Another Craft Post

So, I have a HUGE project on my "to do" list. I need/want to paint my piano. It is the ugliest thing but I am so grateful to have it. I have researched how to go about it and bought all of my supplies. But, I am SCARED!! So while I work up the nerve to get my piano painted I work on smaller projects. Here are a few that I have done recently.

Have you checked out Picnik.com. All you do is upload a photo and they have all of these fun enhancing tools. I uploaded a picture of my kids and turned it into a pencil scetch. Cute.

I finished this and it hangs proudly by the front door. I used the same hymn book pages that I made my wreath with (in my last craft post) to make the flowers.

Silhouettes of my children. I have made silhouettes of them before, but it's amazing how quickly they change in just over a years time. Emmalin looked like Alfred Hitchcock in her first one. It was time for a change. This time I used green toile fabric for my mats and glued on some glass beads.

This isn't anything fancy (nothing I make is). I painted the mats that came with the frames orange. I LOVE orange! I took some of the wording from "The Proclamation to the Family" and fiddled around with it on the computer until I came up with this.

I made a couple of topiaries to flank my kitchen window. Some of you might recognize that green fabric from my Statue of Liberty costume last Halloween. I'm all about repurposing!
I call this my "bloomin onion". Just pieces of canvas glued down in a circular pattern.

I keep my apothocary jar full of "pumpkin spice" Hershey's kisses. I buy a year supply of them at Halloween time. Not only are they yummy, they are ORANGE! Again, I love orange! I'm sure you have seen the apothocary jars all over blogland. So easy to put together with a jar, wooden finial, and a candlestick.

Pillows! I have an unnatural obsession with pillows and plates. Anyways, I was looking through a fabric remnant bin and found this orange fabric for .60 cents. The pillow covers went together so quickly. It was fun to twist the rosettes into shape.

I went to a girls night recently and we worked on vinyl projects. Everyones projects turned out so cute. This is mine. It took FOREVER to pick all of those tiny windows out.

I decided to try my hand a free-handing these wooden signs. One for my kitchen and one for my laundry room. They aren't perfect, which is the look I'm going for...right?!

Well, now I need to go and get my paino done. Wish me luck. I guess it really can't look any worse than it does now. We shall see...

Father/Son Camp Out 2010

(Posted by Kimball)
We went to Rocky Park, which is just south of Flagstaff, AZ. It was our Father/Son campout. Gage and I were not able to go with our ward this year, so we went with Jordan his boys and my Dad. It was a special experience to go with our Papa as he and Mommer are going on a mission to Monterrey, Mexico Temple in September and it was our last chance to go with him for a couple of summers. Rocky Park was the place last year were we found all those AZ Tree Frogs. There were so many last year, the ground was covered with them. This year, there was nothing. Maybe a few tadpoles. But, as Clarks do, we found some pretty cool stuff. Enjoy...


Gage and a Garter Snake


Kimball's new earrings.

Great Plains Skink

Some creepy looking albino cricket.

Skink again...

The only frog we found.

Gage and his Papa on a "Goiter" Oak

Southwestern Fence Lizard aka Bernard
Gage caught 2 of these all by himself! Makes me proud!

Jett with his new friend

Giant Diving Beetle larvae, it looked like the bug from MIB.

Jayden caught this thing. He is a natural!

Awesome water spider

I am not a fan of spiders. They creep me out big time, but I had to get a picture of this guy. He is so cool looking despite the creepy.

Family Pictures

Hello, Old Friend

Many of you who read our blog already know the story about Kimball and the Emu. For those who haven't heard...a few years ago, Kimball was driving home from work. He saw an emu running down the road with an older couple chasing after it. Being the good samaritan that he is, Kimball got out and helped them chase down the escaped emu. After a good run, Kimball caught up to it first. The emu was not going down without a fight and Kimball was kicked pretty hard in the arm and shoulder. The emu's toenail cut a big hole in Kimball's arm and kicked him hard enough to tear his bicep and shred tendons and ligaments in his shoulder. Kimball ultimately ended up in surgery for his good deed.

Today we took the kids to the Wildlife World Zoo. We teased Kimball about being afraid of the Emu exibit. He pretended to be afraid which made it all the more fun for the kids. Amberly offered to hold Kimball's hand so he would be so scared. It was too cute.

Kimball's shoulder has healed well. Were thankful for good doctors. We are also thankful for fun stories and experiences that ONLY could happen to Kimball!

Amberly is Seven!

Our sweet Amberly is seven years old! She is so fun to have around. She has a terrific sense of humor and makes us laugh all the time! One thing I admire about her is her ability to roll with the punches.


This year she wanted to have a Barbie birthday. Everything was to be Barbie themed except for her cake. She wanted a unicorn cake with a rainbow on it. The girl knows what she wants and I didn't want to disappoint her. Lucky for me she LOVED it! Here she is with some of her gifts...an MP3 player...

a new purse...

and a hula hoop. She is getting really good with the hula hoop!

She's a funny girl and looks forward each year to her birthday spanks. This year she wanted both spanks from her Dad and also a "tunnel of spanks". She laughed and giggled even when Gage spanked her a little to hard. Like I said earlier, she is really good at rolling with the punches.

Happy Birthday Amberly...WE LOVE YOU!!!!

18 months!

Wow!

Where did the time go?

My baby is 18 months old! Emmalin is such a joy! She keeps us giggling and in constant amazement. She loves her brother and sisters and does anything she can to get their attention. She has us all wrapped around her little finger and she KNOWS it!

We are embarking on a new adventure with her starting on Sunday...Nursery!! It's a little bittersweet. On one hand it will be wonderful to enjoy our Sunday classes and not spend so much time in the foyer with her. On the other hand it's kind of sad to see my baby grow up. I wish I could just keep her little!

We love you Emmalin!!! We LOVE that you are in our family!!

Gorgeous Weather!!

We have spent much of our times outdoors lately. Playing in various backyards, picnicing in the park, riding bikes, wandering around the Zoo, and hiking in the desert. (Aren't Arizona Deserts BEAUTIFUL this time of year!) The weather has been absolutely gorgeous! These are pictures I snagged from my sister's blog. We had a family get-together a few nights ago to say goodbye to her as she embarks on a new adventure with her husband in the Air Force. The kids (and adults) enjoyed a fun evening swinging, and merry-go-rounding, and running around in Grandpa and Grandma's backyard.

We have to enjoy this weather while we can. The heat is COMING!

Papa's Retirement Party

Tonight we threw a surprise party for Papa! He has worked long and hard and earned his retirement. We are so excited for Papa and Mommer...and now they are getting ready to go on a mission!

Bryan and Karin put ALOT of effort into putting this activity together. Thanks guys! They set up a relay race around the yard. Each station was set up as one of Papa's jobs throughout his working years.
The game was called, "Get Papa To Retirement". Papa's first job was delivering newspapers. We practiced throwing newspapers aiming for a target at the other side of the yard.

Papa was in the Army. We got to shoot guns!

At BYU Papa's job was to walk around campus and change out the burned out lightbulbs. We unscrewed the lightbulb in one lamp and screwed it into the other. We raced to see who could do it the fastest!

Papa worked at a Service Station, pumping gas. We pumped "gas" into a gas can.

Papa painted houses. Each family was assigned a different part of the house to paint. Our family painted the trim yellow!

Papa taught school. We wrote our ABC's.

Papa sold and distributed video games. (Sorry, I don't have a picture of the cute sign that Karin made). We rolled pennies.

Papa worked as a trainer for APS. We played the game "telephone".

Congratulations Papa! We are so proud of you! We wish you and Mommer the best!!!!

Yay, Dads!!!

A fun game played often at Papa and Mommer's house is for all of the Dads to lay down on the carpet and let the kids walk across them. Now...this game started years ago when the kids were just tiny. They aren't so tiny anymore! The Dads are so brave as these kids not only walk across, but jump, fall on their heads, dig their knees and elbows in, etc. At one point the Dads got up on their hands and knees and made a wave type of thing. The kids LOVED it! You Dad's are awesome!

Gage Needs A Brother!

Poor Gage, he's the only boy in the family. He has three beautiful girly sisters! Fortunately he has a lot of boy cousins to help fill the void!

The Clark Men

Before the men headed off to the Priesthood Session of Conference we gathered them together for a group shot. What a handsome group. These are Kimball's father, brothers, brothers-in-law, and nephew.