Jeff and Jenn Clark

Blog Still Closed

2009-11-03T21:00:00.001-08:00

So the blog is still closed, but to enter this design contest I had to post it on a blog. That's why it's on there. If it makes it past the first round, I'll let you know and you can go vote for it! :)
Jenn

Dress Design for Shabby Apple Dresses

2009-11-03T16:17:00.000-08:00

I'm entering a design contest for Shabby Apple! This dress is sophisticated, but also has a very fun, lightweight, spring feel to it! I think it would look great in a number of different spring colors, but when I was designing it I pictured a pale yellow cotton fabric, with some eyelit in it. It could be fun to do cotton and some chiffon instead, though.

Here's the back. It's supposed to tie back there.... I'm just not fabulous at drawing that.Now I have to say, I originally read the requirements and got it into my head somehow that the dress was supposed to be for Fall. So I designed a vintage-style dress that I really love, but it's for Fall! Oh, well. Thought I'd put it on here anyway, because, well, why not?
Too bad about this one. I think it would be gorgeous with some red pumps. I was thinking some type of tweed or plaid print for it. And also the back was pretty cool. Oh, and the middle part is more of a stiff belted section for slimming. :)

One thing that is really important to me with this dress is that it be made to fit real women- with curves! After reading the Shabby Apple blog entry- A Busty Move- I realize that this problem is not just with me. I can't count how many dresses I've fit into- except for that last button on the bust. I hope that people will appreciate a dress that they can wear with confidence, knowing that it's slimming in the right places and is made to fit them just right.

2009-08-30T17:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I think it's time. I just can't keep up with updating 2 blogs. Plus, quite frankly, it's kind of depressing. I loved doing it while I was doing it. Thanks to my 4 consistent readers (Rachel, Gayle, Lacey, and Stephani), and also to my semi to frequent readers :). It was a great creative outlet, and I will miss it. This was taken my 2nd month of blogging. :)
Love you all,
Jenn

Shabby Apple + Cjane= discount

2009-06-17T10:42:00.000-07:00

I discovered this store that I love but is really expensive, and now if you read cjane you can get 15% off! Here is the link to the good news and the store.
I have 3 shoots in 3 days but I swear I will post SOMETHING awesome before I leave for Utah!

Timmythy's Big Debut...

2009-06-12T17:17:00.000-07:00

...is here.
And also here.

Meet Timothy

2009-06-09T12:06:00.001-07:00

For a (very) long time I have wanted to do a shoot with a frog and a little girl in rain gear. Well, guess what. It is going to happen, baby! My friend caught a frog in her garden and has generously offered to let me take pictures of her sweet little girl.

This is Timmy. Or Timythy, as in Timmy Thee Frog. He is really really cute. He is the reason I have learned so many things about frogs. Did you know.....

1. Frogs, when really scared, will scream and sound like a human, pee all over, and sometimes pass out. Basically exactly what I would do if I were being captured by a giant.

2. Frogs eat anything smaller than they are. This includes other frogs. Gross.

3. Frogs like to burrow under rocks and dirt, or between a pie tin and a wall. Who knew? (Actually, a bunch of 10 year olds online knew, but....)

4. Even if you build a huge cage for the frog, your husband will think it is inhumane and you must take him (the frog) for a walk twice a day.

5. Do not expect that a frog is capable of keeping his newly changed water clean for any longer than 6.38 seconds. Timmy, Timmy, Timmy.

6. And most importantly, I cannot stress this enough..... If you buy a bunch of crickets to feed to a frog, remember that you must also feed the crickets. Even if you just want to keep a simple animal alive for 4 days, you must create an entire eco-system on your front porch. So just think about that before you do anything rash, ok?

Lost

2009-06-09T09:42:00.000-07:00

We're baaack! I have pictures from Alaska and they are going to BLOW YOUR MIND!! But whilst they download (I accomplished my goal of finishing with under 2,000 pictures of the trip!), I will tell you that we threw a Lost party for the finale last month. Whooeee, was it fun!

I am going to post about the party and also give a couple resources to people throwing their own because I couldn't find a lot of things online. Like invitations. I had to design my own. Don't worry, if you're a freak about the show, this is as close as you're going to get to the actual boarding pass. That's right, I used still shots. So I am going to post it here for anyone who would like to to copy it and use it for your own! The only thing I ask is that you leave me a comment so I feel more popular. If after time it doesn't let you click and make it big, send me an email. Shutterbug -dot- clark @ gmail -dot- com.

There are some gems in that boarding pass if you look closely. Oh, and this is what I put on the outside of the little folder with the invitation inside:Also, if you're throwing a Lost party, you must download the fonts here and here. They will save you so much time.

The pictures of the decorations are actually quite awful- I didn't have time to take very many. But we had a plane crash outside that was just much better in person. Here is Jefferson ready to dig in.

I didn't have a close up picture of our beverages, so I borrowed one from the Roskelley's blog. Thanks, Gayle! (She is pictured with me, below, even though she's Team Sawyer).My little sister, Camille, ironically dressed up as Jacob who, at that point, had only shown his eye on the show. It was weird. :)This was my attempt at a Dharma poster. It was hard. There was a lot of math involved.I projected one of my dad's old mission slides on the wall. It had that older look with all the dust and scratches like a dharma video or something. :) It was cool.Our playlist? Turns out that Lost's themesong is that 8 seconds at the beginning with the word "Lost" and their other songs are classical character peices. So we played songs that have been played on the record player in The Swan. The screen was on the computer playing the music was the screen from the computer in the hatch. 4 8 15 16 23 42, you know.

All in all it was pretty fun! I LOVED the finale. Oh my gosh. 'Twas everything I wanted and more. I'm so excited to see what happens next year (litterally :( ! ). There was an interview with the writers/producers a little while ago in which they said that fans couldn't really have any correct theories yet because they hadn't given us the crucial clues. I think that episode marked the beginning of some really important info! It was great. Now I'm trying to suck my mom into the madness.

Oh, and if you haven't seen this clip, you really should. So funny.

Happy Birthday to Sam

2009-06-08T10:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Mr. Sam, who turned 6 on May 30th.

I will tell you all about his favorite things when they call me back. You can expect some good answers. In the meantime I will tell you he's a Gemini. Oh I wish I could give him a big squeeze right now (all my nephews love it when I hug and kiss them. I'm like the fat aunt who pinches your cheek every time you see her and blabbers on about how you've grown).

Some Hiatus

2009-05-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

I know I'm on a break from blogging. But I still had to share this.
It just gets better and better.

Jefferson Turns 28

2009-04-25T14:14:00.001-07:00

So, I (obviously) really suck at posting lately! Jefferson's birthday was well over a month ago. It was pretty fun, though. I only wish he would make taking his pictures more interesting....

As you can see, it was a good old birthday.

On another note, I have been super busy lately gearing up for the photography season, doing some family history, and other things and am going to have to take a small hiatus from blogging. It won't be long- I promise. But we have so many things going on right now that it's a little hard for me to keep up. Thanks to everyone who reads :) and I'll continue to check all of your blogs consistently! I heart the internet, you know.

We'll see you soon!

Jenn

April Showers??? -By Jeff

2009-04-18T17:59:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, Christmas time! It is such a wonderful holiday! Everything about it is absolutely wonderful! The cold night air, the snow covered trees, and......wait.....what's that.....it's the middle of APRIL!?!? You wouldn't think so with a snow storm every other week that brings at least a foot of snow.
In the past my spring experiences have been filled with warm days, brisk nights, and lovely, non-frozen, flowers. However this is not the case as you can see. I have neglected to take advantage of the past two snow storms and decided that if Mother Nature wanted to give me lemons, well then, I would make some lemonade! In this case she gave me snow so of course I made an awesome fort with an even cooler arch!!! That's right, I made a freaking arch! The arch isn't big enough for someone like, let's say, Matt, but it works wonderfully. And if you are wondering, yes, that is a statue of Angel Moroni on top, courtesy of Camille who most kindly assisted in the building of the structural genious which we lovingly call the Arch de' lux.
Go ahead and gawk if you will. I did, for several minutes in-fact. It's freaking awesome and you all know I do not blush at compliments. So.....feel free! Peace.

ShamROCKS

2009-03-17T21:40:00.000-07:00

'Twas a Saint Patrick's Day miracle! I went to the doctor's yesterday morning to get a referral to this back specialist and talk about my hip. They wound up asking for x-rays, giving me the referral AND (drumroll here) they gave my hip a *magic* shot! Just stuck that little needle right in there and now it feels *so* good! I am happy. It's only supposed to last a couple days, but it's still SO nice to have a little break. Hopefully I can get some more *magic* shots in my neck and back next month. I mean, it seriously reduced my pain level l-o-t-s. Must have been those sneaky little leprochauns doing me a favor. Although I would have settled for a pot of gold. Ok, this is getting weird. Anyway, I am really excited!
My friend Danielle also came for a visit. We are now very mature adults. Also featured above are the Twix bars that Keri Bright brought over after hearing how I fell off the counter trying to get some chocolate my mom had hidden in the top cupboard! I actually got whiplash. Yeah. I never get injured doing something AWESOME. It's always like, "yeah, I was holding my breath to see how purple I could make my face and passed out and hit the floor and had to have 13 stitches." Or, "yeah, I saw a Twix commercial and climbed up the cupboard and fell and my pants hooked on the knob on the drawer underneath me and it FLIPPED ME AROUND and I landed on my good hip on the ground in a dazed confusion." I can't WAIT to say "Yeah, I was doing something AWESOME and got hurt!" Doesn't matter, I got a magic shot!
How cute are these little clovers? I love them!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Stay tuned for Jefferson's birthday on the 19th. It should be fun!

Happy Birthday

2009-03-09T23:48:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday to Miss Ellie, Age 4Favorite Color: Pink and Powpow (that's purple, folks)
Favorite Birthday Present: PRINCESS SHOES!
Favorite Princess: Cinderella and Little Mermaid
Favorite Thing to Eat: Waffles
Favorite Toy: Pony
Birthday Wish: That I could have pink and purple glasses- I don't have 'em!

Awesome awesome interview here

2009-03-04T21:26:00.000-08:00

I had to talk to the scouts today about various occupations in the art industry. I wrote out a bunch on colored slips of paper, including "Playground Designer" and "Parade Float Creator." Confidently, I fanned the papers back and forth in front of Jefferson.
"Betcha can't think of an occupation in the art industry that I haven't written down," I said.
He just looked at me and said "Art Thief."
....Oh. Well, yeah, there is that.
Also I will be going to Utah AGAIN March 23rd-27th and taking pictures of my cute friend Roberta's baby. She went to the doctor's today and the nurse told her she was only dilated 1 centimeter. Roberta burst into tears and the nurse said "uh.... well, actually it looks like a centimeter and a half?"

A Week of Treasures

2009-03-01T14:28:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess I am influenced by Nie. I mean, I knew I was inspired by her, but this week I started doing some interesting things. You'll see what I mean in a minute.

I got the most beautiful apron this week. Sorry, Rachie, but I was in love. I'll get one of yours soon, too! It was a whole week of treasures, actually. I also was lucky enough to find a beautiful casserole dish, traditionally used in the Allison family to make green jell-o with grated carrots in it- because it's pink. It was my great-grandmothers. In fact, if you look closely, you can still see bits of "Thacker" written across the side. It's wonderful. I already made jell-o in it, but decided to forgo the carrots this time. :)

Another treasure I found was my great-grandmother's brooch. My mom had it in her jewelry box but hadn't ever worn it. I had a great idea to put it on a necklace, but haven't found a chain small enough to fit through the holes on top yet. Anyway, I wore it last Sunday, much to Allison's dismay (she thinks I'm turning into an 80-year old). It felt so good to be wearing something that's been passed down through the generations like that. I'm proud to have such a great legacy, on both Jefferson's side and mine, of men and women who were so strong in their faith and accomplished great feats- raising families, serving missions, etc. I love that my mother taught me things that her mother taught her and that her mother taught her. Who knows how far-reaching our influence can be? Even small things like the songs I sing to my little niece and nephews. There's "this is the way the lady rides....," which they now affectionately call "The Hobble-dee-trop," and the "Two Little Boys" song... and a scary one about a hunter that shoots a rabbit, but it turns out that it was actually a nice song to which my dad changed the ending. I love that my grandma taught me to crochet like her mother. And one day I hope to have a cookie jar and to make homemade popsicles for my kids and grandchildren. And I hope I can serve others the way my great-great-grandmother, great-grandmother, grandma, and mom have done. (Isn't it funny how other things are passed down, too- back problems, flat buns.... think I'll focus on the cookies and songs instead :) . )

Ok, sorry this is so long, but this is the last thing about this week. This one I took right out of Stephanie's entries. She paints beautiful silhouettes of her children and updates them every year. She's even taught classes on it. Well, I decided to try my hand at it! Now for those who know Carie & Robby, make sure not to spoil the *surprise!*

Here is my sweet little nephew Tommy. Painting this was so easy and so much fun! It made me feel way more talented than the talent it actually took! :) You just take a picture of someone's silhouette, cut it out, trace it onto the canvas and paint it one color. Next time I see him, I want to do his handprint on a smaller 5x5 canvas and his footprint on another one to put on either side of the silhouette.

How does this all tie together? Well, I think a lot of it is because I've been reading Stephanie Nielson's blog, Nie Nie Dialogues. Stephanie is a beautiful beautiful woman who really enjoys life. She and her husband were in a plane crash last August, where they sustained burns- Mr. Nielson over 35% of his body, and Stephanie over 83%. Since that time her blog has become famous. Tons of people read it and feel inspired by what she sees in the "little" things of life. She loves finding vintage things and making whole wheat pizza for her family on Friday nights. She loves to watch her kids play and sing and jump on the couch. The Nielsons make messes. They dance in the evenings before Mr. Nielson comes home. It's been fun to read about their lives- her toddler eating his sister's tooth, eating in the rain, wearing red lipstick, launching balloons to commemorate each birthday, and finding lessons in things that I would just find annoying! It's very refreshing to look through her archives. Here are a few of my favorite posts. Try reading through some next time you're feeling down!

That Old Familiar Smirk

Perfect Day

Nicknames & Being Irresponsible

Merry Christmas Love Mantis

That Should Hold Em

Re-Posted Treasure

The Man

Summer, Skin & Other Warm Images

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-09T12:54:00.000-08:00

...you're welcome. :)

Valentine's

2009-02-08T22:13:00.000-08:00

We're going to Utah for Valentine's Day! I get too see my neice and some of my nephews and grandparents and everyone!!

Isn't she the most beautiful girl in the whole world?!

P.S. Tune in on Valentine's Day for a special treat....

Work It, Baby!

2009-02-08T20:47:00.000-08:00

I came in last Friday and saw Jefferson doing this:
I always knew that Sit and be Fit could be beat. Recline and Reclaim works like this:

2. 3.

Happy toe sculpting!

Quick Update

2009-02-08T00:45:00.000-08:00

It is really late but before I go to bed I just wanted to say that is Saturday (ah- it's Sunday now!) and my hip has been in socket for the majority of 2 days! Yea!

And also I found this picture of Jefferson today with the chess set he got in August. He looks so cute & so happy- it made me smile.

Beautiful new Nie Nie post here.

I'm awesome.

2009-02-03T19:39:00.000-08:00

So. Guess what I did on Sunday? I wasn't feeling well so I was debating whether or not I should go to church. Then I got a phone call like 15 min. before church asking if I could say the closing prayer in Sacrament Meeting. So I decided I'd better go. I hurried to get ready, but by this point there was no getting there in time. I walked in like 35 minutes late to sacrament, where my family was sitting on the 3rd row and everyone saw me come in freakishly late! The speaker was talking and I finished listening to the talk and then we sang the closing song. During the song I kept praying "please help me not to embarass myself! Please help me to just pray and not care what others are thinking! And please please help me not to embarass myself!" So the song was almost over and I got up and walked up to the stand. Everyone was looking at me kind of funny. I got to the pulpit and the bishop stood up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder to tell me that that was just the rest hymn (in the middle of the meeting) and why don't I sit down and wait till the end of sacrament meeting. This took me a minute to process. I just stood there stupidly with my mouth kind of hanging open and one of the counselors moved over to let me sit on the stand. So I sat down, BEET RED, and watched the last speaker get up while the congregation was all kind of snickering. It. was. awesome. I felt like such a retard! And everyone knew it was cause I came in late because they all watched me come in, like, WAY after you're supposed to! Next week I am speaking to the YW on the joy of womanhood. We'll see if I can't get my skirt to fall off halfway through or have something hanging out of my nose.

Blog Gems 2

2009-01-17T17:21:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a little while since I posted. And I'm warning you right now that this is going to be a long one! First of all, here's a little update: for those of you who don't know, my back and hip have a had a few complications lately, but as I'm typing this my hip is almost completely back in socket. Who knows how long it'll last, but I'll take what I can get! Jefferson just started working in a new department today. I hope he likes it. His last department was pretty boring. But we're grateful to have jobs! I'll update more later, but in the meantime, it's time for the 2nd installment of Blog Gems!

First up is this amazing video of my friends' little girl. She is 2 years old and can list off all of the 12 apostles! It is seriously awesome. We had her do it for us in person over Christmas and our favorite was "Elder Smurflin." I only wish my 14 year old Sunday School kids could have done this! :) You can check it out here.
The next jewel I found was a post about electricity. I like it because I was so scared of these electrical boxes when I was younger.

Electricity: The Meanest Utility on the BlockNearly every house we walk past has a large electricity box (unit? housing? doo-dad? I'm useless) the size of a small dog house planted in the front yard. There is an ominous warning label on the outside that looks like this:

I love how aggressive and angry they make electricity look in this picture. It gives you the impression that electricity has the same disposition as a rabid, ill-tempered, hungry wolverine that will sucker punch you from behind without warning or provocation. These electrical boxes are double reinforced and locked with one of those huge locks that can withstand a bullet from a .45 Magnum. You would seriously have to be MacGyver or a bored raccoon to get the thing opened and expose yourself to possible electrical harm. Instead of making electricity look like the bad guy, I think the label should show an apologetic blob of electricity saying, "Dude! I tried to warn you! This is all on you, homie." The person smoldering on the ground would be wearning a dunce cap.

(Posted by NMHusbands)

The third one is from my friend Jayne's brother, who didn't have health insurance. I know how that feels! Every time Jefferson walked out the door, I would wince, knowing he was about to go play some sport and come back with a broken ankle or fall on another electrical box from a roof. Oh my gosh! Those ARE dangerous! Anyway, this guy said he was feeling a bit like a hypochondriac without his insurance.

Me at night with the slightest little pain in my abdomen area:"Oh crap, is that my appendix exploding. I think it just ruptured. Yep, i'm almost positive it JUST ruptured. But i have no insurance!! Ah heck, Mitch, just lay here and die. You can't afford to live"

"Wait a minute.....what tha......is that a pain below my belly button.....yes.....it IS rather sensitive there. Ah CRAP mitch, remember when Joey on friends had a hernia? That's where he said it was!! Check to see if there's a bump there (scanning entire abdomen area.......................still scanning) Wait a minute........yeah....yeah i can feel something there(currently performing the "Crunch Test". Flexing my stomach to see if it hurts anymore when i flex). Crap, i have a freaking Hernia. Again i tell myself. Just lay here and die, you can't afford to live"
Good News!! I'M NOW INSURED!! THANKS STATE FARM!!!!

Haha. You can see Mitch's blog here.

This one isn't a post, but another picture from The Wilkinson Quints. I guess this picture is actually NOT funny- especially if you're the one making the bottles! But this is a day's supply of bottles for quintuples. WOW.

Now. I had my favorite one here at the bottom but then I realized.... who is still reading this, anyway? So I am saving it for a little later this week. I will also post an embarrassing story about me that is... awesome. :) See ya!

On my wishlist

2009-01-17T13:20:00.001-08:00

I LOVE these boots from Target. They have a whole collection out right now. And these kids boots? Are you kidding me? We sure have come a long way since strictly yellow rain gear. I only wish it rained once in a while in Denver!

Grandma

2009-01-17T12:22:00.000-08:00

We said goodbye to Grandma Hoff this month (for a little while) and I've been thinking about some of the fun times we had while she was here. It wasn't easy, but we got a lot of laughs out of some of the things she said! Here are our top 5:

5. We had a girls night out the last night she was here and went to see Bride Wars. I told her "it's a story about two best friends who try to sabatoge each others' weddings. So it's just silly, but hopefully we'll get some good laughs out of it." She replied "Or some good ideas, at least!" ..... "Uh, how many weddings are you planning on sabatoging, Grandma?" "Oh, you never know." Haha. After the movie I said there were some great ideas in there and she told me that was a terrible thing to say!

4. The time my sweet, loving grandma who would never hurt a flea, told someone how to incapacitate a human or animal by shooting off their kneecaps when you're hunting.

3. My mom and grandma & I were at an Enrichment. "Isn't this lovely?" my mom asked. "I'd rather be in hell!" exclaimed grandma. As we left a half an hour later she said it was a very uplifting time.
(This was when she insisted on tasting some lemons at dinner)

2. We were all sitting around my Grandma Allison's house when Grandma Hoff started telling us about how they have giant dogs roaming around the temple at night for their security system. As she got more and more in-depth, my cousin & I had to leave the room so we could bust up laughing. Afterwards, my uncle Chris just said "I'm thinkin'.... no."

And my #1 favorite thing she did....

1. Before Christmas, she was asking for something to do. My mom gave her all the Christmas presents and the bows and said "How about you put one bow on each present and then put it under the tree?" Then the phone rang so she left to get it for a minute and when she came back, Grandma was in a chair crying. "What's wrong?" she asked. Grandma replied "I think I did something wrong. I did what I thought you asked and ripped off all the tags that say who they're to and from." So my mom had to unwrap each of the presents enough to figure out what it was and who it was from & to. :) I think this is funny because I didn't have to help. :)

Oh, dear. We love her! In other news, Jefferson officially put 31 grapes in his mouth at dinner last week.

Also, one of my favorite blogs, Making It Lovely, has a post about fixing up a funny little alcove in their nursery that I thought turned out so cute!

What goes on inside my mind

2009-01-15T13:15:00.000-08:00

This is basically my life. I'm re-doing my work blog, website, this blog, and poking around online for breaks. To, you know, avoid cleaning and solving life problems. :)

The 138 Days of Christmas

2009-01-14T12:51:00.000-08:00

I still don't have the pictures from other peoples' cameras, but here are the rest of mine. If anyone wants any, let me know! I usually don't do slide shows because some of my readers are unfamiliar with them... but I couldn't fit these all on one post. So you just click the arrows at the top of the slideshow to go through the pictures, grandma. :)

"While snapping his fingers to a catchy beat, Frosty learns the consequences of rubbing two sticks together."

Merry Christmas

2009-01-06T11:33:00.001-08:00

Yes, I am running a little big late. Oops. But Christmas this year was really fun! Our camera died halfway through vacation which is before I started feeling better from my cold, so I don't have the really good pictures yet that were taken on other peoples' cameras. There will definitely be a post to follow. But I still had a surprising amount of pictures left so I tried to condense them.

This was one of my favorite parts of the vacation. Jefferson had the dangerous idea to make a human totem pole. Just listen to them laughing!

The finished product

Ok, I still have a bunch more to post but I'll do it tomorrow. Merry late Christmas!

a few odds & ends...

2008-12-20T13:59:00.000-08:00

Before we go out of town, I just have to post a couple things. First of all, I was at the craft store buying some fabric to make baby blankets for some friends who are hopefully not reading this! A lady there overheard me explaining the project and asked how you can crochet around the edges of a baby blanket. I couldn't really describe it, so I'm posting it on here for her to see. I love making these because my great-grandma Thacker taught it to my grandma Allison who taught it to me! Here are a few more pictures:
This is the back:

First Snow

2008-12-20T12:25:00.000-08:00

Rachel & Josh came out to visit recently (notice I said "recently" and not "for Thanksgiving" because that would mean I'm running REALLY behind!). It was fun. We went over the Roskelleys for games and had the first snow of the season!

Have an Incredible Christmas

2008-12-18T22:47:00.001-08:00

So, I'm not done with this painting yet... the mom's mouth and the baby's hand aren't finished, and I'm going to fix the hair. My mom needed a bean-bag-toss so I started this. I didn't make deadline, but they used it anyway. :) I was going to post it when it was finished, but... it could be a while.

8 Days!

2008-12-14T20:18:00.001-08:00

We're spending Christmas with the Clarks...
Have I mentioned Jeff is scared of sharks?

Ohh, that was fun! Let's see...

Dragging luggage, present-bearing
we'll visit to see how all are faring
waking on Christmas at 11, I'm told
wow, that's late- we're all getting old.
I'll bribe children into giving me hugs
(Jeff just said that Aunt Jenn bugs. :(...)
sipping hot cocoa and eating a tart
the air will be reaky when the Clark siblings... lovingly talk to each other.
We'll play Rook (and I'll clean house)
we'll then reminisce about Elder Faust (*sorry, that's all I could come up with)
Seeing grandparents is a fun affair
K, this is pretty long...8 days till we're there!

...I'm never writing a post that's not a poem again.

TURKEY IS SERVED!

2008-12-03T10:49:00.000-08:00

Yeah, that's me if you couldn't tell. Jefferson was freaking out about the scary mad woman before I told him. Course, he freaks out when he knows it's me being a scary mad woman about once a month...
Anyway. This year for Thanksgiving we had Jefferson and I, the Hoffs, Grandma, the missionaries, and the Robinsons all together. There were a lot of people. But it was really fun! I was put in charge (aAnd by that I mean I put myself in charge) of the decorations. I went with a "Winter Wonderland" theme and I was really happy with how it turned out. Our camera died right when I went to take pictures, so all we have is a little snippet of 1 of the tables before the food was put out.

There were 2 tables since we couldnt' all fit at one. This is the "kids table" and that's us with the missionaries. Ana, in the front, made me laugh SO hard when I saw this picture!
So we had a beautiful fireside the week before in church called "Hymns of Grateful Praise." It was tons of different instruments and childrens' choirs and singers singing hymns about gratitude. This inspired us to do our own program after dinner! It was pretty cool. The mom of the family that came over sang a song, we did a couple as a whole group, and Al & Camille and I played Mary's Lullaby with me on the piano, Allison on the flute, and Camille on her oboe! The following, however, is one of our less reverent numbers (To Be a Pioneer) on the kazoos.

This is the girls and I during a performance. That's Tori, Baby, Squakor, Anna, and Me!

We also played the bells.
I wanted to hold a blog contest to see who could come up with the best caption for this picture. I was vetoed, but some good ones that were discussed around here were "What a ding-dong," "See no Jingle, Speak no Jingle" (from Cam), "Voices Singing, Children Ringing" (from Me), and "Jingle Al the Way" (from Jeff).

Lovely

2008-12-03T10:27:00.000-08:00

Isn't this FABULOUS?! I loooove the dress. I love old-fashioned kinds of dresses. I've been waiting for just the right post that I can use this picture with and I look at it every day and finally thought to myself, "Julie, you just gotta post it. It's too beautiful to hold out on the world." So voila! A lovely little picture for you. It was taken by Mark Holladay Lee of Holladay Photo in Hawaii. His pictures are pretty cool.
P.S. I made someone cry today when she saw their pictures. I LOVE it when I make clients cry and it's not at the bill!!

In the Spirit of Christmas Past

2008-11-30T14:33:00.000-08:00

This was my cute little apartment last year for Christmas. :) It was an exciting day from the looks of it- eating cereal, reading a christmas book, drinking hot cocoa, playing Friends Scene it, and blowing my nose! I miss it, though, it was a good little apartment and it was so fun to decorate it and make it cozy for the holidays.

And now it's time for my annual Christmas Joke!

2008-11-30T14:01:00.001-08:00

I tell this every year. I don't understand how it gets worse and worse to Jefferson and better and better to me! ...I think maybe something is wrong with him.

So it was time for the annual chess club convention at a big hotel. These guys only get together once a year, so they started bragging when they saw each other in the lobby. "I put this guy in checkmate twice last year!" one exclaimed. "That's nothing," said another. "I got him in checkmate in five minutes flat on 3 separate occasions!" They started getting louder and louder till other guests complained. The manager came over and said, "Could you guys keep it down? No one likes chess nuts boasting in an open foyer!"

Jeff pointed out that if I post this on my blog, then I can't tell it to people. Hmmm.... NOT TRUE! SO BE PREPARED!!! :)

Twilight: What I Think

2008-11-22T14:34:00.000-08:00

Yea! November 21st finally came! It was very fun to see the movie and, you know, feed the obsession. The movie was good, especially for such a low budget. I did think it was a bit cheesy when it wasn't supposed to be, like when Carlisle changed Edward and it looked like they were making out (and it didn't help that he was wearing the 1900s hospital dress) or when Edward was sucking the venom out and looked very cross-eyed! :) The special effects looked a little stupid, too. But I will gladly see it again so that they have a bigger budget to fix that in the second one!

That being said, it WAS enjoyable. I tried to go in with super low expectations and was pleasantly surprised to find that I did like it over all. I also LOVED the baseball scene; it was so cool and exhilerating! It was the first time that I really got into it. I thought they picked perfect actors for Bella, James (of course!), Victoria, and Jacob. And the ending was really good with Victoria. I wasn't expecting it and I thought it was a cool way to finish. All in all, it was a good movie and I think the next one will be even better!

I saw this picture and remembered...

2008-11-19T21:41:00.000-08:00

I once tried to sell my brother to passing cars on the edge of our yard. He tried to retaliate by attempting to sell me so I had to lower the price little by little from a dollar... to 5 cents... and eventually for free. Also I made him go around the corner so the cars interested in buying little brothers would see me first. I remember being determined to stay out there until he was gone so we stood and yelled to cars in pouring rain for a really long time! …Eventually mom made us come inside.

Football Game

2008-11-16T14:13:00.000-08:00

This weekend was really fun. Jefferson told me I had to watch a sporting event, so to punish him I made him come with me to the BYU Ballet! I didn't really think it would work, but he came and was a good sport. He most enjoyed himself whenever a dancer's shoe would squeak against the floor and make a woopie-cushion sort of noise; I always looked over at him and he would be snickering. I'm starting to understand my Webelos Scouts a little better :)
The game was Airforce vs. BYU in Colorado Springs. It was pretty good weather and we went with the Blackfords which was fun & I got to hold their little son, Eli. He is SO cute! The Airforce planes flew overhead, though, and it was really loud and he cried and was pretty traumatized the rest of the game. Any time people would yell he'd panic or cry again. It was so sad & pathetic!! Here's a picture of him trying to think of his happy place. It was how he looked pretty much the whole time:

P.S. BYU won!

Afterwards we went and saw the house I lived in in CO Springs. It was fun to look at again.

Now to the really important part. What not to wear. Woo-hoo! I feel like Stacey London.
#1. How about NOT taking your 4 month old out in public lookin like part of the KKK? I dunno, just a thought. :) I couldn't get a very good picture but you get the gist.
#2. Awesome snowsuit! Maybe after the game you can sled down the stadium 10 years ago! :) I am not mean, I swear. I tried to get some "good" pictures of this little kid with really great hair, and a picture of a mom with a beautiful diaper bag, but... I don't know, these two were just more of a priority. ...I do have redeeming qualities, I swear.

Trick or Treat

2008-11-02T14:47:00.000-08:00

This year for Halloween Jefferson & I dressed up as Cruela De Vil and a dalmation! It was really fun. We walked into our ward Halloween party and someone looked at Jeff and said, "What up, Dog?"

The last few years we dressed up as Fred & Wilma Flintstone...

Cinderella &... Gus Gus (I tried to get him to be Prince Charming, but nooooooo)
and Matt & Melissa! Jefferson looks so much like his brother (except the hair) that it looked pretty good.

We even took a family picture with their kids! It was fun.

What will it be next year?? Any suggestions?

Fall Crafts

2008-10-22T10:21:00.000-07:00

Ok, it is feast or famine here! I didn't update in a really long time and now I have a lot of entries I want to get up! I found a couple of really cute decorations for Fall and wanted to share. The first is this adorable vase made from a gord! You may have already seen this on the cover but it's so beautiful and simple I couldn't believe it. Although drilling through one of these babies is sometimes harder than it looks. :)This next one is actually also from BHG, but it was too cute to pass up.

I love it! I love it! Very different and original. Here's the link to further instructions: http://www.bhg.com/holidays/halloween/pumpkin-carving/halloween-witch-dance-pumpkin/

At my mom's house, we've been painting pumpkins for years because it's less messy and because we get bored halfway through a carving. :) But ours are never this cute.

Visit from Doug & Kay

2008-10-21T15:41:00.000-07:00

This weekend Jefferson's parents came to visit. It was a lot of fun! Kay & I had lunch, all of us toured Windcrest where he works, and Jeff & Doug & Kay went shopping. We also all went to Allison's play, saw an IMAX and visited the Denver Museum of Natural Science.

TWILIGHT*

2008-10-21T13:32:00.000-07:00

The waiting! The waiting! I just read Twilight again today in preparation for the movie premiere on November 21st. It is so good I just can't even stand it! It's a very moving, emotional book and I know the movie will probably screw it up, but I need something else Twilight. :) People in my ward here are not obsessed, as they were in Utah. Just me.

This is a design I found that someone did about New Moon. If you're an avid reader (Melissa), click on it. It's good.

P.S. Here are a few of my favorite Twilight songs from all of the books:

1. Linkin Park- Leave out all the rest * (official soundtrack)

2. Muse- Super Massive Black Hole (official soundtrack

3. Jimmy Gnecco- Someone to Die For- Breaking Dawn

4. Dark Blue- Jack's Mannequin- Breaking Dawn

5. Muse- Hysteria

6. Alanis Morrisette- Uninvited

7. Muse- Blackout

8. Jimmy Eat World- Pain

9. Saliva- Rest in Pieces

10. Jack's Mannequin- Resolution

Sorry

2008-10-07T20:30:00.000-07:00

I have it on my to-do list! Right there between "edit more pictures" and "bang head against wall" is "do the Office post, or any post for that matter, on the blog." I will get to it. But maybe not until Winter! Just a COUPLE updates- my photography's doing alright (busy enough for me to banging my head against the wall, I guess!), and I'm trying to get all the shoots in before the leaves are all gone off the trees. I'm also going with my Grandma Hoff to Texas next month to help with my uncle's new baby, as they will have 5 children under the age of 4(!!) which includes twins. We also have our tickets to Utah for Christmas. YEA!!! I can't wait to see all of our family there and play with my Ellie and see all the nephews and stay with Doug and Kay and see my grandparents and... just excited all around! And if anyone wants to go caroling this year, SIGN ME UP! The other update is that we FINALLY have health insurance!!! Last week I told Jefferson, "Ok, have fun at basketball. Remember not to break- wait! We have insurance now! Break anything you want!!" ....I guess it could have been said a little more tactfully. There was much gasping and scolding from nameless onlookers. Mom & Al. And Jeff's friends.
Welp, don't expect a post for a couple of weeks, I guess! Just a parting thought:

2008-09-23T21:20:00.000-07:00

And now it’s time for our first installment of Blog Gems!! As you know, I frequently get online and look at other peoples’ blogs and have stumbled across a few “gems” that are really funny whether you know the people or not!!
And I’d like to share them.
First up is from Andrea Oveson’s blog. Here’s what she writes:

"I found this cute little note on my nightstand and I am happy to report that Lindsay and I are friends again! You may recall another not so nice picture Lindsay drew for Merrill a few posts back, I don't know how but I've redeemed myself."

So I scrolled down a few posts and found this one. You gotta read the whole thing. :)

"As many of you may know, because of ski season and Merrill working at Park City as a ski instructor during the day and Convergys at night I am a single parent all but 2 days a week. As it turns out...I do not make a very good single parent which you will see by the note Lindsay left for Merrill one night on his pillow. At first glance you may not notice anything out of the ordinary, in fact when I first looked at it I thought we were hugging each other. But if you look closely you will see I am actually pulling her braid as it's the only thing I could grab at the moment to catch her from running away from me in order to not brush her teeth. You can tell I was mad because Lindsay drew my face close up down at the bottom. I just could not stop laughing...how sad is that? I think it's so funny it still makes me laugh! I don't know what she thought Merrill was going to do to me when he got home, but in her mind I was going to be in BIG TROUBLE. Make sure you click on the picture to see it up close, it's a must see! I guess I'm not going to get "Mother of the Year" this year...there's always next year."
http://www.ovesonfamily.blogspot.com/
The next little jewel I found was in Tyler & Tiffany’s blog, Jefferson’s cousins. He had found a big bug and, after chasing his wife and 3 daughters around with it, offered to pay a dollar to anyone who would hold it.

He didn’t think he’d get any takers but brave little Lexi needed the money!!

Jeff & I laughed at this picture for so long! Her little face is priceless!
http://tylerwatkinsfamily.blogspot.com/

The last treasure I found is my favorite. This is off The Wilkinson Quints blog by this lady in my uncle’s ward who had quintuplets last year. She laid them all out to get a picture when…..

“Finally, Ryder decided that all this picture taking made him want to puke. As luck would have it, I caught the action shot of this decision on camera. The projectile vomit actually made it all the way to Kassidy (on the end all the way to the left) and required her to have a complete wardrobe change. Once it landed, Rustin and Kaydence got it all over their face and hair--only Kyndall made it through unscathed.”

...Yessss!!! :D

2008-09-21T22:50:00.000-07:00

And there are 4 Days left!!!

Michael Scott: Do I need to be liked? Absolutely not. I like to be liked. I enjoy being liked. I have to be liked. But it's not like this, compulsive, need to be liked. Like my need to be praised.

Class is in Session!

2008-09-20T12:47:00.000-07:00

Ok, I hear my dad and Jefferson making lunch on the grill so I walk outside and THIS is the sight that greets me:

Yeah. This actually isn't even the best picture of it and a forth chicken was shortly added on the right. They're all sitting on sprite cans. Guess it brings a new meaning to the threat to bust a cap up...

2008-09-20T00:55:00.000-07:00

5 Days More...

I found this on Jenna Fischer's/Pam Beesley's MySpace. Ha!

The Empty Sea

2008-09-20T00:54:00.000-07:00

So.... I realized this week that I wrote an entry about dropping my brother off at the MTC on a family blog but not on this one!! So here are some of the pictures.

This is Jefferson & I at the MTC. We are definitely going on missions ourselves when we're older, and using some advanced technology we have an image below of what we will likely look like.

And this is my favorite one of us playing games at Grandma's house during the reunion:

2008-09-18T01:00:00.001-07:00

Only 6 Days till the Office!

Dwight demands that you watch my favorite Office clip EVER!!!
http://www.hulu.com/watch/31146/the-office-dwights-olympics

The Countdown Begins...

2008-09-18T01:00:00.000-07:00

It is official! 7 Days until The Office starts!

LDS vs. FLDS

2008-09-16T14:34:00.001-07:00

I found this link on my friend Jayne's blog and thought that this was a really great way to say it.
http://thegabblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/just-for-record.html

The Allison Dance Hoff!!

2008-09-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

So, we had a family reunion over a MONTH ago when we took Ben to the MTC. My cousin Stephani and I were reminiscing about the good old days when we used to make up dances to my grandma's Anne Murray tapes!! ...Wow. Anyway, we both started gettin in the dancin' mood and decided to stop fooling around and make a DANCE COMPETITON! We figured we'd smoke everyone else, given our past experience. ...It didn't work out so well. Our carefully choreographed routine didn't hold up against the other two teams, awesome as it was.
These are a little long, but well worth watching, I think! You can vote over on the right!
P.S. Please ignore the hideous cackling on the first video. It was.... really late.

Allison + Aubree = Team Allibree

Camille + Kamberlee = Team Ckamberille

Team Jennistephiphernie AKA 'The Winners'
...Seriously. Pronounce it. Jenni-steph-iph-ernie. :) hee hee hee.

Sweet Disorder site is UP! :)

2008-09-07T20:35:00.000-07:00

Yippee!! My photography website is up!!! If you
haven't, feel free to check it out! :)

http://www.sweetdisorderphotography.com/

And I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long and I *promise* a
normal (if you can call any of our posts normal :) ) post is coming!

Love to all our friends and family!!

Jenn

2008-08-19T14:42:00.000-07:00

This was Jefferson's last outing with Eternal Ben before the mish. It was... uh...

Camping: The art of getting closer to nature while getting farther away from the nearest hot shower and flush toilet.

2008-08-18T13:10:00.000-07:00

Yea! For part of our anniversary we went camping! It was pretty fun. We played Rummikub, made s'mores, and I freaked out every time our tent trailer door mysteriously opened by itself (What?! It was night! It was scary!!).

This is Jeff's fire that he built with his OWN TWO HANDS (+matches).

Now, this is my favorite. There were all these slug-caterpiller things and no matter where Jefferson went, they kept B-lining it for him!! He didn't really notice until he would hold still. This is when he was sitting eating some cereal and 4 of them all came at him, trekking across the astro-turf (Yes. Astro-turf. That's what I said.) You can see he's really scared!

Wally-Wally-Water-World!

2008-07-28T10:18:00.000-07:00

Every year, we go on an annual trip to Water World!! It's one of the highest ranked water parks in the US. But we've been to the ones ranked higher and respectfully DISAGREE! ...Anyway, this year's outting consisted of a fun filled day of dippin' dots, lots of rides, hot sun ...and Jeff screaming like a little girl.

Alright, THIS is the perilous Taco ride. Shaped like a giant TACO, Allison, so it should NOT be confused with an enchilada or burrito ride! Good grief. Anyway, you get on a big tube and drop down and slide back and forth on the two sides. Jefferson and Ben screamed and screamed and screamed.... when they got off this guy said, "that guy screams like a girl!!" They SAY it was for comedic effect, but I have my doubts. This is them on their way back up the wall- and underneath is a close-up so you can see their faces!

Finally! I made it on the ride this year!!!!

2008-07-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

Aw, for goodness sakes!!

This is funny because Jefferson and Ben didn't know they were doing the hear no evil, speak no evil... etc... and they're all doing it!!

Yes, to answer the question you all have on your minds, my face WAS hit by a giant sheet of plexi-glass during this picture!!

Memories...

2008-07-19T16:15:00.000-07:00

I can't actually remember what these flowers were for but I *think* it was for our 2 year anniversary. It was fun till Jefferson ate the daisies...

More Memories...

2008-07-19T16:11:00.000-07:00

So, I'm sure that you all know by now, since you're such avid fans of the blog, that I've been going through some old pictures. Here are a few of Jefferson & I through the years that I thought were kind of fun.

This was one of the first times I ever talked to Jefferson. It was at a BYU football game where he pointed out one of the cheerleaders and said she would come in to visit him at the Brick Oven. How could I be jealous after knowing him a couple days? I don't know!

This one I love because it's the 202 roomates! Most of us ended up marrying the person we were dating at the time! There's Lacey & Billy, Josh and Rachel, Ash, and Jefferson and I at the Malt Shop.
This is, of course, the chick magnet we affectionately call the Scoot.
This was at Park City on Jefferson's birthday, seeing the world through rose-colored glasses. :)

El Cuatro de Julio... let freedom ring.

2008-07-19T15:54:00.000-07:00

This 4th of July we went to see fireworks with the Roskelleys. Wayne-o really enjoyed my constant narration during the show, and Rachel found out on the way home that she could make ridiculous amounts of money if Josh died. It was a fun night.

This was taken last year of Carie and Robby during the Stadium of Fire. They just had a baby boy (I originally wrote little boy- he's in the 98th percentile for height!!!) named Thomas who is just the sweetest thing you've ever seen!

Sweet Song!

2008-07-18T23:21:00.000-07:00

I have been going through the vast expanse of archives that are my pictures and found this! When we were in Hawaii last year Ben, being the composer he is, came up with this song that entertained us for quite some time.

P.S. Today we had some cement laid outside out house. I wanted to put my faceprint in it.

Al's Senior Pictures

2008-07-18T22:38:00.000-07:00

We haven't finished yet, but I've done a few of my sister Allison's senior pictures and this one I thought was just cute! :)

By Popular Demand...

2008-07-18T22:18:00.000-07:00

And now the moment you've all been waiting for. This is mine and Camille's *SECRET HANDSHAKE* that has been a staple of our hellos and goodbyes for many years. Enjoy!

Things I want to Remember

2008-07-18T14:19:00.000-07:00

After a couple of decades of failed journal-writing, I am starting a book of "Things I want to Remember." Things that made me laugh really hard, or good stories, or funny things the kids upstairs said, etc. You all know I have a FANTASTIC memory, so if anyone can think of anything that was funny or a good time, or that was really cute, please let me know! :) Thanks!!

P.S. To give you an idea, a few I have are Ben being rescued by the Squirrel, Sam saying "'Yo cat wooks weally weiwd," and Uncle Chris putting marshmellows in the wall-mounted moose's nose. And his own.

Ben's Mission

2008-07-15T10:31:00.000-07:00

Awww, my widdow baby bwodow is going on a mission!! He will be entering the MTC to prepare for the Canada, Halifax mission on August 5th. And I'll be in Utah the 1st through the 9th!! Jefferson has to work a bit but he'll come out for the Allison non-reunion on the 4th. Yippee! Here's Ben's announcement. Gee, that photographer is good....

2008-07-02T10:27:00.001-07:00

So, hello! This is my first time on a blog and I've only spent 2 hours figuring out how to change all the colors!! We'll see how this goes.... Last week Jefferson and I were able to go to *E*U*R*O*P*E* with my family! Oui! It was so much fun. In London went to Wicked (which was INCREDIBLE) and in Paris (huh-huh-HUH) we saw the Louvre, and Eiffel Tower, amongst other things. Things we learned: 1. There is a REASON the French gave up on deoderant (but not why they didn't build the buildings with room for air conditioning vents in the 1500s!). 2. You can blow your entire savings on one lousy (gorgeous) pair of shoes!!!! 3. Eating glass is a good thing!! Their ice cream (pronounced glass) is amazing. 4. If it starts to pour, go inside because it will stop in a minute and you'll be the ONLY ones walking about looking like Europe's wet T-shirt contest gone wrong! 5. Europe is very fun to visit but God bless America!! :)

The pictures on the left are Jeff's roast beef dinner from HIS point of view.

2008-07-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

The jet-lag was really bad the first day...

This was... maybe I shouldn't explain. But I will. We were imitating this total nerd-looking guy on a gameshow. He looked like Dwight with massive buck-teeth. We had to postpone going to dinner to mock him.

This is Al in front of Big Ben. So cute!

2008-07-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

Yes. Study it... Think about it.... Ponder it....

2008-07-02T10:09:00.000-07:00

Every vacation has to have flower pictures...
This was at Marie Antoinette's city. When she was a little girl she wanted to play house so they built her a miniature city to rule and servants to pretend to live in all the houses and do what she wanted! Just like my playhouse as a child....
Yeah. This would be the aforementioned downpouring.
We looked AWESOME.

2008-07-02T10:06:00.000-07:00

2008-07-02T10:01:00.000-07:00

This was at the Louvre!

He's very tough.

Allison and I were imitating the statues.... if anyone was wondering....

2008-07-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

These are the pyramids in the Louvre, as shown, evidentally, in the DaVinci code. I'm really excited about the lense flare! :)
Here are Jefferson and I at the best play in the WORLD!! It was his first Broadway show and he really liked it :)

2008-07-02T09:28:00.000-07:00

Note the billboard above us...

This is on just the 2nd level of the Eiffel Tower. The view was insane. And the sun rays were perfect Lion King sun rays.

My mom kept freaking out every time Ben would lean over the edge. Even though there was a level sticking out right under us where he would have fallen about 10 feet. That's how far my bobby pin fell.

2008-07-01T23:08:00.000-07:00

Aw, the little sweeties!! My parents had no idea I was behind them taking a picture, just enjoying the sight.
Aw, the little sweeties! Oh, wait, that was for the last one. j/k.....
This is standing underneath the tower.
That's their capital building through the... space... over there....

2008-07-01T22:35:00.000-07:00

The Eiffel Tower was the best part of France. It was so much bigger than we expected!

I think my dad winced more than Al and I did. :)

My favorite ones!!!!

2008-07-01T21:53:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, at last, I fulfilled every photographer's dream of shooting at the Eiffel Tower. It was so fantastic. Ben and Jeff, however, were less enthused and I caught them playing rock paper scissors to see who had to be stuck as my bodyguard!! Ben lost (but I'd call it a win) and we wandered about to take some pictures. If you want, you should click on the bottom two to make them bigger cause I think they turned out fairly well. :)

2008-07-01T21:30:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what these pillars are for but so pretty!
The London bridge was Jefferson's favorite thing he saw.
....See?? :)

The Subway was REALLY scary!!!!