Summer Fun

Yesterday I decided to take Claire to the swimming pool. Claire would stand on the edge and then jump in the water and have me catch her. It was really cute. We did that until my arms were tired. After awhile a little boy about two years old was standing next to Claire and his mom was trying to get him to jump in as well. Claire just watched and watched. Well, Claire is not a patient child at all and I think she got tired of waiting for him to jump into the pool. So what does Claire do? Of course she walks behind this little boy and with both hands she shoves this little boy over the edge and into the water. It was really funny and I am glad that the little boy’s mom thought it was too. She was laughing harder than I was.





Here are the pictures that I promised to post of the little playset we made Claire. A few weeks ago my brother asked us to go over to his house and teach him how to make enchiladas. After dinner we headed back home and during the three minutes it takes us to get home we had decided that we wanted to make Claire a playset with a slide. So instead of going home, we headed up to Home Depot and bought everything we thought we would need, went home and put Claire to bed, turned up the music in the garage, and spent the next five hours working on Claire’s playset. Luke and I had so much fun. We would have finished it that night (well at this point it was actually morning) but we had run out of wood and needed to make another trip to Home Depot. Finally we quit working at 2:00 in the morning and finished it over the next few days.

We made a ladder leading up the platform thinking that Claire would be able to use the ladder next year. Boy was I wrong!! Ten minutes later, she had mastered the ladder.

When I am watereing the garden, she will climb up all by herself and then I will hear her yelling “catch”. The silly girl isn’t afraid to climb the ladder but she needs me there to catch her has she goes down the slide. We love watching her play on it and play in the sand box that we put underneath.

113 Bottles of Jam Later...

When I don’t blog for awhile it is usually because nothing interesting has been going on to blog about. But this month so much has been going on that I haven’t had a chance to sit down in front of the computer for very long. So here is a rundown of our month…
1. Built a play set for Claire….I will include pics later since it turned out really nice
2. Luke ran the July 4th 5k while Claire and I cheered him on. We followed that with a parade, playing at the park and a demolition derby down in Delta.
3. Bees Game- My dad gave us tickets and so we all went together. It was the first game that we have been to this year and it was a lot of fun. We didn’t get any pics but going with Claire this year was a totally different experience than it was last year. Last year we held her the entire time and this year she refused to sit still for one second. Claire and Rilynn spent the game eating French fries, fighting over sippy cups, and running back and forth across the row we were sitting on. Luckily we were sitting in an area all by ourselves.
4. Home study – We finally had our home study and will soon be approved to adopt through LDS Family Services. We are really excited!!
5. Clark Family Campout – So we didn’t actually campout. We planned on it but late that night, half the family decided to go home so then we all did. But it was still a lot of fun.


Claire's favorite part of the campout was eating lots of licorice and climbing a hill and sliding down on her bum.

6. At the campout, Luke decides to run in the Farmington Festival Days 5k the next morning with my cousin. So early the next morning (still smelling like campfire and all) we went to the race and Luke did really well.
7. Bees Game – We had Luke’s work party at the Bees Game. This time we left Claire behind so we wouldn’t have to chase her around the entire time. Plus it was our date night so I didn’t feel guilty at all for leaving her behind.
8. Girls Camp – I didn’t get to stay the entire time but I loved every minute that I was there.
9. Draper Days – Luke decided that he wanted to run another race so we went to Draper Days and we spent the day with him running the race, watching the parade, hanging out at the park, and picking up our new couches.
10. Pioneer Day – This is my favorite time in July. Luke did the best he has ever done in the 10k. We got good seats for the parade and then spent the rest of the day at Cherry Hill playing in the water…it’s a tradition we do each year with the extended family.
11. Pioneer Day Pageant – Some of my Young Women participated in the pageant that was held outside behind the seminary building so Luke and I decided to go watch.

And of course it is during the busiest month ever that the apricot tree needs to be picked. My mom and aunt came over and we made 113 bottles of strawberry apricot jam…..Mmmm. So if anyone wants some jam, we have a freezer full of it.

Independence Day

Luke ran in the 5K race and took first for his age group. Jackson and Addie ran in the kids race and did great too. Luke has been trying to get me to run with him in the race for several years but I prefer cheering him on. Running just isn't my thing.

Claire just liked wearing the medal that he recieved.

At first Claire wouldn't go out into the street to get the candy. She preferred to sit with grandma and watch the parade. I think she was afraid she would get in trouble for being in the road. At home she gets what she thinks is the ultimate punishment if she runs out into the road....she gets sent into the house.

Then when we were able to get her to come out with the other kids and get the candy, she also picked up every candy wrapper that was around us.

Rilynn and Erich watching the parade

Ashlyn, Jackson, and Addie

Here are some more of my favorite pics...





After the parade and going to the park, we headed down to Delta. Luke has been wanting to go there for the Demolition Derby for several years. It was a great day!

Bear Lake

Last weekend we went to Bear Lake with our family and had alot of fun.
Here are the highlights of the trip:
1. Going on bike rides in the evening
2. Playing games and watching movies until really late at night.
3. Playing on the beach with Claire
4. Watching Claire try to eat Doritos while wearing water wings that wouldn't allow her to bend her arm.
5. Going fishing even though we didn't catch anything.
6. And of course, the yummy raspberry shakes!!