Sunday, July 29, 2012

Sister Stark

July 29, 2012

In less that 50 days now, my little sister, will be a sister missionary serving in Spain. I am super excited for her.  I love talking to Carly just about every night as I drive home late from work. I can count on her still being up, and I am always interested in hearing her stories. Her life is way more interesting than mine. I always think back to when I was her age and what I could have been doing before I got married and had children. I don't have any regrets about how my life is, or has turned out, but I think I live vicariously through her sometimes. This mission will be no exception. I'm going to miss her but at the same time am SO proud that she has the ambition and the desire to go.

Wall Art

July 20, 2012

When it gets too quiet.... Charlee's drawing on the walls. With Sharpie marker. On the new walls. In the new house. 



Family Pictures

July 1, 2012





Before we left we had to get family pictures taken. Thanks Carly! 

Willard Bay

June 29, 2012

Willard Bay. The most awesome quote from the day came from Charlee while on the tube with Sydney and Grandma as Grandpa suddenly picked up the speed. She screamed, "What the hell?!" Sydney and Grandma could be seen laughing and smiling on the tube, we didn't know what they were laughing so hard about at the time, but found out later that's what she said. 








I snapped this picture just a little too late. Too bad you can't see Tommy and Joel in the air. They really launched off that tube. 



I thought this was a darling picture of Mr. and Mrs. Hunt.









My Sister Wife

When I lived with Rachel for 6 months in Salt Lake while going, to the University of Utah for one semester I feel like I got the chance to get another sister. I know that sounds cheesy, but it's true. There are several distinct memories that I'll probably never forget from living with her and I will tell them now, in no particular order.

1) Elizabeth Smart (if you don't know who that is Google it), had been missing for 9 months. I happened to be home alone when our regular scheduled programming was interrupted by the news. They had found Elizabeth Smart, alive no less, and in Utah. I scrambled to the phone to let Rachel know the news. Incredible. For those of you who are reading this and think I'm a freak and wonder why I would write about this, well it's kind of like the saying, "Where were you and what were you doing when the planes hit the twin towers?" If I think about this story of Elizabeth Smart I think of immediately calling Rachel to tell her then news. And still to this day Rachel is probably one of the first people I think of calling when I need to 1) Complain about anything 2) Discuss my parenting skills 3) Discuss future "dream big" plans that will never happen but are fun to talk about 4) Let her know the most important news.

2) One time Joel came over to visit at our apartment. We had ordered pizza or something and were just starting to eat. Me, Joel and Rachel were the only ones home. I think Alex was working or something. Rachel offers Joel something to drink, he tells her he'll take a coke. She walks up to him, cracks open the can and pours it. Joel looks at me like, "Why don't you ever open my cans of soda?" It really made me look bad. I knew at that moment that I would never be as compassionate as Rachel. And that pretty much stands true to this day. There are times when I really do try to be more considerate and caring. Usually when I do, Joel will say something sarcastically like, "Ok, Rachel".

3) We had a Chemistry Class together in a large auditorium at the U. Our professor was some chic that must have been new or it must have been her first time teaching ever. On the first day of class, she stands at the front and asks everyone to please be seated, even though everyone is talking and no one can hear a thing she's saying. She then gets her microphone out and basically whispers timidly, "Is this microphone enhancing the sound of my voice?" Yeah, probably not very funny to you, dear reader, but hilarious between us. We also had a girl in our physiology class that we wanted to punch in the face on a daily basis for being so blonde. Can't remember her name but one quote in particular stuck with us for years and that is... "True that, thanks class."

Ok, so back from memory lane. This visit, I had a lot of fun with Rachel as usual. We got our hair and nails done at the beauty school. We also spent time giving Joel a pedicure. I've missed her a ton. I wish we could live closer together for the kids sake, and for the support in dealing with motherhood in general. We joke that we are sister wives. But if I tell people out here in Illinois that we are sister wives, they think we really are. Ask yourself right now, if you could have a sister wife, who would it be? Yeah, for me it would be Rachel.


Lagoon

June 27, 2012


Never, have I laughed SO hard at my son screaming in fear. Sorry Van, your mom is a jerk.



Things looked a little better as we rode the whale ride (thank goodness). 



"Safety first!" Said Rachel and Sidney, as they loaded the children in the car (some with clothes on, some without, some safely restrained in their age appropriate car seats, some maybe not so much.)


Charlee and Cohen. Oh boy did they have fun at Lagoon, running from one ride to the next, these two were inseparable. This trip made me realize how much Charlee was growing up. She was SO independent, she wanted to be anywhere BUT right by my side. She didn't even have to stand on her tippy toes to make it on some of the big kid rides. What happened? Next year she'll be in Kindergarten. Oh gosh, don't get me started I might just lose it.


Van was fascinated with Gretta. He'd walk up to her and say, "Oh, cute! Baby!" I kept asking him if he wanted a little baby and of course he'd answer yes. 





Stark Family Gathering

June 23, 2012

Vacation to UTAH!! It was great to be home in Utah with the family.  It doesn't take much to amuse and entertain us. My parents had the entire extended family over Saturday for South Ogden Days festivities. The kids spent the majority of the afternoon running and playing in the sprinklers and slip and slide. Even though we've been gone an entire year, it really just felt like we picked up right where we left.  


Carly got this nasty scrape somehow from the slip and slide. 

Charlee posing.


My sweetest little precious Sawyer just being absolutely adorable.




Sadie just looking creepy.

Sisters







Rachel giving me 'the look' and thinking, "Please don't be posting my naked child on your blog".

St. Louis Zoo & Six Flags

May 27, 2012


I love these pictures because it shows a glimpse of how much Charlee and Van love their aunt and uncle. From the time Charlee was young she's always talked about her uncle Tom. And the same goes for Van, he's always like snuggling and hugging Syd. I think he's just a big flirt to be honest, and he's learned that he can get the ladies by looking and smiling at them just right. 










This picture happens to be a personal favorite. Can you say dysfunctional?


These pictures are a combination of Six Flags and the St. Louis Zoo. We did both back to back while staying in St. Louis with the Hunts. It just so happened to be the hottest weekend of the year thus far with temps in the 100's. No biggie. I actually had to laugh because the following weekend AFTER the Hunts went back home, temps were back down to the 70's and breezy. That's how it goes right? So we dripped sweat and looked awesome the entire time as you can clearly see.