Missionary Farewell

Today my SIL left on her mission. Well, technically, she left to go into the MTC for 6 weeks until her missions, and then she'll leave to Germany. But we had a lovely farewell lunch (at Los Hermanos, since she won't likely have any Mexican food in Germany. And then we said goodbye at the MTC, and we'll see her in 18 months. I know she'll do amazing and I'm so happy for her opportunity!

Afternoon Tea...American Style

Since my birthday was on a weekday (booooo) I usually also like to take the Saturday near it and celebrate it as well, with those who couldn't make it during the week. Today, I had an afternoon tea at a place in Provo called Taste, and it was pretty good. They had our table with our tea time on it:

 Naturally, my name is spelled incorrectly on here, Geneviene, like that's a real name. But we soldiered on. I ordered the mint tea, that looked like a small swamp in a tea pot, but was delicious. And our treats were super good too.

I did enjoy it and have a nice time, but I guess the only thing I have to be sad about was their lack of tea options. They had maybe 4 teas on their menu, which was such a disappointment when there are so many great ones in the world! But it was delicious and I would definitely go again.

A Happy Happy Birthday, Indeed!

You Guys! Okay, today is a great day for many reasons. Yes, unfortunately, school did start this week, but let's not focus on that. Today is my birthday, yippee! After spending all day in school, I did get to have a lovely party with my family, and by party I mean dinner, but when you get old. that's party enough. BUT! For one of my presents, Husband gave me a print of our recent pictures, which meant that we had them back! I definitely spent a chunk of my night looking through them, and I'm posting my favorites here! Please to enjoy.
Also! If anyone wants to hire our amazing photographer, his name is Michael Cozzens, and his website is https://michaelcozzens.com, I found him to be so fantastic!

September Cards

I am being early on this and getting my cards done for the September card swap already! I worked today on them since I had some extra time (before school starts tomorrow!) and they turned out all right, I reckon.

Fancy Photos

Many years ago when we got married, Husband and I didn't have pictures taken. Due to some circumstances, we didn't have a photographer, and the one that came was in absolutely no way a photographer, bless her heart. So we have no good pictures of us together, and certainly no good ones at our wedding. Finally this weekend, we have remedied this. We have a friend who is a photographer, and we had him take our pictures, back in our wedding attire. We do still fit in our wedding clothes, so we got all fancy and got them taken. Of course I'll post them here when I get them back, but for a tease, here's a picture of me getting ready. 

I don't mean to look as sad and dead inside as I do, but I am just dying at how I look like I don't care about life right now haha. Can't wait to see the finished product!

Stampin and Chattin

Tonight we had Stamp and Chat, and it was a delight. I made a super yummy mousse, it was no sugar, low carb, kind of healthy:


16 ounce cream cheese, softened

2 cup whipping cream

1/2 cup low carb sweetener, I used Stevia

1.5 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups berries, I used raspberries and strawberries and sliced them

Whip together all ingredients except for the fruit. When stiff peaks have formed, its done! I did a layer of berries, some mousse, more berries, and piped the mousse on to make it fancy, ending with a raspberry on top. Then, refrigerate them until you use! The mousse isn't very sweet, but the fruit helps with that. 

Then we had some adorable cards made! 

A Fine Funeral

Today was the funeral for Husband's uncle, Steve. He lives in Florida so we didn't get to see him too often, but the time we had together was awesome. We had a small family funeral, just us Clarks, and Steve's parents. Steve worked for Disney for many years (he played Goofy for many years, and was also the Queen of Hearts, very cool), so at his funeral we wore Disney shirts as a tribute.

At the funeral, Husband and his sister played the guitar for us to sing "What a Friend we have in Jesus", a lovely hymn. 

We will miss him, but I know that he is in a better place.

Flying Darth

Today in Lindon City, they had free bounce houses for the Lindon Days (Oh also in addition to Lindon Days, they had their usual 5k race, which I took 3rd in my age! But this year they decided not to give away medals? It was such an odd race this year) and we took the boys to it of course. They had a great time! Darth found a trampoline-jump thing that he was loving, I took a video:

We thought Gecko was a bit too small for it, but next year he'll have a great time.

We only stayed for about an hour because it was literally 100 degrees outside, and it was way too hot to hang out in the sun!

Rappelling

Last night for our YM/YW activity, we went rappelling. It was a grand time. I didn't feel the need to actually do it, but Husband did and he did a great job, as one usually does.

I do enjoy when we have an activity out of the ordinary, it keeps it interesting!

Darth and Gecko

The boys have some cute photos today - practically professional. One of their aunts on their dads side is a professional photographer, and occasionally they get some nice ones.

Such dang cuties!

Hiking Battle Creek Falls

Today, we took the fellas on a hike up Battle Creek Falls. We made it to the top with no problems, and then we hung out at the waterfall and snacked and played about. Gecko's favorite bit was the snacking, as he did it the whole time:

 Darth had a great time, he was getting so filthy from just tripping over every rock and then would get in the river, back in the dirt...oh my jeez, boys are crazy.

 We tried to take a selfie, but Gecko was SO MAD that we tried to take one, this was the best we could get.

 Later in the afternoon, we went to the Bean Natural Science Museum, the first time for these guys. They had so much fun - look at these cuties. Darth was sprinting between exhibits and loved them all so much, we had a great time.

Fancy Fellas

Usually after church on Sundays, Husband will stay in his church clothes...kinda. When we were out walking today after church, we noticed that there were several guys dressed in the same attire.

I just love the button down shirt-shorts-flip flops look, good work guys.

Krispies

I made some Rice Krispie treats today, and holy cow did they turn out good! Recipe (literally it's the usual Rice Krispies recipe you get off the box but I sure add a lot more butter):
1 stick butter
1 10-oz bag marshmallows
9ish cups of Krispies

Melt the butter about halfway in a bowl in the microwave. After its about half melted, add the bag of marshmallows, and microwave another minute or so. When the butter is melted and the marshmallows are doubling in size (because of the heat) take it out, stir it a bit and add the Rice Krispies, and really, you can choose how many you want. The recipe calls for like, 8 cups, but when I added 8 I still had too much mallow, so I just kept adding cereal until I liked the consistency. Pour into a pan already sprayed with cooking spray, press into place. Let cool.

Also a fun treat I did this time is I did half Coco Krispies and half Red/White/Blue holiday Krispies.

They are delicious! Recommended.

Depressed Gecko

Today, I took the fellas to the splash pad. Darth loves it, he loves water, he has a great time. Gecko...tolerates it. He will occasionally splash around and run about, but for the most part, he just sort of likes to sit on the sidelines and watch. On our way there, we had to fill my car up with gas. Gecko wouldn't take off his backpack, and of course his matching hat. When we were filling up the tank, I look over and see that he weirdly looked super depressed.

He wasn't, of course, and had a great time, but this was just so funny to me, look at that cutie.