Hi!

Yup- it's been a year (almost) What a year it has been!
We are loving our new home and are still "decorating it" or whatever one calls it. Andrew has been working on the backyard tilling the backyard with a shovel, he's going to plant grass and make a vegetable garden. Our grass in the front is lush and green. We lived with dirt until mid-end Decemeber. Andrew made a flower bed in the front and put 3 rose bushes and planted some daffodil bulbs. We have lots of rose buds almost ready to bloom, and the daffodils are now peeking out of the dirt! I can't wait until Spring comes!I don't miss Santa Rosa as much- I think ever since we bought our home, that I was then able to put down roots and call Southern California home.

The kids have made good friends here. I am so grateful that they have found good friends.

I am still going to school- taking a Nursing 50 class and wondering to myself- is it worth it? It's a rough class.

We are happy here and we've enjoyed all the rain that we've recieved here-

Here's a quote that I found and love and wanted to share.



"If ever you are tempted to
become discouraged or
to lose faith.....
Hold on a little longer.
You can do this!
You are part of a special generation.
You were prepared and preserved
to live at this important time
in the existence of our
beautiful planet earth.
You have a celestial pedigree
and therefore have
all the necessary talents
to make your life an
eternal success story."

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf


Love it! Hope everyone is doing well!

Sarah

Conference...

I am so thankful for General Conference this past weekend. I have been under a tremendous amount of stress for the last few weeks. I feel like I can't focus in school anymore. My testimony was starting to slip, until the other day I know I have been complaining about my calling and how rough it is... and thanks to my friend, Karen, who I love and miss, said to me... "It would be calm if we had no callings.." (something along those lines) I immediately said, " Without callings, the church would fall apart and the gospel would cease to exist..." and she responded and said, " Spoken with someone who has a testimony....." Thank you Karen, for waking me up!!!!! Talking to you the other day was an answer to my prayers!

I have been looking forward to General Conference.. with renewed faith. I listened.. I prayed.. and had questions in my mind, and it was answered.

I am so looking forward to this week, and going to make changes,(baby steps!!)

Thank you all for your patience with me,

"Fear not, be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith."

Love it!!

Here's to a new week!!

Ok!!Ok!!! Don't Kill me Alright!!

So- It's been 4 MONTHS!!!! Phew! How Do I fit 4 months in a blog??



I shouldn't be blogging.. I should be working on my Plato/Wright Essay... but I am sitting here staring at the computer screen drawing a BLANK!!! I'd rather be Facebooking and stalking everyone! ;-)



So, I thought I'd post something, so that I can keep my friends!!



Anyway- Here's some highlights on what the Clawsons have done the last 4 months.....



* Mommy made the children and the hubby suffer as I went to school during the short 6 week winter session.



* Mommy continued to make the children and hubby suffer as I went back to school after a 4 day break in between semesters!!! Don't hate me alright!! :-)



* Mommy and Daddy makes the children suffer as we go to church for long hours.. meetings galore!!! (I'm think the kids think that they better have a place in Heaven!! Snickering!)



* Mommy makes the family suffer when there's drama going on - I don't have to 'splain myself alright!!! (still snickering)



* Mommy leaves the children to go and clean someone else's house... (come on.. the children think it's the best... and destroys the house!! not snickering anymore!!)



* Mommy and Daddy gets walked all over- not 'splaining that one either....



* Mommy and Daddy leaves the kids one day and goes house hunting.... and we say- not doing that again!! (the leaving kids part!)



* Mommy and Daddy look at houses.... thought this was supposed to be fun!! After a while they all start to look the same.... This is also our way of torturing the children- by draggin them everywhere with us for hours!!! (we're still thinking of ways to torture them some more! snickering again!! ;-)



* Mommy tortures Daddy and begs him to explain tonicity and hypertonicty and hypotonicity.... in the tropical rain forest!!... Yes.. my Anatomy teacher likes to make weird comparisons! (stopped snickering..... :-/)



* Mommy and Daddy are busy and busy with our callings-... Sometimes we say- Oh boy!! Let's go to a different ward and just sit at church and have no resposnibilities!! Then we wake up and think- oh.. Dream on Baby!!! We've been snookered!

(There better be a place for us in Heaven!! )



* Mommy and Daddy lets Emma Wemma have a slumber party for her first double digit B-day.. ( What were we thinkin'?) Oh yeah!! We love Emma!!! We had fun making mini pizzas and blowing up a million pink balloons, and letting children run around crazy- Good times!!!



* Daddy goes to a meeting for Ashley's Science Camp- Ashley sees her best friend's mama crying... because she will miss her daughter.. Emma, Luke say.... BYE BYE Ashley- BYE BYE!!! (snickering) I have to say... It will be nice to have peace and quiet for a few days.. without the phone ringing all the time... - but of course I have to say I will miss my tween!!



* Mommy took the kiddos to Disney and CA Adventure... and ended up throwing up driving home..... I know (tmi)



* Mommy and Daddy and the children are hoping that after all the (sniff) torture that we put them through looking for a new home, that one of our offers will be accepted... We're DONE!!! ( I love our realtor... so if he reads this... don't get us wrong... We love you and appreciate all the work you've done for us...)



* Mommy and Daddy will be celebrating our 14th wedding anniversary in a few days- and all we can think about is.. how are we going to pay our taxes, and waiting to hear about whether or not our offer has been accepted..... Fun Fun!!!



* Mommy and Daddy love our children... and are so grateful to have each other. We are so deeply blessed! We can feel love and support from our family and friends... And hopes that our faithful readers still love us!!! ;-)

Knotts Merry Farms

Emma got DRENCHED!!! We were so lucky that we had traded in a pair of jeans at Target that morning- so we had some dry clothes to wear- She had to take her shirt off and put her jacket on and zip it up!
Emma got to invite a friend of her's from church to join with us-

Having fun!

Fiesta Hats ( same idea as the Tea Cups at Disney)

Andrew took this picture of us on Ghost Rider- which in my opinion is the BEST wooden rollercoaster I have been on- and I have been on quite a few of them.... AWESOME!!! I was kind of scared for Luke--- But he survived!

LA Temple- Christmas Lights

We went to the Temple after church before Christmas- We had fun and had a nice time there! This was our 2nd time doing this- so maybe it has become a tradition?

A mishmash of pics.

Luke made a snowman out of marshmallows at his christmas party at school.

Ash made the honor roll- We're proud of her!


Luke's tooth fell out.. the tooth fairy put a golden sacajawea dollar under his pillow.

Gingerbread house decorated by Emma

I don't know if you can see it, but Em made a sign that says " Emma's Inn"

Andrew and I had Em all to ourselves, so we had fun making personal pizzas, decorating this.. We need to have special time with each child... it was fun!