Megan's Warts

We went to a new dermatologist on Wednesday to have them check out Megan's warts.  The poor girl has them in every finger right in the nail bed and a really big one on her middle finger.
The doctor was nice and decided the best route for us to take was to give her a shot of medicine right in the biggest wart in hopes that it will kill that wart and the other smaller warts.  He did tell me it could take a couple times of getting the shots before it works.
Megan was nervous at first when he said he was going to give her a shot, so I had her sit on my lap.  She held my hand with her other hand and was such a big girl.  She flinched once and cried just a little but besides that she did really good.  I helped calm her down by talking about dance class that she was starting later that day.  She was really excited about dance class and that really helped.
The doctor wants to see her back in two weeks.  He will be out of town so we will be seeing a different doctor.  Allie did such a good job of sitting in her seat and was even a big helper by bringing Megan a tissue.  She did a really good job too.
It is probably going to be many visits and lots of money in co-pays but if they get rid of all her warts it will be worth it.  I just hope that this process works for her and it's a good experience.

Fall Soccer 2017 - Tyler & Josh

Soccer has begun once again.  The boy had their first games while Tony and I were in Oregon.  Margie and Lloyd took the kids to their games and said that they did a good job.  Tyler's team played first and won their game pretty easily.  Josh's team didn't win their game but Josh played pretty good for taking a year off.  Josh played goalie for the first time and seemed to like it.
Josh had his second game on Tuesday and they won that one.  Josh played well and had a good time.  He played goalie again and didn't let any balls get past him.  He even got to do a penalty kick and he made it, but he kicked it before the ref blew his whistle so he had to do it again and that time he kicked it right to the goalie. Darn it.  But that's okay.
Tyler played yesterday in the cold and the rain.  He played midfield the whole game, which is really a good position for him because he's got a great kick and good game awareness.  His team won 3-2.  It was a good game, but super cold and wet.  Tony and the other kids went and sat in the car for most of the game because Allie was cold and crying for the car.  Both boys are suppose to play again tomorrow morning.  I think it's going to be pretty cold, but I am hoping for no rain.  Guess well see.

Going Home...Slowly

We woke up, got dressed, and got some breakfast Saturday morning.  We were not in a big hurry, but we did want to get on the road.  So after breakfast we packed the car and then checked out of our hotel.
Our plan was to drive up the coast and stop at whatever town and/or little shop we wanted to.  It is hard to do that with four young kids so we wanted to take advantage of the fact that we were kid free.
We stopped at a few different stores along the way but didn't find anything we liked until we got to the Sea Lion Caves.  They had a sea turtle necklace that included a canned clam that had a pearl inside the shell.  I thought that would be a fun gift and something the girls would enjoy wearing.

When we went through Florence we found that they had a lots of fun shops to go through.  So we stopped and walked up and down their streets and even looked at their farmers market (which was the lamest market we had ever been to).  We didn't find anything we couldn't live without, so we just continued on our journey.
We then found a fun wood shop that had tons of really cool wood carvings.  We found a really neat turtle for Tyler and Dolphin for Josh.  Tony found a really big dolphin that he would have loved, but it was $400.  Maybe next year.
We got all the way to Newport before we stopped for lunch.  We ended up at a diner that had burgers and shakes.  I got a sandwich and Tony got Halibut.  He said it was really good and my sandwich was ok.  We didn't get any shakes because our next stop was the Tillamook cheese factory.
It was about an hour and half away, just enough time for us to be ready for ice cream.  They are rebuilding some of the factory so they just have a temporary visitors center, but it did not disappoint.
We got our cheese samples and then we got our ice cream.  We stayed for a few minutes while eating our ice cream and checking out our route to our hotel.  Then we went and got into our car.  On our way out of the parking lot we saw two sister missionaries.  We said hello and they said they were going to eat dinner there since they didn't have a dinner appointment.  We wanted to help them out so we gave them some money to help pay for their dinner.  It is always nice to help the missionaries outside of Utah because they aren't used to getting spoiled (like Utah missionaries).  After that we got back on the road and drove to our hotel outside of Portland.
The next morning we got to sleep in again, it was so nice.  After getting dressed and packed we went down and ate some breakfast.  It was okay food.  Then we checked out and got on the road toward Boise.  Their was a large mountain fire that shut down the road that we needed to take so we had to cross the bridge and take the road on the Washington side of the river.  It added some time onto our drive but it was better then taking the long road around the mountain.
When we drove past the mountain that was on fire we could totally see all the smoke coming off the mountain.  We could see a large tree on fire and another spot that had flames.  It was a crazy site to see and super smokey.  I was glad that we were not on that road close to the fire.

It was a long drive but we made it safe in Boise about 5:00 Sunday night.  We gassed up the car, got some dinner and then called it a night.
We set the alarm and woke up early Monday morning so that we could get home by 1:00 pm to get Allie so that Margie could leave to St. George.
We didn't want breakfast yet so we just checkout and started our drive home.  Once again it was nice to drive in the dark and watch the sunrise.  We stopped in Burley for breakfast at a nice restaurant.  It was good food and we were glad we stopped.
After that it was a straight drive to Ogden to pick up the van from Tony's work.  He then went to pick up Allie and I went home to unpack the car.  It was a fast trip to Oregon with lots of miles driven in a short amount of time, but I am so glad that Tony and I could do it.  Super thankful to Margie for taking such good care of our kiddos and making this trip possible.  She really is the best.  I love my grandpa and he will be missed, but I know that he is in a better place and that I will see him again!

Lunch & Beach Fun

When we got back to the beach house we thought that they would have started the pizza's but Kevin just got back from picking them up at the same time we got there. While we waited for the pizza's to cook we enjoyed sitting out on the patio and grass area looking at the ocean.  It was so perfect.  The view was perfect and so was the weather.
Betsy got a picture of Julie and I standing outside looking at the ocean.  It really shows just how beautiful the day was.

After all the pizza's were cooked and we all had enough food we decided to head down to the beach.  The path down to the ocean is not an easy one but one that is well worth it.
It was an awesome beach and felt like our own private beach.  I think we saw three other people the whole time we were down there and we were down there for a few hours.

Thankfully it was low tide because otherwise we would not have been able to visit many of the places we visited.
I really wanted to find some cool shells for our collection.  Julie was able to find a small conk shell the day before and I really wanted to find one of the those too.

So we decided to walk to the end of the beach and look for cool treasures.  It took us a while but Tony was the big winner and found me a mini conk shell.  He also found some large clam shells that cleaned up nicely.  I found some neat shells too that I was happy about.  So as far as treasures found, it was a success.

By the time we got to the end of the beach the tide was starting to come back in.  Julie and I had to wade through some water to touch the mountain side to say we did it.  We both almost slipped a couple times, but we did it without falling.
Their was cool, wet, green moss growing on the side of the mountain side that looked like it was weeping.  It was pretty cool.  Then we found a huge tree that had fallen over probably years ago that was still just hanging out on the beach.
On our way back to our stair case the tide had come in quite a bit so we either had to go up and around this rocky part or over it and I chose to go over it and a big wave came in and totally surprised me and got me wet.  It was pretty funny, after the fact.
Then we climbed back up the make shift stairs and went back to the house.  We hung out their just chatting with everyone for a few hours.  Tony hooked up the camera and showed everyone our pictures from the trip so far.  It was nice just relaxing with the family and chatting about everything.

After a while we decided to just do our DQ run early that night and gets some dinner and our ice cream at the same time.  We loaded in the car and all met at the DQ.  We had some cheese burgers and then some ice cream.  Everyone finished up eating and then left to get ready for their long drive the next day.  Since we didn't have to leave early we decided to stay and chat with Teagan for a while.  I think we had a good talk with her about life, her boyfriend, the church, etc.  It was some good quality time with Teagan.
After they closed we said our good-byes to Teagan and went back to our hotel.  We were excited for another kid free nights sleep without a need for waking up early.  Awe, simple joys!

Grandpa Clark's Graveside Service

After the funeral at the house we all got into our cars and drove to the cemetery for the graveside service and the burial of the earns on top of my great grandma and great grandpa Jacobson.
It was another really beautiful and sunny day.  It was chilly in the shade but perfect in the sun.  We put the flowers around and then had just a small hole dug just big enough for both earns.  We started off by taking some pictures while we waited for Dorthy.

We of course were being silly and having a good time celebrating grandpa reuniting with his family in heaven.
Once Dorthy arrived we got started with my dad saying a few things and then he had Kevin dedicate the grave.  Kevin did a good job.  He did say grandma and grandpa instead of Avery and Evelyn, which I thought was odd, but besides that it was very nice.

He then took both earns and let anyone who wanted to touch them one more time before he put them in the ground.  I didn't need to touch them.
Then Kevin put them in the ground.  We then said our good-byes and left.  It was the perfect end to the funeral and burial of our grandparents.  It is amazing that a couple who only had one child ended up 6 grandchildren and 16 grandchildren.  This is what life is all about, your prosperity.

After we were all done we were planning on having pizza at the beach house.  Kevin and Betsy went to pick up the pizza's and Boyd and Julie picked up some drinks.
Tony and I decided to stop by my grandpa's place to change and pick up my phone.  After that we went to a few little shops to look for souvenirs.  We didn't find anything that we just couldn't live without so we continued on back to the beach house to have some lunch.

Grandpa Clark's Funeral

We woke up Friday morning and got ready for the funeral.  It was so nice to sleep in and and wake up when we wanted to and not when a child woke us up.  We went to the lobby and ate breakfast.  It wasn't the best ever but it wasn't the worst.  It was nice to have a free meal that we didn't have to cook or clean up after.
We had some time before we had to be at my grandpa's house to help set up so we stopped at Walmart.  I wanted to buy Megan's dance clothes there so that I didn't need to do that when we got home.
After shopping we went to grandpa's house.  They already had the chairs set up so we helped to set up the tables and the t.v.

My mom and Teagan bought some flowers from Costco when the flew into Eugene and Teagan put them all together and made some really pretty flower arrangements.  They looked really good on the table on top of the Oregon Duck blanket (that my grandpa loved) and by the earns of my grandma and my grandpa.  My grandma was in the white one and my grandpa was in the blue one.  It was kind of weird, I am not gonna lie.

After we got everything set up we started taking pictures.  We love us some siblings pics.  We love being silly even in serious situations.  A funeral is a time to be happy for the person and not be all sad and weepy, right.  We got some of each family by them selves and then with my parents and their kids.  We really should have tried to do a whole family picture, didn't think about that then.

We started the funeral at 11:00 in my grandpa's back yard.  It was just my family, Dorthy, her grand daughter and son, and then my dad's cousin and her daughter.  A small group, but we didn't care.  We knew their wouldn't be many of us but as long as all us Clark's were there that is what mattered the most to us.

My dad started out with the welcoming of us all.  Then he had Tony give the opening prayer.  After that my dad spoke of grandpa and did a great job.  Then my mom spoke mainly to the grand kids about what happens after death.  She did a good job and it was a good reminder for everyone about the plan of salvation.  After she spoke my dad asked Dorthy to speak.  She talked so tenderly of my grandparents and of her history of being my grandma's visiting teacher.  It was really cool to hear her talk of the past.

After that each of us kids took a turn talking about our grandpa and grandma too.  Everyone did a good job and I thought everyone brought a different perspective of our grandparents and it was a beautiful tribute to them.
After we all spoke my dad opened the floor to anyone else who wanted to say something.  My dad's cousin spoke and so did her daughter.  It was nice to hear from them.  Then Averee played Amazing Grace on the piano and then Boyd said the closing prayer.  It was short and sweet and all about the love that we had for them and the amazing example that my grandpa was to all of us.  I am so very grateful that all of us siblings were able to be there and show our love and respect to our grandpa.

Amazing Sun Set & Ice Cream

While they were cooking dinner we sat out on the patio and watched the sun set.  It was amazing.  Another beautiful gift from grandpa.  We walked over to the neighbors to take some pictures without the tree in our way.  The owner of the house did come over and told Tony that he was in his back yard.  Tony apologized and came back to our side the the yard.  We thought it was kind of funny because Tony obviously was just taking pictures of the sunset and would leave as soon as the sun was down.
After the sun went down we went in the house and had some dinner.  They grilled some chicken and fresh tuna and salmon.  Tony said that the tuna was really good and loved it.  After dinner we went to the DQ (Dairy Queen) over by my grandpa's house.
It was nice that Tony and I could go together.  Usually when we go to DQ in the summer Tony always stays behind with the kids.  But this time he got to come with.  It was so nice.

We had some yummy ice cream and then headed back to our hotel.  It was so nice to go back to our quite room and just the two of us.  We love our children so very much, but it was just so nice to have quite time just the two of us.

Bosie, Bend, & Coos Bay

Our journey started Wednesday afternoon.  The best mother-in-law ever, Margie, came over to the house to watch Allie and wait for the kids to come home from school so that I could leave to get Tony.
I first started off by gassing up the car and then picked us up some yummy popcorn from the movie theater (best travel food ever).
Then I was off to pick up Tony from work.  He got off right on time and then we were off.  Since Tony hadn't eaten at all that day we stopped and got some food before getting on the freeway.  We figured this way we would be able to wait until Boise for dinner.
The drive went smoothly and we were able to drive right to Boise without any problems.  We stopped at Costco to gas up the car and then we decided to have dinner at Panera.  We had never eaten there before and thought we'd try it out.  It was kind of pricey and the food was just so-so, but it was nice to try something new.
After dinner we went to check into our hotel.  It was a nice room.  We were both really tired and planned on getting up early the next day so we both totally zonked out.

We got up at 6:00 the next morning, Thursday, and got started on our drive.  We wanted to get down to Coos Bay with my family as early as we could.  My family all got down their the night before.
We grabbed a couple of things from the breakfast buffet and checked out of the hotel.  It was kind of nice driving in the dark for the first little while.  It really made the time go by faster watching the sun rise and having it get lighter and lighter.

We made it to Bend around 9:45 and stopped by Amy's house to see her and Cora.  We didn't call first and totally surprised her.  She was so surprised and the look on her face was the best ever.  We chatted for about 10 minutes then used her restroom before heading out to see Nate at work.
We stopped and got some gas first and while we were stopped Tony's work called him.  In Oregon you can't talk on the phone if you are driving, so Tony chatted with work at the gas station for what seemed like forever.  After about 10 minutes of so we finally switched spots and I drove us to Shopko to see Nate.

By the time we got there Tony was had solved the problem at work and was off the phone.  We had to wait just a couple minutes while Nate was in with a patient but then we got to surprise him too.  He did a double take and then came and chatted with us.  He had a little break in-between patients and he helped Tony buy some things for the kids and then he walked us to our car.  We wished we had some more time to hang out with him, but we wanted to get down to the family at the beach.

We stopped in Sister's for lunch at a little pizza place.  We bought us a couple slices and then ordered some bread sticks.  She had to make the bread sticks but the slices were already cooked.  We ate our slices and then waited for the bread.  It took kind of a long time so when it was done we took it to go.
They were pretty good fresh, much better then pizza that was reheated.  We enjoyed them as we drove down to the coast.

The rest of the drive went smoothly.  When we first got into town we went and got us checked into our hotel.  After we checked in we dropped off our stuff in our room.  It was a nice room that was really big.  It had a sofa and plenty of room.  It was too bad that we really weren't planning on spending much time in the room, just time to sleep.  A friend of Tony's got us the room for $69 a night plus breakfast, so we were very grateful to him for his help.  After we got all our stuff in our room we headed out to meet up with my family.

All of the family was at a beach house that some of them had rented.  It was a nice house with a beautiful view of the ocean really close to the little cottages that we usually stay at in August.
The weather was beautiful.  Super sunny and delightful.  We didn't see any sun at all when we were there in August.  It was totally like our grandpa was giving us this gift to show us he was in heaven happy.  We hung out outside soaking in the sun and enjoyed the ocean view.

After a while we decided to go up the road to walk through the gardens in Shore Acres.  Shore Acres is a state park so it cost $5 per car, but it is worth it.  They have a huge beautiful garden area that has a section dedicated to roses.  It was really pretty and fun to see all the different types and smell them all.
They also had a nice pond area with a bench that was perfect for pictures.  We took a lot of siblings pictures while we were there.  Since we are not all together very often we like to take lots of pictures, always in our birth order.  It's so fun being silly together.

After the gardens we went to check out the view of the ocean from the park.  It was awesome.  Super sunny and beautiful.  It was a little cold in the shade but perfect in the sun.
We left for a little while to go find cell service so that we could call Margie to wish Josh a happy birthday.  When we called, Josh really didn't care.  We said "Happy birthday" and then he said "Ok".  Silly kid.  They were all good back home.  Margie always takes good care of them and they love staying at her house.

After our little chat we went back to Shore Acres to see if the rest of the family was still there.  They were there and had found a whale.  We had never seen a whale in the open water before.  Another gift from grandpa.  It was really cool to see it spout out water and then you could see his back or tail fin.  Super awesome!
After we couldn't see the whale anymore we all decided to go back to the beach house and start dinner.

Josh's 8th Birthday Celebration

Since my grandpa Clark passed away on Saturday morning and Tony and I will be out of town for his funeral on Josh's birthday (Thursday) we celebrated his birthday on Monday.
We asked him where he wanted to go to dinner and he said the place with the ice cream...and the steak bites.  So Texas Roadhouse we went.  He then said he wanted Grandma Margie to come with us.
Luckily she was able to come with us and we all had a good meal.  Josh then wanted to sit on the saddle and have us all say "Yee Haw" for the birthday boy.  Then he had his ice cream.  He was super happy about it.
After dinner we went home and had him open the last of his presents.  He got two sports games for the X Box and a stuffed animal Pokemon.  He was pretty happy about them all.  He seemed to have had a great evening and loved all the attention.  We love our Josh so much and are so lucky to have him in our family.

Allie's First Day of Preschool

 Allie was so excited to go to school.  She didn't seem nervous at all.  We all walked to school and she played at the playground for a few minutes before wanting to line up for her class.
After the bell rang her teacher, Ms. Katelynn, came and got the kids.  Allie walked right into the class and then needed my help to hang up her backpack.  After, we found her name collar and then lined up to wash her hands.  She did all these things very well without any problems.
Then it was time to sit down and eat breakfast.  I opened her food for her and then she could tell that it was time for me to leave and started to cry a little bit.  I gave her a hug and told her I would come back soon.   Then left without turning around.
I did talk with one of the teachers about her not being potty trained yet and she had already started to calm down a little bit with her teacher by her side.
When I came to pick her up she was super happy and had a great time.  The teacher said she only cried a few minutes and then stopped and had fun.  At first I wasn't sure about putting her in preschool so young, but now I am super glad I did.  She had a great time and will learn tons of new fun things.  I can't believe my baby is a preschooler.