BTS

A little BTS and a lot of hard work and the wall is done!! Doesn't it look great!! This picture was taken before we put the molding back on, but you can still get the idea of the drastic change in the wall. The basement seems so much brighter now.....although that could have something to do with the two new light bulbs I put in too. Who knows??!!

Home Repairs

Another busy Saturday at the Clarks! This time we took on a project that I started for them about three years ago. It's really a shame I don't have a picture of what the wall looked like before I started on it. It was checkerboard corkboard and mirrors. One weekend while Susan and Darren went out of town, I took the corkboard and mirror decor down for them. We didn't want people to actually think we liked it. And ever since then.....the wall has looked like what you see in the pictures. This weekend, Darren's parents came up and we got started on getting it fixed up. Darren's dad showed me all sorts of mudding tricks, and how to hang sheet rock. They were glad I didn't leave town this weekend as I had planned.
The other pictures are of me sporting my "home repair" outfit. I always wear these overalls when painting and such. Although ugly, they are fun...even though they're about 40 sizes too big for me. I always "accidently" get paint on them. It's a fun tradition. I should get a house of my own now!! Ha just kidding. That's not going to happen for a while....although it would be fun. It is still a work in progress, but the weekend is not over yet!! I'll post pictures when we're done!

Piano Lessons

On Sundays I usually spend a little bit of time playing the piano. I wish I did it more, but...I'm kind of a slacker. Tonight Jacob was being fussy, so I decided to let him help me play. It's not very easy to play with him on your lap. You can't move your arms very well because you have to hold him on there, and he bangs on the keys I need to use, or he'll grab my hands. It sure is cute though, so I allow it!!

A Busy Saturday

Saturdays are always busy days. Well almost always. This Saturday we decided it was time to get the garden ready for planting. So we went and rented a tiller. I couldn't figure out how to make the handles go any higher. I honestly don't think there is a way, so I had to till bent over. Not so great for the back, but well worth it. The garden looks great!! Now we just need to plant it. Our friend Jon was nice enough to let us use his truck to haul the tiller back and forth to the rental place, so as payment we had to wash it. Even with my long arm I couldn't reach the top of the truck, so Susan had the brilliant idea to get the mop out. It worked great!! We decided to wash all of the other cars while we were at it. (Although you can't tell now, because they have a thick layer of yellow pollen all over them. My allergies are bad.)
Then Darren came home from birding and felt left out on all the yard work, so He and Jon decided to pull the juniper bushes out in the front yard. I was helping dig out the dirt around the roots, and got a bunch of stickers down my pants. I started complaining of course, and said "Oh man! I got a bunch of crap down my pants! Kevin, seven years old, said, "I know what crap is!!" I assured him it wasn't that kind of crap. I was tired by the end of the day. And my body is sore today. Probably from fighting with the tiller.

Free Rent??

People often say I'm lucky because I don't have to pay rent, but let me assure you I do have to pay rent. Just a different kind. Two nights in a row I have had to give kids baths because they pooped all over me. This was tonight's diaper. I would have taken a picture of the open diaper, but I thought it would have been a little too graphic. This one was a pretty messy one. These photos stink (pun intended), and don't do it justice at all. Even with all of this though, I still have a pretty good deal living here with Susan and Darren. They sure are nice to me!!!

Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's Day MOM!!!! I love you!!

BBQ Part 2

I forgot about a couple of other parts of our BBQ. I have wanted to buy a bike for a while now, but I decided I didn't need to because I can just ride Kevin's bike. I tried riding Ethan's too, but that didn't work out so well. I broke his bike. But don't worry, I fixed it!!
When it got too dark to play basketball, we moved the party indoors. We played a great game of Screw your neighbor, and Dominos. Until the boys gave up that is. I came in second on Screw your neighbor. Fun times, Fun times!!! Nice hair Darren!

BBQ Time!!

Every summer we have a tradition of having a killer BBQ and then finishing it off by playing an intense game of lightning. It is so much fun. So Saturday after the wedding, I ditched out on the wedding reception and went home to the BBQ. Jon and Kristi came over, and Katie Grinder. It was a lot of fun. As you can tell, I have great form when it comes to playing basketball. Everyone makes fun of me for it, I think it's the short arm. :) It works for me though, I won 4 out of the 8 games we played. More than anyone else. Although I did get taken out by a seven year old......twice. That was pretty embarassing!! Then Darren and Susan made me finish Ethan's hair cut. They wouldn't let him go to church with a mohawk!!! I can't believe it! What an eventful day. I'm sorry for all of you that missed the fun!!!

Wedding Bells

My trainer from the mission, Flor Alvarado, got married on Saturday to Cody Camp. It was so fun to see her get married. I got to be the mother of the bride. She asked me to be her escort. It was kind of fun to see what happens behind the scenes of a temple wedding. She looked so beautiful, and the ceremony was beautiful. Several people from my mission showed up to show their support, as Flor did not have any family there. It was fun to see everyone. The top picture are all people from my mission. My mission president was called as a member of the first quorum of the 70 last conference so he was able to perform the marriage. It was fun to get to spend some time with them before they leave for Argentina where they have been assigned. They leave in August, so they told me I should get married in July so he can marry me too before they leave. I told him not to count on it. It is going to be a while before that happens. Then Hna. Bowen told me she had someone she wanted to set me up with. I'm glad everyone is looking out for me! :) I should have kept track of how many blind dates I have been on since I have been back from my mission. Some better than others!

Dance, Dance, Dance

Tonight was a pretty fun night. I thought it was going to be really boring because my friend Katie had a hot date so we couldn't hang out. So I decided it was time to finish unpacking from my move to Idaho (a month later). Yeah, I hate unpacking! Anyway, I wasn't in my room for too long before my two nephews were in there with me. We turned the music on and had a dance party. It was great!! Even though we had to take a break to change a stinky diaper. Someday it will be nice to dance with boys that don't have stinky bums! It was a great way to get my workout in for the day too. I've been kind of a slacker lately. Monday I'm going to start being good again. Here's a picture Kevin took of our dance party.
Even though you can't really see it in this picture, Ethan still has his mohawk. Although Darren says it's coming off before he goes to church on Sunday.

Kev the Dinosaur

Ha! It let me download it. Isn't he a stud???

The Haircuts

I decided to try out my hair cutting skills again. My nephews were in dire need of a haircut, so I found a way to get them to let me do it. I told them I was going to make them into dinosaurs, with spikes coming down their heads. I was planning on cutting them off after I took pictures, but they wouldn't let me. Oh well, Darren's not here to be embarrassed by it. Kev wants to wear his hair like that to school tomorrow. I'll try and post pictures of them individually. Kev has a good one. But for some reason, it's not letting me download the other pictures. Check out Kevin with his gang signs in the background.

A Forgotten Memory

I can't believe I almost forgot to post this picture. Every once in a while, we have game night at the Clark's. It is lots of fun and I usually loose, but this last time I won!! I had to document the occasion with my new digital camera. We were playing "Screw Your Neighbor" There's probably a better name for it, but that's the name I was taught. It is a lot of fun! Anyone want to play?? The scores are in this order. Kristi, Jon, Darren, Susan, and Tracie. Who lost??

An Eventful day

These last couple of days have been pretty eventful . . . . . . . not really.
I talked to a friend who said he was breaking a piñata for 5 de Mayo. So I decided I should take a picture of our lame 5 de Mayo party. We watched Spongebob. Today Susan and I got ambitious and bound up all the tree limbs we cut from their big pine tree last weekend, so the city will come pick them up. It took us a while, but it sure looks good. Those city workers won´t be able to complain now.
Then I told the boys that I would go on a walk with them and Ethan told me that I needed to bring my camera to take pictures of them. He asked me about 40 times before we left if I had my camera, so I decided to take a picture of them at the park. It was such a nice day today! Great park weather!!!

Commencement

Today was a great day! I finally graduated! It feels so good. My parents came up, along with my sister and her kids. It was fun to see everyone. Only my parents were able to attend the ceremony with me, but it was really good. Elder Russel M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was our keynote speaker. It was really good. He talked about the three circles of life. The circle of Families, Saints and the Savior. He said we should encircle ourselves with three circles.
These are just a few pictures from our photo shoot after the ceremony. Check out the sweet car in the background. The family picture is me with my sister Susan, her husband Darren, and their three boys. They have been kind enough to let me live with them over the last couple of years. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have been able to afford college. They were/are very kind.
We came home and had a BBQ. It was tasty. Marinated Chicken and veggies. I love grilled veggies. Asparagus and zucchini are the best.
I also went out and bought a digital camera today. My brother-in-law has been bugging me to do it for a really long time. Today I finally gave in! Prepare for more blog entries!!!! I'm so excited.

Guadalahonky's

One of the first things we noticed when we moved here to Draper was this Guadalahonky's Restaurant. We have always wanted to eat here, so we finally did for Family Home Evening on Monday. It was really good. I ordered the Taco Grande with Shredded beef. It was TASTY! and as you can tell from the picuture....GRANDE! I had to eat some with a fork before I could even wrap it up in the tortilla. If ever in Draper....eat at Guadalahonky's.

Who knew nylons could be so much fun?

Okay, so when I was younger we often times had to find or make our own fun. One of the blessings of growing up in a small town. (Because there are so many!!)
Tonight I introduced one of those small-town activities to my roommates. As youngsters we used to steal my moms knee-high's and put them over our heads....and she would always get mad at us. I don't understand why.
So here we are; Jenna, me, Christine, Roni, and Becca....with nylons on our heads. Jenna said "Tracie, you need horns or something. You look evil!" We sure do have good times in our apartment. Too bad it is all coming to a close. We are all done doing our student teaching next week, so we will separate and go our own seperate ways. :( We have clean check tonight so our apartment is nice and clean too!

Blonde Baby

Look, I use to be blonde! This post is actually just a test. I'm playing around with my blog to see if it will do what I want it to do!! We'll see!

Short it is!

This isn't a very good picture, but I just wanted to let you know that the short haired people won the battle. So I cut my hair again this weekend. This was right after our ward BBQ. I stole my roommates camera while she slept, and took some pictures for her. The rest are pictures of everyone else hanging out in the apartment. That's Roni asleep on the couch. She does that a lot. She sleeps in really weird positions. I'll be surprised if she doesn't have serious back problems in the near future. She usually moves to her bed around 2:00 a.m. Next is my little sister, Mary Ann. She was just visiting. Wanted to see what single life was like again, so while her husband went and spent the night playing video games with his buddies, she came and hung out with me and my roommates. Although she missed our dance party. By looking at the picture, I don't think she likes the single life! And last but not least is Jenna. Checking her email, and showing off her buff muscles. Yeah, she works out! I will try and get pictures of the rest of my roommates at some point to put on here too!!

Long or Short???

If you look at this post, you MUST state your opinion. I'm debating whether or not I should cut my hair again, or let it grow out. What do you think??

A Trip to Idaho....Already

This last weekend I had a three day weekend so I decided to venture up to Idaho to partake in a MaryKay party, and play with friends and family. It was a lot of fun. I took two of Rose's kids up to play with their cousins. They had a lot of fun....and I enjoyed their company in the car. It was fun to play with baby Jacob. He is still cute as ever. I shared my apple with him...his first time eating an apple. It was so cute, I had Susan take pictures with her digital camera. I'm glad everyone I know has digital cameras. :) The older kids had a slumber party in the basement with their new matching sleeping bags they got from their grandparents. It was too cute. I figured my parents would like to see the picture, so here it is. I didn't want to leave Ethan out of the shots either, so here's one of him too...posing for the camera. I still think I have the cutest nieces and nephews. These pictures only add proof to that statement!!
I chose to write in blue ink this time, because it was also very cold in Rexburg...as usual. I don't miss that!!!

Resolutions

My brother Ryan got married back in September. The best part about his reception was that he didn't have a reception. It was great! The family all got together, ate some food and then they were gone. This is me at the chocolate fountain at the dinner. I am posting this, because I have ONCE AGAIN given up the sweets. My new apartment complex in Draper, Utah (I just moved in last weekend) has a fitness center, so I make my roommates go with me. It's time to feel good again, and shed the winter fat!! Have a great day, and a wonderful new year.