Today it FINALLY hit me............

So I haven't blogged in awhile been keeping pretty busy with substitute teaching, working at Burley Glass and running around to the kids activities. So what has happened since January we worked most of the winter on the basement. It is now finished just need to furnish it YAY!! Cameron & Kambrie have kept us busy running and working, but today I finally had a day of nothing really pressing to do. Kambrie is upstairs sick on the couch, Hank is sleeping because he is working the graveyard shift, and Cameron went to the City of Rocks with Grandma Marilyn. So here I am........... thinking of all the things that have happened in the last few months and the reality of my little boy graduating in 16 days hits me. I am a MESS!! Cameron has had a good Senior year, he has gone to his last Preference dance, been to the East Coast for a week, attended his last FFA Convention, competed in California with the Trendsetter group, danced at his last Jr. Prom, completed an AWESOME Senior Project and now things are winding down...... I am proud of him for working hard to graduate, I am proud that he takes pride in his work. He is a hard worker and a majority of the time an all around good kid. I love him dearly and wish him the very best as he takes this new step in life. Even though he won't be very far away, I will miss him.

Quick Summary ~ August 2009 – December 2009

Well, it’s been awhile since I last blogged and I hate to leave off in July then jump to January 2010 so I am going to a very quick summary of happenin’ things going on in the Clark household.
August was filled with 4-H projects, hosting a Bridal Shower, and gearing up for school. The kids did very well at the fair this year. Macy took Grand Champion, Yay Macy!! Cameron, Kambrie, and Hallie all placed in the top 20. Kambrie won Reserve Showman, I was quite pleased as she improved each time she went into the show ring. (This meant she actually listened to the judge and corrected her mistakes, usually it goes in one ear and out the other.) Cameron also placed very well with Ag Project which was building a round pen. We were excited to have Hank’s dad and his wife Devon visit us from Minnesota, we took them into the fair and enjoyed spending time with them.

The rest of the month flew by and before you knew it school was in full swing again. Cameron is attending his Senior year at Declo, while Kambrie entered 7th grade at the Junior High, and I finally did my student teaching. YAY!!!! My student teaching assignment was at Albion Elementary teaching with Jan Hartwell grades 3rd – 5th.
September began with the usual trip up to Twin Lakes for a camp out and horseback riding. It’s the final camping trip of the season. It was a good trip all in all, only one minor incident, Cameron’s car was parked in the way of McKade and his four wheeler. Poor Kadee thought Cameron wouldn't be his buddy anymore.

During the month of September we lost a beloved grandmother. Hank’s grandma Reynolds passed away early in the month; it was hard to watch her struggle. I was honored to put together a slide show for her; she was a funny and loving lady and will be greatly missed.

On a more positive note in September my baby sister Marlea finally found the someone brave enough to put up with her. (JK) Marlea was married September 26th to Ted Rowley, they make a great couple. They had a beautiful wedding with lots of friends and family present.

Sports Notes: Kambrie enjoyed playing on the 7th grade volleyball and basketball teams. She is a good athlete and has a lot of potential. Cameron loved playing on the football team and even kicked a few extra points this year. Running to games kept us busy it was non-stop game going from September – November. The football team did well again this year with a couple of really close games. Declo scraped by Malad in a playoff game in double overtime. All in all Declo finished up 2nd again to Parma.

October…………… hmmmmm…..
All that stands out is Marlea’s reception in Albion which was very nice and Halloween. Nothing overly exciting. Oh, the boys annual hunting trip which they came back empty handed and it went by entirely too quickly. More football games and more volleyball games to run to. I have had a great time student teaching up in Albion. The 3rd graders sent out Flat Stanley’s and were eager to get them back. We sent them out to Meridian, ID Hyrum, UT Washington D.C. Gold Bluff, TN Jerome, ID Fort Collins, CO and Nephi, UT.

November ~
It was CRUNCH time my TWS was due at the end of the month. YIKES!! Pulled an all nighter to complete the dirty bugger can’t believe how the time flew by. During the month of November my 3rd graders memorized all 50 states and their capitols. They did excellent! Thanksgiving was a welcome break. Black Friday was not near as exciting as it has been in years past. Found a few treasures, nothing I had to get up that early for. :P

December ~ My baby girl turned 13 this on the 8th. She is such a giggle butt sometimes.

Kambrie is a fun girl to have in our home.
13 things I love about Kambrie
1. Her smile
2. Her laugh
3. Her big green eyes
4. Her sense of style
5. Her hugs
6. Her “I love you’s” before she goes to bed
7. Her energy
8. Her blondliness
9. Her kindness towards others
10. Her determination
11. Her sense of adventure

12. Her willingness to help at home whether it is inside with me or outside with her dad

13. Her ability to stand up for herself

The end is FINALLY here. I graduated from ISU with a Bachelors of Science in Education on December 9th 2009. I finished my student teaching on December 11th, it was a bittersweet day. Happy to be done, sad to leave. I went back the following week to wrap up the rest of the Flat Stanley projects, which all of our participants were AWESOME and sent information and wonderul prizes back for my students. I also went back to help with the Christmas program, the kids all performed well. It was great fun to watch.

Christmas break was nice; it was great to be home with Cameron & Kambrie through the break. We had a nice Christmas, other than Hank had to work Christmas day. We made a few adjustments we had dinner the night before and opened up our presents other than what Santa was going to leave. For Christmas I was excited to get a new camcorder that also works as a digital camera, I have had fun playing with it and trying to figure it out. We woke up early Christmas morning to see what Santa Claus had left, then Hank went to work and we went back to bed for a while. We went to moms for Christmas dinner, then I took some dinner over to Hank at work and visited with him for a little bit. The day after Christmas the kids & I went to Island Park with mom, dad, Mindy, Scott and kiddos. It was a nice ride on the snowmobiles. Also, during the break we have been working on cleaning out some unneeded junk and painting the basement.

July 12th - July 18th ~ Little Vacation

Well, our family at the last minute decided we would take us a little vacation. I didn't have much time to plan our route so we flew by the seat of our pants headed to the Redwoods and Oregon Coast.

Sunday, July 12th - We left Sunday evening after Hank got off work and headed to Boise. We spent the night at Marlea's so we could get an early start the next morning.

Monday, July 13th - We were up early and headed for Oregon. What a long and windy road, not too much different than Idaho on the east side of the state. Windy roads and sage brush. It was nice to have another driver on our trip, Cameron drove quite a bit which I really appreciated. :) We went thru Ontario onto Burns up to Bend. We took the road up to Crater Lake which is absolutely GORGEOUS!! The lake was so incredibly blue. We had a picnic at one of the sites up by the lake where Kambrie made friends with a deer she named Julie. She kept trying to get close enough to pet her, but never quite accomplished the task. After lunch we reloaded the truck and headed to Grants Pass then down to Cave Junction. We spent our first night camping at the Greyback Campground, just below the Oregon Caves. Our camp site was very nice it had a creek running right behind it and the kids loved playing in it.

Tuesday, July 14th - We were up bright and early to pack up our gear and head up to the Oregon Caves. The caves were a lot of fun we had a guided tour which took us about an hour and a half. Our guide had a good sense of humor and was well informed. At one point in the cave he asked if we had any singers in our group. Of course Hank volunteered Cameron. Cameron was not so thrilled about the experience. LOL!! We went into one section of the cave where there was a large room that echoed. Cameron cleared out his throat and sung the Star Spangled Banner there inside the cave. I must say I was impressed, he did a good job. He was cool to hear his voice echo throughout the cave. He had several compliments from other members in our tour group. After tour we were off to California. The drive down to Crescent City was beautiful. Once we hit Crescent City we had to find a beach access so Kambrie would stop driving me nuts about getting to the ocean. We found an access and played around on the rocks for a while. The kids found many starfish and sea anemones. After we were done playing on the beach for a little while we loaded back up to head down to Klamath to ride the sky tram through the Redwoods. I loved going through all of the trees but did get a little claustrophobic every now and then. I like to see out in front of my a little ways. After checking out the Redwoods in Klamath we drove down to Trinidad, California where we would stay for a few nights. When we reached Trinidad we found our quaint little room we had rented and went down to the pier to see where we would need to meet our fishing boat the next morning. I liked Trinidad's small town feel. The population there is only about 600 and a lot like Declo, one road you can't get lost. LOL!

Wednesday, July 15th - Once again we were up bright and early so we could meet our boat for our scheduled fishing trip. Our boat was not very big and not quite what I had expected but the guide was very personable and did everything he could to make sure everyone had a good time. Including me when I got sea sick, he turned around and brought me back in. I tried and tried to stick it out but the swells of the ocean were not working with me. I went back to my room where I everything kept moving on me all afternoon, I finally fell asleep. Hank, Cameron, and Kambrie had fun fishing they caught 15 rockfish and brought in 20 crab. Hank caught the biggest rockfish which was 6 lbs, they said that is as big as they get. Kambrie out fished them all by catching 9 of the 15. Cameron and Hank had tried catching some lingcod but were not successful. Kambrie liked watching the sea lions out while they were fishing. For the short bit I was out there we had a few approach our boat, apparently they are over populated and are always looking for food. That evening when they returned from fishing we cooked our rockfish and crab for dinner. Dinner was good and we were full and tired. After a while I finally started to feel better and drove down to McKinleyville to do a little laundry. Thursday, July 16th - Today we are going to check out more Redwoods. We drove south clear down to the Avenue of the Giants, then through the Shrine tree which had Hank REALLY stressed. Then we turned around and went back north because I didn't get to see all of the sights I had wanted to see on the way down. We checked out the Lady Bird Johnson Grove which I thought was beautiful. We checked out Fern Canyon that was way cool, I would have liked more time to spend walking through there, we played on a few beaches in between and ended up back just outside of Crescent City. We stayed at the Florence Keller State Campground, it was a nice campground nestled inside a bunch of giant redwoods. After we set up camp we went into Crescent City where we ate at a place that looked out over the harbor and the ocean. It was nice but the weather being the way it was there was a lot of cloud cover and hard to see way out into the ocean.

Friday, July 17th - Today we went to the beach and played on the rocks, I went up and checked out the Battery Point Lighthouse. Hank and the kids stayed to play in the rocks looking for starfish, sea anemones, crabs and whatever else they could find. After the lighthouse we went down to an aquarium where you could pet a shark. It was kind of expensive considering what you got out of it. Oh, well the kids can say I was able to pet a tiger shark. LOL! After the aquarium we drove north up the Oregon Coast Highway. I liked the drive, other than it was a pretty cloudy most of the time. We stopped at a couple beaches to check them out and stopped to see where the Rogue River meets the Pacific Ocean. Cameron was bummed he didn't have a fishing pole. There were a ton of boats just trolling around. We drove north until we came to Cape Blanco State Park. I loved this campground! It had beach access, flushable potties, and a shower. YAY!! We were lucky we grabbed a spot when we did because they were filling up fast. We had fun playing down on the beach for a little while even though it was cold. We grilled hamburgers for dinner then sat around the campfire. We played 20 questions while we were sitting around the fire. Cameron and I kept hearing something in the bushes, but did not know what it was. It wasn't too long before we found out. I looked over between Cameron and Hank by the tree and say something black with a nice white stripe down it. Yes, we had a skunk in our campground. YIKES! We had decided to walk down to the bathroom before bed and Hank was in the back, I was in front of him, Kambrie was in front of me and Cameron was in the lead. Well, Hank thought he would be funny. He grabbed me and started pushing me telling me it was behind him, so I start pushing on Kambrie, she runs into Cameron, and Cameron just about runs over the skunk because it is in front of him. We cleaned up everything it might try to get into and went to bed hoping it would go away, which it did.

Saturday, July 18th - This morning we broke camp and headed back to Idaho. What a long drive home. The west side of Oregon has a lot of beautiful scenery, the east side of the state is BLAH! I was happy to arrive safely back home in Declo. I really enjoyed our trip and getting away from home and seeing some new sights. However, next time I don't want to spend quite so much time driving. ;) But I do want to go back to the Oregon Coast one of these days, hopefully it will be warmer the next time I am there.

July 6th - July 11th

Well, another week has come and gone. UGH!

Monday, July 6th ~ Our little 4-H club had a meeting on Monday. Today we did our annual service project of picking up trash through the streets of Declo. We do this to help get ready for the Declo Days Celebration that is held the 2nd Saturday in July. After we were done we stopped at the Country Store where I always get the kids a treat for helping. However, this year Mr. Mayor was leaving the store as we were coming in. He could see what we were doing and offered to pick up the tab. So the kids grabbed a drink and headed home. After 4-H Kambrie and I went home to start packing for Girls Camp. I made a list of a few things she needed then Mindy and I went to town to grab a few things for her and Macy. Later that evening we went and weighed the kids sheep. They are all gaining really well and looking good.

Tuesday, July 7th ~ Today, we had to be at Gina's at 9 a.m. Kambrie is going to girls camp for the first time. I am so sad. It is going to be one long boring week with no one around. After, I dropped Kambrie off I picked up the house then went into work for a few hours. Later that evening Hank and I played Bullseye Washers. Cameron was busy at Whitt's trying to get their trash car cleaned up for the big parade.

Wednesday, July 8th ~ Nothing exciting going on here. Picked up the house, went to work, fixed dinner. Can't think of anything overly exciting that happened. I spent way too many hours on the computer trying to map out a plan for our trip.

Thursday, July 9th ~ I was supposed to have Finley today, but Kodi did not have to work. So I enjoyed a nice quiet day at home, doing the same thing dishes and laundry. Went down to Mindy's for a little while to visit. Had to see what McKade was doing. He is a busy boy. Cameron got off work early and ran off to work on the car some more.

Friday, July 10th ~ Waited for Kambrie to get home from girls camp. She yakked my ear off about girls camp and said she had a good time. I suppose it is safe to say she made it through SURVIVOR. That evening we went up to the Declo Celebration where they were giving wagon rides, had a program, and birthday cake. I had gone up planning on being a spectator but Kim fixed that in a hurry. All of the wagon's had not shown up to give rides so Kim and I busted it out to Denton's to get the Gator and a trailer. Dee come over and threw some straw bales on and away we went. After the wagon rides we went into the auditorium for a little program. We watched a video that Heather had put together that was quite comical. Then there were some more live performances on how Declo got its name. It was nice to see many people out, everyone then went into the cafeteria for cake and ice cream. Again I went in as a spectator and soon found myself helping Chris, Dan, and Byra Lou in the back kitchen putting cake and ice cream on plates. When I got home Hank had the truck ripped apart trying to figure out what was wrong. I went in the house and was kicking back for a bit. I decided to call VerLyn to see if they needed help with anything for the Anthon float. Yep, they did. Their original plan had fallen through now they were trying to put together another float. So I went over and help Kelly and Brett put something together, then Valerie and I took off to WalMart at 12:15 a.m. to get candy and wash Clyde's Jeep. I got home about 1:45 a.m. and crashed.

Saturday, July 11th ~ The big Declo Days Celebration. Kambrie got up and ran the little Hammer Scamper. She got 2nd place, next year she will have to run the bigger race the 5K. We ate breakfast then went home and got ready for the parade. I dropped her off to get on the Anthon float. Then went to help Kim get everyone in place for the parade. The parade was nice, not tooooo long, and not tooooo short. After the parade I ran to town to get parts for the truck before the dealership closed then took them over to Hank. I then went back to the Declo park to see what was going on. We hung out there for a while, didn't win anything as usual. :P Then Kambrie and I went to lunch with Valerie, Chauncey, Mindy and all of the kids. Chaunce says he is going to stop going with us. Toooo many women for him. LOL!! When we got back from Burley we went to float the canal. The kids had fun floating, swimming and dunking each other. I left Kambrie at the canal with Mindy for a bit and went home to start getting things ready to go for our trip. I had gone into WalMart to get groceries when Kim called and asked if I wanted to crash the class of 89's party. So I hurried with my groceries, got home then headed up to Albion. By the time we had gotten there most of them had left but did get to visit with a few of them. It was nice to see them and get caught up a little bit. We then realized Mindy's class was inside having a little reunion there as well so we popped in to say hello. We then headed back home, where as soon as I got home I turned around and headed over to Kelly's for the Anthon get together. Declo Days was fun and it was nice to see family and friends that you don't normally see everyday. Hank got the truck put back together so I guess we are good to go. Another busy week coming up.