The Ward Easter Egg Hunt

Saturday, before Easter, we attended our ward's Easter Egg Hunt, and Don was still out of town. It was a great little party, complete with a hunt for eggs, picnic lunch, and games for all the primary children. All five of my children are in primary this year, and I had my nephew, Hank, for the weekend, too, so it made for a great distraction!

Aren't Home Teachers the Best?

Last week the kids and I came home to find our faithful home teacher mowing our lawn! Don has been crazily busy, or gone, and just hasn't been able to get out and mow. The young men were supposed to come and help, but when they didn't show up for a while, the kids pitched in and helped. Thank you, Bro. Ferguson!

"Thanks, Easter Bunny!"

On March 15, eight days before Easter, our family was assigned to clean the church. So, we got up early, worked hard, picked up our traditional donuts, and headed home to find this note on our door...

The kids went ballistic! The hunt was on as they screamed and ran all over the house filling their baskets with eggs and candy.

Wasn't it nice of the Easter Bunny to let Dad be part of the fun?

It's Tradition!

Every year when I leave for Girl's Weekend, Don gathers the kids together and they make their plans for their "special weekend with Dad". They make their menu for the weekend, go shopping and then plan all their activities. This year, Don wanted to do something a little extra, so they booked a cabin at Zion's camp for the night. The kids LOVED it. Before their trip, they caught the elementary school production of "Puss In Boots" and then hiked and canoed and explored and played. My kids really look forward to this weekend all year. And wasn't he cute to take all these pictures?

Girl's Weekend 2008

a.k.a. Girl's Gab Fest, as my brothers like to call it. We had another fabulous girl's getaway, our 7th annual! Yes, we started this tradition 7 years ago, and we love it. We leave our poor husbands and children at home (or kick them out if it's our turn to host) and enjoy a weekend of talking, laughing, crying, walking, shopping, eating, staying up WAY past bed time, actually getting to sleep in, and bonding together as women. It really is such a wonderful weekend to regroup and reconnect and refocus and remember what our role as women and wives and mothers is. I love my sisters and mom so much and feel so blessed to have them as my best friends!


Oh, and one added bonus. It's usually in California, so I got to soak up some much needed sun! It was a beautiful, warm, sunny weekend. And, yes, I took a picture of the sun. In fact, I think I might just put it up as my desktop picture.

Don's Creation

This is what happens when your husband has too much time on his hands stuck in a hotel somewhere far away...

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12 years and counting...

Okay, so it wasn't the most romantic day of our life, but we will be making it up another day! Sunday was our anniversary and we spent a good portion of our day cleaning up throw-up, monitoring temperatures, and administering cough and cold and fever medicine to several of our children. We did, however, get to drive TOGETHER and sit TOGETHER at church since it was Stake Conference, which was a total treat for me! And since most of our children were home sick, we only brought one child who ended up sitting with her cousin during the meeting anyway. Don and I got to just soak up the inspired messages and wonderful spirit of the meeting without any distractions. (Quite the opposite of a normal 2 hour Stake Conference meeting with 5 children, or a normal sacrament meeting with me as a single mother.) Don surprised me with tickets to Phantom of the Opera, which I haven't seen in 15 years! Anyway, I think I'll spare you all the mushy details, and just say, I love my husband more than I ever thought was possible. I am one lucky girl.

A Sunshiny President's Day!

We REALLY lucked out this year and actually got to enjoy a holiday while the sun was shining. It was a beautiful day. Still cold, but nevertheless, beautiful. We had a picnic with some friends and just enjoyed being outside. And if you can believe it, it has actually been sunny for over a week now. Talk about Spring Fever!

Day of Love

For Valentine's Day this year, Don and I decided to have a special family celebration and postpone our "romantic dinner out" to the weekend. We enjoyed our night, complete with heart-shaped pizza and chocolate fondue dipping. Gillian even decorated a special cake for us at Activity Days.






Don surprised me with THREE tulip vases to enjoy indoors. I love to watch them bloom, especially when it's so dark and dreary outside! The one on the left has white tulips that are just starting to bloom. And the best part... they last for weeks! They make me so happy.

To the love of my life...

Happy Valentines Day, to my one and only Valentine! You know, my older sister used to tell me that married life was the best, and boy was she right! ...especially being married to Don. He is seriously the ideal husband. He showers me with affection and love and appreciation and always treats me with respect. He is so darn good looking and makes me laugh everyday. He is wise and inspired and in tune and is sensitive to my needs in every way. He is a busy guy these days, but somehow he still manages to make me feel like I am the most important thing in the world. Some days, I just still can't believe I got him, that he is mine forever! I love you, Donny.

Winter Park Day

Today was supposed to be another rainy/snowy, dark and dreary, terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, but when I picked up the kids from school, the sun was shining and crazy things happen to me when the sun comes out. So, we went to the Marina Park and froze to death! We only lasted about 20 minutes, but it was exhilarating to be outside, letting the kids run wild and enjoying the sun on the water. It was beautiful. Can you tell I am done with this neverending winter and ready for summer? Who needs spring? I'm ready for summer.

Family Get-together OR Organized Chaos?

Every month or two our extended family gets together to celebrate all the family birthdays for that month and we all take turns hosting. There are 12 adults and 19 kids so it definitely gets a little crazy, but we love it!

Here you go...

Many have asked for a front shot of Gilli's new 'do, so here it is. It's been so fun to style and play with and she really loves it. The only thing that makes me sad is that all of her blonde shiny hair is gone! Hopefully it will lighten up again this summer.

The New Gilli!

BEFORE....

DURING....

AFTER....

My Baby Girl is ELEVEN!

One more year and we have a daughter in Young Women's! It seems like yesterday that she was born...complete with a squashed, crooked nose, the biggest lips we had ever seen and the deepest dimple in her chin! She has always been a bundle of joy. It has been a blessing to watch her grow and become the loving, responsible, sweet, talented, young lady that she is. We love our Ginger Dee!

You will be greatly missed!

President Gordon B. Hinckley, truly a prophet of God, is now reunited with his sweet wife, Marjorie, and we will never forget them.

Ginger's Birthday Baking Bash

For Ginger's 11th birthday this year, she decided to copy her cousin Hayley's idea for a party and host a Birthday Baking Bash. And a BASH it was! The girls decorated their own aprons, made homemade ice cream (with help from Don), homemade salsa and 7 layer dip, fruit dip and fruit kabobs, and then their very own concoctions of sundaes. They ate and ate and ate and then ran around the house playing Hyperdash, "Dippity Dippity Dip" and signs. Ginger loved her party and Mom slept great that night! (Click on the picture below for a slideshow of the party.)

Ginger's Party

Welcome Home!

I flew in from CA on Friday night and since Don and I had passed eachother like strangers in the night (me flying out and him flying in) we hadn't been together as a family for over a week, so Don took us all to the Rainforest Cafe after he picked me up from the airport in Seattle. We had never been there and the kids thought it was very cool. Every half hour there is a thunder and lightning show and all the jungle animals come alive. Ethan didn't like that experience too much the first time around, but thought it was "awesome" once he caught the show on Daddy's lap. We celebrated Ginger's birthday there, too, who shares the same b-day as my mom. It made for a very fun night!

Remembrance Reunion

I was so blessed to be able to fly down to California for a VERY quick visit to attend my grandmother's funeral. To my delight, all 10 of my brothers and sisters were able to be there as well! My mom gave such an inspired, beautiful tribute to her when she spoke at the funeral, making us all laugh and cry and realize just how alike my mother and grandmother are. The funeral was the perfect memorial and celebration of her life and we were all at peace knowing that we would see her again. Here is a shot of all 13 of us. Don't I have the most beautiful family? This picture makes me so happy to look at!

That night, since we were ALL there and my mom's birthday was just 4 days later, we decided to celebrate before many of us had to return home. Yes, if you can believe it, my mom turned 62 years old! Doesn't she look amazing? And don't forget the fact that she had ELEVEN children. It was the perfect ending to that day of remembrance as we celebrated the gift that our grandmother gave us...our mom!

Well, the celebration of life didn't end there. My brother, Trevor, and his wife, Natalie, drove 2 hours to attend the funeral, knowing that their baby could come at any moment. Poor Natalie was sick and coughing and 3 of their 5 children were sick with fevers and the flu! They left for home that evening, arriving home at around 10:00pm. A little after midnight they were awakened by a child throwing up, and Natalie decided it was time to head to the hospital! Not the ideal circumstances to have a new baby, huh? They had the baby at around 6 am that morning and named her Lilia DeVonne, named after my grandmother. We like to think that Grammie brought that precious spirit to them.



Here is a late night shot of a group of us playing games. I don't think I went to bed before 2am either night I was there. Too many people to visit with and too much fun going on. We shared endless stories and memories of Grammie and laughed and cried. It really was a perfect reunion for our family. I only wished my little family could have been with me. I love my family so much!

Until we meet again...

Last Friday night, my sweet grandmother, Ferris DeVonne Clarke, passed away. She is my mother’s mother and the most darling grandma in the world. To us, she was known as “Grammie”. Grammie was 87 years old and had been a widow for the past five years. She was so lonely without my grampa, Richard Conrad Clarke, and often expressed how she was “ready to go” and just wanted to be with her husband. They were the cutest couple—always holding hands, sitting close, color-coordinating his tie with her dress—so in love. They actually eloped when my grammie was just seventeen years old and were later sealed in the temple for time and all eternity. What a blessing it is to know that they are together again, sealed forever! Grampa always called her “wife” or some other term of endearment like “my darling, my love”. When my mom called to tell me that she had passed, she said that she just knew that Grampa had come to get her on her way to her bedroom and that she didn’t hesitate to go with him.

We were so blessed to always live near our grandparents, so we celebrated many a Thanksgiving and Christmas at their home. Grammie and Grampa would go to the beach with us and always gave birthday cards, with a crisp five dollar bill inside, complete with Grammie’s swirly, fancy writing expressing their love for us. Every time we visited she would show us her incredible collection of dolls, which were arranged to perfection all over her living room. She always had a glass bowl of butterscotch candies on her table for us to enjoy. Her little dogs, Cupcake and Corky would climb all over us. She would pick roses for us to take home, let us watch her hummingbirds feed on her back patio and look at her doll house that Grampa had built for her. Sometimes she would let us climb on her bed and watch a movie in her room, which was covered with Grampa’s collection of teddy bears. Her walls were literally covered with framed pictures of her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. It has been a wonderful thing to bring my own children to Grammie’s house and let them experience what I did as a child. They really adored and loved their great grandmother. I wish they could have known her as I did.
For the past 3 years, she has been under the care of my mom and what a blessing that has been to both my mother and grandmother. My mom has been the perfect caretaker and tried her hardest to make Grammie feel "at home" even though all she wanted to do was return to the "home" where she is now, in the arms of her loving husband. I haven't seen her as much as I would have liked over the past few years, but am grateful for the times I was able to visit with her and see her smile and hear her talk about Grampa.
Grammie was a very classy, fashionable, fancy woman who liked her perfumes and pearls and heels. I will always remember her that way, but more importantly I will remember that she was a diligent, faithful and elect lady who had a testimony of the gospel and loved the Savior and her family. She is the woman who gave me my mother and taught her the gospel so she could teach me. I will always be grateful to her for that gift. I love you, Grammie, and will miss you, but know that I will see you again!

This is her with my baby brother, Derek. I love her smile in this picture.