Clarkfam

Halloween was fun for the kids this year. Katie was Cleopatra and a pumpkin, Brandon wanted to be Tom brady, Lizzie a scarecrow and Jasmine, Jacob a cow, and Ben a little dragon. I opted to hand out the candy this year.

for my birthday Mike bought me a night at the anniversary inn in Boise. Becca and I went on a tour to the different rooms and picked my favorite one. It was a lot of fun to see all the different themes for the rooms. We are hoping to fo for valentine's day. i decided to change our furniture around for my birthday and finally unpack our room. It is so nice to have a change.

I'm sure that you all heard that Mike and I lost the baby about a month ago. I am doing fine but am still sad about it whenever I think about it. right now I feel like I have my hand full with the 5 kidos.

We are looking fwd to thanksgiving with the Jarvis's and Grandma and Papa Guymon. i hope they will be recovered from their travels. Hope y'all have a great holiday. We'll be thinking of you.

mike. Mary, and gang

Life was good to the Minnesota Guymons in October. We enjoyed a low-key, not too cold Halloween (it was actually in the lower 40s vs. last year’s high 20s and wind).

October brought many happenings: Amberly joined the school’s chess club and will be playing in a tournament in a few weeks. Talia and Sarah started volleyball and have joined the ranks of the afternoon blitzed: no time for much else. They also started playing instruments: Talia plays the trumpet, Sarah the cello. Amberly continues to take piano lessons. Busy, busy, busy…

Rachel accompanied Mason on his field trip to the pumpkin patch where they also got to see various farm animals. Mason is not hip on touching farm animals…thought you’d like to know. Talia and Sarah went to a rock show (not Mike’s kind) with a friend from the ward. They have really taken to all the various types of rocks, etc. They each have budding collections. Amberly is on her school’s student council and meets once a month for planning and pizza. She is so dang smart. She is reading Horrible Harry books and anything related to Young Cam Jansen. Mike’s looking forward to seeing the new Jason Bourne movie and has been busy with work, as usual…busy is good. Rachel has been quite busy with relief society activities, preparation, and all kinds of other stuff. She is really manning the crew. Braden is a little beast! He is crazy…and I mean crazy! He is pure entertainment, which, now matter what venue, is quite funny! What a ham! He and Mason really like to rough house, play outside, and have mom and dad read books to them. They love the Berenstein Bears, Franklin, and are also enjoying their dad telling them adventure stories at bedtime. We love our little guys…and gals, too. We are looking forward to seeing Grandma and Grandpa Guymon at the beginning of November as they travel back to Boise, ID. We are pumped to see them.

October was a great month for us! As you all know, Kate was born! We were so happy that she didn't have any problems, didn't have to go to the NICU, and is perfect in every way! She is such a sweet baby. We have been very blessed. We REALLY enjoyed and are thankful for visits from family this month (and last) which was a tremendous help and great fun for the kids. Rachel is well on her way to recovery (thank you Rebecca, Grandma and Grandpa!) and almost has all her blood back :) Bailee and Olivia were ballerina princesses for Halloween and Kate was a pumpkin. Jim has received invitations to interview at nine different pediatric residency programs so far which we are really excited about. Some of them are: Chicago, New York City, Buffalo, Cincinatti, DC,Baltimore, Miami...we'd love to hang with the Clarks in Chicago and I'd sure love the weather in Miami...we'll find out the end of January where we will be going.

Hello family!!! Wow!! Did anyone see October go by?? We had a lot of fun and now we're done!!! Let's see....the highlights were General conference, which the children actually seemed to enjoy this year ( with MUCH preparation, treats, and efforton Mom's part). They watched all four sessions. Even Joseph found a reverent way to entertain himself during one of the sessions....ie....the picture of Rich buried under anything Joseph could find. Between Saturday conferences, we happened upon this playset that had been clearanced down to less than a 3rd the price. It was what we had been looking for for the last 3 years, but weren't willing to pay full price!! Yippee! The picture of the finished product(minus a 3rd swing and a set of rings to swing from) was taken in the morning with the most gorgeous sunrise I have seen!! The colors were so brilliant, they look fake. Then we were off to the pumpkin patch for more fun for Halloween. Lots of pumpkin carving and pumkin seed roasting and a trunk or treat to finish. Then the Halloween fairy came and took all but one small ziploc bag full of candy and left each of the children a small toy animal and a book which still are played with and enjoyed!!! And Mom doesn't have to deal with candy! Yeah!! That's a very condensed version!! We are all healthy and happy! Grateful for the Gospel and the happiness it brings!! Love you all!! Happy Thanksgiving! Bec

Hi family. October was a very eventful month for the Clarks. We had a busy month with lots of visitors. Corky had a friend from CA fly in and they went to the Van Halen concert together in Chicago. Front row seats...dinner and a night at Hard Rock Hotel Chicago. What a blast! Corky has started a new group that meets together to jam each week. They have been recording songs and having a great time. Adam, I guess you need to move to Chicago to produce their first album. (:

Next we had Corky's brother Nathan and his family come for a visit. We had lots of fun visiting places around Chicago. We spent at day at the Brookfield Zoo for "Boo at the Zoo." The kids got to wear their costumes and be in a parade. Haley was a mermaid. Donelly was Harry Potter. Reese was Buzz Lightyear. All the kids at the zoo were dressed in costumes. Donelly got the most attention of all in her Harry Potter costume. Everywhere we went people were saying, "Look. It's Harry Potter!" Parents would stop and ask if they children could have their picture taken with her. Donelly was eating it up and enjoying her day as a celebrity. Haley had a really hard time with her sister getting all the attention. It actually started to interfere with our time at the zoo. Liz finally took Haley ahead to a few exhibits together so she could actually enjoy the zoo without noticing all the attention Donelly was getting.

On Halloween day Grandma and Grandpa Guymon arrived! Hooray! We had fun trick or treating and eating candy. We enjoyed a trip on the train to Chicago, a very packed trolley to Navy Pier, the Children's Museum, Millennium Park, Chicago Stuft Pizza, Chicago Dogs, Monk Episodes each night and lots of yummy food. Liz even got away with Grandma and Grandpa for the Broadway play Wicked down in Chicago. Lots of fun! We can't wait until they come again!

Dear Family,
We loved having Dad and Mom here to visit us! We felt spoiled!! They
fixed our car and had our tires changed!  Bought many groceries and
other things! And took us out to eat!!  We made many many great
memories!!!
Adam has FINALLY finished VTC!!!!!  The thesis is next on his plate
and hopefully last for a while until we go for the doctorate.  He also
just got back from CA getting certified to train in the latest Logic
software.  We have been keeping our schedules busy to pay off student
loans, with Adam teaching at SU, and guitar all evening Wed and Thurs,
taking on gigs as they come, and selling his cables.  And I have added
to my schedule singing/entertaining at rest homes for $50/hour, tying
balloons at Golden Corral for a couple hours, and selling bread to
health clubs.  We feel very blessed in the many areas of work the Lord
has opened up for us to pay off our debts.  Never doubt His promised
blessings when you pay tithing and a generous fast offering. He will
bless you!

If any of you are considering homeschool, here are my feelings on it:
HOMESCHOOL is the best thing that has happened to me-mom-and hopefully
:) to the boys!  Boy it has been hard.  Many tears and frustrations.
But I wouldn't trade it for the growth!!  Adam's Dad said to me, you
really have to be "sold" to the idea and have convictions of why you
feel it's better for your boys or else you'll bomb out when the going
gets rough.  I've heard of many of the new things they are teaching in
school sometimes unknown to parents i.e. gender preference, evolution
as fact, sex ed at earlier ages, etc and am grateful he is not getting
that.  I love that I can take him at a rapid pace if he's up for it or
slow down when he is struggling.  I love the limitless creative
avenues of teaching a concept.  I love seeing him get it and want
more. I love the extra time we have to do fun things. I love seeing
him teaching his brother, and the sweet relationship they are forming.
 Education in our home has become family centered and ongoing. But the
thing that "sells" me the most on it is giving them a good Christian
environment to learn in while they are so young and impressionable,
where I can put God in everything I teach, before sending them to
high-school.  I was worried about the social aspect until I found many
other families to share in the extra curricular things, like drama and
sports.  And am even more grateful for primary activities and scouting
programs.  The Library has sooooo many resources and often it's where
we meet up with other families.  Winchester has a few homeschool
groups we are a part of to get together and do field trips.  There is
also a school that meets once a week for homeschoolers that teachers
the harder stuff like latin, english, writing, languages, etc It's
hard, but worth it. Mom suggested to me a great idea of starting at a
certain time each day and keeping that consistent.  I believe that is
key, especially in teaching punctuality and discipline.  I think to
myself sometime later they may have mixed feelings about homeschool
themselves, but one thing they will never doubt is that their mother
was truly interested in them individually and enjoyed spending time
with them.  I wouldn't trade that potential relationship for anything,
especially as they are growing up in this hard world.

Atom Riley is a math wiz-thanks to his daddy and Grandpa Guymon.  Story
problems are his favorite.  He also likes to play grocery store and
figure out the exact money he would need to buy things.  He has
started reading little words everywhere and likes to write stories.
But he especially loves art and piano.
Surprisinlgy, Joshua has taken an interest in piano too.  He can play
Hot Cross Buns and is often heard singing it over and over again too.
He recognizes the difference between letters and numbers and often
asks what a word says.  He knows his colors and shapes and some
spanish.  He likes to sit down with the Leap Pad and say 'Mom, I'm
learning my lettos!'  WHat a QT!
ELi grabs your attention whenever you look his way by flapping his
arms and squealing with excitement.  But he is also really good at
letting you know when he is upset :) He can roll over now and prefers
when you sit him up.  Loves bananas and applesauce.
Well, that's all folks! Much love! We miss all of you and think about
you often.  Stay close to the Lord.
xoxo
Olsons