90 Years

Grandpa Clark turned 90 years old a couple months ago and I am barely posting the photos...  We definitely celebrated more than once for this feat!  With my brother and sister in law we took him out to Bennihana's - we always seem to find an excuse to get us that good food!  He loved watching the cooks and getting out of the house.  Later that week we invited him over for dinner and a movie at our home.  See, last August he moved in with David's parents and while it has been a better situation with a heated home and grandkids all around, he still needs to get out and have his own life still right?  I would!  He requested vegetable soup and so I attempted that, actually with cans... ha ha.  And next he picked the movie the Inception - which we had to explain the whole way through.  But it was great to be around him and hopefully brighten his day.  He's just the cutest older man EVER!  I love his stories and his attitude on life.  We also celebrated with the Clarks for a Sunday dinner and a surprise party for him and those who are still around, he loved it.  Being around our grandparents lately has been great to learn from them and laugh together.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Clark!!

Visiting Grandma

Since living in Utah I've been lucky to live a lot closer to my Grandma in Bountiful.  I probably haven't visited her as much as I could throughout the years...  But they're always good visits and usually funny memories.  Many times it's when my dad's visiting Utah himself or with some of our family.  Other times it's to pick Grandma up so we can fly to AZ together.  And even other times I just stop by when I happen to be around Bountiful or when I owe Grandma a trip to Sizzler :)  She loves that place!

It's always great to visit because it really brightens Grandma's days.  I recall when I'd call just to chat she'd always ask when I was coming to visit.  And when I'd visit she'll pull out her many projects or show off her flowers just like visiting when I was a kid over the summers.  David & I even visited Grandma on one of our first dates after a wedding reception in Bountiful.  I could tell Grandma liked him, probably because she told me over and over what a handsome man he was :)

Anyway, lately I've tried to stop by a bit more to check on Grandma for one reason or another.  She's losing a lot of her memory but still loves a visit.  I honestly can't believe she lives alone at 94 (?) - she really does need some in house care or something, but until then her son in Utah visits and when he can't I do.  Last time I took off a whole day of work, slept in while David had spring break, and then I headed out to see grandma in the afternoons as she seems to go to bed so early these days.  I check to make sure she has food, take out the trash, check her pills, and take her out for a real meal.  Last time I visited she had itchy arms and we washed and put cortisone cream all over.  This time I realized her phone wasn't working (which her sons call her like daily so that's not going to work!) so I proceeded to search for a Target and buy a cheep corded house phone.  Grandma was funny asking me if we should ask a "man" and was so surprised that I could "install" it.  hehehe.

Even though grandma may have to ask me who I am, or where we are when we're driving around Bountiful, where her keys are or she may have even cut down the neighbors tree - lost memory - it's great to visit her!  I know that service makes everyone feel good, and when it's your family that you get to serve and help or just make smile and laugh sometimes - it's worth it.  I know within a day she may not remember I stopped by, but I think it makes her time a little brighter at least.  It makes my time a lot brighter.  I wish I could hear more about her past life, but the smiles and laughter we have is enough for now.  Grandma, you're the best!

Everyone's gettin hitched...

Yep, we've had 3 family weddings so far this year! I think we started a trend or something in our immediate family. And we were able to attend them both!

March 12, 2010, yep, exactly 1 month after ours David's sister, Amber Clark & Brandon Morrell were married in the SLC Temple. They had a luncheon at the Lion House and then the reception was at Regency Garden in the Sandy area. Their main color was PURPLE... I felt like I was at my wedding but that the RED color I had just changed to purple. We had the same family there, and a lot of the same ideas and traditions... it was a beautiful day for them. It was so fun to sit in the temple thinking that just 1 month ago I was doing that very same thing. What a great way to celebrate our 1 month huh?!?! I have to document a funny experience. While waiting outside the temple I noticed this guy and had a total blank out moment - who is he? I think I know him right? Hmm... - So like 30 seconds of this... and finally... Oh...my...gosh!! I know! It's the previous guy I dated, not like years ago, but just the last guy before I fell in love with David. WOW - he obviously totally left my mind. After dating him I never thought about him again, I didn't have a chance since I quickly fell for my David. I've decided that it was actually really telling and good that I forgot that man. Anyway, it was a funny moment for me. Back to the wedding - David & I had fun being more in the background at this event and during breaks we took the kids to the museum on Temple Square and just hung out. Of course we took lots of pictures of the events of the day:

May 29, 2010, my brother Eric Everts & Amanda Cox were sealed in the Mesa Arizona Temple. Yes, we flew down for the weekend and had a blast hanging out with family the night before the wedding at my dads house and then the day of at the Mesa Temple. I flew down with Grandma Ginny and Steph & Tony and David came a few hours later. We visited both of my families while we were there. Being in the temple on Saturday was a special experience for me because half of the people we were surrounded by again were the ones who attended our wedding and now we were on the other side of it all. And still very happily married. It was deathly hot outside so that was the downer of watching the pictures. And then we had about 6 hours to kill till the reception, so we went to lunch with my Evans family and then watched a movie even. Weird to have such a break! So then the reception was fun and I liked dancing at the end and just re-chatting with a few familes in the ward that I like.... all the questions of "how's married life" :) And then Sunday we spent at Dads and went to his church and had dinner with them and they took us to the airport the next morning. You could tell that my brother had found his mate - they even sang a duet together and you could just see it. I'm glad they are married and so happy. He and I always tend to do things at the same time: mission, marriage :) Love you bro!

SO.... who's next? My family got them all done in 6 months... :)

THE DAY (Part 2)

We made it to the reception center by 5:00pm with a few little wedding glitches like usual. We rushed through some more family pictures trying to be all done and ready by 6:30pm for the start of the reception. We had our reception at Aspen Landing in Murray off of Redwood and 6400 S. I loved it there. It was like a cute little cottage, perfect for a Valentine's weekend wedding. It was pretty much overcast all day with clouds, but nothing wet, which I was worried about. The day just seemed to go by so fast it didn't seem like we really could stop too much, I wish I could have done that a bit more, but there were just so many people to see and things to do. I loved it all. We stood in our line with our parents on each side for almost 2 hours! Wow, it went by really fast actually. I was a bit sad that I couldn't just sit and talk to some of those good friends/family for hours since they had come all that way. But, that's a wedding for you huh? It was fun meeting David's people and also getting him to meet all the people I knew. Anyway, it was finally time for the partying :) :) We cut the cake, did the bouquet and garter, and then my dad played the Wedding song traditional for our family by Kenny G. Then we did the daddy daughter and mother son dance - some people in tears - and then finally - the cute couple (hello, ... yep, us) danced our first dance!! We danced to Never Gonna Be Alone by Nickelback. Jeff my cousin was our DJ at the very last minute, which I loved so much. I totally wanted that. And then after 'the dance' we invited everyone else up to get their groove on. The crowd was a little slim at the end, but I didn't notice and just had fun before the night ended. We got all ready and headed out to sparklers and all our loved ones wishing us well. Oh... our car... was ... totally ... trashed ... really badly. We actually had to stop and wash it since we had a bit of a drive ahead of us. Yay!! What a day!!! It really was perfect. Loved it all. Wouldn't have changed a thing.

THE DAY (Part 1)

Okay there's really not much to write here that can explain the happiest day so far in life.... I got up and ready, drove to Stephs so she could do my hair and dropped of Lexie and Spring. Then David came over and we headed to the SLC Temple together. I loved that part. We were at the temple by 11:30am for our 1:00pm sealing. Parents were showing up shortly but we went ahead and just got started, I couldn't wait much longer :)... Anyway, I think the BEST part of our marriage was the TEMPLE. Of course, I've thought about it practically my whole life, but still it couldn't have been better. I loved walking into the sealing room and seeing so many family and friends from different times in our lives - all together. I felt so loved and supported, like wow, this is what I've been waiting for!!! Anyway, it was a beautiful experience, one I will always treasure. We got dressed in our Wedding clothes and headed out the doors of the temple about 30min after the sealing. All our crew was there to hoorah and cheer as we walked out the door, kissed, and had our huge grins on our faces. We have hundreds of pictures of these special moments. We then took a whole heck of a bunch of pictures with our different family groups. It was chilly outside, but I didn't notice too much, my dress was worm (that is totally not usual for me, I'm always cold!)... Then David & I took some couple shots with our photographer before we had to rush to Part 2 - the reception.... Couldn't have been a better day.