San Diego

Toby went to a Abbott Conference for the Cath Lab in San Diego and I got to go with him! Mom dropped us at the airport last Wednesday and we stayed until Saturday. We went down a day early so we could explore the city. We walked the docks and got to see the old Military ship and all the other boats. They were beautiful. Made me think of Pirates of Caribbean. We also walked the boardwalk and saw all the little shops. We spent all day on Thursday at the Zoo. It was the coolest! I think the San Diego Zoo is my favorite all of zoo's I've been too. It was over 100 acres and had tons of animals. It was set up in different regions so that the climate would be different for animals. We took a tour bus around the whole zoo and went to two shows. We got to pet a bunch of animals too. My favorite was the baby giraffe, he was only 2 weeks old. 6 feet and 150 pounds! Very cute baby.

We also went to a Padres baseball game. I got some sweet tickets and we were right above 3rd base. Sweet seats! It was fun to go to the game even though they lost. :(

The hotel we stayed at for the conference was called The W. I've never heard of it but it was quite the unique and modern hotel. We had rented a car for the 3 days and when we pulled up to park valet (we were in this not so nice tiny Chevy compact car) and the guys were like "you guys staying here?!?" thinking we had come to the wrong spot. We didn't really fit in with the the Hummer that had two plasma tv's on the outside and the two Porsches and the Lamborghini that were also parking valet. Oh well. We had striped carpet and a hole in our shower....we also had a nice plasma TV and a purple comforter. The room cost 350 a night.....not the kind of cash we would drop on a hotel, but it was free! The pool was my favorite.

We drove over to Coronado Island to eat dinner and walk the beach. It was beautiful. We were right next the Marine base, so we watched the planes and helicopter's land and take off. We sure miss the beaches of Florida and wish we still lived by one. The water wasn't that cold and we had hoped that we had more time to go swimming. We love the beach!

While Toby was gone on Friday, I went downtown and shopped. It wasn't all that fun being by myself, but I did enjoy downtown San Diego. I found this awesome restaurant called "Rei Do Gado." It was a traditional Brazilian food featuring a churrasco (pronounced "shoe-hask-a-ria" -steak place) and we went there for lunch. It was sooooo good. It was an all you can eat feast of Brazilian style salads, side dishes and over 15 kinds of meats on skewers that was constantly brought to our table. Very yummy and made us feel like we were almost back in Brazil. Most of the waiters were from Brazil and Toby got to speak Portuguese to them. Very fun.

We had a great time in San Diego and I hope to go on more business trips with Toby. Fun week!

Josh Turner

Last night we went to the Western Idaho County Fair to see Josh Turner. We only had to pay 7 bucks to get into the fair and the concert was free. Josh Turner is a country singer who sings, "Your Man" and "Would You go With Me" among other songs. It was such a good concert! We had pretty good seats and I am amazed at how low his voice can go. His wife is in the band, she plays the piano. Very cute to see them working together. I know that she is a few of his music videos. How fun would it be to work with your husband making music? It was great to be outdoors and the fair was also a lot of fun. Tons on animals and crazy rides. We ate the food--the elephant ears were the best! Nothing can beat fried dough with cinnamon sugar on it!

Fam comes to stay

Mom and the kids stayed at my house for a few days after the family reunion. We had so much fun in the short time that they were here. We went floating down the Boise River....what a crazy experience that was! The water was super cold but once you were numb, it didn't matter anymore. We rented three tubes and then a little raft. We stopped along the river to use a rope swing and katie almost stepped on a snake! That was a quite the scare!!!!
We we went out to eat and went to the recreation center to swim. I also took some pictures of the kids. They are so dang cute! We sure hate living so far from them. But, it's closer than when we lived in Florida and Vegas.

Andrew

Katie

Megan

Melissa

Car Accident! :(

Toby got into a car accident last week. :( Luckily, it wasn't his fault! He was driving home from work when a 15 year old, who was riding his bike, smashed right into him. It was horrible! Luckily no one was hurt. The stupid kid wasn't wearing a helmet and he was listening to his i-pod (which Toby found in the car). What happened was the kid decided to dart across the road, despite on coming traffic and collided with Toby's driver side door. He flipped over the dashboard and smashed his head. He ended up breaking his collarbone. When he hit, the driver's side door window broke and the glass shattered and went all over Toby and the car. I was amazed to see how far the pieces went. Toby had scrapes all over his arm and glass in his clothes, hair and ear! I was soooooo worried. I love Toby and can't imagine life without him! I am so thankful he was safe and that the stupid kid was okay too. Phew! Now we are dealing with having only one car and trying to work with the insurance company to fix the car. The Corsica was crappy before but now it's a real trash beauty! Egh......enjoy the photos

The Jaten Family

Trying to get Emerson and Capri to smile at the same time was quite the challenge! But we did it and I got some sweet shots. Click here to see more.

Capri-almost one year old

Emerson-2 1/2 years old

They love each other! :)

Avery Grace Walker

I did a photo shoot with Justin and Tiffany's baby, Avery. She is such a beautiful baby! I added more photos, so click here to see them.

Shout Out to Steve!

This is my cousin Steve, who I grew up calling Stevie. We are the same age and I have some of the best childhood memories with him. He never checks my blog so I told him I would dedicate a whole post if he did. He's in Utah going to BYU and I got to see him at the family reunion. I love you Stevie!!!

cups

We didn't want to wash too many dishes at the family reunion, so we used paper cups. Check out the names. It was quite funny to see what people would write on the cups.

Family Reunion Fun!

Clark Family Reunion

2007

It's been a while since I've blogged. I've been quite busy. So, here's a recap of the past few weeks. We had a great time in Utah at our family reunion! We stayed at Bear Trap Lodge in the Salt Lake Canyon. Not everyone made it but we still had a great time. My family is crazy but I love them all. Here's the rundown.....

1. My cousin Justin, blessed his baby, Avery Grace Walker on Sunday and we had a big bbq that day. We spent the whole day laughing and catching up on all that has happened. I was able to take a bunch of photos and it was fun to work with such a small baby. Hopefully they will be able to use some of them.

Isn't she a beautiful baby?!
Justin and Uncle Steven. Notice the Steeler's apron? The Clarks are the Steeler's #1 fans!

2. We went swimming at a the recreation center and had races down the slides. The kids would jump off all of the high dives. Even Alison jumped! She was on the dive team in high school.

3. Morning walks and late night talks. Rosting marshmallows and eating s'mores. yum!

4. The hot tub! The little kids used it as a swimming pool and I am sure we lost half the water because of that.

5. Photo shoots-I took the Walker's and Jaten's family photos. It is so hard to get two little kids to smile! But we did, and I will post those pictures. Glad my family lets me practice my skills on them!

6. We went on some hikes and also got to ride the chair lift up at Solitude Ski Resort. It was a little bit scary, but very beautiful.

7. Chipmunks in the house! The girls came running into the living room screaming about how there was a chipmunk in the kitchen. We had a great time trying to get it out. I got a picture! Then later on that afternoon, another one got in down in the basement. Alison, Mom and I trapped it and got it out too. Lots of little critters running around!

8. Now for the gross stuff.....To make a long story short--the place wasn't clean and one night, we heard noises from the kitchen. There was something alive under the stove! We were all freaked out and the uncles had a great time making fun of us. They had knives and were prepared to tackle whatever was there. It was quite funny! Later on that night, Ashley found two DEAD mice under her bed! GROSS! We documented it and mom talked to the owner and explained this and other things and we ended up getting half of our money back. Go Mom!

It was a great reunion despite the grossness of the place. We were able to catch up on old times and make lots of memories. Looking forward to next year!

***Fam-I am making the photo cd's and will be mailing them out next week. We took over 1000 photos and I am trying to get rid of a bunch. Hope you guys like them!

Such cute guys.....

Makin' Blackberry Jam

Mom and I made blackberry jam the night before we left for the family reunion. We stayed up until 2am! It was soooo yummy. We've already finished off a jar. We didn't have enough blackberrys so we mixed the last batch with strawberries. Very good. Now all I need to do is make some homemade rolls. Yum!

YUCK!!!

I was so totally grossed out today.........

As I went to get the mail, this is what greeted me outside my apartment door. Now anyone who knows me, knows I HATE BUGS of all kinds. Spiders, flies--you name it. I was not happy when this nasty thing of a creature met me at my door. I get shivers just thinking about it. So, I ran to get the mail, and ran back.....only to get my camera to document what I had seen. I thought we left these massive bugs in Florida! GROSS!!!!

Off to Utah

This weekend, we will be heading off to Utah for a family reunion. I am so excited to see the family. Justin and Tiffany will be blessing Avery and I finally get to see and hold her! Mom and the girls and Aunt Diane and family will stay at our house and then on Saturday we will head down. We are staying in a cabin in Salt Lake City. We always have a blast when we all get together. Staying up late, eating yummy food and creating great memories. I love my family and am excited to see them! We have 4 new babies and one on the way since last year!