We are SO EXCITED!!!

Another adventure we did during fall break this year was go and visit the Gilbert AZ LDS Temple site. (For more information on what a temple is and what we, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints do inside, please visit www.lds.org and www.mormon.org.) Anyways, this temple will be about 20 minutes from our house and about 5 minutes from Cauley's parent's house. It should be completed late 2014. To say we are excited to have a temple so close is falling a little short. I am also excited because my kids get to see the progress made on the new temple. (it's across the street from Costco.)  After our short visit at the temple site (because it was closed) we went over to Discovery Park and let the kids scooter off some energy!

2nd Annual Clark Family Camping Trip

Well, we survived yet another camping trip. (Barely!) We decided we really do love to camp. I just think we need to do so when Halli is a little older and also we need to try and not go when it is fall and the temps fall below freezing at night! Really though, we all had a great time!

We left on Saturday morning since Cauley had the morning off from football for fall break and headed up to Prescott. We got there shortly before noon and luckily got a camp spot. (seriously, we waited for the people to finish packing up their camp and leave for like 20 minutes!) This year we camped at Lynx lake and I highly recommend it! It was literally 4 minutes from the Costco in Prescott meaning we could be to the Walmart within 10 minutes from camp! Yet, we were still very remote and definitely in the mountains. (We heard 2 coyotes and 1 elk in the night.)

This is our campsite looking down from where we parked our car.

This is where Halli would have liked to spend all of her time! She was absolutely filthy when we got home and gave her a bath!

After we set up camp, we called Aunt Gerry and had her meet us at the all you can eat Chinese Buffet in Prescott (right by the Costco). Our kids really love that place so they wanted that for lunch. It was nice to go sit down and eat and talk with Aunt Gerry. Then we headed to the lake.
 Even though our campsite wasn't right next to the lake, we decided to make the most of it. Cauley rented a rowboat which only came with one oar! Lucky for us, it did have a small motor on the back that got up to 5 mph!

The boys sat at the front and were VERY hesitant upon take off. However, once we got going, they asked "Is this it? This is all it does?" Ha!

The beautiful scenery from the boat. The lake wasn't the cleanest ever, but the scenery was gorgeous!

Captain Cauley. He let everyone except Halli have a turn driving the boat.

Proof I was there. (I tried keeping Halli from throwing her life jacket overboard!) She really disliked wearing it!

 The boat ride was fun. We went all around the lake and then some. Our rental fee was for an hour so we made sure and used up that hour. One funny thing was we got stuck in one spot because it was too shallow on one side and the other had too much sea weed type plants. Cauley got out the one oar and got us out though!

After we had had enough boating, we went to Aunt Gerry's house and got us some firewood. The kids kept asking to play with different things, things they usually play with when we go visit her and I had to keep telling them "nope. We're camping." :) We also borrowed a few extra blankets, just in case. (We didn't ever use them though, but it was nice to know we had extras if needed.)

The sleeping part was horrible! Well, honestly, it was fine until about 11:30 pm when Halli woke up screaming. (Ear infection.) Anyways, she'd scream like that about every 10 minutes until almost 5 am. The funniest thing- about 1:30 am we were just laying down after getting Halli to sleep again when we hear "Battleship Command! Input positions." Then we listened (unwillingly) until around 4:30 am as our neighbors just over from us played electronic battleship. Yes, you heard right. We could hear everything just perfectly fine. The frustrating part was they didn't really know how to play. "B-5-INVALID, B-5-INVALID" and then they'd get mad at the game because it wouldn't do what they wanted it to do. We also listened to his personal phone call to his daughter at 3 am. Really people? It did make me laugh both then and now, but seriously! By the way, it dropped below freezing that night. Luckily, we planned ahead and we all stayed comfy and warm. Well, maybe not comfy for Cauley and I. Halli basically kicked us out of our bed and took that over!

Drinking hot chocolate the next morning.

This is me, hunkered down and the little purple hat you can barely see is Halli's head. See, she is taking up our whole queen size mattress! You can see how big our tent is in this picture. It fits 2 queen size mattresses, a pack and play, and all of our bags and blankets and coats. (The kids slept on the other side, down by our feet.)

A rare thing from Halli this camping trip- a smile.

D-Man, you are cool! White powdered donuts for breakfast.

 Once Halli and I got up we had to really hurry and get ready for church. I looked like a polygamist because I wore a long sleeved t-shirt, long black skirt, and my tennis shoes. The rest of the family didn't look much better. BUT we did make it to church with Aunt Gerry. Thanks Aunt Gerry and Victoria for not being so embarrassed that we sat by you. At the end of Sacrament Cauley saw someone he knew and we said hello. We were explaining that we came from camping and she said "I was wondering why it smelled of camp smoke!" Hahahahah!

Back at camp we decided to go for a Sunday hike. We went about 5 minutes down to the lake to the place we got stuck in the boat the day before. We skipped rocks for a little while and then made the 4 mile hike around the lake. (At least that's what the sign said.)

Dallin skipping rocks right where we got stuck the day before

typical

Taking a break

Ornery girl and Daddy

Finally to the paved part!

One of a few bridges we crossed

They really are best friends!

The marshy part at the end. Wait- where's Halli?

Even though we planned on staying and had paid for 2 nights, we definitely didn't want a repeat and our game playing neighbors weren't leaving so we decided to stay until dark and then head home. We packed up, made our dinner fire, ate, and then headed home to sleep in our own beds. It was fun, but Halli wasn't. We love being outside, getting dirty, and most of all seeing this beautiful world that was created for us. I love doing things like this and hope the memories we made will last forever!

Go BIG Blue

It's football season again! That means many weeks of 2 games a week. Cauley has been coaching JV this year. He is really enjoying coaching with the other JV coaches. His games are on Thursdays. Then Varsity plays on Friday nights and Cauley is the stat keeper and is also double jobbing it by being a spotter up on top of the press box. (He's one of the coaches with a headset on that relays information down to the coaches on the field.)

The cutest cheerleader Higley has had yet!
Tyli has really enjoyed this football season. I let he wear her cheer costume for the first time about halfway through the season. We were down by the fence saying hello to Cauley before the game when the cheerleaders saw her. They thought she was so cute so the cheer coach asked if we'd come back at halftime for a picture with her and the cheer squad. Well, when we went back at halftime, Tyli was acting all shy. (?) Anyways, the picture didn't happen but Jenna, the cheer coach, asked if Tyli could sit down by her. I approved and sat with them for a bit. Jenna talked to Tyli about what it means to be a cheerleader and showed her some fun stuff like how to do a "scorpion" and how to hold your hands, etc. Anyways, Tyli was behaving so I went back up to my seat in the stands. I looked down just in time to see the 2 head cheerleaders climbing over the chain link fence to Tyli. They then taught her a couple of cheers and before I knew it, they, along with the rest of the Higley JV Cheerleaders, were doing the cheer with Tyli leading them (facing us!). CUTE!!! Tyli thought she was all that and a bag of chips! She did those cheers day and night for the next few weeks. At the Queen Creek game (we played @QC), we didn't have our cheerleaders for some reason so Tyli took her pom poms down, stood in front, and cheered her little heart out! She only remembered 2 of the cheers, but she even got some crowd participation. "Let's go big H!" (clap, clap) repeat. "H-H-S Yeah!" repeat.

 

The boys have also loved the football season. They have now got to bring along 2 friends. (Up from last year with no friends!) I figured it's easier for them to entertain each other than for me to keep entertaining them. The first game of the season Cauley let them go up on top of the press box with him during the 4th quarter. Then, I let Dallin invite Dalton (pictured) for another varsity game. (The boys earned this one by their AWESOME report cards!) They had SO much fun! We started off by going and getting pizza and cashing in some of our footballs (like the one Dallin is holding in this picture) for free large drinks at Sonic. The I brought out the hair paint and sprayed the boys' hair blue and the girls got glitter. Dalton loved watching the pregame stuff and then during the game the boys found 2 cowbells down under the bleachers when they went down to find one of Tyli's dropped pom poms. I caught a football that was thrown by the cheerleaders (they give you a free large soda at Sonic) which Dalton also got to take home. They had a BLAST! The next week we played Queen Creek at Higley and it was the night of 100 horns! Mr. Wilson who is a super Higley fan bought them all and handed them out to the first 100 people to ask for them. (They are identical to the horns blown and used in the World Cup Soccer tournament.) Let's just say it was very LOUD that night! My family got 3 of them, but I think they are all broken now. Then this last Friday night I let the boys invite their good friend Karsen to come. Again, they had way too much fun. It hasn't been the most successful season ever, but it's been fun.

The McKadonator turns 6

Man oh man I LOVE this kid! He is by far the funniest little guy I have EVER met! I just realized that he was wearing the same shirt in my last post as in this one, but truth be told, if I'd let him, he'd wear it every day! McKade's birthday came on a school day this year. His school doesn't let you bring treats which was disappointing, but oh well. He got this birthday crown from his teachers along with some stickers and a pencil. He also got to be the line leader that day when it really wasn't his turn. McKade asked for Domino's pizza for dinner, but seriously? EW! So he settled for "Da' Mamma' Knows" pizza (My homemade pizza, which we don't really call Da Mamma Knows!) ) which he said was the best pizza ever.

We celebrated his birthday with a very last minute family get together. I can't find the pictures to remember everything. I do know he asked for cupcakes again. I believe they had a lime green frosting, but honestly, it's been 2 months and I can't remember and don't have the pictures to remind me. He got exactly what he wanted, Legos!

McKade seriously is one of my 4 most favorite kids EVER!!:) He is so fun to be around and makes others feel so important. He is such an uplifting, good kid. He is always looking for some way to help out. Quick story: Last weekend McKade was riding his bike down to the end of our street to get Dallin from a friend's house when he crashed on his bike. He wasn't wearing tennis shoes as is the rule at the time- just flip flops. He really scuffed up the tip of his big toe pretty bad. Sunday he had to wear a flip flop to church because putting anything on it was too painful. Such was the case on Monday, but the school rule is "no open toed shoes, and shoes must be worn with socks." Anyways, I went and got permission from the principle for him to wear a flip flop on his right foot only since he had such an owie. (The school nurse also made him wear a few bandages too so it wouldn't get dirt in it.) Since he wasn't wearing tennis shoes, he couldn't play at any recesses. Well, McKade got called up front the next morning at flag ceremony in front of the entire school to receive a "I got caught doing something spectacular award" because when he was sitting by his classroom while everyone else was at recess, he decided to go sweep the rocks off the sidewalk. (He asked his teacher for a broom.) His teacher's aid, who knew he wasn't allowed to participate in recess turned his name in to receive this award. It came as no surprise to me that he got this special award, but he was very surprised and extremely happy he got to go up front at flag ceremony. That's just his nature. And seriously, if you've never had a conversation with him or got to be a bystander when he is playing, you are missing out- he is HILARIOUS!!!

McKade was very sad when he got close to his 6th birthday without losing any teeth. Well, the morning of his 6th birthday he awoke to find he did indeed have a loose tooth! He lost it about 2 weeks later. However, since then, he now has 5 more loose teeth and may be toothless in front by Christmas! (No joke, his two front top teeth, and 3 more on the bottom are getting really loose!) Bring on the apples!

How long has it been?

Holy Smokies time has flown since my last post. I hate to throw in a "we are really busy" excuse, but it is what it is. It's football season, which means usually 2 games a week, piano, school, and preschool. Add in play dates, me watching other friends kids, carpools, Tyli's dance, cub scouts, doing everything necessary for people to survive, and just plain having fun together as a family, and well, I really haven't had a chance to sit down and document our lives lately. Hopefully within the next week or so you'll hear back from me, but until, please enjoy the cooler weather and the beautiful world around you. (I know we will as we head off this weekend for our 2nd annual family camping trip!)