Boston 2009

Darren and I just spent the past week in Boston. We went out there for Andy and Kat's wedding on Friday and then stayed until Tuesday to do all the tourist things. The wedding was beautiful. A lot of pictures were taken but none from my camera. I carried the video camera around while Darren photographed. It was a sunny day but very cold and windy. Andy and Kat were troopers staying out there in the cold without coats, gloves or hats. The reception was lovely as well, but again, I just video taped and Darren took the photos. So you will have to wait for those.

Saturday we still had our rental car. We were trying to decide if we should drive north or south. After getting advice from a few people at the wedding we decided to drive north. We first went to Rockport, MA and visited Halibut Point State Park which juts out into the Atlantic Ocean. It was windy and very cold. The beach was all huge boulders and when the ocean waves would hit the rocks it would freeze. So there was ice everywhere. You had to be very careful where you stepped.

Tracie posing by a tree at the park. At the parking lot you followed a wooded path before you got to the beach. That is where this was taken. Darren didn't want us to take this picture because he thought it was dumb and girls don't go around hugging trees. He's right but it made a fun picture anyway.

After the state park we drove into Gloucester, America's first seaport. In the downtown area there was a Christmas tree made out of lobster cages with buoys for ornaments. Tracie is practicing her cheerleader moves and Ben is eating her foot.

Darren and I by the Christmas tree

Dad and Tracie on one of the boulders

Dad being brave and touching the icy water. Right after he got up the waves washed over his feet. Good thing he wasn't still kneeling down.

All day Saturday the weatherman were predicting a huge storm for Washington DC and every other place north along the coast. It wasn't supposed to hit Boston until Saturday night. And they weren't sure if they would get 1-2 feet of snow or 1-2 inches. On Sunday morning we woke up to a white world and it was still snowing. I don't know how much they actually got but I would guess it was somewhere in between. We decided that we weren't going to spend all day in our hotel room just because of some snow. After all, we are from snow country. So we bundled up and ventured out to the Subway since we no longer had our rental car. We rode the Subway to the Boston Art Museum. Then we rode it to the North End, Boston's Italian Neighborhood, to eat lunch. We loved that neighborhood and would have loved walking around it more if there wouldn't have been so much snow still uncleared. By that time it was time to go to TD Gardens where the Celtics play. We had a fun time watching the game, then came back to the hotel for the night.

Ben, Mom and I on the subway.

Darren and I at the basketball game.

The Boston Art Museum

Ben's snow angel

Monday was our last day to be tourists so we felt like we had to cram a lot of stuff in. We left the hotel at 7:30, got on the Subway and rode across (actually under) the Charles river to Charleston MA. We ate breakfast at Dunkin Doughnuts (we knew they would have one there because they are on every street corner in Boston) then climbed the hill to the Bunker Hill monument. I couldn't remember much about the battle of Bunker Hill. They have a wonderful monument that you can see all over the city since it is on a hill and very tall. The museum across the street tells the story of the battle and it was actually very moving for me to hear. Next time I go to Boston I am going to catch up my early American history so the places mean more when I visit.

After Bunker Hill we walked to the USS Constitution, a ship either from the war or a remake of it. I'm not sure which because it is closed Monday through Wed and we couldn't see it. So we walked back across the bridge to Boston and found the Old North Church instead. That is a cool building. It is the original one from Revolutionary war times and is still used for church services today. There was an old cemetery by it but it was too hard to wade through the snow to look at it.

The science museum was next, then the aquarium, then the skywalk observatory tower where you can see all of Boston from high above. We did manage to get a lot of things done that day but there are still many things I still want to see -- anyone for another trip to Boston.

Ben, Mom, Tracie, and Dad hiking up Bunker hill. Check out the Dunkin Doughnuts cups :-)

We had a great Thanksgiving this year but I have no pictures to prove it. I had my camera with me but didn't take any pictures. We drove down to Fayette on Wed, spent Wed night at the Gunnison Inn and had a great meal with all of my brothers and sisters and their families, my parents, Grandma and Grandpa Bartholomew, Grandpa Christiansen and aunts, uncles and cousins from both sides of the family. It's always great to see people you don't get to see very often. After dinner some of the crowd went to get Christmas trees. I stayed behind to visit.

Thursday night we went to Salt Lake so we would be ready to get up bright and early for black Friday! We missed some of the great deals by not being there right when the stores opened but Darren went with his Dad and sister and got the most important things. Good job, Darren! We spent the rest of the weekend with Darren's family except for a bridal shower for Kat.

Sunday, when we were driving home, Darren showed me a facebook message he had received from our neighbor. It said something to the effect that a pipe had broken in our back yard and water was spurting everywhere so a different neighbor had called the city and the city had turned off our water. We were stressed out the rest of the way home wondering if we were going to have water and, more importantly, if water would be all over the basement. As soon as we got home I ran in the house and checked out the basement and Darren checked out the backyard. Nothing was in the house, thank goodness. In the backyard were some cool ice formations along the fence and paths in the garden where the water had run but that was all you could see. Apparently we didn't winterize the sprinkler system like we should have and the expensive back flow valve we had to special order broke. Something to deal with in the spring.

Here are a few pictures Kevin took while we decorated for Christmas:

Me putting strings on the new ornaments

Ethan putting the star on the tree. You can tell the Christmas bulbs were put on by kids. I rearranged a little after we were done.

Jacob "helping" by playing with the decorations.

Fall 2009

I've been called to repentance by Rose and Andy. Andy, here are your Halloween pictures. Rose, yes, I will try to do better. It's not that I haven't had anything to blog about. I just haven't been motivated to sit down and get it done. So here are a hodge podge of pictures from the last 6 wks.

We (Darren and I) were in charge of our first pinewood derby in September. It was also Kevin's first pinewood derby. So we got the experience of making a car (okay the neighbors actually helped Kevin with his car but Darren helped Ethan make one).

Here are three of the cars starting out on the track. I was the scorekeeper so Kevin took this picture.

The course set up and ready to go.

The score board

Kevin turned 11 yrs old in the past 6 wks. One of his presents was a bottle of Amazing Sauce from Wingers because he loves Wingers wings so much --- not that he gets them too often.

These are my two sick boys. At the beginning of October I was supposed to go with Darren to CAlifornia and Rose was going to watch the boys. But two days before we were to go, Jacob came down with the flu (I don't think it was swine flu. All we know was that the nose swab they did came out positive for flu.) Ethan started with fever the next day. It was also the week Eastern Idaho kids have out of school for potato harvest. So my kids spent their vacation days sick in bed and I spent my CA vacation days taking care of sick kids. Kevin didn't get sick but he was not happy about staying in ID when he could have been playing with Jared in UT.

There was a straw maze advertised in the newspaper and I thought it would be fun for the kids. So we took the neighbor boys and tried it out. It took us about 40 minutes to get through the first time. The older boys did it a second time and were done in 10 minutes.

Boo at the Zoo -- what better place to trick or treat than at the zoo? Especially the day before Halloween. That's two nights of trick or treating.

Jeff and Tracie were good sports and tagged along with us.

A leopard and a witch. Not a traditional witch's cat but it works.

And, last but not least, I made applesauce with the many apples on our trees. My co-worker lent me her fruit/veg grinder attachment for a kitchen aid and it sure made applesauce making easier than the last time I tried it. It took two days and a big mess but we now have many jars of yummy applesauce -- that my kids actually like.

Table Rock

The Rexburg 16th Ward went on a hike to Table Rock this past Saturday. For those of you not familiar with our part of Idaho, it's a very popular hike. It's located right next to a scout camp so many scouts hike it every year. But so do a lot of other people. Someone in our ward said it is listed among the top 20 hikes in America to take. Table Rock is on top of a mountain that is right next to the Grand Teton Mountains and is on the very edge of Grand Teton National Park. Our two youngest kids were too young to make it so Darren said I could go and take Kevin. When I found out it was a 15 mile hike I decided not to take Kevin until I had tried it first. Now I wish I would have because three of the boys a few months older than him did it with no problem. But I will definitely do it again so he can come. And anyone else that wants to go can come, too. Don't let the length scare you. It took us pretty much all day with lots of rest breaks. It's 7.74 miles to the top with an increase in elevation from about 5000 feet to 11000 feet. It took us 5 hours to get to the top and four hours to get down due to someone twisting their ankle. Here are my pictures to prove I was there:

Me by one of the four creek crossings. The trail was very pretty with creeks, lots of trees, wild flowers, etc. Some of the people in our group saw a moose but it was gone when I got there.















Table Rock from far away. It is the round looking mountain on the right. The other two mountains sticking up in the background are part of the Tetons.















I was trying to show all the ant like people walking on the ridge here but they don't really show up.















Another view from far away.















Here it is a little closer...















And closer...















And closer...















until it's really close. But the last bit was the very hardest. It doesn't look that hard in the picture but it is very steep and has a lot of loose rocks. I wish I would have taken a picture of the huge pile of big rocks you have to cross right before you get to this spot.















Finally on top of Table Rock!! The Tetons look close enough to touch.















My friend Kimber, and I on Table Rock.















A view of the canyon between Table Rock and the Tetons. Can you find the little lake down there?















The Tetons.















Some of our ward sitting on Table Rock and a different view from the top.















Another view from the top.

Labor Day

Over labor day we had two clone troopers visit our house - one was tall, the other short. I thought they used guns but these clone troopers used light sabers. They must have been Jedi clone troopers.







































We also had Harry Potter visit. It was a busy weekend with strange visitors.















This is produce from out beautiful garden.



















This is our compost pile that is going to make a beautiful garden and beautiful flower beds next year.















This is a picture of a helpful insect that lives very abundantly in our garden. When I was out there last I saw 10 on one little plant.















And this is our beautiful garden.

Clark family reunion 2009

At the beginning of this month we attended the Clark family reunion in Island Park. It was only Darren's parents and siblings with their families. Just the perfect size. Pat used some of her inheritance to rent a "cabin" (someone's summer home that is much nicer and bigger than the one I currently live in). We stayed there for 3 nights and spent one day in Yellowstone. The house was on the Island Park reservoir and had a private boat dock so we brought canoes and spent a lot of time by the water. The following pictures might not all be in order but they tell the story.















The last night we were there we (meaning Curtis and Sam) built a fire in the firepit and roasted smores. This is one of the only pictures I have of Jacob sitting calmly.















Kevin, Curtis, and Carson roasting marshmallows (actually Shandy is the third one roasting marshmallows but you can't see her in the picture).















Dexter came upstairs one morning with his giraffe shirt on. Jake was wearing a different shirt but as soon as he saw Dexter's shirt he had to put his matching shirt on.
















Headstand competition between Camilla, Curtis, Courtney, and Kevin. Dexter and Jacob were attempting it, as well. I think Courtney won but someone can correct me if I'm wrong.
















Uncle Mike and Curtis kept the boys entertained one evening with a little fun rough housing.















I had to take a picture of Carson's shoes because they look so much like my own boys' shoes. Boy's shoes do not last very long.



















Ethan managed to find bugs even in Yellowstone where there were so many other things to see.
















Darren, Carson, and Jake looking down at the bottom of a beautiful water fall and canyon. We had to take a nice little hike with switch backs to get there. It was hard to keep Jacob from running down there but it was even harder to get him to walk back up.




















The canyon at the bottom of the falls. I found a cool puzzle in West Yellowstone with this same place to take home as a souvenier.



















Picnic lunch in Yellowstone.















Another lunch picture.















Dexter, Ethan and Jacob at the mud pots.















A bat we saw flying through the air and then crash landing in the water. Darren rescued it with the oar and let it go on dry land.















This picture amazes me and gives me a new respect for Sam. He has his 1 year old son, Cameron, my 4 year old son, Jacob, and my 6 year old son, Ethan, in there with him. And the only help rowing is from the 6 year old. No one forced him into doing this, either. Pretty amazing Sam.



















Jacob on the dock. Most of the kids jumped off the dock into the water. Not Jacob. He wasn't brave enough. But we had a rule that any kid by the water had to wear a life jacket. I knew one of the kids would fall in the water without trying and Jacob was the one that did it. Thank goodness for life jackets and for Uncle Sam being there to pull him out when he was crying and sputtering.