A Walk To The Temple

Our ward has been preparing our walk to the temple since the beginning of the year.  

Tonight...we took the 3 mile trek.
We had......

• great weather, 
• good walking shoes, 
• cool clothing, 
• water at every mile and.... 
• the knowledge that our car was at the Temple so that we could drive home.  

                           The pioneers had none of that.

 I was able to talk to my boys (all but Porter who ran the whole way) about what the pioneers had to endure.  There is absolutely no way that we can understand what they went through but tonight...we got a tiny taste (probably just a granule).

 

We walked 3 miles, they walked 15 a day.  

We had comfortable shoes, they had old boots that were worn through and soaked. 

We had appropriate clothing, they had heavy skirts and coats that would hold in the wet and cold.

We had water at every mile (along with our bellies being full of dinner before we left), they had a small amount of flour and water for the whole day.  

We also had the knowledge that we would be able to go home and sleep in our nice warm beds with pillows and plenty of blankets.  

We didn't have to bury anyone on the way. 

When we reached our destination, there was civilization, trees and lush grass.

I am so grateful for this experience we had to walk to the Temple to feel close to the pioneers.  Another important lesson we learned from this was what we need to do to prepare ourselves for our Temple.  We were united as a ward in reaching this goal physically, now we will help each other reach it spiritually.
I love going to the temple and am so excited for ours to be done!!!  I hope my kids were able to get something good out of the activity tonight other than 'It was soooooo long!!!'

Thank you pioneers.

January at the Clawsons

For Christmas the kids got these awesome window markers....they leave notes for each other all over the counters.  I should be upset that the kids are writing all over my counters and windows?  Nah....I write my fair share.  It's so easy when I'm in a hurry to get to work...instead of walking all the way across the room to get some paper.  Grab a marker and write in the counter!

Eli made his own shirt!  He was pretty stinkin proud....as he should be!

Basketball, Basketball and more Basketball

Eli, 'relaxing like a woman'.....I don't know what woman he has seen relax, it's definitely not his mother!

Jack and Porter went outside one Saturday and this is what they created.  It started out as a Jazz chair for their bedroom but ended up a toilet for mine.  So sweet!

I found this note in my planner.  

Jack said he predicts that I will marry a man who has this look on his face permanently.  Could be worse I suppose!

Remembering 2010

Haircuts by the dozen...or half dozen minus one

my handsome boys...minus Heber.  He was crying because Matt accidentally smashed his head against the brick wall.  Although no one was killed in the making of this...there were plenty of threats flying.

Jack said it looked like I shaved Sasquach

Jack

Porter

Eli

Matthew

Heber

School haircut time for my little beasts :)
They were surprisingly good except Eli had a bit of a fit but that's natural for him.

Poor Poor Jack

Yesterday was a heck of a day.  Taking Matt to get his wisdom teeth out in SL, then coming home to a doctor visit and emergency surgery.  It was a LONG day and I'm tired.  Today, just relaxing.....so nice!!!!

Update

Hey all,

It's been awhile since I updated my blog, but now that I have a new fancy one, I'm actually looking forward to posting more frequently :)

Jess & Kade are Livin' the Dream up in Cache Valley. They're both hard at work and attending some summer school. We don't see them too often, since they're so busy being newly married and dealing with the harsh realities of independent life everyday... But I guess that in itself is an update on them.

Matt just graduated from high school, and at this moment is getting all four wisdom teeth plucked from his jaw. But the only cash coming out of anyone's pocket is coming out of Jean Brown Research's perfectly pleated suit pants. Its a great deal for Matt, >$500 in exchange for teeth he wasn't going to keep anyway. He is most likely going to save that money for his LDS mission, for which he leaves this fall! He's a good boy.

Brooke is too excited to turn 16. She sometimes thinks she already is 16. But she's not, and her siblings remind her of that often. She loves her phone, her facebook page, her DVD player, her ipod, her clothes, her privacy, and her brothers (though she's not as eager to admit that).

Jackson just had surgery to remove a burst appendix. Surprise. There were virtually no signs or symptoms, he walked around with a burst appendix nonchalantly for 48 hours before we went to the emergency room. He's a pretty tough kid. He can't wait to get back in good shape so he can play some more basketball.

Porter has been hard at work cleaning the house. This comes as a surprise to you? Well he cleans the house in exchange for money he can spend on shakes at the new Maverick. He's getting really good at cleaning the bathroom ;) A little while ago, he and Jackson built a raft to float on the pond above our house. They also built an oar, made from a netless lacrosse stick with a garbage sack over it. I thought it was pretty creative.

Heber is constantly torturing Eli. Though he vies to call it "brotherly love". He has also discovered the shakes at Maverick, and has been panning for gold with pie plates at the afore mentioned pond in order to buy some.

Eli is constantly torturing Heber. And whatever Heber does, Eli usually does it too. But with a little more flare, a little more shaking of his booty, and little more raising of his eyebrows up and down while saying "me-ow".

Then there's me. I've been so busy lately, there's nothing that I haven't been doing. Well, except drinking. And smoking. And skydiving. And I haven't been to Idaho in a while. But I have been considering a trip to Sturgess-- where I can hopefully do the first three things, find a biker husband, and land a job at Northern Exposure.