The Clarkson Family

2011-04-11T16:55:00.000-07:00

Washington DC Weekend

2011-04-01T07:55:00.000-07:00

We rented a van and even though the kids and I were just getting over strep we headed to DC. Our first stop was the DC temple. Isn't is beautiful? The kids enjoyed the visitors center and chatting with the sister missionaries.

We were so lucky to have a warm weekend! There is snow on the ground, but the weather was great!

Valentines day morning, we visited the Washington Monument. Andrew and Tim with the White House in the background.

The best place was the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. The kids LOVED it! And did you know ALL the museums in DC are free????

To Matthew, our 7 year old, this real giant squid was the coolest thing ever!
Levi had this look on his face the entire time! He loved seeing the animals! Here he just discovered a giraffe.
We had a great little trip. Something I didn't plan on: sooooooooooooooooooo much walking. Also, we took the METRO and that was an extremely new experience for Tim and I, being from the West. But the kids were really obedient, didn't get lost, and it was actually fun (looking back on it!)

2011-03-07T13:27:00.000-08:00

This was hilarious and I had to share!!

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html

PITTSBURGH, PA

2011-02-22T10:38:00.000-08:00

OK! I am finally getting around to posting. Here is a summary of what we have been up to in Pittsburgh!!

After traveling for 9 hours, the boys and I arrived in Pittsburgh, where Tim picked us up. The boys were super good and the only problem was when our plane landed, all 4 boys were asleep! And, the stroller wasn't waiting for me on the gangway, so all 4 boys were crying and tired as I was trying to herd them (while carrying the car seats and carry-on) down the aisle of the plane. That was hilarious. So, Tim met us and brought us to the extended stay hotel which was to be our home for the next 3 months! The manager of the hotel upgraded our room for free to this awesome 2 bedroom suite.

Christmas was so much fun. We were just glad to be together as a family! Here is a picture of our Christmas Eve "feast". It's hard to cook in a hotel, even when the kitchen is furnished, because they have the bare minimums. We are eating my family's traditional dinner of Clam Chowder. The boys had their first taste of egg nog and loved it.

Andrew lost his 1st tooth on Christmas Eve! So we had the Tooth Fairy and Santa at our house that night!Our family tradition is to act out the Nativity in Luke 2, so here is the cast below.
Mary and the baby.
Isaac our "angel".
The wiseman and the shepherd.
The boys in their Christmas p.j.'s. They all wanted "feet" pajamas, even Matthew, so luckily we found some in size 8!
Christmas morning! Santa brought our presents to the lobby tree and one of the hotel staff took a family picture of us.
Our White Christmas
Our hotel is right across from PNC park where the Pittsburgh Pirates (baseball team) play.

Pittsburgh has over 1200 bridges, and here we are on one of them.
My cute 4 boys at an outside skating rink.
Andrew lost his 2nd tooth a few days after Christmas. My boys are so brave and pull their teeth out on their own. I was always too freaked out to do that and waited until it fell out while eating applesauce or something like that. It is fun to have a house full of boys.
Isaac and Levi being funny while I'm trying to put the pull out bed away.
One of the best things about living in a big city are all the things they have available for kids to do. We bought a pass to the Children's museum (less than a mile from our hotel) where they have 4 floors of fun things to do. Here the boys all built rockets and launched them through rings.
Really the only downer of the trip was that my boys got Strep for 2 weeks. They got it from my cousin who we went to visit in Columbus, OH, just 3 hours away. We spent a week with them and it was so much fun, but we brought back strep. We had to take them in for antibiotics because their fevers were so high, and they just felt awful. Here they are playing play dough since we were homebound.
The best part of living in a hotel is that whenever the place gets a little dirty, the boys and I just leave to go do something fun and when we get back, the place is clean!! Also, I have been able to read a lot. I read all 8 of the Anne of Green Gables series (which I really enjoyed and have wanted to do for some time) and the book Wild Swans by Juan Chang (very different than the Anne series but also very interesting, about growing up in communist China).

We have some great pics from a weekend trip to Washington DC, but that will have to be another time!!!

October/November update

2011-01-09T11:25:00.000-08:00

My cute boys ready for trick or treating on Halloween! Tim was Clark Kent - he really is my Superman!
My awesome Grandparents were here visiting!!! It was so cool because both Tim and I were able to go trick or treating with the boys while my Grandparents passed out candy. And they were so much fun to hang out with and chat with. Last time my Grandma was here she helped me paint my house. This time, I helped her make a digital scrapbook! It was so fun and she picked up on it so quickly!! We used www.mixbook.com, just in case you were wondering.
Here was our "Spooky Dessert" I made for us on Halloween. (Ok, this was actual Halloween. Our neighborhood, being in Utah and 90% Mormon, celebrated Halloween on Saturday night. So we had our "Spooky Dinner" on Sunday, real Halloween.) Isaac was really disgusted and freaked out that I would serve dirt and weeds for dessert! Really, it was ice cream, with crumbled cookies on top. The "weeds" were chives. :) It was a fun night!
Allyson and Shari, please don't hate me for posting this picture! These two ladies are such amazing friends, neighbors and running buddies! At first we were walking buddies, but Allyson found an app on her iTouch that got us running a 5k! The app was called "From Couch Potato to 5k" just FYI. We ran our 5k on November 6th. It was so much fun and Tim was a great cheerleader! This was also the last day that Tim was in Utah! He was offered a temporary job move to Pittsburgh, PA for 4 months and he left that night.
My awesome cheerleaders!

Thanksgiving is a time for family, and boy did Tim and I get a LOT of family time in! Tim flew back into town for a 4-day whirlwind weekend! We drove up to Provo to be with my family, pictured below. It was so great to see everyone and loved being together! My parents also spoiled my kids with all of my little brother Tyler's toys that he has grown out of. My kids were on cloud 9!
Then we drove to Kanab on Friday to be with Tim's family for his parent's 50th wedding anniversary! Tim is #9 out of 11 kids, so there are a lot of us. It's like "Where's Waldo" in this picture! But it was a lot of fun again and great to see everybody.
Tim left Sunday morning to fly back to PA. :( Here the boys and I are raking the front yard leaves. It was such a nice day and I wanted to get it done before we left for Pittsburgh (we joined Tim on December 17th). The boys had so much fun raking leaves! They were such great helpers. In the days before we left for Pittsburgh, my boys did up to 9 chores each day (before and after school!!) I'm amazed at how they were just able to step up and CHEERFULLY help me get ready for our trip, since I had no husband to help out. Kids are much more capable than we think they are. Matthew even did things like vacuum out the car! (Muahahaha! Now I know what he can really do!)
Check out Levi's face. I LOVE this little guy and all his hearty laughs and giggles!

That's all for now. I will post Christmas and Pittsburgh in the future, but the kids need me. :)

I really don't like thinking of titles...

2010-11-18T20:30:00.000-08:00

Key highlights of the last 6 months of family life. For some reason I was feeling too overwhelmed to blog, but now, as my boys have gotten older, life is not so overwhelming and I have a minute to myself. YAY!

Below you will find: Birthdays, Bosler Reunion, Funny Boys, Camping Trip, First Day of School, Bahamas Vacation and Playing in the Rain.

Isaac's 3rd birthday! (Notice the TV and stand in the background... not something I'd normally point out, but it's a before shot to my new entertainment center picture below).

New Entertainment Center! My aunt Kendra bought this for me off KSL.com and then I stained it to match! Much better!
Matthew's 7th Birthday. I really can't believe I have a seven-year-old. WOW. He is so wonderful and I love having him as my oldest. He is so smart and mature. I love having real conversations with him.

We went to the community center pool to celebrate Matthew's birthday. Isaac had so much fun he fell asleep! He really cracks me up. Isaac is so funny and does the craziest things.Matthew lost his 5th tooth on his birthday! So cool for a seven-year-old.

Bosler Family Reunion at Deer Springs Ranch in So. Utah. We had SO MUCH FUN!!

Tim and I slept with all the kids.... yeah, we're the old married couple now!My mom surprised me with a wedding book she made for me on Heritage Makers! What a wonderful present. I haven't had a wedding book all these years, and now I have a beautiful one. I love it that my mom made it because she knew which pictures would have meaning to me. I love how the book has professional and candid photos. So wonderful. Thanks mom!
Sisters!
Summer! My kids live on popsicles in the summer. Here's Levi having his 3rd that day!

I love Isaac's eyes!
And Levi's eyes! I seriously think all the boys in my life have such gorgeous eyes! I'm glad the boys took after their daddy with such long, dark eyelashes! So dreamy! Levi LOVES the garden hose in this St. George heat. (We are probably washing off the popsicle mess!)
We went camping for a weekend, just our little family, at Deer Springs Ranch. We love that place. It's Tim's dad's ranch and it is so peaceful there. Our boys had a blast. This next pic is for my siblings.... we took a picture like this when we were little, haha!

I LOVE this kid! Isaac is posing outside of a real log cabin from the 1800's. I think it's called the Shumway cabin? Any way, real pioneers settled and lived in this very cabin. I stood in the middle of it and wondered how they really survived? I am so amazed by our ancestors, what they went through and how hard they worked to just survive, every day. We are so blessed.Cute boys in a pretty place.
First Day of School! Isaac is off to preschool. It's a joy school type preschool that 4 of my friends and I are doing. We rotate teaching preschool once per week at our homes. It is awesome and I love it. Isaac loves it too! And my friends are my neighbors, so Isaac just walks down a couple of houses all by himself, like he is so big!

Matt's 1st day.

Andy's 1st day.Matt's 1st day..... Again! Yup, they switched schools. They got into a charter school, after the public school already started. They were such troopers to switch after a month in, but I can't say better things about the school they are going to now! It's amazing and I'm so happy they are there! Vista pride!

Here's Andy in his Vista uniform.
Here I am being domestic. My wonderful friend, Paige, taught me how to bottle peaches! The church orchard had extras we could go pick for FREE, so my other wonderful friend, Allyson, and I (with our families) went and picked a couple hundred pounds of peaches.... each! Paige also taught me how to can chicken and I had so much fun doing that, too! It's so fun to learn something new.
My adorable "babies". They aren't really babies anymore. :(
Tim's 32nd birthday. I always make him pineapple upside down cake. I made this cake for him when we were dating and now it's tradition. We took Tim's birthday to a new park the boys had never been to before.
Our 10 year anniversary Bahamas Cruise! Tim earned a cruise for being in the top 10 at work (the Diamond Club) and we had SO MUCH FUN! I was so scared I was going to miss our kids, and I did.... for about an hour! My mom flew out to watch them for 5 days while we had so much fun together and with his awesome friends from work! Below is a pic taken on the bus, after landing in Florida. About to board the ship!
At the Atlantis hotel and waterpark!
At the "captain's dinner" on the cruise ship. I have my adopted mom, Betsy, to thank for the great wardrobe. She took me shopping a month or so before the cruise so I would have cute stuff to wear! Seriously, she is amazing. I am so grateful to have the best friends and family one could ever have.
Levi loves riding this toy horse that is in our backyard. Sometimes he rocks back and forth so hard I'm scared he's going to get hurt or fall! Couldn't you just kiss those cheeks off??Playing in a warm summer rain.

Well, that's all for now! If you made it this far, you are a true friend! More recent things have happened, but that's for another post.

Levi Takes the Cake

2010-06-06T20:04:00.000-07:00

Happy 5th birthday Andrew!

2010-03-20T18:38:00.000-07:00

Andrew wanted a 5-layer cake, so here it is!

Painted House

2010-03-20T18:16:00.000-07:00

My Grandma is wonderful!

Here is my bathroom, all painted a pretty green!
Beautiful Cajun Red in family room (same as kitchen)
Yellow in home school room.
Yellow in hall.

Family Picture WallMy Grandma is such a hard worker and so much fun! Love you Grandma!

Oh! The Horror!!!!!

2010-03-20T18:04:00.000-07:00

I'll bet no one has a picture like this! Because, if you find your child playing in the toilet, you don't leave to go get your camera! Well, my camera was in my hand, and after jumping around and screaming "Oh my gosh" a few times, I took the picture, then soaped Levi down , praying the whole time he wouldn't get sick! What a cute face though!

Do you have a girl age 8-12?

2010-03-20T17:46:00.000-07:00

I have a book recommendation for you! (Mostly Cassondra and Jamie Sue, but anyone else as well). Even if your daughter doesn't want to read this series on her own, I'm sure she wouldn't object to staying up 30 minutes later per night to hear you read it to her! I am aching to have a girl. Boys are just different, and not into romantic, girly novels.

The books are by Melissa Wiley. They are Historical Fiction and for ages 8-12, but I couldn't put them down. There are 4 books in each series, "The Martha Years" and "The Charlotte Years" and then there are 7 books in "The Caroline Years" but they are by a different author, Celia Wilkins.

THEY ARE SO GOOD! Talk about virtuous, lovely and praiseworthy material and it will get the girls thinking about how they really want to be and who they are. It will also provide great conversations between you and your daughters. I'll bet you can find them at your library. If I had a daughter, I would buy them and have them available during those long summer months when they have "nothing to do".

Pictures by Chelsea

2010-03-11T22:17:00.000-08:00

Cute Boys! Can I just say it is soooooooooooooo hard to get all 4 cooperating at the same time?My favorite Levi smile! This is his face 90% of the day! So fun!
Levi 8 mos old - picture for my wall
Look at Isaac's funny face! I love this!

Thank you Chelsea!

Poo Cake in my New Kitchen

2010-02-10T18:47:00.000-08:00

Isaac is successful at potty training! Good Job Isaac!This is his special "poo" cake! Can you tell we are a family of boys? Kristen, don't you thing Sis. Hom would have found this appalling? HaHa! This cake was promised but not delivered until two weeks after that promise - yes, it took him 2 weeks to finally go in the potty! So, by the time it was "poo" cake day, I was out of eggs! I had heard you can put pureed beans in brownies instead of the oil, so I thought, why not cake? After all, it is a "poo" cake, so if it tastes gross, the kids will like licking off the frosting and we will throw the rest away. With much reservation, I added in some pureed beans to the chocolate cake box mix, added a cup of frozen zucchini (pureed also) from last years garden, and put in 1 cup of buttermilk that was going to waste.... and it was the best tasting cake we have ever eaten!!!!!! I wrote the recipe down because it was so amazing and so now I have shared it with you all!

My Grandma and Grandpa came to St. George to get out of the cold Northern Utah weather! We love having them come visit!So, when my Grandma walked into my home, she said, "I love your home, but it needs some color!" So, here's before.......

Here's after! My Grandma is amazing! She is 73 and did almost all of it! I love having her here for a whole month!FYI
Poo Cake Recipe

1 chocolate cake box mix
1 can white beans, drained and rinsed and pureed
1 c grated zucchini, pureed
1/2 - 1 c buttermilk

Mix all together and bake according to package directions! Frost when cooled! Add chopped walnuts or crushed candy canes to add if you want!

The 5000 Year Leap

2010-02-02T20:52:00.000-08:00

And another "must read"! I think that all Americans should read this book and recommend it more highly than "Common Sense". This book is called "The Five Thousand Year Leap" by W. Cleon Skousen and it's AMAZING! Really, everybody go to your library or order it on Amazon and READ THIS BOOK!

Why I haven't been blogging...

2010-02-02T16:46:00.000-08:00

Loving on my sick babies...

Chasing my mobile baby, who doesn't feel like a baby any more....My Grandma came to visit! Andrew is showing her how he can read....
The biggest time consumer of all... Potty training Isaac!!! The most frustrating part of motherhood so far. (I don't have teenagers yet!)

Matthew staying up until 11pm reading with a flashlight so he doesn't wake Andrew...

Isn't this a cute pic of Levi and all his rolls?? Bath time!I've also been reading a lot and trying to keep up with housework. Potty training creates a TON of laundry. We've been at it for 2 weeks, and it's pretty hit and miss. Literally.... Isaac tries to stand like his brothers. Ha!

Common Sense

2010-01-12T18:27:00.000-08:00

Okay, another book that I believe is a "Must Read". I don't watch Glenn's show (because we don't have television) but I've heard about him a little, and thought in my mind that he is probably like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, really conservative and to the extreme right wing. And, I'm not big into politics, and don't think about government very much... except when taxes are due! Also, I love reading novels, but nonfiction usually bores me. So, I was at the library, checking out a bunch of kids books and movies and with all 4 kids, when I saw this book sitting in a pile on the counter. On a whim, I asked the librarian if I could check this book out, it was available, I took it home....... and couldn't put it down!! It was very enlightening and I had to take a minute to recommend it!
Glenn Beck's Common Sense

Random Cuteness

2009-11-09T13:32:00.000-08:00

Levi is getting sooooooo big! He is SIX months old now and ready to crawl any day! I hope everyone gets a Levi - he has been the best baby I could ever imagine! WOW! He is just so much fun and full of never ending love. So, above is a picture of Levi in the toy closet! He was in the playroom with the other boys and backed himself right in! He's been rolling and scooting all over the place and is so much fun to watch!
Here is Isaac being such a cheese! My mom sent the coolest Halloween package in the mail full of treats! She sent dried fruit and pistachios - yum!!! Thank you mom! Isaac LOVED the fruit and was happy to show off a piece for a picture!
Okay, this is one of my favorite pictures ever! Don't you just LOVE his big, blue eyes??? Where did we get a blue eyed baby from? Three dark chocolate brown eyed babies (which I love too) but then a blue! Here he is bundled up ready to go to the park!
1st swing!
Levi loves his toes! It just cracks me up!
So, I was craving pita bread the other day, and was NOT about to go to the store with 4 boys just for that. I went to my most favorite recipe site (www.allrecipes.com) and found the recipe! So easy and they tasted way better than anything I ever get at the store! I filled it with my favorite cabbage salad ..... YUM!
Isaac has some obsessions... running away, spilling water, fingerprinting DVDs, my makeup, and any dairy-based substance. He wants cheese, yogurt, ice cream, sour cream, cottage cheese, etc. every day. Any way a good friend told me that you can make a soft cheese from homemade yogurt. Here it is! I made tons and we ate it with everything and it was gone in like two days! Isaac loved it of course, and here he is with a "cheese mustache"!

I was getting ready for church one morning and came out to this.... Isaac dabbing my lip gloss all over Levi, the carpet and himself!! He was just getting Levi ready for church! Ha!
Isaac's "I'm in trouble again?" face. Such a cutie!

Purity

2009-09-20T13:14:00.000-07:00

Another photo by Chelsea.

Busy!

2009-09-20T12:36:00.000-07:00

Here is what we have been up to...

I started homeschool with Matthew last month, about 4 weeks ago, and it has been AWESOME! I am using the K12 program and the curriculum is unbelievable! Art is real art (learning about lines and how they create movement and mood) and History is so much fun learning about Nomads and Egypt and mummies that now Matthew wants to be an archeologist (which was my major for 2 semesters in college before changing to Health Science). Science, language arts, phonics, math, music and PE are all awesome too, I could go on and on, but if any of you are interested in it, LET ME KNOW! I'd love to go into more detail!

The coolest thing is that Andrew and Isaac get to join in on art, music, PE and some reading! Here they are doing an art lesson, making a print.

Levi has been such an amazing baby! He loves his baby toys and even though he was getting tired, didn't want to get out of his baby toy! So, he just fell asleep in it! So funny! He has red hair and blue eyes, is super chubby (weighing 20 lbs at 4 mos) and is such a great sleeper! He sleeps from 8pm to 5am, eats and then back to sleep until 8 am! He also takes 2 naps per day and is so happy and smiley! He also sleeps in his crib (my other 3 slept with me and would not sleep in their crib, so I didn't get good sleep)! He is awesome! He is getting his 2 bottom teeth and can roll over from back to stomach.
My sister in law is going into photography and took some AWESOME pictures of my boys! Here is a funny one of Isaac who would not smile for anything! We'll have to try again next time! Don't you just love his rolls?

Family Reunion in Lake Tahoe

2009-08-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun at Lake Tahoe with my moms side of the family. It was sad because the first 2 days were freezing cold, with hail even, and we didn't bring anything warm! Ahhhh! There was a huge hot tub that we went to on the cold days that was really fun, though. The third day was warm and we were able to go swimming, hiking, and to the lake. Below are just the formal pictures.
My whole family
Most of my mom's side of the family
You have to have a crazy picture!

You have to read this!

2009-07-27T13:50:00.000-07:00

This book has changed my life! If you are a mom, or are ever planning on becoming a mom, this is a book you need to read! My mom gave this book to me and it has changed my views on motherhood and what being a mom really means.
I wish I would have read this book as a teenager, even before getting married. It is wonderful! You can order it through Deseret Book. It's not long, under 100 pages - perfect for a busy mom!"Contentment" by Maria Covey Cole

Fourth of July!

2009-07-27T12:50:00.000-07:00

All the Boslers came to So. Utah to spend the July 4th weekend with us! Brooke, Jason and Kaitlin all brought their boy/girl friends and we had so much fun getting to know them! They all picked wonderful people and we hope that they all become a permanent part of our family.

Below: We all hiked Angel's Landing at Zion's National Park. So hot, but worth the views!Kaitlin received her endowment at the St. George Temple that night!

Next day, July 4th! My parents rented a boat and 2 jet skis and we went to Sand Hollow Reservoir, about 45 mins from our house. So much fun! My little sister Karli and brother Tyler are so much fun! My boys loved hanging out with them!

July 4th fireworks - My sister Brooke's boyfriend, Scott A (there are two Scotts in the family, so we have Scott A and Scott G) bought a whole bunch of fireworks and the boys (big and little) had fun lighting them!
Little Levi's Blessing day! Isn't he so cute? He is such a good, mellow baby! He was smiling and cooing at my mom while she took this picture! He is 2 mos old in this picture.All who attended the blessing. Both grandparents, and lots of aunts, uncles and cousins!

Happy 2nd Birthday Isaac!

2009-06-12T06:02:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Isaac! Yay, you are two!! Here he is opening his present!Cool car and race track!
Isaac's breakfast in bed - What a sweetheart, sharing his ice cream with his big brothers!
"Mmmmmmm....this is going to be good!"
To "Pirate Island Pizza" to celebrate! Here are our servers, dressed as pirates.
Little Pirates Play Area - They had a mini rock climbing wall and Isaac had a blast with that!
Fun at the arcades! - Oops, the ball flew off the track!
All the boys had so much fun at Isaac's birthday dinner. Matthew and Andrew loved it that they had tokens to play games and then tickets came out to cash in for prizes. (Kind of like Chuck E. Cheese's). Tim loved it too, and the boys "talked" him into buying more tokens!

A note about Isaac:
Many of you know what a challenge Isaac has been for me. He has been super driven, stubborn, mischievous and busy for the last 15 months! (I mean, what 1 year old can open any door, unlock any lock and even take the child-safety knob off the door??) However, since the baby has been born, he has really started to grow up. He is much more obedient, and enjoys playing with his brothers now. He talks better now too, which really helps with our communication. Thanks to everyone who has kept Isaac and me in their prayers!

Some of Isaac's Favorite things:
Isaac is a great trampoline jumper
He loves "baby lee-fi"
He loves sharing a room with his big brothers
He loves playing with his "guys" (action figures)
He loves building with legos
He loves running
He is very strong
He loves shoes
He picks out his own clothes (scary!!)
He loves going on rides in the stroller
He loves going on drives in "daddy's truck"
He loves fruit and veggies (this guy is not a picky eater!)
He loves giving hugs and kisses
He loves trying to count things
He loves animals, especially dogs
He loves teasing his brothers
He loves basketball
He loves wearing hats
He is very adventurous and a natural climber
We Love you buddy!!!

Random pics

2009-06-12T05:45:00.000-07:00

Levi's first car rideTim's mom visiting us on Mother's day
Our "Golden Boy" - Look at that beautiful hair!
Matt's Kindergarten Graduation - Matt and his best friend McGuyver
Isn't he handsome? (This is a picture of a picture) Congrats Matthew! On to first grade!

Happy Birth Day Levi Dale Clarkson

2009-05-06T13:39:00.000-07:00

Levi Dale Clarkson
Born: 05-05-2009
At: 10:10 am
Weighing in at: 9 lbs. 5 oz
Length: 20 3/4 inches long

Natural birth without complications. Mom and baby doing great! Here he is! Less than 2 hours old!
Here is his first smile! (okay, I know it was gas, but I like to think it was because he was so happy to see his mommy!)

Levi was so quiet and alert for 2 hours after he was born! He was just looking around at everybody and he is super strong! He only cried once, right when he was born, and then not again until the middle of last night when he decided he didn't like having a dirty diaper.
Proud Papa! Tim actually delivered the baby and cut the umbilical cord! So, so cool!

Tired, but happy, mom. I am just sooooo glad to not be pregnant! Woo-hoo! I slept on my stomach last night, and it felt awesome! Also, Levi is great at nursing already, and I love nursing, so I got to snuggle him and nurse last night. Ahhhh, life is sweet.

Above is the birth team that brought Levi into this world. From the left is Lisa, a R.N. who works in the NICU here in St. George. She was the birth assistant who was in charge of the baby once he was born and assisting the midwife. And she took some great pics. Next is Tim, who was Superman in doing everything I asked and being the perfect husband, as always. He delivered the baby, moved furniture that was in the way, rubbed my back, got me drinks of water and food to eat afterward, told me how awesome I am, etc, etc. What a great best friend. Next is me, who delivered the baby. :) And then Levi, who turned to exactly the right position at the last minute. We were afraid he was going to be delivered posterior, but he turned and made labor much easier for his momma. On the far right is Cyndi who is the midwife. She is so amazing! She is a certified midwife (CNM) and RN who has delivered over 1000 babies and knew just what to do to make this delivery the best ever for me. What a great team!

So, here are some more details about the birth:

The day before, Monday, my midwife called me and asked if I wanted her to "stretch and sweep" my membranes that day, instead of waiting until Thursday (the day of my 41 week appointment). Of course I said "YES"!! So, she came right over, we had the appointment and all the rest of that day I felt pretty crappy. I had chores I needed to do, but just wanted to lie down and rest all day. So, I did. Tuesday morning, I woke up around 2 in the morning, so tired of being pregnant, and I couldn't get back to sleep. So I took a hot shower, felt much better, went back to bed and suddenly had a contraction! After 2-3 of them, I started timing them, and they became much more regular and stronger. I hurried and cleaned the bathroom and did a few other things, then at 5:30 I woke Tim up and told him to call his mom to come get the kids because it was "time". I also wrote him a list of things to run to the store and get (I was supposed to go grocery shopping on Monday, but felt too tired, so we didn't have any food). I called the midwife and she said to keep timing and call her back in an hour.
Tim and I got the room ready for the delivery (the kids were still sleeping), he ran to the store, and at 7:30am, Tim's mom arrived from Kanab to pick up the kids and watch them for the day. By this time, the Midwife arrived, I was starting to feel more intense contractions, Tim got back with the groceries, we said good-bye to the kids and labor really started.

When the midwife arrived, I was kneeling beside my bed, as that was the most comfortable position during contractions. She started filling out some paperwork, taking my blood pressure, listening to the baby's heart beat, etc. She also set up the room, set out supplies we'd need, and so on. But, the cool thing about her was that each time a contraction would start, she would stop what she was doing and put pressure on my hips or rub down my back to relieve the pain of the contraction!! It was the coolest thing ever, because what would have been painful contractions turned into painless contractions! It was so cool, and I was thinking, "Why has no one ever done this for me before??" I labored like that for probably an hour, and then my legs were getting tired of kneeling. I thought "maybe I should move to the bed and get some rest in between contractions." Tim was Mr. Incredible with his super strength and moved me to the bed, only to have the pain super intensified as I was lying on my back now. I rolled to my side, but it's like I could feel the labor slowing down. So, after about a half an hour of lots of pain (I was trying to rest - yeah, that plan backfired), I stood by the side of the bed and ended up kneeling again. At 9:45, I got the urge to push (Woo-hoo! My favorite part of labor because I can do something instead of just sit around and try to relax during a contraction) and at 10:10 Levi was born! :) Tim really did deliver him, head, shoulders and all, even though the midwife was right there. The baby had the cord wrapped once around his neck, but his heart rate never went down, so that's good. Tim cut the cord and I got to nurse him right away. He was born with a perfectly shaped head and in perfect health and I feel really happy that all went so well. Total labor time was counted from 6:30am-10:10am, so 3 hours and 40 minutes!

I really had a great experience and feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to have this baby at home. Everything exceeded my expectations! I even enjoy the hospital (I actually like the hospital food and people checking in on me to see if I'm doing okay), but having the baby at home was 10 times better. I was never cold, my king-size bed is WAY more comfy than the narrow hospital beds, Tim didn't have to sleep in a chair, I slept so good (no beeps or strange lights or janitors coming in to change the trash), no I.V., no suitcase or forgetting something, I could go on and on. Everything was so great - I actually feel like I'm on vacation!

Here is Levi with his Grandma Clarkson, only a few hours old. We owe a lot to Tim's mom, Patsy, who took our kids away during the labor and after, so we could nap and rest. The kids came to see the baby and they were all super excited and soooo cute! Then Patsy took our boys to Kanab for 2 days so Tim, Levi and I could rest. I love my big boys, but it has been heaven having some alone time with this baby (and my awesome hubby).

I'm recovering well and feel really happy. I know this "high" will end once I get back into real life, but I'm enjoying every moment of the next few days.

Overdue!!!

2009-05-01T11:06:00.000-07:00

That's right, no baby yet! I'm doing surprisingly well, mentally and physically, since the two girls due the same week as me have already had their babies. I didn't tell too many people, but 2 1/2 weeks ago, I went into false labor. I was so excited to think that I was going to have my baby early! Tim was supposed to work a shift at the Temple that night, so he got a substitute. I canceled watching my friend's kids and told her I was in labor. And we packed up the kids and took them to my bro-in-law's house to spend the night while I supposedly had a baby.

The contractions were light, but a consistant 9 minutes apart, which shortly moved to 6 minutes apart for about an hour. Then, the contractions were stronger and only 5 minutes apart for longer than an hour (which was as close as they ever got with Matthew, the only pregnancy I wasn't induced until this one).

Then, around 9 pm, everything just stopped! We went for a drive, a walk, called my bro-in-law who decided to keep the kids in case I went back into labor, but nothing happened all night, or the next day or the next. I did get a restful night while my bro and sis-in-law dealt with my kids wandering around the house crying for "mom" and Isaac even threw up on their leather couches (nice! and embarrassing for me!)

The whole next week I was pretty depressed and didn't want to do anything, still hoping the baby would come, contractions would start up again. But now, I've realized that maybe I am one of those lucky few who always go overdue a couple of weeks. So, we'll see what happens! We'll post a picture for sure when the baby arrives!

Every kid has their "make-up" picture...

2009-04-28T21:09:00.000-07:00

...here is Isaac's! He thought he was really funny!He's a little more serious after getting in trouble... Maybe switching mom's lip gloss applicator and mascara applicator wasn't such a great idea...

He obviously had no clue where mascara is supposed to go, but he did know what he wanted - to be a man!! Look at that beard! He knew what he was doing!

Isaac often surprises me with what he can do. Here he built this tall tower all by himself! This was a good thing, but he has also figured out how to open doors, unlock doors and even unlock the deadbolt on our front door! He also has figured out how to use a barstool to reach things he wants (all the bandaids, pantry snacks, his brother's special toys, etc.) and even can open the van door all by himself (Andrew just barely figured this out) and lock everyone out so he can push the buttons and laugh at me through the window (when he's finished, he unlocks the door and lets himself out!) Yes, he is super busy but he is so much fun too!

Check out this cowboy below!Here he is just out of the bath! He decided it was his turn to go to Matthew's school, so he put on Matthew's jacket-vest and backpack and tried running out the door! It seems he thinks he is as big as the older boys, but he doesn't turn 2 until next month!

Back in my comfort zone

2009-04-28T20:35:00.000-07:00

When we went to Vacaville a month ago for my brother's baptism, we celebrated Andrew's 4th birthday again, among other things. One of those things was going to our favorite Dentist and getting our teeth worked on. Okay, he's my dad!

Below is a picture of Matthew getting an exam done on his teeth by his Grandpa! We found 9 cavities! (He definitely has Tim's teeth!) My dad looked at me and asked, "Do you remember how to do fillings?" Since it had been 8 years since I had done anything like this, I was nervous to dental assist again, but after the first filling, it was like riding a bike! Matthew had to get shots, and was really freaking out. It was so sad to see him so upset. My dad asked if I wanted to give him a sedative, and I felt like I was the one who needed it! So, my dad gave him something to relax him a little, and it totally worked, but he was so goofy! He started doing weird things like a person on drugs! It was hard not to laugh! Here is a picture of his goofy face, all numb.
Here's Andrew getting his teeth "counted". No cavities!
That afternoon and evening was supposed to be Andrew's birthday party, but Matthew's fillings took so long and he was so loopy, that it wasn't the party my mom planned, but Andrew still had SO much fun!

This poster was stuck to our door when we arrived at my Mom's house in the middle of the night. Andrew was so surprised and loved it!
Do you see why Andrew calls my mom his "Candy-girl"? They are so sweet together and have very similar personalities. I love this picture below.
Here Andrew is getting ready to blow the candles out on his cake! Look at that deep breath!
Does the birthday boy look happy or what??? I love his grin!
My little bro Tyler and Andrew playing at the park. This park is special because it is called "Andrew's Park" so we have to go play at it every time we visit!
Here's my big 4-year-old! He has sure been awesome lately! No more meltdowns (almost), super obedient and helpful, loves learning and playing with friends. He has been so easy and wonderful since he has turned 4 - there is something wonderful about this age!

My Brother's Baptism and a real Pregnant picture!

2009-04-19T22:14:00.000-07:00

I have a brother, Tyler, who just turned 8 years old! (My mom was pregnant at my wedding!!) We drove all night, 11 hours, to spend 3 days in CA visiting my family and attending his baptism. My awesome Grandma Thomas flew from Provo, so I got to see her, as well as my Uncle Brandon and his cute family. I also got to see my Aunt Lori and my Grandpa Bosler.
The Baptism was wonderful. My family sang a song and I was a little bit nervous about that because my 2 boys were supposed to sing the first verse as a duet! They had it memorized, but weren't really ever on tune while practicing. However, when it was "show time" they totally nailed it and sounded awesome! It was so cute, I wish we had it on video!

Here are my 3 cute boys with their G'pa and G'ma Bosler.Four Generation picture:
G'ma Thomas, my mom, me and Isaac.
Three generation pic with the boys:
G'pa Bosler, my dad, (my brother Tyler), and my 3 boys. My boys love their Uncle Tyler!
Me and my Aunt Jennilyn, both due on April 30th with boys! She married my Uncle Brandon who is 4.5 years older than me and our kids are the same ages. This is her first boy, though. Isn't she so cute?

Finally!

2009-04-15T19:31:00.000-07:00

I have 4 new posts below, all are Andrew's 4th birthday. He was so spoiled and got 4 birthday parties! Mom, you need to send me the pics from when we were at your house so I can post them!

We love the Andersons!

2009-04-15T19:06:00.000-07:00

Betsy and Richard Anderson came from Kanab to celebrate Andrew's Birthday! They brought us our favorite lunch "El Pollo Loco" (our kids love eating "Crazy Chicken") and super yummy cupcakes!
Andrew loves his presents! Spiderman!!!
I think this is his 4th cupcake??....
Family picture! The cupcakes were so yummy the boys had a hard time looking at the camera for one second!
I included this pic so you could see how big I'm getting. I need to take a "pregnant belly" pic, but they are so depressing I keep putting it off! :)

Thank you Richard and Betsy! You guys are awesome! Andrew wears his Dinosaur shirt almost every day!

Andrew's Family Party

2009-04-15T18:51:00.000-07:00

Look at all those handsome Clarkson cousins!Grandma and Grandad Clarkson came from Kanab to celebrate with us! We were so glad to see them!
Andrew opening presents from his Aunt and Uncle.
Grandad made him a special hat from the tissue paper.

Andrew's Breakfast in bed

2009-04-15T18:38:00.000-07:00

Andrew's Birthday Presents from Grandma!
Isaac loves to cook - here he is helping with Andrew's breakfast pancakes.
Here he is "helping" me with Andrew's frosting for his cake.
He is so funny! He's licking the bottom of the bowl!

Andrew's 4th Birthday

2009-04-15T18:26:00.000-07:00

We had a Western/Cowboy theme for Andrew's birthday party. All he wanted was a vest, hat and boots!Playing "Duck Duck Goose" in between cake and presents
Brothers faces full of cake!
All the kids and their cupcakes!
Our little "Cowboy". He got his vest, hat and boots as well as lots of other fun toys from friends and cousins.

Just my life

2009-02-23T18:56:00.000-08:00

So, I have 9 weeks left until I have this baby and all is going really well. The ultrasound was great, my weight and blood pressure are right on and so is the size of the baby. I know it's been a long time since I have posted anything but I have just been trying to get my house organized to get ready for this baby! I know there are a lot of super moms out there who can do anything, but until my baby is six months or so, I can't get anything done! (All I do is nurse, change diapers, walk around like a zombie in pajamas and hope no one comes to the door!) So I need everything so be organized before the baby comes so I can stay sane!

We had super fun friends, the Hazembullers, come stay with us for 2 days and they brought their 2 cute kids! Their baby was 3 months old and just reminded me of how cute but hard newborns are! I have been feeling even more anxiety to get things in order!

Even though we all hate the word "nesting" it is real and I am in the "nesting phase". It's cool because it means the end is near and then I can sleep on my stomach again - yay!

I have been super bad at taking pictures lately and need to get better at that. I don't think I have any pregnant pictures of me and I didn't take any of this fun weekend.

Raf and Amberly came from No. Utah to visit and we had so much fun chatting late into the night both nights they were here. We hit 5 houses in the Parade of Homes and most of them were just amazing! One of the homes was just down the road from us (we live in the small house in the huge house neighborhood) and the traffic was awful for 2 weeks! In that home is a 20 foot deep basement with all the fun sport things (basket ball court, gym, rock climbing wall, putting green and even a racquetball court! They had 2 racquets and a ball out so Tim and Raf got to play a quick game!)

Our kids played really well together- their oldest son is just younger than Isaac and then they have their 3 month old. My older boys really like little kids and babies and they were delighted to have our guests visiting! Of course the best time was after 8pm when we put the kids to bed and hung out. Reminded us of the good old college days - before kids and when you could stay up as late as you wanted and just sleep in the next day. We stayed up late, but were all tired the next day when kids were up bright and early. I was kind of a grouchy mom today and am actually going to go to bed at 9pm tonight!

So, just wanted to let everyone know that I am alive and well, just busy organizing drawers and closets every chance I get! Once the baby is here I will be better at posting, I am sure. Things tend to slow down when I have a newborn.

The announcement we have all been waiting for....

2008-12-30T12:57:00.000-08:00

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!! We had the ultrasound today and things were pretty clear that we are having a healthy, happy boy! Boy #4 is on his way! When we told our boys, Matthew and Andrew were disappointed! I didn't know they had wanted a girl so badly, but Tim was relieved and I was okay with it all because now the numbers are even, bedrooms will work out, and deep down I think I like being the only girl in the family... until all those daughter-in-laws come along!

Christmas!

2008-12-30T12:06:00.000-08:00

The tradition in our family now is that each kid gets 3 presents because that's how many Jesus got. But of course they got more from grandparents and friends. Thank you everyone who made our Christmas so special! Below are my most favorite 5 pictures out of the million I took!
Isaac loved his Radio Flyer Inchworm!
Lining up his new Hotwheels cars...

Matthew wanted a potion kit, so I bought him a little chemistry set. We had so much fun, but then I love stuff like that too! Add baking soda and citric acid and food coloring to water and you have a volcano! They boys thought that was so cool!!
Matthew and Andrew both got rollerblades from Santa and LOVED rolling around the house in them! Now they can be like daddy! Isaac felt left out, though, and putting Andrew's blades on, begged us to let him try too! He turned out to be a pro! I love his face in this pic!!
I had to include this video I took of Isaac rollerblading. It was unbelievable to me that he could even do it (my 5 year old was hesitant to try) so my voice is overly loud and excited, but he is just so dang cute! He trips a bit but gets it at the end and later that day does awesome.

Christmas Eve!!

2008-12-30T11:46:00.000-08:00

Festive Christmas Dinner setting.

Christmas Robes I made. Isaac fell asleep Christmas Eve before I could give him his robe so he got his the next morning.
Acting out the Nativity scene was awesome! We almost skipped it because it was getting late, but my boys LOVED playing the different parts! After Santa came - the stockings were stuffed and all the presents stacked under the tree.

'Tis the season...

2008-12-30T11:21:00.000-08:00

We had a Snow Day where school was even canceled so Matthew stayed home and we played all day in the snow! Tim built the boys a snowman, a snow fort and even a special message for me!
Isaac hated the snow until he realized it was edible...He seriously licked the snow for 15 minutes, thinking it was the coolest thing ever!
Tim's "snow message" is a tradition that started back at BYU when we were engaged. One day he "wrote" I LOVE REBECCA in the snow and it was there all winter! When the snow finally melted the grass was greener where it had been uncovered so even the grass read I LOVE REBECCA for a while! Now, every time it snows, I can expect a fun message like this in the snow. This time the kids helped with the fun surprise!
The kids decorated this gingerbread house from Betsy and Richard all by them selves! I built it, but they frosted and put the candies on and then enjoyed eating it after! Didn't they do an awesome job??
Cutting down our Christmas tree! My sis-in-law called and asked if we wanted to cut down a tree for Christmas - it was only $10 for a tree tag! So we sawed it down, brought it home and decorated it! The boys loved the adventure!

Fun Sewing Projects

2008-12-30T11:07:00.000-08:00

Christmas Robes: Matthew, Andrew and Isaac (Isaac's has a hood)
Aprons for our friends Betsy and Richard.
Thanksgiving table cloth and place mat ( the place mat was a total experiment and turned out a little funny, but it put some color into the room).
This was really quick and fun to make for Andrew's friend who was having a birthday party. I found some scrap material to make the pillow and then covered it with a "No-sew" fleece project. Now my boys all want one!

2.5 Minute Christmas Video

2008-12-21T17:46:00.000-08:00

I really enjoyed this video with the music and wonderful paintings of Mary and the baby Jesus. Every Christmas that I am expecting a baby, I feel extra close to Mary. This Christmas has not been different, as I am beginning to feel anxious for our baby to arrive. I can feel him/her kicking inside and my belly is getting bigger and this pregnancy is starting to feel "real" now. I am almost more excited for my ultrasound in 9 days than I am for Christmas! I'll be sure to let everyone know boy or girl on the 30th!

Officially Half Way!

2008-12-11T02:49:00.000-08:00

I decided to check email, blog, etc. this morning when I woke up at 2am and couldn't sleep (again). I love the little widget on my blog that tells me how far along I am and how many days are left in this pregnancy - It is so fun for me, since I never had that before. I was always doing the math, counting weeks, etc. I have my ultrasound appointment on December 30th and will post Boy or Girl then!

So, I know I haven't updated in a while. I will post photos, etc, soon, but Christmas has just kept me so busy! I decided to make Christmas Eve robes for my boys, and having never done any real sewing before (like with a pattern) it has taken me a while to decipher sewing jargon. I'm just so grateful to my sis-in-law who got me started - took me with her to the fabric store and said, "See, here's how you pick out fabric, then you take it to the nice lady who cuts it for you, and then you go check out and pay for the fabric. Yes, you'll need thread, here it is over here..." Thank you Chelsea for being so patient with me and my never-ending questions! Oh yeah, and did I mention she has a 1 month old BABY? She truly is amazing!

I'll put pics of my finished projects later.

I hope all is well and everyone is having a great Christmas season! If I don't post before Christmas, then Merry Christmas! We love you all!

Update on me.

2008-11-03T09:41:00.001-08:00

I have been feeling a lot better the last 2-3 days! Yay! It is so great to be able to get up and get dressed with out being so exhausted I have to lay back down! Or to be able to drive myself somewhere or to be able to go to the store without throwing up in the parking lot!

I had my second Doctor appointment today and everything is going well. I actually have lost 1 pound because I have been sick, which has never happened before! Usually I gain and gain and gain, so we will see how that goes. In 8 weeks they will do the ultrasound, even though in one week they could tell if I am having a boy or girl. I miss my Kanab doctor who did ultrasounds for free just to find out the sex of the baby and then the real one later! Oh well, that's life in a bigger, less personal city I guess, even though I do thing my Doctor is great. My appointment was at 8am and he had already delivered 2 babies that morning! Talk about busy!

My Relief Society at church is doing a "read the book of mormon in 60 days" challenge (because that's how long it took Joseph Smith to translate it, when he wasn't hiding and running from mobs) and it's been awesome. There definitely is a power in that book and there is no way that he just made it up. I know it every time I read it that it truly is ancient scripture, just like the Bible.
One of the things we are to do is circle how many times it says Christ, or any of his other names and also underline his attributes. Every page talks of Christ - it is amazing! I never realized how much the book testifies of Him! And, at this time of politics and trying to figure out where I stand on some issues, a lot of my questions have been answered by this powerful book. Some days when I was so sick, this is the only thing that got me through the day without feeling totally depressed and worthless. It's been wonderful!

So, that's some of what I've been thinking and doing lately! Oh, yeah, and cleaning up 10-20 of Isaac's random messes every day! Today it's been all my sewing pins and all the loose papers in Tim's journal (and it's only 10am). Yesterday the big one was my moisturizer painted on my mirror with my blush brush (totally ruined). Oh yeah, and the crayon all over the walls and hard wood floor and fireplace (I don't know how he found a tiny piece of broken green crayon, but he did). And I could go on and on, but you get the picture! And this all happens in the matter of 3 minutes when I go to get something for Andrew or answer the phone or something!

The next 2 posts are more interesting with pictures and stuff.

Halloween!

2008-11-03T09:11:00.000-08:00

This year, Halloween was really fun, but kept pretty simple due to me being so sick. We didn't really decorate and I forgot to take a picture of the one pumpkin we carved, but we did do some fun things thanks to good friends and family. Thanks so much Betsy and Richard for the cute haunted Halloween gingerbread castle! We had so much fun decorating it and the boys had a blast eating it a few days later! You guys are so awesome!

Matthew's Kindergarten had a parade. Here is is class!

Matthew in the parade as Dash from the Incredibles!Isaac being his same old grouchy self! He was done watching the parade!

We had a really fun neighborhood Halloween party at 5:00 on Halloween evening! It was awesome! It was potluck and my kids got a healthy dinner before trick-or-treating! And they loved it because they got to dress up and see all their friends in their costumes. I hope this becomes a tradition! Isaac wouldn't wear his Batman mask, to Tim was the top half of his costume!

Matthew's lost his first tooth!

2008-11-03T08:55:00.000-08:00

Matthew had been wiggling his lower tooth for weeks and one afternoon, I asked him if he wanted to pull out his own tooth! I didn't act excited about it, just kind of take it or leave it, even though I was super excited inside!Any way, he said, "Sure." So, I got a piece of floss and tied it carefully around his tooth. I wrapped the other end around his finger and said, "Now just pull your hand quickly down past your knees." And he did it! He was awesome!
I asked him if it hurt and he said, "No, but this blood is freaking me out a little." I laughed and got him a rolled up tissue he could bite on for a second. Seriously, I love having brave, logical, undramatic boys.
So, there it is! The tooth fairy came that night and gave him a dollar and a peso! :)

It's the end of the world as we know it...

2008-10-30T10:24:00.001-07:00

Okay, I don't want to be all doom and gloom and I know that I haven't posted anything in FOREVER, but I have been super busy chasing my crazy 18 mo. old around and still fighting this sickness. I do have good days, but then I need to do things that I have been neglecting, not blogging! Well, I finally got around to checking my email, and I got this from my mom. I found it really interesting, however, I didn't check sources, etc., but I found it interesting just the same. So, I wanted to post it. Here goes....

How same-sex marriage points to end of the world
© 2008 Faith2Action

What do May 17, 2004, and May 15, 2008, have in common? One judge and a redefinition of marriage against the will of the people.

Both the Massachusetts Superior Court and the California Supreme Court by a one-judge margin redefined what marriage has always been in every culture and every religion for more than 5,000 years of recorded history.

Why does this matter?

As I wrote about in my book, "The Criminalization of Christianity, " Jeffrey Satinover, who holds an M.D. from Princeton and doctorates from Yale, MIT and Harvard, was on my radio program one day and I asked him about where we are in history. He explained that according to the "Babylonian Talmud" – the book of rabbis' interpretation of the scriptures 1,000 years before Christ, there was only one time in history that reflects where we are right now. There was only one time in history, according to these writings, where men were given in marriage to men, and women given in marriage to women.

Want to venture a guess as to when? No, it wasn't in Sodom and Gomorrah, although that was my guess. Homosexuality was rampant there, of course, but according to the Talmud, not homosexual "marriage." What about ancient Greece? Rome? No. Babylon? No again. The one time in history when homosexual "marriage" was practiced was … during the days of Noah. And according to Satinover, that's what the "Babylonian Talmud" attributes as the final straw that led to the Flood.

On my Faith2Action radio program on Thursday, Rabbi Aryeh Spero verified this to be true.

Rabbi Spero spoke of God's compassion before the Flood, in hopes people would repent and turn back to His ways. He showed patience for hundreds of years. But, he said, the Talmud's writings reveal that "before the Flood people started to write marriage contracts between men, in other words, homosexual 'marriage,' which is more than homosexual activity – it's giving an official state stamp of approval, a sanctification … of homosexual partnership. "

In fact, he said, "the writings indicated that it wasn't even so much the 'straw that broke the camel's back,' but that the sin in and of itself is so contrary to why God created the world, so contrary to the order of God's nature, that God said then and there 'I have to start all over … to annihilate the world and start from the beginning. …'"

Rabbi Spero went on to say, "Even in ancient Greece they did not write marriage contracts between men. There was homosexuality, and it was wrong, but there was not an official 'blessed' policy. … Marriage is 'sanctification' (not simply a partnership) ." He said to confer the title of sanctification and holiness upon this behavior is "probably one of the greatest sins of all that one does against God's plan for this world."

The one time it happened was: "During the days of Noah." When I first heard this, my mind immediately went to a verse I've heard many times but never with such relevance. The verse is found in Matthew 24:37. It reads:

"As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man." – Matthew 24:37

I used to read this verse and think: It was bad at lots of points in history; it doesn't necessarily mean now, but if these Jewish writings are true, we are uniquely like the "days of Noah" right now – and only right now.

But it can't be yet, you say. You have a lot going on in your life? You're getting married? Here's how the New Living Translation describes that very sentiment in Luke:

"When the Son of Man returns, the world will be like the people were in Noah's day. In those days before the Flood, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat, and the flood came to destroy them all." – Luke 17:26-27

Happily going about as if everything was fine was what they did, too.

You don't like this possibility? Don't even believe in the Flood? Doesn't matter. Some things are true whether you believe them or not. How can you be sure? There's a way. Did you know that about one-fourth of the Bible is prophecy? A quarter of the Bible is a lot – it's a big book. And did you know God's standard? Perfection. That means that if even one of those prophecies is wrong, you can discount the whole thing. Kind of like a prophet who makes a false prediction – that made him a false prophet and a candidate for stoning. Did you know that 4,000 prophecies in that Bible have already come true down to the last detail? That leaves about 1,000 left to be fulfilled – those are the ones regarding the last days before the return of Christ, which are being checked off the list right now.

If 4,000 out of 5,000 prophecies have already occurred exactly as the Bible predicted they would, you might want to pay attention to the rest.

The good news is that 1.1 million people across California have signed a petition to bring marriage to a vote of the people through a state constitutional amendment (just like 27 other states have done). And guess what? An amendment to a state constitution trumps even the most out-of-control state judiciary. We'll likely know if these signatures are validated before this tyrannical ruling goes into effect, and I predict they will be since they gathered 400,000 more signatures more than they needed to qualify. Besides, they already voted – eight years ago where more than 61 percent of Californians declared marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Now they just need to turn that same language into a constitutional amendment.

I don't live in California, so why am I sounding the alarm? Here's why:

"But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand." – Ezekiel 33:6

I'm praying and working to protect marriage in California (and the rest of the country) not only because I care about marriage, but because I care about civilization. And, if we obey God, he just may spare us from the judgment we deserve.

Yes on Prop 8!

2008-10-18T21:28:00.000-07:00

Vote yes on Prop 8! Go to my friend Kristen Pace's blog for amazing info. under Our Blogger Friends.

General Relief Society Conference

2008-09-28T18:47:00.000-07:00

Was President Uchtdorf's talk last night awesome or what? For any body who missed, it is definitely worth reading - before the Ensign comes out! My most favorite thing he said was (I didn't take exact notes, so there may be some of my interpretation included) "We don't just live life, we create it." I love how he spoke about "creation" - making something exist that didn't exist before, whether it's a beautiful garden, a harmonious home, and then, of course, children. He is such a wonderful speaker and I feel like his message was just for me.

I don't have a "cookie cutter" life.....

2008-09-25T00:34:00.000-07:00

I don't have a "cookie cutter" life - I have an exceptional one. But even if I did, is it so bad? I mean, think of all the different shapes of cookie cutters that exist in the world - maybe there might be one like mine, but then maybe I have molded my own shape? And, does the shape of the cookie matter, as long as it tastes sweet??

Really, I don't beat my children!

2008-09-24T23:17:00.001-07:00

This was the biggest bruise I've ever seen in my life - it stuck out like 2 cm! And it grew before my eyes, like he was growing a horn. He fell into the rock on the fireplace. Sad! I'm just glad he hit it on the side, and not on the corner! That would have been awful!
We then added Isaac to the picture with his day-old bruise from slipping on water left on the floor. Matthew didn't have a bruise, so he couldn't be in the picture. However, a few days later I got called into the school because Matthew decided to kiss the pavement and cut up both knees, an elbow and put his teeth through his upper lip! It was so traumatic, I forgot to take a picture. No teeth knocked out, but one might turn gray. Good thing it was before school pictures!

Andrew's questionnaire

2008-09-18T13:02:00.000-07:00

I had so much fun asking Matthew these questions that I decided to ask Andrew the questions as well. I had to phrase the questions in a way that a 3 year old could understand them, and it was harder to get answers from him, but it was still fun! I love hearing their answers!

1. What is something mom always says to me? I'm asleep! (Can you tell I have morning sickness? And that he wakes up at 6 am?)
2. What makes mom happy? Not being disobedient.
3. What makes mom sad? Doing something bad.
4. How does mom make me laugh? Says a joke.
5. What was mom like as a child? I don't know. Really, I don't!
6. How old is mommy? 6.
7. How tall is mommy? Ummm......Tall.
8. What is mommy's favorite thing to do? Go to sleep. (He's right on!)
9. What does mom do when I'm not around? Watch a movie with Isaac.
10. If mom becomes famous, what will it be for? Watching a movie.
11. What is mom really good at? Cutting letters for my preschool.
12. What is mom not really good at? I don't know. I'm really tired. (He says he's tired when he wants to get out of something! It's really funny, but I'm going to have to put a stop to it one of these days!)
13. What does mom do for her job? Putting Isaac to sleep.
14. What is mom's favorite food? Pancakes. (This is Andrew's favorite food!)
15. What makes me proud of my mom? Doing chores. (Interesting! He's probably not very proud of me lately!)
16. If mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be? A girl that's in a cartoon. There's a girl elephant. (Thanks! I like Matthew's answer better!)
17. What do mommy and I do together? Love each other.
18. How are mommy and I the same? We have the same face without your mole and we love each other.
19. How are mommy and I different? You have brown hair and I have yellow hair.
20. How do I know mommy loves me? Cuz she's nice.

Matthew's questionnaire

2008-09-18T11:22:00.000-07:00

I saw this cute tag on someone else's blog and thought it would be a fun blog for me to do. Nothing stressful or overly creative. I asked Matthew these questions and I put his answers with my thoughts in parentheses. I tag anyone who wants to do this.

1. What is something mom always says to me? I love you.
2. What makes mom happy? When you do her chores for her.
3. What makes mom sad? When you fight your brother.
4. How does mom make me laugh? Blow on your belly.
5. What was mom like as a child? Nice.
6. How old is mommy? I don't know. Oh, I really do know. 26.
7. How tall is mommy? Let me see... (Counting from 1-26 from my toes to my head) You are 26.
8. What is mommy's favorite thing to do? Sweep the floors (Really? You couldn't tell today! Or any day! In fact, this morning there were ants in our kitchen because of my lack of sweeping!
9. What does mom do when I'm not around? I don't know...Takes care of the kids?
10. If mom becomes famous, what will it be for? A rock star. (What?!!)
11. What is mom really good at? Doing chores. (Ha!)
12. What is mom not really good at? Doing the dishes. (Right on! It's my least fav chore.)
13. What does mom do for her job? You don't have a job!
14. What is mom's favorite food? Muffins and cake. (Pretty close...)
15. What makes me proud of my mom? When she does my chores for me.
16. If mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be? Daphne on Scoobydoo. (I wish!)
17. What do mommy and I do together? I know! Pull the weeds. (Wow, he's stuck on the chore theme!)
18. How are mommy and I the same? We both have brown hair.
19. How are mommy and I different? We have brown eyes (Matthew) and green eyes (Me).
20. How do I know mommy loves me? Cuz she always says it.

Tim's Birthday Party

2008-09-17T13:55:00.000-07:00

Tradition in our family is to make Tim a pineapple upside down cake for each birthday. When we had only been dating one week, it was his birthday and this was the cake I made him, not knowing if he liked it or not! Well, come to find out, it's his favorite! And he wants it every year! This year, I tried to make the pineapples read "30", but it didn't work so well.The boys decorated the balloons by writing "I Love You Dad" on them.
Tim's local family came over. Below he is with his brother, John.
Tim's brother Barry and his two boys, Mitchell and Adam.
All the cute little kids, waiting for their cake!
Tim's got a lot of wind left in him! Watch him blow out those candles!

Happy 30th Birthday Tim!

2008-09-17T13:33:00.001-07:00

Tim and his boys on his birthday!Traditional birthday breakfast in bed. I know, I know...the breakfast I made didn't compare to the breakfast he made for me on my birthday, but I was sick! I was just grateful I had groceries in the house to make him breakfast! Matthew had the idea to make the heart-shaped eggs with the cookie cutters.

Look how cute Andrew is! He was so excited to see what his Daddy got for his birthday! New rollerblades! Tim's were 20 years old (he bought them used 15 years ago) and since he loves rollerblading so much, new ones were much needed! He loves them and takes the kids on rides daily! It's the one exercise Tim and I both enjoy to do together so, when I'm not sick of course, we take the boys on rollerblade rides.Tim sporting his new blades.

Clarksons in Kanab

2008-09-17T13:02:00.000-07:00

Kanab has a fun tradition of celebrating it's Old West heritage by having a "Western Legends" weekend. They have a parade, booths, entertainment, etc. Here is a pic we took at the parade. People enter with oxen, horses, covered wagons, and things like that. The kids love it!The boys playing with "old fashioned" water pumps.
That weekend we celebrated the return of Grandma and Grandad Clarkson (Tim's parents) from their mission in Argentina. We heard their wonderful homecoming talks and had a party at their newly remodeled home in Kanab.
A couple of weeks later, they visited our family for dinner and Family Home Evening. They shared stories, pictures and souvenirs from their mission.
It's so fun to have them home!

It's always fun when Grandma comes!

2008-09-17T06:10:00.000-07:00

A month ago we went up north for the weekend and my mom was visiting from CA as well. While Tim and I attended our nephew's sealing, my mom watched our boys. They had so much fun and she spoiled them with presents!
Isaac loved this marble game.
This is the magic cupboard. There are 2 exits, so while the front door is closed, you can magically escape out the side door. Now you see them.....
Now you don't!
Then my mom drove the 3.5 hours south to our house to visit for a day!
She even treated us to Baskin Robbins - YUM! Thanks mom! We all had so much fun!

Sick!

2008-09-16T18:49:00.000-07:00

I am officially sick and have been wondering why, if God wants me to have children, He makes me feel so awful? I have the sweetest neighbor ever, who came over the other day and did my dishes for me! I was so embarrassed, yet so grateful! She has a 3 year old boy who is Andrew's "Bestest Friend Ever" and they play all day, every day, if we let them! So, my house is a wreck, and I go around in my pajamas all day trying not to gag and throw up at any scent or thought of certain foods. We are all living on snacks and fruit right now...."safe" foods. Matthew has been especially wonderful, asking me often if he can do anything to help me feel better. He is so thoughtful and I am so lucky. Tim, of course, is a great example for Matthew to follow as he is always helping me out.

Baby #4!

2008-09-01T21:07:00.000-07:00

Okay, so since I'm only 6 weeks, we don't know if our baby is going to be a boy or a girl, but given our track record, and that the only name we agree on is a boy name, we think we are having a boy! And it is so early that I haven't even gotten sick yet, or been to the doctor, and it could all end up in a miscarriage, or something, but for some reason this time I have had such a hard time keeping this baby a secret!! We didn't tell people we were expecting Isaac until we knew he was a boy, but this time I just want to tell the world....so here I am! Who-Hoo! Levi is on his way! And, I don't care if you don't like the name we picked out, we really like it and agree on it and that's all that counts!

Fireplace Mantle

2008-08-22T06:05:00.000-07:00

Our fireplace after staining and decorating. I still want to get candles for the candlesticks, but I still haven't found what I'm looking for..... :)
Our door from the inside. The oval mirror is from the bathroom - it used to be white. I thought it would be cute if we had girls, but I want something more practical in the bathroom (normal square, flat bathroom mirrors) so I took one of the mirrors and used it in a way I liked more.

Welcome Home Mom and Dad Clarkson!

2008-08-22T05:48:00.000-07:00

Tim's parents returned home from an 18-month mission to the Buenos Aires, Argentina Temple. Almost all the family was waiting for them at the St. George Airport, which is a really small airport.
Here is Andrew with his cousin, Kylie, coloring the "Welcome Home" banner.Grandkids holding up HALF of the sign! There were so many people my camera couldn't get everyone in!
They arrive!!!! I love how the sign says "No Entry". It didn't keep the grandkids from mauling their grandparents!
Isaac was born after they left, so this is their first kiss. :) Look at those chubby cheeks!!
Our family with the new RM's.

Matthew's 1st day of Kindergarten

2008-08-22T05:39:00.000-07:00

Matthew's first day of kindergarten! He is growing up so fast! Here he is with his teacher, who is wonderful! We live about 2 blocks from the school, one block being our cul-de-sac, so it's a no brainer, the way to school and home. However, on the first day, I walked with the 2 little boys to go pick Matthew up from school, and he was missing! He wasn't at the "Parent Pick-up" place or at our meeting place. I started to feel panicked and kind of freaked out at the teacher "Where is my son?!!" She said to go home and see if he was there (I has just walked from there). So, I ran home to get the van to start looking for him, but there he was, sitting on the couch! He had had to go to the bathroom and ran home as fast as he could. All I can think of is while I was in the garage getting the little kids into the stroller, Matthew came in the front door. Needless to say, I had to call the teacher and apologize. Good thing we were friends before she was Matthew's teacher!

Funny Boys!

2008-08-06T19:32:00.000-07:00

Isaac is determined to feed himself! Unless he's starving, he won't eat his food unless you give him a fork or spoon. The other day I scooped his first bite of dinner for him in his spoon and he promptly emptied his spoon and scooped his dinner himself! He's so funny, and MESSY!Matthew was waiting patiently for me to put Isaac and Andrew down for naps so we could read stories together, but I wasn't fast enough and this is how I found him - fast asleep!!
I am really going to miss Matthew when he goes to kindergarten in one week! He is such a helpful, happy boy and so much fun to have at home. He does 4-5 chores each day for me so that he can play 1 hours worth of video games! He plays so well with Andrew and Isaac and will even "babysit" Isaac for me for a few minutes while I do the dishes or something. He is starting to communicate very well and it is fun to have grown-up conversations with him. Even though he is growing up, he still likes to snuggle and read stories and give me hugs and kisses. He is so sweet and it is going to be very hard for me to let him go to Kindergarten every day.
Andrew is excited for Matthew to go to Kindergarten because he and I are going to do preschool. He is very proud of the fact that I am going to be his teacher! I had him signed up for preschool, but kept thinking how much he needs one-on-one time with me, so I pulled him out and am going to do preschool Tuesday and Thursday while Isaac takes a nap. He is so much fun and is growing up way too fast! He loves to do everything Matthew does so he already knows his letters, numbers, days of the week, etc. "Preschool" is going to be mostly crafts, writing, and just time spent together.

Pics I promised

2008-08-06T16:15:00.000-07:00

Isaac wearing the cloth diaper I sewed by hand! As of today, however, I now own a sewing machine! Thanks Wael!!!Isaac wearing the very important plastic diaper cover - a necessity for cloth diapering.
YUM!!
At the top of Angel's landing, well, as far as we could safely go with our little boys. We are here at "Scout Lookout", about .5 miles from the summit. We forgot our camera, so a really nice guy took our picture and emailed it to us!
Our "new" front door and shutters I stained. Much better, don't you think? (I would have stained the wooden bench, too, but it's going to break any day now and then we'll get something else.)

The "before" picture is below.

Our little garden

2008-08-06T16:04:00.000-07:00

I feel so proud of the grapes growing in our backyard, even through I didn't do anything! The previous owners planted the vines and now here are delicious grapes!Pumpkin plants I have to thin soon. Just in time for Halloween!!
We also planted cucumbers, zucchini, bell peppers and some herbs. Basil and parsley are below.
I don't have a traditional garden with the rows, etc. I just planted "garden items" among our landscaped back yard that already had a drip line going to the spot. Maybe next year I can get Tim to show off his muscles and get the hard-baked earth on the side of our house ready for a garden, but for now this will just have to do!

A week of firsts

2008-07-27T21:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry that I haven't posted anything in forever! I have finally put away the last few boxes and have moved on to fixing up our home. I pulled out all the nails in the walls from the previous owners, spackled all the holes and am ready to touch up paint. I also stained the front door and the shutters outside a couple of windows dark brown. It looks awesome, I'll have to post some pictures. I am also going to stain the mantle and a picture frame soon as well- I'll get pictures of everything and post later. The days are just super busy!
Another reason I have been busy is I switched to cloth diapers!! Can you believe it??? I still can't! I did it for economical reasons, but there are a ton of people who swear by cloth diapers for a million different reasons! I did some research online and there are people obsessed with cloth diapers, who have their own websites, etc! It's amazing! It's actually not as bad as I thought and I save $50 per month that I can spend on other stuff (another hair cut?). There are some people who use cloth wipes, but I'm not about to go that far! It's kind of like non-stop potty training, but no reading stories while you wait with your child on the toilet or bribing with treats, etc. Just the cleaning out the poopy pants and doing an extra load of laundry twice a week. Okay, I just re-read what I wrote and it sounds bad, but it's not that bad, really.

The last 2 weeks have been a week of firsts for me:
First time ever using cloth diapers
First time ever sewing a cloth diaper (I did it by hand and it took me 3 hours... I really need a sewing machine!) And notice, I only sewed one, the rest were some my mom made for me when I was a baby (they even have cute pink stitching!) and then 3 someone gave me to use for burp cloths when Matthew was a baby.
First time ever baking bread that has turned out
First time ever spackling a hole in the wall
First time ever buying a paint brush and paints
First time ever painting/staining anything
First time ever doing sharing time in primary (I teach the Valiant 9 class and we were in charge of class sharing time)
First time hiking "Angel's Landing" at Zion's National Park! (We took our kids thinking we'd only do the first half mile or so and they wanted to go the whole way! 4 miles! Andrew got tired after 2 so Tim carried him, but Matthew was like a hiking machine and hiked all the way up to the top by himself! This is totally a grown up hike and I was so sore I could barely move for 2 days....the boys were all fine, of course!)

So, that's what I've been up to! I'm going to switch over to a private blog eventually, but not right away. That's at the bottom of my project list for now, so I'll get to it when I get to it!

The Many Faces of Isaac

2008-07-16T12:13:00.000-07:00

Isaac in the tub with his clothes on! He didn't want to be left out of all the fun in the tub, so he jumped in with Matthew and Andrew, clothes and all.Isaac's favorite face to make when he thinks something is really cool.
Isaac the climber! Climbing up Matthew's tall bed all by himself. He fell off yesterday when I didn't know he was up there! Sad!
He didn't want me to take his picture, thus the strange face, but I wanted to show how dirty he gets almost every day from playing out in the sandbox in our back yard.
Isaac mad that I won't get him off the table. He climbed up then couldn't climb down by himself and I kept him up there so I could finish the dishes with out him pulling out all the dirty dishes. I know, mean mom!

Another one of Isaac throwing a fit. We think it is so funny when he does this fake cry during a "temper tantrum". He was mad at me because I wouldn't let him hold the camera!

4th of July

2008-07-07T14:46:00.000-07:00

Matthew took the picture of Tim and I above.
Hooray for pancakes!! This was a pancake breakfast put on by the stake. We had tons of fun!
Matthew with his hand painted, above. Andrew, below, wanted an orange spiderman! It looks like he has a jack-o-lantern painted on his hand! Oh, well, mixing up holidays never hurt anybody.
A photo of a 4th of July pillow I started 6 years ago at an Enrichment activity and finished last week! Whoo-Hoo! It brought back a flood of memories of days at BYU. This is one out of two July 4th decorations in my home!

Zion Outing

2008-07-07T12:21:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite places in the whole world is Zion National Park, and we are lucky enough to live only 45 minutes away! We set out last Saturday morning and had a great day!

Eating breakfast at Oscar's, our favorite restaurant, right outside of Zion. They seriously make the best food ever and I want to eat there every day!Family Picture taken at the beginning of the 'Narrows' hike.
Picture taken at "Weeping Rock" Matthew and Andrew's favorite hike. This short o.5 mile round trip hike is super cool! Even on the hottest day, water drips from up above, cooling off hikers below. The water is estimated to be 1,200 years old and can't keep seeping down, so it's coming out of the rocks!
What Isaac did most of the time!
The boys at the mouth of the "Narrows". One of these days we want to do the Narrows hike. To get to this point, however, you have to hike one mile. The two mile round trip hike about wore our kids out, so a longer hike will just have to wait.

Hair cut buddies!

2008-07-07T12:15:00.000-07:00

Isaac's new do.

I really needed a hair cut and feeling inspired by my friend Cassondra, I chopped my hair off! She has always had long, beautiful hair but showed up on my doorstep with this totally cute short hair style! So, a week ago, I called my next door neighbor who cuts hair and I chopped my hair off too! I love it and think I will keep my hair short for a while. Yesterday it was 107 degrees outside and I was thankful to have my new hair cut for sure! You can see my hair in future posts.

Fun weekend with friends

2008-07-07T10:33:00.000-07:00

Our wonderful friends, Cassondra, Jake, Brooklyn and Brielle, from Las Vegas came to visit 2 weekends ago and we had so much fun! I wish they could be our neighbors, but we'll have to settle for 2 hours away.

Cassondra and I went to High School together and were in the same ward since I was 12. She was the inspiration for my new hair style.We went to the St. George temple Saturday morning and enjoyed the temple grounds as well as the visitor center. They stayed 2 nights and 2 days but I hardly got any pictures! Sad! We went swimming, too, and I forgot my camera! I didn't get any pictures of the " grown-ups" - I had to steal the one above from Cassondra's blog.

Where is Andrew's shirt?? What kind of mother....
Matthew, Brooklyn, Andrew and Brielle. Andrew and Brielle were born on the exact same day! Brooklyn is a few months older than Matthew even though she looks like a whole year or two older! What cute kids!

Hello Friends and Family!

2008-06-24T21:07:00.000-07:00

Hello wonderful friends, family and even frequent visitors who know us through our blogging friends. Just wanted to let each one of you know that we will be changing to a private blog. I know there are many friends and family that look and don't comment, so I want to make sure you are included on my list to email. PLEASE email your email address so that I can make sure you are listed to view our little family blog.
Love
The Clarksons

clarkson_rebecca@yahoo.com

P.S. Thank you Mandy, for the above paragraph! :)

Coolest Neighborhood Ever

2008-06-19T11:37:00.001-07:00

Last week we went to our block party and it was so much fun! We have some really cool neighbors and we got to put kids with their parents and names with faces, etc. It was awesome. Each neighbor either brought out a BBQ grill or something to entertain the kids with - this blow up slip and slide was so much fun! There is also a homemade TRAIN thing that one of the neighbors made that is pulled by a tractor! Andrew kept going around and around the court! He loved it!
Just a shot of some of the adults eating together.
The view from our front door. To the right is our bounce house that Tim's brother gave us because their kids grew out of it.

Little Swimmers!

2008-06-19T11:11:00.000-07:00

Matthew and Andrew have not always liked swimming. However, we got them life jackets and they just took to the water! They were swimming every chance they got! However, we noticed they started to get dependent on the life jackets and wouldn't go in water unless they were on (probably a good thing!) So, we signed them up for swim lessons and they had a blast! Isaac and I took the "Parent/Tot" class at the same time and we all had fun! This swimming pool is indoor and so much fun! Plus, it's only about 4 blocks away from our house! This is a fun splash pad that is about a 5 minute drive away from our home. The cool thing is that it is free!! We went with cousins, but these pictures are from before the cousins got there. I forgot to take more pics.

Isaac loved the splash pad until he got wet....
He wouldn't let go of mommy's legs for a while!

Matt's 5th Birthday!

2008-06-19T06:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I just realized I posted the pictures from the end to the beginning.... Oh, well, no time to change.

We went bowling for Matthew's birthday - Isaac loved the ball return. We had to watch him closely, though, as he wanted to put his hand inside and touch the spinning wheel! He also wanted to run to the end of the lane whenever he had a chance!Our bowling group - Aunt Carri, Aunt Pam, Uncle Barry, cousins Mitchell and Adam.

Matthew's breakfast in bed.
Matthew woke up at 6:00am on his birthday - before I did of course! Here he is prentending to be asleep in my bed while I go fix his breakfast.
PRESENTS!!!!
Trying out the new scooters and gear.
Birthday Cake!! The cake I made him - he wanted "half land and half water" cake when he saw the different frosting animals at the store. So, this is what I came up with.
Birthday fun with the Andersons! They came, bearing many gifts, to visit us and take us out to lunch at the Burger Bar. It was a blast!
The cake Richard and Betsy brought for Matthew - Spiderman all the way!
Matthew got a cool shirt with the number 5 on it - because that's how old he is. It's his favorite shirt!
Andrew eating spiderman.
Matthew getting ready to eat the Green Goblin.

Funny Isaac Videos!

2008-06-05T12:13:00.000-07:00

Isaac loves Tim's ipod! He sings right along and is super cute and funny! He is always being crazy and Matthew and Andrew love laughing at their silly brother!

Isaac's 1 year old pictures!

2008-05-31T19:17:00.000-07:00

I took Isaac in for his free Kiddie Kandids birthday 8x10 and ended up spending way too much money - but I had so much fun! He was so happy and was just a perfect picture taker! I love how his baby hair curls above his ears, but now it's time for a haircut.... soon. I just can't get myself to cut his hair because then he will look like a big boy and not a baby any more!

For moms, grandmas, etc. who want a picture of this adorable baby, go to:
http://mystudio.kiddiekandids.com/
and you can order pictures. Click on the View Artistic Creations link to get the cute collages.

My 26th Birthday!

2008-05-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

Matthew helped Tim make me a WONDERFUL breakfast in bed! My birthday present was this, the beautiful flowers and of course, the new house! :)My sister-in-law, Chelsea, surprised me with a delicious chocolate cake, made from scratch! Even the frosting. I think I ate half myself and it was the best ever! Two candles because I'm still in my 20's. The cake was so moist and delicious, that a part of it fell off on the way over! Thanks Chelsea! You are awesome!

Our family with John (Tim's brother) and daughter Kylie. We all are enjoying my birthday cake. This was such a great day.

New Home Slideshow!

2008-05-25T08:45:00.000-07:00

Isaac's 1st Birthday

2008-05-25T07:20:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Isaac! He loved his present from his big brothers.Isaac's nutritious birthday breakfast.

Isaac loves his animal train puzzle from Aunt Pam!

Aunt Pam showing Isaac how his toy can be put back together.
Isaac's total lack of interest in his cake! We are at Barry and Pam's house with their 4 boys.

How Isaac's birthday ended up for him. He really didn't want his cake and then fell trying to get away from it. So sad, but this is his birthday picture. The mangled cake is not from him, but from big brothers and cousins tasting. :)

Mother's Day

2008-05-25T06:50:00.000-07:00

The day before Mother's Day Tim was feeling really sick, so Aunt Carri (Tim's sister) took the boys to the Dollar Store to pick out things to give me. It was so cute! She told me that Matthew said "Girls like dolls" and searched the whole store for a doll! She was going to let them pick whatever they wanted, but a lady in the store told them that moms like lotions, etc. So then they spent time smelling all the lotions and found the best one for me! Andrew said, "My mom likes chocolate" and bought me a package of chocolate covered cookies! Yum! He was right! I also got a cute note from Tim and the boys and had a great Mother's Day! In this picture we were still at Barry and Pam's, in their guest room.

Isaac giving hugs!

2008-05-25T06:31:00.000-07:00

Here is Isaac giving hugs to Matthew. The age difference between these two really makes them buddies. They don't fight and Matthew loves taking care of Isaac and making him smile.
I just had to add the below picture: If you look closely at his forehead, there are 5 bruises in kind of an island formation! I thought his bruises looked like the Hawiian Islands! :)

Isaac's Birthday Lunch at Burger Bar

2008-05-09T20:58:00.000-07:00

Betsy and Richard Anderson came to visit us for Isaac's Early Birthday celebration! Below the boys are growling like bears because they were given cute bear shirts and caps for Isaac's birthday!Isaac loves his cute frog hat!
Yummy lunch! Thanks Richard and Betsy for the wonderful day! We had lunch, played at the park and then Betsy and I took a couple of hours to go shopping while the guys watched the kids.
Isaac dancing to the music at the Burger Bar.

Worldmark Condo

2008-05-07T15:26:00.000-07:00

This condo was our home for the last 10 days and it was awesome! We got our stuff out of suitcases and into dressers and relaxed the days away! This is our living room.Andrew eating a yogurt and showing off our kitchen.
View of our fireplace and balcony. There was also our bedroom with a King bed, a bathroom, and the kids slept on a Murphy bed in the living room.
The boys playing in the baby pool...in the background is part of the main pool and the hot tub. There was also one other main pool and hot tub in another part of the condo complex.
Matthew and Andrew and cousin Mitchell under the waterfall in the main pool. We went swimming almost every day! The pool water was warm and we had a blast!
Now we are back with Barry and Pam's family which is tons of fun and only 12 more days until we move into our new home!! Yay!!

7 stitches!!

2008-05-07T14:47:00.000-07:00

Isaac received 7 stitches in one finger from pulling a nightstand over on himself. He was reaching into the drawer to get a flashlight and ended up in urgent care. It was so sad! Tim was at work (right by the urgent care) so I loaded up the three boys and met him there, Isaac and I covered in blood. Isaac was such a trooper and even gave the doctor a smile when the stitches and x-rays were over. His bandaged hand is below. Two fingers were scratched, one had the skin peeled off so just needed a bandaid for 5 days and the other finger had the 7 stitches. His hand was bandaged like this and he got good a pinching things between his 4 bandaged fingers and free thumb! He enjoyed waving at people with his bandaged hand. So funny!

Isaac's shades

2008-05-07T14:33:00.000-07:00

Hey, Mom! I look cool!
Should I put them on my head?
How about on my nose?
My foot?
Enough pictures, mom. I'm out of here.

Bag Tag...Finally!

2008-04-24T14:24:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by Cassondra about a month ago, and finally got around to dumping my diaperbag/purse and taking a picture!How embarrassing! The rules are that you can't clean it before, so you even get the crumbs from the bottom of the bag! I should have weighed my bag before, but I swear it weighed more than my baby!

Okay, so my diaper bag is at the top left, and then...
Random papers/bills
Last Sunday's church program
Water bottle
Library book list
Cough syrup
2 Infant Tylenol bottles
Spare underwear for Andrew
Phone charger
Coupons
3 oranges (snack for the park)
Plastic bag full of crumbled animal crackers
A piece of blank paper
Airplane boarding passes
Peppermint herbal tea bag
1 sugar free candy
Isaac's sandals
Matthew's wrestling singlet I need to return
Andrew's drawing
Some boy toys (Patrick, Darth Vader, Spiderman)
Check book
2 smarties
2 gumdrops
Plastic bag full of dried apricots and Trix cereal
5 kids socks (one pair even matches!)
Car keys
Box of crayons
6 pens
Binki
Lotion
Hand sanitizer
2 Hydricortizone cream tubes (for my 2 eczema boys)
Desitin
Kleenex
2 packages of wipes
Pile of crumbled graham crackers from the bottom of the bag
Receipts
Envelopes with my budgeted monthly income inside
Wallet
Pile of garbage
2 nursing pads
1 diaper!
Yes, only one diaper in the diaper bag! Now there is much less in there and it is once again organized! Yay!

Living in St. George

2008-04-18T13:20:00.000-07:00

I think our last name should be "Hobo"or "Traveler" or "Wanderer" instead of Clarkson! We have lived in four different places and I am so done living out of suitcases!! We still have another month of it, however, until we move into new home on May 19th.

Tim's brother and his family have been so nice to let us live with them this last week. We were in a one bedroom apartment type hotel and had just had enough after 2 and a half weeks of it. Isaac was so funny, showing his dislike of the hotel by refusing to walk while we were living there! When ever we visited someone in their home, he would be cheerful and walk all around, but as soon as we got back to our hotel, he became whiny, and took up crawling again!

Here we are watching the Saturday Conference session in the kitchen/living room part of our hotel. Then there are two beds and a bathroom in the bedroom.
So, it wasn't that bad, but I just think babies and toddlers need space!
Here is Isaac now that he doesn't have "baby depression"!

Tim's brother and his wife have four boys, so living at their home is paradise for my kids! They just play all day and can't wait for their cousins to get home from school to play with them! My sister-in-law and I have been taking turns making dinner, so that has been really awesome - less cooking!

Their family is so much fun and we are so grateful that they are so generous and kind to us!

Isaac enjoying California's produce

2008-04-02T15:37:00.001-07:00

Isaac was playing with this orange like it was a ball. The next thing I knew, I looked over and he had bitten through the side of the orange and was sucking out the juice! I didn't have the heart to take it away and let him enjoy his tasty mess.

Isaac enjoying an orange live...

2008-04-01T22:44:00.000-07:00

He was sure thirsty!

Matthew's Dental Visit

2008-04-01T16:09:00.001-07:00

Matthew had a surprise for all of us - a HUGE cavity that turned into a pulpotomy (a rootcanal on a baby tooth!) Good thing my dad is a wonderful dentist and saved us lots of money and time - again! At Christmas time, Matthew had 3 cavities and he cut his head above his eyebrow, which my dad stitched up perfectly. I swear, a plastic surgeon couldn't have done a better job. However, in between 2 back teeth was a cavity hiding, that surfaced this time, so back into the dental chair he went! Matthew being so brave - he didn't even cry!! He just watched Sponge Bob the whole time.

My sister, Brooke, assisting, and Tim encouraging Matthew.

Hike at Pina Adobe Park in CA

2008-04-01T14:35:00.001-07:00

We went on a beautiful hike with my mom, Matthew and Andrew and my little brother Tyler. It was beautiful and perfect weather! I sure miss the green being here in the red rock desert! A different kind of beauty, I guess!
Pretty pink blossoms

Tyler, Andrew and Matthew playing in the yellow flowers.

It's official! We are moving!

2008-03-07T20:21:00.000-08:00

One month ago the idea of moving was just that.... an idea. But about 2 weeks ago, we started looking seriously at homes in the St. George area since Tim was offered a job working with his brother Barry. Yesterday our offer was accepted on a 4 bedroom 2 bath home in Santa Clara, Utah (right outside of St. George) that is very close to 3 of Tim's siblings and their families, in a great neighborhood at the end of a cul-de-sac and 2 blocks from the elementary school where Matthew will be going to kindergarten in September! We close on the home March 21st and move in the middle of May, hopefully.
I thought I'd be more excited to move to the St. George area, but I feel really sad about leaving all the wonderful friends we have made here. I had it in my mind that Kanab would be our permanent home and had already imagined our boys graduating with the boys they went to nursery with. Well, that's life, I guess. Always something unexpected.

Isaac and Balloon

2008-03-07T09:41:00.000-08:00

Isaac loved Andrew's birthday balloons!

Andrew's 3rd Birthday Party

2008-03-07T08:42:00.001-08:00

Andrew's Spiderman Cake that was supposed to be a 2 layer cake....the bottom layer didn't make it in one piece out of the pan!
Andrew's little party with 2 neighbor friends.
Playing "Stick the candle on the cupcake."
Andrew's so happy with his present! Of course, spiderman everything!

Isaac's favorite things...

2008-03-07T07:59:00.000-08:00

Isaac likes to "help" me unload the dishwasher....
He likes to climb up on the dishwasher and jump on the door when mom's not looking.....
He loves getting into the pantry and taking all the cans off the shelves... he likes trying to sweep, too....
But THIS is is favorite....taking all the books out of the bookshelf and then stepping on all the books! It's become Andrew's job to put all the books back so he's become the bookshelf guard...Isaac doesn't get near the bookshelf now!

Andrew's 3rd Birthday Breakfast in Bed

2008-03-04T16:22:00.000-08:00

Family tradition is to serve breakfast in bed to the birthday person. Andrew requested that he be served pancakes with the letters of his name, so here they are! Here's a peek into our real lives... pajamas and all!

Fun In The Snow!

2008-03-04T15:40:00.000-08:00

So much snow! The most in a long time! A picture of the view from our front door.

This picture is of our new, little pine tree in our backyard. My kids said it looks like a real Christmas tree!

Tim took the boys sledding on the golf course in our back yard. He had to pull them for a while before they got to the hill they were to sled down.

Our snowman who lived in our backyard a few short days.
Matthew making a snow angel.

Isaac's First Steps 3/4/08 at 9.5 mos

2008-03-04T13:09:00.001-08:00

Isaac got a new toy from our friend Wael and loves to race around the house with its help!

Our Family Vacation to Mexico!

2008-03-04T11:43:00.000-08:00

November 12-28 2007
This was the best family trip we have ever taken. Our boys still talk about it (now that it is March) and ask to go back often. Tim was able to work in the early mornings via his computer and then spent the days with us swimming, eating, touring and playing! His brother Barry's family and sister Carri were with us for one of the weeks and it was a blast hanging out with them.

The resort we stayed at was an all inclusive resort, meaning that the food, shuttle service, taxes, gratuities, specialty drinks, and non-motorized water sport equipment was included! It was so fun! You'll see the last slide is our 2 boys up to the bar, ordering their own virgin pina coladas!

Our favorite part of the trip was going to a place called Xcaret, an eco park. There was an underground river that went into tunnels and took us an hour to float through. We even took baby Isaac and he loved it! We loved the park so much (zoo animals, snorkeling, beaches, food and underground river) that we went back a second day!

Our Boys Breakin

2008-02-22T10:22:00.000-08:00

Thanks to John and Chelsea for the awesome idea! Yes we copied them, as I am not this creative on my own. This is definitely a family treasure and I hope you enjoy viewing it as much as we do!