Mini day trip to Kalona

Yesterday we took a mini trip to Kalona, Iowa. First we went to Central Discount which is a scratch and dent grocery store. We purchased some cereal for a 1.25 a box and other fun things. Then off to the cheese factory, however it was super crowded so we only tasted a couple types of cheese then went to the Kalona Bakery. On the way home I talked Jason into stopping at an antique store that he had never been to before and he actually enjoyed himself. I think he followed me in there just to make sure I didn't buy too much.

Jason taking a picture of ourselves in front of the cheese house.  It was raining
and no one else was outside to get our picture for us.

Jason and Alyssa eating yummy cheesecake.

Scott and I picked giant donuts!

Letter from Caleb--9-16-13

I asked Caleb a bunch of questions, so this letter is answering them.  Maybe they are questions you have had as well.    There have been some other letters in the last few weeks, but some things have been personal for just his family, so those letters haven't been shared.  Some of this letter has been taken out because it was just personal for his family.  I have included what I can.

Finally, some questions! 

Well what exactly are you doing on normal days when you are not in the office?

Elder * and I study a lot,  We teach lessons as often as we can.

What is a typical day like?

Wake up, work out, shower, eat BFast, study, study together, eat Lunch, go out and do service/teach, eat dinner with a member, and appointments at night. Then we plan and then we sleep.

 Do you like your apartment?

I kind of like our apartment. It has been tough to get settled in though, as in three weeks I could be moving again. It makes it hard to set a direction when you don't know where you are standing. I have really had a tough time in this area, but I know that there are so many things I am learning here that I need to know. I wouldn't be placed in this area unless there was someone I could help, or consequently, someone who could help me.

What is the area like?

The area is not that large. I am thankful to have a car though as it has been really hot during the day. The ward is made up of really old couples or newly wed couples. There is no one like our family.

Any interesting people?

I met a drunk naked man on Saturday during an exchange. He was... Interesting for sure. 

Your license came and I'm sending it today.

Yay!

I got Alyssa, Scott, Brenden, Jared, Dad and of course me to all sign up for Timber Trek.  A muddy run through the woods with obstacles for 4.3 miles in October.

I see you have the family convinced it is not crazy to do things like that. Just to remind you, it is.

Scott did his first 5 k last week and did well.

What qualifies as well? Could I profit off of him? Did he troll dance through the finish line?

Do you still have hair cuts left?

I do, and am doing fine on those.

Are you getting fed?

Pretty well. I hated Mexican food before my mission, and then I loved it. Now I am starting to get sick of it. Thankfully, if I have plotted meals out right (for some reason everyone feeds us the same meals at the same times. For example, we are fed burgers for 2 weeks, then burritos for a week, then turkey...) then we should be getting into a different food group soon. 

Who are people in your ward that feed you often?

Surprisingly we haven't had many repeats. This ward is really good about feeding us.

Do you really like being in the office a lot?

I love it. It has been a tender mercy for me. I have learned a lot of amazing things and sharpened my skills. I commonly get calls from other missions asking me for help. Salt Lake dubbed me the "California Wiz Kid" after the whole debacle with our computers all going down, and so I am trusted on technology calls and conferences. I have a video conference with Cisco this Wednesday which will be really cool.

OH! Also!!! We are getting iPads! HAHA! Every single missionary is getting their own iPad mini! Thats not even the best part.WE GET TO TAKE THEM HOME AFTER OUR MISSIONS. YEAH. I guess they decided, in a wise decision, that missionaries wouldn't take care of it unless it belonged to them. So, the iPads are being rolled into the cost of a mission, and they are ours when we go home. Our missions will no longer be bound to California Anaheim once we get them either. We will be allowed to skype with our less active family members and teach them the lessons. We will be able to skype and teach lessons to friends. This is going to change the world. I also feel special because I was the first to know in our mission :) 

How often are you in the office?

Maybe once a week. It depends on what is happening in the week and what they need me for. I am really just the resource for the mission, and I try to limit my time in there.

What do you need in packages sent?

Love. Lots and lots of love.

Did you think that poptarts box was funny?

I did. To answer your next question...

Did you think pop tarts was in there?

I knew there were no poptarts in there. I knew after the rude stink I put up after that one Christmas that you wouldnt do that.

What else do you need?

Soon I will need an iPad mini case, but I don't know when yet, and I don't want you to buy one until I find one that will do the best job.

I need to get to work.

Love,

Elder J. Caleb Clark

Some quotes I love

I just had a great mini trip with Jason. We left at 4 a.m. to go to Dayton, Ohio on Friday so we could run the Air Force Half marathon on Saturday. Before the race began we had been talking about our last half which was two weeks ago, and I told him I knew I could have run faster because I feel so much stronger with running this year, but I took it easy most of the race since I hadn't run a half marathon in almost a year and wasn't sure how my body would react.

 He told me he'd stay right with me and help me achieve a new personal record if that is what I wanted. Up until this point my half marathon personal best time was 2:26:30 and I was super happy with that, but knew with a lot of training that I could beat that someday.  This past year I have been biking and swimming a lot.   Jason stayed with me the entire time and pushed me when I needed a push and we both crossed the finish line at 2:16:30. He didn't run ahead of me at the end, he stayed right with me as a good friend should if they are running the entire race with you.   He was with me the entire time giving me encouraging thoughts, and saying "Let's Go!" a lot.   My only regret with this is that I didn't push a little more so he could achieve his personal best and get a 2:09 or better.  I know he wanted a personal best time, but stayed by my side to help me this time.  I did give it all I had and know this time I gave it my best and nothing but my best.  I knew that because by mile 12.5 I was just about spent and by the finish I was spent.  All my energy was used for this race.

After this experience I know I have more in me to go even faster next time.  There were only a couple times that I walked that I could have pushed a little more, so I'm going to continue training strong and do speed work so Jason can achieve his personal best time and I'll be right there with him.  My next goal is a 2:06.  If I can beat my PB by 10 minutes this time, I know I can do it again.  It will be so awesome to see Jason achieve his goal in our next half together!

  I am so grateful to him that he helped me complete this race faster than my personal best time.  I am so glad that not only are we married, but that we are best friends. He is awesome. Thank you Jason, I love you.  Here are some quotes I came across that I was thinking about over the weekend.

The morning of the race I just thought all kinds of positive things.  I knew I could run fast, just had to believe it.
Jason and I lined up with the 2:10 pacer group and stayed with them almost the entire race!

So true!

It could change the way you look at life.

Click here to watch video.

Wilson's Orchard 2013

Every year we try to go to Wilson's Apple Orchard. Their apples are amazing.  I took the camera of course to get lots of pictures.  The weather was perfect and we had a lot of fun.  This year we got to spend time with Lance (Jason's brother) and his wife Nancy and their children. Glad they live close so we can do things together.  The apples ended up being super delicious.  Glad we went.  However this is what we learned.  Don't go to the orchard on the first nice Saturday after having over 100 degrees for 10 days straight.  Also, never go on a Saturday that is an away Hawkeye game because everyone else in Iowa City will be there too.  The place was super crowded and we didn't get to ride the tractor this year or even go into the store since the line was out the door with at least 50 people in it.  I've never seen Wilson's this crazy busy.  Next time we will have to go during the week.

Jared first hit the pumpkin patch and found a huge
pumpkin.

Brenden holding his cousin Ted.

Scott with a pumpkin almost bigger than him with his cousin John.

Alyssa with her first honeycrisp apple.

Ted held on to this apple almost the entire hour we
were there.

Alyssa climbing a tree to get the apples at the top.

I wanted some family pictures, however one person didn't want them.

Who doesn't want their picture taken?

Wow was he ever grumpy.

Another try for a family picture.  This was getting old, so this was the last one.

Even the bees LOVED the apples.  This apple had at least 15 bees on it.

Lance, Nancy, John and Ted.

Nancy and I were amazed at the amount of apples that one
tree could hold.  The apples were so great!

For a few moments we all threw rocks in the creek to try
and skip rocks.  Brenden and Jared tried to just make
large splashes.  This rock was huge.

Splash.

Brenden found a crawdad holding a rock.  

Lance and Nancy kissing.

Alyssa posing for a cute picture.

Jared holding John.

Near perfect morning

Usually I wake up at 5 a.m. or earlier and run or bike or go teach a class.  This morning I set the alarm for much earlier.  4:35 a.m. so I could get an extra long run in before waking up the children from their early morning seminary class.  When the alarm went off I had a thought:

I decided to make an awesome breakfast for my children instead of going to run.  I knew from times past that when I take the time to have breakfast waiting for them that they seem to have a much better morning all around.

I started out by making a quad batch of waffles and then Ham & Cheese Omelette roll.  Why I decided to make so much I really don't know.  However now we will have left over waffle mix for a couple days.  I managed to get a load of dishes into the dishwasher and part of the kitchen cleaned.

When 5:30 a.m. hit I woke Jared up first and put a load of laundry in to be washed.  Jared popped right out of bed and proceeded to the shower without complaint.  At 5:40 a.m. when I was walking up the stairs to get Brenden up I heard Alyssa's alarm go off so she was up.  I then woke up Brenden and told him that I made a nice breakfast and if he got up nice he would get to enjoy it.   (note:  Usually Brenden is the hardest to wake up and is the most grumpy person in the entire world).

I knocked on the outside of the bathroom door to signal Jared's shower was over.  Jared shut off the water right away instead of ignoring me like usual.  I came back downstairs to set the breakfast bar for breakfast and poured ice water for everyone.

I heard Brenden get in the shower and soon after that saw Jared arrive in the kitchen.  At 6 a.m. everyone, including Scott was dressed and sitting at the bar for breakfast.  They all proceeded to eat breakfast and seemed thrilled there was good food.  I read scriptures to them and we talked about what we had read.  At 6:10 everyone was done eating and I proceeded to get ready for my run.

At 6:20 a.m. I took the 3 older children to seminary and dropped them off right on time at 6:29 a.m.  I went on a 4.13 mile run that was awesome.  At 7:15 a.m. I returned to the seminary building with my sweaty, smelly body to pick the children up and take them to high school.  No one complained how bad I smelled, instead Jared just opened a window and stuck his head out.  They were all at school by 7:30 a.m.

Not one complaint, harsh word, mean thing, or teasing went on this morning.  It was a near perfect morning.

Soon after I dropped them off I returned home to see Scott (my youngest) practicing his clarinet.  The sound was beautiful.

I showered and dressed for work.  Scott already had his lunch made and was packing his drink into his backpack.

I have wished for a morning like this for a very long time.  The peace that was in our home this morning was amazing.  I'm blogging about this because it may never happen again so I want to remember how amazing this morning was forever.

Feeling grateful

Just feeling so full of gratitude this morning and an extreme love for my children.

I'm so thankful for each of them.

Caleb who is on a mission right now inCalifornia is missed greatly.  I get through each day just knowing he is doing good things.  I look forward to his letters each week.  His testimony of Jesus Christ is incredible. I'm glad he shares that often. Caleb if you ever read this, know that I love you so much and I'm proud of you.  You are doing great things and I know will go very far in life.

Daniel who is now out on his own learning all about life and how to manage finances, work, school.  I don't know if you will ever read this, but if you do, please know that I think you are awesome Dan and I'm so glad you are my son.  I think it's great that you are a great saver and have put so much away for your future so you could live on your own.  You are so smart.  You always got good grades in school and I know you will do well in college.

Jared, your sense of humor is hilarious.  I just love being around you.  I'm glad you signed up to do the Timber Trek race, you are going to just love it.  You are now almost a foot taller than me, can't believe that.  Your wit amazes me.  I'm amazed you can drive so well with how little time you've had to practice.  Keep being amazing, no wonder why you have so many friends, you are just fun to be around.

Brenden, you sure were missed this summer when you went to Grandma's home.  You have grown up so much in just a couple months and I'm so happy to be your Mom.  I love how you show so much love for Abby (our dog) and you take her on walks all the time.  I love how you always be yourself and don't let anyone change you.

Alyssa, you are so calm, peaceful and loving to everyone around you.  You always have a positive attitude and lift me up when I am sad.  You say just the right things when they are needed.  I feel blessed to have a daughter.  Thank you for always pitching in to help around the house.

Scott, to think I almost stopped having children at 5, then I wouldn't have had you.  You have so much energy and are so full of life.  I'm proud of you for doing your first 5K.  You rocked it and ran so fast.  I love how you always practice your clarinet without being asked and do your homework right away when you get home from school.  Glad you are in the family.

Brenden's Birthday--August 30, 2013

Brenden had a birthday the end of August. His 16th birthday. He didn't ask for much. If he would have wanted a party this year I would have thrown one. Instead we had a little family celebration. First he got to go to dinner at Panda Express. Dinner was his choice and he really wanted that. We had a cake and presents. Here are a few pictures.

The cake I bought.  The cake is a joke because he LOVES batman
so much, so I thought to be funny, I'd get him a batman cake.  Brenden
can be caught reciting Batman movies all the time.   All the batman cakes
seemed way too young for him, so as a joke I got him this Joker cake.  He
absolutely loved it.  It was chocolate with chocolate frosting and he
seemed happy.

Brenden about to blow his candles out on the cake. Notice Scott doing the
troll dance beside him.  Too funny.

B renden put the candles in his cake and wanted to have the "Joker" smoking
so one candle is in the Joker's mouth as a joke.  Brenden said, "Well he's a bad guy and
bad guys do dumb things."

Brenden Spencer Clark

Young Women's Activity

My new calling as of this past Spring in Church is a Young Women's leader. This involves going to church every Wednesday and helping with their activities for Youth Group.  Teaching a lesson twice a month on Sundays during church and then if possible attending their youth dances, youth temple trips and other activities if time allows.  I would say the most time consuming of all the things I do with the Youth are the lessons.  I spend a few hours per lesson preparing it.

Here is an activity from this summer that I have been wanting to post about for a couple months, but lack of personal time to do so has really prevented me from blogging much.  This activity was a Birthday Activity.  Once a year we celebrate everyone's birthday at once. This time we all decorated cakes for another person.
First we had to fill out a paper about ourselves.  You filled out your name, what you liked to do, your hobbies, favorite color, etc.  Then all the papers were put in a bowl and you drew out someone to decorate a cake for, but couldn't reveal who you had.  The pictures will tell the rest of the story.

How I failed to get a picture of Alyssa or her cake, I'm really not sure.  But she didn't want photographed and somehow skipped out on camera shots.

Laura getting frosting to decorate her cake.

Annie and Anna starting to decorate cakes.

Next will be all the cakes we all came up with .  I chose someone who
liked fishing as one of their hobbies, so thinking that might be an
easy cake to decorate, I proceeded.  So here it is, my fish cake for
Tiffany Olson.

All of these cakes had such character and showed imagination.

Tawyna chose me and she made a running cake.  So cute.

Here is Brieann.  She is another one of the leaders.

the girls are being silly when they decided to present their cake to the person
they made it for.

Scott happened to be at the church for his
Boy Scouts and peeked in to see what we were
all doing.  He ended up eating cake in the end.

Analisa had to work that night at Fareway and we didn't
want to leave her out, so we made her a birthday cake and
brought it to her work.  We even sang to her at work.  Her
co-workers were like, "I didn't know it was your birthday."
Too funny.  

Shelby was at home because her family
was moving to Utah in a couple days so she was helping
her Mom pack.  We surprised her with a cake as well.

And we sang to her.

This was Shelby's cake.