the reunion...

you cant have a clark family reunion without some yummy clark bars...

it was such a good turnout... about 140 people from my great great grandpas family...

this is kennard, randal, brad and martin

brad is my dad, kennard is my uncle and randal and martin are my dads and uncles cousins...

::

above is then...

below is now...

they are so funny together... i love to just sit and listen to their funny stories of growing up and the pranks they pulled...

this is aunt rhoda... my great great aunt...

and here is darrell... i told him to smile and this is what he did... then i asked him how he got invited to the reunion wearing that shirt... my family is very much a university of utah family...

jones was helping himself to some brats...

then he was all about the cupcakes...

he kept bringing everyone cupcakes and brats...

it was rainy the morning before the reunion so we all wore our rain boots...

jones got a tattoo...

i took a picture with my tree...

if you can see the sign... we planted this tree in 1992 and in that year the tree was as tall as i was... now look at it...

this is the sweet shoppe my mom was in charge of... there was a saw dust dig where all the kids got to find money so they could buy some penny and nickel old fashion sweets...

then jones had to practice fishing again... so he found a puddle in a rock... i couldnt stop laughing that every time i couldnt find him... that this is where he was...

this is our family tree... that my grandma painted... she is so talented... someday i want to take lessons from her... shes amazing!!!

6/12/2010

first day at the cabin...

this is where my grandpa grew up! one bedroom little house... in the past few years we have renovated it and my grandma found a bunch of things, like a little bed... a table and some other things that are like what was really in the house... it is pretty cool to see where and how my grandpa grew up... him, his two brothers, one sister and his parents...

crazy...

then jones found the quads... and made alex take him for a ride...

then jessica...

then brandon...

and then jones had to practice fishing with jaxon to get ready to go on his first fishing trip...

he fell in love with his lightening mcqueen fishing pole...

6/11/2010

550+ ... the beginning...

every time i have driven to utah from arizona i have passed so many places that i say, "that would be fun to stop sometime..."

so i decided to have a fun "road trip" on our way to utah this summer... we got an early start on the morning and took off... my brothers, jones and i in my car and my parents in their car... we had so much fun and stopped a few times for what i planned for us to see... it was a most memorable travel to utah!

first... i always want to stop and admire the beautiful turquoise... who doesnt love turquoise! it is one of my favorite colors!

too bad they were all a little too expensive and out of my price range!

luckily my brother has a good sense of humor and would try on all the rings with me!

next stop... the dam...

i have never stopped here... driven over it i dont know how many times... but never stopped... someday i will stop again for the tour... unfortunately we missed the tour while there but had fun anyway...

jones loved the bridge... he kept saying "whoa"

and then my 'tree hugger' had to show off and get some energy out while running around just outside of the visitors center

'rest stop'

dont laugh too hard...

i couldnt resist...

i didnt even know that they had some dino tracks for us to look at... but lucky for us jones was wearing his dino shirt and loved seeing the dino tracks!

then... on the road again...

i love the mountains that are all around while driving... they are so diverse and so beautiful...

next we stopped at the moqui caves...

just outside of kanab...

they are amazing and i loved that the temp inside... never more than 70... i loved hearing the history of the caves and about the people who own them... you will have to stop by to learn about it yourself... all i will say... is that they used to have live concerts inside because the acoustics were perfect... and i wish they still did that... that would be an amazing place to see a live concert!

of course jones couldnt miss or stop playing with the rocks in the moqui caves...

then once again surprised with some dino tracks...

once again dont laugh... two things... i know how weird my thumb looks... and i know its weird that i like this gas logo... but i love the sinclair logo... it is so classic! just had to get a picture

next we had to turn around when i saw this photo opp....

brandon... alex

then me... i loved the 'you are here' part...

unfortunately our last stop was closed because of all the recent rain... their could be flash flooding and danger... so we just took a picture by the sign...

'the grand staircase'

finally... we arrived to the cabin... to say hello to my beautiful grandma... we were lucky to arrive on her birthday and spent the evening with her and family!

that about sums up our road trip to utah... there was so much more... pictures and moments... but i will leave it at that for now... we had so much fun and really enjoyed all our stops and memory making!

6/10/2010

its a phone wrap...

i took so many pictures... whats new right? well... i have been putting off blogging because i took over 550 pictures in our just shorter than two week (10 days) trip... on my camera alone (these phone pictures are not counted in the 500+)... so i thought i would start off by getting some of the highlights from my phone... here they are...

we had so much fun! we drove to arizona so we could meet my family and then to utah... but before we left my mom made her amazing caramel corn... and i just had to taste some... she caught me sneaking it... shes got eyes like a hawk! 6/9/2010

then who could not take a picture... or at least a double take of my brother as we drove to utah... ok so he didnt really wear these the whole way... just thought it would be fun for a short while... 6/10/2010

then we made it to my grandparents cabin... that little cabin is the house the my grandpa grew up in for the first few years of his life. yes... it is as small as it looks! i am... 1- so happy that we are able to actually see the house that he grew up in and 2- touched that it is so small and that they had very very little and survived... makes me always think of how much i have! we live in such a world of excess compared to then... 6/11/2010

i hate spaghettios... brent loves them... lets just say that jones is so much more brent than me in a lot of ways... i laughed so hard that he loved these... my aunt tells her boy that they are lightening mcqueen tires... so now jones asked for "mcqueen tires"... 6/12/2010

i also can never stop laughing at my grandpa... this is his salad... he hates salad... thats why there is no salad... just toppings... and very sparse at that... 6/13/2010

but then here is his dessert! he loves dessert... but dont worry he shared! and yes... i took a picture of both of his plates before he ate... and he just laughed at me... love you gramps 6/13/2010

jones decided that he loved the rock fountain... i think he was trying to clean his feet??? 6/15/2010

you would think that this wasnt very comfortable to watch tv like this... but he stayed like that for quite a while... 6/17/2010

we went to discovery gateway @ gateway in salt lake city... so fun! jones would not leave the "tractor" he drove it around the whole second floor!... 6/18/2010

finally he let the tractor go so we could go to the third floor for some more fun.... we built a block city... then you turn on a switch to see what happens to buildings during an earthquake... such a fun place! 6/18/2010

when "the boys" (brevin and harrison) have too much energy my grandma tells them to "go throw pine cones"... so we collected pine cones and then throw them over the hill... jones thought it was so so so fun! we had to do it everyday after that... 6/18/2010

because we were so close to the temple when we went to gateway... we had to stop by the temple for a quick visit... i love the salt lake temple... my brother brandon took this picture with his phone... so beautiful! 6/18/2010

we enjoyed seeing my newest cousin... baby cason... jones just kept telling every "oh... cute" the whole time... 6/19/2010

we met my cousins baby girl harlow... she is so cute! already 9 months! jones loved playing with my cousins! 6/20/2010

i have found a few need hobbies lately... gardening and preserving foods... and as always recipes for baking/cooking something new... i talked both of my grandmas ears off and got many new ideas and tips... this is one flower from my grandma c's garden... 6/20/2010

on our drive home from utah to cali... we stopped in st george... our stake has the theme of turning your life toward the temple... so we have been talking about the temple a lot at home and jones gets so excited when we do... so i thought it would be fun to stop at another temple and he could see another very different temple in person... i love how vivid the colors are... such green grass and vegetation... a perfect blue sky and a beautifully white temple... we enjoyed running around and stretching our legs... 6/21/2010

and jones can find a bridge or a tunnel no matter where we are... he found this tunnel just outside the visitors center of the temple... 6/21/2010

well "thats a wrap" of all my phone pictures... i have a ton more of our fun adventures... coming soon... plus i have to catch up on all our fun since we returned home!

happy fourth of july!!!

cant wait!

we are back from a fantastic az-ut trip...

and i just got an email from...

p-i-n-k-b-e-r-r-y

cant wait to try this...

what could be more summer than watermelon froyo... i love the colors and cant wait to taste it!

[photo thanks to pinkberry.com]