Some thoughts as I live more life and grow older. To all the women I love.

So this post may be a little different but here goes.

I have been thinking a lot about how we as women look at ourselves, how critical we are of each other and mostly ourselves. I've made a few changes. And I have already seen the fruits of my labors.

So most the pictures in the blog below, I really hate of myself. BUT! Guess what??? I am going to keep them. They have precious memories, that I would rather not delete.

My Jake is not going to look back years from now and say, "Wow, my Mom was one fat lady," he's going to look back and say, "Wow, look at me and my Mom at the Festival of Trees!" That's why I get in the pool and all the other stuff so he will not remember me sitting on the sidelines feeling sorry for myself, he will remember me actively engaged in his life. Not an easy thing to do for me, but for him, my precious and only child, I do it.

Do I like the way I look?? No and I am working on it. Do I have confidence in who I am and what my abilities are? Absolutely. I know what I can an cannot do and being heavy does not stop me from living my life. I would not be a successful small business owner if I wallowed in self-pity.

I've starved myself to be thin in my life and still felt fat and now I am on the other end of the spectrum wishing I could knock some sense into that stupid girl who was so caught up in her looks, she was miserable. Sure, she was thin, but VERY unhappy!

So, I've said goodbye to all those wasted times I spent sitting on the sidelines worrying about how I would look and saying hello to participating in life today, not waiting for tomorrow when I like how I look in pictures better. It's really liberating !

I have a fantastic life, a great husband and son and work I LOVE because I know I am making a difference! I want to enjoy it as much as I can!

I hope all you gorgeous women out there live life too and not let it pass you by. Today only happens once........Live for today.


P.S. PLEASE! Browse through and enjoy all the pictures below!

Tons of Pictures and updates!

The 1st Annual Clark Family Game Night Christmas Party! The game of "Sneaks" (kind of like spoons with a twist). Thanks Heather for all your "Simply Fun" games. Let me know if any of you want to book a party with her, the games are awesome!


Uncle Rich (Brother No. 2) doing what he does best, making people laugh! (We love ya Rich!)


The second generation off-spring of Brent and Karen Clark (our feeble attempt at getting a picture of all of them together)


The half eaten table of goodies for the party.


Angel girl Lily (our niece) at The First Annual Clark Family Game Night.


Jeff, this one is for you, GO UTES BABY!


The finished product!


The Annual Making of the Gingerbread House!


Our Jacob, singing in his Chior group from school.


My brother Jon, his son Hunter, and my awesome Mom and Dad at Hunter's Baptism.


Jake and his favorite cousin Hunter at Hunter's Baptism. So cute!


Jake's bear he made for a sick child at Primary Children's Hospital.


Jake and myself at the Festival of Trees. ( I hate this picture but I am going to keep it and not erase it. See more of the blog for the reasons why)

Here are Jake and his cousin Michael in the Kid's Korner at the Festival of Trees


Cutie Pie's Jon (Brother No. 3) and Hunter (his son and our nephew) at Hunter's 8th Birthday celebration.

Jeff and Jake at the Kaysville City Light Parade, so fun!



The finished project! What a Beauty!


Artistry at it's finest (J/K).



Me and my Thanksgiving Pie Extravaganza. (Yes I made every bit of those pies from SCRATCH!)

Fun on a Crisp Fall Day!

I jumped in here too mind you, but someone had to take the video and pictures.


So cute these two! The one great thing about only having one child is you re-live your childhood literally with them! You're it, there is no one else for Jake to share it with!


Our little Buddy!


I think I love this one the most. Jeff and Jake looking at the sky, talking about life!



Happy Thanksgiving everyone! As always, I have much to be grateful for. The Lord has blessed me and my family abundantly with a full life full of purpose and JOY! Who says money buys happiness?? Love and the joy of being together outranks anything else in my opinion. May you all express gratitude to our Creator for the goodness that is so readily ours! Enjoy your Thanksgiving!

Our Little Indiana Jones

Better late than never, here are our Halloween Pictures. I think this was Jake's best costume yet!


Harrison Ford, Watch Out! I think We've Found Someone Cuter!
We had YODA! And Batman Too!
Jeff and Jake (Jeff makes one "Hot" Blond! Actually this picture of Jeff frightens me)

Happy Birthday Jeff!

It was Jeff's Birthday on Sunday. This is the 11th Birthday I have spent with him.

I can honestly say he's the best thing that ever happened to me, the love of my life, and my very best friend! Happy Birthday baby, you're the best. (Pictured here are my two favorite people)!

Just a few Fall Shots from my Backyard (Snowbasin and Ogden Canyon)

Happy 6th Birthday Jacob!

Jacob's Birthday was a week ago today (October 20th). I can't believe my baby is 6!

We only have friend parties every other year so he had a small party with 6 people he loves. Jeff and I and his Grandpa and Grandma Clark and Isom celebrated with him by playing hide and go seek (kudos to Mom and Dad Clark and Isom for participating in hide and seek!)and Tic, Tac Toe. He also wanted to play musical chairs but we ended up not having enough time.

Jacob is a wonderful miracle that God sent to Jeff and I. We feel very fortunate to have him in our life. We know of many people with similar health problems that I have had (like Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome PCOS and Endometriosis), who have no children and long to have one. Our hearts go out to you as we were married almost 5 years before we had Jake. 6 years later, we are grateful for our miracle. He is the light of our lives!

Jake has been amazing this year. He had surgery in the end of January to fix his severly flat feet and in April he had eye muscle surgery to correct an eye disorder called "intermitten exotropia," He amazed us with his strength through adversity and cheefulness.

When I had to have another surgery in August, Jake told me that it wouldn't be too scary, that he would take care of me and that I would be ok. Out of the mouths of babes come some of our greatest most profound truths. We love you Jakey, you are our little sunshine boy!

My Shameless Plug For My Business Blog

Well I am writing this to let you know about my business blog. As the majority of you know I run my own Professional Organizing Company.

My company website is being developed as we speak. While this is in the works, I have created a blog for my business. There you will find tips and tricks on how to organize as well as down loadable documents and other great things. I have tons of ideas!

I give 1 or 2 tips each week and you can add your email to my blog and you'll be notified when the new tip comes up!

A few things I am working on are; A Grocery List (and this one will rock!), a packing for your Family Trip and get your House ready too, a Home To Do List, and a Errand To Do List. These will be available for download on my site just as soon as I crank them out.

Also, this will be a place where you ask your organizing questions and get answers. I have a poll for visitors to take so I know where to focus my weekly tips.

Eventually I will also have my favorite organizing sites listed on my blog so you can link to all of them in one place.

So take a look, take the free poll, and send me your feedback, and enjoy something completely free! I'd love to hear your tried and true tips as well if you would like to share!

So here is the link: http//:www.clearingspacebydesign.blogspot.com

Ladies First!

Jake's 1st Day of School
So it has been over two weeks since I updated this blog, so here is a little, mini update about our crazy life! Jake has started kindergarten at North Davis Preparatory Academy (NDPA), a local charter school in our area. I struggled whether to put him in our local elementary school or the charter school. The three main reasons we went with the charter school are; first, they have an awesome speech therapist, second the student teacher ratio is 12 to 1, and third they seem to be able to provide more one on one help with reading, and other subjects. Because of Jake's speech delay, we felt this would be the better option for now. If we decide we don't like it and want to change we always can. NDPA has a great reputation and the parents support it so well up here. I also liked the fact that 96% of the students are reading at grade level or above at the end of the school year. That means just 4% are not at grade level. I like those odds. Our local elementary is a great school and the Moms in my neighborhood keep the PTA running great. We just felt like this was the place for Jake.

OK so here's the story about "Ladies First,". Jake tells me that the girls like to hold his hand and sit by him at school. But he only has eyes for one girl and that's Grace Kaye. Grace is a 25 year old trapped in a 5 year old body. She's a riot. Jake is in "love" and wants to marry her. One day a few weeks ago he asked me what he could do to get Grace to want to marry him.

So I told him that he might as well learn now that all girls are to be treated like ladies which means he needed to open the doors for them and make sure they are taken care of first. He seemed to be as disinterested as ever once I was done explaining things so I thought nothing of it.

A few days later we headed to Sizzler for dinner and Jake ran ahead to open the door. Jeff said thanks and walked right in the open door (ahead of me). Jake scolded his dad by say "Dad, Ladies First!" (Now usually Jeff is really good to open doors and everything so this was rare that he had walked in first).

Jeff and I laughed hard and Jeff walked back out of the doorway and let me go in first. Since then, Jake has turned into the door opener extraordinaire reminding all men that Ladies are first!

The Dueling Lawn Mowers

So last Saturday Jeff got up about 8:00 am to mow the lawn. Jeff usually mows in the evening but decided to get it over with so we could do other things. This summer Jacob has been "mowing" the lawn with Dad, stroke for stroke. This particular morning he was still asleep. I was enjoying a few minutes of solitude when I hear his door fly open and then hear him running down the hall towards my bedroom.
"He started without me," he shrieked!
My son who was sawing logs just a few minutes earlier had heard the lawnmower and jolted out of bed, quickly got dressed and headed to my room looking for his shoes. We quickly found his shoes and I headed outside with him. As I was helping Jake with his shoes he kept saying "I am dressed just like Daddy is." I didn't think much of the comment until I went outside to see that he was indeed dressed just like his Dad with a White Shirt, Red Hat, and Levi's. His Dad is his hero and very best friend. I hope he always feels that way!

One of My Hobbies

So this is one of my hobbies. Re-finishing Furniture. I got these nightstands at the DI for $15.00 a piece. After a lot striping, refinishing and staining, and varnish, they transformed from super ugly to gorgeous. I've been refinishing furniture on and off for about 11 years. The first two projects were two "blond" dressers from the 1950's we inherited from my grandparents and Jeff's Mom. We had nothing and I couldn't pass up all wood and veneer dressers with dove tailed drawers! I had no clue what I was doing. I now need to go back and redo those dressers, they've seen better days since they are now 11 years old!

Re-finishing is hard work, but it comes with a great pay-off. You truly see the fruits of your labors. It is a rarity these days to see something completed and that is why I so enjoy doing it!

Our Trip to Twin Falls Idaho. August 2008

Our Trip to the Twin Falls Idaho Temple

So here it is! The long awaited blog for our family. I must admit, I have never been a good scrapbooker or journal writer so we'll see how this goes...... I love everyone else's blog and it is fun to see what you all are up to and to learn things about you and your family I never knew.

So here is a picture of the Twin Falls Idaho Temple. Jeff, Jake and myself made the 3 hour trip up to the temple so our Jake could see what inside a temple looks like. He has been asking us this for a while.

There is always such a special feeling at these temple open houses. The people are always so excited and anxious to show off their new temple to their friends and family in the area.

I was moved at the short video presentation they showed us at the adjacent stake center on the same property as the temple.

They showed images of the Bountiful and Salt Lake Temple's and Jeff and I both were in tears remembering what it was like when the Bountiful Temple was dedicated in 1995. Jeff and I can cry with the best of them!

Jake was great during the movie and sat on my lap so he could see and listened to the whole 15 minute or so video. Pretty good for an almost 6 year old.

Jeff and I have our weaknesses, but one of our strengths is temple attendance. We try to go once a month as consistently as possible. I am glad I understand the temple covenants as well as I do. I know it is only because of attending often and contemplating the measure of our creation, that I love the temple so much. It blesses my marriage, our family, and my whole well being as a person.

There were a FEW protesters of course 3 to be exact. The smallest amount I ever seen at a Temple Open House. At the Alabama Temple Open House that Jeff and I attended in 2000 their had to be at least 60 to 100 people holding signs, even at the stoplights and intersections.

I don't worry about these people or question my beliefs because of them. Can they offer me a forever family? Can they offer me the blessings of a priesthood holder in my home? Can they truly offer me a chance to know the Savior and his teachings the way we do in our church? Can they offer me exaltation? No. They cannot. I find it interesting that they can't leave us alone.

Ok, back to the temple. It was gorgeous inside, lighter woods, travertine floors, rich moldings and a gorgeous picture of the snake river and the Shoshone Falls that was painted in one of the ordinance rooms.

In the baptistry, I had to tell Jacob that the cool "oxen pool" was not for swimming. In the celestial room I sat on the couch with Jeff and Jake and thought, "This is my whole world, life can't get better than this"!

It is a smaller temple not near as small as the Alabama temple but significantly smaller that the temples we are used to having here in Utah.

Yea for temples! Yea for forever families!

I Finally Got With It

Well Friends, I finally got with it and created my own family blogspot. More to come soon!