Memorial Day

I volunteered to watch some neighbor's kids overnight this week so they could get an early start on their Memorial Day weekend. Clara had so much fun getting to sleep over. They got to watch a movie right before bed to help settle them down. Then they all got to sleep in the same room. We all had so much fun.Saturday we spent with Jeremy's family going to 4 different cemeteries in the area. We then had a family BBQ which included good food and fun jump roping.We ended the evening by having an adult only dinner to celebrate John's birthday and retirement. Congratulations John, you are an amazing example to us and are so proud of your accomplishments! We stayed outside so long that both Jeremy and I got a sunburn. Mine was minor, but poor Jeremy is still hurting. These pictures don't do him justice.

We've been so busy this week, I didn't write down anything Clara said, so here's some that I remember...

• Randomly Clara came up to me and said, "Mommy, I'm growing so big!" "That's right Clara." "But I'm not big enough to go to the temple yet."

• As we kept going from one cemetery to the next, Clara said, "I want to go to a park that has rocks with no letters on them."

Old Friends

When I was single, I lived in an apartment complex called Alta. I loved living there. As a matter of fact, I moved from ward to ward all through college, until I found Alta. I loved it so much, I didn't leave until I got married almost 4 years later. Not only did amazing people live there, but our Bishopric and their wives touched all of our lives forever. This last week I was able to spend some time with a lot of those former friends. Even though we don't see each other very often, all the friendships are still strong and we all have a great time together. It was wonderful to see a softer side of Stu, who was beaming with pride and showing us pictures of his little girl who was 4 days old. I loved getting to visit with Bishop and Sister Hawkes who remember all of us and continue to know us better than any of us ever realized, and who are always very quick to compliment and encourage. It was especially fun to see all the moms and dads and Clara LOVED playing with all the other kids there, even though she had never met most of them. I was able to get pictures of the 3 former roommates who were there.Jeremy also got to play with Clara some at a park. Clara loves her dad and can get him to do just about anything - even if he really doesn't want to. :)Speaking of getting Daddy to do anything, Clara decided to give Jeremy a "haircut." She calls it a haircut, but really it's just combing your hair and then trying to make you look pretty. So here Clara gave Jeremy some long hair so he could be beautiful. Hopefully he doesn't get too mad at me for posting this picture, but I love it!Clara had a field trip to the library this week. She loved story time. We'll have to do that a lot this summer.Clara also had her last day of preschool this week. She was able to "graduate" with all her friends. She loved going to school and can't wait to go back after summer is over.

• Clara is obsessed with things that start with the letter C because Clara starts with C. She usually puts the C sound repeatedly before saying a C word. For example, it's C-C-C-Clara or c-c-c-cat. I figured she was actually putting the sound with the letter when one day she said "C-c-c-can't! Mommy, can't starts with c!" I knew she had figured that one out by herself because no alphabet book is going to have a picture of a "can't" to represent the letter C. I was beaming with pride until the next word out her mouth was "C-c-c-friends!" I then said, "It's f-f-f-friends, not c-c-c-friends." Clara then said, "Yes it is c-c-c-friends! Friends starts with c AND f - both of them!" Well at least she recognized the f sound right?

• Clara came up to me with wet hands and said, "I will wash my hands on my dress because I'm Clara." Not sure how those two things relate.....

• Clara has a friend named Taylor and lately, every time they get together, they hold hands. One day while playing with Taylor, Clara came up to me with a very sad face and said, "Taylor won't hold hands with me." I had to explain to her that boys like to play with cars and trucks sometimes and don't always want to hold hands. I don't think she really comprehended why they would rather play with trucks.

Field Trip to the Grocery Store

Clara's preschool class got to go see all the departments in a grocery store. The kids had so much fun and so did I!Clara has the best imagination ever. She found a walnut (our neighbors across the street have a walnut tree) and part of a bird's nest - which she thought looked like a blanket. Clara cared for her "baby walnut" for days. She would put it to bed, wake it up, feed it. It was pretty funny.Here Clara is "wearing" my hair. Clara loves to play with and stroke my hair. One night I decided to use my hair like a wig for her and Clara loved having long hair. Jeremy thought it was funny enough to take a picture.

• We were driving home when Clara saw the moon out the car window. She must have been watching it for a while because she said excitedly, "The moon is coming with us!"

• Clara got to bring home a helium balloon from her grocery store field trip. The next day, the balloon was on the floor - instead of floating in the air. Clara said, "Oh no! The balloon lost it's power!"

• Our DVD player was acting weird this week. So I opened it up and looked inside to see if I could tell what was wrong. I was able to fix it and put it back together. When Clara's movie was working again she said, "You're a great fixer, Mama."

• It's pretty rare that I get to shower before Clara gets up in the morning. I always tell her when I'm going to take a shower so that she doesn't freak out too much when she notices I've been gone for more than 5 minutes. So one day I said, "I'm going to jump in the shower now." Clara said, "We don't jump at home." I'm glad she's been listening to where she can and cannot jump!

Extension

We found out that Jeremy got a 1 year extension on his job. Along with that came a very unexpected raise! We are so happy to know we have employment for at least another year!

Not too much else has happened this week, so I'll just dive right into the funny Clara moments for the week. I have to add this picture of Clara. I put it on my other blog, but I didn't have any new ones of her and this one makes me laugh so hard I thought I might as well have it in both places.

• I looked down and noticed some food on my pants, so I said, "Oh no, I spilled." Clara, who I didn't even know was listening said, "That's ok Mom, sometimes that just happens."

• Clara is always trying to figure out how new words fit into her world. Clara was listening as Jeremy was telling me a story and in it he explained how in Spanish, El Papa means The Pope. Clara piped up and said, "Like the bear!" We were a little confused until she explained, "Like Po, the bear."

• We were eating ice cream with some friends and Jeremy told them that Clara was a fan of ice cream. Clara responded, "I'm not a fan!"

• Jeremy and Clara always have the craziest conversations. One day, Daddy and Clara were naming lots things that would be funny if they fell like rain. Clara said, "If it rained fruit snacks, then we could buy them from the sky."

• In the same rain conversation Jeremy asked Clara what would happen if it rained trucks. Clara said, "Then they would bonk our heads."

Exciting Week

Clara was able to attend a field trip to Provo's airport. It was so much fun for the kids to see all the different airplanes. They even got to see a helicopter land and an airplane take off. I still didn't have my camera back from the shop, so I'll have to put pictures up when I get them from friends to took some for me.I got my camera back the same day as Clara's field trip and I have been having so much fun taking pictures with it. I am very impressed with the service. They even updated our software for us, so the delay is MUCH faster than what it used to be. We LOVE having our camera back.

Friday we got to hang out with a few friends from the ward where Jeremy and I met. The bishop's wife graduated from UVU and they had an open house for her and invited all the old college students to come. We love that family and love getting together with them.

My brother picked up the key to his new apartment Sat morning. If you are wondering why I would care about that at all, his new apartment is in my same complex. We are going to be neighbors and I couldn't be more excited.

After my little brother got his key and VERY briefly looked inside his new apt, we drove to Twin Falls to see my niece get baptized. Clara was so excited to see Adanya's baptism and to see her cousins Jed and Hyrum. Isn't my sister's family so beautiful?We had so much fun playing with them all weekend. Clara loved all their dress up things.And we loved getting to play games. Clara also got a Strawberry Shortcake blanket while we were there, which she loves! Thanks guys. The trip was way too short as we came home Sunday after church.

When we got home, I was talking to some friends and they mentioned that Osama bin Lauden had been killed. I was shocked. We turned on the news right away to see if it was really true. Words can't describe the feelings I had as the news sunk in. I didn't think this day would ever come. I'm so grateful to so many who put their lives in danger to be able to bring justice to those families who lost loved ones 9 1/2 years ago. I'm still slightly in shock.

• Overheard as Clara was playing with a stick: I want to go to the glass slipper ball. You can't because you are a stick, not a glass slipper.

• Clara went to the temple grounds with me when I took 2 girls who are between the ages of 8 and 11. As soon as we got to the temple, Clara said, "The temple is HUGE!"

• As we were all walking around the grounds, Clara kept saying to those 2 girls, "Follow me girls!"

• When I told Clara she was cute, she said, "No I'm not, I grew up!" (Apparently only babies are cute.)