I, Gage Clark, promise to do my best...

...To do my duty to God and

my country,

To help other people, and

To obey the Law of the Pack.

I have never seen a boy so excited to start Scouts. The whole day he kept saying, "I can't believe it's finally here." He has been wearing his scout shirt and reading through his handbook since Saturday when Kimball brought them home. It's fun to see him so enthused. I hope it continues!