Last Saturday we spent the day at the park in Clarkston at the Clark family reunion. After discovering a new “shortcut” over the Short Divide Rd (closed winters) thanks to my relying too heavily on my phones GPS, we ended up being the very first family to arrive. I almost suggested that we drive back to Bountiful and then come back just to maintain my reputation but we decided to just stay and live with being first. Once everyone else arrived we spent time on the playground, playing ball, making crafts, and eating. We even got a tour of the historical Clarkston LDS Chapel. It was a nice relaxing day chatting with family that we don’t get to see too often and eating great food. I didn’t take nearly as many pictures as I meant to, but I was too busy sitting around not doing anything to take pictures.

In an effort to explain the following pictures a bit, the kids were playing with a Nerf-ish rocket launcher that was powered by jumping on an air pouch. I was able to get several action shots of the kids doing their best to get air to jump on the air pouch while I sat in my lawn chair sipping a chilly Diet DP. Too bad it feels like winter this weekend.

Well, the girls have been in school for a little over a week now and they both seem to be enjoying it. I haven’t gotten the complete report yet, but it seems as though they like their teachers and they both have friends in their classes. We took a few pictures while walking to school on the first day. Hailey and Mallory were both excited and Jack was ready to fight crime and keep Gotham free of super-villains.

Well, Jack and Annie are 3 years old now. Freakin’ crazy, eh?!

Three years ago today we were at the hospital pointing out the differences between them (besides the obvious) so that we could tell them apart as they lay next to each other in the nursery dolly. Three years ago today we doubled the number of kids we had. Three years ago today we finished up our family. And now, three years later we’re pretty much officially out of the “baby” stage (even though we still refer to to them as the babies). In fact, just this morning as Jack and Annie opened their presents, Emily caught herself telling Annie not to let “the babies” get the small pieces of her new Polly Pocket collection. It was only after it was out of her mouth that she realized what she had said and had to backtrack.

I remember vividly the shock and awe Emily and I felt as we left the doctors after our first ultrasound appointment. Up to that point Emily had had several doctors appointments, but the doctor apparently hadn’t noticed the fact that there were two heartbeats. So as the ultrasound technician mentioned that both heartbeats sounded good, we did a bit of a double-take and I seem to remember saying “Wait, what?!” However, three short years later it’s hard to imagine our lives any other way. We obviously needed both of them in our family and I don’t doubt they needed each other.

We’ve been lots of places and had lots of adventures in the last three years, but we’re still just getting started. It’ll be fun to see what the next 3 years brings.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY “BABIES”!

In additional to my golf tourney last weekend, we also went camping up North Willow canyon just west of Grantsville. Besides being a little bit rainy and a lot bit dirty, we had fun hanging out with my family and playing in the hills. On Saturday morning before I left to go golfing, we even got a nice family nature walk in. The kids threw lots of rocks into the stream and even managed to only hit each other with rocks a couple times. It’s crazy to think that our family is getting old enough to be able to go adventuring without strollers (even if leashes would be nice at times).

As usual, I didn’t take nearly as many pictures as I meant to, but you can see the results of our nature walk below.

So last weekend I played in my first golf tournament. It was a best ball tourney so my lack of skill didn’t matter too much, but it was fun to get out and play 18 holes with some friends on a nice expensive course (Thanksgiving Point). And to answer the question that’s burning a hole in your brain… we didn’t win.