The Lucky Lund Family

Jeff and Kelli are married! Our family spent a wonderful day attending Jeff and Kelli's wedding in the Mt. Timponogas Temple and their reception in the evening. Kelli was a beautiful bride and it was so special to have 6 of the 8 Lund children together again along with some of the grandchildren and even a few great grandchildren. My heart was filled with the reminder of how special family is and I am so grateful for the wonderful family that I am a part of. Tomorrow night we will celebrate the weddings of Golden and Sandy and Jesse and Laura Lund.

Lions and tigers and bears...and SPIDERS

(This is an update of a 2008 post. One of the images wasn't showing up so I added a different one.) Tonight, after Dani Kaye had convinced me she was done nursing, I sat up and noticed something on the pillow I had just had my head on. I keep the room dark except for the light of the very tiny t.v. because, otherwise, Dani Kaye will not lie still to nurse. I looked again and realized I was not imagining that there really was something crawling (I have a VERY good imagination) and decided I'd better turn on the light to get a better look. It was a HUGE (I have witnesses!) red spider. I opened the door and screamed, "Bring me the Raid - NOW!" I somehow managed to get Dani Kaye and get her off the bed without passing out from fear and then I drowned the spider in Raid. My sheets are now in the wash and I will let you know when I have the courage to sleep in my bed again. Rick says he will help me "Deep clean" the room. This picture really does not do this spider justice. I think I should tag it, "It's MR. SPIDER to you!" The second image is from the web and does the spider justice. 

We Have The Best Home Teacher Ever!

RICK AND I AND DANNY AND MARY GUNNEL ON TEMPLE SQUARE

RICK AND I BEFORE OUR DATE WITH DANNY AND MARY GUNNEL

A week ago, we went on a date with Danny and Mary Gunnel (see their blogspot). It all started a few months ago when the ward had a ward auction and one of the things being auctioned was a date with the Gunnel's. Sierra, being the sweet thing that she is, bought the date for us to go out with the Gunnel's. We finally got things together so that all of us could go and Wednesday night was the night. We got all "gussied up" and took pictures before we left. Danny suggested that we go to Salt Lake and go to a restaurant called "Ruth's Chris". He also suggested the New York Steak, and who were we to argue? It was the best steak I have ever eaten in my life! We also had sides of bread, salad, mashed potatoes, asparagus with Hollandaise sauce, creamed spinach, and sweet potatoes. The whole meal was scrumptious. After dinner, we walked around temple square - it was Rick's first time! We took a lot of pictures there too. To top off the evening, we went on a carriage ride! Our horse was named Rex. We were all worn out by the time we got back to Provo but it was the funnest evening that Rick and I have spent in a very, very long time! Thank you again Danny and Mary!!

THE 4 PICTURES ABOVE WERE ALL TAKEN ON TEMPLE SQUARE

BELOW IS BEFORE THE CARRIAGE RIDE AND ABOVE IS AFTER THE CARRIAGE RIDE

I LOVE FACEBOOK

A friend of mine from 1980-1985 sent me a friend request from facebook and since I had set up an account to view Jeff and Kelli's pictures but hadn't done anything with it I decided to go check it out. I have been obsessed with it ever since! It is so fun to see so many family members there and I even reconnected with my best friend from Savannah who I had lost contact with for the past 7-1/2 years! I have been reluctant to use something other than myspace (Ericka told me that facebook was not user friendly) but now that I have I am so happy! Several people I have reconnected with at facebook also have blogspots so I decided to post something here too. I will upload some pics after my computer is done scanning for viruses. (I am using Rick's right now.) It crashed this morning and we had to run system recovery! Luckily, all of my photos are still there and safe. I'll try to either be better about blogging or better about making Ericka blog for me. *grin*

Family Home Evening

Okay, so we stink at blogging. However last night something super cute happened during FHE. I figured we could at least blog SOMETHING!

Last night Dani had the lesson with my mom's help. I, Ericka, gave the lesson that they prepared because my mom was busy holding Dani. It was about us being children of God. The first thing we did was a game where I threw a bean bag to each person and said "I know a child of God named..." and then they would say their name. I did this for Michael and Lexi last figuring that they might have grasped the concept while I did it with everyone else. I tossed Michael the beanbag and said my part and then after a second of silence said quietly "Hey, what's your name?" and he smiled and said "Michael!" We all cheered and said "Very good! That's exactly right." Then I did it with Lexi. After I said my part she was just looking at us all and I said "What's your name?" She said "Um..." and then got a huge grin, pointed to herself and said "ME!" We all laughed and thought that it was adorable. But maybe we're just biased ;-)

And the Kimball Family Grows...

Well, unfortunately we do not yet have pictures of Adam and Kerri Kimball's latest addition but here is his information:

October 28, 2007 (Shannon aka Niecy turned 3 on October 27!)
Frederick Brian Adam Kimball
Almost 20 inches
6 1/2 lbs. according to Adam

He was named after his grandfathers and father.
He will be called Derick (as in FreDERICK).

A Quote-
Sierra: Does he have hair?
Adam: He has more hair than me.

He wasn't due until November 18th- his aunt Lexi's birthday- but Kerri was induced early because of preclampsia. She was able to have a VBAC but was unable to have an epidural due to the preclampsia. I think I got that right...She was given Nubane but by the time she had to push it had all but worn off. Go Kerri!!

Congratulations to Adam, Kerri, and Shannon Kimball :-)

As soon as pictures are available we shall post.

It may be a while.

They still do not have a computer.

Until then...or next time!

The Clan is Complete and More

Well...we haven't updated in a very long time. Since then a LOT has happened. Here's a quick sum up of everything. So after Kerri went to Germany she found out very quickly afterwards that she was pregnant. Kristen was about a month pregnant when she left. Very Father-of-the Bride only not in the same house- thank goodness! Kristen found out that she was having another girl and Kerri and Adam found out that they are expecting a baby boy. Kerri and Adam also went to the temple for the first time with Shannon to be sealed as a family on September 1, 2007. Very exciting and we are all SO happy for them. On October 11 Kristen gave birth to Dani Kaye Clayton. She is the seventh and final Clayton baby to be born to Rick and Kristen. Kerri is due in November and would like any possible advice on how to relieve itching during pregnancy.

There's the last few months in a nutshell. Now on to Dani!

As stated, she was born October 11, 2007 at Orem Community Hospital. She weighed 7 lbs 2 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long.

After Kristen uploads the millions of pictures that she has taken this last week we will try to post them. The older kids are so funny with her though! Lexi loves her and tries to hold her every chance she gets and will lean over and kiss her as she holds her. Michael is either indifferent, unhappy, or very confused. He never wants to hold her except for that one picture at the hospital. He will occasionally go over and look at her though. Oh well...guess he needs more time to adjust.

As for the name....

Obviously it was the seventh baby and the sixth girl for us and we were having trouble thinking of a name that we like, hadn't already used, and was in no way a family name. Kristen has this thing about never re-using family names even if it's like your second cousin's great uncle or something unless you are actually naming the baby after that person. One night (before we knew if it was a boy or girl) she woke up and just thought "Danny/Dani" and immediately liked the idea because our home teacher's name is Danny and he has been the most awesome and best home teacher we've ever had and we love him and his family so much. We all agreed. So Dani ended up being named after Danny and he couldn't be any more proud about it as you can hear from their blog here: http://www.gunnellfam.blogspot.com/

After Dani had been established as the first name Kristen thought about the actor Danny Kaye because he had been one of hers and her father's favorite actors.

Hence Dani Kaye Clayton.

Here is a picture of Danny and Dani.

Danny Gunnell and Dani Clayton

Until Next Time!! The Claytons

Big News!

Well...as some may know, Kerri has been anxiously waiting for the day that her and Shannon and Adam would all be together again as a family. Adam went to Army Basic in April of 2005 and was in training until Oct. 2005. He then came home for a small two week break, most of which him, Kerri, and Shannon spent in WA with his family, and after coming down for a couple of days here...he flew off to Germany where he has been ever since. It is now (obviously) February 2007! They were expecting things to go smoothly and for Kerri and Shannon to be in Germany with him within maybe 6 months...did that happen? Not so much. There were passport issues, paperwork issues, etc. FINALLY Kerri and Shannon got their passports...and six months later their military orders. The next "official" step would have been to wait to be contacted by a military office somewhere, and have the military make travel plans for them, and tell them when they are flying out. That could've taken anywhere from 2 weeks to another 6 months. So....after they discussed it, and got paid, Kerri and Adam decided to purchase tickets for her and Shannon to Germany and the last week or so has been CrAzY! The night they got paid they bought tickets, made flight plans and Kerri rented a storage unit for their stuff until they get back from Germany in 1 1/2 years or so. The next day my dad helped her take most of it to the storage unit and called some military numbers for Kerri. He found out that it is perfectly OK for them to make their own travel plans, but they may or may not be reimbursed for it by the Army. He also found out that after she is over there, her and Adam can still arrange to have their stuff (furniture, boxes, household goods etc.) shipped over to Germany and they can just list Mom and Dad as the people to sign for it. So that should also (theoretically) happen within a few months. That same day she also got a call stating that the flight had been delayed from last Sunday (which would have been the next day) to this Saturday (tomorrow) It's been nice having an additional week to adjust to the "Oh my gosh...Kerri and Shannon are leaving. Really leaving! They are moving out...not going to be here anymore" shock factor. Most of the exciting stuff happened tonight though. Kerri got the rest of her stuff to storage and out of their old room, we moved Michael and Lexi into the room along with all of their stuff and so far Michael's old room has become a workshop for Dad to refinish an old dresser and to build a couple of things in. After he is done, it will be used for a variety of things. So...all in all...KERRI AND SHANNON ARE GOING TO GERMANY! They couldn't be any more excited (no, really, I think Kerri would explode or something) but we will definitely miss them and our fun family times together. Now I am off to go help Dad with the dresser project! FUN!

P.S. Kerri and Adam had been thinking about just paying for Kerri and Shannon to go over there on their own for a while, but decided to wait until they had their military orders and would be under military jurisdiction or protection or something...basically they figured it's best to wait to go to an overseas destination until the military knows you're supposed to be there and wants you there!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Well, we haven't updated in a bit so I just wanted to say that Christmas went well and was fun...all the babies enjoyed ripping off the paper and Michael especially got the hang of it pretty quick! Then for New Years Kristen, Rick, Ericka, Shanna, Michael and Lexi went to Las Vegas to see Debbie, Jenni, Janell and John. We had fun there (we hadn't actually been to their house since we moved from AZ six years ago) and appreciate all they did for us and the time we got to spend together. On the way home Lexi FINALLY cut her first tooth!!! That wasn't the greatest car ride we've ever taken but at least we know she won't be toothless forever. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures from Vegas (or at least none that have been uploaded to the computer yet) Anyway...church starts early tomorrow so we're off to bed.

Testing 1, 2, 3...Testing

The Beginning of the Clayton Clan in 1983


The Clayton Clan's most recent and decent looking family picture...about 23 years later!

We did it!

This is Ericka typing...my mom asked me to try and figure out how to make a blog spot since that seems to be the preferred family friendly blogging site as far as keeping others up to date and all that. I came, I conquered, I'm going to bed...and possibly waking up for Institute in the morning. ;-)