Oh Aaron! Ha ha ha! A little too excited about the snow!
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Chris gave an exceptionally good talk in ward conference. After church the whole stake presidency came to our house for a visit. They are wanting to get to know the families of bishops in the stake. The visit was concluded kneeling in prayer and the Stake Pres. left a blessing on our home and family. There was such a special feeling and I thought of the verse in DC "Where 2 or 3 are gathered together in my name, there will I be in the midst of them, even so am I in the midst of you. What a wonderful recipe for having the Savior with us.
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January 31st
Chris is in Seattle for his early flight in the morning to Berlin.
I went to the DARE graduation tonight and Andrew won the DARE essay! He got a metal of honor from Deputy Boyd. (confession: Andrea really won. Andrew didn't have an essay and needed one to graduate from the program so Andrea, being the awesome sister that she is, wrote the essay for him and it won! She then wrote her own essay and it came in honorable mention.)
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| Andrea and her friend Louise Showers |
I'm worried about Andrea. She wasn't feeling well when we got home tonight. I took her temp and it's 103.5 - I decided I needed to pray as though it all depends on the Lord and work as though it all depends on me. I gave her echinacea/ goldenseal & cayenne, rubbed her feet with thieves oil then put a garlic plaster on them. I hope it will help. I need to take Aaron to jazz band early in the morning and also he needs to be at the church at 4:30pm for a campout. Andrew needs a ride to school because of the big 5' mobile he made and needs to take it to class. I have the family relations class (that I teach) coming to our house at 7pm. I also need to go to town to make copies for class, deliver a balloon bouquet, mail Jen's bday present...all while Andrea is sick.
Feb
1st: Andrea is feeling amazingly better today! I'm so grateful.
Jennifer has loved being an Olympics volunteer. She worked at Soldier Hollow.
We are so sad that someone from Maine has bought the Lehman's building and is planning tear down the murals! So much money was spent on our city murals for the Sequim 2000 beautification project. We all love those murals and citizens are angry and trying to fight it but are told it's a mission impossible. City council found a way to void the 20 year mural protection contract saying it was signed by Larry Lehman instead of his father Chuck. (contract assured us that the money spent would be protected) Why would they do that! (see next page for pretty mural pictures)
We're planning a family trip to Germany this summer. Every FHE, Dad has us sing German songs in German ha ha! It's not greeted with as great of enthusiasm as the Von Trap family might have but it's tolerated and even done with a smile.
Emily received a certificate from the American Association of University Women honoring her and will be one of the five students honored at a reception next Saturday. She also received the Student of the Month award for March from the Soroptimist group here in Sequim. They honored her at a breakfast last week.
Aaron received the CW McCall Award at a banquet and they gave him a beautiful plaque & $400.00 went to the scout troop.
Andrea got her Gospel in Action award in Primary. She also wrote a winning essay which will send her to the Young Writer's Conference in PA. (Andrew won last year and it was so cool. I'm excited for Andrea to attend)
Andrea and Andrew got to go to an ice skating rink for a birthday party. They passed out Apolo Ohno beards for all the little skaters! They looked so cute - I sure wish I had a picture. (Apolo won medals in the Olympics this year.)
March Whistler in Vancouver British Columbia Canada
Family trip to Whistler BC. Had a wonderful time skiing and ice-skating. Twins got to take lessons.
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April
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| Happy Birthday to Emily and me! |
Emily graduated 3rd in her class! We're so proud of her and the wonderful daughter that she is.
Aaron was selected as ambassador for the school to go to the Hugh O'Bryan Youth Leadership seminar.
Jennifer has graduated with a Masters Degree from BYU! Congratulations Jennifer!!! We're very proud of her.
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May
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We went to a "pinning" with Emily at the Mason's lodge. They gave a pin and certificate to all their scholarship recipients but when they gave Emily hers, they announced that she was awarded their highest scholarship based on her scholarship notebook and academic achievement! We are surely proud of her.
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| Irrigation Festival parade |
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| Aaron marching in the parade |
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| Aaron had a trumpet solo in the Band Concert |
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| States presentations the twins got to do Hawaii! |
June
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| Emily and her buddies all ready for prom |
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| Our Emily has graduated from High School! |
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| Last day of school |
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Took the family to Europe. (see next page for photos)
July Aaron will soon have his driver's license! I've been taking him to PA for trumpet lessons and driving lessons. Our kids are growing up so fast.
Summer has been full of friends over, sleepovers, late movies and we even fit in summer chores, an inside and an outside task. Emily and her buddies did everything together it seemed - even made a crab pot out of an old garden hose, netting and duck tape. It really worked! I loved the whole group of them.
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| Heather, John and Em |
Aug Rexburg
Emily moved into her apt at Ricks on the 31st. We are all feeling emotional about this. While still in Sequim, Emily put her head on Chris's shoulder and told him that she's not ready to grow up. She never asked to stay home and not go to college and she went bravely but it was all so very hard. (present note: Should we have offered that to her...to not go away to school? It didn't occur to us. Hind sight I would have offered that to her.)
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| I think we wore poor Mom Clarke out more than we knew. |
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| Eating out together |
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| Pool and trampoline at Klingler's |
New Babies!
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| bounteous harvest of apples and kittens |
On our way home from ID, while passing through Spokane, the twins saw a sign for Moscow and they started bobbing up and down on the seats chanting "Let's see Shar! Let's see Shar!" ha ha So we stopped and called them and I said "We were kind of thinking it might be fun to drop by and go to lunch and then be on our way." Tom replied "thinking about it? I'll make up your mind for you! You are coming!" ha ha We had a delightful visit with them! They are so cute and dear!
Sept
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| Aaron grade is a Junior in HS |
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Mom and Dad called to tell us that Emily was really sick. I'm so grateful to them for their loving help. Mom and Dad went over to see Em and Dad gave her a blessing. I felt I should fly down there. Chris was leaving for Spain that night but he cancelled the business trip and instead I flew out and Mom and Dad picked me up in IF. Em didn't know I was coming and when she saw me she hugged me so hard and sobbed. She hugged me all night and looked so happy and relieved and just that made the whole trip worth it. I stayed the week and helped. Emily is a joy and our home misses her so much. It was hard to fly home and leave her. She hugged me and thanked me for coming. It is so very hard to push another one of our young ones out of the nest and see them struggle to fly. Would it really be so bad to keep them home longer? I guess this pattern began before we came to earth - I guess we are all here uncomfortably out of our nest.
Andrea loves being on the volleyball team.
Andrew is the 6th grade class president.
Andrew won a paper airplane contest in science class. Kids in class complained that it wasn't fair - he cheated because he didn't make it in a normal way. (He made it with corrugated cardboard) The teacher disagreed and congratulated him on thinking outside of the box and gave him an award with his name on it.
October
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| Lake Ozette YM outing |
Took the kids to the Sunny Farms pumpkin patch and corn maze for FHE. Chris and Aaron were amazing maize maze navigators and found their way around and out quickly...if I'd have been leading the way, we'd probably be in there till the corn died! ha ha
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| Andrea even found a cat to play with while there! |
Stake presidency asked us if they and their wives and bishops and wives could come to our house for a meeting. Chris had a workshop in Seattle the same day but got home a half hour after start time of our meeting which was actually just in time. ha ha Sis. Butchart was in charge of dinner, which I was grateful for. She brought ravioli with sauce and parm. cheese, salad, rolls and lemon squares for dessert. I made witch hat cookies as a favor at each place setting. We had 22 people here.
Chris went to San Fran for a conference he's presenting at. I took the twins back to the pumpkin patch for a horse ride. We had a great time but Andrew decided he didn't want to ride the horse.
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Aaron is in charge of the combined ward Halloween party this Thurs. and we have soooo much to do to get ready.
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While on a walk I noticed a trail marker that looks to me like a grave headstone. That gave me an idea so for FHE we gathered supplies, rode our bikes and decorated the marker for Halloween! Our creation even ended up in the newspaper.
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Emily called me and said she was "feeling sicker than a rhino's butt"! ha ha...oh I laugh at the rhino butt part but poor Emily. What is wrong. She has had trouble for such a long time with nausea in the mornings and throwing up. Nobody seems to find anything wrong and chalk it up to nerves or hormones but that shouldn't do that.
November
I was asked to be a guest speaker for the Primary Development dinner.
Aaron, Andrea and Andrew
In sacrament meeting Andrea and Andrew spoke and Jen made Grandma Bestima's violin sing in her musical number. Also, Jen and I and Sis. Heder played a flute/viola/piano musical number for the Stake Women's Conference. (The Lord is My Shepherd).
Had 35 people over for a great Standards Night. Chris and I, the Becks and Gary Baker all spoke for 10 min on how to be happy and why we want to be good.
Tom and Shar are coming and then we will all be off to Hawaii for the Sawtooth retreat! 57 people! (see next page for photos)
December
It's been so wonderful having Jen home. She has been working solid trying to get her thesis typed out and ready to send. I've hardly seen her for more than a week. She'll fly to SLC on the 4th to defend.
It must be getting close to Christmas because Aaron thought he got a whiff of kleina. He got out the jar of cardamom and smelled deeply with a "mmmm" then passed it to Jen who did the same and passed it on. The jar of cardamom made its rounds multiple times being sniffed and adored while memories of kleina danced in everyone's heads. Ha ha
Had priesthood preview at our home with all the eleven year old boys and their folks. Chris and Aaron gave great talks.
Had neighborhood Christmas gathering at our home and we were thrilled that 8 couples came. Everyone was warm and cheery and it wasn't awkward.
Meacham's invited us to come and play music at their home while their family was there.
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This week is RS party, SMS band concert, SHS band concert, ward potluck with Santa and so many more things. Ah just imagine Christmas in a little cottage in the woods with a warm fire place and just the necessities of life. No distractions. Just family, a few friends, singing carols, making gingerbread men, talking, playing games, going for a walk...no rushing...Hmmm sounds like a movie.
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| Caroling at Eckart and Ryoko's |
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| I painted this for our "Back to Bethlehem" night at our ward Christmas party |
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| Aaron hanging the traditional sheets to preserve the Christmas surprise! |
Took the family to Victoria with our bikes to see the Nutcracker. :)
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| On the ferry |
Happy 17th Birthday Aaron!!
Miscellaneous
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A visit to Moscow to see Tom and Shar
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End of Year Family Sketch
We’re all doing great here in our little piece of paradise. :) We took the family to Europe this summer and then for Thanksgiving our whole company, kids & all (57 people) went to Hawaii and ate Thanksgiving dinner on Hukilau beach.
Jennifer finished her master’s degree in English.
Sharilyn & Tom are still in Moscow, Tom in school & Sharilyn teaching pre-school.
Emily graduated 3rd in her H.S. class and is now at BYU-I majoring in physics.
Aaron is a junior & was selected as ambassador for the school to go to the Hugh O’Bryan Youth Leadership Seminar.
Andrea & Andrew are in 6th grade - both in the band and Andrew is his class president.
Chris is still bishop, SSI president and involved in scouting on the district level. me, I’m a mom full of gratitude for a good family and dear friends.
