Merry Christmas from the Clarks!

We don’t have any recent pictures of us this year, so I’ll post one from our first Christmas we spent together (while dating) in 2007.

Well, we’ve been blessed with a good year in 2011!

This year has included many projects on our house, including:

1. Starting work on our third bedroom, getting it fixed up.
2. Installing six more windows.
3. Tore out painted paneling & the ceiling in our bedroom and sheetrocked it & painted it. 
4. Replaced the siding on the north side of our house with Hardie Plank siding.
It’s slowly but surely getting updated.

Dave started a new job on Dec. 15, 2010 at Jeremy’s Body Shop in Sterling, KS (http://jeremysbodyshop.com/). It was a great move for him, and he’s really enjoyed it. Not only does he paint, he’s also gotten to do a lot more body & mechanical work.

I’m still working as a receptionist for the Oncology department at the Hutchinson Clinic. I love it – I love the patients and staff. Although I miss graphic design, this is probably the best option for another occupation that I could be doing!

This past summer, my mom’s side of the family had our family reunion that happens every two years. We had a blast hanging out with family that we don’t get to see very often. And then the next weekend, I was able to attend my 10 year high school class reunion. I can’t believe it’s already been ten years!

In August, we had the chance to take a little 3-day weekend getaway vacation, so we went to Kansas City!  We were able to attend a KC Royals baseball game (my first), shopping at the Plaza/Legends/Crown Center, we went to the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum…it was a really good time.  But any time with my hubby is a great time.

Dave and I have both been very involved with the Celebrate Recovery worship band at church this year. Dave plays drums and I sing…we’re there every Tuesday evening and we really enjoy it! If you haven’t heard of CR, check this out: http://www.celebraterecoveryhutch.org/

This is what has been the highlight of my year: I started my own photography business, TC Photography and Design!!  This has been a dream of mine and it’s finally becoming a reality. So far, I’ve had 5 or 6 photo shoots since kicking this off in November. I’m loving it…hopefully my business will continue to grow!

If you’re on Facebook, ‘like’ my page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/TC-Photography-Design/187328861283490

We just celebrated our three year anniversary on December 13!  It’s been the best three years of both of our lives. We truly believe that God blessed us both with the best spouse he could have. We love each other more than ever and become closer all the time. Marriage is truly a gift from God.

Well, we’re thankful for all of you! Thanks for checking out our 2011 Christmas letter!  We hope you’ve had a good year as well and we pray for God’s blessing for all of you!  We’ve truly been blessed with great family and friends.

Have a wonderful Christmas and happy new year! God bless!!

Fall is here…

 

I was looking at my last blog post and realized, it’s been a REALLY long time since I’ve posted!  Oops!

Well, since August, we’ve done a lot of work on our house! We’ve replaced more windows, started on another bedroom, and started re-siding the north end of the house.

We’ve never done siding before, so we’re learning!  Once you get going, it’s not too bad. But it’s tricky figuring out how to space your siding out to match the heigth of your wall.  As of tonight, we’re ALMOST done!! Hopefully tomorrow we’ll place the last few pieces.

Back in September, I went to our church’s big yearly women’s retreat. It was held at Webster Conference Center in Salina. And let me tell you, it was awesome! Met some awesome ladies and was challenged. My mom got to join me, so it was really nice to have her here for a couple days.

We’ve had a couple opportunities to babysit our awesome nephew, Liam. I absolutely love the time I get to spend with him. It definitely affirms my dreams I have to be a mom someday. I love playing with him and it feels so good to hold him while he sleeps! He’s so precious!

He’s walking all over the place and definitely keeps you on your toes!

He loves to play with my phone…

Our kitties are best buddies…

And Liam is really enjoying Flip…

Life has been hectic the last month or two. My friend Camille and I have taken on the task of heading up our church’s big yearly women’s event, the Fall Refresher.  It’s really fun, but also a very big job. The actual event is October 14, so we’re in the home stretch.

I was also asked to help lead a bible study at church. (I need to learn to say no, but I hate to let people down.) It’s been really good so far. But I must say, I miss having evening off to spend with my hubby.

We’re also very involved in the Celebrate Recovery worship band at church which meets every Tuesday evening.

Can’t really think of anything else new. I’ll try to do better after life slows down a little bit!  I’m ready to just relax and enjoy fall.

One last thing, I want to share a recipe with you that I made last week. With the temperatures getting cooler, everyone loves a good bowl of chili. This is just a little variation of a traditional chili, and it’s yummy!

Pulled Pork Chili

What You Need

2 cans (14-1/2 oz. each) fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth

2 cans (14-1/2 oz. each) chili-ready diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can (15-1/2 oz.) red kidney beans, rinsed

1 can (15 oz.) black beans, rinsed

1 large onion, chopped

2 Tbsp. chili powder

2 tsp.ground cumin

1 boneless pork shoulder (2-1/2 lb.)

1 pkg. (8 oz.) KRAFT Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1-1/4 cups BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream

Make It

COMBINE all ingredients except meat, cheese and sour cream in slow cooker. Add meat; cover with lid. Cook on LOW 10 to 12 hours (or on HIGH 7 hours).

REMOVE meat from slow cooker. Shred meat; return to slow cooker. Stir.

SPOON into bowls; top with cheese and sour cream.

August is here…

It’s a cloudy Saturday morning, and I can tell it rained during the night, thank you Lord! It’s been so dry that we haven’t mowed the yard in well over a month. I was really looking forward to summer because I love to get out on the rider mower…it’s about 45 minutes of “me” time, where I can pray and just do some good thinking…

Within the last week or two, we decided we were going to clean out our “junk room.” This is the room where we keep everything normal people would keep in a basement. But being basement-less people, this room is our only option. Well, we’re going to have a garage sale with Chris & Shaina in 4 more weeks! We’re excited to get that room sheetrocked and remodeled. It’s the last room (besides the utility room) that hasn’t been touched since we started working on the house.

Last night, we got to go to Wichita and eat dinner with Kelsi and Ryan. Before we went to eat, Dave & I went to Dick’s Sporting Goods. I got some Keen sandals (I love them!) for biking. I’m really hoping that we can ride more this week. Last week, we had 111° temperatures! Ugh…too hot!

As I woke up this morning, and laid in bed before getting up, God just made it so obvious how much I’m blessed! I have a wonderful husband that I get to wake up with every morning. I have 3 great little companions, our cats, that are my Saturday morning alarm clocks. We have a house that we’ve been able to work on, that is surrounded by beautiful trees. I love the way the sun shines through the leaves and this morning, the left over water drops add shimmer to it all…beautiful! I have so many reasons to praise Him!

Well, that’s probably all for now. If anyone reads this, I hope you enjoy my ramblings…it’s fun to do.

Finally, another blog post…

 

It’s May…the weather is getting nice!  We’re both getting excited to do more projects around the house. In fact, we did one yesterday.  We put in a new window in our “already finished” guest room. I’m glad it’s done, but now we have more sheetrock work to do…and the room is now filled with dust!  Mom and dad will be here next weekend so this week, I’ve gotta clean like a mad woman! (After Dave re-sheetrocks the room and there’s more dust everywhere!)

I’m so glad I have such a talented hubby that isn’t afraid to tackle anything! 

I’m really enjoying my new camera…I take at least 100 pictures a week I’d say.  I was asked to take Mother’s Day family photos at church last week and had a blast!  I feel like I’m finally getting a chance to explore my passion of photography!

I am looking forward to summer nights where Dave & I can go bike riding together…we gave my bike away a few months ago to someone who really needed it, and the nicer the weather has been getting, the more I was itching to get another bike. So we got one last weekend, and I love it! It’s actually identical to one my sister got.

Last weekend, after we went to get the bike, we got to see my cousin Beej, his wife Sandy and their adorable 8 month old son Landon. We got together with them and Kelsi & Ryan at Orange Leaf in Wichita. Had a real good time.  The older I get, the nicer it is to have family close and to get to see them often! 

Well, it’s 9:13 right now, and I’d better go shower so we can get to church. I wanted to get a blog in this weekend though. I have a feeling it’s gonna be a beautiful Sunday!  Happy May 15th everyone!

Spring is finally here!

 

Well, here in Kansas, we are having a cold, rainy Saturday. But I’m so excited, the yards are starting to have a little more green in them! On my way to Buhler today, there were fields that were already very green! Made my day to see that. I can’t wait for it to start getting warmer and more colorful. I need some good stuff to shoot with my new camera!

Had a fun time earlier today. Went with a couple girls from our women’s ministry group to The Mustard Seed for lunch, then on to Adrian’s for some shopping. Had a great time, and got a new Miche shell!

We recently got a new cat, Flip. He’s going to be our outside kitty. He’s adorable. So small and happy.

Will write more later.

Wow…so it’s been a while…

 

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve written. We just had a great Thanksgiving. We went to my hometown, had a great dinner with family. My sister and her husband weren’t able to be there as they went to Boston, but it sounds like they had a great time.

After sleeping in this morning, I went to town and after having lunch with my wonderful husband, decided to brave the crowds of black friday weekend shoppers. Wow, bad idea!  We have this event coming up on Friday, “Ladies Night Out” put on by the ladies of the church. Dinner is served by the men of the church, and ladies sign up to host a table. Each table has a theme and is decorated to match. Well, I decided I’d better get out and get some of my table decorations.  So I braved the crazy people at Hobby Lobby, Target and Wal-Mart.

Got home and my hubby is working on our new front window trim. It looks so nice. It’s nice having such a handyman around! Our house is really getting there, slowly but surely.

Here are some pictures since my last post.

Kelsi got married in August, and is now Mrs. Cole!

We got a new kitty, named Tiger!

  

Joan, my mother-in-law turned 50 in October, so to celebrate, we all went to Tanganyika Wildlife Park in Wichita.

We’ve had some beautiful sunsets this fall.

Our nephew Liam is growing up! He’s 4 months old already!

Squeak and Tiger are best buds…

We quickly coming up on our two year anniversary! The best two years of my life…

Will write again soon.

God has blessed us with a nephew!

After nine months of anticipation, our little nephew Liam finally arrived July 14, 2010!  Shaina’s water broke on last Tuesday night, and after 27 hours of labor, a c-section was done and Liam was here!  He weighed in at 8lbs 12oz, and was 22 inches long!  He is so precious and such a great addition to the Clark family!

Liam was born at 8:34pm, while his anxious family waited. Dave and I, Scott & Rae (Shaina’s parents) and Joan and Marc (Chris’ parents) waited in the waiting room…and finally they whisked Liam out of the operating room in the incubator to the nursery!  We all hurried to the nursery to get our first peak at him. I so wish Shaina could have been there with us, but she was in recovery for about an hour and a half. Chris got to come though…got to hold him and see him in the first minutes of his life. We all went picture crazy.  (As you’ll see in the pictures below.)

I’ve gotten to see Liam probably 3 or 4 times since he was born last week and he’s such an angel! He’s such a good baby…hardly ever cries! :-)  Shaina is doing well – getting around a little better every day. I’m so thankful that God has blessed me with such a great sister-in-law! 

Last night, we found out that little Liam has jaundice, so he’s had to have a bili-blanket. She texted me today that he’s doing much better!

Well, I’m gonna post some pictures. Enjoy!

 

Proud Papa!

Momma getting to hold Liam for the first time.

Uncle David…(I think he’s pretty fond of his sweet nephew!)

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Grandma Joan…

Aunt Tori & Uncle David with our little nephew!