Seven Fabulous Years

Adam and I celebrated our seventh anniversary on Saturday. Where does time go? I still remember exactly what I did every day for the week leading up to our wedding and I can't believe we've now had three kids, a law degree, eight different domiciles, and so many other fantastic adventures together.

We took the kids to Niel's (a.k.a. Nemo's House) for lunch so we could enjoy those wonderful beer-battered fries and gigantic, homemade buns. Add the delicious fry sauce and it was a delightful way to fill up. We came home, put the kids down for naps, and watched "Quantum of Solace", which I've rented three times but hadn't ever seen. Promptly, we left the kids with Leslie (THANK YOU!) and headed to Costa Vida for dinner. Then, we hit the theatre for "State of Play" which was better than I anticipated. We returned just as it was time for our kids to go to bed. We had a marvelous day with only a little of the usual kid-related stress and it was great!

I feel very lucky to have such a great husband. He makes me laugh, keeps me in line, supports me, and takes great care of me. I love you, Adam!

My Favorite Meal

This lovely creation is my mother-in-law's recipe for taco salad which has now become my favorite meal. I serve mine with Santita's chips (the best!), pineapple, carrots, lettuce, cilantro, cheddar cheese or queso fresco, tomato, avocado, and a squeeze of lime juice. It's muy sabroso, so here's the recipe:

1 pound extra-lean ground beef
1 T. chopped and dried onion
8 oz. tomato sauce
6 oz. tomato paste
3 c. water
2-3 T. chili powder, depending on taste
1/2 c. Minute rice (I use brown, but you can use white)
salt and lots of black pepper

Brown beef, stir in onion. Add remaining ingredients, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes (stir occasionally). Serve over crushed tortilla chips, topped with salad fixings of your choice.

Which Is Worse?

By now, you're all terribly familiar with my obsessive habits. Laundry is most definitely at the top of my list, and I recently put my foot down and asked Adam to refrain from folding any of my or the kids' clothes (clearly, I have problems!). Today as I was preparing a batch of dirty things for the washing machine, I performed my ritualistic sorting of blacks, warm colors, cool colors, and whites and thought to myself, "I must be the craziest person on the planet!" So here's my question: Which is worse...having enough dirty laundry in the basket to constitute a separate batch for each segment of the color spectrum, or actually washing loads in separate batches for each segment of the color spectrum. Either way, my practical side (Schizo, anyone?) is screaming to me to get a grip, while my Martha side is saying, "Excellent work. You're maintaining the vibrancy of that orange shirt so nicely!"

5, 6, 7, 8...Sit Back...Swing Up

5, 6, 7, 8. That is the mantra of my life. I've been hearing it since I was en utero and now my children are garnering the same exposure. It's paying off, though. Recently, I took my girls to an open gym class at The Factory where I coach cheerleading. Amber saw and heard my mom teaching the older girls how to do a back handspring, so she's been imitating Miss Shelley by yelling, "5, 6, 7, 8. Sit back, swing up!" and flailing her arms about like a prep for a back handspring. She's never dared to do it--not that she could...she's progressing well in tumbling but not that well--until today.

I put her down for a nap and went next door into my room to fold some laundry. I heard the familiar count-off and smiled to myself. Then, I heard a bounce on the bed. I couldn't resist, so I sneaked around the corner and saw Amber do a back handspring all by herself! I couldn't believe my eyes. I'm proud of (and terrified by) her for having the courage to try something like that and for knowing all the steps simply from observing other kids do it. She had such a serious look on her face and (this is ridiculous) it brought tears to my eyes! Adorable! Like, totally YAY for cheer!

A Blizzard, A Tea Party, and Ted Nugent

There's nothing like a blizzard in the middle of April!

After several beautiful days of fun and sun, April 15th seems to inevitably bring snow every single year. I had big plans to attend a tea party today, but am too wimpy to brave the snow, hence my protest waged on the laptop from my cozy dining room.

I'm watching Glenn Beck right now, and I have chills because it's crazy and wonderful to see the voice of the people being broadcast to the government. I'm particularly moved today because I believe in the cause that so many people are working to champion, but I realize the blessings of living in a democracy and think it's grand to know that we can express our opinions, vote to change things if we don't like the way they're going, and that we won't be silenced no matter what we believe. I love America!

Since living in Michigan, I've also become something of a fan of Ted Nugent (who is accompanying Glenn Beck), especially his rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner". He's proof that the U.S.A. rocks!

Retro Delight

The lighting of the "Flaming Turtle" fondue was my favorite part of the class.

Last night, my wonderful friend Leslie and I went to a fondue class at Thanksgiving Point. It was great fun, great food, and I even expanded my horizon de cuisine and sampled duck. It was pretty yummy! I learned that meat and veggies can also be poached in broth rather than fried in oil (seems obvious, right? but I'm not very creative these days), which made me love the idea of fondue even more. A gal from The Melting Pot taught the class and I scored several of their yummy recipes. If you want them, leave a comment and I'll email them to you. To have an evening away from the kids with a great pal and fantastic food was delightful and I'm excited to make fondue for my family. Bon apetit!

The Fever is Spreading

Since my brush with "Twilight" last week, Amber and Karli have become obsessed with Edward and Bella. Every time we see a Redbox with a "Twilight" poster, they scream out, "I SEE BELLA! I SEE EDWARD THE HANDSOME VAMPIRE WHO"S NICE! I'M GOING TO BE BELLA FOR HALLOWEEN!" It's a phenomenon and it's so hilarious.

My niece Mckinzie spent the night on Saturday and we rented the movie again. Apparently, Kinzie was the only girl in her grade who hadn't seen the movie. Amber, Karli, Kinz and I watched it (I was the trusty editor of scary parts) and all of the little girls were madly in love with Edward by the end of the movie.

For a craft project during conference, Kinzie helped my girls make picture frames that were immediately dedicated to holding pictures of Edward. Amber told me she was going to put a picture of him in the frame, then add a "true love heart sticker to make Edward fall in love with me!" I nearly died, but it was so cute and funny to hear her gushing on and on about the handsome lad.

Kinzie has a cute pink cell phone, so I made her a ringtone of "Bella's Lullaby", we printed several different photos for the girls' frames, and we even made wallpaper for Kinzie's phone of the precious moment when Edward serenades Bella on the piano. Amber kept squealing with delight, jumping up and down and doing the flittery hand thing, and I think Kinzie was thrilled with her newly-acquired Twightie status.

I've Been Bitten

Now, now...before you get all excited, you must know that, of course, I did not read the Twilight series (come on, now!). I did, however, watch the movie last night, and I loved it! Upon pressing play, I thought to myself, "Geez...this is just as bad as suffering through a novel...it's so slow...what's with those eyebrows?" but upon noticing the nuanced, tasteful, and riveting sexual tension strung all through the plot, I was intrigued and drawn in, and even sad when it ended because I wanted to see more.

Adam liked it too, and the movie was so good that I stayed awake until 4:05 a.m. to finish it. I also almost considered trying the novels (only for a moment, though!). Perhaps I still may, but my burgeoning ADD seems to prohibit any action that requires my full attention. I'd much rather scrapbook and enjoy Twilight, so I think for now, I'm stuck in wonder and addiction until the next installment comes out on film. Becky, I'll definitely go with you to see #2 in the theatre!

Walkie-Screamy

This video is about a month and a half overdue, but since it takes a year to upload videos on this computer, I'm just now finding time to do it. Rex is walking all over the place now, and it's so cute to see how proud of himself he becomes when he gets to where he wants to go.

I've been trying to teach him words, signs, actions like blowing kisses or waving, actually anything that seems intelligent, but he is not interested at all! Instead, he just screams when he sees something he wants. It's adorable (can you sense the sarcasm?). I think he's beginning to know to say "dee" for drink, but it's only once in a while that he actually communicates it in a civil manner.

I can't believe how quickly this little, darling guy is growing! He gets a forward-facing car seat next month, and he climbs on everything. He is such a sweetie and loves to snuggle. I was excited for my girls to grow up, but I'm kind of sad that Rex's infancy has flown by so fast. Oh well...I'm stoked to watch him play tee ball and soccer and do all that rolicking boy stuff. Time really flies when we're having fun!

Please Pass the Pink Stuff

The past few weeks at the Clark home have been full of fun and medical moments:
Amber went to the doctor for her 4-year-old check up and we discovered both of her ears were wildy infected. This was a surprise to me since Amber had not complained even once about pain in her ears. Tough gal, huh? Please pass the pink stuff.

Yesterday, Rex wandered away from me while I was picking up toys and he found the Rock Band equipment stashed in the farthest corner of our main floor. He snagged a drumstick, put the pointy end of it in his mouth (of course) and managed to fall on top of it. Yes, (gasp) it did some damage. The good news is he didn't puncture the roof of his mouth and as I found out this morning from Doctor Whiting, he narrowly missed a major blood vessel and several "important things". I about had a heart attack when I heard the doctor say that, but Rex seems to be doing alright and even managed to eat some baby food today (he didn't eat or drink anything but Popsicles yesterday). To avoid an infection, he's on the pink stuff too.

For twelve days now, I have been suffering from a condition that usually goes away in five to seven, so I'm definitely ready to be done with that, and every one of us has had a runny nose for about two months. What's going on? On the sunny side, though, the colds haven't been too bad and it's nothing a little sleep and some chicken soup won't fix.

This Cake is the Ship

I have a cloistered desire to be the next Ace of Cakes; although strictly amature in skill, my aspirations in showpiece cakemaking are sky high. Each of my kids' birthday cakes has been greater than the previous year's, thus this pirate ship cake is my latest masterpiece. I had so much fun making it and it took less time than I anticipated.

Amber said she wanted a "strawberry shortcake girl pirate ship cake", so I made the layers from a traditional shortcake batter, stacked them up with homemade strawberry jam and vanilla pudding mid-strata, gave it a crumb coat of chocolate buttercream, and topped it off with a vanilla buttercream wood grain.

I used mini Reese's peanut butter cups glued together with frosting to make powder kegs and barrels; Pop Rocks and gold icing made rubies and gold coins.

Pirouette cookies made great cannons and chocolate covered pretzels made up the railing around the deck. I used Whoppers for cannon balls and a stick of gum for the plank.

With its dirty pink sails and a killer Jolly Rodger flag, this cake was the perfect ending to Amber's delightful pirate party.

A Mighty Fun P-aarrrgh-ty

Amber has been obsessed with pirates since our jaunt to Treasure Island in Las Vegas, so she naturally wanted a pirate-themed birthday party. We held the salty event a week before her actual birthday so that all the grandparents could be here, and it was great fun! I found a "pirate girl" costume for her and she wore it all day. Adam and I gave Amber her birthday gifts, one at a time throughout the day, and by the time five o'clock rolled around, she was beyond excited about turning four.

Amber loved all the attention (of course) she

garnered when we sang "Happy Birthday".

Here's "Cinnamon" (that's Amber's self-given pirate name)

on the adorable Dora tricycle from Grandma and Grandpa Clark.

Amber and Gracie enjoying their golden chocolate coins

and sporting their anchor necklaces.

We had a special treasure in the treasure chest for each of the kids: sparkly, crystal daisy earrings for the girls and ring-pops for the babies.

The highlight of the party was the Captain Hook pinata filled with
a superb assortment of candy. Kinzie finished him off with a

spectacular hit and liberated all that yummy goodness.

We found the pinata at Robert's Crafts, Leslie had the adorable pirate chest in her remarkable stash of decor, my mom bought bubble-filled swords for the kids, and I made the anchor necklaces, bandanas, and skull bags as favors. The little scallywags ended up with lots of great treasures.

The party was super fun, Amber had a blast, and we really appreciate all the cute and wonderful gifts!

Vegas, Baby!

We took a much-needed vacation after Adam finished the Bar Exam and it was fantastic! We loaded up and headed to St. George where Adam's grandpa has a magnificent condo on the ridge by the airport. The views are phenomenal and the condo is graciously furnished; the pool is wonderful and we love staying there. We hit the pool on Thursday night and fell asleep watching scary movies. Friday morning, we went swimming and got ready to brave the crowds at In n Out Burger for lunch. After a two-hour ordeal and some very delicious burgers, we cruised over to Fiesta Fun Center and let the kids run wild. Our favorite attraction was the bounce house, followed by the bumper boats and the go carts. After spending their tickets on all sorts of miscellany, we jumped in the car, bound for Vegas.

Our first stop was Bellagio--my very favorite hotel on the Vegas Strip. I love the conservatory, which was decked out for Chinese New Year, the shops which I'll likely never be able to patronize, and the fountains.

It was fun to be able to show the "dancing water show" to our kids. Amber and Rex loved them; Karli was less interested and hung out in the stroller.

We ate at Cheesecake Factory inside Caesar's Palace. Here we are in front of the giant aquarium, which the kids loved.

F.A.O. Schwartz is an awesome toy store and Amber and Karli went crazy in the stuffed animal department. Amber kept grabbing animals and posing, begging me to take her picture.

Rex and Rex...cute!

Adam found this little jersey for Rex; although I'm not a huge Favre fan,

I think Rex looks darling in it!

We spent Saturday swimming and shopping at the mall where we found hundreds of amazing deals. I scored two great pairs of jeans for a total of $30 and Adam bought nearly 20 dress shirts, Polo items, and tres-hip sweats for only $150. Dillard's 80% off sale rocks! We had a great time hanging out, having fun, and eating waaaaay too much good, unhealthy food.

No More Bar

Adam is finished with the Bar Exam! Hooray! No more 20-hour study sessions, no more 4-hour Bar prep classes every night of the week, and no more school-related stress! I am so proud of Adam for his valiant efforts in law school and in taking this beast of an exam. He is amazing and I'm lucky to be his wife. And now...a job...and...a vacation!

Tasty Variation

Here's something fun to try: make your usual dough for cinnamon rolls, but swap plain ol' homemade jam (strawberry is my very fave) for the butter/sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up, slice, rise and bake as usual. Make your favorite buttercream frosting, but omit vanilla and add about 1/4 cup (or more to taste) of the same jam. Top warm rolls with frosting and enjoy!

C'est Bon!

Since I love any excuse to eat good food, I try to celebrate Mardi Gras to the extent that my religion and common sense allow. We thought it could be fun to celebrate Fat Tuesday with a big pot of pseudo-gumbo (try to get a Clark to eat okra!), a king cake, some beads and masks (handed out for free, without exposure of private parts...except for Amber with her strapless, mermaid-tail-for-gown...she would have earned lots of beads in New Orleans!), and an attempt at a parade. We had a great time.

Here are the best of the revelers in their fancy garb.

Rexy wasn't into the costumes, but we managed to

get one shot of him with Cooper's hat on.

Karli loved the beads and resorted to physical violence

to accumulate as many as possible.

Amber said she was "the spirit of Party Gras!"

Amber was the most excited about the celebration. Soon after hearing the phrase "Mardi Gras," she decided that "Party Gras" sounded much better. She sat in the kitchen singing, "Party Gras, Party Gras, Party Party Party Gras!" as loud as she could. She even organized a "Party Gras for the children downstairs" (her own words) so the "grownups could have their own Party Gras". It was darling! I think the holiday is aptly named as well; I probably gained 20 pounds from eating all the yummy food.

I'm Lovin' It

I love this weather! Today the temperature topped off around 60 degrees, I took a quick run through one of the coolest neighborhoods in Alpine without having to push a 100-pound stroller (thanks Rachel and mom!), I could smell the fabulously crisp mountain air all day, and the sun has shined for three days straight. I'm ready for winter to be over, and I'm proud to say that all of the snow on our deck and front yard is gone. Hooray! I love the energizing power of sunshine in February. It works wonders on my annual, post-Christmas, winter doldrums and now I'm even more excited to bust out my sexy red wedges I bought on clearance last summer. Yay for spring!

Global Attack Launched on Attractive Hairstyles by the Intermountain Hair Monster

I grew up in Idaho, land of rodeo queens and white trash deluxe, where the gals' hair was always jacked up higher than the most ostentatious cowboy's truck. That said, I have routinely deemed the infamous western-states-supported hair "bump" an atrocity. I mean, a little volume is good (just ask David Spade and Adam Sandler and their Gap Girls alter-egos), but even if I am inviting the cast of SNL to the party, can we please leave the Coneheads off the list? Honestly, how can anyone find this bump remotely attractive (for the record, I did NOT resize this photo. It remains in its original aspect ratio)?

"Oh my heck...I like, love Bumpits! My hair is getting

higher and my face is looking flatter!"

I rest my case.

Imagine my horror when, tonight, I saw an infomercial for Bumpits. That's right, folks. There is now a patented product designed to eliminate the hours of teasing, ratting, spraying, stuffing (don't laugh, my friends did it with toilet paper and pantyhose filled with batting), pulling, and pinching it takes to achieve this hideous hair phenomenon. I nearly wet my pants!

Since I think I may be one of five women within a 1,000 mile radius who doesn't support or sport the bump, please do not consider this post a personal attack on your style. Were I a bumper, I'd probably jump online and snatch up as many Bumpits as I could to spare my arm muscles the indefinite fatigue caused by the now outdated, aforementioned bumping method.

Happy bumping, everybody!

Hello Again, Awkward Moment

I'm going to take credit for naming "The Awkward Shopping Run-In Phenomenon" even though I know everyone has this happen to them each time they go grocery shopping. Last night, I took Amber and Karli to Smith's and I tried out my new membership to TheGroceryGame.com (it seems promising...I'll keep you posted). A married guy saw my list and asked me how I do the "whole coupon thing" so I told him I had just signed up and didn't really know what I was doing. I gave him the web address, wished him luck, and he thanked me as I walked on.

On the next aisle, there he was, standing right where I needed to go. I pushed my cart to the cake supplies and he overheard me ask Amber what kind of candles she liked for her birthday cake (yes, it's in a month, but I'm such a cake nerd that I like to plan waaaay in advance). He said, "Is someone having a birthday soon? Happy birthday!" We thanked him and moved on.

Then, when I turned the corner to get eggs, there he was again. Lest he seem like a stalker, I must explain that we obviously had the same grocery needs, because he wasn't following us, rather, it appeared that we were following him. I quickly walked past to grab some milk and then proceeded toward the butter. You guessed it: nice married man at twelve o'clock. To avoid another forced and, by this point, completely awkward conversation, I decided I'd go to Costco to buy butter.

So why is it that the laws of the universe dictate that two or more shoppers will inevitably have identical grocery missions at precisely the same time? Why is it so awkward to strike up a new conversation after the initial contact was well-rounded and provided adequate closure given the circumstances? I'll never know, so please share your ideas.

Why Don't Things Just Work Out?

Today has been a day where everything that could go wrong has, with the wonderful exception of our excursion to Chuck E. Cheese's to meet my dear friend Elaine and her three handsome sons (Amber and Miles are betrothed, remember?). Upon waking, I immediately fired up this not-so-trusty, old Clark desktop to print some coupons for the aforementioned outing. Adam turned off the computer last night (despite the continuous use of electricity, I'm willing to pay the price for convenient access to the Web), so I pushed the power button and went to the kitchen to fetch some breakfast. Of course, we were out of milk, because I couldn't go to the grocery store last night because my wonderful, thoughtful, helpful, and conscientious employer informed me three days after I was supposed to receive my February paycheck that they had "permanently switched" our pay day from the 15th to the 20th of each month. Yes, I love the company for which I work (can you sense the sarcasm?).

Fast forward thirty minutes, when I walk back into the office, and the computer still is not ready to go. Three programs that open at start-up are not responding (this is the joy of using someone else's computer...I can't delete the programs or change the settings) and it takes me another twelve minutes to get online. Once I make it to the Chuck E. Cheese website, the computer freezes. All the while, Amber has sharted in her panties and removed them, Rex has produced a major diaper explosion that is leaking onto my pajamas, and Karli managed to smear jam all over herself. Did I mention we all had to be clean and out the door in thirty minutes?

To make matters worse, I absolutely had to send a fax this morning. The fax machine was naturally not working, so I tried to fix the problem. After diagnosing that there was no dial tone, the fax machine instructed me to check the wall jack, which I would have happily done, were it not cloistered behind two massive wall units filled with files, books, kitsch, and office supplies that brought the total weight to at least half a ton. Finally I unplugged the phone, plugged in the fax machine, and was thrilled to have at least one task accomplished.

After the kids bathed and Amber cried for ten minutes because I wouldn't retrieve her clean Belle panties from an undisclosed location downstairs, I jumped in the shower, dressed, and had everyone ready to go at 9:00 a.m., right on schedule. I opened the door and was met with the screeching wail of the alarm which Adam set last night and told me about while I was semi-lucid (of course, I don't recall him saying anything about the alarm). I quickly ran upstairs to find the remote, turned off the alarm, tried to comfort three terrified and screaming children, and herded them all out to the car. I buckled them in and ran inside just to catch the phone call from the security company.

Since I was now late for work, I told them I was Leslie Clark to avoid any further delay. I said I was on my way to work, forgot the alarm was on, and opened the door. The technician said, "Great, I'm glad you're alright. What is your password, please?" Hmmm. I had no clue, so I said I couldn't remember it and that I didn't have time to go find it. I said, "I think it's Granada Hills" to which the technician said, "Okay, thank you." I hopped in the car and answered a call from Leslie, telling me the police were on the way to the house because I gave the security company the wrong password. Thank heavens I have such a great mother-in-law, because she ironed out all the problems and I was finally on my way to work.

Now that I'm all worn out from reliving my morning, I'll refrain from detailing the rest of the day's mishaps, but I will mention that Amber has yet again lost her blankie "for good" (famous last words...this time I'm serious and I'm not making any more!), she's still not asleep, and her room is a disaster because she "was just too busy in" her "room to take a nap". AAARRRGGH!