Our Eventful Summer: Episode Four

There weren't many pictures of our Rodeo trip, so I'll skip ahead to the glorious Clark Family Reunion at Bear Lake. This year, each family chipped in and we were able to rent a condo right by the lake for the weekend. It was a fantastically roomy place and had a wonderful view of the lake. The kids had space to run around and play and every couple had their own room.

The kiddos, young and old alike, all enjoyed the trampoline access.

View from the deck of our condo. The lawn was huge so there was a lot of space for everyone to hang out and play.

The downstairs pingpong table was also a big attraction.

Along with church, the sunday activities also included games like badminton and croquett outside on the big lawn.

Patrick and I took a drive on sunday afternoon just to see some of the sights around the lake. We drove up a hill and got a spectacular view of the entire lake. This is looking down on where our condo is.

I think Patrick had more fun playing with Josh's nerf dartgun than Josh did. Poor Josh...

Family campfire time. It's too bad nobody brought marshmallows.

Yikes.

The attempt at popping popcorn on the fire...

The theme this year was "Battle of the Sexes". Brad and Carrie brought the boargame and we still, as of yet, haven't determined a winner. Perhaps next year we'll get to finish the epic showdown..?

In order to be more fully in touch with his feminine side, Jeff resorted to donning a pair of womanly sunglasses...hilarity ensued...

The next day was the day for some fun on the beach. We went to North Beach on the Idaho side, which has some of the very best beach access.

Caleb enjoyed himself thoroughly.

It turned out to be a perfect day for playing in the lake.

Home base. This is where the food was... ;)

Who cares about the lake when there's a whole beachfull of mud to bury yourself in?

We were also able to rent two jetskis for a couple hours with everyone's help. I even got to take a small ride!

Never leave your camera unattended with these two cuties ;)

Patrick taught me how to kayak! I loved it, but finding a lifejacket that actually fit over every part of my body was a different story altogether...

Such grace! :)

Nothing beats a fresh Bear Lake raspberry shake from LaBeau's after a long day at the lake!

Caleb was having fun coughing like grandma.

Our Eventful Summer: Episode Three

Patrick was lucky enough to get the entire weekend of the 24th of July off, so my parents invited us to go camping with them. We went to a little campground up Cub River canyon called Willow Flats. It's a small valley surrounded by a river that comes from a bunch of natural springs right out of the mountain.

Home, sweet home.

We got a great campsite right next to the river. We brought our dog Skippy with us and he loved playing in the river and protecting us from the evil skunks.

Mom and Dad's tent.

Jill's tent.

River-front property :) comes with an all-natural refridgeration system and dog-playground all in one!



Bubbles! They were very entertaining.

A view of the valley from our campsite.

Dad and Jill relaxing after setting up camp.

The next day, we went on a small hike. This trail leads up to the source of one of the springs. It's a new trail so it hasn't been used much or discovered by than many people. It was a little overgrown and brambly, but it was still fun.

Patrick enjoying a well-deserved drink at the springs at the end of the trail. You can drink the water straight from the source, but we brought a portable water-purifier to use just in case.

Family picture (minus Matt and Brittany, they couldn't come camping with us) during the hike to the springs.

Getting ready for dinner after the hike. We were pretty pooped, but dinner was excellent and Patrick had a lot of fun playing with the fire.

Second hike. This one was on a well-groomed trail and was more like a walk than a hike (which was a lot easier on me). It leads up to another even bigger spring. It's a pretty popular hike because it's only .5 miles and it's very easy and family friendly.

Patrick picked me a cute little boquet of wildflowers.

Even for a small creek, this waterfall was a spectacular sight. It was really loud too.

We made it! This is the end of the trail right where the springs come out of the mountain.

Patrick taking a slurp of the delicious springwater out of the purifier.

This is the source of the river. It's freezing cold but tastes sooooo good!

Right out of the mountain.

After we got back from the hike, we played in the river a little ways from the campsite.

We found a deep spot and took turns seeing how long we could sit in it. None of us lasted long because it was so stinkin' cold!

Patrick thought I was taking a picture...whoops.

There were so many beautiful butterflies anywhere we went along the river. I couldn't stop taking pictures of them.

We found a place where someone had built a dam on the river. It was about 3 feet deep so we let Skippy loose and threw sticks for him to fetch in the water. Patrick and Jill were brave enough to get in and dunk all the way under.

The late July version of the ever-expanding bump.

The greatest s'more ever made in the history of mankind! And yes, it tasted that good too.

Our Eventful Summer: Episode Two

Next came the 4th of July, my favorite holiday! I just love summer and July is my favorite month because of all the fireworks, parades, hot weather, family get-togethers and sunshine.

This year, we spent the 4th of July weekend in Payson. I got to see Stadium of Fire for the first time in my life. I also got to experience a what doing fireworks with the Clarks is like: if you aren't going blind or deaf fromt the ammount of fireworks shooting off in the street, you're not having near enough fun. :)

The 4th of July just isn't the same without the proper headgear.

Patrick practicing to be a daddy. Hopefully our son won't be as loud as that particular firework was...

The payload.

Uncle Brad showing off his magic skills to the kiddies at the pre-fireworks cookout.

Strange how much they look alike... When we set this one off, Patrick was so disappointed that the eyes didn't light up.

Sparkler time!

Ladders in the middle of the street are always a good solution to the inablility to see the fireworks properly.

The growing bump.

We all got fun little glow-bracelets to wear outside while doing the fireworks...even Big Nasty joined in on the fun!

Our Eventful Summer: Episode One

I've managed to catch up on some stuff recently so I'm taking advantage of it. While I'm waiting for the clothes to come out of the wash I've decided to finally post our summer activities! Woohoo!!
Ok, so we'll start back with the end of June when I went with my family to Bear Lake for the day. Matt and Brittany came down from Boise so we planned a spontaneous last minute trip. It was a fantastic outing but it would have been better if Patrick could have come with us.

Beautiful day!

Matt, Brittany and Jill playin' in the lake.

When we got to our spot on the beach, we found a sand turtle and a sand alligator that someone had started, so mom decided to finish them. Here are the final products.

Showing off the tiny baby bump by the Sand Gator

The unpleasent results of my encounter with the sun while asleep. Fortunately, I didn't burn anywhere else but my toes and a little bit of my chest.

The Apologetic Post

Ok, so it's been a month and I still haven't got the pictures up that I promised would "be up shortly". Sorry :( We've been busy starting baby classes and with church callings and canning fruit and such. And when I do have free time, I either forget or get distracted by something else. And now the big computer crashed and I don't like to upload from the laptop because it's so stinkin' slow sometimes.
Other than that, we're doing great. Patrick started school and is very excited to be almost finished. I'm poking out more and the little guy never sits still for longer than 15 minutes. The official name we've picked out is "Jackson Patrick Clark", so we can call him "Jack". Everything is going just fine and dandy, but I'm getting to the really really uncomfortable stage of the last couple months.
All in all, life is great, we just have no exciting pictures or video to show you just how great it is. :D

Whoa! Where Did Summer Go?

Well, well... the Back to School sales are fully under way and all my music students are getting ready to make the switch to school lesson schedules. I love summer and I am NOT happy about it coming to an end.
Anyway, it's been a while since I've posted any of the cool things we've done this summer, so here goes...oh, and pictures and some video will hopefully follow soon.

So, after we found out Junior is a boy, I went with my family to Bear Lake for the day. Matt and Brittany were home visiting so we took advantage of the perfect late June weather for a day at the lake. We had an awesome time, but it would have been even more awesommer (excuse the crappy English) if Patrick had been able to get work off to come. But we still had a great time and I learned the hard way that even your toes need to be slathered with SPF 50 sunscreen, (especially when you fall asleep under the umbrella and the sun moves and nobody bothers to cover your foot...).

After that fun trip, Patrick found out he got all of the 4th of July weekend off from work, so we headed down to Payson for some fun times with the fam. We went to Stadium of Fire...check that--we went and sat outside of Stadium of Fire and I admit, I've never seen anything like it. I'm used to the hometown shoot-one-firework-up-at-a-time ten minute long shows (which are still a lot of fun, but not as flashy).

For the 24th, we went camping with my family. It was an interesting and new experience camping while pregnant and I admit, I'm still recovering. I actually managed two very small hikes, some playing in the river, and we survived the skunks. Crawling in and out of the tent all weekend was a little tricky, but I came off ok.

A couple weeks later, we went up to Preston to see That Famous Preston Night Rodeo, which is actually a pretty big stop on the PRCA circuit. It's the single biggest event in Preston all year and it attracts a crowd from all over the West. It more than doubles Preston's population for three days every summer. Everyone goes to the parade and the rodeo, and when I say everyone, I mean literally EVERYONE. It's a lot of good fun and Patrick and I had a great time hanging out with the cowboys and cowgirls to watch the buckin' broncos and muttin' bustin'.

We've been practicing all summer with my family to play a couple gigs this summer for my homeward and my brother's ward up in Boise. We played one the other night and we got free food out of it. Yum! Mormon get-together-food is the best! We're looking forward to playing the second little show in Matt's ward in a couple weeks, which also means we get to take a fun trip to Boise and Patrick finally gets to see where Matt and Brittany live.

Before that, however, we get to go hang out at Bear Lake at the Clark Family Reunion. We all chipped in to rent a nice condo for almost an entire week! We're super excited, especially since Patrick and I were in charge of the theme this year and we chose "Battle of the Sexes". It should be exciting to see the results of that one.

Hopefully, the rest of the summer is just as much fun and finishes off without any hitches. We think we've finally decided on "Jordan Patrick" as the name for the baby. Everything is going well and we have three more months to go :) I'm getting really really nervous but we're still very excited.

That's it for now, folks! :) I'll try to get some pictures up soon...