Saturday, January 30, 2010

Real Life Farmville



First of all, if you don't know what Farmville is, it's a virtual game on Facebook where people have their own farms & take care of their virtual crops & animals just like a real farmer. Some of our kids (cough,,,Sara) are obsessed with it. Well, today we participated in real life Farmville...

Our family did our service for Disney's "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day" volunteer program. If you participate in an approved service opportunity Disney will give you one day free admission at Disneyland!

We went to Our Lady of Guadalupe Monastery in Phx & helped the Sisters of St Benedict with gardening. It was a wonderful service opportunity for our family! We are thankful to the Sisters of St Benedict for letting us come & work in their beautiful garden. Click here to learn more about Our Lady of Guadalupe Monastery & the Sisters of St Benedict.

We helped weed the garden, dug 2 holes for planting trees, & aerated the tree border alongside the property.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Adam Ryan Clarkson



Adam turned 7 on Saturday! Sorry to get this up so late...

Our sweet little Adam was born at 6:19am on Thursday, January 23, 2003 at Chandler Regional Hospital. He weighed 9lbs 5oz & was born at 38 weeks, which was the earliest my doctor would induce me at.

We didn't find out what we were having & I just went with the odds & took pink baby clothes & a pink blanket to the hospital. Ryan had to run & exchange them. Hey, after 4 girls I had given up on ever having a boy. I'll never forget the amazing feeling when the Doctor said it's a boy! Squeeeee! I was so happy I even applauded. I think Ryan was in shock. My mom was there, it was 2 months to the day of my dads funeral. I felt like he was there too.

Adam has been entertaining us ever since. He loves to sing. He sang "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" before he really talked. I remember thinking how funny it was that here this kid can sing Twinkle, Twinkle but doesn't really talk. He also used to hum himself to sleep in his crib, he was the easiest of all our kids to put to sleep because of that.

Adam is the spitting image of his dad Ryan, down to being our only child with brown eyes & brown hair just like his dad. He even has his dad's olive complexion & long tounge that he can touch his nose with. He also has his dad's gentle personality.

Adam loves sports of any kind.

He had so much fun hitting home runs his last yr of tee-ball this past season. It was so cute! He would set a goal of how many home runs he wanted to hit each game. He would it 2 or 3 depending on how many times he got up to bat. He is now looking forward to coach pitch this spring.

He really enjoyed football this past fall too. It was his first time playing. He learned a lot & even scored a few touchdowns. His favorite though was defense & getting the flags of the other players. We had a ball watching all of his games!

This summer he's going to try wrestling.

Adam tries hard to choose the right & be kind to his sisters. He tries to forgive & turn the other cheek.

Adam is always asking questions. I really think Adam's favorite words are what, why, where, when, how, & who. What's the biggest whale? How big is the earth? How many people are on the earth? Why did people in the bible used to live so long? Why can't I have a facebook? The list goes on & on. He loves to learn, read & he's enjoying 1st grade.

We love Adam & are so glad to have him in our family! Oh, one thing I forgot, of course we named him Adam because he was the first boy.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Sara Dawn Clarkson



Today is Sara's 15th birthday! We love Sara & want to thank her for all the joy & light she brings into our home!

Here are a few fun facts about Sara:

Sara was born at home in Mesa, Az on Sunday, January 8, 1995 at 10:30am. It was a beautiful day. She weighed 11lbs & 12 oz. She was my shortest labor at just 3 hours but very sharp contractions (probably because she was so big they had to be extra strong to squeeze her out). She is the second oldest out of 5 children.

Sara owes getting the name "Sara" to Madison. She was originally going to be named Eden Ashley instead of Sara Dawn. My mom kept Madison while I had Sara & when she brought Madison over to see her new baby sister after she was born my mom asked if we had changed her name to Sara. I said, "No, why?" & she said that Madison had been talking all about her baby sister Sara & how the baby was named Sara. Ryan & I decided not to disappoint Madison & went with the name Sara, with Dawn as the middle, which is my middle name.

Sara was quite an independent girl at home, she learned to get her own drinks, use the microwave, make sandwiches very early on. She could do her own pony tails by 5 years old.

Her nick name is "Sarasponda" or "Sponda" for short.

She loves sports, music & signing. She also loves sewing & is a great artist. She does well in school & keeps good grades. She is a Poston peer mediator & on the NAL team. She participates in band playing the flute & harp. She likes to set goals & challenge herself. She earned her Young Women Recognition award while she was a beehive, something which is very hard to do. Also, Her farmville farm is amazing!

Sara has great faith & it has been so special to see her exercise her faith at certain times in her life.

Sara loves life, friends, family & having fun. We love you Sara - Happy 15th Birthday!!!

Here's a little Birthday video we made to celebrate 15 amazing years with Sara:

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Made of Awesome Maddie & Sara in the Fiesta Bowl Parade!



Here is Maddie & Sara along with the Mt View band & color guard in the Fiesta Bowl Parade today (1/02/2010) in downtown Phoenix. It was so fun to get to watch them & to have both Maddie & Sara in it was double fantastic! They did an excellent job!! The song the band was playing is called "On Parade".

Friday, January 1, 2010

Sara on Fox News!

The Fox morning show was out on the field today with the Mt View band & you can see Sara playing the flute in one of the clips they aired. We are hoping they post the clip with Maddie & the Color Guard but nothing so far.

Good luck today girls! All your hard work all will pay off!!

Tune in around the 59 sec mark to see Sara:



"The Mountain View High School Toro Marching Band of Mesa, Arizona will compete in the 32nd Annual Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona Fiesta Bowl National Band Championship on January 1, 2010, at 1:00 p.m

Each year, one school from Arizona is selected to perform in the National Band Championship as the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona Honor Band. While Mountain View will hold this honor for the 32nd Annual National Band Championship, a second Arizona band from Catalina Foothills High School in Tucson, Arizona, will also be competing in this year's event.

For ticket information on the Fiesta Bowl National Band Championship presented by University of Phoenix, please call 480-350-0911 or visit www.fiestabowlbandchampionship.com"


SOURCE