Quinci. Erin. Basilius.

[Posted a day late. ... Better late than never, right?]

Ode to Quinci. Quinci Basilius.
(Yep. Someday I'll be able to spell your new last name without looking it up.... :)

Yes. It is memory lane time. Yippee!


TWO WORDS. Marriage Prep.

Thanks for making me attend that class with you even when I didn't know you and thought you were probably mean and scary.


Remember that one time we tried a cactus? ... Raw? 

 Mother/Daughter pic... Oh Rodney.

Matching finger calluses on our CTR fingers. Obviously related.

Gah! Remember this?? New Spice.
You're welcome.

Thanks for always supporting and encouraging me like only you could. ;P
Go Abe.

Lunch Date. 
[And the... interesting people we meet there. Wrestling on a double (thank goodness) date... and bleeding? No big deal.]

Chauffeurs and Spicy McChickens were meant to be.

Thanks for taking care of me [and wearing your cute but jeans] when I am too sick to move.
You look good in bearded glory.
"Do you even know what a dorsal fin looks like!?!?!?!"

Hung up? Bahaha
Joke's on that one person.

 Skype dates... From across the street.
And mustaches. Always mustaches.

Pause for "Sterling pic."

Laundromat date. It's classy.

How can you not love this face?
"Punch."

Stupid human tricks.

Husband's dime.
[Hey! This is actually a reality now! Nifty!]

Oh just sightseeing the joys of Rexburg. :)
"Don't ever look a goat in the eyes."

 Remember when Cymoni bribed us to go to a dance. But ONLY if we talked to boys. Hahaha.
 Thanks for always looking out for us Cymoni. :)

Quinci fearlessly conquers tarantulas...

But is terrified of the Ferris wheel....

 Joy.

Fanny pack. :) And "Spot the Mormon."

Taking charge of our happiness in CA. :) [And in life as well.]

Diet Coke anyone? 
She's not addicted... Ok? ... Sort of.

"I'll be the big spoon."

Basically I couldn't have made it through college this far without you. Thanks for being Mama Quinci. And thanks for getting married so I will finally [hopefully] grow up. :)

I'll see you in a couple weeks, Quinc!
Happy Wedding. :)


Much Love!!

Merry Kissmas.

I thoroughly enjoyed this.

I love mistletoe. And the BYUs are awkward. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iNxHxwT-b4

Enjoy! :)

May you kiss someone under the mistletoe this Christmas! [And "may they" have good breath.]

Now it's back to finals for me! SO CLOSE!!

Much Love!!

A Life FULL of Blessings

Hann, Liz, and I got to sing with a few other families as the Nephites in the Americas when Christ was born. We did this as part of our ward's Christmas program. It was really great to be a part of!

Here we are in our Nephite glory.

It has been quite the two weeks for the Clark family. Dad had his planned sinus and nose surgery last Thursday. Then on Sunday he went into the hospital with severe abdominal pain. Long story short. He's pretty much been there since. Saturday they did an unplanned emergency surgery. (I'll leave out the unsavory details of this one.)

He's doing so much better! Medical technology is amazing. In the modified words of John Denver: "Take [Dad] hoooommmmeee, [recovery] road, to [our home on Thursday morn!!!]" He will be home by the end of the week if all continues to go as planned. :)


We have been so blessed during this time. ...Where do I start?

We have SO MUCH food in our house because people have been bringing us dinners.

Someone [A fellow Nephite] changed my brake lights in the church parking lot because Dad is the "car guy" that usually does those things.

We have had so many visitors and prayers and so much support.

Here's my favorite thing.


Sunday morning, I woke up to the sound of someone shoveling snow.

My thought: Great. I've got to wake up and get to work on the driveway before church.

I looked out the window to see how bad it was. To my surprise, someone [Again, a fellow Nephite] was shoveling MY walk.

Yeah. I totally cried.

It was such a small thing, but it made the biggest difference to know that someone was thinking of our needs.


I am so grateful for a wonderful ward. I am most grateful for our church and the way it is set up perfectly to take care of the needs of all. I am grateful for the opportunities to serve others because it is not enough simply to be served. Serving others makes life FULL; meaningful and joyful.

I am grateful for this amazing life that I get to live. I just don't know if it gets better than this! The gospel is true, folks! :) Keep on keepin' on!

Much Love!!

Non-Artsy Craftist

Prepare yourselves.

It's time for arts and crafts with the non-artsy craftist. [Yes. That'd be me.]

Work on Friday:
Charly: Miss Michelle, can you draw me a swan?
Me: I'm not very good at drawing. Maybe you could ask Mr. Shay.
C: Pleeeeaaassseee! Just try! A pink swan!
... And a pond too. And a tree..... And a....

.... 30 Minutes later.

I call it the [pink] swan that should have been a flamingo. Yeah. I'm expecting a contract from Crayola any day now... ;) I wield a marker and some crayons like a fiend...


Ok. Here's the actual reason we have gathered today.


Last November my dearest mother decided I should relearn to crochet since I was spending a lot of time off my feet.
She persuaded me with purple and gray yarn (How can you resist purple and gray? Seriously.) and the idea that each stitch would be a testament to my strength during this tough time of my life.


Today, I finally finished the blanket that I now lovingly refer to as "mondo blanket" AKA the monster that should have been a blanket.

Disclaimer: Remember that one time that I told you that I'm not very crafty...


How many blankets does it take to warm two people sitting across the room from each other?

That's right. Only ONE, if it's the mondo blanket.

 Notice the dramatic pose.

[I got a little tangled up and fell. My mom was kind enough to get it documented. Haha]
 

 You just can't beat that purple and gray. :)

So depending on which side you measure it on [I started the stitches super tight and by row 4 was crocheting very loosely] it is 9 to 11 feet long! And it is just under 5 feet wide.... 

And of course that is completely normal.

So Mom... I don't really know if this is a testament to my strength during this tough year... But it sure is a testament to how long this year seemed to take sometimes. :) 

But really, each stitch seems to contain a memory and it captures the complexity of my foot situation quite well. I'm glad I made it.

Thanks for loving me even though I am really bad at crocheting. :) You rock, Momma.

AND Let's hope my quilt isn't related to mondo blanket... :)


Life's good. Thanks for being a part of it!

Much Love!!

TWO Hands

First, I have got to give a shout out to my little Joseph. :) (For those of you unfamiliar with the weird Clark nicknaming phenomenon, that is Hannah.) Hannah made All-State Mixed Choir as a junior!!! Only 3 people from her whole high school made it! Way to go, Jo! You rock the socks... of the world.

This is her when she found out. She wasn't excited at all... :)

Yesterday was the big doctor day. Long story short:
No CRPS. Just an undefined neuropathic pain disorder. So I don't feel any less pain today than I did yesterday, but my mind is at peace. I plan to go back to Idaho in January and move forward with my life. I know I will be ok. I don't know how or when, just that I will be.

Also. My Italian doctor loves me. He found out I am Mormon and was asking me a lot of questions about it. We talked a lot about missionaries. I explained that you have to have health problems resolved to go so I haven't been able to yet. As I was leaving he yelled, "Bye! Have fun! Think about your mission!" It was a cool day. :)

And most importantly. I get a handicapped parking pass!!!! YES.

Today at work I had a great conversation with my little friend Gabriel. He just turned 6 this week and he has REALLY BIG MUSCLES now.

This is the picture he drew. (Yes, I work at a Catholic school.)

M: How do you know that God loves you?
G: Uh-Cuz He maked me! He maked everyone in the whooole world!
M: Even me?
G: Yep.
M: Even the people in China and Africa??
G: .... Uh... Yeah! (He wasn't too sure about that one at first.) Do you know how He maked everybody so fast?
M: How?
G: Uh-Cuz He has TWO hands! (He said this very matter-of-factly.)

I repeat. I love my kiddos. :) I am blessed to work with them.

So many tender mercies this week. God has definitely been using His TWO hands to bless my life.

Life. Is. Good. :)

Much Love!!

Of Past, Present, and Future.

A year and two days ago (Yes, that'd be 11/11/11) I had foot surgery. So I'm "waxin' nostalgic" and all that...

When I look back to who I was, I am amazed at how much I have changed (and how much I haven't)... Because...

Of course. Some things never change. :)

There is something about November. November and new experiences. This November is no different for me. But I won't bore you with the whole list.

Last November, by request of my wonderful Momma, I began crocheting my beloved afgan. It is huge, disproportionate, and may possibly save an entire 3rd world country (Ooops! Where is my educated mind!?! ... "Developing Nation"...) someday. And I love it. One of these days I will actually finish it. ...

This November it is a quilt.

A VERY bright quilt.

Yeah. We're basically best friends already. :)

Side note: The best things can be found at JoAnns... Look closely to find a treasure.

Yep. Doilies stapled into the head rests. Priceless.

Whoever said a Subaru Forrester couldn't be girly never met this lady.


Another new experience for me comes in the form of needles. Yay. My favorite.

Acupuncture.

Once upon a lovely Monday morning, I took a trip to the accu-practor, Dr. Hatch: AKA Doctor # 15. (We dubbed him thus because he is also a chiropractor.) I don't actually know if it works yet... 2 times a week for 3 weeks... I'll let ya know. ;) 


So I've been climbing some metaphoric mountains, as usual. My dear friend and former YW leader clued in from out-of-state (which is pretty impressive, I might add) and suggested this Mormon Message:

http://www.mormonchannel.org/mormonmessages?v=1839005837001

This is derived from one of my favorite talks given by Hugh B. Brown. The complete text can be found here:

http://www.lds.org/new-era/1973/01/the-currant-bush?lang=eng&query=currant+bush

(In case you were clueless like me and wanted to know what a currant bush actually looks like, I did you a favor and looked it up.)

The constant theme in my life and scripture study lately has been patience, faith, and accepting the Lord's will for me. These are not easy things to learn and I have been actively learning them for a while now. (And I still have a LOT to learn in these areas unfortunately.)

I don't have any idea what the plan is for me. But I have recently learned to remember something extremely important:

Not only is the plan for me going to be awesome, it already is.

Raisins in the bran. :)

I am grateful to "the Gardener" who loves me enough to cut me down so that I can grow into what He knows I can become. It will all be worth it. :)

Also, I'm grateful to my friends and family. I simply could not do it without you. Thank you times a really big number!

Doctors 16 and 17 tomorrow! Bring it on!

Much Love!!

A Whole Mess of Babies

Lately I have been especially grateful for the children I get to work with. Both my primary kiddos and my Ave Maria kids remind me of what is most important. Life is simple to them and they know what matters. They love so quickly.

I want to be like them when I grow up.

Politics from a kindergartener: (Remember to use your best high pitched little boy voice and don't separate your sentences or pause unless you absolutely must breathe.)
Mick Romney!? I voted for Mick Romney! Uh-Cuz President Obama does abortion and abortion is killing a baby before it's even borned and that is bad and mean.

I got to watch this for Child Development. :) Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCHIM-bGiTI

My favorite part is, "They have a whole mess of babies!"

Here's to the amazing, sweet, wonderful kids in our lives... And the other ones too. :P

3 Doctor appointments next week! (Serious raisins.) Wish me luck!

Much Love!

Bob.

Happy 70th Birthday, Bob Ross!

Your head makes a beautiful G.

You're my hero.

... That's all. :)

Much Love!!

Good Intentions

Ready for it?? This one is a bit (Ok... A lot) of a stretch.

Try not to be too jealous when I tell you that I had a corn dog for lunch today.... I was going to eat something healthy with it. (My idea of healthy in this case, by the way, is getting a bit of something from each food group...) Just as I was deciding which fruit to eat, I saw the chocolate milk.

Fruit and chocolate milk are practically the same thing anyways.... right?

So instead of taking the time to make a decision, clean/cut/ prepare the fruit... I poured the chocolate milk and drank it. (Even though I am not a big sweets person... What the heck?)

I had really great intentions of getting at least a fragment of nutrition into my mid day meal.

Unfortunately I chose not to act on them.

Is this the end of the world? Not even close. That's not supposed to happen for another month or two... ;P

But you know me, I see life metaphors in anything, even my lunch.


I think that a lot of the time (And I hope I am not completely alone in this) I have really great intentions. This month I am going to go visiting teaching! Or Today I am going to clean my room, do my laundry, and chew gum all at the same time! But I let them remain intentions in favor of the chocolate milk of procrastination or laziness or whatever-else-gets-in-the-way.

And you know what? I like fruit a whole lot better than chocolate milk anyways!

When I actually get these things accomplished, I feel much better than when I laze around being a bum. Not only do I feel better, but I become a little better by improving something in my life even if (or perhaps because) it takes more effort, more brain power, more energy to accomplish.

So basically I want to do better at this. :)

No more settling for the chocolate milk when I could have the fruit!

Much Love!!

Spiritual Fitness 101

So... I haven't blogged in a while. Oops.

Rest assured that Tyler's hand and my little burn are ok. Aside from scarring, they are back to normal. :) Yipee!


We went on a hot date a couple of weeks ago.

See?
We actually clean up pretty good, huh?? [And always use correct grammar...]

I thought that since the pictures I posted last time were a little... gruesome, I'd post some good ones. [Not to mention give Tyler some credit for an awesome date he planned.]

A few weeks before this, we decided that since we are big kids, we should probably dress up all spiffy like and go out on a date. Just for fun. So we did. :)

Tyler did not tell me what we were doing, I just knew we were dressing up. Surprises are scary, but sometimes they can be nice too. :)

We went to Red Lobster  and had crab legs and had our own little dance in the church parking lot. Courtesy of a mix made by Jam master T. [In case you were wondering, that's Tyler's alias. And of course mine is M Dawg McSkiffy... what else would it be??]

I'm really strong. That's my job.

And Tyler's is looking pretty... and salsa dancing.

So I guess you could say life is pretty awesome. :)

[And thank you, Tyler. You are the best. Hands down. Thanks for all you do for me everyday.]


I know everyone is going to be SUPER disappointed when they read this next sentence... BUT: I don't really have any of my oh-so-insightful life metaphors to divulge in this post.

I am trying hard to make sense of the experiences I am having and rely on the Lord. Life can be really challenging and confusing sometimes. And I won't lie, the last couple of weeks have been just plain awful at times. But the great thing about the gospel is it is full of encouragement and full of hope. [And wasn't conference just amazing?? I was blown away.] I am so blessed and I just wanted to take a minute and say, "Thank you." A lot of my blessings are the people that support and love me. Thank you. I love each of you.

I saw Doc #14 this week. A neurologist. He can't help me. He referred me to a colleague. He wants me to get a second opinion on CRPS... again. While this is extremely frustrating and discouraging, I know that this is a journey. I can enjoy and learn from every step, and I intend to. There is a plan for me, and I bet it is awesome. Maybe doctors cannot figure out the problem with my foot right now and maybe they never will. Maybe I don't have any idea if I will be able to go back to school in January or the answers to a lot of my questions. But I know that I am in God's hands and He knows and wants the very best for me. This, not our circumstances, is what brings joy.

Today. I am doing my best to "run with patience the race set before me."

Spiritual fitness 101. The most valuable learning I will ever receive. And guess what?? It's free. :)

Talk about raisins!

Much Love!!

The Evolution of a Little Miracle.

Updates first:

Vascular specialist (Doc # 13) = Dud.

I am vascularly healthy! (Yay!) The doctor was rude. (Boo! Hiss!) I never have to see him again! (YAAAAYYY!)

3 months ago I would have been emotionally torn apart and defeated by this doctor visit. I am grateful to have had opportunities for growth. The Lord knows exactly what I need and He gives it to me.

May the neurologist (Doc # 14) be a little kinder. :)

Classes started for me today. 15 credits online! Oh baby! This morning I have been dipping my toes into the unavoidable syllabus quizzes and "About Me" activities of my online classes. Because I am not a huge fan of online classes, I have no doubts that this semester will be a challenging, but great experience for me!


Now for the miracles.

Once upon a time [Also known as Friday night] Tyler and I wanted to make some mini doughnuts. [This involves hot oil, in case you were wondering.] We had barely started in on the doughnut making when I decided we should probably wear aprons.

Pause for apron pictures. Obviously.

 
This is my personal favorite because A) My eyes are closed and B) Tyler's face says, "I really don't want to be taking a picture in a flowery apron but I am a good sport so I am doing it anyways." [You are a good sport. Thanks. :) ]

These aprons are the beginning of a little miracle.

Literally right after this picture, Tyler's hand met the handle of the pan of hot oil and it flipped all over the floor. [Let's be honest, no one was worried about the floor.] Tyler took the brunt of the spill. It soaked his whole right hand and the right side of his apron. Luckily he was right by the sink to rinse his hand and we got the soaking apron off of him before it could soak into him.

Murphy's Law came into play and the only place that I was badly burned.... You guessed it. My right foot. More specifically, the exact toe that has been causing all of the problems. In the hustle and bustle I didn't get my sock off fast enough so it kind of soaked in a bit.

Ready for gross pictures?

Friday night

Saturday morning

Sunday morning

Sunday morning

Unfortunately, Tyler's hand looks even more gnarly today. [And the pictures really don't do it justice... Picture a purple Hulk hand with blisters.] I popped my huge, lemon drop of a blister on Sunday and it has filled up again. We are just the champions of glamor, I know. Tyler most definitely took the worst of it. :(

I know this doesn't exactly seem like a miracle. But it really is amazing that it was not worse!

All burns are first or second degree. We had aprons. Cold water was nearby. [And several people are convinced that this burn will be the cure to my foot problems. Haha I will keep you posted on that one... ] There is no doubt in my mind that we were being watched over even as the oil spilled.

I wish that I could somehow infuse this post with the gratitude that I feel for this little miracle that has only begun to evolve [And others that have come into my life in the last couple of weeks] and teach me. I know that pain isn't exactly fun, but I also know that pain and hardship are ways that we can grow and experience lasting changes in our lives.

The Refiner's fire burns. Oil does too.

And yet, Life Is Good. :)
 

P.S. Even though we don't have a future in mini doughnut making, we are still pretty awesome! See?!? [Yeah, it was a good Labor Day.]

Thank goodness for aprons. :)

Much Love!!