We Did It!!

We are officially homeowners! We are both SO relieved that this whole fiasco is over and done with! Whew!

And the Training Begins

I am officially signed up for my first marathon in January of 2009!


Here's the link: http://www.rnraz.com/home.html



It is going to be 26.2 miles of sheer bliss. I am so excited!

September Pasco Trip

Here are a few reasons why I enjoy visiting Pasco...

Chase enjoying ribs. Mmmmmmm

Cute little Cole wishing he could eat ribs

Family bike rides in the nice weather. I actually ran along side and Katie Rollerbladed.

Picture day with Cole

Ty, Katie and Cole ejoying the bbq at the house.

Chase throwing up dust on his Daddy

I tried to be a professional photographer

At the end of the trip. Too bad Ty, Cedar, Scott and Dagmara couldn't be in this self timed photo.

Problem Condo

Though I am thankful that Clark and I both have a roof over our heads and a place to stay while we are in limbo with this whole house buying fiasco, I have to admit that I CAN'T WAIT to get out of this condo! Here's a few things that I can't stand:

1. The condo is on the second story. After this experience I, personally, would never live on any story but the 1st story unless there were elevators. Moving things up and down stairs is not fun

2. There's a bug problem. We told Clark's nursing friend (who owns the condo we're renting) not to worry about cleaning for us after they moved all their stuff out because we would only be here a couple of months. But oh my gosh, if you leave anything out on the counter the little ant type bugs will be swarming in no time. Yuck

3. The skylights let in too much light and sun and there is no way to close the blinds without a ladder! And we refuse to buy a ladder just for this purpose...

4. The air conditioning unit leaks like crazy. attached are some pics of a small waste basket half full- from 2 days of condensation! One night Clark and I heard what sounded like rain in the apartment and walked over to the door (where the air conditioning is located) and saw droplets

of water just pouring out of the unit! I am soooooo annoyed with this.

Anyway....so here is the link to the spinach and leek soup recipe. It is so tasty, and healthy. I always omit the cous cous too because it would make it way too thick! Let me know if you try it!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Spinach-and-Leek-White-Bean-Soup/Detail.aspx

One Great Recipe

I made this recipe the other night. I don't even pretend to be a great cook (Clark actually has the gift) but Clark and I both agreed that this dish turned out fantastic. And the best part is that it is SO simple. here is the link:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Garlic-Red-Potatoes/Detail.aspx

there is also a spinach and leek soup recipe I will have to find and post. it is unbelievably good. my mother even liked it, and she happens to be the hardest woman to please.

Also, in other news, we should be closing on the house this Friday....keep your fingers crossed! The selling bank has been such a hassle to work with but hopefully we will seal the deal by Friday. If, for some reason, we are unable to close, I am going to take that as a HUGE sign that God really doesn't want us to have the house after all....

Sad Week....

The course of this past week was notably sad and discouraging for both Rachel and Clark. Our long time friends Arian and Karemu are moving to Utah. Our Morgage company is unable to meet the closing date for our house, breaking our contract and causing us to possibly lose our beloved future home in Gilbert (more details later). And the guys in Clark's Band decided this week that life had become too busy to dedicate so much time to a band and the Mid-life-Crisis rock band that Clark was a part of dissolved.

Rachel and Karemu

Arian and Clark

All of us saying our good-byes

Cool Car Wash and Clark's New Baby

Here is the car wash we discovered when Mom and Dad Tobler were visiting. It is so sweet. And it isn't one of those do-it-yourself ones either! Its the mechanical one- the real deal! Probably our new favorite thing. A great idea for a date :)

Here is a picture of Clark's pimp new ride. It seems to drive a lot smoother than the last Lumina but we just hope it lasts for another year or so....we'll see! And it just passed emissions so we are relieved.

House Pictures

Friday we were able to go look around our future home with Mom and Dad Tobler. Here are some pictures! Because we are purchasing the home with an FHA loan, which means we put absolutely no money down, the house has to meet certain requirements. So before we move in, the walls will all be repainted (hopefully in a color that isn't stark white), the light fixtures will all be replaced and the carpet will be replaced. Hopefully they will also fix the grouting in the tile too...

The kitchen. Definitely have to change the wall color and the appliances. But overall, not in bad shape.

Sideways photo of the pantry. So much space!

The backyard. There's even a cactus in the corner! We will have to get rid of the gravel and reseed the grass.

Living room near front door

The living room leading into the kitchen.

View of part of the living room from the kitchen.


Karl waving from the front of our house.

Master bedroom

We are getting very excited and are looking forward to making improvements in the home. Mom and Dad Tobler have shared many inspiring ideas with us. Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Inspection: Complete!

Our future house was inspected today. I worked last night so I was sleeping soundly while Clark and the inspector throroughly checked the house. I guess it looks ok! No major problems or defects. We just need to get the AC unit serviced so it adequately cools the house and fix some tile on the roof. So that's a relief!

Also, Clark just bought a car off of craigslist because his other car was totalled 3 weeks ago. He got another Chevy Lumina- a 1997. If anyone wants to pray to Heavenly Father that this car will last longer than a year we would surely appreciate it!

We'll post some pics of the house and the car later in the week!

Just for Kicks

I am passionately and completely in love with my husband, but I have to admit he is not the most photogenic person in the world. He is truly so intelligent but from certain pictures you would never believe it. Take these next few for example...

Here we are at Clark's nursing friend's house. (PS their house is so amazing, I am going to include photos of some of the things they have done). From far away Clark just looks like he is having a good time with some of his nursing friends.

And here is the picture up close....

Clark states he was shaking water out of his ear....

Is it wrong of me to post embarrassing pictures of my husband on the blog? I just had to share them, they are so funny!

Now here are some pictures of Wendi and Rob's house:

Gorgeous sink faucet and tile that they installed on their own.

Beatifully painted cabinets

Raised designs on the walls done with stencils and spackling.

We can't wait to move into our home so we can have them come over and help us!

A much improved picture of Clark :)

Here's a Blog for Ya

I've noticed a consistency in Clark's picture poses over the last year...

Though Clark doesn't actually pee, he loves having his image captured in this pose. I guess boys will be boys...

A Little MLB

So Wednesday night Clark got a call from his bandmate/doctor friend Dan who had two extra tickets to the Diamondbacks baseball game. I was supposed to be on standby for work and there was also a Less Than Jake concert to consider, but I called in to work and said take me off standby and Clark took a night off from studying and we actually HAD SOME FUN!! The seats were fairly close to the field and right by third base. Though the Diamondbacks lost it was still a fun time and I am proud to say I attended and attentively watched my first ever MLB game in person! I thought I didn't like baseball but I have slightly more respect for the sport now...

Memories... summer Tour de Europe 2006

So I told Clark that while he's at work today I would start boxing up items in the apartment for our upcoming move....well I get sidetracked easily and I started looking at all the pics we have on the computer and I came across the photos from our European vacation summer 2006. So many good memories!! We can't wait to go on another backpacking adventure!

Rome was spectacular, and the best part was you could walk the entire city in a day! We were able to spend several days in Rome with my brother Scott and his wife Dagmara.








Venice was another amazing city that could easily be walked in a few hours. The canals were so dirty- we dangled our legs over the ledge of a canal and ate lunch and watched garbage of all sorts float by...and we didn't get a gondola ride because the night we wanted to go a World Cup game was on and the workers had their eyes glued to the tv. Europeans take their soccer VERY seriously!

Nice was also a very nice city. We were able to enjoy the Mediterranean and even made some friends to hang out with! We kept running into them at the grocery store and finally they asked "do you guys want to hang out?" they were pretty fun canadians, I would have to admit.

Barcelona was such a cool city with so much structural art. We posed in front of Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia....

And sat on Gaudi's mosiac benches in park Guell.

In Munich we took a picture of a little boy that was fussing and making a complete scene in public. You can see everyone staring and looking but his mom didn't seem to care. It was SO funny!

That's Right Folks, it's FOREVER!

Saturday, June 28th was truly a special day for both Clark and I. Surrounded by family and friends, we were sealed in the Mesa, Arizona Temple!







This day was just incredible. Earlier before heading to the Temple Jan and I went thrift store shopping and scored lots of good stuff! Everything was 50% off at Goodwill! Clark and Karl jammed with one of Clark's bandmates and had a great time! The crew from Utah and Nevada made it down safely and it sounded like they all had a good time traveling together in the green minivan. Thank you to all who took part in our special day! We love you all!






Here are some other pics just for fun




Clark made is spanish rice with chicken. It is so good- he truly has his mother's gift of good family cookin. I had just gotten back from a run that nearly left me dead from heatstroke, but hey, I made it back!












Bishop and Sister Matheson, some of our very favorite people! Mom and Dad Tobler, we ALWAYS have so much fun when you visit (or vice versa)!