B & R Clark

Maestro, the Cat!

2009-10-02T17:45:00.000-07:00

It is Friday evening and I am sitting outside with a cool breeze and gray clouds overhead and I am loving it. I am now officially on my fall break and this is a perfect way to start the week. Not only is it beautiful but I have some fun entertainment. Maestro, our kitten/cat, is mostly a house cat. He has been outside once for about 10 minutes and that was it...until now. He is outside with me and he is very fun to watch. It took him a few tries to get used to walking on grass. Granted, we don't have the softest grass in the world but it is so funny to me (a farm girl) to see a timid cat. I also watched him try to pounce on his first bird. Thankfully, he didn't catch it. I'm not sure what I would have done. I don't think the bird expected to see a cat here either because he let Maestro get pretty close. Either that or he was just a confident bird. :)

I can't believe the first quarter is over already. For those of you who don't know, I switched schools this year. I am still in the same district but I am at a brand new middle school. It is a lot closer to our house so that has been a blessing. I am glad to be at this school but I never would have guessed how much goes into starting a new school. There were so many things that I took for granted at my previous school. I didn't realize how much time and energy went into establishing the policies and procedures of a school. It sure makes me appreciate it a lot more. Even though one quarter is over, in some ways I feel like I am still in the first few weeks of school. I have this feeling it will be like that to some extent all year.

Brian is still at the same high school. The school went back to a traditional schedule and that is really good for his programs. He does have to do band this year, which is not his choice but things seem to be going ok in that area. The band played at their first football game last week and they sounded pretty good. It was fun to be there to see and hear them. Brian also had his first choir concert of the year this past Tuesday. That went really well and he had the biggest crowd he has ever had so things are starting to look up.

Well, that is a quick update for us. Until next time...

Back to School!

2009-08-02T20:11:00.000-07:00

Well, it's that time of year again. I am back to school tomorrow. Brian goes back next Monday. I can't believe the summer is over already. I'm not quite mentally ready but I don't really have a choice. I transferred schools to the new middle school in our district. It is a beautiful school but not all the things we ordered are in and some of the things that arrived were not the right things. For instance, the pianos that arrived are the wrong ones so we don't really want to use them since we will be sending them back so I am starting choir tomorrow without a piano. It should be interesting. :) All in all though, it could be a lot worse. I have chairs for my students to sit on and the air conditioning works so we can make it through for a while. Anyway, I am looking forward to a good year and the team of teachers I work with are all wonderful so it is already has the makings of a good year.

My previous school was 20 miles away, one direction. Now it is only 8 miles. It is a wonderful change. I drove home from school the other day and was surprised at how fast I got home. I used to be able to call Kjirsti in the morning and have a decent conversation because I had a 40 minute drive. Now, those calls will be down to 10 minutes or so. It was a really good set-up because she is a few hours later so she was already in the middle of her morning when I called. Oh well, life is full of adjustments. Well, I will try to update again soon but again, no promises.

Busy Summer almost over!!

2009-07-23T17:18:00.000-07:00

I know it has been way to long and I apologize (again) to those of you who check back here faithfully. Our summer has gone by way too quickly but it was a fun one. I went out to Connecticut for 2 weeks to visit Ryan and Kjirsti and their family. It was wonderful to spend so much time with them. Then we relaxed for a couple of weeks and got ready for church camp. We were at camp all last week and had a ton of fun. And now after catching up on laundry, it is time to get ready for school again. It's amazing how time flies when you are having fun. Here are some pictures from the summer. Also the other piece of news is that we have a new member to our family! No, we are NOT expecting...we got a kitten! His name is Maestro. He provides a lot of entertainment and fun for us though our arms and legs look like we have been through a briar patch. Well, enjoy the pictures! (The pictures: Kaylee and I the day we left camp; Brian and I the last day of camp; Ronda with her camp girls; Kristin, Ronda, Melissa, and Ruth when we went to see "Wicked"; Maestro)

2 blogs in less than a month!

2009-04-04T21:17:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures from when Kjirsti was here. The sculptures are from the Desert Botanical Gardens and the Chihuly exhibit. It was really warm outside and in the second picture of Annie, she is holding a cold water bottle by her legs. I think she enjoyed the coolness of it. It was really amazing and beautiful. Enjoy the pictures.

It's Been Too Long

2009-03-29T21:07:00.001-07:00

I know it has been way to long since I last updated this so I apologize to those of you who consistently check back still. Thanks for being patient. Spring is in full gear down here in Phoenix. Spring break was nice and relaxing, especially since Kjirsti and Annie came to visit. It has been a few years since Kjirsti has been here so it was nice to have her down here again. Annie has never been here but I'm sure she won't remember it. Anyway, things are going well but they are very busy. There are no breaks between now and the end of the school year so we take a big breath, pray a lot and charge on ahead and hope to make it to the end of the school year in one piece. We usually come out unharmed on the other end, so Lord willing, we hope the same for this year. Well, here are a few pictures from when Kjirsti was down here. I hope you enjoy and I will try to do better at posting more often, even if it is just something short.

A Short Update!

2008-11-22T14:00:00.000-08:00

I know it has been a while and I apologize to those of you who check back here often. School is as busy as ever for both of us, especially now that we are into the performance season of the holidays. I love this time of the year and I hope that you all enjoy them, too. I will update you more later.
For now, here are a few pictures of some things Brian and I got to do this fall. We went for a drive up north and saw some beautiful scenery and some scary but incredible tarantulas. We were in our car when we took the picture of the tarantula but even then it was still kind of creepy. We saw it crawling across the road about 20 ft before we pulled up next to it. That's how big it was. The picture doesn't do it justice. We also saw some beautiful scenery.

The other pictures are of us at a Diamondbacks game back in October. It was a lot of fun, as you can see! Well, enjoy and I will write more later.

The Storms of AZ

2008-08-10T20:04:00.000-07:00

I love the storms that we have here in Phoenix. There is a lot of lightening and wind and sometimes a lot of rain. Recently we had a wonderful storm. Brian and I went out driving to see the lightening and rain. When we came home we saw a very funny sight as we turned on to our street. They are doing construction on our street and so they have port-a-potties for the workers. Well, in the strong wind this night, it carried the port-a-potty into the street. It was really a funny sight so we thought we would share it with you. Enjoy!

Back from Camp, Back to School

2008-07-24T16:39:00.000-07:00

Well, it is that time of year again, time to get ready for school as our vacation days are quickly disappearing. It's okay though. I have come to the realization that we weren't meant to just sit around all day. God intended us to work and to be fruitful. I have found things to keep me busy such as sewing and organizing my office but Brian is definitely getting bored. It is time to go back to school. We finished off the summer by going to church camp last week with about 50 others from our church, both campers and counselors. The camp is at Palomar Christian Conference Center just south of San Diego. It is a beautiful place on the top of Palomar mountain. It was literally in the line of fire last year when all the wild fires were down there but God spared the camp. The rest of the mountain burned but camp was not. While we were at camp, the director told the story of what happened and it was evident that God was watching over the camp because it should have been burned to the ground. It's incredible.

Well, we had a great week. It has been a while since I have been in that type of setting where I get to be with kids and be free in speaking about my faith. I loved it. I counseled 6 junior high girls with my friend, Monique. They were wonderful girls and it was fun to get to know them through the week. It was also fun to get to know Monique better. Brian counseled high school boys with his friend, Nate and he had a lot of fun, too, though, his week was a little more challenging, as high school boys can be. The campers come from CA and AZ and some of them come from rougher areas and so it can be tough to really get to know them on a personal level. But all the challenges, the kids, the sleep deprivation, the busy schedule was so worth it. It was neat to watch some of the campers go through a change during the week as they heard about God and his love and forgiveness for them. We both look forward to going back next year, Lord willing.

Until next time...

My latest project

2008-07-07T15:48:00.000-07:00

I recently acquired a sewing machine (many thanks to my mother-in-law) and so I started a relatively small project of making a baby quilt. (no, it's not for us :) The last time I made a quilt I had my mom beside me to guide me and so this time, I couldn't just ask mom what to do. I just had to go for it and figure things out on my own. So far I think I have done okay. I did have to rip a few seams out but that's not too bad. Well, anyway, here are pictures of the quilt. This is just the top and I still have to put the batting and back and binding on so there is still work to do but this is the most interesting part. It has been a lot of fun to figure this out and hopefully it is the first of many. Mom, I hope you enjoy and know that all that I learned about sewing is from you so thank you!

Inside for the Hot Summer!

2008-06-27T16:32:00.000-07:00

We have been back in AZ for about 2 weeks and it is good to be home. Though it boils outside, we find ways to stay cool inside. I must post some pictures from a wonderful vacation. It was so much fun to see family and just enjoy time with them. Our nieces and nephews were so much fun to play with and most of the pictures we took were of them. We spent a week in Seattle and did a couple tourist things. All in all it was a ton of fun and I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Vacation Here We Come!!

2008-05-28T17:31:00.000-07:00

School's out for the summer!!! Yes and by Monday we were out of the city. There are a few things to share with you and some pictures to go along with them. School ended last Friday and we usually go camping on Memorial Day but since we were leaving town on Monday, we decided to just go up to the camp site on Sunday. Boy, am I glad that we made that decision. Our friends who got to the camp site Friday night experience snowfall on Memorial Day in Arizona. That is very unusual. The day we were up there was cool in the morning and when it wasn't windy, it was warm so it was a good day. One of the fun things about going up there was that we drove our new SUV, a Nissan Pathfinder. We were able to go on the roads without worry about our ground clearance. It was very nice. I even took pictures of the first major dirt that got on it. Okay, so it wasn't that major but it was still dirt. Anyway, that is the newest addition to our family. On Monday, we hit the road for the farm in Washington. We went north across the Hoover Dam, which I had never done before. I am so thankful we were going north because the line going south across the dam was all the way into Boulder City. It would not have been a fun line to be in. We went through Las Vegas and since I had never been there either, we decided to stop and walk around a little. Again, remember that this is all on Memorial Day, not a good day to be in Vegas. Well, we walked around and took some pictures of some of the hotels and I really wanted to see the fountain in front of the Bellagio so we did that. We ate lunch at a cafe in Caesar's Palace and spent more money than we were planning. Though it was interesting to see, let's just say that both Brian and I have seen enough and will be happy if we don't get back there any time soon. As we continued north, there are just some pictures of the scenery. It was fun to see how it changed from Arizona to Utah to Idaho to Oregon and then to Washington. Things just got more green as we went. We drove through Joshua Tree National Forest in northern Arizona. I have been in AZ for 8 years(amazing!) and I have never seen a Joshua tree so I took a picture for those of you not familiar with the southwest. They are quite interesting looking trees and it just made me wonder what God had in mind for that tree when he created it. It on my list of things to ask God when I get to heaven. Anyway, as we drove into Idaho and Oregon and Washington, the land turned green and it was beautiful to see on the hills. Though the pictures don't do the scenery justice, I hope you enjoy them. We are now at the farm and will be here about a week and then we go to Seattle for about a week and then will come back to the farm to spend the 3rd week of our vacation. I will keep you updated as much as possible, but with family around, especially cute nephews and nieces, the updates might have to wait until I get back home. Well, enjoy and I'll write again soon.

Sweet memories

2008-05-05T17:49:00.000-07:00

I had to go back and show you some more pictures of Connecticut and things that I did while I was there. The first is a picture of 2 of my closest friends in the world, yes one is my sister and the other my roommate from high school. I adore their friendship so much and I thank God for the influence they have been in my life. Though they live way too far away, I know we can pick up where we left off. Okay, I must move on before I get teary-eyed.

While in CT, we went for a hike to find this tower that Kjirsti and I had seen from a distance. Who knew that this would be one of the most memorable hikes I have ever taken. A couple things make this so memorable. One is that it was March and in CT, that is still quite cold, particularly that day because it was windy. Wind just makes every thing colder. We (Kjirsti, Stacy, Kari and I) started hiking with my nephew and 2 neices in a stroller. This was not just your easy-going hike and to add on top of that, we were taking turns pushing the stroller up the mountain, which it basically was. And, to add on top of that, there was still snow/slush/ice on the trail. We definitely got our work out that day. We finally got to where the ground leveled out and it seemed like we were at the top. There was a beautiful view of the surrounding area so I was expecting to see the tower that we were looking for. Well, it couldn't even be seen through the trees so we kept following the trail. And following, and following and following. Meanwhile, let me remind you it was still cold but we pushed onward. We finally saw the tower through the trees and eventually got to the top to find out that the tower was closed for the winter. It was still a beautiful tower, though I'm not exactly sure it's purpose. At the top, it was even colder because there were fewer trees to break the wind. Needless to say, we didn't stay very long at the top.

On the way back, we were getting concerned about the girls being cold so we came up with a sceme. Kari and I had on decent sized jackets. Inside each of our coats, we each zipped one of the twins and then tied a blanket underneath to help with the weight. It seems kind of silly now that I describe it but it worked really well. So walking down the mountain I walked a little slower because I was carrying precious cargo and I did not want to fall. As I walked down the mountain, with Clara in my jacket, I prayed for her. Clara is my goddaughter and it was a joy to bring this wonderful girl before God, knowing that her life is in His gracious and loving hands. I think it is also the day where I started to understand my role as a godparent.I will always remember that time with Clara and God. Though it was a relief to finally get back to the bottom of that mountain, I will always look back on that hike as a very sweet memory.

On the drive home

2008-05-05T17:25:00.000-07:00

One of the blessings that I have in my life is, amazingly, the drive that I have to work every day. If you haven't been to Phoenix before, let me explain a little bit. Phoenix is surrounded on all sides by mountain ranges. Brian and I live on the northwest corner of the city and I work on the west-central border of the city. My school is right at the base of the White Tank mountains. The city is continuously expanding but the area I drive through is still very much farm land. I don't know exactly what they farm but I know I enjoy looking out as I drive and seeing tractors in the fields. One of the plots of land I drive by recently planted flowers. I love driving by this area because it has so many colors. The picture doesn't doe the scene justice but I thought I would share anyway. Most people think of Phoenix as brown and dry and it is, but there is plenty of beauty to be found here and I just wanted to share a little piece of that with you.

3 weeks and counting!!

2008-04-29T22:04:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update before I go to bed, which I should have been in long ago. Anyway, the fair went really well, only a few students threw up on themselves from the rides. They just washed themselves off, rested and went on the next ride. That's kids for you. It was a lot of fun. Mary and I walked around the exhibit buildings and the animals barns. Mary has some animals and I grew up around the fair and animals so we both really enjoyed it.

I am now a week away from my last concert of the year and things are a little stressful. As a teacher, you just want your students to do their best and hope that they remember all that they have learned. They always do well but there is still that little bit of nervousness that creeps in.

After the concert, things sail through the last two weeks and then VACATION!! Brian and I are going to WA for a while and we are so excited to be able to visit family for a while. Of course, I will post pictures when they happen.

Talk to you later!!

Off to the Fair

2008-04-09T20:24:00.000-07:00

Well, tomorrow I get to go on one of the best field trips of the year. Mary (the band teacher at my school) and I are taking some of our performing groups and going to the Maricopa County Fair to perform. It is so much fun because the kids enjoy it and after performing, they get to run around at the fair for the rest of the day. Yes, they are with chaperones. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my choir students but when they are in a setting like the fair, they can get really crazy and so that is what chaperones are for and for them I am very, very, very grateful. :) Hopefully I will have pictures to post but there are no guarantees. Now that I think about it, there might be some legal thing against me posting pictures of my students so I probably won't show you any in the end. Maybe I will get some pictures of Mary and I in the animal barns or something. Anyway, this field trip always comes around in April. The students have been doing standardized tests all week so they are ready to get out and have fun at the fair. And I love going to the fair so it is a great mix. Well, I will let you know how it goes. And yes, I will be posting more about my trip to Connecticut. Thanks for being patient with me. Until next time....

Wonderful time in Connecticut

2008-03-23T19:37:00.000-07:00

I just spent a week visiting Ryan, Kjirsti, Owan, Clara and Elsie in Connecticut. I will tell more later but I wanted to just share a few wonderful pictures. As you will see, they are doing great and are beautiful children. I had so much fun getting to know them. I will tell more later, but until then, enjoy!

School, school and more school

2008-01-28T19:42:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to post a little update. If you couldn't figure it out by now, my posts happen when there is not much happening at school or I am on vacation. Right now is neither of those times but I just wanted to say a little something. School is very busy for both Brian and I. He is busy getting used to actually teaching (which he didn't do much of while substituting). He is also helping with the school musical so that will be taking much of his time very soon. It is such a joy to hear him talk about teaching. It definitely has its challenges for him but he is doing what he loves and you can just tell. I praise the Lord for bringing him to where he is at today. I am teaching my usual but getting ready for All State choir with 10 of my students and District Honor Choir with about 20 of my students plus just getting ready for the normal concerts. But this is a typical 3rd quarter. It gets twice as busy and flies by like crazy so before long we will be in May and I will be wondering where time went. Anyway, other than school not much is happening. It is the beautiful January weather of being a little cool (in the 50s and 60s :)) and we have had a lot of rain the past couple of days so we have been enjoying that. I also just wanted to let you know that we still have an an extra bedroom whenever any one wants to come to some warmer weather. :) Until next time..........

The Decorating Continues

2007-12-29T12:38:00.000-08:00

Well, Brian and I are on vacation and so we decided to do some more painting. We tackled the rest of our living room and the kitchen and the dining room all in a day and a half. Brian's uncle John is staying with us for the holidays and so he has been a big help. It looks so much better now that the rest of the walls are not a boring white. If you can't tell from the picture, it is tan. Technically, it is called Pony Tail but it is tan in the non-paint world. We really like it and it makes things stand out more. Well, that is about it. I am also posting pictures from our Christmas Eve dinner. I love cooking big dinners like this and it has been even more fun to eat the leftovers. Anyway, enjoy the pictures. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas!!

2007-12-02T19:07:00.000-08:00

We put up our Christmas tree lights today. It was a lot of fun to decorate the outside of our house. It's simple but we like it. We also took our Chrismtas picture today. We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas season. With all the things we can get sidetracked by, remember that it is because of God's amazing love and grace that we are celebrating. Merry Christmas and God bless your new year!

A Little Update

2007-11-24T19:08:00.000-08:00

Here are just a few pictures to update you on how things are going. We have planted grass in our backyard and bought a lawn mower because the grass seems to grow really quick, which is very surprising in Arizona. Brian is loving have a yard to take care of and mowing our grass. Eventually some day we will finish the border on our yard but we have plenty of time to do that.

We are also getting into the cooler part of the year so my friend, Sonshine, her son, Titus, and I went to White Tank Mountains Park and though we didn't walk far, it was fun just to be outside enjoying the beautiful weather. Titus had fun playing in the sand while we watched. It was a fun day.

Now we are into the busy Christmas season and I'm enjoying decorating our house. I even made a tree skirt for our Christmas tree, thanks to a little help and direction from Mom. Both Brian and I are busy with school but have enjoyed this Thanksgiving break very much. We were with his family for Thanksgiving and enjoyed a beautiful 70 degree day. Now after this break, we have four weeks left of school and then Christmas break We will be very busy with different Christmas events going on, concerts, parties and a little shopping here and there. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and we would love to hear from you. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Life after summer!

2007-09-05T19:50:00.000-07:00

Well summer has been over for several weeks now. I just passed midterm for the first quarter of school and boy can I feel it. Things are very busy in life right now, mainly because of school. That is okay, however. I feel like I have my feet on the ground somewhat, as it is my second year teaching but there is still a lot that I am learning. I love what I get to do everyday, working with kids and learning how to connect with them. My choir kids are the days that I particularly look forward to because those students make the choice to be in choir and so have much better attitudes. I am so thankful that God opened the doors for me to be at my school. I remember when I went to the interview, I didn't think that I would actually end up at the school but God knew what I needed. I have so many blessings by being at my school. I don't know if I can truly express my joy in words but I'm sure you will understand. God has this amazing way of leading us where we need to go if we are just willing to follow. Speaking of which, it seems like a teaching job has opened up for Brian. It won't officially start until January but that is okay. Brian had applied for two other high school choir teacher positions but they didn't happen. He was kind of bummed after that but now this one has opened up and it is just two miles from our house. Again, God's provision. Well, other than work, which consumes a lot of our life, we do find time to relax. We went camping over Labor Day weekend with a bunch of friends up in northern Arizona. It was very relaxing to get out into fresh air and cooler weather. It only rained one night, too. Well, that was just an update on how life is going now that school started.

When it rains, it pours!!

2007-07-24T11:48:00.001-07:00

I wanted to share some pitcures with you. It doesn't rain like this very often in Phoenix so I took some pictures. It is monsoon season right now and the storms usually blow through quickly but this one moved slow and the result was a river in the street in front of our house. Also the dirt lot next to us looked like a small pond. And the sun shining through the clouds afterwards was amazing. It's amazing how people think this world was just created out of chance. Beautiful rain like this and amazing suns rays just show what an amazing Creator we have. Well, I hope you enjoy.

Pennsylvania Vacation

2007-07-20T17:14:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful time in Pennsylvania celebrating Grandpa and Grandma Hall's 50th anniversary. It was also just fun to be with family and relax. Meadville is beautiful and the picture of the creek is one that runs through Grandpa and Grandma Hall's place. The weather was beautiful for the party. We also went to Lake Erie and saw the beautiful beach. The water was warm, surprisingly. We also had a great time at Hunter's eating a lot of wings. There are also some pictures of us making ice cream by kicking a ball around. Surprisingly it worked and it was very good ice cream. If you want to know how it works, you'll have to ask. Enjoy the pictures!

Our New Home!!

2007-06-20T22:11:00.001-07:00

This is the view that you see when you walk through our front door. The living room, dining room and kitchen are all one big room so it is very open and we love it.

This is the view from the kitchen into the living room. As you can see, we have already painted one wall and we haven't been in the house a full two weeks yet.

Here is the wonderful, big kitchen with more storage than I know what to do with (right now anyway. :)
This is the hallway off the kitchen that leads to three bedrooms, 2nd bathroom and the garage. The master bedroom is on the behind the green wall in our living room.
This is Brian's office. Here he is already enjoying the fact that he can play piano and sing any time he wants because we don't share any walls or floors with any one else. I think the piano was the first thing we plugged in. :)

We love our house and I will add more pictures later. I have one of the other bedrooms as my office which I plan to do scrapbooking in but that has yet to really come into fruition. The fourth bedroom will be the guest room, waiting for anyone who wants to come visit. The master bedroom has a big walk-in closet and a master bathroom with two sinks, which both of us were looking forward to. We are already enjoying doing things and decorating the way that we want to because it's ours!!(relatively speaking)

Is it okay to brag a little??

2007-04-23T21:01:00.000-07:00

I know that Clara and Elsie probably look a lot different now but I still wanted to put this pictures up for you all to see. I got to go up to Iowa a week after Clara and Elsie were born. When I made plans to go up there, I thought I might be lucky if Kjirsti gave birth while I was there. I was even more blessed and was able to see these two beautiful little girls. I do have to brag a little because I was the first person, other than Kjirsti, to hold either of the girls. I was holding Clara in the picture on the right. It was so much fun and I can't wait to see what they will be like as they grow up.

2007-04-22T18:14:00.000-07:00

Here is our new home. We have yet to move in but that will happen soon enough. The front door is down the sidewalk to the right. Yes, that is Brian standing in front of it. Well, enjoy!

You are all welcome to visit!!

2007-04-15T16:47:00.000-07:00

The big news in our world is that we just bought a house here in west Phoenix!! We will move in the beginning of June. It is a single story, 4 bed-2 bath with a decent sized backyard. We are both excited and looking forward to making it our home. You are all welcome to visit, especially with the extra room we will have. As soon as I figure out how to upload pictures, you'll see pictures of it.

It Has Begun!!!

2007-03-11T16:01:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess this is it. Now we have a blog. I don't know how I will be able to update it right now but I will use it to keep you all posted on what ever might be going on. More later!!