Ecola Beach Day

 
 
 
JD passed his test yesterday which means we get to have a play weekend.  The past few have been wet, and spent getting caught up with chores and studying for quizzes, so it was very exciting when we had a 60 degree sunny forecast.  We ended up going to Ecola, Cannon, and Tolovana beaches.  We also got to buy and use our Oregon State Park Annual Pass.  We received half the cost of the pass as a Christmas present from JD's cousin Jovi/Aunt and Uncle, but we have been holding off on getting it until we could start going a little more often.  Most parks in Oregon are completely free, but there are some close fun ones that do have a $5.00 day use fee.  JD fell asleep by haystack rock, we ate chowder at Mo's, and had fun walking around and relaxing a bit.  We are looking forward to many more sun-shiny days.

Mad Hatter Party

My ward is pretty awesome.  We had our Relief Society Mad Hatter Unbirthday Party and it was so fun.  I have no idea how long it took them to decorate but the cultural hall was amazing.  There were lanterns strung across the ceiling, and we got to have a delicious dinner, but it was important to fill your plate because every once in a while the Alice in Wonderland background music would stop and you would change tables if you met the criteria such as eating breakfast, wearing glasses, or having fruit on your plate, once you moved you got to meet/eat with new people.  The cake was delicious and fancy and it was a good night getting to know people better.

Tons of Tulips

Once upon a time I pinned a project on Pinterest that involved growing tulips in glass jars with only water.  One day, while out shopping for Christmas I saw a bag of 50 tulips on sale and thought it would be worth getting a bag to give my pin a try.  Amidst all that was going on, I forgot to remove the tulips from the back of my car.  There they stayed for months until I found them while looking for something.  To my great surprise I discovered upon opening the bag that all 50 tulips were budding and growing!  This week has consisted of trying to find ways to plant the tulips.  I gave some to friends, put some in a vase of water per my original Pinterest plan, planted some in a pot and took them to work, and I still have many more to get into some soil this week.  Moral of the story: why bother planting bulbs in the fall when you can just grow them in the back of your car?

Hanging out with the boys

We have made some great friends while here in Oregon.  One couple is the Whitings.  Our second week in the ward JD and Tyler saw each other and were confused and excited to see that we were both in Oregon going to school.  Tyler, who is here for dental school, served in India at the same time as JD, we have actually found out of a few others that have migrated to the Portland area for work and school, it is just odd because for such a small mission, especially for non-natives, it is crazy to have people from Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and Idaho all here for different reasons. Anyway, we love hanging out with the Whitings and their cute boys Cashen and Tate.  We got to watch them after church on Sunday while Mommio and Daddio went to the hospital to "get the baby out" as Cashen termed it.  They are cute boys and they love playing with JD.  I just thought it was so funny to turn around after cleaning up from dinner and see all three of them watching Cars and JD being stock piled with balls, trucks, cars, and planes.  We played outside for a bit and noticed that Cashen had been staring at the same plot of dirt for about 10 minutes-an eternity for a 3 year old.  Turns out they had planted flowers the previous day and he was waiting for them to 'pop their heads out, and for the worms'.  He was disappointed when we told him digging out the worms would ruin the flowers.  We had a fun sleep over, and are excited to meet baby Reed soon.

Temple Waterfowl

The temple is open again! While it is a study weekend, JD and I were able to go and also had some delicious soup from the cafeteria today.  I am super excited for Spring, you can see a ton of flowers that were either planted while the grounds were closed or that are getting ready to grow, it will be super pretty when they all pop out.  There were even a few daffodils out.  I noticed a pair of mallards when we were walking past the pond that were preening their feathers.  I thought it was a funny and rather large bird bath for the ducks to choose and also that they chose the spot were the water falls to a lower pool.

I Hope They Call Me on a Mission

Yesterday was such an exciting day!  Our brother Jake got his mission call to serve in the Mexico Villahermosa mission.  He will go to the MTC July 10th.  We are super excited for him and for the opportunity to learn Spanish since that wasn't exactly his favorite class in Junior and High School.  He will be amazing.

My cute cousin Jessie also received her call to serve in the Rome Italy mission.  I can't think of a more appropriate place for a film major who loves learning new languages to go.  It is possible she will be around for the temple dedication as well, which would be such a cool experience.  She will be the first Clarke grandchild to serve a mission, which I think is pretty sweet too.

Que Hora Es?

We went to the beautiful Brigham City temple in December when we were home for Christmas.  It was fun to see it finished.  As it was being built we would often stop by and see it on our way home from the Bear Lake Cabin to see its progress.  A sad thing happened though, a watch my parents gave me when I graduated with my Masters was accidentally left behind in my locker.  I called the next day and they couldn't see that it had been turned in, four more attempted calls later I gave up figuring that it must have accidentally gone home with someone else.  Then this week, my parents went to a ward temple night there and my mom stopped to check lost and found just in case it had been overlooked.  To my great joy it was there all along, with a December 26th sticky note in a baggy.  I am so happy to have it back.