Char and Clarke Bjarnason

Halloween

2011-11-06T15:25:00.001-08:00

I have a secret... shhh... I kind of hate Halloween. I love Fall, but Halloween is not my favorite holiday. I don't like dark and scary, going door to door asking for candy getting a disgusting amount of junk food. But.... I love my kids and they LOVE Halloween. And I love love love the costumes that my mother-in-law made for my girls.

Andrew the Ninja
Char the owl, at a girls night Halloween party
Cutest Dorothy ever
Sweet Alice in Wonderland.

We celebrated by going to our ward's truck or treat the kids each went around the parking lot at least 5times, their bags got so heavy they could barely carry them. Then we went trick or treating around our neighborhood for a few minutes. Gracie still (a week later) keeps going to doors and saying "Trick or Treat" she would like that night to last all year.

Gracie turns 2!

2011-11-06T15:14:00.001-08:00

For Gracie's birthday we took her to McDonalds for lunch, a special treat, since I hate McDonalds. Then she requested Pizza and rootbeer for dinner. We had a few friends come over for FHE. Clarke gave a short lesson on prayer, then we played a hilarious game of charades, then enjoyed her Baby Bop Ice Cream Cake.

For her gift this year she received a big bike (from mom and dad) baby doll from Grandma Cici, an art easle from Grandma B, big pink ball from Andrew and Lucy, barbie, big girl underwear, baby swing, leapfrog computer, and some bath toys.

Happy Birthday Gracie- Girl we LOVE YOU!!!

"Fall" in ONE day

2011-11-06T14:52:00.000-08:00

I admit it... "Fall" almost did not make it in our home. This is very unusual because I LOVE fall, I love the sweaters, apple cider, pumpkin patches, boots, soups, hot chocolate and etc. This year between all the moving, remodeling, sicknesses, and visits it almost didn't make it. So one morning I decided that we were going to do all our fall traditions in one day.
We called some friends and put together an inpromptu run to the pumpkin patch,
A speed run through the corn maze. (thankfully we didn't get lost)

Rested on some hay, only for 5 mins... we had a lot to doPicked out their own pumpkin
Okay... I took a small break too

Did a little meditating in a straw hut... a fall must =)
Ran to the store, bought some apple cider, ran home and made (or warmed up) some soup, carved pumpkins (girls pumpkin above, boys pumpkin below) roasted seeds, tried on costumes, and then went to bed.Did I forget anything?!?!

Grandma Cici comes to visit

2011-11-06T14:38:00.000-08:00

My mom flew out and helped me get settled into our new home. I didn't take a lot of pictures because we were super busy unpacking and cleaning. But when we did sneak out we did a lot of shopping, eating Trader Joe's yummies, and watching BBC's.

Our big excursion was the Jelly Belly Factory and the factory outlets in Fairfield. Both my mom and I got into the spirit of things and bought bags of different flavors of Jelly Bellies. Literally as soon as we walked out of the door we felt sick from eating so much candy and wondered what came over us to buy so much junk?!?!?! That is the second time I have done that... I don't even like Jelly Bellies, it is something they put into the air... BEWARE!

Thanks for coming Mom! Oh sorry to send you home with a humungous head cold. :)

Our second home/ remodel

2011-11-06T13:43:00.000-08:00

Purchasing our second home was a very different experience from our 1st home in Indiana. We bought a foreclosed townhouse 6 doors down from where we have been living. It needed a bit of love before we moved in. Remodeling is NOT for the faint of heart and we learned a LOT of lessons. Here are before and afters.

Before The kitchen - It wasn't that bad before hand, but my last kitchen was "a dark hole" and because the kitchen is super small I wanted to brighten and "happ-i-fy". Clarke was absolutely opposed to painting the kitchen and I almost chickened out, but in the end I am happy with my decision.... what do you think?

Before
During. HUGE kuddos to my wonderful inlaws who drove all the way up here to take care of the kids and helped with painting. I could NOT have done it without them!!!

After! I am still looking for a few small decorations to add a splash of color, but I love my happy little kitchen.

Before- living room The 1970's called and asked for their walls back! It was funny as we were deciding whether to buy the home we showed it to a few friends. The men all loved the walls and the all thought they were ghastly. There is definitely something different in our makeup.

During Underneath all that lovely paneling there was some aluminum wallpaper which was impossible to remove. We ended up having to drywall the whole thing.

After- I have never loved walls more then I love these walls. Every time I put a small nail in I die a little inside. The next remodeling project is the fireplace...
Before- The staircase. This paneling wasn't quite so ugly but it was still dark and needed to go.

After

Probably the biggest (and definitely more expensive) part to our remodel was replacing all the windows and doors. We went from broken aluminum single paned glass to primo vinyl glass.

SO GLAD IT IS DONE!!!

One year older and much much wiser

2011-09-18T21:55:00.000-07:00

On my actual birthday Clarke surprised me with breakfast in bed, his specialty eggs. Then he told me he had a surprise outing and I should dress like I was going to go jogging in my swimsuit (ummm... problem honey.... I would NEVER go jogging in my swimsuit WAY too many places that jiggle. ) So I wore shorts and a tee shirt. He took the kids over to our friends and he and I went on a 3 mile bike ride (uphill) to Lake Ilsanjo.
So the next part of the plan was that we were going to swim across the lake. Sounds adventurous, however because I ignored his swimsuit suggestion I did not feel like biking soaking wet or skinny dipping. Sorry Clarke, next time, I will dress like I was going jogging in a swimsuit.
After our bike ride he took me to my favorite restaurant the Crepevine. It served savory stuffed crepes- delish.
After that we ran over to the clubhouse where our friends were throwing their daughter a carnival surprise party. They did a great job the kids had a great time.

Then Clarke and the kids made me a delish dinner at home with my favorite ice cream. Thank you Clarke for making me feel so loved!

When the boys are away...

2011-09-18T21:38:00.000-07:00

So now that Andrew is in school all day I get lots of Mother/Daughter bonding time. I am really enjoying spending my days with my two girls! Lucy has become such a great helper and a wonderful big sister. I have been asked to babysit quite a bit lately and I tell Lucy that she is in charge of keeping them happy and I am incharge of keeping them safe and fed. We make a great team, and she plays with the kids and reads the books- I LOVE IT. Plus Gracie is getting older and the two of them are playing a lot more.

My girls love to match and thanks to their sweet Grandma B they have adorable matching outfits. The first sentence out of Gracie's mouth in the morning is "Matchy Lulu" so she wants to see what her big sister is wearing then match her. I am eating this "stage" up!
Lucy and I are doing a Pre K homeschool. For starters the preschools are more expensive then BYU here and the second reason is I love having her around. So in the afternoons after Gracie goes down for her nap I give Lucy an art project and I do housework, e-mail etc. Then we do a reading lesson and a few minutes of math. So far we have both loved our Homeschool afternoons.
Once a week I invite a little buddy for her over and they can play without a bossy older brother and a pesky little sister. I will really miss Lucy next year when she goes to school.

Disney Dinner DISASTER

2011-09-18T21:14:00.000-07:00

I hate to post this because I am still a little embarrassed about it... but oh well... it is not the first nor probably the last time I will make a GIGANTIC fool of myself. So this amazing lady was in charge of a ward activity and completely threw herself into it, I am serious you would not recognize the cultural hall. Well this year was a Disney theme and she asked all the kids to dress up. Well my friend Liliana told me we should dress up too. I called and was assured that there would be several adults dressing up and I definitely should wear a costume.... so I did...

and NO OTHER adults did!!!! (okay except Clarke who I made wear a cape and be my prince, but that doesn't count because look how normal he looks) I felt like such an idiot the whole evening. To make matters 80% worse the seam in the back came apart and I didn't know it, so I think I might have flashed my garment/bra back to my whole ward. Thankfully the R.S. pres told me about it and I stole Clarke's cape for the rest of the evening (disaster!)
Andrew is a soldier from Mulan.
Lucy also wanted to be snow white, she made a much much better snow white. I am retiring from Dress-up... forever! Here she is with her twin Snow White-Abby Taylor and Belle-Katelyn Bradley.
Little Gracie as Ariel, note her poor forehead (read the last post) My poor baby. I wonder whose nose made it's way into her picture?

Family 5K

2011-09-18T20:53:00.000-07:00

Our friends the Collins organized a ward 5K to raise money for a young girl in our ward who has had some SERIOUS health issues recently. It was so much fun and they were able to raise a ton of money. We decided to sport our matching Bjarnason t-shirts.

They asked Clarke to be the Financier (he was also recently called as the Stake Auditor I think it might have gotten leaked that he is a math geek, I don't know by whom... hehehe)

Before (disclaimer, Clarke and I wanted to actually run however we are cheap and our strollers are terrible. Clarke pushed Andrew and Lucy in our 15 year old double stroller- weighing in over 100 pds. I pushed Gracie in our umbrella stroller 25 pds, but way to short. But we still ran...
AFTER!!! Okay this was "KIND-OF" a joke, but I really did feel dead.

The kids ran a 50 yard dash. It was so cute, all the kids took off and dusted little Gracie and Wyatt (both under 2) but those two little ones were determined to cross that finish line...until...they kept running towards each other and CRASH they slammed into each other then onto the asphalt. Little G took the worse of it and ended up with a big "road-rashy goose egg" You can see it on my next post.

Great event, but next time we are not pushing those strollers!

Andrew turns 7

2011-09-18T20:29:00.001-07:00

So Andrew disobeyed my order and turned another year older. For his birthday he wanted a Soccer Party. I felt really out of my league since I don't have a sporty bone in my body but it turned out really fun.

We started with Coach "Wanna-make-you-sweat" making the kids run laps and do push-ups. Then when they were exhausted he ran drills and taught them the basic rules of soccer.

Then we took a food break opened presents. He received some awesome gifts, thank you everyone! Green vs Purple played a surprisingly exciting game of soccer.
The boys team. We had the boys all run out to the field while playing "Who let the dogs out" (they loved it)
The girls team (they ran out to the song Dynamite)
The whole group including the infamous Coach and his two assistants. The kids had so much fun, and all the parents told me that their child went home requesting a Soccer Party for their next birthday- Success!!!

An update on 7 year old Andrew;
-he has become an amazing swimmer and can swim underwater and jump off the deep end. (Last year I would have NEVER believed he would do that!)
-He loves school, but all he ever tells me about is PE and recess.
-He loves sports and anything active
-We started piano and have put it on hold (hopefully temporarily, it was making me grumpy)
-He takes forever to get ready in the morning.
-He loves music, especially Justin Bieber

Happy Birthday Andrew, I love you so so so much!

1st grade

2011-09-18T20:18:00.001-07:00

Of course this is a bit old and these pictures are lame but Andrew started back to school on August 23rd. Going from K to 1st was a big step for me (not him, he was sooooo excited).

Big changes
1- they are in school from 8:15-2:55 (SOOO long!)
2 Homework (so annoying for us parents)
3 I am allowed to volunteer but instead of interacting with the kids I get to copy and staple, oh well I am still in his classroom
4 Academically a huge jump, which is such a relief Kindergarden was 3 hours of crafts.
5. Big Kids playground, his new buddy is a 2nd grader named Nathaniel (who the heck is that?)
All in all, Andrew has LOVED first grade. His teacher is firm but kind and he seems to be thriving. So forward we go...

Char turns 25 (for the 6th time, shhhh)

2011-09-18T17:03:00.000-07:00

So I pretty much have the nicest friends ever. For my birthday Haley and Crystal kidnapped me and took me to the best Thai restaurant. My friends Heidi, Ruth and Liliana joined us. I was so touched that they remembered and went to all that effort for me!

So I was pretty surprised but a couple of things caught my attention.

1. I caught Clarke trying on blindfolds....hmmm. Upon inquiry he wanted to play a game with Andrew...okay, but Andrew was sound asleep
2. Clarke came home and insisted on making dinner.... (who are you and what have you done with my husband....but I likey)
3. That said dinner was quesadillas and they took him over an hour to make (hello Mr Stalling)

After dinner these same friends took me back to Liliana's home where she had a birthday cake. So so sweet! It made me realize what kind of friend I want to be in return. Thanks guys!

Trunk or Treat

2010-11-01T22:39:00.000-07:00

I decided to ditch the Snoopy costume for something a little more flattering and went with Maid Marian
Gracie was a fairy without wings because I procrastinated on buying wings and by Saturday there was literally zero wings in the whole city (trust me I looked) , but even without wings she was cute.
Andrew was a fearsome Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

Lucy was also a fairy. She had wings because thankfully we found some we could salvage in the dress-up box. Here are the kids handing out candy and a random scary kid who jumped into our picture.

Adult Halloween Party

2010-11-01T22:25:00.001-07:00

So this year the Collins hosted an adult costume Halloween Party. Clarke and I could not decide on what "couple" to be. Clarke really wanted to be Charlie Brown so by default (and my lack of craftiness) I became his dog snoopy. It was such a fun party there was a spook alley, we played Mafia, and a bunch of Improv games. I have not laughed that hard in a long time. Thanks Benton and Hailey, I hope this becomes a yearly tradition.
I wish I had pictures of the other couples there were: Mr Clean and a 1950's housewife, Transformers, Green Army Men, Cereal Killers, the Adams Family, Convicts, Witches, Gypsies. They were all so good. I am never being snoopy again!

Kids Halloween fun

2010-11-01T22:09:00.000-07:00

So my friend Rebbecca and I got ambitious and decided to host a "Kids Halloween Party" for all the kiddos in our ward. It was a fun learning experience. We had WAY to many things planned for kiddos that were too young to do them. It was chaos, but the kids all had fun and it was nice to have a chance to let the little ones have a party just for them.
Every year we have a carving contest girls vs boys. There is always a ton of "Trash Talk" between the two teams. Each year the boys try to create something scary and the girls work to make their pumpkin look like a "Pretty Princess." (this one had a cleft lip which I tried to repair with scotch tape) Sorry boys I forgot to take a picture of your pumpkin this year (ha ha)
My friend Heidi invited the kids to come over and decorate sugar cookies at her house (brave girl!) Lucy made about 5 cookies each one looked the same, a HUGE glob of purple frosting and a HUGE handful of candy corns. Looking at them made me nauseous. The kids had a great time and we dropped the cookies off at friends homes along the way to share in our delicious creations.

Pumpkin Patch

2010-11-01T21:53:00.000-07:00

Andrew's kindergarten had a field trip. I could not volunteer because of my "littles" so I just happen to show up at the same pumpkin patch at the same time as the field trip. The Pumpkin patch was awesome it had so many fun things for the kids to do.
There was a downside... the entire Pumpkin patch was a quagmire of mud. It was 4 inches thick "eat your boots" kind of mud. To help with the mud problem they threw down straw which clung to the 4 inches of mud and you literally felt like you were wearing show shoes.

Andrew of course did not want to hang out with his Mom and sisters so I had to keep running after him to get a picture.
Lucy, Gracie and their friend Abby. I am THRILLED this picture worked out. Getting Gracie to stand on a bale of hay, stay still, and look through a hole, was almost impossible!

Gracie turns 1

2010-11-01T21:34:00.000-07:00

We LOVE our little Gracie girl! Gracie is strong willed, beautiful, active, quiet and happy baby. She has Daddy wrapped around her finger, Andrew adores her, Lucy tolerates her, Mom takes care of her. We are so thankful to have her in our family!

So last Sunday Gracie turned one. We invited 5 families to come over for cake and ice cream and only one family showed up (thanks Haley and Benton!)
Gracie was more interested in the candle then the cake! It is official I am a lousy baker
Here is a picture of Gracie and her boyfriend Henry. I can not wait to set them up at BYU, after his mission of course.

For her birthday she got a Leap Frog table, which she loves. A sit and spin which her sister loves. Magnetic letters (thanks Henry!) A new baby doll and book (thanks Grandma B) and money which Mom can't wait to spend (thanks Grandma Cici)

The Funniest Funeral EVER...

2010-11-01T21:25:00.000-07:00

So for the past 6 months I was asked to visit teach an older lady in our ward. I was new so I did not have a companion. We had some nice visits; we usually met at the library so my kids could play while we chatted. She did not have a car so I gave her a few rides around town to do her errands.

Well on Oct 5 our R.S. Pres went to see her and found her dead on her couch (not the funny part) the next weekend there was a small memorial for her at my church. I was asked to give the closing prayer. Well the only family member to come was her daughter who was not a member of the church.

She stood up to give her eulogy and began by saying "As you all know ___ was my dad" I thought for sure she had said dad on accident but meant mom. But she kept referring to her as a him. I looked around and everyone's jaws had dropped. No one knew that this sweet old lady was really a sweet old MAN! After that no one knew what to say. It was extremely awkward and hilarious.

I still get a little unnerved when I think about all the heart to hearts I had with an old man.

Beach Day with Marissa

2010-11-01T21:13:00.000-07:00

A wonderful perk to being back on the West Coast is that we can see both sides of our families pretty often. It was to much fun when my niece Marissa and her family were able to meet up.

We decided to be brave and meet at the beach. Gracie ate sand the whole time. The kids (while wearing parkas because it was FREEZING) played run from the waves and everyone of them ended up falling and getting soaking wet. But it was fun to get "caught up" and our kids became great friends, can't wait to do it again Maris!

Char turns 30!!!

2010-11-01T20:45:00.000-07:00

To celebrate my big 3-0, my friends threw Shalene (her birthday is 1 day before mine) and I an ice cream sundae birthday party. I am so thankful for thoughtful friends!
On my actual birthday Clarke took the day off work, and Andrew took the day off school (much to his chagrin!) and we had a San Francisco day. Here is a picture we took as we strolled down Fisherman's Warf. Gracie lasted for about 5 minutes. We ate at a restaurant called the San Fransisco Sourdough Bread Factory (it was DELICIOUS!)
I wanted to do something memorable to embark on my new decade. Skydiving (too scary) Bungee Jumping (could not find anything close) Parasailing (almost, but at the last minute I decided to save the money.) So instead... I biked across the Golden Gate Bridge. Not exactly death defying, but the price was right... free! It was rainy and foggy, packed with pedestrians, but it was still memorable. So 30's here I come...!

Labor Day

2010-10-31T22:11:00.000-07:00

For Labor Day the kids and I drove down to Turlock (again Clarke had to stay home and study)

We enjoyed a picnic lunch and waterplay at Merced lake. The kids loved playing in the sand with their cousins and swimming in the lake.

We had fun at Taylor's 7th birthday party. It was a butterfly theme. They each had their own wings, I did all the girls hair, Barbara painted their finger and toenails, Sarah painted their faces. It was girly and lots of fun!

Lucy loves one on one Grandma time. Here she and Grandma were making chocolate cupcakes for Taylors birthday.

Andrew turns 6

2010-10-31T21:56:00.001-07:00

For Andrew's sixth birthday he wanted a "Silly Six" theme. We invited 14 kids and we did everything outside. The day involved Grandma and Grandpa B coming up and bringing a kids sized 4 wheeler (huge hit!) Our silly games included: Tacos, Bridges Spaghetti, Pass the Potato (silly style), jelly belly contest, and a huge water ballon fight.

Our "Silly Menu" included: mummy toes, carrot fingers, dirt, swamp juice, and a rice crispy cake.

For Andrew's birthday he received a Narnia castle with 50+ little guys, piggy bank, dart gun, basketball hoop, legos, games and much more.

Thank you for the past six years we love you Andrewski!

Andrew starts Kindergarden

2010-10-31T21:42:00.000-07:00

So it happened... the day I have been dreading for the past 5 years and 364 days (school started 1 day before his 6th birthday) My little Andrew started Kindergarden. I SOOOO did not want to be the sappy Mom who is sobbing while their child skips blissfully away. But as I was turning to leave and I felt the tears begin to rise...

... Andrew freaks out. He starts crying and begging me not to leave. The Principal came over and pried him off me. I felt TERRIBLE leaving him when we was so upset. According to the teacher he immediately calmed down.

The second day he was fine and I left and the third day, for whatever reason he again started crying and wanting to go home. That is all history because now he LOVES school and he is disappointed when the weekend comes and he has to stay home.

His little sisters are very patient during our morning drop off walk and afternoon pickup.

Tahoe

2010-10-31T21:16:00.001-07:00

My sister Sue and family invited the kids and I (poor Clarke had to work) to join them at their Marriott timeshare at Lake Tahoe. I was very nervous about driving 4 hrs with three kids, but it was definitely worth it!

Here is a picture during our bike ride around the lake. Andrew loved riding on a bicycle built for two with his cool cousin Steven.

Here is a picture of the outside of our suite, it was HUGE and luxurious (you will have to take my word for it, because this is the only picture I took)

The week was a mix of playing at the lake then coming back and playing by the pool. Thanks Sue and Brian for putting up with the kiddos we had a great time!

Summer campout

2010-10-31T20:57:00.000-07:00

So... I had this goal that every year we would have at least one family campout. The summer was coming to a close and to make good on our goal we went with our friends the Taylors up to Richardson Grove for a "one nighter."

The scenery was BEAUTIFUL! We were up in the mountains of Northern California enjoying the redwood trees mixed with a fun wading river- Picturesque...

Everything was going great. We were enjoying our friends, delicious dutch oven cooking, perfect weather, but everything changed after the sun went down...

Gracie came down with a cold that woke her up, then she was fussy which woke Lucy up, Lucy was loud which kept Gracie up, Gracie got overtired and woke everyone up. To make a long story short at 4 am I was exhausted from rocking either Gracie, Lucy or both, covered in breast milk, freezing, and completely loosing it. I dragged Clarke out of bed (and in a very loving way :) told him to take our two daughters on a drive to warm them up and hopefully calm them down. I laid down in my sleeping bag and vowed that I would not camp until my youngest is in high school.

We will see if I forget our camping disaster by next year!

4th of July

2010-07-11T20:36:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. The fun began with a temple session. Jared and Barbara came up to the Oakland temple and watched the kiddos so Clarke and I could so a session together, (first time in YEARS). We went down to Turlock and enjoyed seeing Eclipse, a big breakfast at Ron and Stephanie's, pool party at Aunt Karen's, a bunch of "park-time" and we finished our weekend adventure by having dinner and games at our friends the Westovers. I feel so blessed to have such amazing family and friends.

Memorial Day

2010-06-20T20:59:00.001-07:00

Clarke's sister Sarah and her family came up for the Memorial Day weekend. We had a lot of fun cousin bonding. The highlights were: Redwood forest, beach, playing games, cousin sleepovers. Thanks for coming Sarah and Spencer!

Father and Sons Campout

2010-06-20T20:46:00.000-07:00

We are so blessed to be living so close to family. Grandpa B was able to come up and join Clarke and Andrew on their first Father and Sons Campout. The Highlights were hiking, marshmallows, and flashlight walks. The downer was that poor Grandpa broke his ankle and Clarke sprained his ankle during a "spirited" game of kickball which took place on a hillside.

For the Girls side (I gave Clarke the camera so no pics) Grandma B came and spent the night. We went out to dinner, painted toenails, had a tea party, went shopping, went to a movie. Umm... I think I can handle this arrangement, lets do this "Father and Son" thing more often :)

Updated Pictures

2010-06-20T20:30:00.000-07:00

I have been so inconsistent with my blog that I wanted to post some updated pictures of my growing kiddos.

Andrewski becomes a tennis star. His teacher said he was a natural and if I put him into another tennis class, I should put him in an older age bracket. He gets it from me j/k

I made these (with the help of talented friends) for Christmas. They love their special towels.

Little Lucy Goose. So far the "3s" are much better then the twos. She loves her new "big girl" bike, barbies, and she still loves changing her clothes.

Gracie is almost 8 months. She is a crawling champ. She is even beginning to pull herself up on things. She is very social and is still (fingers crossed) my calmest baby.
Anyway those are the kiddos. I am enjoying every stage of our "journey" (okay, not EVERY part, but the majority)

Happy Birthday Lucy!

2010-04-27T09:07:00.000-07:00

Little Lucy Goose turns three today. Lucy is a spunky, strong, and loving little girl. She is very "girly." She is our "Fashionista" and changes her outfit 5 x's a day. She often has a hard time deciding so she layers 5 shirts at one time. Lucy is very social and loyal to her friends. We love you VERY MUCH Lu-Lu!!!

now for an inside look...

2010-04-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

okay this is not inside the house, but I thought I would throw in a cute pic of Gracie enjoying her new/borrowed excersaucer outside.

... also not inside but here are Andrew and Lucy enjoying a tea party on their own balcony.

Gracie's room/Guest Room any takers?

Master Bedroom, sorry about the glare.

Living Room

Different angle on living room, and yes that big white box is our fridge that resides in our "Dining area" because it doesn't fit in our kitchen.
So these are the nice pictures of our home, soon to come are the not-so-nice aspects of our home (ie Kitchen, bathrooms, etc.) Oh and the kids room is fine, I will post a pic of that soon too.

Another cross country move

2010-04-18T19:29:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our move from Indiana to California.

Amazing Grace

2010-02-08T16:36:00.000-08:00

Here is an update on sweet baby Gracie who is now 3 months old. She is still my sleeper and only gets really grumpy when we disrupt her precious sleep. She is very mild and thankfully is content to spent (too much) time in her swing and bouncer chair. She is a very light sleeper, which is tough with her two crazy siblings. She hates tummy time, I think it is because her noggin is so large, poor little girl! Andrew LOVES Gracie, Lucy is still deciding.

We are moving...

2010-01-22T19:00:00.000-08:00

Any guesses?

Here is a hint...

We are moving back to California, but this time we are going to try out the No. Cal scene. Clarke got a job at an Insurance Company called Allianz. We will miss our sweet home, the cheap cost of living and most of all the amazing people. We are excited to be back in the West, done with school forever (I hope!), warmer weather, and most of all living close to our families.

I can't remember life ever feeling so overwhelming and stressful. I am trying to pack, make our house perfect for selling, and taking care of my busy kiddos. Here are a few pics of my home. There will be tears when we say goodbye.

Christmas

2009-12-30T17:12:00.000-08:00

This year was our first year by ourselves. It was not as bad as I anticipated. We hosted a Christmas Eve party with other friends who were by themselves. Christmas morning I tortured my kids by dragging it out as long as possible. The whole day we stayed in jammies, watched movies, snacked, and played with new toys. I "took the day off" which meant that our house was literally trashed by the end of the day and I had to work 10x's as hard the next day. Ugg. It was a nice Christmas.

Gracie's (disastrous) Blessing

2009-12-27T16:46:00.002-08:00

Why today was disastrous...
1. Two of the guys Clarke asked to stand in the circle were not there. (no big deal)
2. The microphone didn't work so no one could hear the blessing, we were on the front row and I had to strain to hear him.
3. As I was busy jotting notes Lucy (2 1/2) ran up on the stage (AHHHH!!!) I had to run up and grab her.
4. As I was holding her hand between my knees while I continued to write notes, she started to scream.
5. I let go of her hand and she ran INTO THE BLESSING CIRCLE!!! I had to reach through the bishop and one of our friends and grab Lucy. It was a nightmare! I gave up on note taking.
6. Clarke sat down and asked how it went I honestly couldn't answer him, I missed the whole thing.

The silver lining:
1. Gracie was a gem.
2. Most people missed the fiasco because their eyes were closed.
3. Suzy and Spencer were here (thanks for coming guys!)
4. Someday I will laugh about this, just not today!

Update

2009-12-27T14:52:00.000-08:00

I feel so guilty about not sending a Christmas card this year. I rationalized by saying I am taking the year off since I just had a baby, but it is a lame excuse. Thank you everyone for all your Christmas cards I love looking at them.

Merry Christmas Family and Friends! We are so thankful to have you in our lives. I promise to send Christmas cards next year!

Gracie joins the family

2009-10-28T11:24:00.000-07:00

On Saturday at 3:00 AM, I woke Clarke up and told him "today is the day" for the next three hours I tried to practice all my relaxation techniques, I took a bath, and even attempted to read a book. By 6:00 the contractions were making my toes curl and they were coming about 4 minutes apart. We called my friend and neighbor Megan to come watch our kids. When we got to the hospital they checked me and I was a 6 1/2, they told me to walk the halls for awhile. It was intense, I had to stop ever couple of minutes andd try to breath threw my contraction. After a couple of painful hours they wanted to check me again and this time I was a 7, I was so disappointed "all that pain for 1/2 a centimeter! I decided it was time for an epidural. It was HEAVEN!!! I was completely relaxed and I even rested. The nurses left me alone and 1 hour later they came to check me again and the nurse said "oh...I see a head." All of a sudden there was a flurry of activity and I pushed through two contractions and my beautiful daughter was born.

1st family picture as a family of 5. I realize how much I am needed when I am gone. Lucy in this pic has jam in her hair, chocolate around her mouth, and she chose her outfit. It was so nice to go home and be together as a family!

Baby Gracie, is so far (knock on wood) my calmest baby. She is a great eater, very alert, and patient with adoring big brother and sister.

1st car trip home. She looks JUST like her big brother Andrew, I will post some pictures of him as a newborn to prove it. We love love love baby Gracie.

Halloween War

2009-10-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

So this is what I want my kids to dress up as for Halloween...however.... Lucy only wants to be a Princess and Andrew wants to be Cowboy/Power Ranger/ Ninja/ dog (he added that one yesterday. Since I am due to have baby girl that week, I think I will open the dress up box and let them go crazy, but this picture is going in the album for Halloween 2009 (hah, let's see who gets the last laugh)

Family Reunion in Utah

2009-09-27T16:49:00.000-07:00

The Grandkids (or at least 1/2)

Mom and Dad with 7 of their nine kids

Eating dinner outside the lodge we stayed in- so much fun to under the same roof!

Lucy and her big cousins, whom she adored!

This picture is out of order, but this is my parents tennis court. Andrew loved playing his cousins in a 5 yr old variation of tennis

The amazing pool at our lodge, there were two huge watersides. I was so tempted, but being 32 weeks pregnant I thought I might be better watching.

Random picture of me milking a goat with my nieces. I don't think the goat enjoyed it any more then I did :)

Preschool

2009-09-27T14:02:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of Andrew on his first day of Preschool. Lucy was not happy about being left at home so she had to get her backpack too. It is always sad for her when we leave Andrew when he gets to play with such fun new toys. So far Andrew has enjoyed it, but it doesn't seem like it is very educational. I guess we will expect him to learn all his Calculus next year :)

Andrew turns 5 (twice)

2009-09-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

I am late, but my sweet Andrew turned 5 at the end of August. We were in Utah visiting family on his actual birthday so we celebrated at a park with cousins and water balloons. When we got home we took his two best friends Simon and Ben to Chuck E Cheese for lunch. Andrew wants to do the exact same thing for his next birthday- we'll see! Happy Birthday Andrewski we love you!

East Coast Trip

2009-07-02T11:19:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the completion of another year of school and to enjoy our last glimpse of freedom before we have number three we decided to take a big road trip. It was a wonderful vacation. We spent quality time with family and enjoyed fun sight seeing. Here are a few pics of our vacation, I am sorry it is not in chronological order, I can't figure out how to blog!

This is a picture of Spencer, Suzy and Baby Sydney. We spent a few days with them on our way out and on our way back. We had such a great time with them. The highlight was late night games! Thanks for letting us stay with you in your adorable home. Lucy thinks we need to name our upcoming baby "Baby Syndey."

This is a picture of Andrew and his cousin Jack in Aunt Leslie's huge jacuzzi tub. They added a tiny bit of bubbles and it went crazy. There were seriously more bubbles then I have ever seen.

We enjoyed seeing Kirtland with Suzy and Sydney. Thanks for taking us Suzy!

This was in Boston with my brother Chris, beautiful niece Lauren, and adorable nephew Ryan. We were enjoying some even shmores.

The shmores got the better of Jack. Note to self: marshmallows and grass are not a good combination!

This was a "Duck Tour" we took in downtown Boston. It was in a big WW2 vehicle that could go on land and in the water. It was the perfect way to see Boston; kid friendly, lots of sights, fast, and unique. Thanks Chris and Les, we had a blast!

Games nights again, Clarke even brought in own games just in case. He found another true gamer with cousin Kate.

Lauren giving Lucy her first piano lesson.

It is funny because we saw so many amazing places and did so many fun things, but one of the kids favorite memories from our vacation was swimming in the spa at our hotel in Palmyra. After every tour or place we saw the kids would ask if it was time to go back to the hotel to go swimming. Someday they will realize the significance of the places they saw when they were little...I hope.

The Hill Cumorah was one of my favorite places to see. I always imagined a big mountain (come-on I am from the Rockies) so I was surprised to see that it was a rolling hill.
alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353934750657175762" />
We spent a few days in Palmyra. It was beautiful, and it brought all the Church history stories to life.

The Sacred Grove is a place I always imagined seeing, I would picture walking into it pondering Joseph Smith's experience and enjoying the hollowed spirit of the area. In real life the kids were both CRANKY. They cried and complained the entire time, we went as fast as we could but ended up getting lost. It was not the spiritual experience that I always hoped for. Next time NO KIDS!

Clarke and I were able to attend the Palmyra temple. It was one of the highlights of our trip. Clarke and I took turns going, so for my turn I went early hoping for some quiet meditating (something I rarely get with two active kids) so I got to the temple and opened the trunk and my temple clothes were not there- ahhh! I raced the car back to the hotel, found my bag, and raced back. Now I was late and flustered. Then to make matter SOOOO much worse I could not find my recommend. I sat on a seat and tore my wallet apart 10 times and could not find it. Finally a temple worker asked if they could call my bishop. They called him and everything was fine, but I think they held the session up by at least ten minutes. I arrived feeling humbled frazzled and embarrassed. However it was one of the best sessions I have ever attended.

At Niagara Falls we took the whole family on a "Maid of the Mist" boat tour. Clarke loved it and I sat in the back with two wet crying kids. Word to the wise, don't pay for your kids to go until they are at least 10. Niagara Falls was awe-inspiring!

Soccer Camp

2009-05-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

Andrew loves sports and I wanted to put him into a soccer class with kids his age the problem is that my city doesn't offer one for 4 year olds so I would need to drive 25 mins to get him into a class, and it would interfere with dinner time. So I decided to do my own soccer camp. I called one friend who is a "Soccer Star" (who has a 5 year old) and asked her to join me on my endeavor. Anyway, it was a HUGE hit. We just had our last day and now I need to put my thinking cap on for what is next.

The Goose turns two

2009-05-03T11:04:00.000-07:00

As always life with little kidos goes to fast. I can't believe our little Lucy is two. To celebrate her birthday she had two parties. One was a family party with our neighbors/friends/adopted Indiana family. Then we had a Birthday party/playdate with about 10 of her little friends. She loved being the center of attention. She is constantly singing "Happy Birthday dear Lucy". When we asked her what she wanted for her birthday the only request she had was a purple Barney cake.

The picture of Lucy in the apron, my friend Megan made Lucy her own apron and matching hot pads. She loved it.

Happy Birthday sweet Lucy, we have loved sharing these two years with you. We love your big smiles, how you love to dance and sing, and your zest for life!

Trampiline bliss

2009-04-20T18:18:00.000-07:00

As a combined birthday presents my Mother in Law bought us a trampoline. The kids are in heaven. If I had known how many how many hours they would play on it, and how exhausted they would get, I would have bought one years ago. Thanks Grandma!

Dinner Theater

2009-04-19T17:25:00.000-07:00

So my over achieving ward does a Dinner Theater for a youth fund raiser. It involves months of planning, scripting, decorating, and etc. It is a HUGE production. This year the theme was a 80s High School Reunion. I was asked to be Pamela [aka Paula] Abdul. I embraced the role as best as I could ,and I even did a solo dance to Straight Up, I can't believe I did it! It was a lot of fun! I have decided that when my kids are older I would like to get involved in community theater, but I am not dancing!

Clarke's Birthday

2009-04-15T17:38:00.000-07:00

We have begun a tradition to celebrate Clarke's birthday. We host a games tournament. The first year it was chess. This year it was a Heart's Tournament. We had 16 players come, and a couple of stragglers, who had to go home, sorry! Clarke takes his tournaments very seriously and worked on the scoring and tables for months. It was a huge success and everyone that came wanted to know what we have planned for next year. Happy Birthday Clarke we love you!

Grandma comes for a visit!

2009-04-15T17:02:00.000-07:00

Grandma Bjarnason came for a visit in March. We had all loved having her. Some highlights from the week she was here were: The Childrens Museum (where poor Grandma lost her phone) dying Easter eggs, going to Pump it Up, lots of kids crafts, kite flying, and shopping. Thanks for coming, Grandma!

Andrew has decided that he is moving back to California, when Clarke finishes grad school, with or without us.

My Excuse

2009-04-15T16:54:00.000-07:00

Hello all my faithful friends and family who have not given up on me. I am sorry I have not updated my blog in ages. Here is a picture of what I am using as my excuse-

Kind of scary looking at this point (and not my actual baby, in case you were worried) but #3 is due October 27th. We are praying that he or she will come on it's due date because Andrew and Lucy were both born on the 27th (of different months) but how convenient will that be to remember birthdays.

Christmas

2009-01-11T18:58:00.001-08:00

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas. We were able to go to California and see all of Clarke's family. We were also able to drive to San Diego and see my parents and sister. Along the way we were able to meet up with Encino friend Amber and her beautiful kids, and Stefanie Westover who is a good friend from Indiana who recently moved to CA. It was the best Christmas ever!!!

Bleach scare

2008-11-02T19:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I put some bleach and water in Lucy's bottle to clean it. I left it on the counter to soak while I ran to Walmart. Meanwhile Clarke was babysitting and got Lucy her bottle which appeared to be filled with water. He gave it to her, she took a sip, and started coughing crying and rolling around on the floor. Clarke called me and was hysterical, and I started to freak out, he called Poison Control, we ended up just giving her a lot of water. It was HORRIBLE!!! However, she is fine, I think she was crying and coughing because it tasted so nasty, and her hysterical parents scared her more then anything.

Halloween in Indiana

2008-11-02T18:46:00.000-08:00

We had a nice Halloween. Andrew dressed up as Buzz Lightyear (thanks again Barbara!) Lucy was a little Duck, I wanted to get a goose since our nickname for her is Lucy Goose but I could not find one, and I am not ambitious enough to make one. This is a picture with Andrew's preschool class.

Fall has arrived

2008-10-09T06:55:00.000-07:00

I have mentioned his before, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE fall. It means "sweater weather" beautiful leaves, and apple cider. I think this year I jumped the gun because the first chilly day we had I pulled out the winter clothes and got Lucy all decked out, then of course the next day it was back in the 70's.

Writing his name

2008-10-09T06:51:00.000-07:00

I was so surprised when Andrew came and showed me this paper where he had written his name. I had no idea he could do that. I seem to always underestimate my kids.

New Territory

2008-10-07T06:47:00.000-07:00

I am in unknown "girl territory" Lucy LOVES my makeup. If we leave our door open for two seconds she will sneak into my makeup drawer. I had to install child locks on my drawer. It is funny to see the differences in gender, Andrew never had any desire to wear makeup.
Lucy loves her little tutu and whenever we turn on music she wants her tutu on so she can dance. Little girls are so different from little boys.

I am obsessed

2008-10-05T07:10:00.001-07:00

Awhile back my friend Megan and I started to make hair bows for our daughters. When we had way more then our daughters could wear, we started playing with the idea of selling them. One thing lead to another and soon we were signed up for a HUGE craft fair (they usually have over 1200 customers.) What were we thinking. So all my spare time I make hair bows- I am ready for a break!

I turned 28 (a month ago)

2008-10-05T06:27:00.001-07:00

Clarke won husband of the year, he gave me the best birthday ever. It started in the morning where he said he was my slave (how awesome is that!) I put him to work doing all those jobs around the house that I have been wanting him to do forever. Then at lunch, he said he would get the kids lunch while I got ready. After I was done getting ready, the doorbell rang and ten friends stood there each bringing something for lunch. Then in the evening he had someone watch the kids while we went to dinner. It was awesome- thanks Clarke!!!
Here are two pics of friends who came, I wish I had taken a picture of everyone. This is Tooch Brooks and Amy Wilcox.

This is Jennie Tanner and Shana Garrett. Thanks everyone who came, I am sorry I only got a couple of pictures!

Happy Birthday Andrew!

2008-08-27T04:51:00.000-07:00

Today our little Andrewski turns 4. I am, as always on my kids birthdays, feeling very sentimental so please bare with me. This was our little man four years ago today.

This is a picture of our big 4 year old. Andrew loves everything "boy", he loves family and friends, riding his new bike, and watching movies. He is affectionate, obedient, and he loves to be silly.

For his birthday we celebrated last Saturday. We have three families come over for dinner and water play (Andrew got a slip-n-slide and kiddie pool for his birthday).

For his birthday Andrew got a Buzz Lightyear, Power Ranger, Batman (thank you Barbara!) and a Pirate costume. When the presents were all opened the boys decided to have a major game of "Dress up." It was a fun and memorable birthday.

Utah Trip

2008-08-11T08:19:00.000-07:00

Andrew, Lucy and I are out in Utah for our first annual Girls Week. We are having a wonderful time, but we miss poor Clarke who had to stay back in Indiana. The Sisters: Liz, Kim, Sue and me.
Lucy is loving all the attention
Group pic of all the girls except Becky and her daughters

We celebrated Andrew's birthday with his cousins Caleb and Will. Caleb and Andrew are only two weeks apart.
Lucy with Olivia, bath shots are the best.

A few of the weeks highlights were: A talent show, Dad's State of the World address, book group, the play Les Misables, and each of the sisters had to teach each other something. Liz taught how we need to write down the little lessons that we learn (ie don't leave an important message on the answering machine.) Sue taught about her "Hour of Power" and how to get more out of prayer. Kim gave a mini health seminar. My mom gave a few tips in emergency prepardness. I taught on how to make hair bows. Jackie taught about how to make cute diaper wipe covers.

Anna and Family

2008-07-25T10:30:00.001-07:00

My adorable Ricks roommate Anna and her family just moved to Kentucky (hurray for a familiar face!) It was a wonderful treat when they came for a weekend visit. She has two boys Alex and Bobby, Andrew was in heaven.
This picture is at Outback, Anna and Eric had never tried a Bloomin Onion and Clarke thought that needed to be immediately remedied. As you can see little Lucy is not in the picture, that is because my darling 1 year old is horrible in restaurants. Clarke and I had to take turns walking around the parking lot while the other ate. On the positive side it has been good on the monthly budget, eating out is just not worth it!

While they were here we went to the park, mini zoo, and train. The kids all had a ball. Thanks for coming Anna, we'll have to do it again!

4th of July!

2008-07-25T10:28:00.001-07:00

Happy 4th of July!! We celebrated the 4th by going to a small neighborhood parade, Andrew was going to ride his decorated bike in the parade but of course we were 5 minutes late and missed the whole thing. Afterwards we ate watermelon and popsicles at the park.
Andrew and his friend Johnny were content to play in this puddle for hours.

Andrew "I love all the fireworks that aren't loud bright and scary."

Summer Time!

2008-07-25T10:13:00.000-07:00

This summer has been awesome, I think mostly because the winter was so cold and overcast we are determined to enjoy every minute of it.

This is not an accurate picture, but this summer Andrew had swimming lessons for the first time. It went well, but he is still afraid to put his face under the water. Any advice for me?

Digging for dinosaur bones at the Childrens Museum in Indianapolis.

Andrew and his friend Nathan. I am so cheap I use these for pictures then make the boys put them back- so mean!

Little Lucy is almost 15 months. She is starting to say words and understands everything you say. She is smart, affectionate, with a bit of sass. Just the right combination to keep us on our toes and entertained. She has Clarke wrapped around her little pinky she says "Daaa-eee" and he will drop everything and give her whatever she wants. Heaven help us when she figures out what a Mastercard is :)

Andrew actually took this picture and my living room is looking pretty clean, I decided it was blog worthy.

We have the most awesome neighbors that have a son, Simon, who is four days younger then Andrew, and a daughter, Molly, who is one month younger then Lucy- it is a tender mercy from the Lord.

I think little Luce has her Grandma Cici's love of animals. Too bad this is as close as she is ever going to get to having a pet!

Popsicles on the Porch!

2008-06-04T11:13:00.000-07:00

Lucy enjoying her first popsicle.

If Andrew looks cold...well, he's not; it is 80 degrees plus humidity- uggg!

I love this because sweet Lucy doesn't understand that brother and daddy are devouring her beloved popsicle.

We went to Nauvoo!

2008-06-04T11:02:00.000-07:00

Last week we went to Nauvoo for a little family vacation. It was an incredible experience, not only did it increase our love and understanding for Joseph Smith and the early Pioneers, but was a lot of fun.
Clarke is standing by Joseph, Emma, and Hyrum Smith's grave.

We stayed at the White House Inn, not exactly the Marriott, but it was clean and quaint. The best part was the jacuzzi and playground in the back.

There were at least 4 different wagon/carriage rides. They took you to different sights while telling you stories or describing what life was like in Nauvoo.

Andrew is in front of a little replica of the Nauvoo temple. Clarke and I were able to go to the temple, and we both agreed that it was the most beautiful temple we had ever been to.

This was Carthage Jail, the top left hand window was the window that Joseph fell out of after being shot. It had a very reverent and sacred feel.

Our favorite part of Nauvoo was all the shows. The preformers were both senior missionaries and young service missionaries.

Becky's Granola

2008-04-08T10:06:00.000-07:00

This one is for you Beth and Bailey!

12 c old fashioned oats
1/2 c olive oil
1 1/2 c honey
2 T cinnamon
2 t vanilla

Mix together and bake at 300 for 20 min (I always do 350 and I cook until it begins to get crunchy)

While warm add your favorites. Here are mine: coconut, dried apricots, crasins, flax seed, sesame seeds, and any other nut or seed. The toppings make it SOOO yummy!

Clarke turns 30

2008-04-04T15:05:00.001-07:00

For Clarke's birthday we spent a fun weekend with Suzie and Spencer, then on his birthday we went to an crazy spicy Indian restaurant, and then concluded the celebrations with a Chess Tournament. Clarke was in heaven! We had sixteen players plus a few wives and kidos, the house was at full capacity, but all-in-all a huge success! Oh... and guess who won? Happy Birthday Clarke we love you!

Spencer and Suzy

2008-04-04T14:04:00.001-07:00

We LOVED having Spencer and Suzy come for a visit. It was a part of Clarke's week long birthday celebration. The highlights were: bowling (Spencer dominated) going to Wolf Park and howling with the wolves, Zoo, Dolphin Show, Butterfly Exhibit, and of course lots of games and food.
Navy training is rough!

Happy Easter

2008-04-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

Okay I know it's been awhile, thank you Amber and Jon for the encouragement. Here are some belated Easter Pics.

Kids all decked out in new Easter clothes

The Easter Bunny (aka Grandmas) were so generous, the kids loved waking up to find new toys and treats.

As always during the holidays we miss being with family, but we are thankful to have great friends to share it with. We hosted Easter Dinner and our friends the Mayfields and Tanners joined us. After dinner we enjoyed a rousing game of Apples to Apples.

Update on the "Goose"

2008-02-20T18:05:00.001-08:00

Lucy, aka Lucy Goose is almost 10 months. Ahhh... where has the time gone? Here are a few of of her new tricks:Lucy is crawling, pulls up on everything, and has discovered the dishwasher and the Tupperware drawer. She can say "Dada", somehow Mama has not become a vocab word even though I'm the one to get up with her in the middle of the night (I realize she is 10 months this is a whole other story).
She is getting good at feeding herself, especially crayons.

She is very loving and her form of affection is to lay her head on your leg, just long enough to melt your heart then she's off and getting into more mischief. I don't know why she is naked here, but I think chubby naked babies are adorable!

Brrrrrrrrrrr

2008-02-20T16:45:00.001-08:00

This is our first "real" winter since 2003, (we lived in GA and CA for the past 4 years) and at first we loved the novelty, and now... the novelty is officially over. We are anxious for outside time, and no wrestling matches between the winter jacket and the car seat. Here is a picture of Clarke and Andrew shoveling our driveway. Since this picture Andrew upgraded his dustpan to a kido shovel we found at Walmart for 3 dollars. Since then the first thing he does every morning is run to the window to see if he needs to go shovel the driveway for the family :)
Clarke and Andrew enjoying a well earned cup of hot chocolate. I even splurged and bought a bag of marshmallows for occasions like this. Andrew of course begs for an obscene amount of marshmallows in his hot chocolate which he picks out and eats before he even starts on the hot chocolate. I need to just give him a bowl of marshmallows to the side to save him the trouble.
We call those "Indiana Cheeks" After 2 hours of shoveling, sledding, snow angel making, I was concerned that he'd never recover.

Happy New Year

2008-01-04T12:40:00.000-08:00

After pulling an all nighter flight the night before our family opted for a quiet humble New Years Eve. We made a downscaled version of our traditional fondue dinner. Happy New Years, friends and family we love you. We think you should all make a New Year's resolution to come see Indiana!

I made this!!!

2008-01-04T12:33:00.000-08:00

Okay maybe my extremely talented friend "helped" me, but Andrew got a superman cape with a matching belt and socks. I hope this friend doesn't see this blog because she would say I am taking more credit then I deserve :)

Merry Christmas!!!

2008-01-04T12:09:00.000-08:00

For our ward party we were supposed to dress up in "Bethlehem- like" attire. Andrew decided of course that he was a Star Wars shepherd. Lucy had an explosion 5 mins before we had to leave. Clarke and I threw on sheets and pillow cases. Our costumes were lame, but the evening was a hit.
While we were in California Lucy turned 8months. She is sporting four (very sharp) teeth, and started crawling much to everyone's delight (except her mothers :)
Grandma spoiled Andrew and Lucy rotten, and now they are having "Grandma withdrawls."
We were able to celebrate Barbara's brithday.
Two jailbird cousins. Maren (Sarah's daughter) and Lucy are seven weeks apart but Lucy is double her weight. We had to watch Lucy because she was so much bigger she could tackle her petite cousin.

Why don't they make something like this for adults?

2007-11-27T13:29:00.000-08:00

On Saturdays they have free play in a gymnastics building. Andrew spent the entire time in this huge pit of squishy cubes. If there wasn't someone watching I would have jumped in with him.

Ode to Fall

2007-11-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

The air is crisp, the trees are gorgeous, egg-nog is back at the store, my hair has an occasional good hair day, and I have pulled out the sweater box, life doesn't get any better.

Here is Lucy saying, "Why am I sitting on the ground? And why do you keep putting dried up dead leaves all over me?"

"Just doing a little light weeding." (Clarke's back was sore for a whole week.)

Halloween Pics!

2007-11-01T08:10:00.000-07:00

This was a pinata intended for children. As you can see Clarke (Luke Skywalker) couldn't let Andrew (Anakin) have all the fun. And of course they had to use their light sabers instead of the bat that everyone else was using.

Poor Lucy was forced to wear these huge ears all night. I had to put the pink shirt underneath so she could be "Yodette"

The two princesses are girls from Andrew's joyschool. On the way home from their little Halloween party Andrew asked if next year he could be a Prince so he could marry all the Princesses, yikes he couldn't be girl crazy at age three.... could he?

For Halloween night Andrew and his friend went to a few homes and got tons of candy. When we got home we divided the lucre and pigged out, it's a good thing Halloween in once a year! It will be a sad day when we can no longer say, "Andrew this candy is for all of us to share."

Self Preservation

2007-10-30T14:02:00.000-07:00

Babies have a innate self preservation technique, after they have been stinkers and they know you are on your last straw they give you a smile like this, and of course everything is forgiven.

Grandma Cici came for a visit

2007-10-24T17:13:00.000-07:00

My mom came for a visit. It was wonderful to have someone to share this beautiful fall season.

Time Out for Women

2007-09-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to Time Out For Women in Indianapolis. It was a very inspiring and faith promoting day. It was a one day event that was similar to a one day Women's Conference. Some of the speakers were Jane Clauson, Mary Ellen Edmunds, Sharon Larson, Micheal Wilcox, and the daughter of Pres. Hinckley and matron of the Salt Lake Temple. All of the talks were humorous and spiritual and exactly what I needed to hear. My favorite was Jane Clauson who was an anchor for the CBS Morning show but quit her successful career to stay at home when she had kids. Her talk was about "Embracing Your Season in life." She talked about how divine the role of a mother is, and how we should never apologize for being, "just a stay at home mom." We have more of an impact on generations to come with our simple loving acts and example, then if we were CFO of the largest bank. If you ever get the opportunity to go- it is well worth it.

(Oh Brooke, you are their poster girl. Everywhere I looked I saw pictures of beautiful Brooke.)

Help

2007-09-06T18:28:00.000-07:00

Hey does anyone have a CD that they absolutely love? I "have" to fulfill a membership I have with BMG, but I don't know what to buy. I love everything (ie country, classical, kido music etc.) Thanks in advance!

Rainy Day Fun

2007-09-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

It was a miserable raining afternoon and Andrew and I were both in rotten moods. Thankfully we got a package in the mail which was wonderful, but the best part was the huge box full of shipping "popcorn" we spent the entire afternoon playing it. Of course as you can imagine it was a huge mess, but well worth it!

Andrew's potty trained!!!

2007-09-03T09:42:00.000-07:00

As many of you know I thought this day would never happened. I used stickers, candy, everything to try and motivate Andrew to want to use the potty and nothing seemed to work. We had the missionaries over one night and Andrew decided that he wanted to have a tie so he could look like a Missionary. I told him as soon as he was potty trained I would buy him a tie. That was all it took, from that moment on he started wearing underwear. So I went to Walmart and bought him a clip on tie, he is so proud to look like a missionary, and I am so RELIEVED that he is potty trained.

Chicago

2007-09-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

Our big Nauvoo trip never happened because the whole family got sick the night before we were supposed to leave. Our consolation prize was that when everyone was finally recovered we went to Chicago for the night. Clarke and I took turns going to the temple, then we played in the motel's pool and walked around Lake Michigan. It was a wonderful break before school started.

Updates

2007-09-03T09:25:00.000-07:00

Hello I am sorry it has been ages since I have updated. We have gone back to dial up internet and it's super slow. So I have to come to Clarke's office, and with two kids it doesn't happen very often. So my blog will get updated in spurts, but here are a few updates.

Andrew turns 3!!! For Andrew's birthday we went to Chuck E Cheese, then we had some kids come over for a little Winnie the Pooh party. Andrew loved it. Grandma Bjarnason gave him a new wagon and Grandma Cici gave him a cowboy outfit. Thanks Grandma's!!!

Suzy and Spencer came!!!

2007-07-30T05:52:00.000-07:00

Spencer and Suzy came to visit during their move to Ohio. We loved having them here. We went to a little water park, had a picnic, played tons of games, and ate continually- it was wonderful!

Look at me

2007-07-19T15:41:00.001-07:00

Lucy (almost three months)

Playing Fort

2007-07-19T15:36:00.001-07:00

family bonding

Two bear cubs

2007-07-15T15:09:00.001-07:00

Andrew and his friend Kiley

A fun day painting

2007-07-15T15:03:00.000-07:00

Andrew and I went to a play date with some friends. While we were chatting the kids got into the paints. They had the brilliant idea that they wanted to look like bear cubs.

Lucy chilling

2007-07-05T16:59:00.000-07:00

Poor Lucy doesn't make it in most of the pictures because she is usually asleep when all of the excitement is happening, but here is an updated pic.

Fourth of July

2007-07-05T16:32:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful 4th of July. We went to an amazing park that has a free zoo (can't beat that), a train that goes around the park, kido rides and a water park (although we didn't make it that far.) All in little Lafayette IN. We later went over to a friends house for a BBQ. Then a bunch of people from our ward met at Purdue to watch the fireworks. We had to get there early because of crowds so we went two hours early. It was almost about to begin when someone brought out sparklers. Andrew of course wanted to try one, and I was unfortunately more concerned about getting the right picture then teaching him about the hazards and right after I took the picture he grabbed the hot metal stick and fried his hands. We left earlywith two screaming kids. It was a yucky end to an otherwise wonderful day.

Summer fun

2007-06-28T17:20:00.000-07:00

We love having a house. One of Andrew's favorite things is the sprinkler. We jump through them like different animals. In the background is the kid pool which is lots of fun, but to cold for me!

I'm in heaven

2007-06-28T17:15:00.000-07:00

For FHE this week we went and picked blueberries. They were incredible, in fact we picked almost 10 lbs and they are already gone- yowza!

Brazilian Dinner

2007-06-28T16:55:00.000-07:00

The International Center at Purdue hosted a Brazilian dinner. They had volunteers from the community and student body prepare the meal and music. As you can tell by the sign it was very classy :) We had fun, Clarke and I dressed up in his old Brazilian T-shirts. Clarke enjoyed being able to use his Portuguese and I was able to try authentic Brazilian food. It was good, but not as good as the American version :).

Lucy (seven weeks)

2007-06-19T17:46:00.000-07:00

Lucy, is a sweet, chubby, and happy baby.

I have a new camera

2007-06-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

After much begging and promising to abandon my airheaded ways Clarke has bought be a new digital camera. HURRAY!!! I will be updating my blog with a lot of pics of our new life here in Indiana.

Lucy's Blessing

2007-05-24T08:28:00.000-07:00

This is a pic of Lucy's blessing. It was a very special day for our family. We were surrounded by family and close friends as we said goodbye. Thank you for all of your support, we love you!

from left to right- David, Chris, Jackie and Liz Ottesen. Ally Bjarnason, CiCi, Char holding Lucy, Clarke holding Andrew, Ashley, Grandma and Grandpa Bjarnason.

2007-05-10T12:56:00.000-07:00