Influencing the Funk and Maintaining the Sophistication.

We sat in silence. One consumed with the unknowing and abandonment of all familiarity. The other; though secure in her surroundings, was disillusioned  with a false sense of normalcy. Their two worlds were rapidly changing and colliding into a polar attraction...all forces became unstoppable.  Still we sat, but words began to move.  All because the meanboy missed his target and hit the wrong girl in the head with a pencil.  She became my barrier. Little did I know, it wasn't just her physical self that would shield me from years of life lessons and tolerance.  I have always wanted to thank meanboy for his act of idiocracy and destiny. But an explanation wouldn't be necessary. He knew.  From that day, the words never stopped.


Distinction between two bodies began to blur into one orb of girly gibber-gabber  as we danced down the school corridors.  Unstoppable.  Each of us offered more to the table than could fit.  I brought the untamed spirit full of words and adventure, while she introduced contemplation, sincerity, and devotion to the mix. We began to blend.  Friends of all types surrounded us. Pulling and tugging in so many directions, it was hard to tell which way was up. No matter what, we stayed unified. If they wanted to join us, they could come along. But "herandher" became one word instead of two. It was taxing. Just which identity was I? Who was she? Were we on the same path of our intended destination? Oh yes. Our insecurities became minute details. Struggles were dealt with  her grace and tolerance and my spitfire words and attitude. Together, we got the job done. Football games of stollen boyfriends, parking lot fights, and dramatized realizations of desperate girls.  We conquered embarrassing home-videos, oboe lessons, and unforgettable nicknames. Together, we survived four years of orange tanning lotion, gigantic earrings, and poor eye-shadow choices. 


We moved in silence. In distance and in relation.  Miles separated us and so did experiences. High School was done. It was time for a world outside of our square brick building and The Posse.  We learned our individual identities through process of elimination. Maybe we weren't who we were supposed to be. Maybe we were. Who knows. I took more of her with me than I took of myself, and I know she did the same. But I can't help but feel guilty for abandoning that loud, insecure, fiery girl behind. We switched for awhile. Learning what we could in our short time of adolescence, because we were about to grow up.  I'm glad for our time apart. Mostly for her sake. We were never more than a phone call away, but there times that I didn't want her anywhere near me. Fear, rejection, disappointment, whatever. ...and I know she felt the same.  We would swap stories of boys and their kissing techniques, only for her to reject them from her memory days later.  While I stayed caught up in the idea of stability.  We moved again..no longer silent. But loud, loud, loud. And the noise has yet to cease.


We sit together. Still miles apart, learning more from each other than all prior experiences combined.  We sit at the table, as I sip my morning coffee, and she dresses her beautiful daughter. We babble over a bowl of cereal with our morning hair out of control. We sit, usually in our pajamas. We are miles away, though there is only a computer screen between us. It's as if we were side by side. We laugh and giggle as always, talking of life's silly and incomprehensible moments. It's no longer woe's of missed homework or boy troubles. It's a life of deplenished bank accounts, marriage struggles, or terrible two's.  Still, the giggles will never stop.  


I want absolute fulfillment for my best friend.  I want her dreams and reality to be indistinguishable. I want my niece to know how awesome of a mom she has. And I want her husband to realize he couldn't have gotten a better partner in life. I have learned a great deal of who I was, am, and hope to be from her. Little did our husbands know that our high school boyfriend philosophy of "you date one of us, you get the both of us" held strong through marriage. It's a good thing they love us both. I hope everyone has their own Sadie. 


Love you Sadar.

And our Rachie. We most definitely love our Rachie.

The Latest and Greatest!

Why else might this be a big week? Well amongst the birthday planning and whatnot, I was preparing for my EMT final! My plate was full, and it was about to be emptied in one serving. Party Sunday. Test Monday. 

At 1:30 the torture testing began. I didn't walk in my front door until 10:15 that night. It was a long day fill with "what if's" but it was well worth it in the end. Our class did an amazing job, and we all had lot of fun for the most part. 

I have made a lot of friends, learned a lot from them, and can’t wait to see them out in the field. You guys are an amazing bunch. I couldn’t imagine going through this with better people. Congrats everyone! Now let’s put on our capes and go save some lives! (Or try to anyway)

PS. Can I just say should you ever find yourself in need of some medical assistance, you better hope Cal Davis and I are nearby, cause we kicked some serious butt in our practicals. 

Now the real learning begins! 

Different Sides of the Decade

This has been a big week guys. A BIG one. That cute roommate of mine turned 26. Old man, eh? I like to tell him we are now on different halves of a decade. I am just beginning my 20's and he's on the downward slide of his. Ha! But in my attempts to be an ubber cool wife, I tried to plan him a surprise birthday party. Had everything ready, set and go. But in the last days he just couldn't resist temptation and logged on my Facebook (aka party planning central) and "accidentally" read the message titled "Surprise party for Brent". That man. I will say, it lifted a huge load, I mean monumental load, off my shoulders. I no longer had to kick him out of the house with a really lame excuse, decorate and prepare food in under an hour, and hide 10+ cars in a cul-de-sac. Though once in his lifetime I will accomplish a surprise something or other.

Every holiday, the only thing Brent asks for are the Mini Football Helmets. The theme of the party was everything football. From the cake (which I DON'T have pictures of...) the table clothes, all decor was football! It was great! Everyone pitched in and almost finished out his helmet collection.  He LOVED it!

.

Lots of friends and family came, watched the playoffs (which was the intended theme of the party) and ate lots of yummy food. Complete success...with that one little exception. Not many pictures, as the memory card was MIA for a bit. Oh well. He was happy, I was happy. It's all good!  

Feline Frenzy

Round one: 

E: "I think we should get a cat"

B: "Alright."

Enter Frankie

Round two:

E: "Frankie needs a friend."

B: "Absolutely NOT!"

Enter Booger anyway.

Round Three:

E: "Frankie needs another friend since Booger died."

B: " Let's talk about this."

...meet Stella!

     Like all of our cats, we rescued Stella from the local Animal Shelter.  She is the cutest ugly thing you'll ever see. Guaranteed. After Booger went "missing", Frankie went into a state of deep depression. I'm developing a cure for feline PTSD as we speak. Anywho, after a sincere grown-up discussion (and a little bribing) we, as a couple (okay, so it was mostly me), decided to adopt Stella.




      Boog was one cool cat, and in my book, completely irreplaceable. He was neat-o. But  Stella herself is pretty stellar. Yes, I came up with that one all by myself. Thankyouverymuch. She is everything and more.  As I fear this blog is long enough about a dumb cat, I will leave you with this Stella Factoid: She suckles on Brent's ear...non stop. I could see how it's somewhat nipple like. Minus the milk. 

See?!??

And the boys just wanted to say Hi..

They were feeling a little left out.

The Next Michael Phelps

For the first time, I have taken myself seriously and held strong to my New Years resolution.  I'm bound and determined to loose my baby weight...that I have just happen to have been carrying around for the last 22 years.

Okay, so fine. I'm not like hard-core dieting nor am I running 10 miles a day (hey, you try running against this Wyoming wind). But I AM eating right, lessening my portions and cutting out soda completely (except the occasional Slurpee). How many of you have tried extensive exercising and it's just not your thing? K, put your hands down... cause I know the feeling sister. You give it your all for a good week and then your running shoes just seem to mysteriously disappear, and you have no motivation to look for them (probably because you are the one that hid them...or you fed them to your dog). That's about where I was at.  I'm not a runner. I can power-walk the heck out of any sidewalk or treadmill, but running is not my style. I'll lift weights with the best of them...but the best of them just ain't around to lift with. See my problem? So technically it's not my fault I'm still fat. 

Ahem.

Aside from my berry and flax seed smoothies (thanks Bear), salad with light dressing, and my daily dosage of vitamins, I have found my outlet. Swimming. I can handle this. I figure if I paddle myself into complete exhaustion, I at least have some Brad Pitt look-a-like to save me from the depths of a 12 foot swimming pool as I demand I need mouth to mouth resuscitation. That's a lie. I am completely devoted and a happily married woman, so I would probably just drown. That's a lie too (the drowning thing)...they are all little high school Life Guards...dang the bad luck. Anyway, last night little Miss Sophia and I headed to the indoor pool. Mind you she is a Nazi on the Swim team, which inevitably equaled my death. I've always been a good swimmer, so I was able to keep up with her size 2 body and trained lungs. But good heck, I was huffing and puffing. 2,000 yards is the average work out for a well-trained swim team. And that's what we did. twothousandfreakinyards. 

And I get to do it all again tomorrow. 

Wanna race?

Monday Morning

Another Monday has come. 

This week will be filled with studying for my EMT Final...

...and that's pretty much it.

Plus One

Tonight is this guys last night as our only kittychild.

Tonight is this girls last night as the only female in the house.

tonight is this gals last night alone in the pound.

tomorrow

sister kittychild comes.

The Kings Throne

My husbands birthday is quickly approaching (the 20th actually). This man has everything he needs, and then some. He is the hardest person to shop for because either A. he already has it. or B. he doesn't want it.  

Little fun fact about Brent. He loves toys. All kinds. Any gadget that will make life a little more interesting, he is totally interested. Hence the remote control helicopter for Christmas (thanks Dad).  

This year, I didn't need a "wish list", because he has found his one true desier. He will never need another thing as long as he has this piece or crap. (no pun intended)

Please enlighten yourself by clicking the link and researching a little bit for yourself.

Now, let's examen together:

I would also like to point out it comes with a remote control. In case you forgot to flush, you can do it from your kitchen.

And the self cleaning wand?! ohmygosh. I need one of those for my house.

The Princess and the Three Naughty Horses

So once upon a time there were three naughty horses.

 And they lived in a beautiful field filled with all the hay, grain and love they could ever want. And for some dang reason they just weren't happy (greedy buggers).  So they decided to leave… day or night, or at one o’clock in the freaking morning.  It didn't matter to them, they were breaking out no matter what the rules where. The beautiful Princess begged and begged them to obey the rules and stay, but they kept insisting on exploring the streets of the "Land of Lyman".  And this made the princess very mad. She did not like waking up to the Royal Dispatch calling her at all hours to inform her of the misfits rebellions. She did not like getting dressed to go out in -20 degree weather to go find them. No, she did not like chasing them all over town in her snow boots and tiara. Indeed she did not.  So, she made a fence so high and so strong that no one could get in or out ever again. 

THE END. 

The Culprits 

Before: Their former Palace

After: Home Sweet Home

PLEASE READ

I don’t tend to get too personal here. From time to time I thrown in an occasional “this makes me mad/sad/happy/laugh  etc…” But the intent of my blog is to enlighten. Rather you enjoy reading about our day to day life, or you like the occasional post about something silly, I like to keep the bulk of personal issues out of my cyber life. But I think what I have to say will be a good message to read in general. Yes, it is directed at a certain situation, so if you don’t want some emotions to stir up, stop reading now. Yes, this is about religion…slightly.

Let’s get a few personal details out of the way. Yes, Brent and I left the Mormon Church. No we do not do drugs/drink/smoke or anything else to justify a life of utter sin. Yes, we are Born-again Christians. No, we do not hate Mormons, nor do we have ANY sort of problem with them.  Yes, Brent’s family is still very much Mormon and we love them very much. No, we do not hate each other.  Yes, Brent is an ordained minister and blog author (he earned it, by the way). Yes, we want to share our testimonies and the message of Christ with those who want to listen. And yes, I will be happy to answer any questions you have, just e-mail or facebook me.

Let’s begin.

I don’t care if it is about religion, politics, or your favorite color. Just because someone has an opinion that differs from yours, does not mean that you need to debate it.  Brent has started an online ministry at Light of Christ Ministry!.  I happen to enjoy reading what he has to say about the Bible, Christ, and life-lessons, whatever. When I read his post, it is a happy, spiritual moment, and I am not about to have it ruined by someone pushing their negative words where they are not welcome. I am more than happy to read anything you have to say, rather I agree or not. I am open minded to any point of view, but there is a time and a place for your  opinion. This site is dedicated to our time and place for our opinions. If you don’t like it, DON’T READ IT! If you would like to leave positive insight, we encourage doing so! We love to hear your thoughts, even if it is different than ours. But to come on a site dedicated to the Lord, and tell us we are of sin and damned to hell is disrespectful, degrading, and downright horrible.   

If Brent has misinformed his readers, or posted something literally wrong, please speak up so we can learn and understand more to fix it. But just because you disagree with him or our religion, does not mean you need to barge in and declare your self-proclaimed dominancy. Please. If you want to debate/fight/argue a point of view, go to a discussion board, and scream all you want or message him and I’m sure he will help you. This is a site for people to learn about Christ and his teachings, a place for people to gain some spiritual worth.  I would NEVER post on a religious site with a positive influence on its believers how I disagree with them. So please, respect our message and what we are doing.

90% of being a member of a particular organization/group/religion is defending why you believe the way you do. It’s an endless battle, that as a Christian, I am more than prepared for.  I understand no matter where we go, we will receive negative feedback. That is a part of life, especially a religious one.  But honestly folks, have a little dignity for yourself and other. Get off your soap box and let the message of the Lord speak for itself.  Brent’s blog is not forced on you. You chose to click the link. You willing read the material. How un-Christ like of you to make judgments.  Turn off your brain and read it with your heart. We are not here to attack anyone, so please return the favor. 


TO OUR COMMUNITY:
On another note, we have received so many positive encouagements from people of our community, who believe the same or different. With that being said, we have received more than our fair share of attacks.  Let me say this loud and clear. If you want to stir up drama and run to our LDS family members, go for it. Our family doesn't understand, but at least they are trying.   So do us a favor and stay out of it. If you have a problem with us, pray about it like Christ would do. Don't print things off of Facebook to take to our family saying "look look look!" because honestly, it's none of your business as to what is going on within our family. We are making a public deceleration of what we believe. We would never bring up Mormon doctrine that we disagree with, because that's not why we are here.  Let us do our thing, you do yours. If you want to sever a friendship, family tie, or acquittance, the by all means, go ahead. But know that Brent and I are the same loving people we were before and we hope to continue our relationship with you. We are tired of being pinned for "slandering" or "ruining our ties in the community" because if you really thats a down right lie.  You can play "good-guy" all you want, or the innocent victim, but I would be more than happy to show you the e-mails, comments, or post written against us and our beliefs.  So tell me how standing up for our values is any different? Let's just agree to disagree folks. Let the light of Christ shine through each and everyone of us. Stop trying to fight against us. Thank you. We love you all, and hope to continue our friendship.


In His name,
Brent and Elizabeth Clark

Venting with a side of pessimism

For the past eight months, Monday through Thursday, I have lived alone. And I'm getting sick of it. Brent works over 200 miles away from home every week. I believe I have the greatest marriage possible, but sometimes it's hard being married by yourself. Honestly, we make the best of it. We talk all the time and keep our relationship strong, but I'm ready for normalcy. I'm tired of sleeping alone, eating alone, and making memories without him. I understand how truly blessed we are to have a secure income and the opportunity of employment, but with FMC insight, I just want the transition to happen NOW.  You have no idea how amazing Brent is about it all. I get constant reminders of how much he loves me and appreciates me, and how he knows it's hard. So by no means is this meant to down play the commitment and attentiveness of him.  But he is so much stronger than I am, he keeps me going when he is the one out there working away from home. I am so far beyond lucky to have him, our life, and the blessings the Lord has given us. But seeing how it's 11:30 at night and I'm crawling in bed alone (again), I'm struggling to see the means to the end.  I'm ready to have my husband be here. Life without him just plan sucks. Come on, and let's get happy.

PS. Special mention to Brent- who after 4 months of Bible school, has officially become an Ordained Minister for the Lord. He has worked really hard on this, learned a lot, and is excited to start this new chapter. I am more than excited to be a Pastors wife. He is reaching out to anyone and everyone in search of answers and looking for a relationship with Christ. Check out his ministry HERE on Blogger, and HERE for Facebook. He writes to a Non-denomination audience, since after all, our world is so diverse. I'm sure this raises some questions, so feel free to ask! We are more than happy to answer.

Another year over...a new one has just begun.

Our cholesterol levels sky rocketed, and I think our stomachs reached an all-time fullness.  The Holidays are officially over…and like every New Year, I start it off the same way: This year, I am going to get skinny! As of today, I munched (lightly) on chocolate covered pretzels and a quesadilla (thanks to our new ‘dilla maker). So far so good, right?? …Ahem.  Do you think there is a grace period for diets, or a fix-it-ticket maybe?  Like they always say; I’ll start tomorrow. But I’m for real this time. FOR REAL.

Brent and I had a great time in Park City with my family. My brother and I bonded over numerous rousing games of Black Ops.  While Brent and Katrina read patiently on the couch, only looking up when profanities were being screamed at the TV (probably just to make sure there was no actual blood shed). Bear, Katrina, Brent and I all went sledding, because you’re never too old to a. make your own sled hill, complete with a big jump, and b. our twenty-something year old bodies can still take the 60 mph impact against the solid ice snow bank.   Mom and Pop sat back and watched their posterity in action.  We closed out our weekend with a walk in Park City. Gorgeous place that is, I hope to live there again someday.

We came home New Year’s Eve just in time for our good friend’s party.  We ate (go figure), talked, giggled, and played games.  We brought in the New Year surrounded with laughter and good friends. New Year’s Day was filled with the reminder of a dirty house, dusty Christmas decorations, and a deader than dead tree.  Yay for a bottle of Pledge and my trusty vacuum cleaner.  How nice it is to be sitting in a beyond sparkling clean home, relaxing, and enjoying the rewards of Christmas.  Brent is loving his surround sound/blue-ray/new x-box games, and I am becoming more and more obsessed with my new camera and laptop…not to mention the other goodies!

Though I am (more than) a day late, let’s hope I’m not a dollar short. Here are my 2011 Resolutions:

• ·         Get in shape (Isn’t this on everyone’s list? I think so)
• ·         Read my scriptures more. I mean REALLY read them and LEARN them.
• ·         I will stop texting Brent from upstairs to tell him dinner is ready.
• ·         For the sake of confusing the community anymore, I will stop referring to my dogs as kids in public.
• ·         Carry my phone with me when I need it, and leave it behind when I don’t.
• ·         Delete my fifty thousand episodes of Law and Order on our DVR, because I’ve realized I will never realistically watch all of them.
• ·         Save people’s lives…or at least be the Best EMT that I can. Whichever.
• ·         Scooping the Kitty Litter box more. Because let’s be honest…who actually likes doing that. (I just keep thinking Frankie will develop opposable thumbs someday, or at least use the toilet)
• ·         Do something dangerous. Like skydive, or something noteworthy. (Hey, it will make for a good blog.)
• ·         Be a better person in general. Because yelling at the car in front of me, then realizing it’s an innocent old man and his dog, is too taxing on my conscience.
• ·         Actually use the cart return in the Wal-Mart parking lot.
• ·         I will be a better sister/daughter/wife/dogmom/and friend because those of whom I fit that description count and rely on me, and I love them all.
• ·         And to sum it up: Relax. Take action. Diversify. Tolerate. Respect. Shut up. Speak up. Listen.  Learn. And LOVE.

Happy New Year Everyone.

Let's make it a good one!