life...as a clark

Blessed

2011-08-06T13:25:00.000-07:00

Sarah turned 3 months old yesterday, hard to believe how quickly the time has past. And much to my happiness it has gotten easier, just as many people said it would. She is easier to put to bed at night, takes some naps in the day, smiles at me, and we are growing used to our new life together. How happy I am to have her as part of our family.

Sarah in her blessing dress...

Little Girl Growing Up

2011-07-07T19:35:00.000-07:00

It is amazing how time flies with Sarah. It seems so long ago that she was born, and yet she is only 9 weeks old today. She is starting to smile at me, although not enough. She is getting bigger and more aware of her surroundings all the time. At her 2 month appointment she had gained 2 pounds and grown 3 inches. Anyways, I love this little girl and am so happy to have her in our family.

Dear Sun

2011-05-20T16:47:00.001-07:00

Dear Sun,

Thank you for shining this evening after hiding your face for the past week. I really needed to see you today, and I hope that you will stick around for a few days. I know that your good friends cloud and rain are also important to all of us, but today I really needed to see you. Your bright rays have made my day more cheerful and happier. So thank you for visiting, you are welcome anytime.

Sincerely,
Caroline

Being a Mum

2011-05-09T08:47:00.000-07:00

Something you've heard before, but cannot explain is that becoming a Mom is a wonderful, slightly scary, and amazing adventure. Our little Sarah Ann Clark was born to us last week, a week and one day early! What a surprise, a wonderful surprise. I kept having the feeling that she would be early, but I brushed it off knowing every pregnant women hopes to have her baby early. Especially those nights when you really want to eat dessert, but just know your belly will explode open if you do; or when your ribs just feel like someone has been giving you a boars tusk (a move NH taught me years ago - basically taking a thumb and jambing it into someones ribs, for their comfort) to the ribs all day long, which of course is a cute little foot just trying to stretch out.

We also learned that having a baby bonds you and your spouse in a way you didn't imagine. Somehow you feel closer and more connected to each other. It is fantastic. And I have realized even more what an amazing husband I have. He was able to help keep me calm during labor and delivery, getting an epidural, and IV, having blood drawn, being stitched, helping me in and out of bed, getting me a drink, and whatever else I could possible need.

I've learned that snuggling with a little baby really is as awesome as people tell you. And suddenly you really don't mind changing diapers, having a baby cry in your ear, pull on your hair, scratch your chest, and wake you up in the middle of the night, again and again. I've also realized that suddenly I can hardly stand to watch violence on television, and that I have dreams about her getting hurt that just break my heart. Perhaps this is just the extreme change in my hormones; but somehow I now understand that a mother will always worry about her children, she will never not worry about her children, they are a part of her.

We feel so blessed to have Sarah here with us, she has already changed my life for the better.

We know she is beautiful, just like every other parent knows their child is beautiful - which of course is just how it should be. We think she is perfect and can't believe that she is ours and we are now parents. So to sum up, let the adventure begin!

A family of 3

2011-05-06T15:41:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know and perhaps are looking here, we have a new addition to our family. She was born on May 5 at 4:00pm, weighing 8 pounds 1 ounce, 21 inches, with lots of dark brown/black hair, a beautiful face, and 8 days early. I will post more pictures, but here is one of me and the baby shortly after she was born. We are still deciding on her name.

Generosity...in gifts and belly

2011-04-25T15:12:00.000-07:00

So this past month I was blessed to have two baby showers. One was with my book club. I love this book club and each of the women who are in it with me. I have been in this book club for 4 or 4+ years and I love it more each month. Each girl brings a new perspective on the book we read and on life in general. We all agree that we have a special group.

My sister also hosted another baby shower for me in which I was able to see several cousins, friends, and family members. It was fantastic. Lots of good food and an overabundance of generous gifts. I feel very fortunate to be having this sweet little baby girl and to have so many people giving me gifts to help bring her into the world. So a big thank you to everyone who participated in my baby showers, I loved seeing each of you.

Another great thing that happened this month, my nephew was born to my younger brother NH and his wife Ashley. This is my...let's see 18th nephew, but we are always glad to have another one. And we were so glad to get to go to the hospital and see him the day after he was born. He is adorable, makes fantastic cooing noises, and made me all the more excited for my own baby.

So here I am on Easter Sunday, 37 weeks pregnant and looking every day of it. And if you could see my the bottom of my legs where by ankles once used to live you would understand that I truly am 37 weeks pregnant. Baby Clark is due to be born on May 13th, which happens to be Friday the 13th, so cross your fingers and hope that I have her that day...she will be my lucky baby. And while you are here looking go ahead and take a good look at my very handsome husband who rubs my aching back for me whenever I ask, helps me off the couch, picks things up off the floor for me, and is always willing to wait for me to use the bathroom one more time before we leave the house.

8 months

2011-03-18T08:56:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe it myself, but I am 8 months pregnant today! It is amazing how time flies, and also how it seems so long ago that I first found out I was pregnant. I am going to celebrate by going to the San Diego temple with Brad, going to the beach and looking for dolphins, and enjoying the warmth of Southern Califormia. Yes, we are in San Diego at the moment, it is our last day here. I will post some pictures when we get back.

February Projects

2011-03-08T19:02:00.000-08:00

When Brad and I moved into our new house I came up with a list of several projects that I wanted to do. I am slowly getting to them and even getting some of them done. The truth is I love having projects to work on that make our home a little nicer and a little more "homey", especially when it doesn't require much money, or much talent for that matter. So, here are a couple of things I have been working on, besides growing a baby.

So one of the things I wanted to do was repaint our table. It has been a dark green color since we have had it. It is a nice green, but it doesn't match anything, and I have often wished it were a different color. After lot's of time spent on the floor (I covered the red rug below with a big sheet of plastic), a lot of sanding while wearing a mask, a lot of clean up and a can of black paint, I have finally finished repainting the 4 chairs and table.

I have learned a few things throughout this project. First, that wearing a mask, so that you don't inhale dust from sanding and fumes from paint, is a good idea; however, those masks do not smell good and they make your face itch. Fortunately, as you can see from above, you look very glamorous while wearing one! I also learned that the farther along in the pregnancy I get the harder it gets to crawl around on the floor and the tighter my "painting" clothes got. Third, completing this kind of project is very rewarding. My only wish now is that our table was bigger, as this one is very small and won't last us too much longer as a dining room table. Oh well, we can enjoy it while we have it.

The other thing I have been working on, well just started really is making some crib bedding for our May arrival. Brad and I went to the fabric store together (yes he was thrilled) and picked out a pattern that we both liked. Thus far all I have made is this blanket, but you can get an idea of what the remaining items will look like. We choose this bright and happy animal print, because let's face it, I love animals, always have and always will. The back side, is a light green, and is made of that ultra soft fabric that you can get now (sorry I don't know what it is called).

The other things I have been doing are continuing to teach communications at UVU, cooking and posting on my cooking blog (Two Little Chefs), doing a bit of architectual drafting for my Dad, reading whenever I get a chance, and of course growing a baby.

All in all, life is great! Hope you are doing well too.

Maybe I Am Back

2011-02-22T16:35:00.000-08:00

Clearly I am not very good at blogging, at least on this personal blog. While I regularly post on mine and Kelly's cooking blog Two Little Chefs it has been a while since I (or Brad I might mention) have posted here. Excuses? Who needs one, there are just other things occupying my time, things like: growing a baby, teaching, eating, sleeping, reading, lounging, living, etc etc.

However, I have been continuing to read other people's blogs and always appreciate when they update their blogs, so I have been considering rejoining the lovely blogging world.

So here is my first post in a while with a little story. Brad and I moved back to Provo, not too far from where we used to live, in January. We moved into this great old house just off of Center Street. At first it was a disaster as our plumbing was frozen thanks to the early January chill. However, our plumbing finally thawed, we hung a few pictures, purchased a few rugs, and have made our house more into a home. It is still a work in progress, but I feel safe saying that we are now enjoying were we live...

...and we are enjoying our new neighbors, the 6 deer that are regularly grazing in the back and sometimes front yard. Deer, in Provo? Yes, that is right. We don't live particularly close to the mountain, but in our yard these deer have found a haven. I greatly enjoy seeing them out there, it has made the move from Midway less harsh, as I had to give up seeing many creatures each day moving from the mountains to the valley. However, I do wonder if I will enjoy them as much this Spring as I am cleaning up their droppings. My guess is no, but I still think it is worth having them as winter guests.

Cheers! Caroline

And the winner is?

2010-06-30T12:19:00.000-07:00

(Canyonlands with the Shims and K-Stone)This is a pregression of my feelings about the end of my 'summer'. I now have 35 students in one class who don't believe that I WILL make them do junmping-jacks if they even consider yawning infront of me...(the bloody toe...I decided not to post the close-up Kelly took, it is a bit bloody for the blog)

Hugger-Mugger

2010-04-03T09:43:00.000-07:00

Just a little something...dictionary.com word of the day April 1

hugger-mugger \HUH-guhr-muh-guhr\,

noun:1. A disorderly jumble; muddle; confusion.2. Secrecy; concealment.
adjective:1. Confused; muddled; disorderly.2. Secret.
adverb:1. In a muddle or confusion.2. Secretly.
transitive verb:1. To keep secret.
intransitive verb:1. To act in a secretive manner.

From here on in, it's all about security clearances, undercover surveillance, computers, microphones hidden in coat buttons and so much technical hugger-mugger you'd have to be a hacker to decipher it.-- Rex Reed, "On The Town With Rex Reed", New York Observer, February 3, 2003

Student Ratings

2010-01-12T15:53:00.000-08:00

So I just read my student ratings from last semester. I have been waiting for a day when I feel good, not too emotional, and like I can handle the berating from some upset students. What I decided to do, after reading reviews from my first class, was read the "Suggestions" aka "what I hated about my teacher" section first, and then read the positive remarks second. Overall, the comments were helpful, there was some good feedback, and of course, the "I hate Mrs. Clark because...comments". I find the feedback useful, but emotionally stressful, mostly because any insecurities that I have teaching (which there are) are pointed out in a straight forward, there you have it way. Truth be told, I still haven't figured out how to write a good test...any teachers out there, I will gladly take suggestions; my voice is quiet...no matter how hard I try to speak loud and clear, it just doesn't carry well (so sit in the front of the class, not the back); and sometimes I am not as confident as I should be, but I know that has improved. But, I disagree with students who think I grade too hard on papers! What...is expecting good sentence structure, clear cohesive sentences and paragraphs, and giving credit where credit is due (i.e. so I copied this out of the textbook, do I really have to give the author of the book credit?) too much to ask? People, I teach COMMUNICATIONS!! Yes, you must be able to write well in my class, funny that a communications teacher would want clear writing! Ahh! It is interesting too how some students love the slides I provide, the video clips, the discussions, the examples, etc. etc. ...others hate it and find my classes terribly boring.

What I have learned is, I can't please every student, because each student learns in a different way. I have learned that many students find it terribly strict that I take attendance each day, but I do! And I have learned that I really enjoy teaching. I can't please them all, but I can help some of them learn and I can learn from them too. I have learned that I can provide an opportunity to get their brains thinking about subjects in a different way and get them to interact with each other.

And if all else fails, I will show them all my sweet jump in the snow from New Year's eve and challenge them to do better! Ha ha...kidding, it isn't sweet at all really, I just wanted to post a picture along with my rantings!

Huge Carbon Feet

2009-12-02T16:45:00.000-08:00

I'll give you my steak when you take it from my cold, dead hands!

My brother-in-law, Jamie, began a website a few weeks back, it is called Huge Carbon Feet. For anyone that isn't quite buying the propaganda of the Green Movement, I think you will enjoy his site. If you are into global warming, population control, and giving up eating meat in order to save the planet, this site is not for you.

Check it out...Huge Carbon Feet

SEMA

2009-11-12T17:27:00.000-08:00

Caroline and I went to SEMA in Las Vegas last week. It is a huge car show for after market products, but most of the major manufactures bring custom cars too. One of the major events of the show was the North American debut of the 2010 Lexus LFA. I never thought I would see the day when lexus made a $375,000 sportscar with a V10.

Pirelli always brings something extra special. Last year it was the Lamborghini Reventon (there were only 20 made) and this year they brought a Pagani Zonda Cinque (there were only 5 made).

This is the 2010 Porsche Panamera, which is a very polarizing car. Porsches are supposed to be rear engine coupes and this beast (it's huge) is a front engine sedan. So far though, every hater who has actually driven one has changed their tune.

The 2010 Chevrolet Camaro was probably the most commonly tuned car at the show, which was great because I think they look awesome. There were all sorts of cool and crazy versions. I liked this one because it make me think of an evil KITT.

Honda's display was quite disappointing. A Civic is a tuner boy's best friend and yet they didn't bother to tune any cars. They debuted the 2010 Accord Crosstour (a very ugly crossover) and brought some classic cars, which were cool.

I love Bentleys. Did I ever mention that I love Bentleys. Not their limo sized sedans mind you, but their coupes. This one was fitted with an agressive looking body kit and it might have been my favorite car of the whole show.

This another Camaro that was brought by GM. It was styled similarly to the Lamborghini Reventon, which is a good thing.

Products of every kind were on display throughtout the conference center. Caroline saw this tire and thought we might get some for Rafa.
Three years ago Michelin invented an airless tire they called the tweel. They indicated that it would be ready for production in a couple years, but other than being on a NASA Rover Concept it has seen any action yet. This airless tire, which looks surprising similar, is manufactured by another company and being marketed as a good option for the military.

Ken Block, owner of DC Shoes and a Subaru rally race driver, took one of his Impreza rally cars and put it on tracks. It came complete with a tow kit and a sleigh. I think Rudolph might be out of a job.

If you are interested in seeing more cars from SEMA (or just more cars) go to www.carpictures.com and search SEMA.

Chocolate Pumpkin Halloween Cake

2009-10-31T22:10:00.000-07:00

Mmm...mmmm...good. I love halloween!

The Stalker

2009-10-25T23:16:00.000-07:00

Our dear friend Matt went all out this year for Halloween. Moustache, mullet, outfit, the full deal. At least he said it was a costume.

P.S. - this is the full res version, so click on it, save it, and enjoy it whenever you need a smile.

BYU Women's Soccer

2009-10-15T21:16:00.000-07:00

Caroline and I went to the BYU Women's soccer game tonight (thanks Grant and Kelly). It was fun and BYU crushed New Mexico 3-0. About a 1/3 of the way into the game, Cosmo (the mascot) threw a mini soccer ball into the crowd near where we were. To the dismay of the guys behind us I stood up and caught it. In fact, the two guys behind us were so eager to catch it that they both basically fell on me. One used me to catch his balance, while the other fell to the side and caught himself on the railing. It was pretty funny and we joked with them about it afterwards.

It's Fall!!

2009-10-04T18:04:00.000-07:00

Last Friday evening Brad and I went for a hike up Provo Canyon in the foothills of Mt. Timpanogos. It was beautiful. The leaves on the Aspen trees were still mostly green while other vegetation had begun to turn reds, yellows, and oranges.

This was the beginning of the path. The sun was quite low at this time so you it is hard to appreciate how spectacular the green and yellows were against the white Aspen trunks (which of course are beginning to turn green in anticipation of winter).

One of many self photos of me and Brad.
Some of the colors that we got to see on our way back down the canyon. Anyone living in Utah, now is the time to take those fall leaf drives up the canyons.

Designer Cakes/Handbags

2009-09-08T19:22:00.000-07:00

Last week I took some pictures for a friend's husband who makes wedding cakes, desserts, etc. They needed a picture of this handbag cake, which I was quite impressed with.

Apparently a man had given Martin a handbag of his girlfriends and asked him to make a replica of it as a cake.

So if you are interested in a very customized cake, Martin is the man for you. He is located in Salt Lake, his website is http://www.weddingcakessaltlake.com/.

Adventures in Canada

2009-09-07T20:10:00.000-07:00

While in Canada, Caroline and I also went shooting with my Dad and went on some hikes. Here are a few of the highlights.

Calgary Zoo

2009-09-07T20:01:00.000-07:00

In August, Caroline and I went to Calgary to visit my Dad. While there we went to the Zoo, which happens to be a great one.

By far Caroline's favorite animal was this little gorilla. You should have seen her face light up when she saw it.

We are not the best bloggers.

2009-09-06T11:11:00.000-07:00

I realized today, well before today, that Brad and I are not the best bloggers. I mean there are so many things to keep up with these days, as far as electronic communications. There is facebook, which we recently joined. We have our Clark family website; I have my cooking blog, twolittlechefs, our photography website and our fineart photography website. That doesn't even include checking personal email, work email, reading what the word of the day is from dictionary.com, reading the news that I have delivered into my inbox, reading friends blogs/facebook, etc, etc....

How does one keep up with all this electronic communication and still have time to actually call and visit with friends/family? Not to mention eating, sleeping, playing, working, you know - living?

ps...this picture has no relavance to my post, I just know that people are more likely to read something if there is a picture along with the text. True?

Little Critters

2009-08-09T20:22:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, my wife absolutely loves little critters. And by that I really mean all animals of any kind. Seeing cats, dogs, birds, even cows will fill her with glee. Thus, it is to her great pleasure that we have a family of quail living in our backyard. In fact, she has even named them the Murphys. I must admit that watching 9 or 10 little puff-balls (chicks) following their parents was one of the cutest things that I have ever seen. The little babies just looked like fluff with legs. Ever since, Caroline has been stalking them trying to get a picture, but they are rather elusive. This one shot with the telephoto is all she has been able to capture thus far, but the hunt continues.

Soup is Good for your Car

2009-08-09T20:12:00.000-07:00

I spent a couple hours lying in a gutter on Saturday, fixing my car. The exhaust pipe between the engine and the muffler broke, so little Rafa was sounding a lot more robust. To solve the problem I made Caroline and I some tomato soup and grilled cheese for lunch. Then I cut the can and clamped it around the ends of the pipe where it broke, and viola, good as new. Well, as good as new as a 39 year old car can be. : )

Extra Money?$?

2009-07-25T12:23:00.000-07:00

Looking for a way to earn some extra money? In January 2005, Joe Tamarog earned $510 to have this ad permanently tattooed on his right arm. What do you think?

That same year, one man had his forehead temporarily tattooed with an anti-smoking ad. He was paid $37,375 for 32 days...not bad eh?? Would you do this?

Time Killer

2009-07-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

Brad and I joined the 21st century yesterday...ta da...we joined Facebook. And already we realize what a time killer it can be. We are wondering, what is the love of Facebook? I mean we can see the perks of it, it is fun to see what people that you knew when you were 7 are doing now...

Basically, I would love to know why people use Facebook. I am not criticizing it or anything, I am truly just curious what your feelings about it are.

Mad Scientist and Books

2009-07-16T07:02:00.001-07:00

Clayton, Part I:

This is my brother Clayton and his wife Jessa. Clayton has been working with a company called Mad Scientists for the last 7 or 8 months. Basically they do science experiments for kids at birthday parties, school classrooms, etc. Brad and I got to go and watch him perform once at the Pleasant Grove library. It was awesome. If you know Clayton, you know that this is the perfect job for him. Anyways, I guess yesterday while working at a summer camp the local paper, The Daily Herald, came and interviewed him and took some photos. There is an interview with him and another Mad Scientists on the The Daily Herald's homepage, and he said there will be a blurb about it and a picture in the paper today. Check out the video interview here, and if you are interested call up Mad Scientists and ask for Clayton to do your kids party, he really is great at it!

Part II: Books

Clayton is also a writer and reads many, many books. He started a very interesting blog where he reviews books that he likes and plans to post some of his own writing. Interested? The blog is called Books By Clay, check it out!

What Would a Piano Made by a Car Company Look Like?

2009-07-08T13:47:00.000-07:00

For some reason Audi decided that they needed to design a grand piano. I guess, so loyal fans could put one in the garage next to their R8. If you want to see more pics click here.

Friends

2009-07-03T07:06:00.001-07:00

When I went to graduate school I met some really amazing people, including my wonderful husband. The year that I started graduate school at BYU there were 3 men and 6 ladies (including myself) in my class. With such a small group you quickly become friends. I was also lucky enough to get to know some of the students from the year before me and the year after. In fact, if you didn't know this, Brad and I met in the master's program at BYU, which of course was the best part of the whole thing!

Anyways, every couple of months some of us ladies, we call ourselves the master girls, get together and reminisce and catch up on each others lives. It is great fun! We had one such night this week. Included in the picture are from left Liz who recently moved from Philly to Minniapolis, Brooke, Jen, Holly, me, Dr. Baker (one of our professors who became friends with us), Tami, and Caitlin and new son Guy.

Thanks ladies for making this a great night!

ps...Kelly and I are hosting a contest with a prize on our cooking blog, check it out!

Summertime when the living is easy...

2009-06-17T08:13:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would share a few day to day things that are going on at the Clark house this week. On Monday I trimmed the overgrown rose bush in the front yard. The great thing about that was I ended up with three various bouquets of roses for the house. Granted I had to kill about 10 earwigs that came in on the flowers, which I hate (earwigs that is), but I think it was worth it.

Monday evening Brad and I went out and picked as many cherries out of our cherry tree as we could manage with a stool, a very unsteady latter, and limited tree climbing abilities (note to self: wear shoes, rather than flip-flops when trying to climb trees). Today I am making some cherry jelly, which I have never had before, and tomorrow I plan to bottle the rest. I am hoping that the cherry jelly will be delicious and go well on things like the Cranberry-Orange Scones I made Monday afternoon (yes, that was a shameless plug for my cooking blog: twolittlechefs)

ps...if you want another one of our crazy neighbor stories please ask, and refer to our cherry tree

The Community of Christ (RLDS)

2009-06-15T22:19:00.000-07:00

When Caroline and I were in Kansas we went to Independence. The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has their world headquarters there. The have changed their name to the Community of Christ.

This is where they have the general conference, every three years. It reminded us of the Tabernacle, but was kept rather dark and had a different feel to it.

This is their Temple. It is rather unique, and the interior was quite beautiful, with lots of natural light.

Afternoon Walk

2009-06-14T22:37:00.000-07:00

One afternoon we went for a walk with the Rathers in a nice park. It was wonderful, but very hot and humid.

The boys' favorite section (other than the area with all the turtles) was where the branches overhung and made a kind of a tunnel.

There was a lot of special stick finding going on, though some of the branches had to be 'adjusted' to make them just the right size.

The boys were very excited when they found some animal tracks

While we were there Jeremiah and I became great friends. I knew we were going to be pals when he corrected his brothers, informing them that my name was not Brad, but Brown, which is what he called me the entire time.

Rather Family Fun

2009-06-14T22:19:00.000-07:00

Staying with the Rather's was a lot of fun. We enjoyed some wonderful food by expert chefs. :)

We also did some family bonding on the Wii.

There were also plenty of games and building, which including the burying of the boys.

Road Trip

2009-06-14T21:59:00.001-07:00

Caroline and I made the journey to Witchita to visit her brother and his family. We had a blast as you can see.

Along the way we saw a huge convoy hauling tanks and armored cars. They were heading west and we were going east, so we could only try to take a picture through our window as they went past.

The area west of Denver was beautiful, and so was the rest of trip east, but rather flat and boring.

My Birthday

2009-06-01T21:05:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday was my birthday. Brad went out of his way to make it an awesome day. Amongst other things, we went on a ghost town/mining town hunt. It was tons of fun! I put together a picasa album of a few of the pictures. You can click this link if you want to check it out.

Aaaah China

2009-05-24T18:24:00.000-07:00

I mentioned a few posts ago that Caroline had just run a 5k. Well they gave out some stuff in a little packet to all those who participated in the race. The usual shirt, wristband, water bottle...you know. Anyway, the water bottle came with some great instructions - pay particular attention to instruction #2.

We'll be very careful to keep it away from any water. Nothing like stuff made in China. :)

Family Fun

2009-05-22T20:30:00.000-07:00

We had some of my family over last week for dinner. We had a blast. I pushed Victoria on my longboard for awhile, then we rode together, and then she decided that I needed to be pushed by her.

Victoria enjoyed playing croquette with us, but she often looked more like she was a little witch trying to ride a broom.

In the end Caroline had to show us how it was done.

She also enjoyed looking after baby Joseph.

Hatching Turtles

2009-05-22T20:26:00.001-07:00

Caroline and I went with my family to duck pond on the south of campus last week. The ducks were not hungry, but they were pretty active. At one point the ducklings decided to climb up on the turtles and keep them warm.

One of the turtles lay on a branch, sprawled with his legs just dangling. Looked rather comfortable.

Running Woman

2009-05-22T20:05:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Caroline and her family ran in a 5k at Thanksgiving Point. It was fun to see the crew and Caroline was the fastest of her family, and in the top third of all the racers.

She was in great spirits at the beginning of the race.

By the end she was all business

Playing with Colors

2009-05-13T10:23:00.000-07:00

So last week I photographed a really nice family at the old BYU Academy (pictured above), otherwise known as the Provo library. I was a little unsure about taking photographs there, especially since we took them at about 1:30pm, which is generally about the worst time of day to take pictures (the high sun equals dark shadows and squinty eyes). However, I was able to utilize the old brick on the building, afternoon shade cast by the builidng, and a little Photoshop to get some nice pictures.

Another thing I have been doing is trying to learn more about selective coloring, saturation, and such in Photoshop. So I took this picture of these two cuties and worked to make their blue eyes pop at you a little more. I also brightened up that red dress to create a contrast with their blue eyes (as orange and blue are complimentary colors, in case you have forgotten ;)). I am not sure if you can tell from this picture (because I shrunk it for the blog, however if you click on the picture it will show you a bigger image) but I was pleased with the results. I also added a bit of vignetting, which is something that happens with some camera lenses when they are all the way opened up, which actually is something you don't want to happen (ask Brad about the technicalities of that), but can be duplicated with the power of the computer. It creates the darkened corners forcing your eye to forcus of the center of the picture (see I learned something in art school...well maybe).

Finally another bonus of digital photography and computers. In this photograph there is a window, can you find it? Hopefully not, as I did a little cover up work. Behind the boy on the right I added a brick wall where there is actually a window. Anyways, that is just a little something I have been up to.

Mothers Day

2009-05-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day, as you know, was last Sunday. Brad and I invited my parents over for dinner. Then Brad's father came into town, so of course he was invited too. Then we decided to invite my brother Clayton and his wife Jessa, since they live a couple of blocks from us. And then we figured we should just make it a party and so we invited the Memmott's too- Brad's sister Kelly, husband Grant and their kids Victoria, 3, and Joseph, 11 days. It was a lot of fun; thanks for those who attended.

So Brad was kind enough to make some apple crisp. He was so cute about it. Because I was taking up the entire kitchen (literally) making Sweet Barbacoa Pork, fresh Pico-de-Gallo, and cream sauce (which you can find on my cooking blog), he moved his operation to the table. It was fantastic. He pulled out all the ingridents, lined them up, and appeared to be filming a cooking show, as you can see from the picture above.

Unfortunately I didn't take too many pictures at the event, but I got a couple. Above left is my parents and Grant Memmott. On the right is Brad and his father.

These lovely folks are (starting from the left) Brad's sister Kelly and daughter Victoria; baby Joseph (who slept most of the evening which made it nice for Kelly so that she could eat); and Jessa and Clayton Rather.

Thanks for coming everyone. And if you are interested in coming over sometime for dinner, we'd love to have you.

What a Wonderful Surprise

2009-04-30T09:46:00.000-07:00

Did you have a favorite food as a kid? One of mine was brown beans with hot dogs. I am sure my parents hated it, but since all they had to do was open a can of brown beans and cut a couple hot dogs into it to make me happy they rarely refused. It was the best thing ever! Thus, it was to my great joy that we found this can of Beanee Weenee at Smiths the other day. I didn't know that you could get it with the hot dogs already inside. How awesome is that!

*Sorry about the picture, it was from a camera phone...ugh!

A Bad Storm Means Good News

2009-04-30T08:30:00.000-07:00

Since we moved in we have been worried about a tree in our backyard. It hangs over power lines, phones lines, etc, that run to our house and our neighbor's house. About six months ago we finally got the city to come look at it and despite resting on so many lines, they declared it perfectly fine. Suuuuure...

A couple weeks ago we had a surprise snow storm here. The weather was bad enough to break some of the branches on the tree and weighed it down quite a bit. This resulted in the power line to our neighbor's house getting ripped off the side of their house where it had been attached.

We talked with our neighbors and our landlord about it and surprisingly they got the city to come and look at it. The man who came was very concerned, so he called in a crew and within an hour all that was left was a stump. The poor guys had to work in a heavy rain storm. Too bad they didn't take it out when they came six months ago and the sun was shining.

The Tea Party

2009-04-18T20:47:00.000-07:00

Caroline and I went to the local 'Tea Party'. There were a few good speakers and some great signs. Here are a collection of my favorites.

Debt is the problem, how can it be the solution too?

Talk is cheap, except when congress does it.

Extinction is forever. Save the taxpayers

Waiting and Hoping

2009-04-17T08:57:00.000-07:00

Two things, I am hoping that it doesn't snow more today, as I will be outside photographing a wedding....

...and I want you all to anticipate the story of the return of Maria!! If you are unfamiliar with Maria and the events surrounding her disappearance, click here...

Tax Day Tea Party

2009-04-15T09:52:00.000-07:00

Today is the Nationwide Tax Day Tea Party! National grassroot efforts are organizing rallies around the counrty to oppose the rise in big government, big government spending, etc. It is a chance to organize and rally as a nation. It is tonight, 5-7pm at the Old County Courthouse, University and Center. I will be there near the beginning, if you want to go with me, call. Here is a link to the website with more info.

"So who's behind the Tax Day tea parties? Ordinary folks..."

The Only Escape

2009-04-13T15:48:00.000-07:00

Isn't it depressing to think that the only escape from taxes is death? Caroline and I did our taxes on Saturday and had to write Mr. Obama a nice big check and we weren't very happy about it. I am happy to pay for essential services and public education, but other than that...no way. Charity, in all its forms, including welfare, should be voluntary.

It's not all politics in our house, but...

2009-04-08T18:34:00.000-07:00

It's not all politics in our house, but tonight I am preparing for the communications class I teach. Tomorrow we will be analyzing political ads, and specifically ads from the 2008 presidential election. As I have been meandering through the web, I have found many interesting things. One, Hillary Clinton's campaign ads are not available online anymore. I have searched several sources, and cannot find any, plenty of spoofs, but none of her official ads, interesting I think. But that isn't actually the reason for this post. I found this website that has tracked the money donations from specific industries for the last group of candidates and I thought it was very interesting. I am sure there are many sites that track this info, but I thought I would give you a link just so you could look. It is amazing how much money is donated and interesting to see what industries give who what money. Anyways, have a look, the site is called OpenSecrets.org

Socialism

2009-04-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

My friend Anabelle put this short economic lesson on her blog, I think it is great. You should read it.

BMW Offers Tractor Beam for Better Mileage

2009-04-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

BMW has come up with a novel idea to improve your fuel economy. A large magnet that allows you to 'grab' onto the car in front of you and have it tow you. Sounds great, except for the guy towing you. Oh and by the way it is April Fools Day today.

Kia had couple fun ones two including this new Popemobile.

If you want to check out the rest go to www.motorcities.com

Budgeting

2009-03-31T22:45:00.000-07:00

A nice budgeting lesson for a few Americans, especially the government and Obama.

Emperor Obama

2009-03-30T20:42:00.000-07:00

I must admit that I was dubious when Obama was elected, but he gets scarier everyday. He goes about throwing money around like it is his, not ours. Equally scary is his crazy idea of budgeting. Essential to his budget is that the US economy will magically be stronger than ever before two years from now. He is like one of those people who puts everything on their credit card because they assume that somehow next year they will be earning twice as much money. Problem is that rarely happens and so they go bankrupt instead and we, as a country, are well on our way. The head of the European Union said that Obama's budget was 'the road to hell' and he was right. China has loaned us tons of money and they are starting to call it in, only we can't pay it. Heck, we can't even pay the interest on it. We as a country are bankrupt and he is increasing government spending by trillions. Wake up Obama and live within our means.

He is also starting to issue orders to companies, as if he knew what he was talking about. To bad he has never run a business or anything for that matter. I guess he also forgot that we live in a democracy, at least we did the last time I checked. Maybe last night the US turned into the First Holy Empire of Obama and all the businesses are his. Yikes! Pinch me quick.

Caroline's Weekend

2009-03-24T18:22:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would give you all a glimpse of what I will be doing this weekend. Friday morning I get to take Brianna's bridal pictures...

Here are a couple of engagement pictures I took in February at the Salt Lake Public Library. They are a super fun couple, with lots of personality (as you can tell from the picture above).

I will be taking Brianna's bridal pictures on Friday morning. I am excited because she was fun and has really pretty blue eyes.

Saturday morning I get to photograph Brittany and Brett's wedding. Brittany is the girl that cuts my hair, and as you can see she is super photogenic....

She has beautiful eyes to lure in innocent men, just kidding. She is a babe, and I am super excited she is getting married, and that I get to photograph the event.

Anyways, that's what I will be doing.

Chocolate Confetti

2009-03-22T20:51:00.000-07:00

Want some chocolate goodness for your Monday night FHE? Here is a super easy and delicious recipe on mine and Kelly's cooking blog, www.twolittlechefs.blogspot.com , posted by guest poster Brad. Try it, eat it, love it!

Danger Will Robertson

2009-03-19T14:03:00.001-07:00

If you can overlook the fact that these two men are apparently holding hands this is a pretty amazing picture. I am not sure if they were trying to 'high five' or hit fists or what, but making contact while tearing down a track is very dangerous and I say kudos to them.

When I saw this picture it immediately reminded me of a road trip with some friends, the Zirkers. We were heading north along I-15 through Salt Lake and they decided to pass water bottles between vehicles. Fun, not too smart, but definately fun.

Then of course I thought of the times I longboarded while hanging onto cars or gave a fellow boarder a 'ride'. One time a middle-aged BYU maintanence worker even slowed down so I could grab onto his truck, but once I was on he didn't hold back and I made it to class in record time. Ahhh, the wisdom of youth.

How to Make Bus Tours More Exciting

2009-03-19T13:57:00.000-07:00

Now, I have never actually taken a bus tour, but they don't sound very exciting. I have ridden a bus through the rocky mountains a few times and despite the gorgeous scenery it could be pretty painful. Anyway, looks like they are working on spicing things up a little. To check out more pictures on the amphibious bus head to site I work for www.motorcities.com

Why we build Temples

2009-03-15T09:05:00.000-07:00

As you may or may not know Tom Hanks is the executive producer of the HBO show 'Big Love', which is about polygamy. It has recently been announced that 'Big Love' will be showing the Temple ceremonies on the show, which HBO of course has promised will be accurately portrayed in the correct context. How they plan to accomplish that when they will have to rely on ex-communicated members for the context and accuracy is beyond me.

This youtube video (yes the church has a youtube channel) is the church's response.

Goodbye to Kohls...So Sad

2009-03-05T13:53:00.000-08:00

Perhaps you have heard, perhaps you haven't but Candies brand clothing (which is a brand for young girls) sold exclusively at Kohl's has signed a contract with Briteny Spears to co-promote her latest Circus tour and the clothing brand at the same time.

One paper writes,“Britney is authentic and relevant, personifying the Candie’s brand,” Gardner said.

Sad that they think Britney is the personification of what they want their brand to be. Here are some of Britney's wonderful charactersitics, which I got off Dr. Lauras blog...

* Her first marriage lasted 55 hours.
* Her second marriage lasted a bit longer
* She posed in the nude for Harper’s Bazaar
* She flashed a naked crotch at photographers getting out of her car
* She has been busted for drug use
* She lost custody of her children because of child endangerment issues

I know that when I have young girls this is the role model I will choose for them. If you dare, here is a picture of her from her latest Circus tour that Candies and thus Kohl's is helping to promote.

The reason I am sad: I like shopping at Kohl's. I think that they have great deals and cute clothes, but I can't support this. I can't support placing Britney Spears as a role model for young girls. So I won't shop there anymore and I plan to send Kohl's a letter letting them know. I would suggest you do the same. You can write to:

Jessica Swearingen
Kohl’s Customer Correspondence Coordinator
E-mail: cscc.escalated@kohls.com

Opening of a Tulip

2009-02-23T21:18:00.000-08:00

Caroline was given a few bulbs as a gift from her visiting teacher. We decided to track the progress of the tulip as it opened. We took pictures every half an hour starting on Saturday afternoon and then continued on Sunday. As you can tell from the sudden jump in the openness of the petals we did not take pictures all through the night or while we were at church. Regardless it was pretty fun to see the result.

Valentines

2009-02-21T08:54:00.000-08:00

For Valentines Caroline and I hosted Caroline's sister Mary and her cute little kids who were here for her brother Clayton's wedding. It was fun to see them, but poor little Carmine was sick and spent most of the time laying on the floor asleep. Once it started to get dark outside he got up and announced that he was going to bed. NH and Ashley came over to join in the fun too, so we had some pink heart-shaped pancakes and fruit, which was a hit with Izzy.

Mary had to stay home with Carmine on Sunday, but Izzy came to church with us, which was nice. It was fun to have her walk hand-in-hand with us and then sit coloring during sacrament meeting. Because Izzy tends to be a bit boistrous we were highly impressed with her quiet voice.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun and were sad to see them go.

How was your Valentines? Any fun stories.

I wonder

2009-02-18T18:42:00.000-08:00

I am starting to wonder if anyone besides me and Brad look at our blog. Why you ask, because no one comments. Please, feel free to comment, even if it is just a simple one...we like to know you're there. Dito for my cooking blog www.twolittlechefs.blogspot.com

thanks! Big-C (to be explained another day, perhaps)

What are your thoughts?

2009-02-16T20:32:00.001-08:00

Let's Go to Canada

2009-02-14T17:38:00.000-08:00

The Face of the Future

2009-02-05T14:41:00.000-08:00

Honda has been working with robots for years and are finally starting to get them to actually be functional. In fact, ASIMO is going to introduce the new 2009 Honda Insight at the Geneva Motor show next month. The future sure is going to be interesting.

My Parents are Awesome

2009-02-04T15:30:00.001-08:00

So you may or may not know about the Utah Food Bank, they collect food and raise money to provide for Utah's needy. They get money from private donors and corporations around the state; the Church is a big contributor, as you probably guessed. So, I have an awesome Mom, which you know if you have met her, and she is the Chair of the Board of Directors. They have been working on getting a new building (which the Church donated, I believe) and today was the ground-breaking of the remodel of the building. So who, do you ask is planning the remodel? Well, my Dad of course (although he is paying me to do some of the drafting, does that make me not as great as my parents, likely). Anyways, that is why I say, my parents are awesome, they really are just great people!

Here's a news clip and article from today...if you scroll down you can see some of our drawings. :)

"I mean, what are you going to do? Turn off your TV and your computer?"

2009-02-03T23:43:00.001-08:00

Big Achievements

2009-02-03T17:00:00.000-08:00

I have been quite sick the last few days and it is funny how moving from the bed to the couch can make you feel like you actually accomplished something, even though you are still just sleeping.

The funny thing is that I went to give someone a blessing on Wednesday and I think that is when I got sick. It makes you realize how much of a miracle it was that Jesus never got sick when he was healing lepers and people with all many of diseases.

Rednecks + ATV + Bungie Cords = Craziness

2009-01-27T14:11:00.000-08:00

SlingShot

Let it Slush, Let it Slush, Let it Slush

2009-01-26T15:30:00.000-08:00

For the last couple of days here in Provo it has been slushing (half raining and half snowing very wet snow). Apparently the drains are either full or clogged because for most of Sunday the storm drain outside our house looked like a water fountain.

Nigerian Police Detain Goat for Armed Robbery

2009-01-25T23:56:00.000-08:00

Now that is a sweet headline and the best part is that it is real. Basically, a neighborhood watch group tried to stop two thugs from stealing a Mazda 323 (just let them steal it) and said that one got away and the other transformed himself into a goat to escape prosecution. The police of course just said sure that's totally possible and have kept the goat in custody. I guess they are waiting for him to get tired of eating straw and turn back into a human.

A Victory for Extravagence

2009-01-22T18:21:00.000-08:00

I skim the NY Times headlines most days and tend to read a little of this and that, but today I found something I just had to share. It is a laptop with a 17" screen (the largest you can get) that has an additional 10.6" pop-out screen. It also has a built-in stylus pad, which I would love to have and think every laptop should have. It is described as being for the photographer/graphic artist crowd (you mean a computer other than a Mac will run photoshop...no way!), so I guess we need one and had better just buy it because it will dramatically increase our productivity. :)

Anyway, at $4,000+ it seemed just a hair out of our current budget, but since the ecomony is booming and and everyone else has tons of cash to burn I bet they will sell like hot cakes or at least they might sell two or three. I can think of plenty of people who'd pony up for them, such as Bill Gates and Obama and...well, I guess they'll only sell two. Way to go Lenovo! That's what I call some audacious hope.

UVU or bust

2009-01-20T16:19:00.001-08:00

Well folks, I just got hired to teach an Intro to Mass Communications class at the Utah Valley University. When you may ask do I start? Oh, on Thursday. And no I don't have the text book, but that shouldn't worry me, should it?

Deep Thoughts

2009-01-19T21:12:00.000-08:00

Where are we going to be living in a few months? I haven't figured that out yet, but yes my eyes are the exact same color as my hair. Magical, huh.

A great moment

2009-01-09T18:41:00.000-08:00

So I took Clayton (my youngest brother) and Jessa's (his fiancees) pictures on Monday afternoon and am currently working my way through them. Although the sun was setting (as you can tell from the lighting) and it was cold out this is one of my favorites. I just think it is so cute. I can just imagine Clayton telling one of his famous corny jokes and Jessa just getting a kick out of it. Welcome to the family Jessa, we are so glad to have you!

Post from Caroline

2009-01-07T17:59:00.001-08:00

I haven't posted anything for awhile so I decided I ought to post something. Here is a picture of me and my niece Clara, she is a doll and she has great hair! This was taken on New Year's Eve. We had a great time with my family on New Year's Eve with my family and celebrating my Dad's 70th birthday (which was earlier in the month).

So today I met with a professor at Utah Valley University to get a job as an adjunct professor in the communications department. It was good and bad. Basically I have a job teaching next fall and possibly summer, but not for this semester. Afterall, today was the first day of class at the school, but I was hoping that they might possibly have a spot to fill this semester. Oh well, I guess if we are still around in the fall, I could teach then. By the way, for those of you who don't know, it looks like our plans to move to Italy have fallen through. We were hoping to be there already, but with the economy and therefore a decline in the amount of drafting work I have we won't be able to go...sadly the dream has died. Now, we just have to decide what we want to do with our lives now, easy right? Do we stay here or do we move? And if we move, where do we move to? Anyone have an answer for me...

Okay, so this was a lot of rambling, but I just wanted to post something. In the meantime, send photography jobs www.stilllightphotography.com my way (hint hint) and check out my cooking blog www.twolittlechefs.blogspot.com and tell your friends about it.

ciao

Christmas is in the Snow

2008-12-30T23:49:00.000-08:00

Caroline and I had a blast in Calgary with my family. We did not want to come home. Here are a few shots of our fun.

Yes, that was a cornish game hen and yes we got my grandma to play her first video games ever.

The Eternal Drive

2008-12-23T14:26:00.000-08:00

Because plane tickets to Canada were about $1200 or more Caroline and I decided to drive instead. To preserve our dear little Blueberry (a 1997 Toyota Corolla with over 215,000 miles) we decided to rent a Chevy Cobalt. We picked the car up at 8am on Friday the 19th and after loading it up we set out for the frozen north at about 9am. Unfortunately the weather felt like reminding us that it was Christmas time and we were going to the land of the snow.

By the time we had hit Salt Lake it was snowing pretty good and some very timid drivers kept our pace somwhat limited. Me being me, with my countless years of sliding and slipping experience I kept us at the breakneck speed of 45mph. Everyone we passed seem to think that we were either trying to make a getaway from robbing a bank or that we had escaped from a mental insitution.

The snow eventually stopped falling and the roads were okay for awhile, but it got very cold. So cold that all of the windows had ice on the inside, which Caroline even attempted to scrape off with little success. Because it was so cold the next time it snowed it was more like a very fine dust, which would billow about in the very strong winds making visibility sometimes only a few feet. Thankfully, after about an hour we made it through that too. For the rest of the way we had snow off and on, but the roads were okay most of the time.

By around supper time we had only made it to Great Falls Montana, where we experienced another challenge: signage. In a brilliant attempt to increase their population Great Falls has decided to put up "I-15 Business" signs everywhere without any that actually lead you to the freeway. Thus, after eating we merrily followed them until we were suddenly leaving town on a 2-lane country road heading southeast. Fearful that we might get trapped in Montana and be forced to wrangle cattle for the rest of our lives I executed a 180 on the snowy roads by using the e-brake and we backtracked for half an hour in order to return to the real I-15, from whence we resumed our pilgrimage to the motherland.

We finally arrived in Calgary at the very pleasant hour of 1am. Our 16 hour snowy adventure was finally over and we could sleep, except that I couldn't sleep because my body felt weird not moving. Oh well, sleep is for sissys anyway. Besides, driving allowed us to bring our snowboarding gear, so tomorrow we will get to enjoy all that fabulous snow. Hurry for snow!

3 Years and Counting

2008-12-10T19:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Brad and my 3rd anniversary!

The thing about being married for three years is that the you know each other even better than you did the first two years, and definitely more than you did the day you married each other. It is amazing to me to remember that day and realize that although I knew Brad, I didn't really know Brad. Lucky for me, I love Brad more than I did that day. He is a wonderful man and husband and I feel privileged to be his wife.

To celebrate we went to the temple. It is fun for me because I get to wear my real wedding dress every time we go to the temple (I wasn't married in the "wedding gown" you see me in above, but in my temple dress). Afterwards we went and got a bite to eat and then we went to a BYU Chamber Orchestra concert that ended up being really good. The orchestra played, among other things, Vivaldi's Four Seasons, it was beautiful.

I can't believe it's been 3 years! I can't believe it's only been 3 years! Mostly I am just looking forward to forever with Brad.

(Yes I am a sentimental little gal')

Some Very Important Questions

2008-12-03T18:58:00.000-08:00

T-Rav, thanks for the great questions. Maybe I should work as a CIA agent guarding the president from mobs of zombie 5 year olds.

84%

31

73%

343 WATTS

Gooble-gooble

2008-12-01T21:00:00.000-08:00

This past Thanksgiving Day was a weekend of relaxation, fun, friends, and family. Brad and I spent the weekend at my parents home in Midway. Our friends Travis and Kelly Z., Bradon and Michelle R., and Clayton (my youngest brother) all came up Thanksgiving morning. We spent the day cooking, playing the Wii, and napping (some more than others). Everyone spent the night and us ladies and T-rav went shopping on Black Friday. Brad and I ended up staying at my parents house Wed to Saturday, it was a lot of fun. Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us use your house while you were in California! We had a great weekend.

Here are some choice pictures from Thanksgiving Day!

You can see the boys working hard...at Duck Hunt!

Michelle and Kelly working on the final prep.

Brandon (being the tall man that he is) did his part and got some of the kitchen lights to work so that we could have more light.

Brad worked on the mashed potatoes, his speciality!

No one was exempt from helping with the feast, even Clayton! (Although Clayton didn't make any gumdrop turkeys this year, which really was a shame.)

Here's the group, minus me. Someone had to document the event.

A sample of some of the fixins'. Yes we made homemade cranberry sauce (and it was delicious) and we put butter on anything that would hold still. And yes we cooked all the insides of the turkey, and yes T-rav tried most of them. Kelly did a great job of planning the menu!

Gooble-gooble! Hope your feast was as great as ours!

It's Alive!

2008-11-25T20:41:00.000-08:00

I a made a comment on Caroline's last post about her spatula, and guess what...she didn't throw it away. Apparently it was just too good of a spatula to get rid of, so we still have it, although it is now a mini-handled spatula. : )

Breaking Binge

2008-11-24T17:23:00.000-08:00

There have been various times in my life when I go through a binge...not an alcohol or drinking binge, but rather a breaking binge. I appear to be in one now. First, I broke a glass at NH and Ashley's house. Next, I somehow managed to tear apart our fitted sheet during the middle of the night while I was sleeping. Not near my feet or anything, but underneath my mid-back. And then the other night while I was making some cookies I managed to break a spatula. Now I wasn't doing anything labor intensive with it, I was merely scooping out some shortening from a can. So let me apologize in advance if I come to your house and break something. I don't mean too, I am just binging!

Pics of the Planetarium

2008-11-16T22:16:00.000-08:00

I just thought I would post a few more pics of the planetarium we saw in California and one of my cute wife.

Everything you can Imagine and More

2008-11-13T21:50:00.000-08:00

As Caroline mentioned we went to a car show in Vegas last week, the SEMA Show to be exact. It is for aftermarket car jive, like rims, turbo chargers, body kits, etc. and is only open to those in the industry and the media (and spouses in Caroline's case). Despite this it is one of the largest car shows in the world, with tons of international attendees and everything you can imagine and more, from exotics and luxury cars, to offroaders and econo boxes, but all are decked out. With all those sweet cars everywhere it was amazing how quickly we were saying, oh just another Porsche, another GT-R, another Rolls. Here is a very small sampling of what there was there. I am curious to see if you can even figure out what some of them are. Post them in the comments, a point for each one...and no peaking. If you need to see a full-sized version click on the picture. Oh and that is a machine gun mounted on the fender of the second to last one.

If you are still interested in seeing more I have been posting batches of them on www.motorcities.com

Phew

2008-11-13T10:25:00.000-08:00

I just finished my thesis defense. I passed with minor revisions. I am relived, but not feeling too excited about having to actually work on it anymore. Mostly I just feel really tired now after that all the adrenaline and anxiety has worn off.

Last weekend

2008-11-12T15:06:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Brad and I went to LV and LA. It was great. Warm weather, friends, family and plenty of hamburgers. (For those of you who don't know, I love hamburgers. Funny that I was a vegetarian for so long...) Anyways we went to a car show in Las Vegas, I did some clothes shopping in Vegas, and then we headed to Cali., where the sun is bright and the traffic is plentiful. Here are a couple of pics. I am going to let Brad post the car pics he wants from the car show...hint hint Brad.

This is at the Griffiths Observatory near NH and Ashley's house.Got to love those birds of paradise.NH and Ashley are much more hip than us.

This is a good resemblance of Brad's life. Him just trying to get along and live life and me hassling him most of the time.

This is the Wann family. That is my sister and her husband Guy and their children.This is a reenactment of their "engagement" photos.That's me and Brad at the Wann's house.

Two Little Chefs

2008-11-03T10:38:00.000-08:00

My friend Kelly and I started a blog about food and cooking. We will be cooking together and I will be doing the photography for the site. Check it out. So far we only have the one recipe posted, but we plan to update regularly. If you like it, please forward it to your friends. Cheers.

Patrice gets Bored at Night

2008-11-02T20:40:00.000-08:00

I do not know if we have mentioned Patrice before or not, but she is our friendly neighborhood ghost and all michief in our house gets blamed on her. Our computer chair that loves to creak when no one is in the room and messes that...ummm...no one made.

Anyway, she is up to a new trick it seems. A couple of times over the last year our TV has just magically turned itself on. Last night though Patrice was apparently quite bored, because at 2am, Caroline got up to go to the bathroom and the TV was on. Of course she turned it off, but then when I got up at the 7:30am for my meeting it was on again. That naughty girl.

Good News

2008-10-30T15:19:00.000-07:00

Today I got the go ahead from my thesis chair to submit my thesis to my entire committee and schedule a defense date. I am very happy. I am almost done! Yeah!

Halloween Politics

2008-10-30T14:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I totally stole this off of Erin's blog, but I had to post it too.

Aaaah those Heady Days of Summer

2008-10-29T08:47:00.000-07:00

For some reason my computer saw fit to remove my desktop background. Thus, my first priority this morning was to find a suitable replacement. While doing so I came across some pictures from some of our summer adventures and I must say that fall arrived sooner than it should have. By the way if you click on the pic you should get a jumbo version.

Wiiiiiiiiiii

2008-10-27T21:18:00.000-07:00

Trav and Kelly having a blast trying to knock each other out.

Getting Ready for Halloween

2008-10-27T21:14:00.000-07:00

Caroline has been really excited about Halloween, buying plenty of candy, even though we don't get trick or treaters, and so today we cut pumpkins. Here they are. Any guesses as to whose is whose?

Brad's Birthday!!

2008-10-27T20:35:00.001-07:00

Brad had a birthday on Saturday, so we spent the day celebrating. We had a lazy morning and opened birthday presents, we then went and made some purchases and went for a casual hike in the mountains. That evening Brad and I went to PF Changs and ate some delicious food. After which we had some friends over for cake and ice cream and a little wii competition.

Brad owning the soccer field (as usual) the day before his birthday.

That's us on the big day.

Brad's cake. I made a two-layer chocolate cake with a rasberry frosting filling, chocolate frosting everywhere else, and blueberries on top.

A little tribute to my Brad. He is a wonderful person, a great man, and an extraordinary husband and he has so many talents. I am so happy that he married me and puts up with me everyday.

I love you Brad.

For ME

2008-10-23T21:27:00.000-07:00

All I want for Christmas is a little kittty like this! Sure it might grow up and eat me, but hey, you have to make some sacrifices in life for what you want most.

What we do on our weekends...prepare for the Revolution!

2008-10-23T21:15:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday we Clark's headed up to the hills and shot us some gunzz. Okay we aren't as redneck as that...but we did go shooting, and it was great fun. Here are some pictures from the family outing.

Here is Brad shooting T-rav's AK47.

Here is me shooting T-rav's Ak47 (I just don't look quite as natural with it as the guys do).

Here is Dave Clark (Brad's Dad) shooting the AK (he just looks much more natural and less ackward than I do)...
And here is what T-rav looks like when he is shooting, talking about, thinking about, dreaming about his AK47.

Here's me shooting the Sig

Moral of the story, don't make any of us mad...

Rio Tinto Stadium

2008-10-22T10:56:00.000-07:00

This is the new Rio Tinto stadium for the Real Salt Lake soccer team. Brad and I have some great friends that have some great (front row) season tickets to the Real. They have taken us to one other game when they were still playing at the UofU and gave us their tickets once when they were out of town. Props to the Staheli's (who are currently in England). Anyways, we were lucky enough to attend the Inaugural game on Oct 9 against the New York Redbulls. It was great fun, even though the game was a tie at 1-1.

Sadly Brad and I did not take our camera thinking it would be too dark, but boy were we wrong. The lighting in the new stadium is excellent. And there was lots of fun pre-game events because it was the inaugural game- fireworks, a military helicopter fly by, the unveiling of an enormous flag, etc.

While we are not sure that the Real warrants their own stadium, it was sure fun to be a part of the action. We heart the Staheli's for taking us and letting us enjoy the new stadium from the front row!

A couple things about the new stadium. It is much smaller than we expected, the night we went it was a sell out. Every seat is a chair which is very nice and the lighting is excellent (as I mentioned), and it is in a better location for those who live in Provo, because it is now located in Sandy.

Best Ever Blueberry Dessert!

2008-10-14T19:58:00.000-07:00

Brad's father has been in town, so this Sunday we had a Thanksgiving dinner at our house because Thanksgiving was celebrated in Canada this Monday. So we figured we would celebrate Sunday night while his Dad was here and the Memmott's could come over too.

Anyway, we had lots of good food, spiral-cut ham, mashed potatoes, broccoli salad, green bean casserole, homemade rolls and more. And to top it off I made this delicious Peach & Blueberry Crisp with Spiced Pecan Topping. It was so good! Click here to get the recipe off my other blog. Seriously, this was GOOD, especially served with some good vanilla-bean ice cream.

Who's in charge here?

2008-10-09T11:21:00.000-07:00

Dear Government,

Please quit spending my money.

Thanks,
YOUR BOSS!

Frustrations

2008-10-07T10:37:00.000-07:00

How do you deal with frustrations? Brad and I really want to make the move to Italy, the sooner the better, but with the economy as wacked out as it is (stupid goverment) we don't know if and when we will be able to go. Why you ask? Well if buisness's are unable to get loans to build, then they can't build, thus they do not need an architect to design their buildings, thus the draftsman don't have buildings to draw. We are hoping that the architectual business will pick up, although the winter months tend to be a little slower anyways, so that I will continue to have a job drafting. Next frustration, google adsense doesn't want me. Both Brad and I decided to start other blogs and put ads on them to try and earn a little more money. However, I just got an email saying I was not accepted to Adsense. Why? Your guess is as good as mine, I guess I need to do a little more research and see how to be accepted, or try another advertising route. So how do I deal with stress? Keep on trying (and maybe complain, moan, and groan a little bit along the way too)!