Karas Family

RIP Favorite Jeans

2009-08-21T21:08:00.000-07:00

Today was a sad day for me, one of my favorite pairs of jeans have seen their last day. They were a good pair of jeans, that took a full two years to break in. I am officially going to have to head out to go jean shopping, which I do not like at all. To get over my loss, we took a walk to buy the best blood orange gelato! It was the perfect treat to get over my tragic jean day and it also made my sore throat feel loads better.

By the way in case you have not guess this is not an actual photo of myself in the now retired jeans. However if my legs did look like this in my jeans, there would be many more postings of myself!

This may be one of the best summer treats there is! Try it you will love it!

A Night With Lex

2009-08-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

On Saturday night Alexa and I found ourselves with some mom and daughter time on our hands because Nick had some games to ref. I was feeling a little conflicted early on in the night, because all of the girls from work that I love were out and about, including my previous boss who is most amazing. I was feeling a little down about being stuck at home, when I realized I was not stuck anywhere, I love my nights in with Lex. We did not do anything out of the usual for us, nothing exciting, just our same old fall back ideas.

Alexa spent some time look for the space station. She is much better than me at finding it, so I leave the leg work up to her. She is always nice enough to point it out for me, so that I am able to take a peek!

We mixed up a batch of chocolate cupcakes, with chocolate chips and chocolate fudge frosting (of course).

While the cupckaes were baking we ran out to pick up a glass of the best lemonade ever! Its from Pita Jungle in case you wanted to purchase yourself a glass.
With our snacks and our lemonade, we settled in to watch Alexa's current fav of a movie. I may have missed my dinner out with the girls, but I was able to spend a night in with my favorite one.

First Grade

2009-08-10T20:45:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, Alexa is now in first grade. It is hard for me to believe and even harder for me to take her to school today. I was very nervous leaving her there with so many kids, in such a busy school but she did come home with a big smile on her face. She talked nonstop about make new friends, and how much the kids loved her notebook. Alexa getting ready to head inside!
She was excited to find her desk.

She loved her room...

Her backpack

Her shoes

And her notebook!

Well tomorrow is day two!!! I will let you know how it goes!

G for Grandma

2009-08-09T20:47:00.001-07:00

This is how I know I have arrived at my grandma’s house. Every trip to Utah when we continually ask my parents if we were close, and my dad would say “when you see the G”. He had me convinced for awhile that the city had painted that there for that very reason, because grandma’s home sits right at its base. It was amazing to take some time away from work and out busy lives to visit the G and the amazing lady that it represents.

2009-08-09T20:14:00.000-07:00

Alexa and I took a trip to Utah with my parents and while we were there we went to Lagoon. Alexa was so excited to go to and amusement park, she had not been to one in a few years. She knew right off the bat that she wanted to ride the big wooden rollercoaster, and so after we bought out tickets that are exactly where we went. We buckled in and took off, and she hated it!!!! She screamed the entire ride begging to get off, clutching anything she could reach for the entire ride. When we walked off the rollercoaster she found a haunted house ride, which was much more her pace. After about half a day she came around, and by the second day she loved almost every ride. Before the park closed on the second day she even rode the Colossus, which was a huge accomplishment for her. It was a great little break, and a fun few days with Grammy and G.G.

Lessons To Live By

2009-07-07T20:20:00.001-07:00

Take the time to smell the flowers!

Just A Thought

2009-07-06T21:46:00.000-07:00

" Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy -- because we will always want to have something else or something more. "

I was searching the Internet trying to get a little homework done, when I came across this quote. I thought it was so interesting, that I wanted to share it. We live in a society of see it, want it, buy it, but what happiness do those things really bring us. The more I thought about it the more I realized how the things that we should place value on, are not the things that we fill our homes with, it is who we fill our lives with.

Loving My Paytor-Salad

2009-07-05T21:13:00.000-07:00

So it has been a little while since my niece Payton has made an appearance on my blog. I was able to spend some time with my family this week and got a couple very cute pictures, that I LOVED!

Playing Catch Up

2009-07-03T17:59:00.000-07:00

Ok so I have had several of these blog things sent my way, and just never have anytime to finish them. Well today, for the first time in a year, Alexa has laid down to take a nap! So I decided to take a few minutes to post my responses because I told Megs I was going to do this over a week ago. Sorry Megs everything takes me a little longer!

Instructions: "With as much creativity as you can muster, show your heart in:
*a picture *a poem *a song
*a phrase or quote *an item of clothing*a place *and (just for fun) a Disney princess

Favorite Pictures

I love this family photo!

Alexa loves her cousin Payton so much, and it was so cute see he try to make her feel better.

Favorite Item Of Clothing
Victoria Secret boyfriend sweats. These may be the most comfortable sweat pants ever made, and I am and expert when it comes to sweat pants.
I also have a slight obsession with scarves, so I had to include them on my list.

Dream Vacation
If I could pick anywhere to go on a dream vacation, it would be Santorini Greece.

Favorite Disney Princess

Mulan may be one of the most underrated Disney princess, but she is by far the best!

Favorite Poem:

I had to go with a quote that I LOVE!!! I have heard it several times, and it has really stuck with me.

To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world

Favorite Songs:

Ok I know that I am supposed to pick one song, but that is just not possible. So I have decided that I will not list all of my favorite songs, but I will list each of the songs on my favorite playlist (it may be cheating but I could see no other way around this problem).
Take On Me –Reel Big Fish
Tiny Dance- Elton John
Perfect Situation- Weezer
Ain’t That Love- Ray Charles
Imagine- John Lennon
What A Wonderful World- Ron Stewart
Make You Feel My Love- Bob Dylan
Crush- Dave Matthews
You Shook Me All Night Long- AC/DC
Always –Blink 182

6 Uninteresting Things About Me!
1.) The Color Red- I am slightly obsessed with the color red, and because of this obsession I have trouble decorating my house. If you come over to visit you will be able to see first hand how boring I am! I am working on branching out and forcing myself to buy other colors.
2.) I bite my fingernails. It is not something that I like to admit because I know how disgusting it is. I have tried several times to break the habit, but no luck so far.
3.) Every time I go to the grocery store I always think I need to buy eggs. If you were to take a look in there now, there would be at least three cartons waiting patiently to be used. Side note, we are having breakfast for dinner, so a few lucky eggs will be getting their chance to shine!
4.) I love to read! I like to read a little to much, I have been trying to cut back and spend more time with actual PEOPLE
5.) I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE bad action movies. It is something that Nick teases me about but I can’t help it. I mean I can’t be the only person who likes the Transporter series!

6.)I can’t not stand when people touch my neck, it may be the worst feeling ever. It is even hard to get my hair cut, because I know she is going to have to touch my neck at some point. It has also proven to be a weakness. Whenever Nick needs feels like dishing out a little pay back, he going STRAIGHT for my neck

A Berry Fun Weekend

2009-06-07T19:33:00.000-07:00

This Saturday Nick, Alexa and I took a trip to the local bookstore to see Strawberry Shortcake. When she walked in we all had to giggle a little, because her head did not fit well through the doorway. Alexa was very excited and liked listening to the stories that were being read. After they finished reading the books, each child got their picture with Strawberry Shortcake. Alexa gave her a big hug and ran down the stairs to tell me she really smelled like Strawberries.

Strawberry Shortcake did not do much besides stand on the stage and move her head, but the kids were going crazy for her.
Alexa was all smiles when her turn came. She tried her very best to play it cool, but I could see that she was a little nervous.

She gave Strawberry a hug, a very very quick hug. The picture looks like a much longer embrace, in reality she wanted it over asap!

My mom made me the cutest apron for mother's day, and I have been looking for a free weekend to break it in. Alexa and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen baking and making pizzas. She is starting to love to bake just about as much as me. We have been working on reading recipes and she is doing an amazing job. When I see her reading the ingredients to me, it just reminds me how grown up she is getting.

One of the Strawberry Shortcake books talk about crepes, so of course we had to make some. We made dessert crepes filled with vanilla ice-cream and topped with fresh raspberries. They were pretty tasty!

These are the cookies Alexa made almost completely by herself. We each made a batch of cookies, peanut butter for her and cream cheese sugar cookies for me. She read the ingredients, figured out the measurements, added and mixed everything on her own. She was also quick to point out that the cookies she made were just a little better than mine and they were:)

Thanks to Fresh and Easy, we were able to make homemade pizzas. They are so fun to make and Alexa goes crazy with the toppings. She is a veggie loving girl! All in all it was a pretty great weekend.

Music

2009-06-02T20:21:00.000-07:00

Quick side note. I know that the music does not really got with the post this time and I try to pair them. This is what was playing on my Ipod during the drive out to the camp ground, so in a wired way it works! (right?) :) If you ever need a pick me up this song works, you can help but dance around when its on or in my case while I am driving drum on the steering wheel (Gary style). This song has got me through rush hour traffic many times!

Camping Clark and Karas Style

2009-06-02T19:44:00.000-07:00

We recently went camping in Flag with my family, rain and all! It was a muddy mess, but we still had so much fun. It was nice to spend some time in nicer weather, with family and making a couple new friends. It has been a while since I have been around a camp fire making smores and it was a first for Alexa. Nick (who says that he does not enjoy camping) even had a great time, riding quads, playing with Alexa and spending time in the WILD :)

Several families from my mom and dad's church went camping as well, and it was so fun to meet everyone. We had not seen many of them since the cruise, and of course Nick spent sometime getting to know everyone :)
Alexa was very worried about the mud she saw from her window on the drive to the camp grounds. She was pretty convinced that she was not going to enjoy comping and tried to get us to head back to Grammy's clean house. However the second she stepped out of the car, she was sold and though camping was the best.

The drive in was very muddy! It rained on and off all day, making for muddy conditions, which were very fun of course. Who does not like to drive around in the mud:) When you go just make sure you have someone in a truck who can pull you out just in case, Blaine and E were out safety net!

Oh yeah tip number two, make sure you have enough wiper fluid.

Alexa and Kennedy quickly became friends. I think Alexa spent 99.9% of her time running around with Kennedy. They spent time watching Barbie movies, writing in their diaries, coloring, riding quads and zooming around in a go-cart. Watch out though they are now known for running over small children :)

It was so fun to get out and ride the quads, even though we got very muddy. It was so pretty up there, I could have stayed forever.

This is the meadow that was right next to where we were camping. It was a great place for Alexa to learn to ride her quad and zip around with her pal Kennedy.

The camp fire was so huge, that it was still smoking the next morning! It took a lot of water a couple people shoveling dirt to get it put out.

Thanks mom and dad for inviting us to go camping it was GREAT!

Reminiscing

2009-05-13T20:26:00.000-07:00

I was looking through some of my old pictures of Alexa and I came across this video clip. It was funny and sad all at the same time, time goes by so very fast.

Alexa's Art

2009-04-19T18:34:00.000-07:00

Alexa has been bringing home so much art from school and she makes us keep every picture. So I thought I would share some of her favorites!

The artist herself
Starry Night

Daisy Troop

Rainbow Gold

Colorful

(Each picture was named by Alexa. Trust me I could not come up with these on my own)

Butterfly Art

2009-04-19T18:03:00.000-07:00

Alexa loves the movie Coraline. We have seen it three times and if she had her way we would see it again this week. We went to see it on Friday night, she noticed that Coraline had butterflies that surrounded her bed and of course she decided that she needed butterflies in her room as well. So we loaded up went to the craft store for supplies, and spent the day making paper butterflies.

She painted.....
And painted....
When she finished painting she had 25 rainbow colored butterflies.

Relaxing Saturday

2009-04-19T10:46:00.000-07:00

While the weather is still nice, we have been spending our weekends outside. We all know that the heat is coming and it’s coming fast! We took Alexa to a duck pond near our house followed by lunch at the Pita Jungle and a trip to see a play.

She tried her best to be fair and make sure that every duck got a piece, but some ducks were faster then others.

Alexa spent a good portion of her time chasing the ducks, not feeding them!

I don't think that the ducks loved this game as much as Alexa did.

Some of the ducks were braver than others, Alexa and Nick were able to feed them by hand.

There was one mama duck and her babies, this was the highlight of Alexa's day.

Once the bread came out the ducks flew over all at once.

Alexa found something she liked about every duck and she was sure to point out everything she found.

After feeding the ducks we walked to Pita Jungle for a yummy lunch! They have the best lemonade, if you have not tried it yet you should.

Alexa had a great time at the play. She picked out which dress she wanted to wear and got her self completely ready on her own. She even decided to take her new purse she got for her birthday. Once we got there she was bouncing in her seat waiting for the play to begin and then sat there silent through the entire play. After the play was over she stayed to get everyone autograph.

Easter 2009

2009-04-13T20:29:00.001-07:00

HAPPY EASTER

The family photo with a touch of orange. Mom got her Easter wish, we were a color coordinated group. Make sure you look to your right, you will see moms large and in coarge diet coke close by as always!

The Easter bunny himself made an apperance!

LOVE IT! Cole ducked down under the camera to get Payton to smile. Priceless first Easter family photo.

Blaine jumped right into Alexa's picture, it ended up being very cute. She loves her uncle Blaine!

Payton did not love the photo shoot. Alexa did what she could to make her cousin feel better.

I MEAN SOOOOO FLIPPING CUTE!

Cole and Alexa were so excited to get thier Easter baskets. Alexa woke up soooo early and we had to have her wait downstairs until G.G got back. Needless to say I had to sneak her a Barbie and some Easter candy.

Alexa's Easter basket, full of everything pink and Tink.

Cole and Alexa found and egg at the same time. Alexa was a little quicker or maybe just that much more competitive!

Blaine wanted Jello eggs like Ashley used to make. E did her very best to make him happy, but could not find egg molds anywhere. Long story short, we made our own. We had to tape up our eggs and use dad's power drill to put holes into the tops of the eggs. It was so much work, very sticky but SOOOO much fun. Good times with E!

E and I spend hours filling jello eggs for Blaine. I am going out this week to make sure I find the actual molds for next year!

Dad LOVES Peeps so much Blaine decided to share!

Blaine and E made this amazing bunny cake! They seem to be starting to make a cake for every holiday, I feel a cake-off coming (Blaine and E need a little competition)

All in all we had a pretty amazing snowy Easter!

A Troop Of Daisies + Humming Birds = Endless Fun

2009-04-02T21:48:00.000-07:00

Alexa Daisy troop took a field trip to the Desert Botanical Gardens to take a humming bird tour. I work a lot these days, so it’s a rare occasion where I get to play mom and go to the field trip. Alexa was very excited for this one, so of course I had to go! Alexa has a fun little troop of friends who are also in her Kindergarten class and she LOVES her weekly Daisy meetings. There was also an artist who had an exhibition showing and Alexa seemed more interested in the pieces of art instead of the humming birds. I had to admit I was a little surprised that most of the girls were so interested in the blown glass sculptures, but whether they were looking for art or humming birds they all had a great time!

TROOP PICTURE

This one was AMAZING! The artist made all of these different glass balls that looked like giant marbles.

This was one of Alexa's favorites!

This might have been the biggest cactus I have ever seen!

All of the girls got to make a humming bird feeder.

Alexa was very excited about getting her first Daist patch!

We had a great tour guide who made the trip so much fun! He was not afraid to act like a goof if it got him a laugh from the girls.

60 YEARS!

2009-03-16T20:17:00.000-07:00

The greatest thing you'll ever learn Is to love and be loved in return

Nick's grandparents just celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary! It was pretty amazing to be there celebrating and seeing how much they still love each other. Nick's mom planned a beautiful party for family and close friends. We all had a great time; it was a night to remember.

The couple of the night!

One of my favorite pictures of Jen.

The entertainer of the night.

The decorations were so beautiful!

MY “I WANT” LIST

2009-03-02T21:19:00.000-08:00

MY “I WANT” LIST

I want: To be a good mom and wife
I want: To slow down and enjoy life more
I want: To FINISH SCHOOL
I want: To be someone that people can depend on
I want: To travel more
I want: To spend more time outside
I want: To spend more time with my family
I want: To learn how to sew and knit
I want: To BLOG MORE
I want: To be less scattered brained (this may never happen!)
I want: To start running (this may also never happen!)
I want: To do less for myself and more for others
I want: To get more sleep
I want: To laugh more and stress less

Take A Look

2009-01-22T19:38:00.000-08:00

As many of you probably already know, I am in love with the NieNie Dialogues. For those of who don't know who she is, you should really check her out (you will not be sorry). She has taught me an important lesson, which I am trying to incorporate in my own life on a daily basis. She has taught me to take notice of the small joys in life, and to put family first. To look at life at a gift not a chore! I am one who easily gets caught up in the stresses that life dishes out, and I need to make more of an effort to ENJOY LIFE!

Out Of Africa

2009-01-17T21:02:00.000-08:00

Last month I went to the coolest place with my family. There is an animal park in Verde Valley called Out Of Africa. I was not looking forward to the two hour dive, but the trip was well worth our time. Alexa had a great time and it was a pretty amazing experience.

We had to get a picture of the zebra, they are Bebes favorite

Dad feeding a giraffe

He looked hungry!

Alexa feeding a camel

Me getting a giraffe kiss!

It was a little on the cold side!

Me and my girl

Snow Day

2009-01-13T19:46:00.000-08:00

We recently took another fun filled trip to Flag, to go and play in the snow. Alexa loved playing in the snow and near the end of the trip gave snowboarding try. She just went down a small hill behind my parent’s house, and she LOVED IT! The pictures make me laugh because they make it look like she is tearing it up!

She was eating more than she was playing!

Lex and Dad

Lex and GG

Only Alexa

2008-12-14T21:15:00.000-08:00

Alexa and I were up visiting my family for Thanksgiving, and she had been having a little bit of trouble getting along with her uncle Cole. They both came running up the stairs to tattle for the millionth time and the conversations went as follows!
Cole: “Kristin you won’t believe what Alexa just did.”
Kristin: “What Cole.”
Cole: “She got mad and stuck her tongue out at me.”
Kristin:”Alexa why did you stick you tongue out at Cole, you know you should not be doing things like that.” (I know it sounds lame but how else do you respond to a scuffle over someone sticking their tongue out.)
Alexa: “MMMMMOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!! I was not sticking my tongue out at him I was doing this (this is the part where you have to imagine Alexa moving her tongue all over her teeth) because my teeth itched!”
That was basically the end of me reprimanding her, because at this point we were all laughing! ONLY ALEXA!

CelebratingTwenty Something

2008-12-01T21:38:00.000-08:00

Well I am OFFICALLY 27 years old and birthdays are now OFFICALLY terrifying. The years are starting to pass by a little too quickly for my liking. I had a great birthday even though I spent my day at work and my night finishing homework. No matter where I am or what I am doing on my birthday, I am lucky to be surrounded by family and friends who make each birthday just as special as the last!

Just Another Day At Work

2008-11-24T17:13:00.001-08:00

Most of the time when people ask me about work, I complain about being tired and wanting to spend more time with Alexa. There are however, many reasons that I absolutely LOVE my job!!! I thought I needed to take the time to tell you all why I love my job and take some time to remind myself.
Top 5 Reasons My Job Rocks
1.) I work with the greatest group of girls (this is only half of them; I will work on getting the rest of their pictures)! They keep me positive when I feel like I can’t make it through another minute in the classroom, and make everyday an experience. I could dedicate an entire blog to the fun that is had and the memories that are being made at SARRC. The funny thing is we are all SO different, but for some reason we just click!
2.) The children that I work with on a daily basis have changed my life in countless ways.
3.) I have met and work for the most remarkable families
4.) I have learned so much and continue to learn from my coworkers
5.) I get to work for and amazing non-profit who work day in and day out to improve the lives of children and their families

ME!!! Ugly I know!

Megan

Dana

Coylln

INDIANA COLE

2008-11-18T19:49:00.000-08:00

I have been dying to write about Halloween, but I have been waiting to get pictures of Alexa. Sadly I did not get to go trick or treating with Alexa, because I drove up to see the newest addition to our family, Payton. I was going to get pictures from Alexa’a grandma, but of course her computer crashed. Well to make a long story short, I still do not have pictures of Cinderella but I do have pictures of someone else. I would like to introduce you all to INDIANA COLE!!!!!

Lazy Day

2008-11-16T20:32:00.000-08:00

So I have been having trouble with my asthma, I know it is shocking! Well there is not much that I can do to entertain Alexa when I can’t breathe, so Nick thought of playing darts (random). I basically had to stand in one spot for the duration of the game, so it was PERFECT. Alexa loved it, because she had never played darts before. Alexa, being a little competitive, played until she got her dart smack in the middle of the board and of course she did! She was so excited by her achievement, that she had me get out my camera to capture her triumph. The next activity that I pulled out, so that I could stay as stationary as possible, was letting Alexa make a paper chain for Tyler. She does not know what it is going to count down to yet, but she has started it all the same. She wanted to make it special, so she has been decorating each loop. Each link on the chain has a special message to Tyler, or a picture. It is turning out to be very cute and all I had to do was cut the paper into strips. A perfect activity for a kid with an asthmatic mother!

The Chef Of The Family

2008-11-15T18:36:00.000-08:00

Alexa is turning into a little chef. I can not do anything in the kitchen anymore without her at my heels, asking if she can help. Since it was the weekend and I did not have to rush to get dinner made, I let her take charge and cook most of our pumpkin soup (which was awesome) on her own. She sat at the table and chopped vegetables and then stood over the stove until everything was done. At one point while the soup was cooking steam was shooting out from under the lid. Alexa said that it should not be called pumpkin soup but choo-choo soup instead, because it looked like a train. To make a long story short Alexa had a great time in the kitchen and her dinner was very YUMMY!

The choo-choo soup cooking away!

She added in every ingredient by herself!

2008-11-13T21:39:00.000-08:00

MY GG MADE ME A SWING!

Alexa and I went up for a visit this weekend, and Dad hung up our old swing for Lex. She and Cole spent most of the remaining trip fighting for a turn because little Miss Alexa must be in charge! She talked about the swing most of the car ride home, and is looking forward to going back as soon as possible (she is worried about Cole getting to have all of the fun).

2008-11-13T21:17:00.001-08:00

Build-A-Bear Birthday

Alexa went to her buddy Jake's birthday party at build a bear we have now added another bear to our ever growing collection (which is just what we needed). Everyone from her kindergarten class went to the party, meaning kids were running everywhere and Alexa had a GREAT time!

It's A GIRL

2008-11-01T16:02:00.001-07:00

It's A GIRL

Payton Michele Clark was born at 4:50pm on October 30, 2008. She weighed in at 6 12, was 19.5 inches long and CUTE!

Once I finally made it up the hill, I found Blaine and he could not look happier.We were all smiles!
Well most of us were all smiles; Cole shed a few tears about becoming an uncle again.

MEET MY FAMILY

2008-11-01T15:54:00.001-07:00

MEET MY AMAZING FAMILY! After several trips to visit my mom, she has finally convinced me to start a family blog (I think in large part because she can't). I am also terrible about sending cards, letters and pictures to the people that I love most, so maybe this will be some kind of solution for me!