Growing Pains

I belive the story left off with Brent and Elizabeth covered in cardboard boxes and packaging peanuts.  While our two heroines were head deep in useless crap they have accumulated over 2 years their valuables, they found more than the bottom of a box, they discovered the value of a team, partnership, working together, and the importance of not committing a suicide-homicide. This has been more of an adventure than we both anticipated but we are learning from and enjoying every step.  God is good. SO SO good. Let's recap: 

                  Here is a professional my rendition of my house layout. 

First off,  Brent took a week off to pack the old house. (Although, I absolutely loved having him home) Then, he got even sicker(er er er) than ever before, so we went into the Doctor for some blood tests and a miracle. That led to another week off work and one step closer to the unemployment line.  After some not-what-we-had-in-mind blood test results, we played the waiting game.  The blood tests came back with "elevated liver counts", so either a.I've married a madman or b. somehow, something, got messed up. I'll take the latter, which turned out to be the case.  So, now after two more blood samples we still aren't sure what's going on, BUT we have a pretty good idea it's because of the umpteen weeks he's been on a constant dayquil/nyquil regimen. Amazing stuff that is, but apparently is messes with your liver. Who knew. Anyway! That doesn't even solve Brent's everlasting sickness of death issue. But good ol' Doc prescribed him some of the '"good stuff". Whatever that is, (I promise, he's a legitiment doctor) and 4 short days later, he's back in action.  So here we are, moving, sick, random organs are failing, and we are two weeks out of a paycheck. Awesome. And then God interrupts his mani/pedi session, looks down and is like "Oh, hey, your bank account is low, you're stressed as all h-e-double-hockey-sticks, AND you're pretty tired of leaving each other every week. SO....I guess I'll give you more stability, amazing amazing friends and family, and a good paying job so you can be home, PS. you start on Monday...and GO!" With a little flip of the hand, God put life right back in order. When it rains, it pours...but when the flowers start to bloom, there ain't no stopping them. I'll just water them by myself from here on out, thankyouverymuch.


NEXT!! I'm still saving lives everyday...ha...haha...ha. Any by saving lives, I mean taking blood pressures and applying oxygen. I love working on the ambulance. It keeps me on my toes. It's funny how much that  pager going off gets your blood pumping. L-O-V-E IT!  







We are down a family member... Apparently, Frankie has decided he does not like the new home as much as the rest of us, and has opted to relocate to another location...probably a ditch on the side of a road. Sadly. We miss him, and keep hoping he'll waltz through the doggie (and apparent kitty) door any moment, but I fear the worst. Maybe God has one more miracle for the Clark household. But, we plan on increasing our count by two! We are getting ducks. Ya, quack-quack-ducks. Don't ask how that got started...actually go ahead and ask. Let little miss Trista tell you who got me started on this "I must have cute fluffy ducks" kick. Go ahead and ask. I'll blame her. She'll blame me. It's a never ending vicious cycle. 


So while everything on the home-front is sliding back into place, here are some more superdooper fun updates:


My Pop (finally) retired (again)!! WHOOHOOO!! He has spent his entire life working for everything he (and everyone else around him) has, and he finally gets to enjoy it all! The party was on Saturday, and it was a complete success. My mom puts on the best parties around, and sure knows how to be the best hostess with the mostest.  As for Pop, so far retirement as brought him unlimited naps, reading time with limited interruptions, and a colonoscopy.  

Remember the cute pregnant lady in my pictures? Well, Nicole and Daylon welcomed their beautiful baby girl Sophia into the world. Everyone is happy and healthy and doing great! 


This kid has been causing us more headaches that a pregnant 16 year old on drugs....okay probably a bit of an exaggeration, BUT he has been escaping from our yard on multiple occasions. Big NO NO. I keep reminding him of what happened to the horses, but Zip has been to Trista's Animal Palace of Fun to visit, and apparently getting shipped there was his intention. What's with these kids?!  We fixed the problem, and assured him that he can visit Trista whenever he wants, so there is no need to freak us out anymore. One of the nights we searched until 11:30pm with no luck. Finally, he came running in and jumped on our bed a 1:00 am smelling like dead animal and cow poop.  That was the end of that. 


I'm still waiting on Bob Vila's phone call. If anyone knows his direct number, I'm willing to negotiate a reward for your information. 

Monday? Briefing...whatever. Destructo

Week three, and I'm already slacking. I can see how well this is going to turn out (a lot like Sadie's "quote of the day" blog, which lasted about a day...love you Sadar, and your cool attempts) Anyway, I think I deserve a break, not just in the blogging world, but in the big ol' universe world as a whole. 

I've decided to call our new house Destructo. Becuase that's what we are doing. New carpet, fireplace, paint, appliances, and random fixtures went in this last week. Of course I don't have pictures because I was way too busy getting in the way helping.  This has been one monstrosity of a learning experience for us. Out with the old (ha, who am I kidding, the whole house is old) and in with the new(ish). We made some serious changes in our life, some superficial and some deep to the core. This house has taught us more about each other and our relationship than I hoped to learn in a 3 week period. But I'm glad I have him right by my side, holding me up. Mushy stuff...yuck. Anyway, Destructo will be fun.

 Plans are as followes:

• New roof. Date of completion: May 2011
• Expanded counter space in Kitchen. Date of completion: Currently accepting donations.
• Bathroom remodel. ...anyone have a sledge hammer? 
• Yard. We're talking to the big man upstairs. He might be able to help us out with his natural 'growing stuff' talent.
• Turing gigantic creepy attic into bedroom.....I'm going to wait for HGTV to come in and take over on this one.

• On that note, I have been filling out applications, harassing, making videos, stalking, taking pictures, makeing death threats, to the producers of every DIY, Home renovation show out there. No word yet....ahem.

So Destructo has some pretty cool history. It's over 100 years old.  It was one of the first buildings in the Bridger Valley, and it served as the Relief Society room for the LDS church.  The attic is filled with documents, crafts, and supplies from the actual meetings. When they built a new building, they turned this one into a home for the Relief Society President.  We have pictures of them moving the house (3 blocks away from it's original location) with a team of horses. The attic as a door of death, that if opened, leads to your demise. There is no deck or any sort of grounding. Watch out if I don't like you and you ask where the bathroom is. "Top of the stairs...door is on your left". Mwhahaha. Ahem... I want to keep the same feel of the home it has always had.  So when we remodel, our intentions are going to be that of original home. Who am I kidding.... I'm going to deck this thing out to the nuts with top-of-the-line everything.....just as soon as Bob Villa returns my phone calls.

Baby Belly

No,not mine....My good friend Nicole is having her baby. Right now actually. But a few days ago, I got the chance to test out my photography skills and my super cool new camera on this gorgeous model (aka Nicole).

Sunday Briefing

Well, let's give this Sunday Briefing a shot. If you thought last week was action packed...you just wait.




Well, cats out of the bag now. We are moving. Sold one house, bought another. Without a doubt, it's betters-sweet. I'm switching a two story four bed, two bath, two car garage, big kitchen, and two living rooms for a three two one bedroom, one bath, no garage, and a sorry excuse for a kitchen. If I seem a little pessimistic right now, I am. Sorry, I'm not typically a glass-half-empty kind of girl, but...ahem.  Actually the new home is great. TONS of potential. It's on a little over of a half acer. The living area is great, and is very open. The kitchen, is, well, needs work but fits right into the "potential" category. The home is about 100 years old, and has one of those giant attics that has every element for the perfect horror film.  Rusty old bed frame, picture of an old man with the following eyes, and an old travelers trunk with unknown contents. But horror setting will soon become our romantic retreat with the remodel.  Anyway, I have high hopes for the new old new old...whatever home. I'm excited. Life is full of adventures. 

Going along with the moving motif, our current house is packed in boxes spread out between a storage unit, a horse trailer, and random peoples houses. Can I just say that we have the best family and church family EVER. Can I get an AMEN!?  They sacrificed their weekend to help us pack and move. My mom headed up from Utah and got my butt in order and the house was packed in boxes before you new it! Ps. It's not a good idea to pack up your bathroom necessities if you don't plan on moving immediately. Nor is it wise to move out the microwave, stove, and dishwasher early either. Just sayin'. We love cold pizza, horrible hairdos and obscure makeup. Sorry if we look homeless for the next week. And the cats a little angry because we packed up his rocking chair a little too early as well. His life sucks for the time being.





Um, my lifeline cellphone is dying a slow painful death.  I have boycotted smart phone cause I think they are stupid.... ha...ha... anyway, so I'm still rocking an old flip phone that does nothing but dial numbers and send a text or two..and maybe a cool ringtone or something.  But for  unknown reasons, the screen is cracking. And it's getting worse ever so slowly, day by day. So now text messages don't make sense and I happen make a few random calls. So what. 




On top of our adventures, we're still sick. Brent, more so than me, but he's a proud member of the "man-cold club".


Church was g-r-e-a-t today. Like always. I could write you a big ol' post on how awesome it is, but you'd be better off just going to church. HintHint-NudgeNudge. 


The nail biting you ask? Oh it's just going strong! Brent has this phobia thing with earring and long fingernails (don't ask), so I have been politely asked to keep them on the shorter side. I react like any five year old would, and demand I be allowed to do whatever I want. It worked about as well as any other child's temper tantrum does. My nails are short and unpainted. Boo. He's a weirdy, that's for sure. But I loooove him.

Diet? What diet? Did you not read the bit about the pizza thing up there? Ya well, you try living out of a box and prepare a health conscience meal. Yes, I realize salad is just as easy to buy as pizza. Sush.  I'm a sorry excuse for a dieter, but I like to pretend. I have to say, Dad is keeping us well fed in the Pizza department. He brought us over a big pizza, completely decked out with our faves, and an order of cheeeesy breadsticks. We ate a total of two slices and a stick or two, and the boys helped themselves to the rest while we were out. 






We have watched a handful of a-ma-za-zing movies. Like Look Who's Talking Too and A Bug's Life... currently Brent is watching Forrest Gump and I'm entertaining the mass audiences two people that read my blog.


Ps. See that totally cool button on the side of the blog? Grab one and stick it on your site. I would like to be famous someday, and I'm sure that button will do the trick. Spread the love.


That's all folks!

A Fresh Coat of Paint

Dear February,


      You were one crappy month. I feel like that's all I have left to say about it, because I have spent so much time and exasperated emotions wasted on you.  I want you to know, that I expect great things out of March (March, if you let me down; expect a rotten post to be written about you too) February made me neglect those closest to me without the blink of an eye. You made me remember so much of my unwanted past that I thought was long forgotten. And you pushed so much on my plate way faster than I could eat. As much as I would like to rant and rave about how much I sincerely hate you right now, you have indeed taught me so many lessons that I never thought I would be learning.  February, you taught me to be so far beyond humble and materialistic.  You threw every worldly possession in my face and let it pass by without a second thought. Because of you, for the first time in a long time, I had to reevaluate what truly matters. To sit down, and really look at what makes life important.  The Lord had a plan for us, and I threw every punch I had to not follow, but when He wants something done, He'll do it, rather I go kicking and screaming.  You really taught me to listen to the Lord, and I am so grateful for that.  In a period of 15 days, you decided to turn my world completely upside down, but I think I am to the point where I'm understanding why.  Why you decided to have somethings change, and others stay the same, I'll never know. You shook the foundation of the biggest core, and the smallest, most precious things you kept safely in place. So many things are changing. I'm starting to realize that the location of where my feet are standing is so insignificant. It's all about where my roots are planted.


      When Brent and I decided to move, you made the process move way to fast, and here I am, packing my memories away in boxes in between tears and laughter...mostly tears.  How can my husband be experiencing the same up's and downs, but consistently be my rock? Brent has this attitude that brightens any situation and makes me feel like I'm standing on the most solid of grounds. He is so good.  I loved our home but it's time for a new adventure.  An adventure that beings only a few blocks away from here. On a block with new neighbors, a bigger yard, and a fresh coat of paint.  I hope that's what this phase is...a fresh coat of paint. It doesn't change what is underneath. No matter what, I will always stay that same original color, but adding a layer freshens it up and adds a new perspective. You can walk into a room, day after day, getting so complacent with the walls. Spruce it up with a coat of color, and the room takes on a whole new dimension. I think that's what my life is doing...re-painting and adding some character. Brent's paint so much brighter than mine. The layers are fewer, but dry and bright. I think that's why you moved so fast...so my paint couldn't dry.

Dear March,


     All I can say is this ...Let's pick a color and stick with it for awhile.  Preferably something bright.