Clarissa and her Cake

We celebrated Clair's birthday weeks ago but I forgot to update the family blog. I love the giant cupcake cake. She wasn't feeling the same love because she barely touched it.

She was excited for the candle and was mad when we blew it out.

She also like the sprinkles.

I love her face in this one. She acted kinda grossed out by the whole thing.

Finally a taste of the frosting.

Eventually in an effort to produce a show my sister stuck her hand into the cake.

She was basically done after that.

It was a huge disappointment since Kate made a huge mess and almost ate her entire cake. We wanted to see that again.

Clair is sporting her matching t-shirt.

Jared in the News

Jared and his students were in the news for an awesome project they are doing with PBS. His article is in the feature section of the Tribune. Here's the link for their online edition http://www.sltrib.com/features/ci_14730100.

Jared Wright, teacher for the West High School TV West class, works on a computer as students discuss scripts for this week's show during their class Thursday. The TV West class has been designated as a "student reporting lab" for PBS NewsHour Extra. The class has received a $1,000 grant for film equipment to produce two features a year for the NewsHour's Web site. The class also produces weekly news for the high school and each student reports four features a year. (Steve Griffin / The Salt Lake Tribune)

Jared has done some great things for the program the last few years, I couldn't be prouder.

Happy St. Patty's Day

Another trip to Hawaii

I know we just went to Hawaii. But, my parents offered free room and board to anyone who could get themselves over for the week. We had enough frequent flyer mile saved up, so we couldn't resist. Since it was basically a free trip we decided to splurge on a babysitter for the older kids. Originally we were going to have a friend watch the kids, but at the last minute my sister decided to stay home, and earn money watching our kids. Our original sitter would have been great but very relieved to leave them with Shelly instead. She is already like a second mom. I don't think my kids missed me for a minute.

It was an interesting trip. Definitely not your typical trip to Hawaii. First of all, the weather was horrible. Basically it rained the whole time. The trade winds were in and we weren't able to swim at most beaches because the waves were out of control. Honestly tough I didn't care. I got a week of no cooking, no cleaning and almost no kids.

Kauai is a beautiful island. We spent a lot of time riding in the car to look at all the gorgeous sights.

Looking over Wiamea Canyon the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific"

Please don't laugh at my hair. It was really hard for me to post these pictures. It was a bad hair week. My hair does not do well in humidity and the wind didn't help or the fact that it is too short for real ponytails.

One of my favorite experiences was an all day hike along the Na Pali Coast to some waterfalls.

This coast is famous for scenes from Jurassic Park. It was very wet and very muddy. We had to cross several rivers with flash flood warnings. I was brave and kept all my mom fears to myself. The views were amazing and worth the aching knees at the end.

We got a few sunny moments on the beach. Do you see the seal in the back ground?

Clair experienced sand for the first time.

Another highlight was riding bikes along the coast.

Kauai is also well known for it's shaved ice. I know I loved it.

My mom and I took a boat down the river to the Fern Grotto with Clair.

Clair loved the singing and dancing.

I think the biggest highlight for us all was being there when my brother, Jon purposed to his girl friend, Melissa. They kayaked to Secret Falls and he asked her under the waterfall. How cute is that. She was totally surprised. We all love Melissa and can't wait to the big day. The more I get to know her, the more I think she is perfect for Jon.

Clarissa turned one!

Poor Clair, she had to spend her birthday in Hawaii. Honestly it was quiet uneventful, for her. We'll celebrate properly tomorrow. She was nice enough to give me a few smiles on her big day.

The year flew by. I can't hardly believe she is a year old. She isn't walking yet but she'll be there soon. She started waving and saying "hi" on the trip. See what happens when I actually give her some one on one attention.

Poor Girl!

Kate had another accident. She fell out of our van while I was loading up to go meet Jared. I was on one side buckling Clair in while she fell on the other, so I didn't really see what happened. Her shoes were a little wet and all I can assume is that she slipped. I thought she was fine but after a day of her crying and not using her left arm, we decided to take her in. She broke her collar bone. All we can do is put her in a sling, give her pain reliever and wait for it to heal. It was very traumatic to hold her down during her x-ray. It took three of us to hold her down. I don't think I'll recover from her scared eyes looking at me while I tortured her. She was excited to get her dinosaur sling and has been very good about wearing it.

Now if that wasn't enough it gets worse. Sunday night she started getting fevers. For two days she just sat in my arms crying and grunting. She gave me a good scare on Tuesday when her speech started to slur, she started drooling really bad and she was pretty unresponsive. I started to wonder if there was some brain damage from the fall, but kept telling myself she was just in shock from the pain. Finally Tuesday night I realized what was going on. She had Strep, I had it last week. I wanted to die when I looked in her throat and realized how much pain she was in. And to top it off, both of her ears started draining fluid Wednesday morning. How's that for pain, broken collar bone, strep throat and double ear infection. She is now on meds and doing really well.

Do you know what this is?

I found this picture on my iphone a couple weeks ago. Do you know what it is? It took me a second, but I'm pretty sure I know what it is and who took the picture. I am thrilled that it didn't go IN.

Childhood Favorite

One of my very favorite childhood memories was playing pile-on with my dad. I LOVE seeing my kids enjoy the same thing.

Someone always gets hurt.

Clair want's too join in.

Celebrating 70!

We celebrated MaryAnn's birthday last weekend. We invited all her friends and family over for an open house. It was a fabulous day but I'm glad it's over. It was very stressful. We didn't invite any ward members because we didn't want it turn into a ward party. Instead we invited family and friends she doesn't see on a regular basis. We still had over 150 guests.

My family is amazing and a huge help. Thank you too everyone who was kind enough to be my slave that day.

For more on what I did you can visit my craft blog At Second Street

Last Game

Grayson had his last game a couple weeks ago. He started Wrestling this week and loves it.

My favorite thing about Grayson and basketball is how excited he would get. With every basket he would yell at the top of his lungs. Then he would do a little trick, jump in the air, fall on the ground, etc.

I wish I could get better pictures in this dark gym, but these are pictures of Grayson yelling after a basket was made.

You would think he was the one making the baskets. Nope, not even one. I think he felt a little bad that he didn't ever make a basket. We just assured him basketball was a team sport and he did his part.