It's the most wonderful time of the year

 Hey mom, why are you taking so many pictures?

 Our Christmas tree. Nathaniel knew how much I wanted a real christmas tree but I told him it didn't make any sense since he would be gone and his reponse was, "you guys are still there, you should get a real tree because it's what you want Sarah", and it was true, Thanks for reminding me honey that we can't put our lives on hold. I love you!

 Grandma and Grandpa came to visit us this year!

 Hannah loving Grandma time

 We made home made pajamas this year, Camden even helped. He had a blast pushing the peddle to the sewing machine!

Camden was a bit over whelmed christmas morning. But dont worry he soon realized how much fun it was!

 

Christmas this year started off by Nathaniel convincing me to get a real christmas tree. So I loaded the kiddos up and off we went. Camden loved running through all of the trees...I tried my best to keep an eye on him....and Hannah slept! and then we found the perfect tree. The workers strapped it to the top of our car and off we went. First test came: we arrived home and I realized that I had to take the tree off the car by myself. But I was bound and determined to do it and I did. Second test came when I realized I had to hold the tree up by myself and get it into the tree stand by myself and then screw it into the stand by myself. I am sure it was quite the sight. BUT I DID IT! We had a blast listening to christmas music and decorating the tree!

This year my mom and dad came down and visited us (what a relief it was not to have to fly with two little kiddos by myself). Camden had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa and I got a little extra sleep because Grandma was awesome and took care of hannah so I could sleep in (quite a feat especially since I am exclusively breast feeding) THANKS MOM! Christmas Eve my sister and her family stayed the night and we enjoyed a delicious dinner and a wonderful reading of the nativity story by my sister as my mom played silent night. it was beautiful. We then opened up our christmas pajamas and listened to Uncle Coleman read scrooge!

Then off to bed so Santa could come.

I had butterflies the next morning I was SO excited to watch Camden open his presents, I wanted to WAKE the kiddos up. haha. We sure were spoiled this year by family. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

The next day we enjoyed bowling and mom and dad treated us to dinner at cheddars and then we went up to BLORA and saw the christmas lights, even Hannah was fascinated by them!

The rest of the week we spent enjoying each others company. it was perfect.

I love this time of year. It is so magical and now that I am a mom I get to watch the joy and excitement of Christmas through my kids eyes!

Thanksgiving this year was great. Good friends, Good food, 80 degree weather, it. was. awesome.! I hosted Thanksgiving at my house this year and a grand total of 23 people came (that includes the adorable kiddos, which was about half that number). Everyone brought 1 or 2 food dishes that were delicious and the kids played outside because the weather was AWESOME! definently one thing I'm going to miss about Texas, the short winters and the LONG summers :) We sure are blessed! and I have a GRAND total of ZERO pictures. Sorry Nathaniel!

I'm proud to be an american.

I think I have started this blog post a hundred times, but everytime I write something it just doesn't sound right. How Do I write about this deployment? how do I explain the emotions?

Five months after Nathaniel came home from his last deployment he told me of the possibility of another deployment. I wasn't expecting another one for another couple of years. But as an army wife I took it in strides but I don't think I ever felt like he was going to deploy (some may call it denial :) as his deployment date came closer and closer it felt so surreal. Was he really leaving again? Then July came and wonderful Miss Hannah was born. She has brought so much joy into our lives. Then exactly ten days after she was born her daddy had to leave for a month of training to deploy. Boy we sure did miss him. I thought maybe he wouldn't have to go so when  he came and told me he had to leave in two days: I said "Ok, we knew it was a possibility" and I tried to be strong, I tried to smile, I am so proud of him but as I stared at him packing his bags I couldn't hold the tears in any longer. I cried. The emotion was so overwhelming as I held our sweet newborn. But the time came for my wonderful husband to leave to training and I was strong. I was strong because I had to be. I was stong because I wanted to be. and you know what we made it through that month. healing from child birth and taking care of a two year old and a colicky newborn was not easy and at times I cried as I held my crying baby and I prayed. I prayed for patience. I prayed to feel my Heavenly Fathers love.

After Nathaniel got home the next few weeks were filled full of wonderful memories. I remember thinking, "I wish this could last". But as we all know we can't stop time and all of a sudden deployment day was here. So we packed up Nathaniel's bags, strapped our kiddos into their car seats, and headed to post at two in the morning. As we drove, there wasn't much traffic and I felt like it was just the two of us. I held his hand, he held my hand and I just looked at him and thought, "this day can't be here already, it feels to surreal, is he really leaving"? Then we pulled onto post and I knew it was happening. First thing that happened: nathaniel had to get his weapon. As he walked back to us with his gun and his pistol strapped to his leg, it hit me again, "this is happening". So many emotions hit me at once. Proudness, sadness, happiness, and then I was scared. With his first deployment I knew he was going to be ok. I just felt it. This deployment I have not felt that. I. am. scared. I love this man more then words can explain and seeing him carry his weapons knowing that he may have to use them terrified me. I wanted to hold him tight and never let him go. But instead, I smiled at him and said that he looked great and that I was proud of him.

Soon the time came for us to say our goodbye's. I almost feel like this moment is unexplainable. If you have been through a deployment, you understand this moment.  Our sweet little boy understood that his daddy was leaving and we both held him between us as he cried. I couldn't talk because there was a lump in my throat. I kissed Nathaniel. Then I kissed him again  and then I took our sweet boy and baby girl to the car and I just held Camden. Camden knew his daddy was gone and it broke his little two year old heart so I just held him as he sobbed into my shoulder.

And now we are more then two months into our second deployment. We miss Nathaniel everyday. But each day is wonderful as well. Camden is his silly goofy self and Miss Hannah is growing out of her colicky stage and I can see her wonderful personality coming through. She lets all of her excitement show and will squel and laugh all at the same time. it melts my heart.

And before we know it Nathaniel is going to be home, and as many military families have done before us, we will pack up and move onto our next adventure.

 

Ben and Buffy's wedding

 

In october nathaniel's brother married an amazing woman named Buffy. Camden absolutely adores his new aunt and we had a great time getting to know her! They were married in the D.C. temple and it was abosultly perfect. We sure were spoiled through out the week of the wedding. Buffy's family paid for us all to stay at the marriott for three days, it was a beautiful hotel room (or suite I should say, it was huge). They also bought Camden and Hannah numerous outfits to wear during the celebrations, spoiled us with a pajama pizza party one night, and BEST of all they made us feel like family!

We also Blessed Hannah while we were there. It was wonderful having family with us to share this moment with, even if Hannah did crying during the whole blessing!

 

These kiddos make me smile! While the men went to the priesthood session of conference, us girls got together and had a popcorn movie night! We sure are lucky to have amazing friends here in texas.

(left to right: Patton (who is three days younger then hannah), Dawson, Bennett, Camden, Whitney, and Harper....Hannah isn't in the picture because she was eating - also what she does best, she would eat all day long if I let her!)

PRE-deployment camping

 EWWW, down side of camping in Texas = Tarantula's!

 Daddy and Hannah hanging out. Hannah doing what she does best = SLEEP!

The boys helping Nathaniel start the fire!

 

We LOVE camping and really wanted to go before Nathaniel deployed again so when my sister asked us if we wanted to joing her and her family we said YES OF COURSE, so little miss hannah went on her first camping trip when she was 8 weeks old and she did a fabulous job (she slept 8 hours straight at night!) Camden loved hanging out with his cousins, we enjoyed playing in the river, and also just hanging out around the camp fire roasting marshmellows, yum!

(September 2012)



YES, I have completely neglected our blog. Between having a baby, Nathaniel leaving shortly after for JRTC for a month, trying to keep my independent two year old out of trouble and trying to prepare for nathaniel's up coming deployment, life has been...well...CRAZY!
But I was telling my mom a story about Camden today and she thought it was hilarious and asked if I wrote it on my blog/journal so I would remember it. And I though, geez I haven't written in ages all of these fun memories are going completely undocumented. haha! SO.....
Camden is growing up way to fast if you ask me and lately he thinks because he is tall that he can do anything. So this past weekend we went camping and Nathaniel was climbing a huge tree and then I handed Camden up to him, well Camden wanted to keep climbing higher and Nathaniel said that he was to little to do it and Camden looked at him and said, "NO NO NO" and puts his hands above his head and yells, "TALL, TALL, TALL". Well this alone is hilarious but even more so because Camden is in speech therapy and is just learning how to speak, so we of course laugh at his persistence that he can do anything because he is, "TALL TALL TALL". So fast forward to last night and he wanted to do something and we once again said he wasn't big enough and he of course said, "NO NO NO, TALL TALL TALL" and we laughed at said, "yes you are tall but you are not old enough", and looks up at us and gives us a look only two year olds are capable of doing and holds up two fingers and says, "NO NO NO, TWO TWO TWO". So apparently if you are two and tall you can do anything you want. haha!!!

Hannah Abigail Clark

Hannah Abigail Clark

July 20th, 2012

3:52 a.m.

9 pounds 2 oz.

Birth Story.

I assume at one time or another everyone who has been pregnant feels like they will be pregnant FOREVER and at a week past my due date I was definently no exception. We had an induction date set for the 20th and at exactly 8 in the morning I called labor and delivery and was told they were FULL! so no induction. I was quite disappointed. my body felt DONE. I felt done. and I couldn't wait to hold and snuggle our little girl.

But there wasn't anything I could do but wait and for some reason I felt at peace. I realized I wouldn't be pregnant forever and I told Nathaniel, "we aren't being induced today but I feel like we are going to have Hannah very soon. Today feels like the day." I am sure he just smiled and nodded as we both felt at that point that Hannah was quite comfortable staying where she was.

Camden and I ended up having a great day together and that night after Nathaniel got home from work and we ate dinner we decided it would be a lot of fun to walk to the park as a family. That's when the fun began! I noticed at the park that contractions were coming every 5 to 7 minutes, but I just kind of shrugged it off - I had been having contractions for weeks by that point. When we finally decided to leave the park about 10 seconds later I was hit by a pretty strong contraction and I told Nathaniel that this might actually be it - followed by me saying, "but it can't be my body apparently doesn't know how to go into labor again." - I believe that is what denial is called! Well we made it home and the contractions kept coming over the next half hour but they never felt as intense as with Camden so I still assumed that I couldn't be in labor. But Nathaniel convinced me that we needed to take Camden to my sister's house and head over to the hospital. At this point I was still thinking, "I can't be in labor. The contractions aren't that intense. They aren't coming consistantly. And when we get to the hospital they are just going to send us home." But Nathaniel was adament about going, so we loaded Camden up in the car and headed out.

We arrived at the hospital about 9:30 p.m. and I told the nurses at the front desk that I thought I was in labor. I am sure they were thinking, "yeah right...who "thinks" they are in labor and is actually in labor". But we head over to triage and I get hooked up to the monitors. and I have ONE contraction in the next 10 minutes and it wasn't even that strong. So the nurse comes in and says that he is going to check me and while he is checking me I say, " have I changed AT all", and he asked what I was at my last appt. and I laughed at said a one to two, but I am pretty sure my midwife gave me that two to make me feel better" and he laughed at said well you are a SIX! that's right I had already made it to a six and didn't even realize I was in labor.

So I was admitted and then I met my nurse, Becky! She was AWESOME! This labor so far was completely different then Camden's. I was able to breathe through each contraction and laugh and talk in between them. It was very relaxed. But I knew I still wanted an epidural. And I was in luck, within 20 minutes of being admitted I met the anestigeologist (sp). He was great and so nice and as we talked we also found out that his wife was from Utah as well! About this time I met my midwife, Michelle. AND yes once again I lucked out and she was Amazing. We were so blessed with everyone who helped deliver Hannah and who took care of me.

After I got the epidural everything progressed smoothly and steadily and by 3:30 a.m. I was a 10! Time to meet Hannah. I had one practice push with my nurse, who then called in my midwife right away. I then pushed for about 8 to 10 minutes with my midwife coaching me and Hannah was born at 3:52 a.m. She was placed on my stomach right away and I instantly feel in love and couldn't hold back the tears. My midwife then said "look at all that hair" and I laughed while crying and said, "I can't see anything through my tears". l.o.l! Later as they were cleaning me up I finally got the nerve and asked how bad I had tore, and she looked at me and said, "you didn't tear at all". Which means healing from this delivery has been a breeze.

As Nathaniel and I were later talking we both said we felt so blessed and amazed how smoothly this labor and delivery was. We are madly in love with our daughter and can't believe she is ours. Being a parent really is the greatest blessing our Heavenly Father has given us.



Our last vacation as a family of three :)

This bed is SO comfortable, even better after being stuck in my car seat for four hours

The picture is a little blurry but Camden was SO excited to ride the merry-go-round!

Exhausted after a long day at NASA and the Houston Zoo.

Notice the cookie he is holding in his neck.....well he got a hold of the package of cookies we packed next him in the car (oops) and that is where he decided to hide one of the cookies from me. l.o.l, he thinks that he is very very sneaky!

Camden had NO fear of the ocean at all!

After a FUN day at the beach Camden was tuckered out and fell asleep in his daddies arms!

This past weekend Nathaniel had four days off of work and it also happened to be the last weekend I can travel more then an hour away from the hospital, so we took FULL advantage of the last chance we would have to vacation as a family of three! Thursday after Nathaniel got off of work we packed the car up and headed for Houston. Thankfully Camden is a wonderful traveler and we made it there in less then four hours. The day we went to NASA in the morning....it was CRAZY, we didn't realize that every school in the vicinity would be taking a field trip there that day! But we had fun! We then went back to our hotel room for a little rest and then we went to the zoo! Nathaniel jokes that I like the zoo even more then him OR Camden, and he might just be right! We had a great time as a family though! The next day we went to Galveston for our beach day! it was GREAT! We got there in the morning and spent the next five hours playing in the water and sand! We are SO happy that Camden loves the beach, especially since his mommy and daddy plan on taking a beach trip every year :) We then spent one more night in Houston, went to Church there (where Camden made friends with the nice lady sitting next to us on the bench) and made our way home!

Monday was also a FUN day! A bunch of us got together for a Memorial Day BBQ at my friends house. We let the kiddos play in the water and us adults had a great time hanging out.

F.H.E.

The other week for F.H.E. we had a great lesson on families and followed it up by making our own strawberry milk shakes. They were DELICIOUS! Camden thoroughly enjoyed "helping" make them (and yes that picture where he is about to eat the strawberry, well he decided to lick it instead and add it into the mixer. YUM!!! :)



Father and Sons Campout

Camden had a GREAT time camping with his daddy. Nathaniel was just as excited to take Camden because he has SO many great memories of father and sons campouts with his Dad. They enjoyed fun games, good food, and great company! Camden loved sleeping in a tent and actually slept through the night for Nathaniel! I know they both cant wait until their next campout!



I can't belive I am already in my third tri-mester...and yes this is about the only picture I have of my belly so far, my family has been asking for a picture and I finally remembered right when I was getting ready to go to Combat class at the gym!
This pregnancy has definently been different then Camden's:
Positives:
1. My sciatic nerve isn't hurting as bad this time
2. I haven't gained as much weight with this one (so far... :)
3. I have definently worked out more with this pregnancy then I did with camden's.
4. This pregnancy is FLYING by!
Negitives:
1. My belly feels so much bigger and sooner then it did with Camden, making sleeping quite uncomfortable.
2. I definently felt pretty with Camden ; maybe the old wives tell is true, "girls take the beauty away from their mothers"
3. I am more tired and more nauseous with this one then I ever was with camden.
4. and last but not least...I don't know how to explain this one, but there are two places on my belly that if Hannah kicks, punches, pushes, it causes me severe pain for a second and then it is gone. Strange yes, annoying definently, but my doctor doesn't seem concerned.

Two nights ago Nathaniel and I were getting ready for bed and Hannah was moving like crazy so I told nathaniel to put his hand on my belly and for the next few minutes he got to feel her hit him with her elbows, hands, feet, head, etc. I love moments like that. Nathaniel says that feeling her move around like that makes it so much more real for him, I think he is already smitten with his little girl :)

Here's to hoping the next two months fly by!

Where's Camden???

Little.....

Miss Hannah will be joining our family July 2012! Yup that's right we're having a GIRL, I think Nathaniel was a bit shocked, but he is SO excited about his little girl, I just know she will have him wrapped around her little finger in no time!
I am almost 21 weeks and can't believe how fast this pregnancy is flying by. At my last appt. my blood pressure was a bit high just like it was with Camden, thankfully I had a safe and healthy pregnancy with him so we are crossing our fingers that this one will be the same!
She is definently a MOVER! The first time I felt her for sure was about 16 weeks and since 18 weeks I feel her move each day - it's to the point now when I am laying in bed at night I can look down at my stomach and see her moving! This is the FUN part of pregnancy....No more morning sickness (which I had until 16 weeks), I finally have more energy and I'm feeling her move around each day - that part definently makes the pregnancy seem more real :)
Pregnancy symptoms right now include HUNGER.....thankfully mostly for meat, I LOVE meat especially if it is steak, YUM! Also if I move a certain way to fast I have shooting pain down my leg - BOO Sciatica! Other then that no symptoms....Except a GROWING belly, I thought to myself today, Was I this big with Camden at this point? But I am loving it!
What does Camden think so far? Well besides me asking him where baby Hannah is and him pointing to my belly and then me asking him where is big boy Camden and him pointing to himself I dont think he really gets that soon he is going to have a baby sister! But he is a sweety (for the most part :) So I think he is going to be a GREAT big brother!
We are definently excited for the summer to come so we can hold our sweet little girl!

July 2012 sounds like a GREAT month to me!

It is true, Baby Clark #2 is on its way! Nathaniel and I are SUPER excited, we had our first ultrasound today (10 weeks) and we saw his/her little arms and legs kicking and punching, it was an amazing moment! We also heard and saw his little heartbeat...I can't help it I've already fallen in love :) :) :) The midwife that I saw today was AWESOME! we got along great, I wish that I could see her each time (bad thing about the army, you generally see a different doctor at each appt., positive side to that is your bound to know the doctor that delivers your baby :)

WE CAN'T WAIT TO MEET AND HOLD OUR LITTLE BABY in July!!!

only a couple of holidays behind!

Camden and his friend Emily

Camden, the little dragon

The Group

Having fun frosting cookies after trick or treating.

We had so much fun this halloween. The Fun began the friday before when we went to our friends halloween party, it was AMAZING! The food was delcious, we had a donut eating contest, pin the tail (on some sort of animal, l.o.l), a pinata, and a awesome halloween story at the end. EVERYONE had to dress up and it was just a blast! The next day was our wards trunk or treating/chili cook off! The kids had fun parading around in the customes, us adults had fun talking and at the end of the night everyone had a blast trunk or treating! On Halloween we inviting my sister and her kids over and my friend Julie (how I call cricket from our oakcrest days) and her kids over and we enjoyed eating mummy dogs and fruit! The older kids had SO much fun trick or treating and getting candy and the younger kids (Camden and Emily) had fun but would much rather stop at each house and play with their friends, haha!

A splendid way to spend a sunny day

We are heading up to Mt Rainier...notice Camden holding my hand, he routinely DEMANDS to hold my hand as we drive in the car!
The beginning of our hike started by the most beautiful lake I have seen. It was SO calm he could see the reflection of the sky and moutains in it!

Camden and Grandpa The boys. Camden's favorite thing to do on the hike: throw rocks into the water...any water we came across for the matter...and Washington has quite a bit of water to say the least :) Grandpa is king of the mountain! This picture doesn't do the view justice, it was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G! Camden's favorite place to stop on our hike....we sat for awhile on the trail throwing rocks down the mountain...Camden could of stayed there all day if we had let him! We made it - Spray Falls! Mommy and little man!

On saturday Dad, Nathaniel, Camden, and I packed our hiking bags, strapped on our hiking boots and set out for some hiking in Mount Rainier! I was just a little bit nervous about how Camden would do on the hike since we didn't have a backpack carrier for him...but I had no need to worry...Camden ran/walked/and thoroughly enjoyed our FOUR hour hike! The hike was beautiful.... I sometimes forget since living in Texas that some places are SO GREEN! We enjoyed a spectacular view of Mount Rainer and a HUGE waterfall! Besides about 20 minutes of being carried Camden walked most of the time...and insisted (quite loudly) that he would walk the last mile all by himself!

If we are ever stationed here at Fort Lewis we know that we will definently be taking advamtage of all of the hiking this state has to offer!