Clark Nielsen's birthday

Clark at his birthday party


The CARS cake Becky and I made.


Clark, Ryder Romero, and Drew waiting for the candles to be lit.


Clark opening the CARS quilt I made him.


Clark playing with one of his presents.



Saturday, March 28th, was Clark's 3rd birthday. Since he was here in California, we had a family birthday party for him. The theme was, of course, Lightening McQueen from CARS, the movie. Becky and I secretly made hime a CARS cake. He was so excited when he saw it! I made him a CARS quilt and pillowcase. We had lots of fun and Clark had a great party.

DISNEYLAND WITH THE GRANDKIDS

Rebecca and the kids waiting for the train


Rebecca, Ty, Clark, Madelyn, Spencer and Drew waiting for the train.


Michelle holding baby Ty.


Christine holding Ty


Rebecca holding Ty, Clark, Drew, Geoff and Grant on Small World


Grant with Spencer and Madelyn Overton, Michelle's children.


Grant, Clark and Drew waiting for a parade.


Christine with Drew and Clark Nielsen at a parade.


Rebecca, Geoff, Drew, Clark and Ty came down from Utah to take Clark to Disneyland for his 3rd birthday. We went to Disneyland on Thursday, March 26th and went to California Adventure on Friday, March 27th. Michelle, her daughter, Madelyn and her son, Spencer met us there also. We had a great time. The kids really enjoyed it. We took Becky's boys home early on Thursday so that Becky and Geoff could enjoy some time together. When Grant and I got to the tram, the boys were asleep so we couldn't get on the tram without waking the boys. We walked all the way from Disneyland to the parking structure! At first, we thought it wouldn't be a big deal. But, when you walk to the parking structure, it's a lot farther away than you think! I definitely got my walking in for Thursday. On Friday, in CA Adventure, we saw the cutest Pixar/Disney parade with all the pixar movie characters. Clark is really into Cars and Toy Story characters. This parade was more than he could stand! Great parade! Grant and I were very tired after two days of Disney! We're not a young as we used to be!!

6 MONTHS TO GO!!!

Sunday, March 15th marked 6 more months for Robert on his mission. He will be released from the Porto Alegre North Mission on September 15, 2009. The time has gone by fast! Our son really is enjoying his mission and I can't believe we are in the final 6 months. Our plans are to go and get him in Brazil. I hope that will become a reality.

BLESSING DAY FOR TY LAMAR NIELSEN

Sunday, March 15, 2009 Geoff blessed his little boy, our grandson, Ty Nielsen. He wore a little white tuxedo and his hair was sticking straight up with a curl at the end. What a beautiful blessing Geoff gave him. Both grandfathers were in attendance and participated in the blessing. Lots of relatives there. After the blessing, Rebecca made a delicious meal and we celebrated little Ty.

Top photo: Rebecca holding Ty, Drew, Geoff and Clark
Next photo: Grant and Christine with Ty

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

Make a Smilebox greeting

YOUTH CONFERENCE

Youth Conference for the Chino California Stake was this past weekend. Our theme was Serving our Savior or SOS. We were host parents. We were assigned 7 girls to stay with us. They were a great bunch of girls and we had fun with them. Our companion family were the Nathan and Debbie Nemrows with their boys. We spent some time there Friday evening having fun together. On Saturday morning we woke up the girls with "When you wish upon a star" music and hot chocolate. What a nice way to wake up! Each year at youth conference we have a service project. This year the youth had a carnival for handicapped youth. They had great music playing, everything was so festive! We were assigned the booth to paint faces. So that is why you see Grant inspecting to see that the painting was done well! He would stand out from the book and call people over to come and get their faces painted. As usual, Grant was a standout! Testimony meetings at youth conference are always the greatest. Grant and I were wondering if we had the quality of testimonies when we were this age that the youth of today have! Great conference!!!
Top picture:
Narissa Charles and Grant showing the "Serving our Savior" T-shirts
Next photo: Our girls at the face painting booth
Next photo: Our niece, Jennifer Williams with Grant at youth conference
Next photo: Grant and Christine (us!)

SIMMONS FAMILY REUNION

On Saturday, February 21, 2009 we held a Simmons Famiy Reunion at our house. We also celebrated Kathy Clark's 80th birthday. We invited all decendents of John Lucias and Evelyn Mahala Simmons. We had about 40 people here. Jim Simmons and his Sister, Kathleen Clark were the two children of John and Evelyn who attended. We also had many grandchildren and great grandchildren here.
Frank Zak who is Debbie's husband - Louise's daughter, gave us a magic show. We were all delighted the the tricks.
We had a geneology chart showing everyone where they were in the chart, and also played get to know you games. We spent time getting re-acquainted with our relatives we haven't seen in a while, it was a great event.
Those attending were: Debbie and Frank Zak - daughter of Lousie; Stephanie and Dave Marsden - daughter of Betty; Jim and Claudia Simmons - son and wife; Kelly and Garo Ghazarian, daughter of Jim and their daughters, Sydney and Savannah; Kathleen Simmons Clark - daughter; Grant & Christine Clark - son of Kathleen; Michelle & Tod Overton, granddaughter of Kathleen Clark with their children, Madelyn and Spencer; Kathleen & Karl Cramer - granddaughter of Kathleen Clark with their daughters Karleen and Grace; Laura & Mike Serratos - granddaughter of Kathleen Clark and their daughters Sydney and London; Liesel Moultrie - granddaughtr of Kathleen Clark;
David Clark and Bonnie; son of Kathleen Clark. Kimberly and Justin King - granddaughter of Kathleen Clark; John & Nicole Clark with their daughter, Hailey;
John & Jeanna Clark - son of Kathleen Clark with their daughter, Jamie.

(More to come, I'm just getting started!)Pictures to follow