What's new in the Clark home!?!

Well I have officially gone one year without posting. To be honest it's crazy how time flies. I would like to think I could go back and post the happenings of the last year but somehow I don't think I ever will. We'll see!?!

Several things have changed in the Clark home. First, as most of you know, we welcomed our sweet baby girl in december. Ava Collette Clark! She arrived on Dec. 22nd @ 8:10 am and was 7 lbs 5 oz and 20.5 in. She is eight weeks today and is the sweetest, most precious baby girl. I am completely in love with her. So far she has been an angel, and the adjustment to three has come pretty easy. I think I had prepared myself for the worst! We are enjoying her very much, especially the boys. Some days I pray she survives this first year but truthfully I just hope she survives her bothers. They love her, that's all! We've had a wonderful new year with our family addition and more time to be with one another.

Johnny graduated with his bachelors on Dec. 18th which was an extremely exciting time for us. We never thought we would see that day come or at least that's how it felt. He hopes to continue his education this fall and start on his masters. In the meantime he has been studying Hebrew with Hebrew College.
Johnny is also teaching early morning seminary. This has freed up a lot of his time allowing us to spend more of it as a family. If you know him well you know this is something he has always wanted to do, we just never realized it could be your calling. We are excited about it and it has brought a wonderful spirit into our home.

Not much is new with me, just one year older and making changes with having a new baby. JJ is still the sweetest most loving boy around. I am constantly grateful he is my first born. He has all the personality of his daddy, and seriously cracks me up. Jack, well Jack is lots of things. He tries my patience daily. I have a women in my ward who asks me "what's the story of Jack this week?" Man oh man is that true. He is a busy boy. Some days he's lucky he has the prettiest dang eyes around. I can't get mad at him, hardly ever.

Things are good here. We have been very blessed. We miss friends and family and look forward to coming for a visit.

Recipe Blog!!

I know there are a biz-illion recipe blogs out there and a thousand more sites. But I want a place to go to for new recipes that I can trust. Where those who have tried them and love them will share them! So... I'm wondering if any of you want to start a recipe blog where we share a recipe a week or something! All that's required is that you share one recipe, dessert/dinner/appetizer/breakfast/lunch, on your week. We will rotate the weeks depending on the order of our names. I will place a list on the side bar and that way you can check it and know exactly where you fall and when it's time to post. I know you all have fabulous recipes out there. Maybe even from a site or blog you've tried. You could easily attach a link. I would like there to be at least one picture of the recipe you've prepared. If needed create a step by step process with photos. I'm really needing new recipes and a motivation to cook right now. *Food is not my favorite thing at the moment. The more the merrier and the more recipes in variety. Lets also think of a fun blog name that has to do with cooking. Any takers!?!

Just Writing

I'm sitting here, back against the wall with the sun filtering through the blinds. It is quiet in my house while my sweet baby boys are sleeping oh so peacefully. There is a basket of clothes to fold and crumbs to sweep up. But, as I sit here thinking, "what should I do,".... because to be honest, I don't want to do any of the above, I thought I'd get on and say hello to all of you. That is if there's anyone still out there that pays a visit here. I have been so neglectful and will probably continue to. I get busy and stressed and the last thing I think about is this "to do." I push it way back in the back of my mind. I hope I will forget about blogging and be done, but when I check it at least once a day to see what's new with you I kind of remember. Today I'm just writing. No special pictures, no stories to tell, cause there's just to darn many to start. I'm just writing. Thinking clearly for the most part and for the first time in a few weeks. Trying to "Enjoy the Journey." Sometimes that's real hard for me. I'm often thinking what's next??? But today was a good day and I enjoyed it. Sitting in the silence helped me remember. I love my life. Have I ever told you that? I have so many things to be grateful for. Really I do.

JJ just woke up smiled at me and laid his little head back down. I sure love these boys. They make me laugh, cry, and even scream. I wish you all new them better. They are good boys. I hope to raise the best, we need more good men these days. Some days I am brave enough to say Heavenly Father I would raise you five good men if you entrusted them to me, or at least I'd try. Not today though because I still want at least one little girl. :) Anyway, we're all good over here. Johnny has to be, hands down, the best hubby in the world. He's a great man. I love him so much. I wish some of you knew him better too. He's always bettering himself. I watch him and wish I could be that good. Lately I've kind of been acting like a toddler. Reverse psychology would work great on me right now. That probably makes ____ that much sense. It's silly I know. I am extremely grateful for his example though. He keeps me in place.

I feel like I could ramble on about nothing today. I just want to. I've had lots on my mind. Like Conference, Easter, JJ's preschool, Primary, vacations, and wanting a baby. I'd like another one!

Well, little Jack-Jack and I will be packing our bags for Utah in a month, JJ and Johnny are headed to Florida to have some male bonding time I guess (with his dad and brothers). Air boats, fishing and all. I'm excited for them slash a little nervous. I just worry about my boys! I hope they enjoy themselves though. I know I will!!!

I hope to see some of you! I will be there for a whole week so let me know!

I think I've said enough today. Hopefully I will be back soon! Have a happy day!

~Ash

Johnny's ninja birthday party

Posting!

I've been hiding. Well not on purpose at least. We have been so very busy. Whenever I get a spare moment I take that moment and just relax. A lot of times I take that time to see what is new with you and try to avoid everything else. I thought I'd quickly post a review of our summer/fall. We ended our summer with a visit from the Palmers and Johnny's work party. We enjoyed yummy doughnuts and got to hear about some slithery, slippery retiles. Reptile man was invited to the work party and JJ loved every second of it. As we entered Fall we started preschool, soccer and enjoyed a little trip to Utah. We took advantage of all the fun and went to the Dinosaur museum and aquarium lots and lots. Johnny and I went from there to Kirtland Ohio (to be continued...) where we were spiritually nourished. Lindsey and Lance came to visit and we made a trip up to Astoria to see where the Goonies movie was filmed. That was a fun! We've also enjoyed some fun days at the park and family time together. Our Halloween was exciting and eventful (JJ fell and had to get stitches on his eyebrow) and now we're welcoming the warm feeling of the holidays. Last week we shared our time with my mom and grandma and spent most of our days talking and solving the problems of the world. It was a perfect visit! Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving, love you all!!

P.S. I googled my own name and what I found was pretty scary so I am going private and would like to ask you all to leave your email address if you didn't the first time. If you're not sure just go ahead and leave it again. Thanks!!

Sick!!!

Thanks for the pic Linz!

JJ Soccer

Goonies House

Astoria

Dinosaur Museum

Aquarium

Halloween

JJ's Birthday and more!

JJ celebrated his 3rd birthday on Aug. 11th but we partied on the 8th. The day before the big party I received a phone call from my mom informing me that she had sent a package over night and she wanted me to check the mail box to see if it got there. I took Jack and went to the garage to get the stroller but I could see tires in the driveway. I slowly began stepping out to see who the heck was parked there, and out, from around the corner, popped my mom and dad. They totally surprised us. Not I nor Johnny knew they where coming. I raced in to wake JJ and tell him his birthday present was here he was a little out of it but he sure did hurry. When he saw his mema and g-pa he said "You came to my birthday party!" They definitely had. It was an exciting treat. We enjoyed a nice dinner out and a quick swim at the pool. The day of the party was a little hectic but it turned out great. I was having so much fun I forgot to get pictures of a few things. JJ is our little spiderman. We don't know where he learned about spiderman but he LOVES Spiderman. We had a spiderman cake/cupcakes and spiderman decorations. Peter Parker's Pizza and Green Goblin Salad, with Spiderman power punch to drink. Johnny drew some sweet looking spiderman villains and we let the kids spray them with their spiderman silly string. We swung at a spiderman pinata and enjoyed the company of our friends and family. It was so fun. JJ hit the jackpot, I can't believe how much he got. We handed out spiderman bags for the kids candy and kites. Our little boy was in heaven. He is the greatest kid. He is so sweet and smart. I love him so much! On his big day Johnny took the day off and we enjoyed some mini golf and family time. It was such a good week! We love you little guy!!

My little spiderman!

The spider invitations:

Hey Spidey Fans!

Get ready for a spine tingling

Action packed adventure with your

favorite wall crawling super hero!

Join us for some web slinging wall

crawling birthday fun on Aug. 8th, 2009

Swing on over at 5:00

To your friendly neighborhood

friend JJ's house

Mini golf. He looks like a rug rat... he was needing a hair cut pretty bad!

We have been so, so busy... nothing really exciting is going on with us! Jack started walking about a month and a half ago and JJ is now potty trained. It was my goal to have him potty trained before he turned three and literally a week before his birthday I decided to make the change. Well, he was ready and that's really all it took. Just a few days and he had it down. I can count on my hands how many accidents he's had. I'm totally a dork for waiting but I accomplished our goal. I guess it makes me feel like a good mom or something! Next week we start preschool. Me and seven other women from the ward are starting up our own thing. All from scratch. It's been so fun to put together. If you know me well you know I miss teaching and absolutely love it. I am very excited to start. We will also be starting up soccer in a few weeks. Johnny is still in school with one year left. He is taking Hebrew online and going to a university up here. He also is in the young men's presidency and enjoys spending time with the youth. Between YM, work and school I feel like I don't get to see him enough. I also just got called to the Primary presidency and I'm working hard on the primary program for next month. Although we are busy we sure are happy. In a few weeks we will be down to Utah. (First come first serve. Our slots are filling up fast.) We will be there for three days before Johnny and I take off on a wonderful opportunity. We will be headed off on a church history tour and many other adventures. I'm very excited!