Clark Family Reunion 2013...

The Clarks all convened in Carlsbad, CA this year for our yearly reunion.  

We spent a week soaking up the rays on the beach and just enjoying each other's company...

 Terrible picture, but the only one I got of these two cousins on the beach...

The highlight of the whole week (for the kids, anyway), was a fabulous trip to Legoland.  They were all at the perfect age to thoroughly enjoy the park.  Hayden and Dallin, who are both obsessed with Legos, considered it the best day of their short little lives.  The adults enjoyed just watching the kids get so excited about everything...

  Sophie, sad because she was the only one not tall enough to go on a ride...

She of course perked right back up again after Papa let her have soda with her lunch...

 Cute cousins...

 Look Mom, no hands!

  Legoland has princesses, too...

 Rob pretending that the ride was super thrilling... Hayden trying not to laugh...

 Rob's sisters are always so nice to the kids.  

I'm sure they would have enjoyed the day more somewhere else, doing something more fun for older kids, but they always make it so fun for the little kids...

 Papa bought Hayden a brand new Star Wars Lego set, he only slept with it every night until we got home and let him open it... 

Another fun week with the Clark Clan...

Thanks guys!

Summertime Adventures...

Just some of the things that we filled our time with this summer...

Bike rides. Sophie thinks that she's pretty big now that she rides on the trail-a-bike instead of in the trailer...

Some friends gave us some day passes to Elitch Gardens, the kids were ecstatic...

 The rain storms we had this summer were CRAZY!  

The kids of course took every opportunity to make a splash ...

 Rob couldn't help but join in the fun...

 We can't get enough of having Mindy and Rob around.  They moved about 5 minutes away from us a couple of months ago and we are loving that we FINALLY have family nearby.  

We took a couple trips to tube down the river in Golden...

Sophie Turns 5...

Our little Sopherella is 5!  But even though she's 5, she'll always be my Sophie-Pink, and she'll always be my baby...

  

 

Happy Birthday Punky!

Lammers Family Reunion 2013

This was the very first year that my family had an official family reunion that wasn't held at my parents house.  We rented a bunch of cabins at Custer State Park in South Dakota (near Mt. Rushmore), and spent 3 days having the best time ever.  There is nothing like family.... prepare for picture overload...

Family Olympics... 

 If you're looking to laugh, hose-head is the way to go...

 Or you might want to try, Shaving Cream-Cheeto-head...

 When there's shaving cream involved, this is bound to happen...

 We had a reward system for the little kids.  When they did something kind, responsible or helpful, they earned a Silly Band.  They got to cash them in each night for prizes...

 Sing-Along with grandpa...

When you have 57 people to try to keep together, you can never get a picture with everyone, but we rounded up some of them for this one...

 Picnicking...

 At Mt. Mushmore (as Sophie calls it)...

 Family devotional lead by our own in-house seminary teacher, Jonny-boy...

 Chillin' at the lake...

 Do you like chips Afton?

It's sad that we have to wait another 2 years to do this again.

Till next time...

I Haven't Died...

I knew that some of you were probably wondering... no, I haven't died... I've just fallen off the grid for awhile... and entered an entirely new one.

I entered the world of being a middle school teacher a couple of weeks ago.  I've done a lot of hard things in my life... but this has moved up the ranks to #1.  I feel like I'm running a marathon that will not end until June.  There really are no words to describe my level of exhaustion and stress.  

That being said... middle schoolers are... well, a lot of things.  Firstly, hilarious.  In the moment, the things they do are not so funny, but at the end of the day when I am telling my husband about my day, I just end up laughing so hard at all the really crazy things that were said and done.  Secondly, they are so totally insecure.  My heart just goes out to them for being in the phase of life they are in... it's REALLY hard.  Kids at that age are so harsh and judgmental.  I just hope that I can make it slightly easier for some of them. Thirdly, they are so fun.  I hope that I can get organized enough to capitalize on their desire to have fun while they learn... it takes a lot of effort to pull together a super fun lesson that they actually learn what needs to be learned.  Wish me luck...

So now you know... I haven't died... I've just been sucked into the realm of awkward, insecure, craziness that is Middle School.

Hopefully I'll eventually be able to post some pictures from my teaching adventures...

Cheers!