Learned something new in a real estate class

Sitting through real estate classes for my license renewal can sometimes be pretty boring. However, I did learn something new last week from the instructor - and it has nothing to do with real estate! Did you know there is an easier way to peel a banana than this?

The easier way is starting from the bottom! Apparently that's the way apes peel them. Who would have thought? Maybe everyone else already knows this, but it was news to me.

Try it - it really is easier.

Fun for Ty, Scary for Mom

A few weeks ago, Tyler was at his regular SWAT training when they got an actual SWAT call to the Chandler Mall, where someone had fired shots at police officers and then ran into the mall. Since Tyler's SWAT team was already in their gear and ready to go, they were able to arrive at the mall very quickly and start clearing people out of the mall. Usually Tyler is the sniper, so I don't worry too much about him, but this time he was the shield guy, which means you are the first one in a building holding the shield. I'm glad I didn't know this at the time, or I would have been even more worried. Knowing he was at the mall, but not hearing from him all afternoon was a nail-biting experience. I followed it closely on the news all day, watching for glimpses of him when they would show live scenes on the news.

The shooter eventually holed up in a Baja Fresh, holding hostages in the restaurant with him. Tyler was right outside the door of Baja Fresh and they were trying to decide if they should go in. The shooter told his family by telephone that he was going to shoot any police officer in sight and he knew he would be killed. However, they were finally able to talk him into giving himself up. Tyler was sure it was going to end by shooting this guy, so I'm glad it was a peaceful ending.

These are some of the pictures that were in the local news. In the top left picture, Tyler is on the right side of the SWAT vehicle, looking into the camera. That is Tyler on the bottom left picture bringing one of the hostages out of Baja Fresh.

I'm so glad Tyler is okay. It's always such a worry when there are situations like this. Needless to say, it was a relief when Tyler finally called me at about 6 p.m. when he was on his way home. I asked him his reaction to the whole afternoon and he told me it was very exciting! I guess this is what they train for and I know he's smart and prepared for this, so I all I can do is PRAY!

San Clemente, CA

We had some timeshare weeks that needed to be used before they expired, so we invited BJ & Shannon's family to join us in San Clemente, CA for a week.

We left the day after Christmas and stayed at San Clemente Inn. It was pretty outdated, but it was clean and in a great location. There was just one room inbetween ours and BJ & Shannon's, so we were close. Here is a picture of the inside of our rooms. Behind the table in the closet looking things are murphy beds, which the kids thought was pretty cool! They were actually more comfortable than the queen bed in the master bedroom!

We bought a 3 park pass for SeaWorld, San Diego Zoo, and the San Diego Wildlife Park, which was a good deal. The first day we went to SeaWorld. It was a perfect day. I loved this walkway over the whale pools where you could stand and observe the whales. They were pretty amazing!

The sea lion show was one of my favorites!
There was a very long line for the 3D Polar Express adventure. We waited in line and didn't think we would make it in the show, but we were the last ones in before they cut off the line! Whew! That was an important one to see, according to Sam, the train lover! Here are BJ, Shannon, Sam & Brodi waiting to get into the theater.

Sam's cool 3D glasses.

And I love how Brodi put hers on upside down!

Inside the Polar Express adventure, they showed part of the movie and the chairs rumbled when the train did, we got sprayed with water and it was very loud! I'm glad we made it in- it was

definitely worth the wait.

One of the crazy things we did at SeaWorld was buy a day pass for food. It seemed kind of expensive at the time, but we knew we would be there for lunch and dinner and realized it was the better value. And - we could go back anytime of the day and get as much food as we wanted. So, this was a good thing and a bad thing - I ate way more food than I needed to, but it sure was fun to go get anything we wanted all day!

The next day we went to San Diego Zoo. We were all a little tired from the day before, so we decided to take the bus around the zoo and then we could walk to the areas we wanted to afterward. There was a long line for the bus - it was probably one of the busiest days of the year at the zoo and we had to park out in the boonies, but it really was fine once we got on the bus.

Sam on the bus.

We were surprised when we found a food place where there was hardly a line and there was an open table right outside the restaurant.

The next day was rainy, so we took the kids to the local mall and let them run around and play in the kid's play area. The mall had a little train that you could buy tickets for and ride around the mall, so I think Sam and Brodi went on it 3 or 4 times.

The next day we went to the Wildlife Park, which was amazing. I didn't really get any pictures of it - I left our camera in the car, unfortunately. We went on a safari ride and saw wild animals living in a more natural environment. It was pretty cold that day, but we really enjoyed it.

We decided to make the next day our beach day. Although it was cold, the sun was shining and the sky was blue. We went to the San Clemente Pier and got clam chowder bowls, then found a picnic table on the beach and enjoyed our lunch! The train track is on the other side of the fence and Sam was delighted as the trains went right by us while we were eating.

Next, we went to Oceanside - one of my favorite places! One thing I LOVE in Oceanside is this place -Red Cup Yogurt. They have THE best frozen yogurt. When we stayed in Oceanside last year, we visited it quite often! Ummm - it's the best.
Oceanside is the place that Sam fell in love with trains and it was all because of Bryan & I! When we stayed in Oceanside last year, we would take Sam to the tracks to watch the trains - and it was after this that the obsession began! On this trip, we took him back to the tracks where it all began to get a picture of him watching a train pass by. Notice the fingers in the ears? He hates loud noises.

And this is pretty much how our trip ended and how our year ended, since this was December 31, 2010. This was the last sunset of 2010. What more could you ask for? Besides a wonderful family, good health, the church and so many amazing blessings, we got a beautiful sunset over the Pacific Ocean!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas 2010

Just to finish off the posts I'm behind on - here is my Christmas post - sad as it may seem! I realized I didn't really get any pictures of people on Christmas, but fortunately Tiffany got some pictures and I stole them from her blog. Thanks again, Tiff!

We went to see the Mesa Temple lights with Tyler and Tiffany's family on the Sunday before Christmas. The weather was beautiful, and it was crowded, but very nice. They had a bell choir performing that night and I love bell choirs.

On Christmas Eve, we had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner by candlelight. BJ & Shannon's family and Tyler & Tiffany's family came and Tiffany's brother, Marc Galbraith, also joined us. Here is a picture of the table before everybody arrived.

Then after dinner, we played Christmas songs with our chimes, read the nativity story and we opened presents. We gave the kids pillow pets, which they all loved.
We sure missed our family who wasn't with us.
I also took a picture of my village this year. I love my village and look forward to having it set up each year. I also took a picture of our Christmas tree.

On Christmas Day, we went over to Tyler & Tiffany's house at about 6:30 a.m. to watch the girls open their presents. There was much excitement and we love being able to do this. After that, we went to BJ & Shannon's to watch Sam & Brodi open their presents. They're a little younger and things were a lot quieter at their house, but the kids were also very excited!

A couple hours later, everyone came over to our house for our traditional German Pancake breakfast. Of course, we had to have orange slices too. Tyler and Tiffany & family headed up to the cabin after that and BJ and Shannon went home, so we had a very quiet Christmas Day! We got ready for our California trip, which I will post about next.

This is why we live in Arizona!

In the summer I posted how hot the weather was here, and to be fair, I now need to post how perfect it is! This is pretty much our weather from November through April. Yeah, at times I miss snow, but only from Thanksgiving to Christmas - and we only have to travel 1 1/2 hours to get to snow. So this is what our forecast is for the next 10 days:

Today, January 22

High 75 Low 42

Sunny

PERFECT! If anyone wants to come and visit, this is the time - before it gets unbearably hot.

Visit with Santa at Bass Pro Shop

I accidentally deleted some of the pictures at Bass Pro Shop when I was at the very end of my last very long post. Those of you who blog will understand why I didn't go back and add them. A new post was much easier! So, here are my cute grandkids having a visit with Santa.

Notice Madie. She wanted nothing to do with Santa. That is a classic picture!

The girls had fun doing the crafts............

while Ethan stayed by the quads the WHOLE time!

and here they are again enjoying the smores and hot chocolate that Bass Pro Shop provided.

Hereare a few more picture of Polar Express too (also accidentally deleted):

Love those happy faces!

Our Thanksgiving Family Reunion

We have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving! We were blessed to have all of our family, and my mom, together for an entire week! That is quite an accomplishment and definitely made for some fun times. It all started with Kylie's baptism. As I mentioned in the last post, Michael, Mallory and Madie were not planning to arrive until the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. But they surprised us and arrived during the baptism service, which we were so excited about! Holly, Claire and Ethan arrived Nov 17, and Jeff and my Mom arrived on Nov 19. We made some very happy memories and this is a very LONG blog post, which explains why it has taken me so long to post it - I've been too overwhelmed to do it! But here it is.....all of our fun times we had.

CABIN

On Nov 21, right after church, we drove up to our cabin to spend a night up there. Since we are selling it, this will probably be the last time the Boyers and Michael & Mallory will be able to use it. Tyler also brought his girls up. Tiffany and BJ and Shannon & kids weren't able to go.

Isn't Aunt Mallory fun? The kids love her! Here is Grandma Clark holding Madie

Mallory, Kylie and Madie playing ring around the rosie
Ethan, Nana, Claire and Sadie playing 'Don't Eat Pete"
Claire, Ethan, Kylie, Lexi playing 'Don't Eat Pete"
Sadie and Ethan became buddies. They even shared the air mattress - they were each at one end of it and their feet were in the middle. They are so cute together!

More fun memories of the cabin!

PHOENIX ZOO LIGHTS

BJ and Shannon hooked us up with $5 tickets to Zoo Lights, which was great. We went for Family Home Evening on Monday night. It was a beautiful evening.

Here we all are at the zoo, except for Tyler, who had to work. However, on the way to the zoo, he told us that he was on the side of the road by the zoo with his police car, so we were able to see him in action. We wish he could have joined us, but this was fun for the kids......

Especially Claire, who wants to be a police officer like Uncle Ty!

SHOOTING

On Tuesday, some of the family went with Tyler to shoot some of his guns and guess who was there? Claire, of course.

Tyler and Michael scope it out.

and Jeff shows Ethan how to shoot

BOWLING & ETHAN'S ACCIDENT

Later that evening Tiffany hooked us up with some free bowling passes for ALL OF US. I love free! We got 3 lanes and turned one into a kids lane and the kids had a blast. They did really well! The adults had a lot of fun too. Grandma was a good sport to go along with us everywhere!

Ethan was having such a great time until he dropped the bowling ball on his thumb, almost severing it. Poor Ethan! Prepare for some graphic pictures below.

OWIE, Ethan! They took him to the emergency room and waited forever to see what they were going to do with him. The hand surgeon wasn't available, but told the attending doctor that he should stay overnight in the hospital and they transferred him to St. Joe's Hospital. In the meantime, Bryan and I and Claire took them food and a change of clothes and Jeff and Bryan gave Ethan a blessing. Ethan was so brave throughout the whole ordeal. Long story short, the next afternoon, they finally took him into surgery, put a pin in the thumb, stitched it up and after he had recovered from the surgery, they finally let him go home.

Since Tyler had to work on Thanksgiving Day and BJ and Shannon and kids were going to be with Shannon's family, we had decided to have our Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday night so everyone could be there. When all of this was happening with Ethan, we went ahead with our plans, never dreaming it would take so long at the hospital, but it did take a long time and Holly, Jeff and Ethan missed our Thanksgiving dinner. It was so sad. However, they did come just as we were starting our dessert, so the evening wasn't all lost. We're just glad Ethan was okay and we wish him a very speedy recovery.

RANDOM PICTURES

Claire pulling Madie in the wagon.

I absolutely love this picture! Ethan and Sam are our only grandsons and they were born on the same day - 2 hours apart. Aren't they so cute in this picture?

Holly bonding with Madie

We let Madie open her Christmas present early. We gave her a dog pillow pet, which she loves.

THANKSGIVING DAY 2010

Before Tyler went to work and BJ & Shannon left for Glendale, we had family pictures taken at Val Vista Lakes, Gilbert, AZ. The sun was very bright as you can probably tell from our squinty eyes, but I think they turned out very well, considering.

Cutest grandkids EVER!

Ethan, Sam, Sadie, Papa & Madie, Claire, Kylie, Nana, Lexi, Brodi

Bryan and I with our 4 wonderful kids

Grandma Clark, Karen, Michael and Madie - 4 generations!

Grandma Clark, Karen, Holly and Claire - 4 generations!

Grandma Clark, Kylie, Karen, Sadie, Tyler and Lexi - 4 generations!

(Note - BJ's kids were done with pictures, so we didn't get them)

BASS PRO SHOP

Since we had our Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday night instead of on Thanksgiving Day, we had the day free to relax and do what we wanted. Tiffany told us that Santa would be at Bass Pro Shop and they had crafts and fun things for the kids to do, so away we went! When we got there, we were about the only ones in the store - it got busy later, but we loved it while we had the place to ourselves. We missed Sam and Brodi, who were at their other grandparent's house.

The rest of the pictures will be in my next post. I accidentally deleted them. Here is a pictures of the kids eating their smores. Bass Pro provided free smores and hot chocolate! Again, I love free!

Thanks, Bass Pro Shop!

VISIT TO UNCLE TYLER'S WORK

This was probably the highlight of Claire's trip! She always wanted to be a firefighter, but I think after seeing Tyler in his police uniform and all the SWAT equipment, she has changed her mind and now wants to be a police officer. Tyler was nice enough to give us a tour of the police department and the kids LOVED IT!

Brodi's Temple Sealing

BJ and Shannon were able to adopt this beautiful little girl - Brodi Michelle Watkins back in July. They knew that a lot of family would be here for Thanksgiving, so they waited to have the sealing so we could all be there. It was beautiful! Doesn't Brodi look like a little doll. This was a very special event in our family and we're so happy to have Brodi a part of our family forever.

ALL ABOARD!

For Christmas this year, we gave all of our family a ticket for Polar Express in Williams, AZ.

It was so much fun and definitely worth every penny.

Just look at the happy faces and you'll see for yourself! I got matching pajamas for the kids and for the adults and I made everyone wear them on Polar Express - I know - I'm so MEAN! The guys weren't too happy about that, but I think when they saw some men wearing footed pajamas on the train, they didn't feel so picked on.

Thanks, everyone for humoring me!

The cousins are waiting to get on the train.

Here we all are waiting for the train to arrive. It was FREEZING! I think I had 5 layers on!

My camera wasn't working, so I got all of these pictures from my kids blogs.

I'm glad they all took tons of pictures.

Madie is not quite sure about that guy in the red suit, but she did love her bell.

Holly and Claire enjoying their hot chocolate and cookie.

Nana and Papa with Madie and Ethan.

Mal, Madie and Sadie

Jeff, Ethan, BJ & Brodi (I love Brodi's expression!)

See? Madie loves her bell so much, she's chewing on it.

BJ and Sam. We were especially excited for Sam to go on Polar Express. He talkes about trains ALL THE TIME and all he wanted for Christmas was to go on Polar Express and get a bell.

All of us stayed at a Marriott in Williams, so we didn't have to travel home after the train ride. It was a very fun adventure and some great memories.

Claire's Birthday
Claire turned 6 years old on Nov 27. We had a little family birthday party for her before they took off for the airport to go back to Iowa. We had so much pie left over from Thanksgiving that instead of a birthday cake, she had birthday pie! We love you, Claire and we're so glad you were able to be with us on your special day!

And then, sad to say, it was time for everyong to go home. My mom actually didn't go to Polar Express with us. She left after Brodi's sealing and spent some time with my nephew Brady and his family. Michael and Mallory left from Williams, AZ for their long drive home to California. Holly, Jeff, Claire and Ethan left for the airport after the birthday party and then our house was too quiet. I felt like we already had our Christmas! For me, it was the best week of the whole year and I'm so thankful for my family and the fun times we have together.