We love our friends!

The Covey's were in town so we all got together for dinner.  Maclain, Ghandi, and Jill also joined us.  We went to The Mandarin in Bountiful and it was delish.  Lucy was an angel (yeah right!) she decided to save her daily barf for the outing and dumped a huge thing of water on me so I was soaking wet.  It was awesome!  The people there hated us by the end because we were there forever, there was rice dumped all over the floor, we were probably loud, had crying babies, and Lucy stole some chopsticks.  She was leading music with them and dancing, whatever makes her happy, I guess.  Glad we won't be back there for a while.  They probably wouldn't let us in.   After we ate we went to Nielsons custard.  My favorite part of course.  We talked about the old days and laughed a lot.  I miss hanging out with those guys.  I wish we all lived closer.  We got home at 11:30pm and had a rally fun night together.  See you guys at Christmas! 

 

Lucy is getting excited for the big BYU game tomorrow.  There is an extra ticket and we were thinking about just taking her with us and decided it was a negative.  She would sit for 2 seconds and would be all over the place.  I think I'm gonna pass.  Who wants to sit in the hot sun for 10 hrs watching football?  Not me.  Dad is going to go because he is going to miss all of the September games because he will be in Texas all month.  He leaves on Sunday.  We're going to miss him.  Go Cougars!

Lucy can swim!

I think these little videos of Lucy are so cute!  They make me so happy every time I watch them. I bought Lucy and Kade (her cousin) these little floatie swimsuits in June when we were in St. George and Lucy had no clue what she was supposed to do.  We tried to teach her that she needed to kick her legs and move her arms but she just didn't get it.  For a while she wouldn't even get into the water without her floatie swimsuit AND Strawberry Shortcake tube attached and then one day we went swimming and she saw all of the kids swimming on their own and decided that she wanted to do the same.  She got rid of the tube and was swimming all on her own (with her floatie swimsuit of course) but I was so excited.  It was so fun to see how much she has progressed in less than 2 months.    I stayed by her the first couple of days that she was on her own and then decided that I would take my camera to the pool and video her from the side.  The first video she is in the big swimming pool and she started to struggle so I had to jump in and rescue her.  I think she would of recovered but I saw the anxiety in her eyes and decided I should probably jump in and help her.  She was fine and back at it again.  The second video is in the hot tub with some random kid cheering her on.  I love that she stops to twirl her hair in between jumps.  She inherits that from Aunt Jenny and Aunt Sarah.  Thanks a lot guys!  We are so proud of you Luce!  You are officially 3rd pet fish!

Sick tricks!

Lucy is famous for this sick trick that she casually does like a thousand times a day.  We were at the store the other day and I looked back to make sure she was following me and, yep...  she is on all fours prepping for the one leg to raise into the air.  I'm sure people are looking at me wondering what in the world my kid is doing.  I think she is very talented and dang cute!  We miss having the Olympics on in the background.  We all loved the gymnastics.  Lucy also loved the sprints, that she would copy and run up and down the hall until her face was bright red.  The swimming was pretty amazing as well.  I look forward to seeing Lucy compete in Olympics someday... if she continues to practice her sick tricks, that is.

Steph, my cuz

My sweet cousin, Stephanie and her husband were involved in a small plane crash on Saturday night, (August 16, 2008) in Arizona. They have 4 little kids at home that are missing them very much. The pilot passed away and Stephanie and Christian were both burned very badly and are in critical condition. Christian has a lower back fracture and 30% of his body has 3rd degree burns on it. Stephanie is in worse shape with 80% of her body covered in 3rd degree burns. She is estimated to be in the hospital for 3-5 months, have 1-2 months of inpatient therapy, and a year of intensive work. She will have to re-learn to walk, use her tendons and muscles, and use her fingers. She will have to have 10-12 surgeries if not more. Her life will never be the same. It makes me so sad to think about her. I hope that she will be okay and that she will live to raise her 4 children. Our prayers are with them. Updates on her blog... welovecubby.blogspot.com. Good luck guys. We love you!

Lucy Bee

My sweet little Lucy was born on July 28th 2006 at the University of Utah hospital. Dad was a 2nd year med student at the time and I was currently work full time at an endoscopy clinic for the U. Her original due date was August 9th 2006 so she was a couple of weeks early. She was usually very active while in the womb and I knew something was wrong when she wasn't moving as much so thought I would eat and move around a little to see if anything changed. It was on and off all day so we went into the hospital later that evening to make sure everything was okay and they found that the placenta was bleeding up inside and she wasn't getting enough oxygen so 2 hours later she was born C-section at 9:11pm (Friday night). Everything was fine but if we would've waited any longer there could have been some damage. She was such a cute little baby! She weighed 6 lbs 6 ounces, was 21 inches long, and was perfect in every way. I knew my life would never be the same. She saved my life by coming to this earth, she knew her mommy needed help and I knew that she came to me at the time she did for a reason. I am so thankful for her everyday. Lucy has big blue eyes, blond hair, and a dang cute smile. She makes me laugh every single day. She was a very fussy newborn and had reflux really bad. She had a UTI at 3 weeks old and was hospitalized for a couple of days to make sure everything was okay. Poor thing. She was a very alert baby. She didn't have any hair for a long time and people thought she was a boy, she hated bows and wouldn't keep them in, so at 3 months of age I took her to get her ears pierced. She cried for 2 seconds and has never pulled at them or had any infections. There was a lady at the mall that looked at me and said, "I can't believe that you would torture your baby like that." I looked at her and rolled my eyes. Like she is going to remember it anyway and I'd rather do it now then wait until she is 3 and really traumatized for life! I handed her Lucy's bink and told her to suck on this... JK but I wanted too. What a dumb lady. She no longer was mistaken for a boy. She liked to sleep with mom and dad and had a hard time getting used to her crib. She didn't sleep through the night until she was a year old. Nightmare! She is a great sleeper now. She likes to stay up late with us and sleep in every morning. I love it and don't mind that she is not on a strict schedule. Since I work nights it is nice that she sleeps in so that I can get some sleep as well. She takes a good nap every day too, except for the days I really need and want her to take a nap she sleeps for 30 min. Isn't that the way it always happens? She is generally a very happy little girl but she has got a temper, let me tell you. She does not like the word no! She is very independent and wants to do everything by herself. She can be very high maintenance at times and is not a mellow child whatsoever. She is always very active and wants to be outside running around. She loves to go to the playground and swing. We have a little playground in our community back yard and she loves to go out there, she has conquered the big twistie slide in the last couple months. She loves to swim and is able to swim on her own with her pink floatie swimsuit. She also loves her Strawberry Shortcake tube. She likes to go on walks in her stroller and in the runner with mom and dad. She has got the cutest little personality and does such funny things. She doesn't talk a whole lot but understands us and does something if we ask her to. She loves to have her back, hands, feet, legs, tummy, and arms tickled. She will pick up my hand and move it to wherever she wants to to be tickled. It's so cute. When she is tired she wants her bink, milk, and blanky and she twirls her hair. I do her hair the same everyday because she likes to twist the same piece although she hates having her hair done. I basically have to put her in a head lock to even comb it. When she thinks something is cool she will point and grunt. She has huge tonsils and gags on everything and barfs on a daily basis. She gets diarrhea a lot, which is partly out fault because we let her drink so much milk. She loves milk and asks for it all day long. Of course we don't just give it to her all day long but she would drink it if we let her. She also loves apple juice and ice. She loves to watch movies. Anything Disney or on Disney channel. She has been loving Toy Story lately. She also loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (oh toodles) and absolutely hates Handy Manny, which is kinda random. Care Bears (bear bear), Strawberry Shortcake (cake), Monsters Inc., Dora (when they ask a question she always answers no, it's funny) Go Diego Go, Yo Gabba Gabba, Little Einsteins, Chicken Little, and Jungle Book are among some of her favorites. She loves to watch them on the portable DVD player or on mom and dads bed. She loves her dolls, baby stroller, baby crib, books, bubbles, stacking blocks, plastic cell phone, and coloring. She loves her pink and white crocs that dad bought for her. They are the only shoes she will ever wear even when we dress her in black or purple for church, she wants her pink crocs. Some of her nicknames are honey pie, Luce Mcgoose or Lucy Mcgoosie, goose, love bug, sweetie pie, Luly, Lou, Luce, sweetheart, monkey, lucky girl, crazy girl and more but these are the main ones. She makes many animal sounds ie doggie, kittie, snake, horse, tiger and bear (she makes the same noise for both in this deep voice like she is trying to be really scary), elephant (puts her hand to her mouth and makes a random noise), duck, cow, bird, and more but those are her favorites. She loves animals! She also says choo choo for train, nigh night for moon, ice cream, popcorn (corn), milk, drink, eat, shoes, no and nope, can't say yes but nods her head up and down, ice, hot, cold, bye bye, hi, waves goodbye, outside (side), poop, thank you, please (peas), baby, mommy, daddy, grandma, grandpa, Jenny (nennie), Bee, one, two, three, high (when in the swing), snack (one of her favorite words, I swear), bink, here kitty kitty, Oh cute!, ball, swing, jump jump (trampoline), bink, bug, toes, hair, teeth, eyes, ears, nose, go, car, water, and other words but those are her main ones that we here daily. She speaks a lot of jibberish but mostly hangs on my pant leg and whines until I follow her to find out what she wants. It kinda drives me crazy sometimes but I know it won't last forever. She gives lots of hugs and kisses and is becoming more snuggly as she gets older. She loves to get under the blankets and play tent. She loves to sing wheels on the bus (mommy on the bus says shhh shhh shhh, is her favorite part), itsy bitsy spider, her name is Lucy and she's my baby and she's my b-b-b-b-b-baby (dads homemade song), popcorn popping, and monkey song when they fall off the bed and brake their heads, no more monkeys (sometimes I substitute it with Lucys) jumpin' on the bed, you know that song. She loves to dance and do gymnastics. She has a cute trick where she gets on all fours and lifts one leg in the air like it's all tricky and hard. She smiles and thinks she is so big. She's going to love being a cheerleader, dad is still in denial about it. She hates nursery, her car seat, getting her diaper changed, and strangers. Her favorite things to eat are icecream, popcorn, corn, yogurt, toast, crackers, bananas, cereal, waffles, nachos, ramen (the way dad makes it with milk and mushed up saltines, gross!) mac and cheese, fruit snacks, and french fries. She also loves to say ah oh. When she wakes up in the morning she throws everthing out of her crib and I can here her on the monitor saying Mommy, ah oh, and I know exactly what is going on. She is a very curious little girl and is into everything but we love her so much and can't imagine our lives without her. We love you Luly!

Summer 2008

I can't believe that the summer is almost over! The kids all go back to school and I can already tell the fall season is brewing. It is bitter sweet. I LOVE the summer, I also love the fall but then winter follows and I do not like the cold weather with the snow and cloudy depressing weather. I can't stand to even think about it, it makes my stomach hurt. I hate to say goodbye to the summer (Dave makes fun of me because he says that technically the summer isn't over until end of Sept, whatever) once the kids go back to school the summer is over in my opinion. Atleast I can say goodbye to a good summer. We have done so many fun things this summer so I thought that I would write about it and post pictures so that in a month I can remember what our summer was all about. I seem to forget things really easily, another reason why I am doing this... well blog thing.


Dave was Springfield, Illinois for the last 2 weeks of July for an away rotation for med school. Lucy and I really missed him. You really realize how much you appreciate and love them when they are gone. Me and Luly mostly stayed down at my moms in Provo and I was back and forth a couple of times for work. My sweet sisters and mom and dad took care of Lucy while I worked. When we went home for good all she would say is Grandma, Grandpa, Bee, Nennie. She would call for them because she missed being with them even though we still see them atleast once a week. She likes them more than she likes us, it's because they are fun and don't tell her no. Dave busted his bootie in Illinois, getting up every morning at 4:30am and going to bed 10:30ish or later. He worked really hard and won the hearts over of the Drs there. They all loved him! I know they would. Who doesn't love EZO? He got really sick while he was there probably from stress and a case of hand, foot, and mouth disease. Yikes! I think overall he enjoyed his rotation and could see himself settling down there for residency, but who really knows. He stayed with a really nice family out there and they kept him company so I felt good about that. Lucy and I flew out to see him the day before he finished his rotation and checked Springfield out. It is a small town, nothing fancy, but fine. It has everything you would ever need. I wouldn't mind living there. He finished his rotation on a Friday and we went to dinner that night. Saturday we woke up early (like 5:30am) and went water skiing on Springfield Lake. Well I should say that Dave went waterskiing. Lucy and I went on the boat and Lucy freaked out the whole time because she didn't want to wear her lifejacket (suprise, suprise) so by the time it was my turn I just wanted to get out of that darn boat. Gotta love tantrums and screaming when they don't get their way (Dave says she doesn't get that from him which she doesn't get that from me either, ha ha, whatever!). After the whole morning ski trip we went home, packed, showered, ate brunch that Melissa made that was soooo good, and were on our way to Chicago for the weekend. Chicago is such a cool city. We got there Saturday afternoon and checked into the coolest hotel with the prettiest view. We went to eat at this fun Japanese restaurant and then went down to the lake. The weather was perfect. We walked around this cool little (well it wasn't so small) park. Then we made our way down to Navy Pier and there was all sorts of entertainment. The place was jammed packed full of people. They had this huge ferris wheel that I kinda wanted to ride but a thousand people were in line so we continued to walk. We stopped and watched people sing and dance and make out. Gross! It was such a fun night, just the 3 of us. The next day we got ready and got on the "L" and rode to Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs play. See pic below. It was so fun and we had tics in the shade. We ate baseball food and got plastered from all of that Chicago beer. JK. It was a dream. After the game we walked over to this cool aquarium and looked at a bunch of random stuff. The one in Vegas is better, but it was still fun. After that we went to pizza place called Gino's East. Usually I don't love pizza but this was amazing. I have been craving pizza ever since we got home and have been through like 10 different kinds and it doesn't come close. It was soooo good. I heard you can order it online. I just may break down and order one shipped overnight. You think Brick Oven is good? This is 10 times better. I'm hungry all of a sudden. JK! Monday morning we got on the road to head home. Dave had driven out there at the start of his rotation so that he would have a car. We stopped in Des Moines for lunch and of course Lucy barfed all over cause she gagged on a french fry so we were all covered with throw up as well as Wendy's floor, table, and chairs. Sorry about that. I was frazzled and when we got onto the highway to head to Nebraska I somehow missed the turnoff and ended up in Kansas City, Missouri, only 5 hours out of the way. OOPS! Dave reassured me that I was on the right road as he closed his eyes to take a nap. I totally blame you for that you know. I can't believe you would really trust me driving across the country, like I know where the heck I'm going. We kept driving and driving and driving and finally stopped late that night at some piece of @$#%^& hotel but it was fine, a place to sleep I guess. We finished off the drive the next day and got home in pretty good time. Lucy did awesome! I was really happy and kinda shocked that she was so good. Thank goodness for portable DVD players. It was a great trip, probably the highlight of my summer. Dave is studying so hard for boards (Step 2) and spends every second that he gets to read and do practice tests. He will do just fine. He always does. Keep goin babe! We love you and are proud of all of your hard work. He is going to Lubbock, TX for 2 weeks in September and then will finish off the rest of the month in Temple, TX. Guess we will be back buggin' my mom all month. It gets too lonely at home by my lonesome and Lucy's. I'm sure I will keep you posted on how it all goes. Sorry, that was a little longer that I thought it would be.



We went to St. George in June for the Sandhollow Triathlon. We stayed in the Marriott and went swimming, shopping, out to eat, hiking, and all of those fun things that you do in St. George. I love that place! There were quite a few of us from the family that participated in the Triathlon. Jake, Ashlee, Holly, Jess, and Jenny did the whole thing, Candice and I split (I did the run and she biked and swam), and then Sam biked, Adam swam, and Dave finished off the run for them. They took 1st place and got the Gold. So cool! Jess and Jenny got medals too but I don't remember which ones (sorry dudes). It was really fun to do something like that together. We cheered each other on and keep encouraging each other to go faster. Mom and dad were there as well as a million kids, Sarah and Brady, and Jordan. I hope I didn't miss anyone. It was a great trip!


I love this picture of Dave and Lucy at Lake Powell. Lucy would not wear a life jacket and insisted that she wear her floatie swimsuit and tube. Whatever, child! We stayed right by her and she loved it. We found a great parking spot for the houseboat that had shade most of the day, except for in the morning when we all wanted to sleep. Rise and shine at 6am. Boo! It had a great little beach with sand that the kids loved. I'm glad we packed sand toys. We went to the Marina everyday to get ice cream and fresh ice cold coke. It wasn't hot at all... :)! It was a fun trip but kind of stressful. I was constantly scared about Lucy falling off the houseboat as well as the other kids that were there so I was super stressed about that. Lucy had diarrhea the entire time and would scream every time we changed her because her bottom was bright red and bleeding in spots because of acid poop. Poor thing! She sleeps great at home but of course when we get to Lake Powell and are sleeping on top of the houseboat with 20 other people she cries all night long! I'm not joking! Everyone on our boat said it wasn't a big deal but I knew deep down they all wanted a peaceful quiet night without an almost 2 year old screaming for who knows why. The people camping in the cove next to us were yelling at us to shut out kid up at 4am. I wish I was close enough to go over there and punch them. What do they want us to do, put a pillow over her face? For real people... eat this! Then I felt really bad because we ended up sleeping inside the houseboat (without AC) and it was so freakin' miserable and hot so my parents let us use their fan. So nice! They probably didn't even notice because they were snoring up a storm and probably just wanted Lucy to shush, so thanks for the fan. It was a lifesaver! We ended up going home a day early which was kind of a bummer but I was done and ready to go home. I couldn't handle another sleepless night, acid diarrhea, stressing about drowning, and you know everything else that I stress about. I love Lake Powell but this trip was not the most relaxing, but it's okay. There's always next year... oh wait! Our ghetto houseboat took a turn for the worst a couple weeks ago and burned down in the middle of the night with a family sleeping on top. Luckily the family that was there got off safely but lost everything they had. Sad story although that the "Get-away" (the name of houseboat, we call it the ghetto way) is now super ghetto way! Nevermind. It's a family inside joke. That boat was a piece. It was fun while it lasted I guess.



I LOVE the 4th of July! It is my ultimate favorite holiday hands down! We always go to the parade in p-town, which is kinda dumb but it's tradition!! The kids love it and look forward to it every year, so do I. After the parade the guys went golfing and the girls went to lunch and took naps. Can't complain about that. Then in the evening we always go to the Nemrow's for a little BBQing. It is a big Clark family affair. The family is getting to be really big so some of the families do their own thing but most of us still go to the BBQ. It is the only time I get to see some of my favorite cousins and catch up. We live close but with so many things going on during the year you just lose touch. I always love going to see everyone and their kids and hear the latest. After dinner we always go back to my parents house and sit on their front lawn and watch the fireworks from Stadium of Fire. My mom always makes her famous homemade ice cream, which I crave all of the time and of course there are treats. It is such a fun day and I always shed a tear as we drive home cause my favorite day of the year is over. Sad! Can't wait until next year! I have to add that I give Dave a bad time every year because the year before we got married I invited him to the parade and specifically told him to make sure that he wore red, white, and blue. He shows up the morning of the parade in his GREEN SUBWAY shirt. Oh my! He says there is nothing more american than Subway. As you can see he is still not wearing red or white, okay I will give you some credit for the blue but next year you will wear red, white, and blue. Yeah right! It's okay babe. You just look really out of place. It's all good! Whatever makes you happy. I love you EZO... and America, I love you too!



I'm not a runner but after 18 months of still being 15 lbs overweight from that sweet little girl that I have, I decided to do something about it. I started running to lose weight and kind of started to enjoy it so I decided to run a couple of races just for fun. I really wanted to do the Provo River half marathon but couldn't get work off so I was kinda bummed. I'm over it! Maybe next year. I really want to do a marathon someday. I started out with the med school 5K, then did the 5K run for the triathlon, and then made my sister run the Deseret News (24th of July) 10K (6.2 miles, I think) with me. It started at Research Park and ended at Liberty Park. Of course she smoked me but I finished in less than an hour so I was very happy about that. It was a pretty easy run.. mostly all downhill. My goal was not to walk and I didn't. I have to say I am proud of myself and I have lost all of my baby weight, finally! Thanks Jen for doing it with me, it would've sucked doing it alone even though you left me in the dust.



On the night of the 24th of July we went to dinner and then went to the white trash Spanish Fork rodeo. I took Lucy on a couple of rinky dink rides and she thought it was the best. She smiled and waved at the most random people. After the carnival we walked over to the rodeo. It was great! I love being totally smashed in the middle of wooden bleachers packed with smelly people and dirt flying in your face from nasty horses with lovely beauty queens racing by with a 2 year old that sits still for maybe 1 second, if you are lucky! Jenny and Jordan bought Lucy a blue snow cone that ended up in my lap, therefore I was so sticky... so nice of you guys. Uncle Dave was sitting in front of us and Lucy kept kicking him and then tickling his back for him, I can't stop laughing right now. It was cute and pretty funny. He was loving it, I'm sure! She loved the clown and kept laughing at him. She also loved the horses and kept pointing at them. The rodeo lasted about a million hours too long and then there were fireworks that lasted maybe 3 minutes? Gotta love it! What a good day. Thanks mom for buying our rodeo tickets.

That's all folks! Those were our big highlights for the summer. We have done a lot of swimming thanks to Chandlerpoint townhomes, eating out, evening runs together with Lucy in the runner, many hours at the park, BBQ's, concerts, sunshine until 10pm, my birthday, Lucy's birthday, family get togethers, nightly walks around the neighborhood, hiking, redbox from the Chevron as well as cherry coke with crushed ice, nachos, bug juice (for Lucy of course) airheads, and cotton candy. I love that place. It's money! Did I mention that I love the summertime? It's awesome!

You will be missed...

Today was kind of a somber day.  We attended a funeral for Amber Jacobson, 25.  She is the wife of Trevor, a good friend of Dave's from med school.  She left him behind along with her 2 little kids (Matix, 3 and Nivelli, 14 months).  She passed away several days ago from suicide.  She had been struggling for a while with post-partum depression and had a history of bipolar disease.  She was such a good person and every time I think about it I get sick to my stomach and my heart aches for her husband, kids, and other family and friends that loved her so much.  I remember the first time I met her.  Dave and I went to Bear Lake for our 4th year anniversary and they happened to be up there at the same time so we hung out and went to the lake.  We went fishing and did a little hiking around the area.  She was so fun and very nice.  I knew that we would stick together as we supported our husbands through school.  We spent many hours together at flag football games, softball games, basketball games, BBQ's, and other functions for school.  She will be missed by everyone that knew her.  Life is so short and you just never know what the next minute will bring.  Your life can change in a blink of an eye.  Make every moment count.  We love you Amber!  

Happy Birthday Lucy!!!

Wow!  I can't believe that I am really starting a blog.  I'm not going to lie, I absolutely suck at keeping a journal and am always behind in scrapbooking so once that I heard that you can print all of this off and call it good, I was all over it.  So here goes my first post.  We'll see how it goes...

  

So Lucy's birthday is July 28, 2006...  and I am just barely getting around to this, see I told you I suck at keeping up.  Who has the time for this anyway?

Happy Birthday to my sweet little 2 year old.  Luce, I love you so much!  You are my sunshine.

We had a sweet birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese and I'm sure that she could've cared less but it was really fun.  All of the Clark fam showed as well as some of the Ludlows.  Here are some pics.

She didn't really know what was going on but we sang anyway and let her blow out the candles after a couple of practice rounds with help from some of her cousins.  I love this face that she is making.  Oh man,  gotta love it.

This is her yummy cake, geez mom couldn't you of taken the cake out of the box?  She didn't care.  She loved the frosting and I guess that's all that matters right?
This is her cute little baby doll and bassinet that Grandma and Grandpa (Clark) gave to her.  She loves it so much and it keeps her busy for hours.  I will be in the other room and will hear her saying "Oh cute" as she tucks the baby in and stuffs her bink in her mouth.  She got lots of other fun presents (that I happily helped her open).
It may as well be Christmas.  Hey, maybe I could just wrap them all up again and put them under the Christmas tree.  Just kidding.  I'm not that cheap.
Dad was in Illinois for an away rotation and we really missed him.  Hopefully this fills you in on all of the action you missed, don't worry you really didn't miss that much.  It was a great day.  Now that you are 2 years old does it mean that we can get rid of that sick bink?  I don't have the heart...  she loves that blasted thing.