Thanksgiving Weekend

To Autumn

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun.

(Just a little piece of Keats's amazing poem about this beautiful season.)

We've been enjoying the fall. Each beautiful day is so precious because we know what's coming (and unlike Daniel, most of us aren't that excited about it).

Some fall stuff follows:

Maggie's first violin concert at CJH.



It brought back memories of Tyler's days in the orchestra.















Scott and I had so much fun taking the dogs up in the foothills above Centerville yesterday.



Those dogs are the most willing hiking companions. You never have to ask them twice.

See the picture below to get a sense of the cheerful additude we got when we made Daniel and Maggie go along on the hike today.



We actually had a great time. Daniel's smiling on the inside.



Halloween. Maggie and her friend McKenna--with their best 80s look going. McKenna's mom made Maggie's bangs look...actually a lot like the bangs I had circa 1986.



I know, I know, another blog post ending with Scott sitting in front of the fire. But this actually was a pretty cool fire. Scott's idea, Halloween night, a big fire on the driveway and corn dogs and apple juice for the trick or treaters. We sat out there for about three hours and had a great time.

What I don't want to forget

I went to Provo and cooked dinner for my parents Friday. They celebrated another anniversary last week, 58 years. Their life is a bit slower these days, but I know all my siblings agree that it is sweet and satisfying to see the companionship they have enjoyed in their later years. I loved the visit so much, I thought I would blog a few things I never want to forget:

1. My parents only have one “point of contention,” as my dad calls it: which way their wedding photo faces on top of the TV cabinet. My dad likes it pointing forwards—towards their easy chairs—so he can look at the photo. My mom turns it at an angle, so she (“she” in the photo) can be “looking at her kids” –our family photos on the wall adjacent to the TV. Friday, Mom was winning. (But Dad was getting ready to walk by and switch it again.)

2. Ever the farmer, my dad goes out each morning and “harvests” a rosebud. His rosebushes are gigantic, and I love that an important part of his daily routine is bringing a single, beautiful rose inside to share with Mom.

3. My dad likes to cook something “a little gourmet” for Saturday morning breakfast. Since Dad does all of the cooking these days, he makes Saturday breakfast something special, like waffles or egg in the bread. He asked me to leave three pieces of the French bread after dinner so he could make extra-gourmet egg in the bread for breakfast.

4. Loud music can be used for pain management. Dad loves to tell his morning routine. Up early, go downstairs, turn on the gas fireplace to heat the carpet, do stretching with light weights and bands as he watches the opening of the stock market, and then, onto the treadmill for the final loosening up. I asked him if he listens to his Bose stereo. He proceeded to push the button and unleash some horrifying—Mexican polka, maybe?—extremely loud music. He has it pointed toward the treadmill, and remarked, “I play it about that loud, to drown out the pain!” Finally, after this warmup he heads for the golf course or the Orem rec center pool. The happy news is that he suffers with much less back pain than he has for years.

5. When I suggested that we should put on a clean tablecloth for dinner, the woman who washed the bed linens and night clothes for nine people WEEKLY for decades said, “We’ll just put the dishes on, and then we won’t see that the tablecloth is dirty.” What?

Well, it was great. There were other highlights I should probably only tell you in person: Mom’s comment about s-e-x, Dad’s “shudder” at the name of a certain crazy TV/radio talkshow host, fun stuff like that. They speak with so much love and gratitude about my siblings who go over every week—Marlene to do yardwork, MaryLynn to help with myriad projects and doctor visits, Steven and Trish and all that they take on—along with the rest of us who get down there when we can.

I enjoyed this so much that I think "What I Don't Want to Forget" will become a regular blog feature.

Summer has come and passed...wake me up when September ends

Just like that, it's over. And here we go again with another school year. The house is a little quieter (early to bed, yes!) with Allison and Krista in Logan. It's still too hot to say there is an autumn nip in the air, but I'm sure it will come.


After a week of school, I realize that I really do like my job. I just wish I didn't have to go to it so often.


What I miss most about summer? That's easy. It's the mornings. Getting up and going for a long dog walk, coming home and sitting in the back yard alone, listening to the birds, enjoying the quiet of the house when everyone is still in bed. I. Love. Those. Moments. And one other thing--days when there is absolutely nothing on the calendar. No obligations to go anywhere all day long.

However, if everyday was like that I surely wouldn't appreciate it as much as I do knowing that those precious moments will have to be put off for another school year.

Some photos from Summer 2009:


Maggie's first year at YW camp. Here she is around the campfire with Hannah and McKenna.



We took a beautiful hike with the Young Women up around Causey Reservoir.



Do much yoga? Below, demonstrated by Cooper is what the perfect Downward Dog is supposed to look like. (I know, he makes it look so easy: back flat--not rounded, sit bones to the sky. Must be a reason for the name of the position. Note: he and Daisy also do a great Upward Dog.)

The baby turns 12. So hard to believe. She smiles--sort of, along with Allison, who loves a good photo op. The cake is one of Krista's first efforts with fondant. No, it wasn't supposed to look like a hat.

Here come the braces.

A Clark family reunion at Ponderosa Zion Ranch near the east entrance to Zion National Park in June was a blast.

Below, my brother-in-law Ernie enjoys a refreshing moment in the Zion Narrows. Scott, Ernie, another brother-in-law--Eric Olson--, nephew Stephen Olson, niece Melissa Ehlert and her husband Steve, and a few of Eric's friends, hiked the Narrows (all 17 miles) one day. Scott said it is, perhaps, the most beautiful hike he's ever taken.

Eric took some of us on a backcountry hike one day. We lucked out and enjoyed overcast skies, even some rain sprinkles felt good. Hot sun would have caused much pain as we crossed the navajo sandstone, and we had already suffered so much going up and down soft sand dunes.

They just don't look that impressive in the photo below, but when we saw this group of bighorn sheep we were so excited--and they seemed closer than the photo indicates.

A rest on the hike. Allison, niece Jessica, Tyler, nephew Lindon (basically right off the plane from his mission in Tijuana), and brother-in-law Eric Bluth.

On the Riverwalk trail, Tyler and Daniel.

August means a trip to Newport Beach, camping at the Newport Dunes with Scott's cousins.

Maggie and I take a break on the daily hike from the beach back to wherever we were able to find a parking spot.

Above, Scott's special sauce--Desitin--for warding off sunburn.

Above: Two longboards, an ocean breeze, a school playground on the beach, and a beach sheet = a good opportunity for a little sailing.


We love Newport.

The perfect ending to the summer was the wedding of the perfect couple, my niece Jessica and her groom, Taylor (as close to perfect as anyone has a right to be). Rain in the morning cleared off for an absolutely beautiful reception in Karen and Ernie's backyard. Simply perfect.

Below, the sister of the bride, Nicole (a brand new 5th grade teacher!) and her husband Travis. (We're big fans of Travis and his dry, understated wit.)

Sweet Krista.

Below, my parents, Colleen and Wayne. They tell us that getting old is no fun, but they sure stay on the move and in good spirits every (painful) step of the way.

The next two pictures are of my younger brother Steven's children (along with wife Trish, of course). Daniel--my kids call him "Wee Daniel" so as not to confuse him with our own "Big Daniel," and since he's half Irish it seems to fit him just right. And Maeve, the cutest little three year. They were born many years after the bulk of the grandchildren, and they have been such a joy to my parents. Everybody should be so lucky as to get cute new grandkids in their 80s.

Allison with, that's right, two bouquets, because she is the most determined bouquet catcher out there. All of the girls in the family have learned just to stand back when the bouquet is thrown. The girls on the other side of the wedding don't know this, so there could have been scratches, bruises, or scars as a result of the latest toss. I know she's catching it, not because she's in any hurry to get married, but because she loves beautiful flowers. Right, Alli?

And finally...

There is nothing Scott enjoys more than a fire in the backyard in the evening. I have to agree, it really doesn't get any better than that.

The first post

On my list of goals for the summer (why do I make the stupid list, I'm asking), I included "create blog." Now, the summer is half over--more than half--and I would like to be able to check off something. So, here goes: the first posting.

We're having a fun and crowded summer with all five kids at home. Krista is tolerating having the family room serve as her bedroom. No privacy and she shares it with the dogs when they are in their crates, but not as cozy as Tyler's summer bedroom: the storage room. We used to all fit in the house, and all in bedrooms, but somehow that just seems impossible now. It's been a summer of ups and downs, like every season, I guess. Like life. Mostly, we are just cherishing this time when we are all together (although you could probably count the number of times all 7 of us have been in the house at the same time on one hand).

I'll post a few photos from a day at Pineview.

Taking a break before the next round of tubing.

The three girls.

With those new braces, our baby is looking too old.