Summer 2011

Here is a "Reader's Digest" version of our summer (with a lot of pictures)!  We were able to escape the Florida heat for a few months and spend the summer in Idaho while Anson did a Clerkship there!  We had so much fun spending time with family.   The whole Clark family was able to get together a lot (which is a big deal since 2 of us live on the East Coast).  Here are some things we did:

First we drove across the country - yes the long way!  We were able to drive up to South Carolina to see Anson's siblings who were there selling.  It was so fun to see them!  I didn't get any pictures with them.....but I did get a picture of this "Piggly Wiggly" sign.  I didn't know that was a real grocery store.  I love the movie "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton" but had no idea that this was a real store!

While driving we were able to barely miss the huge fires in Georgia, the tornadoes in the south, crossed the flooded Mississippi at it's highest point, drove for 2 days across Texas, and then finally made it to Arizona.  We were able to spend a week at Anson's parents home!  Shaef had so much fun with "Grandma Annie, Grandpa Dell and Toni".

Then we drove some more until we got to Idaho.  One of the first things we did was run a 5k with the Clark Family.  I beat my personal record but running in high altitudes is killer!  My little sister and I finished 1 second apart - Thanks for pushing me Triss! In the picture below we are standing in the order of how we finished (fastest - left....slowest -right).

We had a super fun 4th of July participating in some Family Olympics  and doing some fun family stuff.  The girls also painted their nails -

For the Olympics we were randomly put into teams.  Our team captains were the nieces.  We came up with team names and made shirts!

Rissa's Revolution (Rissa is the little cutie in the front)

The Firecrakers

Tommy's Teamers (Tommy refers to my little baby nephew who is named after my Father)

We played a bunch of different outside games, did relays, and had a lot of fun!  Shaef and Rissa soaked themselves with the water balls!

Shaef had soo much fun getting soo much attention and playing in such a big backyard with a trampoline!  He especially had fun making this fort below with Tanner and Trissy.  This picture doesn't do it justice - it was big and even had a portable DVD player wired in!

My mom is so adorable!  Her friends do a fun lunch thing to celebrate birthdays where they all go to lunch and put in money for a gift and for the birthday girls lunch!  A few times they have been able to ride in style in this old convertible!  They put on their old sunglasses and scarves - it is like an old fashioned movie!

My parents neighbor told my mom about a bunch of little chicks they had at Cal-Ranch so we took Shaef over and he was in love!!  There were about 10 containers full of little chicks in all different colors!  Shaef also got to pick out a little animal figurine (a lion) and grandma bought it for him!

Anson and Shaef were also able to attend the Darger Family Reunion (which I have no picture documentation of.....) but they had sooo much fun spending time with that side of the family!  Shaef often talks about throwing snow at Grandpa Dell and Brighty!  

The most important event of the summer was my brother's wedding!!!  Tanner married the beautiful and talented Elizabeth in the Salt Lake Temple!  It was so wonderful to be there in the temple with them!  Here is our first whole family picture!  

 My mommy and sisters!

 The parents and the newlyweds!

Oh look how cute they are and how happy they are!

Shaef had fun running around on the temple grounds but.....

 That quickly ended and this is how he was for the rest of the festivities!

 Here is Tanner and all the guys that were there to support him (brother, brother-in-laws, cousins, friends)

Here is our family picture in our wedding attire - it was the best we could get considering Shaef's mood and Anson's migraine headache. 

 As the family of the groom we worked all summer to prepare for the luncheon and the open house.  The luncheon was at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and was so fun!  

 The beautiful tables!

Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of the Open House - which is terrible because my mom did an amazing job planning and decorating.  We made all of the food for the open house including: spinach puffs, veggie pizzas, sandwich wraps, marshmallow fudge, 4 different kinds of chocolate truffles, 3 different kinds of cupcakes, and white chocolate coconut cheesecake!  The food was amazing and it was soo fun to make it all!  

(I will give more info on the recipes we used on my other blog "I can Create".) 

The summer came to an end a few days after the wedding festivities and we began again our trek across the country.  This time we took a more northern route and learned a few more things about the country:  there are huge rocks on the road in Colorado and they destroy your windshield when they are thrown at you by trucks,  Kansas really is as flat as they say, Missouri is "misserable" (it was over 100 degrees when we stopped there), It is a bad idea to "go a little farther" than planned...especially when all the hotels are sold out for 30 miles and you have to drive all the way to atlanta (a 13 hour day in the car with a 2 year old).  Those are all pretty negative things....so one positive thing - it is really fun to see our beautiful country and how different each state is!  

We are now home in Jacksonville and happy to be in our own beds.  Thanks for the fun summer family - we miss you all!!