You Should Have Seen The Other Guy

Yesterday started out like any other day...getting kids to school, working, cleaning up after the whirlwind known as Cameron....

My friend stopped by with some delicious Christmas candy and as we were visiting my phone rang. She asked if I needed to get it, I responded "no" without looking at the Caller ID. Lucky for me, we have an answering machine that is heard to all who are in the room when you leave a mesage. It went something like this:

Mrs. Sweet, this is Leslie from Parker's school, Parker collided heads with his friend at recess. The other child is fine, but Parker's eye is incredibly swollen and we need you to come check it out as soon as possible.

Also lucky for me, I have 3 boys and don't tend to get too stressed with stuff like this! I looked at my friend and said "well, like Sam always says, this just shakes up the day!"

My friend left and as I was getting my shoes on to head to the school, my phone rang again. This time it was my neighbor. He was all in a panic. He said "Carrie, can I come over, I need you to look at my lip and tell me if I need stitches because my German Shepard just bit my lip!"

Sure, come on over....Parker's just laying in the office with ice on his eye....

Neighbor came running over, bare-footed (hysterical!). His lip was fat and sure enough, he had a nice slit where the dog's tooth sunk in. It wasn't stitch-worthy in my opinion though (but again, I'm a little laid back with these things). I told him to put Neosporin on it, maybe super glue if he's freaked out, and for heavens sake, put some shoes on!

I then ran out the door with Cameron. The office staff was so nice to Parker and gave him all sorts of compassion and sympathy. He was laying on a couch, trying not to cry. I took one look at his puffy eye and said "Hey buddy! Guess what is so cool? You are going to have a black eye for all your Christmas pictures! You will NEVER forget the Christmas of 2011. How lucky is that??" Parker smiled, the office staff looked at me like I was crazy, and then I checked Carson and Parker out of school 1/2 hour early. It was a good afternoon!! We came home and snarfed down some homemade bread I made earlier that day. All is right with the world.


Here is what his eye looked like when we got home. The swelling had decreased by at least half after all the ice. Well played, ice. Well played.


Here is what his eye looked like this morning at breakfast. Those colors are going to be fun to watch them change every day. On a side note, have I ever told you how much I love Parker's ears? Awww, I love this kid!


Last night we went with my parents and brothers family to Thanksgiving Point to see the Holiday Lights. Afterwards we went to Curtis' house for hot chocolate. While at Thanksgiving Point, my dad was talking to Parker. He said "If Curtis asks you what happened to your eye, tell him you got hit...but you should have SEEN the other guy!!!". Parker calmly says (as only Parker can) "Nah, I'll just tell him the truth." ha ha! Seriously, coolest kid ever!

We saw Reindeer at Thanksgiving Point. Pretty fun!



This morning, Cameron's preschool class had their Christmas Program. Chaos at its best! It was pretty cute. Songs were sung, pictures were taken, instruments were played, cookies were consumed, and the teachers HAPPILY sent the kids on their way, not to return for 2 weeks! :)



The kids had done a gift exchange where the dollar limit was one dollar. Luckily, Target has a great dollar section! Cameron was supposed to give a gift to a girl named Hannah. I found some Hello Kitty hair clips so that is what she got. She was ecstatic! She was jumping up and down, ripped open the package, and put all the clips in her hair right then and there! Best dollar I ever spent! Cameron got this sweet car. He loves it, despite the look on his face. ha ha! He has been playing with the car ever since we got home. Success!


And finally:
Last week I was in a frenzy trying to get Christmas stuff all taken care of so on the way home, Cameron and I stopped at McDonalds for lunch. We went through the drive thru and came home to eat. I ordered Cameron some chicken nuggets. When we got home, I opened his chicken nugget container....to find a bunch of nasty nacho cheese with little pieces of jalepeno inside! Oh man, McDonalds is so lucky I was too tired to go back and rip them a new one!! So, Cameron got a sandwich to go with his fries. No fake chicken for him! ha ha!

Happy Birthday To Me!

My birthday was this past week on the 13th. I'm 37. 37 doesn't feel much different than 27 really. I honestly think I mentally stopped maturing at about 25 so I suppose that makes the birthdays much easier to accept!

One of my birthday gifts was a card reader for my computer so now I can update my blog from my regular computer instead of the laptop, which I am very happy about! The laptop is quite temperamental and we have had some stern words with each other and now our relationship is strained. So, happy blogging from here on out!

Last Sunday Carson earned his Tenderfoot in Boy Scouts. It was fun attending the Court of Honor and seeing the way things are run in Boy Scouts vs. Cub Scouts. I'm so excited for Carson to experience all that comes with Boy Scouting! I guess they are doing a Klondike winter camp in February that Sam will probably attend too....I'm so glad I'm not a boy!!!!!!!!! I wouldn't last 5 minutes camping in the snow. Boys are crazy! :)

The obligatory picture of Carson pinning the Tenderfoot mother's pin on me. I'm gaining quite a collection these days. Can't wait to see my collection after 3 boys go through scouting!


Yesterday morning we enjoyed the annual Sweet Family Christmas Party. Good food, good fun, good entertainment, and good conversations! What more could we ask for??






We had a gift exchange for all the cousins under the age of 18. All the boys sat in a circle and did their exchange, and all the girls did the same. I was shocked at the size of the boy circle vs. the girl circle! Dang!



Cameron scored the cutest little giraffe pillow pet. He loves it! In fact, he's taking a nap with it right at this very moment. :)


We ended the party with musical talent from the Sweet family. Don't worry, I wasn't asked to participate because we all know what my voice sounds like! ha ha ha!
However: Sam, Carson, Parker, and Nick sang for us and it was beautiful!


My mother in law, Fontella, and her last living sibling: Belva. These two are a hilarious pair and we love them tremendously!


Mel and Aaron singing "Grandma got run over by a reindeer". We tried to get Fontella to lay down in front of them but she ignored us. ha ha!


After the Sweet party, we went to my parents house that evening for a birthday par-tay for me. It was super fun to hang with family and friends and laugh our guts out. Case in point: I have no idea what is so funny here, but Sam captured the moment!


Maybe they were discussing my brother Mike's "man fur" ugliest Christmas sweater he made....


Frightening eh? Needless to say, Mike's costume won the grand prize! The part that makes me belly laugh the hardest is how he got the cut up afro wig to stick on his body: MAPLE SYRUP! Oh my what a smelly mess! He has no fear and no inhibitions!

Very typical picture: Nalani and I always solve the world's problems when we get together! Don't we look like we mean business??


Here I am getting ready to blow out my bazillion candles on the delicious Sub Zero ice cream pie! Luckily Cameron helped me blow them out because I don't have much lung capacity these days!


Oh, ha ha ha! Sam, I didn't think it was possible for anybody to love ice cream more than you do....but I think I found your match: Check out Ellie Oram's face in this picture! CLASSIC! She is like "gimme ice cream and nobody gets hurt!"


My brother's family is here until after Christmas so hopefully we can get to all the events we have on our wish list between now and then! Honestly, I'm just hoping I don't go into labor before they leave because then I'll miss out on some fun! My doctor is planning a January 7th induction and I'm great with that date!

Merry Christmas!

My last post was in November, about Halloween, and now it's December....so, Merry Christmas! I knew once Halloween hit I'd be in trouble because the holiday season would make every day fly by as my belly got bigger and bigger. I'm just under 5 weeks away from delivery. I'm waddling around like a penguin and doing Christmas shopping is serious torture for my loosening ligaments and joints! ha ha! Good thing I'm almost done with my shopping. If anybody knows what I can get my mother-in-law for Christmas, I'm all ears! Seriously, she's a tough one to buy for!

Okay, here's a run down of what's up lately:

First of all, let's do a few "Cameron says" moments shall we? That kid is only 3 and he's got the BEST personality, I just can't get enough of him!

Carrie: Does Santa like boys who are bad?
Cameron: No
Carrie: Does Santa like boys who are good?
Cameron: ……No?
Carrie: Yes he does!
Cameron: OH! I thought you meant good to EAT!!! That would be gross!

Another one, this happened just today:

Cameron: When I’m old will I change my name to “dad” and go to work?
Carrie: Um...yeah...
Cameron: I KNEW IT!! I won’t even need a stool anymore and I can make my own ice cream cones!!!!!!

I see where his priorities are!

In other news:
As many of you know, I've been slightly frustrated with Carson's teacher this year. We've gone the rounds and then I prepared for the WORST parent/teacher conference in mid-November. Surprisingly, it wasn't as bad as I feared. His grades are acceptable but we just need to convince him to get his work done the day it's assigned. Imagine my surprise when the week after his parent/teacher conference, he was given an award for getting his work done! What in the what?? I'm not sure if I'm being buttered up for something, but I'm not going to question it! I was helping out at Cameron's school that morning so my mom was kind enough to attend the little "Climbing Higher" program and email me a picture of Carson with the Principal. Thanks mom!


For Thanksgiving, Cameron's preschool class held a little Thanksgiving feast for the kids, their parents, and their grandparents. It was pretty dang cute. Once again my mom came to the rescue and snapped this picture of Cameron wearing the turkey hat he made. Love it!


Also in November, my friend Laura gave me a little baby shower with a few friends from the neighborhood. At first I was against the idea because this will be my 4th baby but Laura knew me well when she said "Carrie, don't take this the wrong way, but it's your first girl and you NEED HELP!" Ha ha, so true! I'm dang clueless when it comes to baby girls. I'm so thankful for the generosity of wonderful friends who came to support me and this little girl. It was a blast!






I feel a lot more prepared now to welcome this little one into our lives! I've been educating myself on hair bows, and coordinating outfits, and guess what else? I have a travel size wipes container that is covered in fabric and flowers! That's right, I'm pretty snazzy thanks to my friend Ginger Ekberg!!

We've been working dang hard on the baby's room. I absolutely LOVE the way it turned out. Just a few more details to take care of but overall the room is ready.

The room used to have a denim-looking paint on the bottom, a red chair rail, and white walls above the rail. Here we are starting the process. We painted the upper walls green.


Then we put up some bead board.


Then we painted trim, hung a chandelier, and put all the furniture in the room. I am so happy with the end result!




My friend gave me this "Fancy Nancy" book because she said if my daughter has curly hair she imagines it will look like this little girl's! Love it! Thanks Mindy!


Thanksgiving this year was with the Sweet family and we had some grubbin' food and great conversations. Because Fern is amazing and thoughtful, she borrowed my boys one night and had them help her make these fun Turkeys for the tables on Thanksgiving day. So cute!


After we stuffed ourselves silly, the kids went outside to play. Russ hoisted a bunch of kids into this huge tree. I was pretty sure somebody would fall and we've have an Instacare visit, but everybody hung in there pretty well!


Then Russ just had to join the fun and climbed into that tree himself! Kid at heart!


Definitely looking prego!


Now we're gearing up for the Christmas season. I seriously can't believe it's less than 3 weeks away. Good times! My brother and his family are traveling here from Indiana to spend Christmas with us so all the Clark kids will be together this year, it's sure to be a wild and crazy time! Here's hoping I don't go into labor in December. I desperately want a January baby, not December. Wish me luck! :)

Halloween 2011 - My 666th Post.

I swear I'm not making this up. This is my 666th blog post. Pretty fitting for my post about Halloween, don't you think?

We had a busy and fun Halloween season. It wasn't until 5pm on Halloween evening that I realized we never carved pumpkins. That's crazy! I think this was our first year ever that we did not carve a jack-o-lantern. Ah well, life goes on!

Sam and Parker made good use of our candy corns over the past few weeks.



We also moved Cameron downstairs to room with Carson about a week ago! Now all three boys are downstairs. Next up...changing the empty room on the main floor into a girls room! Agghhhhh!

Here are the 3 stooges chillaxin' in Cameron's bed. I think Cameron's just slightly excited to join the ranks of his older brothers.


Fern went to China for a few weeks in October but when she got home she made time to paint pumkins for my boys. Yay! Here they are, my kids LOVED them as usual!

Carson chose "Gir" from the cartoon "Invador Zim".


Parker was thrilled with his green Puffle from "Club Penguin".


And of course, Cameron wanted "Thomas the Tank Engine". Oh how he loved his pumpkin! He would just stare at it forever and every time we left the house he would yell towards the front door "Bye Thomas!!!"


This past weekend we were able to go to Rexburg Idaho to see my brother's photo show at the college. It was super cool and I'm so glad we were able to make the trip. However, that is my last road trip until after this baby is born. Whoo-wee mama! I was feeling every bump of the road for sure! :)


Look at my big ol' belly! In the past 2 weeks I swear I've tripled in size!


A good time was had by all!


While we were there, we decided to look around campus at BYU-Idaho. There are so many new buildings since I attended college in (ahem....) 1993 - 1995! In fact, most everything is new. I had a hard time getting my bearings straight while on campus. Darren would point out an old building and then I would understand where I was. So crazy! In fact, they have a new auditorium there that looks almost exactly like the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. It seats 15,000. It's a far cry from the old gym bleachers we used to sit in for devotionals when I attended Ricks College!



Halloween morning I got the kids ready for school and had them smile for pictures.


Meet Carson the stick figure. This costume is hysterical at night! The green stick figure lights up and it's all you can see. Carson was dancing around in the dark and I almost peed my pants I was laughing so hard!


Parker the penguin. Yes, this is the same penguin costume that Carson wore last year. However, this year it's an awesome costume because Parker loves Club Penguin so he felt pretty honored to wear it.


Cameron the frog. I could just eat him up!


I dropped Cameron off at preschool and then I went to Carson and Parker's Halloween parade at their school. There was a kid in Parker's grade that had the BEST costume. He walked with a walker, wore an old plaid shirt that he stuffed to make him look fat, and he SHAVED the top of his head so he was a balding old man! I loved it so much and at the same time I was so mad I didn't think of this costume for one of my boys! But here's the best part. I frantically tried to get a picture of him, but he was too fast. This is all I got.


Ha ha ha, the TRICK is on me! Check out that ear wax!!!! Hysterical!

The boys had fun trick or treating and came back with lots of candy to chow on over the next several days....and now it's November. Yay!!

Oh, one last thing. Just because we are talking about Halloween, I think this is an appropriate conversation to share with you...

Carson had to poop really bad but I was making him do his homework first because he always uses poop as an excuse to sit in the bathroom and do nothing.
After I noticed a painful look on his face, we had a discussion which led me to the decision that I should let him use the restroom.
About 10 minutes later, Carson said “thanks to you, I now know what “prairie dogging” means.”

Ha ha ha!