The Distant Clawsons

Happy Birthday Kayla!

2011-12-06T23:02:00.001-05:00

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T21:22:00.003-04:00

Some events demand a blog post. Halloween is one of them. There was way too much cuteness going on over here not to share. So without further adieu... This is Halloween!

Leaf party after a long raking session. And yet they still keep falling!

Daddy and his girls.

Kennedy carving her pumpkin. Love the pose.

She insisted that she was old enough to use the giant knife. Luckily all ten digits are still intact.

The finished product. She also wanted to carve the little guy, but I hear pie pumpkins are not the best for carving. So I let her paint it pink. She liked that idea.

Here is Miss Abby sporting her curlers and Halloween outfit in preparation for the big night.

The candy fairies in their natural habitat. Swarming around a bowl of candy. Abby would not continue the photo shoot until she had a sucker safely in her mouth. It least she left the candy on her costume alone most of the night.

Kennedy and her pumpkin friends. Note the lovely pink pumpkin.

The candy fairies about to set off on a candy hunt. And check out that amazing grass in the background. Yup, we grew that from scratch! The Halloween caution tape kept most of the trick-or-treaters off the baby grass. Kennedy was really worried about that.

Another shot of the candy fairies. Too cute!

Happy Halloween!

Random Pictures

2011-08-29T12:40:00.002-04:00

Kennedy "getting a tan" at the pool. Seriously she kept insisting she was getting tan. Maybe she was just looking for a face tan???
Abby monster at the pool.
Abby's new hair-do. Tim did this by just twisting her hair.
Kennedy and friends at church. They all ended up with the same exact dress. We had to plan a photo op.

I am sorry I never po

July is the Party Month!

2011-08-01T11:33:00.008-04:00

Abby's birthday was on July 10th and Kennedy's was on July 30th. We decided just to party all of July! It was a lot of fun, but I don't need to eat another cupcake for a long time.
Abby's Birthday Breakfast. (Cinnamon Roll)

Kennedy with her cinnamon roll and matching candles. We couldn't let Abby have a birthday without Kennedy insisting it was hers too!

Abby's Birthday Cupcake. I spelled out A-B-C with cupcakes for Abigail Beverly Clawson. We failed to take a picture of the whole cake, but Abby sure thought it tasted good!

With Ryan in town for the week, we decided to have little party for both girls birthdays. I really wanted to make pirate treasure cupcakes so a pirate party it was. Argg! Here are the pirates (and parrot) ready to start on a treasure hunt.

Uncle Ryan made us a sweet treasure map that Kennedy had fun following. The map was pretty authentic with burned edges and dirt smudges. Way to go Ryan!

Kennedy loved finding the little treasure boxes as she followed the clues on the map. Each box had pirate jewelry. You can see she is already sporting three rings in this picture. Note: The parrot costume was left over from Halloween two years ago. When we all got into our pirate costumes for the party Kennedy got real excited and disappeared only to re-emerge as a parrot. She must have remembered parrots go with pirates. Clever girl!

Kennedy the pirate parrot digging for buried treasure in our sand box. We had fun burying all the presents in a tupperware. It was clear and Kennedy got real enthusiastic when she saw what was in the box.

Pirate Treasure Cupcakes. Abby kept trying to grab the candles.

Random left over firework show. It was a party. Why not?

After the pirate party we pitched our tent in the backyard and had a fun sleep over. It was probably cooler in the tent than the house.

Kennedy's birthday eve party with the Dunnigans. We just couldn't stop celebrating.

Abby eating ice cream with Brother Dunnigan.

Kennedy and Shannon.

Kennedy's sweet wooden shoes the Dunnigans got her in Holland, MI. She loves to clomp around the house in them.

More cupcakes! These are gluten free lollipop flower cupcakes. Super yummy!

We celebrated Kennedy's actually birthday with the Howard up at Highland State Park. It was Brenum's birthday too! Ava wanted to blow out a candle as well. Why not? Candles for everyone!

Enjoying the lake in the hot sun.

Kennedy trying to catch a fish.

The birthday girl roasting starbusts over the fire. It doesn't get much better than that. Happy Birthday Kennedy!

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T16:39:00.001-04:00

Dear Mom,

As I reflect about you today Mom, I can’t help but be proud of you. You are such an amazing woman. You are beautiful, giving, talented, understanding, intelligent, patient, selfless, etc, etc, etc. I know you aren’t perfect, but you are about as close to it as any being I know. As I have received compliments for various things I always think, “Yeah I learned that from my mom”. I am such a lucky kid to be trained at the side of such a master. You are amazing! I know I already used that word, but it just fits you.

I can’t imagine embarking on my own parenting adventure without your example. Even though I will still have to learn a lot of things the hard way, making plenty of mothering mistakes, I can look to you and find hope for survival, inspiration, and sometimes just a sympathetic listener. And I know despite my mistakes, if I do the important things, like you always did, that things will work out all right. I know it wasn’t always easy to raise children in the gospel. It took personal commitment. Even if I never had heard you bear your testimony, I would know what you believe because you worked so hard to teach it to us kids. Thank you for being a courageous parent and for showing me how to love and live the gospel.

I could type for another hour and never truly express my love and gratitude for you. I love you so much! I hope that I can honor you with my life and pass on your legacy of faith to my children. Happy Mothers Day Mom!

Love,

Rachel

p.s. Here is a Mother's Day song from the girls. Kennedy will sing it perfect with actions and everything... as long as I don't try to record it. But here it is anyways. There are two takes so between the two of them you should get a feel for the song. They love you!

Kennedy at the Piano

2011-05-08T16:34:00.000-04:00

Kennedy Sings the ABC's

2011-05-08T16:33:00.001-04:00

2011-05-08T16:29:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T20:20:00.006-04:00

Easter was a big hit at the Clawson home!

Kennedy was so excited to find her Easter basket and even more excited to open all the eggs and eat them. All in one sitting!

Mommy look what I got!

Abby enjoying her Easter Basket.

The Clawsons in their Easter duds.
We think we look pretty sharp!

Where are the eggs?

Show me your beauty queen wave.

Hooray for Easter!

Who loves Easter? Kennedy!!!

The girls in their Easter dresses from Daddy!

Grandpa and Grandma Clawson visited for Easter!

Easter Kiss!

The girls in their dresses from Grandma Bradshaw.

What a cutie!

Crazy hair Ab!

February 2011

2011-03-03T08:51:00.006-05:00

Are you in the Underwear Club? That is the question on everyone's lips the last few weeks in the Clawson home. Kennedy has called off her "potty strike" and is ready to give underwear another chance. I pretty much burned the diaper bridge by telling her diapers are for babies and only big girls get to wear cool underwear. I said underwear is so cool in fact that it has its own club. Kennedy has really bought into the whole club idea and is constantly asking family and friends if they are in the club too. As of March 1st, she has had two 100% successful days and the rest with only small accidents here and there. Go Kennedy!

We got two big snow storms in the month of February. The first resulted in a "snow day" for Tim which meant PJ's, sledding, and junk food. Oh yeah! The only thing the rest of the snow in February has been good for is a sore back (from shoveling the walks) and forced hibernation (we probably left the house less than 20 times the whole month!)

With all the sitting around the house going on in February, Abby has had plenty of time to work on her crawling. She is getting pretty good at moving backwards, but has yet to make much forward progress. With Kennedy chasing her around all day, I'm sure she'll figure it out soon, once those survival instincts kick in.

Kennedy and Abby are pretty good friends right now. Kennedy does love to poke, squish, hit, and carry her poor little sister more than I would like, but the two have their peacful moments as well. Currently, their favorite game involves Abby as the monster chasing Kennedy around the Kitchen-Living room-hall round about inside our house. Of course I have to assist our little monster in her relentless attack, but hey I need a workout too right?

Abby is growing up so quickly. In February she has:

Started to really eat solid foods. Her favorites are oats, pears, applesauce, carrots, and green beans. She hates peas and isn't a huge fan of peaches.
Discovered her toes and along with everything else she can get her hands on puts them right in her mouth.
Learned to play peek-a-boo. She will but her head on the floor or against my chest and then pop pack up when I say "peek-a-boo!" Adorable!
Grown a crop of crazy red-ish hair. Gotta love the baby fro!

February has also been a good month for Kennedy. Along with the all consuming Underwear Club she has also:

Loves to play with friends. Every night she wants to know if she can play with so-and-so tomorrow. She looks forward to each new play date and talks of little else until they show up!
She loves to dance and dress up in her crazy outfits. We don't have real dress-ups yet so she has resorted to swimsuits, Mommy's dresses and shoes, any and all ruffly skirts, bows clipped to everyday apparel, winter gear including scarfs and gloves, etc. I'm afraid she already has my flair for the theatrical.

Tim has stayed really busy with school and work, but still manages to find time to wrestle with the girls and take them out for a weekly daddy daughter date. This February he also served as the MC for the Ford Chinese Association's Chinese New Year Banquet. He did a great job and managed to stay calm despite the 300 plus crowd of FCA members and Ford executives. I think I was more nervous watching him than he was speaking, but he is such a cool character anyway so it's no surprise. Way to go Tim!

There are never many pictures
of the camera woman

As for me, well February has been a slow month. Not a whole lot going on. I did throw an awesome Valentine's dinner for Tim, but in the excitement of the evening forgot to take pictures. I made Tim a nice three course dinner with homemade faccacia bread (so amazing) mushroom basil soup, steak with a balsamic vinegear and red wine sauce, and the most delicious chocolate chip cookie cheesecake. The only hitch was when my wine sauce started to burn and set off the smoke alarm, but Tim said it only added a authentic smoky atmosphere to our dining experience.
I have also been coaching the YW basketball team and supervising a stake womens basketball league. Throw in a few piano lessons Saturday morning and it has made for a busy day. But I love it and am having tons of fun especially coaching. The girls have won two game now and are really looking good.

I don't think I will miss February much. We had some fun, but I am ready for warmer weather and new adventures. Here's to March!

Some catching up to do

2010-11-05T14:11:00.004-04:00

Here are some pictures from the last three months. Enjoy.

Miss Abigail- 2 months

Tim and Rachel at our first U of M game. Go blue!

Sisters!
Kennedy loves to crawl in the crib with Abby.
Too bad she hates to crawl into her own bed???

Fish Face Abby

Jumping in the leaves with grandpa.

Taking time to smell the flowers.

Kissing a dragon???

Say ahhh.

Raking buddies!

Lots and lots of leaves!!!

hey

This is Halloween!

2010-11-03T16:42:00.006-04:00

Sorry for the long blogging break. It's not that my kids aren't cute anymore (on the contrary I think they are getting cuter everyday) and its not that we haven't done anything exciting (life has been one big party around here lately) I hope to start posting more often and to catch up on our summer/ fall, but I make no promises. For now here is Halloween. Boo!

Our scary family: Witch, black cat, spider, and its web.

Kennedy eating a donut at the ward party. She didn't even try to mess around with the no hand thing.

Kennedy and her pumpkin.

The girls.
Note the adorable Halloween shirts given to them by the Dunnigans. They are too good to us.

Kennedy the cat. She kept saying that she was a nice cat not a scary one. I would agree that there was nothing scary about this kitty... until you try to take away her Halloween candy.

Baby Abby!

2010-07-20T14:50:00.002-04:00

Sorry to keep you all in suspense, but our current lack of internet is really cramping my style. However, you can all stop pestering me for pictures now. Here she is... in all her 1 week glory... Baby Abby!

(co-starring Kennedy)

Fun with Grandma!

2010-07-20T14:23:00.007-04:00

Grandma has been a huge hit at the Clawson residence. Kennedy follows her around like a puppy dog waiting for their next fun adventure. Abigail is slightly less enthralled, but then again the girl only opens her eyes twice a day. Tim and I can't say enough about her yuumy dinners and help around the house. We love Grandma!!!

Grandma and her girls.

Enjoying our new backyard.

Swinging with Grandma at the park.

Reading time at the library.

Rolling out dough for pizza benders.

Sharing some yummy watermelon.

Making a fashion statement.

The long awaited cookies!

Welcome Baby Abigail!

2010-07-20T13:47:00.005-04:00

We finally have our little baby Abigial. She was born July 10th 2010 at 9:29 am. She was 7 lbs 2 oz and 20 inches long. The delivery went well and I am already on my way to a good recovery.

I couldn't be happier with our sweet little girl. She already has quite a bit of hair that has stayed dark, but I think it has a little red in it. I think her eyes are going to be green (or blue...its hard to say). She is the sweetest little girl and loves to sleep and eat and manages to open her eyes for a few minutes a day. We can't wait to come out to Utah and share her with all our family!

Moving Date!

2010-06-11T15:39:00.001-04:00

So I think we're too the point we can commit to a moving date. We were thinking about Saturday the 19th, but there is a lot going on with the ward party and Canton's city festival. We thought about postponing it another week, but my doctor's visit today convinced me that the sooner the better. I am already dilated and the baby has dropped. (Not that that guarantees an early delivery, I could still go past my due date for all I know) Anyhow, I would much rather not have a baby while my possessions are in transit so Friday June 18th it is! A wonderful friend in the ward has a moving van he lets people borrow for moves so we should be able to get all of the big stuff in one trip. Next week we will start taking stuff over each night so there wont be as much to do on Friday. I have already had several friends volunteer to help clean and watch Kennedy. We are so blessed to have such an amazing ward family!
Now we just need to get the finishing touches done to our projects this weekend. Go team Clawson!

Back to the Grindstone

2010-06-02T10:03:00.003-04:00

After 9 days partying with my sister and her husband Enoch, it is time to get back to work on the house. Not that we didn't get a lot done with our guests here. Marissa instructed me on how to paint and we finished both the kitchen and family room. We also primed the cabinets and painted all the trim. Enoch was the man when it came to woodworking. Together he and Tim put together a shelveing unit to hook to one of our kitchen cabinets. Enoch also helped us cut and hang the chair rail board and installed a light fixture.
However, who wants to work when you can party! And so we did. We went to the Henry Ford Museum and the Rouge Factory tour. Lunch at Buddy's pizza. (yum!) We walked around downtown Plymouth and tasted the fudge. We spent a whole Saturday at Greenfield Village during their civil war remembrance day. We visited the Detroit waterfront and took in a Tiger's game. We made it down to Toledo for a day at the Zoo and Kennedy wowed us with all her animal sounds and enthusiasm.
Perhaps my favorite part were the late nights playing Rage and Clue and chatting with my long lost sister. (It's so sad how far apart we are)
So now it's back to the grindstone finishing up our projects on the new house and packing up the old apartment. I think the whole pregnancy fatigue has really set in and I am struggling to keep up with my former pace. Thank goodness for naps!
As of today we have all the tiling finished, including the backsplash. The rooms are all painted and just need a touch up here and there. The cabinets are all painted and we are just waiting on the hardware we ordered to arrive so we can attach the doors. The additional cabinet that Tim and Enoch built is finished and installed. We had to make a new cabinet to go over the above-range-microwave, but that is installed as well as the microwave (now that was an ordeal) The chair rail board is all installed and just needs to be putted and painted and the floorboards are all cut and ready to be hammered in.
We' re in good shape folks. I just have to keep looking back at how far we've come and realize that the rest is all down hill. We can do it.... I think.
Our projected move in date is June 19th, but we just found out that there is a stake activity planned for that morning so we may move it or shoot for the afternoon. Boy I can't wait to be sitting in my new home looking back on all of this and laughing. Hopefully I will have just enough time to catch my breath before life gets really exciting with the arrival of baby Abigail.

Note: For some reason my pictures won't upload so I will have to add them later.

Home Project Update

2010-05-25T20:12:00.003-04:00

I guess I am running out of steam with these house updates. My sister Marissa and her Husband Enoch are visiting us this week from California so I would rather hang with them than blog. However, I am pleased to announce that we finished tiling the kitchen backsplash and wiring for the new electrical outlets. The house is prepped for painting tomorrow and the tile stuff has all been cleared out. There still seems like a lot to do and my energy level is so very low, but Tim is still plugging away and Marissa and Enoch are here to help. Somehow it will all get done and we can move into our new house. Someday....

Home Project: Day 15

2010-05-20T13:19:00.002-04:00

Wednesday was the R.S. temple trip, and so rather than sleeping until noon (which I desperately wanted to do) I tore myself out of bed and headed to the shower to get ready. Of course the shower nob broke off in my hand and I was forced to use a pair of pliers to control the hot and cold water. I never quite got the hang of it and ended up with a lukewarm to cold shower. Not what I was looking for after 8 hrs on hands and knees the night before.
The temple trip was fantastic. What a pick me up after a long few weeks. It is so great to be able to put things in perspective.
Once back at the house, Kennedy and I took a much needed nap and waited for Tim to get home. The original plan was to prime the ceiling and prep the rest of the walls to be painted. Both of our bodies vetoed this plan and we have decided to scale back our plans for the next few days. As much as I would like to have the main level all painted and ready by the time our visitors come next week, it just isn't possible. I hope the don't mind it if the house is still mid-construction. I do promise to fix the shower by then. ;)
The rest of that night was spent relaxing and tidying up a little. Tomorrow, Tim an the Murphy boys (yeah for young blood) are going to mow our jungle lawn and give me the night off. I can't wait!

Home Project: Day 14

2010-05-20T13:06:00.002-04:00

Tuesday we grouted (is that a word) all the tile. I had picked up a book at the library that said that it would take 3 hrs per 100 sq ft to grout. I scoffed at this. After all, I had done this before and I know it wasn't that hard. Read on
My friend , and across the street neighbor, had volunteered to help me wash walls on Tuesday. She graciously allowed me to substitute warm water and rags for sandy grout and a sponge and the two of us grouted all the kitchen while our toddlers took their afternoon naps. We made quick time and it was great getting to know her better as we worked.
After such a pleasant experience earlier in the afternoon, I was confident that Tim and I could finish the rest of the tile by 10 pm, at the latest.
I swear someone stretched out our floor plan and added a few extra hundred square feet of tile. It never ended. I worked that grout into those crack from 7 pm until 10 basically non-stop and still it kept coming. Tim's job was to clean of the tiles and reduce the film covering after an area was sufficiently hardened. This left me to lay all the grout. My forearms hurt just thinking about the sweeping motion. When I close my eyes I can still see tile lines in my head.
Anyhow, around midnight, after a re energizing Slurpee and some corn nuts, I finished grouting the last tile. Barely able to move, I shuffled up the stairs and flopped down on the bed, barely stirring when Tim climbed in next to me 3 hours later after scrubbing all the tiles and cleaning off the tools.
Happy ending: The grout is done. The tile looks great. Abigail was not born the following day.

Home Project: Day 13

2010-05-20T12:50:00.002-04:00

Monday we arrived at the house at a very low stress level fully expecting to lay the last few tiles and hit the sack at a decent hour. The tile gods had a different fate in store for us.
The area we had to finish included a closet and part of the hall that connected the tile we laid Saturday to the tile we would lay Monday night. After doing all the cuts and laying the closet we moved to close the gap in the hall. To our horror we were almost a inch over our line and would have to shift all the work we had just done as well as rip out a few tiles from Saturday's work to make the lines meet up. Right around this point Kennedy had seen enough of the doggies next door and reached her goldfish bribe limit. She want to "hold you" (be held) by mommy and nothing else would do. I was able to keep her at bay for a while as we frantically pulled up tiles and pushed and pulled the lines to meet up. Finally, I could stand Kennedy's moaning no more and we put her in her room to play blocks. Not 10 minutes later, she was back downstairs climbing on my back crying. She mastered the art of opening doors rather quickly in this new house. (rats!) Tim ran up and got her pack and play and we caged her in that for a while.
To add to the tile disaster, Tim needed to return the truck to the bishop as we had already borrowed it for much longer than expected. Still loaded with junk he was forced to dump it all back out again, this time along the side of our house. (hopefully this is less of and eye soar than our front porch). Of course it had to be pouring rain just to keep things interesting.
He finished unloading the truck and returned it to the bishop just in time to witness a complete melt down by yours truly. I was trying to sing to Kennedy to keep her from screaming at me from the pack-n-play while grappling with the hopelessly crooked tiles all on way to little sleep. Tim quickly summed up the situation and sent me upstairs to cool down while he put Kennedy to sleep.
After a break and a few prayers, I realized that the tile was not hopeless and that life would go on. So we plugged away until 1 am and finished laying all the tile.
Whew! I am getting tired just remembering that horrible night. The happy ending is that the next day upon returning to the scene of the crime, I couldn't even identify the "hopeless" areas. It all looks great and the best part of all is that it's done!

Home Project: Day 11 and 12

2010-05-17T10:44:00.003-04:00

Despite the long hours put in on the house both Friday and Saturday, I really don't have too much to report. Friday the plumber and his buddy patched up our ceiling with a few sheets of drywall. Shannon Dunnigan came over to help me dry lay the tile and snap our guide lines. When Tim got home we started right in on tiling our entry way. Shannon saved the day by taking Kennedy for the night (I'm not sure why we thought we could tile with a two year old running around). Tim manned the saw and mixed the mud while I spread the mortar and placed the tiles. We made quite the team and finished the whole entry way and hall in one night.
Saturday I headed off to teach piano and drop Kennedy off for a day at the Howard's (thanks a million) while Tim and a friend from the ward loaded a borrowed truck bed up with all the old tile and trash that had been sitting on our front porch. Saturday was free dump day and we felt our neighbors probably did not appreciate seeing our trash everyday. When I got back we started right back into tiling and before we knew it, the morning was gone and we still hadn't taken our load of trash to the dump. Tim hurried off to do that while I prepped the next section of floor. 45 min later Tim returned home with the truck and the trash. The dump had already closed!!! So now we have a truck bed full of tile and no place to put it. Tim has decided it is not worth the $55 to take it to the landfill today so he plans to dump it all back out (this time on the side of our house under a tarp) and try again in two weeks when it will be free. No fun.
The good news is that we got all the tiling done but the pantry closet and doorway out to the garage. I may never stand up straight again after almost 12 hrs on hands and knees, but I think the hunched look is really working for me. We hope to finish up the tile tonight and grout tomorrow. Next up, paint and kitchen backsplash. I better go eat my Wheaties!

Home Project: Day 9 and 10

2010-05-13T14:33:00.004-04:00

With most trials in my life I have to wait a few months/ years to learn how my trial was really blessing in disguise. However, with our recent flood indecent (see day 8) the blessings have become clear much sooner.
On Tuesday morning, our state farm agent sent a plumber over to take a look at everything and give us an idea what the damages might cost to repair. Blessing number one, the backerboard we had slaved away at was still usable and would not need to be replaced. (My back thanks him).
Blessing number two came when I was finally able to get a hold of the company that did our home inspection. I vaguely remember them saying that their services included a free 90 day home warranty. Sure enough we did have a 90 day policy and by luck (tender mercy) the flood had occurred with just 10 days left on the policy. After talking to the warranty company is looks like they should cover everything with no deducible.
That night we celebrated our good fortune by ripping out the dry wall for the backsplash. Nothing makes for a party like demolition duty! Tim also leveled out the landing to the garage using a clever puzzle of wood scraps. We decided to crash at the house that night. Yeah for the air mattress. (this is sarcastic by the way)

Ripping out the wall!

Our fabulous gutted kitchen. Oooo I can't wait for the before and after pics!

Tim keeping things on the level.

Wednesday morning, Paul (the plumber) came over to fix the pipes. It was cool to watch him tear down all the drywall in the ceiling. I've never thought about everything that goes through the walls before. He explained all the pipes and wires. It made for a very educational morning. After exposing the pipes and turning the water back on, we still couldn't find any leaks. After some more detective work, Paul figured out that our upstairs toilet had a been installed or repaired incorrectly so that the water that was supposed to refill the bowl each time we flushed actually returned to the tank. Not only did this cause the water level to rise and overflow, but it also allowed small amounts of bowl water to return to the drinkable water system. GROSS!!!
So blessing number three is that without the flood, we could have been drinking toilet water forever. Blessing number four is that if we had not turned the water off Sunday morning before we left, the whole house might have flooded.
To repair the toilet would cost 10 dollars less than replacing it (and this was a getto fabulous toilet) so blessing number five is that we got a sweet new toilet.
Perhaps the greatest blessing through the whole thing is that while Paul the plumber and his wife (she delivered the new toilet) chatted about life, we got to talking about religion. They knew nothing about Mormons, in fact the wife Susan didn't realize we believed in God. I did my best to explain our beliefs and in the end gave them my spare Book of Mormon I always keep in my car. They seemed very excited to learn about our beliefs and were grateful for the book. I hope they read it. If for no other reason than a chance to share the gospel, I am glad my toilet flooded.
After the new toilet was installed and the water turned back on, I cleaned out the washer and dryer and ran a load of towels. Then Kennedy and I cleaned the bathroom. After a poor nights sleep on the air mattress, I was not up for another night of manual labor.
Ta-da blessing number seven elder's quorum showed up and helped Tim with the electrical work and cutting and installing the backerboard for the back splash. I was able to head home and get our apartment put back together and get Kennedy in bed at a decent hour for a change.
Things are just working out for us and I know it has nothing to do with us. I am so grateful for the gospel that allows me the faith to get through trials and the knowledge that I am being blessed by them. I know we will continue to be watched over and taken care of and that is a great feeling to move forward with.

Our kitchen nook ceiling.

Home Project: Day 8

2010-05-10T21:41:00.004-04:00

Today started like any other day. We decided not to do any work at the house today to give ourselves a much needed break. Instead we wanted to run a few errands and organize the house a little. These plans changed when we arrived at the house tonight to find a puddle of water in the middle of our kitchen dining area and water dripping from the ceiling. It didn't take long to figure out that the water was coming from the upstairs bathroom where another puddle sat behind the toilet. AHHHHHHH!!!!
Here are the facts:
1) We were last in the house Sunday night around 8 pm. I dropped in quickly to grab a few things and there was no water issue to be seen.
2) We had turned off the water that morning around 9 am before leaving the house for the day. (We turned off the water each night because of the refrigerator water issue -see day 3)
3) We have done nothing more than flush the upstairs toilet since getting access to the house.
4) The toilet did not appear to have overflown and the previous owners say they never had a problem with the toilet.
5) The upstairs bathroom had no other water except directly behind the sink
So.... what the heck happened??????
We got most of the water cleaned up and the dripping contained. Ironically the only backerboard damaged was the part we stayed up until 5 am finishing. I guess we should have called it a night at 11. The drywall on the ceiling will definitely need to be replaced and maybe some of the flooring upstairs. Hopefully that is the extent of the damage.
After the first moments of panic and frustration I can't help but think that this might be a blessing in disguise. From what we can tell, the leak or whatever was a plumbing failure and was of no fault of our own. If that is the case than the flood was bound to happen eventually and much better it happen now before we have tile and furniture in the home than after. Our FHE lesson before heading over to the house was from Elder James B Martino's conference address titled "All things work together for our good." I know that the Lord is watching over and blessing us. Thinks will work out even if we have to do extra work.
Stay tuned for more exciting adventures in home ownership.

Damaged backerboards and puddle.

Tim removing the light fixture that had filled with water. Note the line of water on the ceiling where the water was dripping down.

The culprit. (Sorry for the sideways pic- I can't get it to rotate)

Home Project: Day 6

2010-05-10T15:46:00.003-04:00

After our late night on Friday and a cold and uncomfortable night on the air mattress, team Clawson was a little reluctant to get a start on the day. It was apparent that our goal of mudding and laying all the backerboard by noon and starting in on the tile that afternoon was unrealistic (ok insane). I dropped Kennedy off at the Dalebout's for the day (thank you thank you thank you) and stopped off to teach a quick piano lesson while Tim cut the last few pieces of backerboard.
When I got to the house I set about leveling the front entry way and a few other areas with mortar that we needed to harden before applying another coat of mortar and the backerboard on top.
From this point on the details get a little hazy and I have no idea at what point we were actually ready to lay the mortar and backerboard. I recall dimly needing additonal supplies and a trip to Lowes in the pouring rain. The Jensens brought us Subway at some point (thank you). Tim ran to another hardware store for screws to tighten the sub floor and stop creaks. More rain and cold. Then random sun. I made a trip to 7 eleven for chap stick and ice cream bars.
Then came the laying of the backerboard. I estimate this started around 3 pm, but that could be totally wrong. We kicked things off by mixing way too much of the mortar at one time so I was forced to keep going forever with no breaks. (Thin-set only stays usable for so long. Good to know) My job was to lay the mud and locate the piece of backerboard to cover it. Then Tim would help me lay it in place. After it was down, Tim set to fastening it to the subfloor with a ridiculous number of screws. I swear each board needed 30 screws each. Tim calculated that he used around 1500 screws that long long night.
So along we went mudding and screw driving long into the night. Around 7 Tim picked up Kennedy from the Dalebout's (again thank you thank you thank out) and took her to the Dunnigans. While he was gone I attempted to lay a piece of backerboard on my own and nearly killed myself. The most frustrating thing was that we forgot to mark where each piece went when we picked them up so it was like doing a giant heavy jigsaw puzzle while watching your step for wet mortar patches and already laid backerboard. I may never do a puzzle again.
The Dunnigans dropped Kennedy off (thanks million to you guys too) and checked in on our progress. At this point we had about 3/4 of the floor laid and the question was do we call it a night or do we push on until it's done. Call us crazy, but we put the K to sleep, cranked up the tunes, and laid stupid backer board until 3 in the morning. Tim stayed up and additional two hours completing all the screws. Whew! Just thinking about it makes me tired.
We wisely decided to crash on the airbed again that night as driving in our condition was hazardous to both us and those on the roads at that unholy hour. So we woke up Mother's Day dragged our aching bodies out the door and went home to shower, sleep, go to church, and sleep some more. Thank goodness for a day of rest!

Laying the mortar. Oh my aching back!

Tim vs the screws

The finished puzzle!

Home Project: Day 5

2010-05-10T15:25:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the delay. I know everyone is at the edge of their seat with our home improvement project and I hate to leave you hanging after the extreme adventures of days 1-4. This past weekend was killer and I am just now recovered enough to report on our latest antics.
Friday, day 5 dawned bright and earlier with Kennedy and I setting off for a day of child care. I friend of ours in the ward is graduating from med school and needed someone to watch their 4 girls and visiting relative's 3 boys while they attended the ceremony. Counting Kennedy I had 3 kids under 2 (one a 14 mo old) 4 under age five and a very helpful 8 year old. From 11:30 until 7 pm, I pulled out every babysitting trick I knew to keep those kids entertained. We survived... barely.
After such a physically demanding day, I arrived at our new house more dead than alive. We had planned on sleeping at the house that night and already had an air mattress ready for me to flop down on. This I did and the whole family joined me in a much needed power nap.
After our nap, I ran out to grab a pizza and treats to fuel our long night ahead. Tim did some final preparations on the sub flood and I set about cutting the door trims so the tile would fit neatly underneath.
Once that was done Tim and I started in on the backerboard. For those of you unfamiliar with this building material, it is a cement board that comes in 3' by5' sheets. It is surprisingly heavy and not as easy to cut as the guy at the hardware store let on. We employed several methods to cut these pieces down to size, but the whole project took much longer than anticipated. I finally called it quits around 1 am with 3/4 of the board cut. Tim powered on until all the boards were cut and then crashed for the night.

Tim and the backerboard of doom

Home Project: Day 4

2010-05-07T09:06:00.004-04:00

This will probably a quick post as I am super tired and have a lot to get done today. Yesterday was very productive one for team Clawson. We completed a marathon shopping spree at Lowes. As predicted, we used four carts (one regular cart, two flat push carts, and one wood cart) and spent just over four hours in the store. I would like to give a special thanks to Alise at the check out stand for her patience and speed.
We are now the proud owners of several tons of tile and tiling supplies, 6 plus gallons of paint and primer, a neat pile of molding and trim, various tools and supplies, and a troy built 21" push lawn mower. Whew! I still can't believe we got it all home in one trip. Thanks again to the Jensens for car swapping for the day. That explorer can fit everything. I would also like to thank the Howards for watching Kennedy for "a few hours" that turned into just about all night. I don't know how we would have gotten anything done with the runt scurrying around while we tried to shop.
After we got out loot back to the homestead and unloaded it, I was suppose to come home and sleep. But there was always just one more thing to do and I ended up putting Kennedy to sleep upstairs and prepping sub floor with Tim until midnight.
We had our first experience with mortar as we needed to fill in the gap between the top layer of sub floor and the walls. We kinda winged it with the mixing as we didn't have a beater attachment for the drill yet, but I think our goop looked the same as the demo at out tiling class last week. I stayed and worked with Tim until I finally listened to my tired body and left my super human to finish the rest. The poor man came home around 2 am. He really is amazing!
Well I think that was about all from yesterday. Tonight we lay the backer board. We are planning our first sleep over at the new house. (p.s. we got the refrigerator water situation under control and can now turn the water back on for the house. Yeah!) We figured if we are up till 1 am anyways we might as well crash over there. This means that I probably won't get a post up on Saturday as we will push right on to tiling and may not get back to our apartment (and computer) until late. Go Clawsons!

Tim and our tile

Filling in the gap

Home Project: Day 3

2010-05-06T08:36:00.003-04:00

Wow I can't believe I have posted three days in a row. This is a new record for me. I was telling Tim last night that it has been very therapeutic to post about our projects each day as the stories become more humorous and less-stressful than at midnight when we turn in for the night. I think a good night's rest brings a lot of perspective.
So about day three. Things have gotten a little rough with operation: New House. One of our team members has decided the throw in the towel just three days into the mess. No, not Tim. He is still going strong. I am feeling surprisingly well despite the long hours and manual labor. Yes, you guessed it Kennedy is our deserter. She find the whole process boring and wants only to be held by mom. The less I hold her, the more she wants to be held. Vicious cycle. She about lost it at Lowes last night and what I believe is her first real tantrum. (shoes were thrown... repeatedly)
Despite the contention in the ranks, we are still plugging along and it looks like we will be ready to lay tile this Saturday! Wouldn't that be nice to have that major hurdle out of the way. I came over to the house yesterday and used a shop vac (thanks Melissa) to clean up the subfloor and Tim scrapped up the remaining bits of tile and linoleum. Today he is planning on filling in the edges with thin set (the top layer of the subfloor doesn't extend all the way to the walls...odd I know).
Friday he wants to lay the cement backer board and then Saturday we tile!
Now for the list of setbacks we encountered, in addition to our uncooperative toddler. First, when I arrived at the house and started to vacuum, I realized that the water tube that connects to the refrigerator ice machine was leaking. We had to disconnect it from the fridge to move it but couldn't cap it off. Tim turned off the water main the night before, but apparently it was still dripping. I headed downstairs to see if it got the carpet wet. Yup it sure did. So I rolled back the carpet to inspect the padding. Not only did I find it wet as well, but I also found lots of other stains on the carpet and padding, smelly stains. Now, for the last few days I have noticed that the basement smelled odd. Definitely not like it did when we viewed the house and did inspections. When Tim got to the house we rolled up the rest of the carpet and discovered many more stains. We believe them to be dog and cat pee. My current theory is that the prevous owners have been keeping their dog and cat in the basement for the last month while moving. I KNOW it did not smell like that before. We rolled all the carpet and padding up and tossed (ok dragged) it in the basement storage closet. Hopefully this will get rid of the bad smell. However, we are a little upset because now we have no carpet in the basement. I don't know if there is anything that we can do about it, but I am definitely going to talk to my real estate agent about this whole thing.
On the bright side, we did get the water issue under control although we still have to keep the water shut off and the pipe does leak a bit. We have it over a bucket now.
After dealing with the water and smelly carpet, Tim headed back to our apartement with a friend from the ward to move a bunch of stuff to the new house. Things like the dresser we repainted that has been sitting in my dining room for the last week and all the boxes piled up along the walls. We decided to keep them in the garage for now (the basement is out of the question until further desmellification. Boy was it nice to come back to our apartment last night (at 1 am) and have all that junk out of here. Yeah for space!
We also spent some time at Lowes yesterday to review our plans for tile, paint, etc. We have a 10% off coupon so Tim wants to buy everything for the entire house all at once. This means I have to decide on all the tile, paint colors, lawn mower, ceiling fan, EVERYTHING! By tonight at 5pm! I guess the good news is after that all my stressful decision making is pretty much over and I can stop staring at paint swatches. Wish me luck at Lowes tonight. I predict no less than 3 carts of stuff and 3+ hours of mind numbing choices. Tell ya all about it tomorrow... if I survive.

Tim hard at work removing the last of the linoleum.

Our garage/ storage unit.

The smelly carpet now tucked away in a closet. Go away smell! Go away!

Home Project: Day 2

2010-05-05T07:47:00.003-04:00

After another fine day of manual labor I am pleased to announce the nasty tile and linoleum is gone! Tim and his friend Steve ripped it all out last night as well as removed all the doors, baseboards, and even a toilet. Way to go guys. I didn't get a picture of them hard at work, but did get a few shots of the finished product.
I came over in earlier in the day and taped off the rest of the house to protect from dust and tile shards. Kennedy loved to help with the tape. She thought it was a giant roll of stickers. I also removed the remaining cabinet doors and cleaned the upstairs bathroom.
I met some of our neighbor's yesterday and they seem super friendly. The family next door has a 10 year old girl who seems very sweet and the mom is a triplet. I guess the other two sisters are always over visiting (as they were last night) Wouldn't that be nice to have family over that often. *sigh* Anyhow I already feel part of the neighborhood.
On today's agenda I will mainly be prepping our apartment for a mini move. We had already packed up most everything we don't use and it is sitting in boxes all along our walls. So we figured we would get it out of our hair making at least one residence livable. We also have a few furniture pieces to move tonight. I also want to clean the basement bathroom and prep the downstairs storage unit for boxes. Another day of dog hair I'm afraid.
Well I better get a move on it!

Goodbye tile!

Lovely pile of debris sitting on our front porch. I bet our neighbors love that.

The old linoleum. No wonder the previous owner's tiled over it. Very retro!

Miss Kennedy and the disappearing toilet.

Big Girl Kennedy!

2010-05-04T08:56:00.002-04:00

So I realize that the majority of my blog followers log on for one main reason; pictures of Kennedy. So with all of you in mind, here she is... live from Michigan... the one... the only... Kennedy!
I can't believe how grown up she has gotten. She talks incessantly and is actually starting to make sense. She is such a big helper to me, fetching blankets, unloading the dishwasher (with me), and giving me arm rubs (called "tickles"). I just know she is going to take care of Abigail too.
She has gotten more independent in the last few months. She eats food "her way" (which is usually not at all) and wants almost everything done a particular way. Doing her hair has become more of a challenge because she want to comb it with me or the deal is off. I regret to say I have resorted to bribery. One jelly bean per hair session. Here we go down that slippery slope.
Mostly, this girl is a joy. We love her so much and delight in her everyday surprises. I think that is the best part about being a parent, living in a constant state of suprise. I'm think I'll go wake her up right now and see what today brings!

She has finally grasped the idea of dress-ups. While not obsessed by this activity, she does love a good romp in the high heels and tu-tu.

This lovely face has been covered in the newest product for facials: diaper cream. The funniest part was that she came out of her room from a time-out saying "messy messy". No more unsupervised time-outs.

You can't see it very well, but her hand are filled with bubbles, one of the K's favorite things.

This one doesn't want to go to bed.

So sweet!

Home Project: Day 1

2010-05-04T08:25:00.003-04:00

After getting our keys yesterday around noon, I couldn't wait to get into our new house. I grabed Kennedy's pack-n-play and a bunch of cleaning supplies and headed over.
First of all, can I say how much cuter our house looks with the Spring green. Blossoming trees and bushes do so much. I can't wait to get a few flower beds going, but Tim keeps telling me to pace myself.
My first order of business was to try and eradicate all signs of the previous owner's dog (black lab) and cat. This proved to be a bigger challenge than I had anticipated. Take the refrigerator for example. The interior was coated (no I do not exaggerate) with a fine layer of black hair. Gross!!!! All of the window sills are covered in hair and I am even finding it on the walls, clinging to dust. This is going to be an ongoing project so stay tuned.
After 2 hours on the refrigerator, I headed upstairs to clean the bathroom. This was actually left rather clean except for all the dog hair in the vanity's drawers. Does anyone have tips for hair removal? I think I'll bring tape today.
During my projects, Kennedy enjoyed a nap in her new room. She already calls it "K K's room" (K K is how Tim is teaching her to say her name) The previous owners had a little boy so the room is blue. I am going to paint three of the walls a mint green with a pink accent wall. In the base of the green walls I found a cute 13" white wooden fence that I will staple to the walls. I think it is going to look super cute. I can't wait until we get to paint!
Once Tim got off work, he joined us in our new home. About 3 minutes after walking in the door he had already laid into the tile, ripping our several feet. The good news about the current cheap, poorly done tile job is that it is coming up very easy. They laid it right over the old linoleum and I don't even thing they used thin-set. It looks like they glued it or something. Either way Tim sliced through it like butter and would have had the whole thing our if he wasn't worried about damaging doors and other surfaces. My job today is to tape and cover with plastic anything we don't want covered with tile shards. Tim and a friend from the ward will remove the doors and toilet tonight and rip out the rest of the tile. Good luck boys!
While Tim was teaching the tile a lesson, Kennedy helped my remove all the cabinet doors and hardware. I also ripped off the old kitchen backsplash that was some sort of thin laminate sheet. Again super easy to remove!
We also went on a ice cream run, mostly to keep Kennedy from impaling herself on a tile shard, but also 'cause I had a craving for the sweet stuff. When we returned Tim had over half of the tile out. What a man!
After putting Kennedy down for the night, we worked a little more on the tile, but mostly talked about what to do next and how cool it is to own a new home. We are so blessed to have a place of our own, even if it is covered in dog hair and has half the kitchen torn up. I think I will try to post a little something each day, mostly for our personal record. I am saving the full "before" pictures for the big reveal, but here are a few of our new house and the destruction of day 1.

Front of the house. Love the huge trees all along the road. We just don't have huge trees in Utah.

Back of the house. Covered porch great during the rain (we got a little last night) I think I want to add flower beds along each side of the deck with a little walking path out from the steps.

Tile man and cheesy baby.

Removing the cabinet hardware.

Random picture of our cutest little helper. Boy can this kid handle a screwdriver!

Keys Tomorrow!

2010-05-02T22:25:00.002-04:00

I am so excited! We are finally getting the keys to our new house. We closed back in March, but the previous owners have been renting from us for the last month or so.
It is so crazy to think that we own a home. It is raining really hard right now and all I can think is I hope the basement doesn't flood. Yeah for home ownership.
So as many of you know we are planning to make several changes to the home before moving in. They include:
-Ripping out the old flooring and putting in new tile in the entryway, kitchen, and half bath.
-Painting the kitchen cupboards and adding new hardware
-Adding a tile backsplash to the kitchen counters.
-Installing a over the range microwave
-Painting the kitchen, family room, Kennedy's room, and master bedroom.
-Installing floorboards and chair rail boards (whatever those are called??)
-Building and installing a new cabinet in the kitchen along a currently empty wall.
-Installing a few ceiling fans
-Putting in a small vegetable garden

Well I think that should keep us busy for the next two months. Typing the list made me realize just how crazy we are. Hopefully, we will get to at least half of these things. Stay tuned!

Happy Birthday, Rachel!!

2010-04-13T01:41:00.009-04:00

This is one of Tim's sisters.... I was able to hack into Rachel's blog so the IN-LAWS could post a little something about what we think of the birthday girl. Some answers are more of a jab at Tim than they are a compliment to Rach, but we hope you enjoy it anyway :) and just so you know, we answered these questions independently... no one read anyone else's answers before today.

1. In your opinion, what is the best contribution Rachel has made to our family?

LES- I think that Rachel has brought a willingness to do whatever it takes to be part of the family. She is always right there when something needs to be done and she is eager to try something new.

BEV- As Rachel's mother-in-law, I thank Rachel for marrying my son! She is such a good little wife, and I think they make a wonderful couple. Kennedy has learned some amazing things and is so happy. I'm sure little Abby (is that how you want to spell her name?) is very anxious to come join them!

GREG- The first thing that really caught my attention about Rachel was when she invited our family down to her parents house to ride horses and how she was so excited to have our kids ride them. Our kids absolutely loved it. She knew Nathaniel, Hannah, Jacob, and Morgan's names right off as well as all of the other Clawson grandkids that came down. I know she had to practice pretty hard to get everyone's names down that well. It really impressed me to see how well she did in relating to the kids and fitting right in with everyone and how much they all enjoyed riding the horses. I was also really impressed with how cordial her parents and siblings were and how fit her dad was--preparing for marathons etc.

LORI (and fam)- She helped Tim grow up and become a dad.

RANDY- In my opinion, the best contribution Rachel has made to the family was marring Tim. We were wondering, you know if that was ever gonna happen! No just kidding Tim. We just hate that you guys live so far away and its hard to see ya. One of my favorite things that I picked up from Rachel that was at her house when we were at the reception was a sign over one of the doors in their house that says "We do hard things". I have never forgot that quote and it has stuck with me since that time. Life often requires that we do hard things, and how we react to them changes us as people. I like that sign. Thanks for sharing it with us Rachel!

KRISTY- "She makes Tim very happy"
Bryson-- "She's so nice"
Cole--"She's better at sports than Tim"
Corah--"She shares her horses with us"
Addy--"She is always happy"

BRENT- She married Tim and then moved him far away.

DEBBIE- Rachel you are amazing! You are down to earth, happy, and never have a bad thing to say about another. Now that I thinking about you, I really am missing you!

AMY- Taking care of Timmy!

AARON- So far...Kennedy.

JANET- I think Rachel has brought ORDER to our family. or at least she has tried to organize our chaos. It can't be easy marrying into this crazy bunch. Rachel always has something fun (yet scheduled) for the kids and she stays calm and collected. Tim always wanted a wife who could handle lots of kids and Rachel is his dream woman!

DAVID- Horses. We've got enough people in our family from the back woods and from the South, but we only have Rachel who is a real cowgirl.

KATIE- I think the obvious answer is the red hair! We love cute red-headed babies.

TIM- She brought the TALENT that our family talent shows had always been lacking.

KEVIN- The best thing you have done for us, by far, is taking Tim off our hands. No one else can handle him. On behalf of the whole family, thank you for sacrificing your own sanity for eternity. Just kidding. One thing that I really love about you (and Tim) is that you are so unified. All of our siblings are unified with their spouses, but I love how well you and Tim get along. More than anyone else (from my point of view), you and Tim are so similar and on the same wave length. I really love watching you two together.

CINDY- Before we didn't have any vibrant, fiery red heads. (Even though some wished they had red hair). She adds a lot talent to our family.

2. What word or phrase best describes Rachel and why?

LES- Devoted - Whatever Rachel tries, she puts her wholeself into it. You can see that by how she loves Tim and Kennedy and they always come first.

BEV- Rachel is COMMITTED. She has a lot of energy and it seems to me, she just dives in and never looks back. "If something is worth doing, it's worth doing well" is her motto. She worked full time (in a job that was draining) while she was trying to graduate, be pregnant with Kennedy, make a nice home for Tim, and help Tim get through school too. I've watched her play sports, lead the ward choir, bake whole wheat bread, cook dutch oven meals, decorate her home and run after Kennedy, plus serve in the Relief Society presidency, make time for exercise and play the piano. She made a gingerbread house (more like a church) & she showed much patience. When she was at our house for a big get-together, she was helping me in the kitchen, and kept asking what she could do next. Thank you, Rachel.

GREG-I was really impressed the first time she came to a family activity and beat all the guys in a free throw shooting contest and then 2 minutes later she was on the piano playing a pretty difficult song. I didn't know that she could do either one of them (I just knew she liked sports). She beat me at HORSE and has a really good outside shot but she definitely can't take me one on one--I'd just take her inside under the basket! Last April Fool's Day (2009) we called Rachel to let her know Annette was going to have a baby (I don't know which one of the kids talked to her). Well, Rachel didn't believe us and she called back to let us know that she was pregnant too (which she really wasn't). So which one is the better April Fool's joke--telling someone you're pregnant and really being pregnant or telling someone you are and you're really not? We love you Rachel--Annette says "Rachel is Great" (those are her exact words--I wouldn't want you to misquote me).

LORI (and fam)- fun. She loves to play with kids.

RANDY- Outgoing. Rachel seems to always be smiling when I see her. I guess when your spirit glows that much you cant help but to smile.

KRISTY-"Got it together girl"
Bryson- "Happy, Nice"
Cole- "Very Nice"
Corah- "Really Nice"
Addy-"Pretty"

BRENT- "Oh my heck", because that is what she has been thinking ever since she married Tim.

DEBBIE- The word that comes to mind is competent. You seem to be able to do just about anything well.

AMY- Amazing! Rachel is the most well rounded chica I know...if you question why I would chose the word amazing, just hang out with her for a moment.

AARON- "Brilliant." Besides being smart, Rachel exudes optimism and positivity.

JANET- well-rounded. there isn't anything Rachel CAN'T do. She is crafty, sporty, musical, artistic, outgoing, mature, fun... you name it, Rachel can take it on (Proof: she married Timmy.)

DAVE- Organized. Not just the way you keep your house, but also the way that you think. It always seems like what you say and do is well thought out and put together.

KATIE- Loyal. I think this sums up Rachel. She is loyal to the church, Tim, her family, and herself.

TIM- PERFECT - being entirely without fault or defect; satisfying all requirements (defined by Websters, just in case you don't understand the word)

KEVIN- Talented - you are one of the most talented people I know. Is there anything you DON'T do? Fun - Even doing the dishes or sitting through a boring talk is fun with you.

CINDY- go-getter- She is a person of action, that is constantly working on new projects and goals. She's very determined.

3. If Rachel had $1000 to spend freely how do you think she would spend it?

LES- If Rachel had a $1000 she would probably buy Tim and Kennedy and me a nice gift and then save the rest for a rainy day. When she moves into their new house I think she will buy something nice for the backyard to let people relax and watch her beautiful garden grow. Love, Grandpa Les

BEV- I can see Rachel thinking this through and organizing her purchase. She would spend most of it decorating for their NEW HOUSE. She would take Tim on a date. She probably would enjoy buying BYU basketball uniforms for both her little girls. I love you! Have a wonderful birthday!!

GREG- Rachel would spend an extra $1000 on either food storage or plane tickets to Utah to visit her family! She would use it wisely however she spent it!

LORI (and fam)- a horse

RANDY- I think she would spend 1000 bucks on a short trip with their family somewhere close, like going to Niagra Falls and a few church sites along the way. Or maybe drive down to Georgia and see some family!!! We love you. Happy Birthday.

KRISTY- "She would buy camping gear"
Bryson- "She would go to Vegas and gamble with it all"
Cole- "She would travel"
Corah- "She would save it for her family"
Addy-"She would spend it on a trip to Georgia"

BRENT- She would most likely put it in the bank, however I think she should hit a night on the town and blow it on tips for the Chip N' Dales.

AMY- I think she would go on a trip to a place that had a little HISTORY. Or maybe on renovating her new crib. :) Happy Birthday, Miss Rachel! We all love you and wish you the best with your new house and new baby!

AARON- She would take Tim and Janet and me on a cruise to the Canary Islands...hint hint.

JANET- She already has her gorgeous piano.. maybe an outdoor basketball court? a vacation is fun, but where does it really get you in life? it just creates laziness and Rachel is anything but lazy.

DAVE- Lots of diapers.

KATIE- I am pretty positive that the money would go towards travel to Utah. We miss her and that would be my vote for the use of the money.

TIM- Miley Cyrus concert tickets and popcorn

KEVIN- She would spend most of it fixing up the basement for their new house. Then, after Tim would use his whiny voice to try to persuade her to buy something fun for him, she would buy lots of little things to squeeze every drop of usage out of what is left. That includes books - novels, European history textbooks and books about using the potty; maybe some sheet music; fabric for a new dress (and/or Halloween costume) for Kennedy; If there is any left over, and if Tim has been good, they might go out for ice cream. Love you, Rach.

CINDY- No doubt she'll use it wisely, getting the most she could out of it.

Thanks for staying with Tim even after you met us, Rachel. We love having you in our family! Hope you have a great birthday!

More Hunting

2010-04-05T07:46:00.001-04:00

Here is Kennedy's Easter Egg Hunt at home. She got much faster at finding and bagging the eggs.

Feathered Friends

2010-04-04T21:29:00.003-04:00

Kennedy's favorite part of the day is our afternoon walk to the lake. It sure is fun having a lake only a 5 minute walk away (we're gonna miss it). Our walk usually consists of running down the path to the lake (waving at every dog that passes our way), throwing rock into the lake (most of these rocks never clear the shore- we really got to work on her arm), and if we're lucky honking at the geese that swim by.
One day after our walk, we were going about our business at home when a strange noise came from the back porch. It seems Kennedy's friends followed us home for a visit. Kennedy was so excited and to this day checks the back porch at least 5 times a day to see if the "honk honks" are there.

Easter Egg Hunt: Year Two

2010-04-04T21:11:00.003-04:00

So for those of you who remember our Easter egg hunt training and subsequent disappointing showing at the poorly organized Plymouth Easter Egg hunt (they ran out of eggs and Kennedy got squat), we are pleased to announce success in this year's endeavors.

After a bit more research, we found a great hunt in Plymouth that promised plenty of eggs. Armed with a gift bag as we must have tossed last year's basket, Kennedy set off to gather eggs amongst the chaos that is 0-3 year olds set lose after candy. We were very proud of our little hunter, despite her tendency to open and try to eat each candy before moving on to find another egg. (We'll train for this distraction for next year)
Here are some pictures from the exciting hunt.

Thanks to Tim for coming along after such a lame experience last year.

Find it, grab it, bag it!

Checking out the loot.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T20:41:00.006-04:00

We had a wonderful Easter today. The bunny made his rounds filling plastic eggs with all manner of tasty treats. Kennedy went crazy for the jelly beans both to play with and to eat. Tim has also engaged them as a teaching tool requiring her to say what color they are before eating them.
Besides the candy we also had a yummy dinner. Ham, funeral potatoes, and crescent rolls made for a delicious feast. Add a weekend of great conference talks and you get one fantastic Easter!
However, my favorite part of the day was dressing Kennedy up in her Easter dress. This dress is extra special for many reasons (other than being adorable) 1- It was sewn by my grandma (Kennedy's great-grandma). 2- It is made out of material saved by my grandma from my mom's wedding. It was the left over from the bridesmaid's aprons. 3- My mom sewed the slip to go underneath the dress. She made it extra fluffy to be like the dresses I loved to twirl around in when I was a kid. 4- Finally, I made the matching bow out of left over fabric sent by my grandma. I think it turned out pretty cute, even if it is huge. Quite the Easter dress! Four generations involved if you count the model (Kennedy).

You need to see the twirl to appreciate just how cute this dress is. Enjoy!

Done Deal!

2010-03-23T12:27:00.002-04:00

For those of you following the Clawson house buying saga, we are pleased to announce we are now the proud owners of a adorable two-story home in Canton Michigan. We are aware that the location for some of you (Utahns)is less than convenient,(We did consider Tim commuting from Highland to Michigan each week ...not) but we are very excited for how the whole thing turned out. It sounds like we will take possession of the house earlier than expected which should give us plenty of time to add our own flair before moving in. I think we are set on tiling the entry way and kitchen, re-painting the cupboards, and moving a cupboard or two around before moving in. Then of course there are a few rooms I'd like to paint and a ceiling fan to install. And don't forget the vast canvas of an unfinished basement just beckoning to be transformed. Wow being a homeowner is making me tired already... and broke! Anyways, we are very excited and are even more stoked because we get to share our new crib with my sister Marissa and her husband Enoch when they come to visit us at the end of May. I hope they bring their paintbrushes!

Fancy Feet

2010-03-11T12:34:00.002-05:00

Dance of the Kennedy

2010-03-11T12:34:00.001-05:00

Animal Sounds

2010-03-11T11:51:00.001-05:00

January February Highlights

2010-03-01T11:02:00.003-05:00

With the lack of pictures on my blog the last few months I can see how many would think the Clawsons have had a slow 2010 so far. Well folks that couldn't be further from the truth.

In early January, we headed out to down town Detroit for the International Auto Show. Cars, cars, and more cars. I couldn't believe how many different makes and models there were not to mention all the different colors and displays. Kennedy was happy as long as she got to sit and "drive" a car occasionally. I liked the different displays. Tim liked that the Ford's display was my favorite. (It really was the coolest)Later in January, on an unseasonable warm day, we ventured out to downtown Plymouth for their annual ice sculpture festival. It is amazing to see what those people could do with a block of ice, especially when the weather threatened to melt their creations before they could finish. The crowds were insane though and we mostly got pushed around in a line/ mosh pit as we walked around the different sculptures. Great fun!February was mainly devoted to the GMAT and house hunting, but we did manage to throw some fun into the mix. Kennedy and I spent a lot of quality time together while Tim was out studying. We played a lot of doggies (which consists of me crawling around the house with a doggie puppet on each hand). I made a lot of phone calls (ok so this part wasn't so fun). While I made those calls, Kennedy was introduced to PBS television. We are now trying to stem her addiction to the "shows" as she calls them. Kennedy got this crazy virus the made her face swell up and made hives appear all over her body (also not fun, but certainly funny looking. I called her Quasimodo girl).

After the GMAT was over and we signed on a house, it was off to Lowe's for many a fun filled Saturday dreaming about projects.Overall, I would say 2010 has treated us well thus far. We look forward to many more adventures in the months to come.

It's A Girl!!!!

2010-02-26T13:34:00.002-05:00

Kennedy is getting a baby sister! What a lucky duck. I loved having a sister just younger than me to play with so I am so excited for the next generation of Rachel and Marissa. Plus, we get to recycle all these adorable baby girl clothes! Tim was convinced #2 was a girl since the start, but after a much more difficult first trimester, I had it pegged as a boy. I am happy to be wrong and can't wait to meet our little girl.
Another bonus is that we already had the perfect name picked out for a girl. Abigail for the first name after my great-great-great-great-great-great grandma Abigail McBride who joined the church in 1830 in New York. Her story is so inspirational and I have been doing a lot of research on one of her sons and grandson who ended up in Michigan. Beverly for the middle name after Tim's mother. If this child grows up to be anything like either name-sake she will be a amazing woman.
Hooray for Abigail Beverly Clawson! We can't wait to meet you!

Congratulations Tim!

2010-02-22T12:24:00.003-05:00

As if we didn't already have enough going on this past week with the home buying process, Tim had signed up to take the GMAT on Saturday. Ironically, he had moved the date up two weeks so we could look for homes with results in hand, but we found a house much earlier than expected and so it just made for a stressful week.
However, Tim is superman and pulled out a great score anyways! Yea Tim! We are now very confident that he could get in to the University of Michigan MBA program. This makes the decision to buy a home and stick around here in Michigan that much easier to make.
I am so proud of my husband and am so glad he had to take the 3 1/2 hour test instead of me. (However, I have never been more nervous than I was during those 3 1/2 hours) We know we are very blessed and can't wait to have our nights and weekends study free. (at least till he starts school)

Our Home... almost

2010-02-17T19:40:00.002-05:00

After a long few days of offers, counter offers, and last minute negotiations we have an signed purchase agreement on this home in Canton, MI. I think I'm still in shock. We expected to look for a month or so, but instead found this beauty in our first week of looking. I am also having a hard time believing we got it after making such low offers. Yea for buyers! Sorry sellers.
Anyhow we still have to get inspections done and a million other things on our way to closing, but this place already feels like home. It sounds like the current owners will rent from us for a month or so after we close so we may not move in until May/June. That works out fine for us though as we are stuck in a lease until June anyways. We may stay in our apartment for a few weeks after we have the house so we can paint and possibly try to finish the basement. Are we crazy to try to finish the basement in a few months? Note: Tim is an extremely handy man, but he has no experience with framing or dry walling. Stay tuned for that exciting chapter of our lives (if it happens).
Well, this post wasn't very coherent, but then again neither am I this week with all the goings on. Bottom line... We are so EXCITED!

L'il K

2010-02-14T21:16:00.002-05:00

Here is Kennedy's picture we had taken around Christmas time. I love how her fingers are all ready to take a picture too! I really can't believe how grown up she is getting. She is talking up a storm and can be such a good helper when she wants to be. She has also grown a strong sense of independence and seems to have an opinion on everything. We love her so much and can't wait to add another little cutie to the group.

House Hunting

2010-02-01T15:59:00.002-05:00

2010 has already been a year of surprises. And so far the biggest surprise of all is our family's decision to house hunt here in Michigan. I guess I always knew that we would end up living here for a while, especially now that Ford has agreed to pay for MBA school, but I was still unprepared for this very permanent gesture of purchasing a home.
So far the process has been very enlightening. It is amazing how complex it is to buy a house. Everyone wants in on the action. The bank wants to rob you with interest. The government wants to kill you with taxes. The insurance company wants a piece of you as does the inspector, the appraiser, not to mention your "friend" the real estate agent. Whew! What a mess. We have basically decided to live off ramen noodles and get our kicks watching library movies for the next year to help finance this whole deal. Or win a game show.
Well, we have already been out to see a few houses, but nothing to get too excited about. It's hard because we want to stay very frugal, but it's amazing what a few more thousand dollars can get you. I am already nervous to negotiate prices and make an offer. I mean this is big money we're talking about. I feel way to young for all this grown up business of house buying.
Crazy times. Well I'll try to keep you all updated on our search. Oh and I still am going to post pics from Christmas (hopefully before Easter) If anyone has any advice on home buying or know of a good buying agent I'd love to hear from you!

Overdue Update

2010-01-11T14:45:00.002-05:00

After checking out all the well updated blogs of my family and friends, I decided I had to write something so my latest post would not be a Christmas countdown.
A lot has happened for the Clawson gang not the least of which was an awesome trip out to Utah to see the fam. The only problem with a great trip like that (other than the loads of laundry) is that is makes you all the more homesick when you get back. Ah well, there's always Skipe I guess.
Tim is feeling much better although he is certainly not 100% yet. This swine-flu/ pneumonia thing is the pits I tell ya. We can't wait to be done with it once and for all.
Kennedy has had a hard time adjusting to a empty house with only one less enthusiastic fan around to play with her. She sure misses all her aunts, uncles, grandpas, and grandmas. We need to move back out there quick or buy her a dog. You can guess which option I'm rooting for.
As for me, it has been a bit of a challenge to get back in the groove. I don't know if it is the Michigan chill, reverting back to our tiny apartment, or just missing my family, but I'm having a hard time putting my shoulder to the wheel if you know what I mean. I am looking forward to my latest and greatest project, namely growing baby Clawson #2. This project had taken much of my time and energy as of late and I can't wait for the second semester when I will hopefully get my life back. By the way, our baby is due July 16th for all those I haven't allready told. I think it is a boy, but Tim is convinced it is a girl. I think he is just hoping we don't have to go out an buy all new boy stuff. We'll see!
Well that is my update. Sorry no pics this time, but I assure you I have plenty from our trip to post.

11 Days and Counting!!!

2009-12-13T19:18:00.001-05:00

We can hardly stand the wait! Hurry Christmas! Hurry Now!

Poor Tim!

2009-11-20T22:13:00.003-05:00

My poor sweet husband Tim had the flu, almost certainly the H1N1. I feel so bad for the guy and don't think I've ever seen him this miserable before. We took him to the doc this morning and they put him on some medication, but his condition really hasn't improved much. This afternoon he started coughing up blood and his fever came back. The doctor didn't sound too concerned, but I am more than a little freaked out. I feel so helpless.
The cherry on top of all this is now it is very questionable as to if we will make it down to Georgia for Thanksgiving. We had planned to drive down to visit Tim's sister tomorrow (Sat) morning, but that is obviously not happening. Tim is saying that maybe if he's feeling really great by Sunday we could try driving down on Monday, but right now I don't see him feeling up to it. I just miss family so much! We were all really looking forward to this trip and I just want to cry thinking that we'll could be spending Thanksgiving sipping chicken broth and watching lame movies instead of partying with the Kimballs and Jefferies.
Well that concluded my therapeutic writing session for the night. I know everything will turn out fine. Tim is a tough guy and I know he will feel better soon. Life will be ok.

Polly want some candy!

2009-11-09T13:26:00.004-05:00

Halloween was a huge hit at the Clawson home! Going for a family theme this year I dressed up as a pirate, Kennedy my parrot, and Tim the sailor. It was a blast making Kennedy's costume this year using a few dollar store feather boas and hot gluing felt and googly eyes to a salvation army red hoodie! At first Kennedy was a little nervous about wearing all the feathers around, but as soon as she realized that the get-up equaled candy she was all in! We got her to say "trick-or-treat" but never could catch it on video.

Posing with a pumpkin

Ready for some candy!

"Can we go already?"

Pirate Mom and her Perching Parrot Pal

It's go time!

"Trick-or-Treat!"
We spend Halloween night with some friends from our ward. They had a perfect neighborhood for trick-or-treating and it was fun to have other kids to go with.

Of course we had to stop by our adopted grandma Margret's house before we set off.

Party Dress!

2009-11-05T19:53:00.003-05:00

Today we received the most exciting package in the mail. Kennedy tore through the packaging to reveal a darling purple dress sewn just for her by Auntie Kayla! It is sooo cute. Of course we threw it on her as fast as she would allow and snapped a million pictures. I can't believe what a talented girl my 15 year old sister is. She is going to make the best mom someday. She can cook like crazy, sew, sing, play the violin, and is the best babysitter west of the Missisippi. We can't wait to visit her and the rest of the Bradshaw clan at Christmas time. Thanks again little sis, you're the best!

Halloween at Greenfield Village

2009-10-28T12:05:00.002-04:00

We decided to visit Greenfield Village before the weather get too cold. It was decorated with over 1000 jack-o-lanterns. We had fun visiting the animals, watching the glass blowers, and going on a model T ride. Hooray!

Scary graveyard!

Riding the carousal

Hello Mr. Cat

Checking out the chickens

Moon Sand Party!

2009-10-28T11:57:00.002-04:00

With the weather getting colder, we are getting creative with our playtime. Kennedy loved crashing down the towers as I built them. She also tried eating the sand, throwing the sand, and hiding behind it???? What a blast!

Pigtail Princess

2009-10-28T11:55:00.001-04:00

I just love this picture. It shows so much of her personality. What a cutie!

Halloween Preview

2009-10-28T11:52:00.001-04:00

I just finished sewing the jacket for Kennedy's parrot costume and couldn't resit sharing a quick photo. She also has claws for her legs and matching feather pants. I love Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-18T23:22:00.002-04:00

Here at the Clawson home we kicked off Halloween early this year. A friend of ours invited us to a party at Childtime Learning Center this past Friday. We had a blast! Kennedy's costume wasn't ready yet, so I threw her in last year's sheep costume. I must say that she may be an even cuter sheep this year than last. (especially now that she can "baaaa" on comand) I whipped out the old lion costume and Tim went as himself. (scary I know!) Kennedy went trunk-or-treating and made a cute picture frame. Kennedy is a big fan of candy gathering, but she's getting a bit protective over her loot. Thanks Diana for an awesome night!

Relief Socity 5 K

2009-10-13T10:56:00.002-04:00

What a fun activity. Thanks to everyone who came! I can't wait until next year's run!

Lord of the Dance... lunch box remix

2009-10-12T17:06:00.002-04:00

Kennedy loves to get on top of our coffee table and dance. Usually this consists of spinning around and a little bouncing up and down if she's really in the groove. This clip highlights her latest move- the quick step. Pardon the birthday suit, but we knew if we stopped to clothe our little dancer the show would be over. Oh... and we have no idea what she was doing with the lunch box????

And Trouble was Her Name-O!

2009-10-10T20:50:00.002-04:00

I thought I'd take this opportunity to record the recent mischief my sweet little baby has been creating in our home. From the moment she started walking, our home has become a disaster zone! First she went for all the cupboards and closets strewing pots, pans, and trash around the kitchen. Luckily a few baby-proof latches put a stop to that crime spree.
Next came the "death roll" while changing diapers which led to the naked running down the halls while mom gave chase, diaper in hand.
After that came the great toilet paper heist and the toilet brush obsession.
Then she discovered the shoe bin delighting in hiding shoes around the house so a matching pair could not be found.
We have also entered the climbing phase. Already I have found her perched on top of the kitchen table (playing with a pile of push pins). She somehow got to the very top of the toilet and sat there proudly surveying the view from the summit. How these kids live to see adulthood I have no idea.
Also among her crimes are food throwing, library book eating, tantrum throwing, and cell phone destroying. She must be stopped!

When stopped for questioning, Kennedy had no comment.

Kennedy and Murphy

2009-10-05T11:01:00.002-04:00

Hair "style"

2009-10-04T12:48:00.005-04:00

Today Kennedy reached an important milestone in her life... her first ponytail! If she grows up to be anything like her mother then this method of hair containment will prove vital. As we honor her on this momentous occasion, lets take a look back on a few of her many other hair-dos.

The half-up bun with an adorable bow look!

The top-tail with bow look!

The pigtail look!

NOOOOOOOO! Not helmet hair!!!

The bed head look, compliments of Ralph the midnight hairdresser!

Yikes! Spike!

And here we are again with the full out ponytail! Wear it with pride my child, wear it with pride!

Breaking the Silence!

2009-09-30T12:13:00.005-04:00

After repeated attempts to upload an adorable video of Kennedy reading a book with Tim, I have decided to just post SOMETHING to break this ridiculously long silence in my blogging career. I'm sure those who read this blog are sick of seeing the same old post week after week. It's not like there hasn't been plenty to post. I still need to post the rest of the pictures from my family's exciting visit to Michigan, not to mention Tim's brother Kevin's trip out the week after. There is our week as the parents of four children and a dog to be discusses with plenty of pics of Kennedy acting like her furry companion. I really don't have much of an excuse for my break in blogging other than a general sense of "blah" that has reduced my days to dancing around necessary tasks and a overall lack of motivation. If I were still in school, I would chock this up to midterm burnout, but alas my life is no longer so segregated.
Well enough whining. I've posted something. The spell in broken. Hopefully you will be hearing more from me soon!Here is a completely unrelated picture of Kennedy for all her fans who miss seeing her.

Hurrah for History!

2009-08-30T21:47:00.009-04:00

Not long after Kennedy was born I felt the need to get involved somewhere outside the home. After a surprisingly difficult search for volunteer opportunities, I stumbled onto the Plymouth Historical Museum. Home to several interesting exhibits on the town's history as well as the largest Lincoln collection in Michigan, it immediately provided me with several opportunities to get involved. I started off as a docent giving tours of the museum and I put my history degree to good use researching and studying up on the various material on display. I also worked a bit on the museums website, not that I had any idea what I was doing.
I recently finished a project that I am especially proud of and so if you will all forgive me as I toot my own horn I will tell you about it. Apparently the newest thing in the museum world are cell phone audio tours, where patrons use their own phones to hear interesting information on the sites or exhibits. Our little museum purchased this program and through a series of interesting events the project came to me. After a lot of research, I finished the script and then set about recording the tour. It was weird to hear my voice that often. Does anyone else think their voice sounds weird?
Anyhow, I just finished recording the tour this week and made little signs with each prompt on them to go around the museum. I think it turned out rather well and we've already gotten some great feedback from the first wave of patrons to try it this weekend.
I am just excited to realize that I don't have to stop thinking, learning, and doing just because I am a stay at home mom. I can use the degree I earned and help share what I know with others. I was worried that that part of my would have to be put on the shelve until my kids were raised, but now I see that I can put my child first and continue to share and grow at the same time.
Well, that's enough about that.

If you would like to listen to the audio tour... come to the museum! If Plymouth, Michigan is a little out of your way you can also just dial the tour number. There are 12 prompts, but I only included a few of the signs. Check out our website at: http://plymouthhistory.org/

Great Michigan Adventure: Mackinaw

2009-08-21T08:47:00.005-04:00

Day 3:
Sunday dawned bright and early with 8:30 church. Kennedy wore her cute new dress from Grandma and had fun playing with all the aunts and uncles during the meetings.
After church we ate a quick meal and then loaded into the cars to head up north.
While planning the Great Michigan Adventure, we decided that Mackinaw Island was one of the highlights of Michigan and was worth the 4 hour trip to see. We were right!
The whole area was incredible. We stayed in Mackinaw city in hotel with a sandy beach and had a grand time playing in the sand. My parents took a lovely stroll along the coast and we ended the day with a laser light show. What fun!

Kennedy walking pensively in her new dress.

Moving into our hotel room.

Where are my legs?

Day 4:
Wanting to get an early start, we headed off to Fort Michilamackinaw right after breakfast. Of all the historical sites we visited, Fort Michilamackinaw was definitely my favorite. Located on the northern tip of Michigan's mainland, right next to Mackinaw bridge, it was an early trading post for first the Indians and later the white trades. A fort was soon built on the location by first the French and was later occupied by the British. During the Revolutionary War, the British abandoned the fort for a much more defenable location on Mackinaw Island.
The whole place was brimming with cool stories and amazing artifacts. I want to go back next summer as a historical interpetor. Kennedy and I could dress up like a fur trader's wife and child and hang out for a week makine dutch oven and taking about history. Sweet!
After the fort, Tim and I took Kennedy back to the hotel for a nap while the rest of the gang toured an old lighthouse.
We met back up for lunch and then took off again to see Historic Mill Creek, an old saw mill used to cut logs for most of the homes on Mackinaw Island. Being the granddaughter of a logger, I found the whole thing very interesting. It is amazing how they harnessed the water to power their saw and other tools. Very clever!
Back at the hotel, it was time for a beach party. Armed with a bucket and shovels, we built many unique sand creations. The sand bar extended way out into the lake and we had a blast playing frisby in the water and surfing the waves created by the ferries going back and forth from the island. Only Kennedy failed to apprecaite the experience, nervously eyeing each wave and expressing her displeasure when the cold lake water touched her toes.
That night, my Mom and sister Kayla hit up the shops and brought home our first taste of Mackinaw fudge. Tim, Ryan, Jared, and I forked out the three dollars to cross the bridge into the U.P. (upper penisula) to see the wonders of the north. We hiked up castle rock to catch a great sunset and took our picture next to Paul Bunyon and Babe the Blue Ox.
Kennedy and my Dad hung out at the hotel and went for a walk.
All in all, it was a perfect day!

Day 5:
As the morning fog blanketed the vast grey waters of Lake Huron, we set off by ferry to Mackinaw Island. A cold breeze and a few sprinkles made me wish I had brought a jacket. When the details of the island came into view, I could see just what draws so many visitors here each year. Quant, scenic, fresh, colorful; are just a few words I would use to describe the tiny town set up on one corner of the island. Once on land, we set off to taste as many free samples of fudge as could be obtained before we turned to hike up towards Fort Mackinaw.
Although Fort Mackinaw was established by the British during the revolutionary war, they chose to depict it as it was in the 1880's. I loved learning about all the phases of the fort and the island in general. I am such a history geek!
After the fort, Kennedy and I stopped by the butterfly house while the rest of the gang scouted out bikes. We decided to eat lunch before our bike ride and happened upon an excellent all-you-can-eat pizza place. We stuffed ourselves sick and then rented a few bikes to go burn of the calories. My parents and Tim and Ryan started off on two tandem bikes with Kennedy on the back of my bike and K and J riding single. We played musical bikes the rest of the ride switching rides each stop. It was absolutely beautiful riding along the shore.
After turning in our bikes, we walked up to the Grand Hotel, a huge summer resort on the island. I guess it was the site for the movie Somewhere in Time. They tried to charge $10 to go inside, but my brother Ryan found a way to get in and look around.
As the day wound to an end, we settled on our favorite fudge shop to by a treat for the ride home. (After all our sampling, we were pretty much fudge experts) Fudge in hand, and mouth, we boarded the ferry for a ride back to the mainland. I was very sad as we piled into our cars and drove back home. I can't wait to visit Mackinaw again.

The Great Michigan Adventure!

2009-08-16T17:55:00.013-04:00

When my family booked a flight to visit us distant Clawsons back in March, I had no idea what an adventure we would have. After a dedicated team of siblings counted down the days until the visit down to zero, the time had finally arrived. After a slight rain delay in Denver, the Bradshaws flew into the Motor City to kick off the Great Michigan Adventure.

Kennedy playing with her uncles after picking them up from the 1 am flight.

Day 1: After a yummy breakfast of blueberry pancakes, the crew headed outside to walk down Hines Drive to the park. Along the way we stopped by Newburg Lake and visited the horses at the Sheriff's barn on the way home. We had lunch and then drove in shifts (we only had one car) to downtown Plymouth. Kennedy and grandma played with the puppets while the rest of the gang looked for a good book on cd for the drive to Mackinac or movies. After the library, I took the fam to see the Plymouth Historical Museum. I had just finished the first recording of the free audio guided tour of the Lincoln room exhibit. It has been quite the project, but it was cool to see my family listening to my tour. As I drove back home to pick up Tim, the rest walked around the shops in Plymouth. We met up at Panera for an awesome dinner.
When we finished eating, we sat out on the grass in Kellog Park and listened to the Friday night concert. The group played blues music that none of us really loved, but it was fun just to hang out.

Kennedy and Grandpa playing in the park.

Aunt Kayla helping on the slide.

Pretty horse, pretty horse.

Grandma and Kennedy playing with the puppets.

Dad and Ryan with Lincoln's horse Bob in the Plymouth Historical Museum.

Enjoying the outdoor concert in the park.

Day 2:

We had previously planned to spend Saturday in Greenfield Village; however, a the downpour outside caused us to quickly change plans. We decided to go to the Henry Ford instead. As a history buff, I am ashamed to say that after living here for over a year I had never been to the Henry Ford museums. Boy was I missing out. There is so much to see and do. I think I could go everyday for a year and still not learn everything. My dad may have been the best part of the whole museum as he bounded around with childlike glee amidst all the amazing exhibits.
My favorites were the presidential cars, the Rosa Parks Bus, the made in America assembly line, the crazy dymaxion house, and the giant train. I can't wait to go back!
After the museum we went to Buddy's pizza for dinner and ate delicious square pizza to our hearts delight.
Back at home, I whipped up Kennedy's "Bird"-day cake and we got ready for her 1st birthday party! Using chocolate bunt cake for the nest, blow pops for eggs, and a bean bag bird for the topper I think I did alright for my 1st real cake design. I've got a long way to go to get to my mom's level, but baby steps. Kennedy seemed to enjoy the cake and even blew at the candle (she needed a little extra wind to finish it off).
She was a riot opening her gifts, handing me each piece of wrapping paper as she tore it off. She got great gifts from her aunts and uncles and grandma and grandpa. Her dad resorted to wrapping her current toys in tin foil for his birthday offering. She didn't know the difference.
As you can see from the pictures, she went after the cake with gusto. Hooray for her new raincoat/ bib!
For the party game, we made paper birds to hang in Kennedy's room. I must say that we created quite a diverse flock, but Kennedy loved them all.

Riding in a Model T!

Working hard on the assembly line. I need more wheels!!!

Buddy's Pizza!

"Bird"-day cake

Happy 1st birthday Kennedy!

Getting messy!

Crazy birds!

One year ago....

2009-07-30T21:42:00.001-04:00

It seems like only yesterday we were anxiously awaiting the arrival of our new baby. As our due date, July 28th, came and went, I remember being especially uncomfortable as the Michigan humidity reached new heights and my ankles started to swell. I felt weeks overdue even though it was only a day. To get labor started, I tried jumping jacks, scrubbing my floor on hands and knees, and even a little running (speed walking). Despite weak contractions for several weeks, Kennedy refused to make her appearance. I'd lay awake at night hoping tonight would be the night.
One thing I was sure of was that I would be showered and cute, all packed and ready to go, and that the house would be spotless. Each day I would do a quick run through to make sure that the house was tidy and everything was set in case I went into labor. Well by the time Tuesday the 29th rolled around, I decided that I was doomed to be pregnant forever and went ahead and started a sewing project. I had purchased a window valence for Kennedy's room that was too short, so I found some matching material to add length to each end. I figured the project would take me an hour or so and I would have plenty of time to make dinner and clean up before meeting Tim for my 3:40 doctor's appointment that day. As most projects do, this one took way longer than expected and before I knew it Tim was home, the house (and me) was a mess, and I had not eaten all day.
I quickly threw my hair in a pony tail and ran out the door. At the doctor's office, they hooked me up to a monitor to see how the baby and I were doing. I think the nurse must have hooked it up wrong because the results showed Kennedy's heart rate cutting out. (I knew it was because the monitor kept slipping off my stomach) However, this and a few regular contractions convinced the doctor to send me over to the hospital for more tests.
I was so mad. After all my preparation, the one day I leave the house a mess and forget to wear make-up I have to go to the hospital. Luckily the doctor said we could go home first and eat dinner and get our bags, just in case.
At home, Tim made some grilled cheese sandwiches and got our things together while I showered, tidied up the house a little, and got ready. By that time I wasn't mad anymore, just excited that we might finally get to meet our baby girl.
Once at the hospital, they had me change into a gown and sit in a room hooked up to monitors while they waited for the ultrasound room to open up. A nurse came in and checked to see how dilated I was and to my horror told me I was only at a 2. (I had been told I was a 6 at my OB)
Nevertheless, my contractions stayed close together and were becoming a little more intense.
After an hour of waiting, I was wheeled to get an ultrasound to make sure the baby was doing ok. Everything checked out, but it was so cool to see Kennedy only hours before she was born.
By this point the doctor that sent me to the clinic had gone home and the new doctor, Dr. Gatt made the call to go a head and admit me. I was never so excited in my life. We were having a baby!
St. Mary Mercy had a beautiful birthing suite for us with a couch/bed for Tim. I loved all my nurses. Because I had tested positive for strep early on in the pregnancy, I had to get an IV started to administer antibiotics. This proved to be a big pain as I couldn't get up and move around without help or move my arm around much.
The machine monitoring my contractions showed that they were steady, but not increasing so the doctor told me to try and get some sleep and he would be back around 6 am if I hadn't progressed any further. This is the point where I really wished I was back in my own bed and able to eat a real dinner (they wouldn't let me eat anything once I was admitted). Instead Tim and I tossed and turned not really sleeping.
When the doctor returned the next morning, he decided to put me on pitocin to kick start my contractions. After that, things started to get a little more intense, but nothing I would really classify as pain. Around noon Dr. Gatt broke my water and things really started to get going. Before long I was really feeling it and had to work through each contraction. I hadn't decided before hand if I wanted to deliver natural or have an epidural. I think if I hadn't been up all night tossing and turning I may have stuck it out and tried natural, but I was too tired.
When the anesthesiologist came to put my epidural in, I was in so much pain it was all I could do to sit still while the put the needle in. However, after the medicine kicked in I was just fine and didn't feel much until it was time to push.
I must have relaxed a lot after the epidural because Kennedy's head dropped into position and they lost her heart rate for a while. I kind of panicked when the doctor and all the nurses rushed into see what was wrong. They had me get on my hands and knees to try and rotate the baby and then attached a monitor to the top of her head to keep a closer eye on things. I was feeling a little out of it and was scared to not know what was wrong. Her vitals quickly returned to normal and in short hour I was ready to push.
The nurse kept telling me not to push until I absolutely had to, but I think she was mostly waiting for the doctor at that point. By the time he came into the room, I was ready to go and after 5 minutes and a few hard pushes, we had our little girl. The exact time was 3:09 pm. The whole experience was kind of surreal and I was so focused on pushing that I barely noticed what was happening around me. I do remember when the doctor had Kennedy safely out he said something like "You're got a beautiful baby girl." The problem was I didn't hear the last part and was sure he had said boy. I kept asking the nurses around me if it was a girl, but I must not have said it very loud. When the finally handed her to me I couldn't believe how tiny she was. She was perfect in every way. It was hard to see any resemblance right off, but I knew she was our little girl. Apparently the whole delivery was a little much for Tim because the doctor had him sit down and drink some fluids before he passed out.
After they took Kennedy off to weigh her and check vitals, (7 lbs 12 oz, 21 in) I couldn't think of anything but how thirsty I was. I must have downed 5 gallons of juice that day and I was still thirsty.
After Kennedy was washed and bundled up, they gave her back to me to hold. I was so tired, but I wanted to just sit there staring at her forever. She didn't cry but just looked around like she was so excited to be here. Once she did start crying, a pinky finger was all she needed to settle down.
Looking back on it, we should have been way more nervous that we were to have this new addition to the family. We were clueless, but so happy.After a while, we called all the family to tell them the great news and I finally got to eat a real meal! The rest of the hospital stay was uneventfully but much longer than I liked.
It hardly seems like it has been a year, but I have the grown up girl to prove it. I remember looking at the cuddly little ball in my arms and wondering if she would ever DO anything. Oh baby, does she ever. Now it's trying to get her to sit still that I worry about. She is walking, climbing, blowing on her food, dancing (moving her bum to music), and talking (well sort of). It blows my mind how far she has come in 12 short months. Happy birthday Kennedy! We love you!Show all

Rasberry Picking!

2009-07-28T15:26:00.005-04:00

I just got back from a trip to a berry farm to pick raspberries and thought I'd better post about it now before I find a reason to procrastinate. A friend of mine in the ward had been last year and invited me and a few others to go a-picking. If my mom is reading this she may be wondering what possessed her once very anti-berry picking child to hit the fields for fun. To which I would reply- for the pictures of Kennedy of course! That and the life sustaining raspberry jam soon to follow. Yum! We shall definitely be back next year for some more fun on the berry farm.

Kennedy couldn't wait to help me pick although she never quite grasped the difference between red berries and white... or rocks.

The berry picking gang

I don't know which she enjoyed more, the raspberries or the dirt.

Even confined in the stroller, she still wanted to help pick berries.

Look at all those berries!

Princess for a Day

2009-07-24T09:15:00.002-04:00

Kennedy was so excited to have McKenna and Morgan over to play on Monday while Kimberly was at girls camp. It was so funny to watch her try to act like the big girls. I couldn't resit taking a few pictures of the girls in their princess costumes. Do they make dress-ups for adults?

Master Carpenter

2009-07-24T08:54:00.006-04:00

I love Tim for many reasons. He is kind and loving, funny and smart. As if that wasn't enough, he also turns out to be a master carpenter. Since we've been married he has refurbished an old dresser, converted a kitchen cupboard into a changing table for Kennedy. He built a shelve for Kennedy's room as well and recently made her a matching bookcase. To add to the list, he just finished a bench to hold shoes for our entry way. All this without any workshop and virtually no power tools. What a guy!

Prepping the wood to be cut. Thanks Bro. Dunnigan for letting us borrow your saw.

The finished product!

Crazy Legs

2009-07-17T20:58:00.003-04:00

Her legs get a little less wobbly every day.
She has recently created her own engine sound.

We Love Plymouth!

2009-07-14T21:14:00.002-04:00

We love living next to Plymouth, Michigan. There is always something going on. This last weekend was Art in the Park, a street fair with local art and crafts for sale. It made a great date night and a fun time for Kennedy too.

Check out this awesome sidewalk chalk artist! We didn't stick around to see the finished product, but I'm sure it looked cool.

Plymouth also does a great kids concert series on Wednesdays in the town park. We met up with a couple of friends from the ward and had a fun time watching the kids dancing and running around.

Kennedy and her friends at the kids concert.

Pals!

Last Stop: Indianapolis

2009-07-12T22:21:00.001-04:00

Our final stop of the trip was Indianapolis. We stayed with Tim's college friend Brad and his wife Kim to see how they celebrate the 4th of July Indian-style. Unfortunately, Indiana-style included 24 hrs of drizzling rain and a serious lack of BBQ-ing. However, we didn't let the rain keep us from celebrating Independence Day and made the most of things with a trip to Uncle Bill's pet shop (apparently it's like a zoo, but free!), a dollar movie, dinner at a Mexican restaurant (patriotic, I know) and a trip downtown to watch the fireworks. The rain did manage to cancel the firework show, but not before we had our fun sitting around Monument Circle with a few other brave souls while we got soaked to the bone. All in all it was a great end to a great trip. Thanks again to Brad and Kim for letting us invade their home and let Kennedy repeatedly attempt to trash your bookcases. We had a blast!

Nauvoo: The City Beautiful

2009-07-09T22:22:00.004-04:00

After leaving Chicago, we headed south to Nauvoo. I had been a few years ago and enjoyed it, but this stay was such a great experience. The spirit is so strong at all the sites and especially in the temple. Tim and I took turns doing a session while the other stayed with li'l K. I love all the senior missionaries and their enthusiasm. It is such a fun place for kids with tons of games and shows. Kennedy loved it! Here are a few pics.

Chicago Trip

2009-07-06T12:11:00.011-04:00

We just got back from a great family vacation. Tim was required to take the week of the 4th off due to a Ford shut down so we decided to see a bit more of the country. We traveled to Chicago, Nauvoo, and Indianapolis spending two nights in each place. Kennedy was a pleasant traveling buddy, sleeping most of the 20 hours we spent in the car. She was a real trooper going from one museum to the next with no naps.

We loved Chicago and definitely would like to return someday. There is so much to see and do! Out first day we went to the Sears tower, planetarium, and a great Chicago style pizza place.

Day two, we visited the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, and Navy Pier. We also went for a dip in the hotel pool.

Our last day in Chicago, we went to the Museum of Science and Industry. Both Tim and I really loved this one and would recommend it to anyone planning a trip. We left Chicago and headed off to our next destination Nauvoo. But first here are some pictures of our stay in the windy city.

Standing at the top of the Sears Tower. Don't look down!

View from the Sears Tower. It is amazing how big Lake Michigan is. You can't see the other side, even from the 99th floor.

Kennedy and Mommy checking out an exhibit at the Planetarium.

Poor baby! She tried to get a nap in anywhere she could - even during the cool planetarium star show.

The Chicago skyline across Lake Michigan.

After a long day of site seeing, Kennedy lost it in our hotel room.

Kennedy and Daddy taking care of their pearly whites!

In front of the Field Museum.

Picnic outside the Shedd Aquarium. The rain waited until we finished eating to start falling.

Tim, Rachel, Kennedy, and Sue the T-Rex!

Big bone, little baby. Kennedy loved all the awesome displays at the field museum.

Love those Dinos!

Kennedy and Daddy in front of the Field Museum totem poles.

Chilling with the Triceratops.

Here fishie, fishie!

The Clawsons love fish!

Crazy sea dragon.

Kennedy had a blast playing in the interactive kid pools. She touched starfish, sea urchins and splashed around.

Kennedy was apparently unimpressed by the Beluga whales. Tim and I both thought it was pretty cool. The whales kept coming up from the pool and blowing air.

Kennedy at the Navy Pier.

Looking out onto Lake Michigan from the Navy Pier.

German U-boat submarine.

Choooo-Chooooo!

Tired after a long day at the Museum of Science and Industry.

Plymouth Concert

2009-06-27T10:16:00.003-04:00

Last Thursday, we decided to hit up the Downtown Plymouth outdoor symphony concert. After a lovely dinner at Panera and a walk around the shops, we set up our chairs to enjoy the concert. The music was very well preformed and we enjoyed the night immensely. Kennedy was a big hit with the surrounding grandmas and dogs. We tried to get a picture of her tooth, but she remains close-mouthed on the issue.

Kennedy and her Dad enjoying the music.
Kennedy and Mom in the park.
Where is that tooth?
"No one is taking a picture of my tooth"

Pool Party!

2009-06-27T10:05:00.004-04:00

The weather has turned HOT here in Michigan and that can only mean one thing.... Swimming! We were about as excited as ever to take our new little fish to the apartment pool for her first swim of the summer. Unfortunately, our pool is not heated and despite the hot weather remains fairly frigid. After the initial shock however, it felt fine and Kennedy loved splashing around in her baby boat.

Preparing to enter the arctic sea. Kennedy did ok until Tim cannonballed into the water splashing us with cold water. Kennedy was scared of him the rest of the swim.

Floating around in the baby boat. She was nervous to get in at first, but soon loved to lean over and spash the water as we chugged along.

Tim and Kennedy outside the pool.

Drying of in the sun. I love this towel robe! What a cutie!

Super Star!

2009-06-27T09:50:00.005-04:00

It is hard to believe that Kennedy is almost a year old. It just blows my mind how big she's getting. She already has such a fun personality and I can't wait to get to know her better.
Last Sunday, we did an activity with the YW where I gave out these sweet shades. I couldn't resist trying them on Kennedy and trying to snap a picture during the 3 seconds they stayed on her face. She's a fast draw that kid!
Either Kennedy has the whole rock star hair going on or her dad tried to fix her hair? I'm afraid it is the later. Here we see the obvious difference when Dad does Kennedy's hair as opposed to Mom. I will never be a hair stylist, but after seeing Tim's various hairdoos I think Kennedy is lucky to have me.

Daddy's spiky wave-do

Mommy's pigtail specialty

One Small Step for Kennedy...

2009-06-27T00:26:00.005-04:00

After several weeks of shaky steps, I think Kennedy has finally got the hang of walking. She just took off out of the blue this afternoon and has been strutting her stuff all night. As usual she finds the camera a bit distracting and fails to preform under the lime light, but we did capture a few steps before she tired to eat the camera. Yea Kennedy, we're so proud of you!

Suprise Trip to Utah!

2009-06-07T23:36:00.001-04:00

Back in April, Kennedy and I made a surprise trip to Utah. What a fun trip! We went to Canyonlands National Park with my family, Hogle Zoo with the Clawsons, and everything else we could pack into 2 weeks. I took about a zillion pictures and rather than sort through them all I found this handy slide show creator online. Thanks everyone for the memories and a special thanks to my wonderful husband Tim who let us abandone him for two weeks. What a guy!

Daddy's Girl

2009-06-03T17:00:00.003-04:00

Here is a video of Kennedy's newest word. What I want to know is how come it wasn't "Mommy"? There is no justice in life. Note: Check out her crazy post pigtail hair. Yikes!

Madame Librarian

2009-06-03T16:45:00.005-04:00

Kennedy is officially a book worm. She loves to sit and read with me every morning after her nap. I'm not sure she fully comprehends what the books are for as she keeps trying to turn the pages before I can read them. She really likes to hold them herself and will sit there going "A-la-da-da-da" like she's reading them to me. She even points to things on the page and and looks at me as if she's explaining them. I am so grateful that Tim built Kennedy a new book shelve for her room although most of the books are mine. He is becoming quite the master craftsman.

Kennedy checking out the books on her new shelve.

Not book related, but I liked this picture.

Memorial Day Campout!

2009-06-03T16:24:00.006-04:00

I know I should really post my Utah trip before I move on, but the pictures are piling up. For the Memorial Day weekend, we went on our 1st Clawson Family campout! It was such a blast. We went to Crooked Lake in the Pinkney Rec Area (about 15 min northwest of Ann Arbor). We set of Friday after Tim got home from work. We hit some traffic and even managed to get rear-ended in our new car. (some people have all the luck) However, our spirits were not to be deterred and we pushed on to our final destination. The lake was cute and the weather PERFECT! I made Dutch oven ribs, Parmesan herb rolls, and baked potatoes. I think my favorite part about camping may be the food. That and watching Kennedy get covered in dirt as she chases bugs around the campsite. We just let her get as dirty as she wanted to. p.s. How do you remove dirt stains?
Anyway, we had a big fire and went on a few hikes. Kennedy loved all the wildlife, especially the birds. All in all it was the most relaxing campout I have ever enjoyed. Thanks to my hubby Tim for his easy going nature and adventurous spirit. I can't wait for our next trip!

Kennedy and Mommy staying warm by the fire.

Napping in the tent.

Dirt Monster!

Rachel making the Dutch Oven rolls. Boy were they good!

First Word?

2009-05-20T10:52:00.003-04:00

Well, it's about time I posted something. I suppose my hyperactive photography during my recent trip to Utah overloaded my system and I had to shut 'er down for a while. All systems are go now and I would like to kick things off with a video clip of my favorite actress, Little Kennedy Clawson. To preface this clip, for the last few weeks Kennedy has picked up on waving. She waves to birds, her reflection, her bed, she loves to wave (accept when mommy wants to show others this new skill) Anyhow, the last few days as she waves she makes a noise rather like the word "hi". You can see for yourself on the clip. So the question for you is... first word or random babblings? Vote today!

Home Again!

2009-04-30T17:01:00.002-04:00

Kennedy and I just returned from our surprise two week trip to Utah. What a blast! Nobody saw us coming and it was great to see the look on their faces as we surprise them. I have many stories from our adventures and even more pictures, but that may have to wait. I can't find my camera cord to upload the pics and must clean the office area first in order to find it. I couldn't leave the Pre-Easter post up forever so I decided to shoot off a quick hello. More to come. Clawson out!

Easter Prep

2009-04-01T11:26:00.007-04:00

With Easter only a week away, we have been working around the clock to prepare Kennedy for her 1st Easter Egg Hunt. With a slight disadvantage in the mobility department, we knew that training would be the key to a successful Easter egg hunt.
Step 1 in her preparation for the big hunt was to get acquainted with the eggs. We have let her play with the eggs, sleep with the eggs, and even bath with the eggs. Then we practice putting the eggs in the basket. (We are still working on this as Kennedy is much more excited to remove said eggs from the basket and throw them) Also, she has decided that the the basket is much more desirable as a hat then a storage device. Step 2 of Egg Hunt Training, is to see the egg- get the egg. This included several crawling courses in which she had to crawl past tempting bottles, mommy's jewelry, and several cell phones to reach the desired eggs. It was a challenge both physically and mentally, but she has worked hard to stay focused. Eye on the prize Kennedy, eye on the prize!
Step 3 was to find your inner bunny. We figure if she can act like a bunny, she can think like a bunny and figure out where this bunny will hide all the eggs. Brilliant I know! Here she is doing some of her hopping exercises.

Step 4 is learning how to open the eggs and share the candy with mom and dad. This is also proving to be a challenge as the few times she can actually get the eggs open, she is under the false impression that the contents are for her. Silly girl!

Well, we got to get back to training. Only a few days left and we still have a lot of work to do! Happy Hopping!

Growl-Fest 2009

2009-04-01T10:57:00.003-04:00

Ever since she was born, Tim (and yes occasionally me) enjoy crawling up to Kennedy like an animal and growling. This usually elicits a laugh or a smile or some sort of crazy arm action as she tries to escape the tickle claws sure to follow. Recently however, Kennedy is not content to be growled at and has started growling right back at us. It is pretty funny to walk in on Kennedy and Tim sitting on the floor growling at each other. The video clips never do it justice, but here is one such growl-fest.

Please don't take my pen!

2009-03-26T13:46:00.001-04:00

Little Drummer Girl

2009-03-24T14:30:00.002-04:00

I don't know why I bother with cute, colorful baby toys. Give Kennedy some pots and chopsticks and she is good for hours. I love that she even has rock star hair in these pics.

In the Army Now!

2009-03-24T13:58:00.003-04:00

Now several weeks into the "crawling phase", we have decided that Kennedy is ready to join our brave military forces (at least on any low crawling missions through baby proofed terrain) It is so funny how she pulls herself along with her arms, when she knows how to use her legs. When she is on a slippery surface like tile or wood floors she gets up on all fours, but on carpet it's back the army crawl. Silly baby! Either way, she sure can move. My favorite activity is walking from one end of our apartment to another watching her "talk" and crawl after me. She makes the funniest noises while crawling.

Sippy Cup

2009-03-24T13:13:00.003-04:00

For those of you who enjoyed "Kennedy and the Cup", we proudly present "Kennedy and the Sippy Cup: The Saga Continues"! This past week she finally got the hang of using a sippy cup. I think her shirts appreciate the change. (and her mom who got to wash all those wet shirts :-)

Sing-a-long with Little K !

2009-03-17T11:57:00.003-04:00

At Sacrament Meeting this past Sunday, as we opened up the hymn book for the opening song, Kennedy grabbed the book, looking from it to us and then back again. When we started singing she chimed right in with her own harmony of hoots and wales. She wasn't quiet about it either. A few heads turned to see who was making the noise, but Kennedy was not deterred. She sang every song and even joined in when she heard the organ start up while we were out in the hall. For FHE last night we ended up singing about 6 songs just to hear her going at it. What a crazy kid!

Pictionary

2009-03-12T20:44:00.003-04:00

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and since Kennedy can't talk yet they come in extra handy. Here are a few pictures I took of Kennedy last night when she was supposed to be going to bed. *sigh*

Attack!!!!

"Please take my picture!"

"Who me?" or "I'm way to cute to sleep"(Note the two pigtails on top)

Fine Dining

2009-03-12T20:33:00.005-04:00

Tuesday night Tim volunteered to feed Kennedy her dinner. 15 minutes later 25% of the oats had found their way into Kennedy's mouth while the remaining 75% covered the high chair, floor, and face of our little monster. At that point there was really nothing to do but let her play, so we thought we'd at least capture the moment for posterity.

Creepy Crawler

2009-03-09T12:51:00.003-04:00

Here is some footage of Kennedy learning to crawl. Even though I only took it last week, it is already out of date. Kennedy is a regular speed demon now and I am bracing myself (and the house) for her adventures. She has already developed a keen eye for the potato bug that somehow find their way into our house. They curl up on the edge of the carpet and the wall. Kennedy spots them and crawls over to investigate. Of course her form of investigation always seems to involve her mouth. She sure keeps me on her toes.
So, its hard to see if she's moving forward in the video, but she has definitely got it down now.

Walking on Water

2009-03-05T15:04:00.003-05:00

This past Saturday, we experienced a virtual heat wave here in Michigan when the temperatures reached a staggering 35 degrees. Yes folks, that is indeed above freezing. Not daring to waste such a beautiful day, we ventured outside for a pleasant walk. We are fortunate to have such a lovely lake just behind our house, so we wandered down the path to see if the lake had melted yet. After throwing a few rocks and watching the ice sustain some large geese wandering over it, we decided this was our chance to venture out onto a frozen lake. We took turns walking out on the lake while the other one waited on shore with Kennedy and our phone poised to call 911 in case the other plunged into the frozen water. We sure know how to live on the edge! Needless to say the ice held and we lived to tell the tale. Here are some pics from our amazing adventure.

Laundry Helper

2009-03-05T14:54:00.002-05:00

Laundry (or at least folding it) is probably one of my least favorite tasks. However, Kennedy doesn't seem to mind it one bit. She loves to roll around in the fresh-from-the-dryer piles of clothes and chew on socks and shirts before I can snatch them away. This week I tried several methods of keeping her out of the clothes such as putting her in the basket or covering her with the hamper. She had a blast trying to escape from "Laundry Prison". Babies can be so fun.

Water Baby

2009-03-04T10:52:00.003-05:00

I can't believe how grown up my little girl is! She has started to crawl, makes lots of new sounds, and has enough hair for a little ponytail on top. I can't handle it. Apparently, Kennedy has noticed her own maturity as well and decided that it is time to drink like the big people do. We can't take a drink in her presence without sharing or she goes throws a baby fit. We usually give in because
a) it's hard to resist a cute baby fit; and b)watching her try to drink from a glass is hilarious. Enjoy!

Joys of Parenthood

2009-02-24T08:54:00.004-05:00

Before Kennedy, I used to see parent with their children and think, "Wow, I want that." As I reflect on those feelings now I realize how naive I was. I had no idea what they had and could never know unless I experienced it for myself. I saw that they were happy and I had heard them try to explain the complicated mix of ups and downs that parenthood is and speak with love and anger at the journey. I myself had played part in this drama in the role of a daughter, but even then I could only know my side and my feelings.
Now I am a mother and have begun to taste the fruits for myself. I have my moments when I feel like screaming or crying and my moments when its all I can do to keep from hugging my child to death. I laugh at her silly faces and kiss her tiny toes. I worry, I wake, I pray and I work. My life is more complicated now with car seats, feedings, diapers and nerves and yet infinitely simplified with love and family. Tim and I have come closer together and yet sometimes we barely see each other with her interrupting needs punctuating our short time alone. But at the end of the day there is joy. The joy I saw in the face of those women, but more than I could ever understand.

Baby Mozart

2009-02-20T14:18:00.003-05:00

Kennedy's new favorite playtime activity is tickling the ivories for hours on end. She is usually more intense than in this clip, but you get the idea. She also likes to sit and watch me play sometimes grabbing my fingers as they go by. She has also really started to babble and gets really into it while we "sing" and play. Move over Beethoven, Kennedy is in the house!