New Year

As we begin 2012, we have been so excited. This year promises to be significant. New beginnings at this stage of our lives are so motivating.
We are still in a learning phase, but we're also trying to better implement good family skills and standards that we have learned. Jared is making the transition from student to professional life, putting into practice the knowledge he has acquired.
We know there is a grand plan in all of our experiences. We can trust our Heavenly Father and make the best of every opportunity. We are grateful for the blessings we continue to enjoy.
Wishing you all the best throughout the year ahead!

Sledding at the Cabin

Our last winter was a bit different than this has been. (No trips to the beach lately, that is) The kids have adapted... and have enjoyed a few more snow oriented activities. Sledding at the cabin was a big hit at Christmas and again once in February!


Tessa is in the purple coat here coasting with cousin Ella.


Jordan and Tyler were going high speed.



Inside the cabin we kept toasty warm by the fire, played some games and ate tasty food....

Clark Christmas

Here is some of the Christmas afternoon excitement at the Clarks.


It was a lego Christmas for the boys...a set from each Grandma!


Tessa is into pretend play. Here is her well stocked shopping cart from Grandma. She still zooms around the house with it and keeps a baby perched in the seat.

Along with all the special gifts, we had a grand Christmas dinner and time to visit.

Christmas Season

An all-time favorite tradition with the Clark family is the early December party with the Hulls. It is always fun to see what the new theme and celebration will entail. This year we got to see the production of "White Christmas" at the Old Barn Theater. It was a great way to start out the Christmas season with a festive spirit. We took our photo with Santa at that party.


After that, throughout December it seems that I didn't take many photos of the small holiday moments. I enjoyed being busy with the necessary preparations.
One other event I participated in was our Relief Society Christmas Celebration. I helped with some planning and set up for that. Jared helped make this fancy invitation.

Here are the photos I took of time with the Harston family on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.
The fancy table at Christmas Eve Dinner reminded me of the beautiful decorations I saw last year at the Edison and Ford Estates.
My sister, Rachel's visit made the holiday extra special. The kids were able to meet their cousin Ely for the first time. He is a delightful and sweet and very busy one year old. He absorbs all his goodness from his wonderful mom and dad.


Christmas eve is the special and fun time when we focus on the birth of Christ. Dad organized a program and Mom narrated the nativity.
Here's baby Ruth as baby Jesus.


The Angels


Grandmother was our only audience member, but the best we could ask for. It was a treat to have her there.


These little wisemen relished their role and took it pretty seriously.


Mom has collected and made the costumes throughout the years of offering nativities and pageants.



By waking the kids up (this might be the last year we have to do that) we managed to fit in some nice family time with the Harstons before our church meeting! :)


Jordan meets "Tails" the Beta Fish.

Tessa's princess getup from Grandpa with the royal treatment by Grandma...


Chad even made his presence during the holiday through a special gift to each family member!

The general feeling that resonated through the gift giving and getting was a great deal of thoughtfulness and love. A wonderful Christmas to remember.

Spokane to Vernal to Pocatello..

My sister's family is about to finish up their medical residency in Spokane and they just accepted a position in Pocatello, Idaho! In early December Jenny's husband interviewed at the hospital in Vernal and we got to visit with them for the weekend while they were in Utah. (although they ended up choosing Pocatello instead)
Here we are at the Utah Fieldhouse of Natural History. We saw dinosaur bones and ran around with cousins!


This was a field trip I had been wanting to do, albeit without Jared.
It is pretty amazing that this corner of Utah really is Dinosaurland--a huge reservoir of prehistoric fossils.


We soaked in as much cousin time as possible before they left to go back to Spokane.
--even tub time.. Ella climbed in after I took this photo and then there were four.


Jenny's and Amy's birthdays are in December and our celebration for them was Saturday morning pre-airport departure. It was grrreaat to see the Spokane-ites around the holidays. Now we are counting down for them to move closer to this neighborhood in June!

Giving Thanks

The jar of blessings idea from the Friend Magazine helped us remember what we were grateful for during the weeks before the holiday. Some of the blessings the kids wrote down were temples, scriptures, apples, and seasons.

Turkeys at our Thanksgiving feast! potatoes, rolls, and homemade stuffing and gravy ... mmmm!



Here's a tradition I remember from when I was growing up in Tremonton-- the city coloring contest! In November a book is published with a coloring page from every business in town. They are pretty cute and original. We can turn in each page that is colored for a prize (like a cookie from McDonalds) and then they are judged in each age category.
At least one year when I participated I had my picture in the newspaper with the big group of winners.

Jordan especially loves to draw and color right now! Here is his hard work:


Back at home decorating for Christmas was fun! Cousins came over to play while my sister, brother-in-law, and Jared helped put up lights on the house. Good cold fun with hot cocoa afterward...

Attorney at Law

Way back on the 31st of October, Jared participated in the Utah State Bar swearing in ceremony.

Jared prepared for this day by getting a business up and running from which he offers legal services. www.deseretlegal.com He has also been working with First Financial Advisors as an estate planner, and at Coldwell Banker as a real estate agent.

In this picture the Utah Supreme Court Justices are lined up at the table at the left. The "candidates" are standing with hands raised to take the oath. It was fun to have some pomp and circumstance since Jared has missed his graduations. I was a bit amazed to see all the new lawyers entering the job market, since it has been pretty dry for us.


We ate some cookies and punch afterward and spent a little time with Jared's parents.
Tessa sure loves her daddy! We are all proud of the things he has accomplished!