Shouldn't a posting on a Friday afternoon have a joke in it?

There are a lot of people in my life, both past and present that I care about and think of often. Unfortunately, most adults and probably all moms understand that this does not always mean that we do as well as we’d like at keeping in touch! It seems that we get so caught up in the responsibilities of kids, work, church, home, etc., that we can’t seem to extend our attention to the many other important people in our lives. This is one of the reasons why I have really enjoyed our entry into the blogosphere. I love to go to your blog sites and see your photos and read about the thoughts and happenings in your lives. A blog entry certainly does not take the place of person to person contact, but it is nice to have a quick way to share a lot of information with a lot of people in a short amount of time! I really dig this blogging stuff!
So, with all that in mind, I will take the opportunity to pass along a few words…

First of all, HUGE congratulations to our friends and family who have either had babies this week, or announced upcoming babies! 4 babies in 5 days (all boys!) and a few announcements mixed in as well – what a week! I am truly happy for all of you….I am also truly happy that I can come hold your babies, share the love, and then come home to 3 kids who are all potty trained! (As well as boys can be potty trained – do they EVER start hitting the bowl consistently?)

Next, to those of you who have wondered why I seemed to drop off the face of the earth, I am soooo sorry. I have left some of you hanging… breaking plans, missing functions, being fairly unavailable, and I am terribly sorry. I know that no one is mad at me – you are all much better friends than that, but I feel badly nonetheless. There is a reason – I have been quite sick lately. I will spare you all the details, but it has been a rough few weeks for me. I know that we all have trials, and I guess this was/ is one for me. I also know that there is always much to be learned from our tribulations, and I am trying to looking for those things now! All I can say is that I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers. There is a quote that I have been thinking about a lot lately, so I will share it. I find that it resonates in my mind quite often!

“(Sometimes) the Lord…responds…to prayer by withholding an answer when the prayer is offered. Why would He do that?
He is our perfect Father. He loves us beyond our capacity to understand. He knows what is best for us. He sees the end from the beginning. He wants us to act to gain needed experience:
When He answers yes, it is to give us confidence.
When He answers no, it is to prevent error.
When He withholds an answer, it is to have us grow through faith in Him, obedience to His commandments, and a willingness to act on truth. We are expected to assume accountability by acting on a decision that is consistent with his teachings without prior confirmation. We are not to sit passively waiting or to murmur because the Lord has not spoken. We are to act.” - Richard G. Scott

On a lighter note, I finally took down the Christmas decorations...

Snow Day

More snow! This past Monday we got another big snow storm. We had about 8 new inches when it was all done. This is on top of the 6 inches we got last week. Since early December, we have probably had about 30 inches of snow fall at our house. I know, I know... you people that like to do it all at once got 22 inches (Ogden) and 16 inches (Sandy), but for Orem, this is a lot of snow and I don't live in either of those places. All I know is that my back hurts. I have shoveled more times this year than the last three years combined.

Ok, now I am on my soap box, please allow me to wax for a moment. I really do not like the snow. I get it, I live in Utah, if I hate the snow I should move. Let me explain before you extradite me from the state. I will keep them brief, if you really need me to explain, just ask me later.

• Driving or walking on my pavement before I get a chance to shovel
• Dirty piles of snow everywhere until July
• No golf
• Endless layers of salt on my car
• Slipping when I try to get out of my car. Come on, you have to give me this one, I am really 60, didn't you know.
• No golf
• Scraping, scratching, grinding, clawing... anything to get the ice of my windshield. No, I will not put plastic on my windshield every night. I am stubborn.
• No golf

Ok, I am done. This was really not supposed to be the theme of my post.

Back to snow day at our house. We really did have a great time. We went out into an untouched backyard, made a fort and buried the kids (in the snow... we let them out...). Josh and Ellie relaxed and let us dump snow on them. Ellie laughed the entire time.

Our fort is... still under construction. We used plastic storage containers and packed them with snow to make our bricks. We have plenty more snow for another layer, but we were a little ambitious and made a 10x8 fort. Hey, if I lay flat on my back, you can only see the top inch of my belly.




Sam shoveled and moved snow the entire time. He was usually over in the soft fluffy stuff that no one had touched yet just digging. I think he liked the snow.








Ellie was completely worn out. She was done! I believe that she would have slept there if we would have let her.









Overall, it was a fun day. I am really looking forward to the next storm... in three days! That's right, more storms on the way. The weathermen were actually laughing when they talked about it... nice. Friday and Monday will bring more snow so we can expect more of the white coat all week long (sorry, you have to be from Utah to appreciate that one).

Matt

Baby Names

So in the spirit of the new blog. I have decided to add my first post. So yes, this is Matt, or as my blogger friends call me, The Guitar Hero (I am really not that good. Have you seen the 5 and 8 year olds on youtube?).

Baby names. I have two sisters that are expecting right now. Both have now found out what they are having. So, of course, the next question is, "Do you have a name picked out?" I mean, come on, it has been 2 minutes since you told me you are having a baby boy, that's old news. What's the name going to be?

Of course the first suggestion from the loving uncle is, "You know, Matt is a good strong name. Everybody loves Matt." Everyone laughs. Alright, I laugh. But seriously, what is the name going to be?

For first time parents (good luck Carie and Robby) the experience is great. You go out and buy the book of 500,000 baby names. As you scan the book, all you see are names that you would never use. Process of elimination? Ouch!

Then the next step, you start paying attention to what other people are naming their children. Mountain, Apple, Tundra (isn't that the truck from World of Warcraft?), Seven, Pilot Inspektor (thanks Jason Lee), and all of the other celebrity baby names we have come to enjoy. Or you can take the route of a friend of mine, pick the name from the ingredient list of a shampoo bottle. Come on, are you serious? Can't we do better then that? "Hey, Yellow Dye #5, get over here" Really people!

Ok, so here is what you do. Ask another little kid. It's brilliant! We did it for our last child. We knew it was a girl, we had no options, and the time had come. So, turn to the boys. Alright kids, you are going to have a baby sister, what name do you want to be yelling when you are chasing her down. Sam was the first to speak, "Ellie", he shouted out. And there you go. We had our name.

So listen up Niki and Carie. Here are the names our kids came up with when we asked them a couple nights ago.

• Jake
• Sam
  
• Josh
  
• Mark
• Evie (Ellie gets a little confused)

Then we reminded them it had to be a good match with the last name. Here are the good ones, celebrities in the making. Absolutely no coaching, we just let them start talking. Sam came up with the best ones. Just yesterday he started calling Ellie Saquajawia all day and common names for Josh are Turbo and Frolipe.

• Clown (goes great with Brown)
• Optimus
• Jazz
• Bacon
• Broom

And the winner of the night, from Sam again.....
Lightning Mc'Brown (you're welcome Carie)

There you go. Naming a child, what a strange, strange experience.

The Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Cups of Coffee

I received an email today that I enjoyed. Matt used this object lesson in his class at church several weeks ago, and I have been thinking about it ever since. There are many lessons to be learned, so I'll share.
(Matt used a bucket w/rocks & sand.)

The Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Cups of Coffee
When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 Hours in a day is not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now" said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things - God, family, children, health, friends, and Favorite passions - - things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full."

''The pebbles are the other things that matter, like your job, house, and car. The sand is everything else -- the small stuff.”

”If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life.”

”If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.”

”So...Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play With your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.”

”Take care of the golf balls first -- the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand. One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.
The professor smiled. “I'm glad you asked”.
”It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.”

old movies....

I am a reader. There are times, particularly in the summer when I feel that everyone should have a break, when I burn through 2 or 3 books a week. I don't really read books that are totally inspiring or classic, but I love to lose myself in great fiction. Typically I go about my list of things to do, waiting for a few stolen moments here and there to read a page or two. I will not deny that I am kind of a nerd!
I recently re-discovered something about myself that I knew a very long time ago, but had long forgotten. (I guess it wasn't written in anything that I have read recently.) I love old movies. Cary Grant, Gregory Peck, Jimmy Stewart....these are some leading men! Much like the fiction that I enjoy reading so much watching the clean and quirky goodness of an old classic can transport me to a totally different place and time so different from my reality. My problem is that I have a very small knowledge of these ‘old’ films. I will write out a quick list of my favs (out of the few that I‘ve seen), and if anyone else has any other suggestions I would love to hear them.
Here goes:

• The Philadelphia Story
• The Shop Around the Corner
• The Little Princess (The Shirley Temple version)
• Arsenic & Old Lace
• North by Northwest
• Bringing up Baby
• 12 angry men
• Two Weeks with Love
• Neptune’s Daughter

Last night I watched Two Weeks with Love. I hadn’t seen it for a while. What a great movie! It has singing, dancing, fireworks, and corsets, (huh?), and that guy from Fantasy Island (Ricardo Montalban). I highly recommend it.

Matt Clark's Rockin' the new year!

Now I've done it! I have set up a blog page, complete with cute little slide shows. Now it is time to practice with posting pictures and videos. Over the next few days i will be playing around with this stuff, trying to figure out where everything is, and then I should be all set to go. 'sorry for the overload of information, pictures, slide shows, or whatever else as I get going - I'll calm down!

As for life away from the computer, I am still trying to get into the swing of the New Year. We are on our 2nd round of strep throat around here, but the kids seem to bounce back quickly. We had a great time over the holidays, but Josh and Sam are glad to be in school again ( mom is glad too!). Back to reality... maybe our days of hanging out in our PJ's should end. (ellie can even make jammies a fashion statement. Maybe I should take down the Christmas decorations? I cant bring myself to do it yet. We had 8 1/2 inches of snow at our house today, so maybe I'll have a cup of hot cocoa, turn on the christmas lights, and enjoy it for another nite.
In other news, Matt has achieved his goal of becoming 'The Guitar Hero'.......we are all so proud!

Rock on, Honey, Rock on!

Christmas Break

Check out my Slide Show!