Benny boy.

One year older and wiser too, happy birthday, to you! Yesterday Ben turned 29, yes that's one year away from 30! I've been teasing him so much, I think he's really starting to feel old! Since it was Sunday, it was a little more laid back, but I hope he had a good day nonetheless. I made his favorite, Crème Brulee French Toast to start off the day. After church some of our friends were good enough to have us over for a delicious dinner.

the B-day Boy.

The kiddos now insist that we do a scavenger hunt to find his presents like we did last year.

Ben is just the best, what can I say. He does everything for our little family and we love him so much! He's the most hard working, loving, fun, not to mention good-looking guy I know. We love you babe! Hope you had a good day!

WAY behind.

Alrighty, I've been called on it {thanks Annie!}...I have been a slacker blogger! I just don't know what to say other than the fact that there just isn't enough time in the day to get everything done that I want to. Seriously, can someone figure out how to make the day 28 hours long instead of 24?! From taking Maddie to and from school, a new calling, two other kiddos at home, housework, and the fact that I am up to my eyeballs in clippies, there just isn't time! {On a side note, I just got asked to supply clippies for a store, yay! Only problem is that I need to make 125+ clips in the next two weeks...that's possible, right?}

We are enjoying life though...the fall is here and that is my favorite time of the year in NY. I am SO excited that we just got a new camera and tried it out at the park yesterday. I haven't had enough time to really dive in and learn much about it. I'm hoping Ben will do all of the research and then share his tips with me, haha, ;) We'll see how that goes. But I'm super excited and my inner-desire to be a photographer is coming out. I just love good pictures, but don't know the first thing about the technical stuff. Anyhow, here are a few we took at the park, without any editing...which I'm sure is what they desperately need...

It's also killing me that I just realized I haven't blogged about many things we did over the summer like: the fair, camping, Toby Keith concert, and apple picking just recently. I'll have to dig through those pics and hopefully get some on here soon!

Twas the 1st day of Kindergarten...

and the clothes were laid out (a tradition of course).

Breakfast was made...cinnamon rolls, no doubt!

alright, alright...enough of the rhyming.
{I'm sure you're not sad about that!}

I can't believe how excited {and not scared} Maddie has been about starting Kindergarten. I asked her on the way over if she was scared or excited. She said, "I'm not scared at all, just really excited." She also passed the torch onto Camden, when she turned to him in the car and said, "Now Cam, when Hazel gets sad, you need to help her." Oh, my sweet Maddie. We're gonna miss you. But, first we needed to do some traditional 1st day of school posing.

Poor little girl got a cold sore a few days before...seems to always happen around big events. Still cute, nonetheless. At least she got rid of her Quasimodo eye she had last week from some sort of infection, phew...

Camden wanted in on the fun.

Waiting in line to go into the classroom. She's kinda tall I'm just noticing...

I told her I was going to come in for a minute, and she got all mad at me. Can it really be starting this young?? Fortunately for me, she changed her mind and let me slip in for a picture.

What a monumental day for a mom, sending her first born into the school system for ALL DAY kindergarten. Poor Cam didn't know what to do without her all day. Within the first two hours, I was thinking to myself..."maybe I should find a somewhere to put him into preschool last minute." We'll see how it goes, but for now he thinks I'm his permanent play buddy during the day. Here's to a new stage in life!

the link.

I know you've all been dying to see our family pics, lol...well maybe just me. But here they are, go check 'em out. A BIG thank you to Angie! You are amazing!

www.angiestarrphotography.com/Slideshows/Clarks.html

Photo Shoot.

Here is a little preview from the photo shoot we did the other day with my friend Angie.

She did such a good job, especially with very uncooperative kids. I'm just dying to see the rest.

Oh Suzanna!

My little sis made her yearly visit to our place...only this time we've switched and our place is on the east coast and hers in on the west. She just finished up her 1st year at BYU-I and we were delighted to have her come visit. So, of course we made the most of our time...first up was the beach, only bad thing was the hurricane that was suppose to be coming. We made the 3 hour drive to the Jersey shore, and only to spend a few hours in the sun, before the storm hit. Here are some pics:

Ben was a sport and built a sand castle with the kids.

Notice them just watching how it's done? I tried to help, but got in trouble (by Maddie) for doing it the wrong way!

Me & Suzanne soaking up the rays.

{Notice my triple tongue roll...yeah, I'm pretty talented}

Had to make our mark.

Suzy & the kiddos. Cam & Hazel's first time at the beach and Maddie hadn't been since Hawaii when she was 8 months old.
{you'll have to excuse the quality of some of these pics...they were taken by my phone camera}

Geez Ben, what blinding skin you have...soon to change, believe me.

OK, whiteness doesn't get much better here either.

Loving it! Darn hurricane...wouldn't let you go in the water past your thighs.

A bit windy, eh? (I turned Canadian!)

Auntie Suzanne

We stayed the night and headed to NYC the next day...Naked Cowboy greeted us not long after arriving. We saw him from afar and Suzanne just had to get a closer look!

We watched a grandma get violated by him just before it was Suzanne's turn to get her picture taken...I was a little scared for her.

"both sides ladies"...that's what he insisted on, so of course she complied.

Hailing a cab...but we were too cheap to actually take one. Makes for a cute picture though.

Who doesn't love a crazy dancing man, dressed in women's clothing?

{Click on this pic to get the visual. Gross!}

I must say that we bring out the shoppers in each other, not that it was a secret or anything.

And we had to take some cheesy hat pics to complete the experience.

What a nerd!

Suzanne also agreed to help the kids make a castle.

Look who's doing all of the work...?

She learned to sit up (finally!) and the beginnings of an army crawl this week.

Who can resist a cute uni-brow baby?

And I had to snap some shots of her on the beach. We did the same with Maddie when we went to Hawaii a few years back. She and Hazel have so many similarities...

Our big cheese.
And lastly, we had to hit up Indian Ladder Farms for some apple cider doughnuts {to die for!}, fresh corn, and apples, and animal petting.

Windy, you think?

Is it just me or is this a theme...

Poor little guy needs a dentist.

The trip was an overall success. Thanks for coming Suzanne, we miss you already!