How did this week go by so fast?

Yay for me! Im posting again! This week has been crazy. Just about something each night. But first, a little more updating. When we moved in with my parents, I worked and Eric had just gotten laid off. Lucky us our neighbor came over and put a bug in his ear about a job. He pursued it for weeks and got it. He delivers home oxygen machines to people who need it. Mostly in the Pahrump area, sometimes Beatty, and often "The middle of nowhere Nevada". Each day is about min. 12hours. Driving to and from and being on call each night of the week. He is a trooper for working and not complaining. I love him!

Monday I had school, Beg. Photography.
Tuesday I had my Comp Graphics class. MIDTERM DUE!!! Lucky us we got a 10 out of 10. and No I don't enjoy working in teams. I felt I had to pull teeth to get it right.
Here is our final product...

Not the greatest but hey, Im still learning.

Wednesday I had my nephew Sheldon all day. His mom Shelly is PTA President and sometimes has to be at the school all day. This kid is the most chill kid ever! We played rockband, watched cartoons, and gardened. Before we moved in with my parents I had planted some basil, chives, pumpkins :( and cilantro... the puny basil plant is the only one that survived... its a giant mutant now! So we plucked the leaves and Sheldon had so much fun "helping". Now I have tons of Basil and no Mozzarella!

Later that night I went to my first Lia Sophia party. Its a Jewelry party, yes they have nice stuff but are they over priced? You betcha! I couldn't believe some of the necklaces and their prices! It was insane!!!!

Thursday I worked on my sisters invitations for her Holidy Open House! check these sweet babies out!
Awww for cute!!! I mean come on! Would you not just go to the show just to meet the Awesome lady who made these and buy some Pampered Chef Products from her? I know I would... wink wink.
I have been doing invitations for my Aunt and sister. Mostly my aunt, and I think Im going to do them on the side now. Its fun.
Later that night I went to see one of my favorite bands, The Creepshow! I first saw them in Washington and have loved them since.

*Thanks to the lady smoking for the theatrics...*
A quick lesson on what type of music they play... Some may have heard the term Rock-a-billy, which is based off music around the 1950's to 1960's. Most bands have stand up bass' and a lead singer that just has that "old" voice. Now there is a spin off rockabilly called psychobilly, same sounds, maybe more guitars? but they sing about Zombies, monsters, and dead things. The Creepshow is psychobilly. I have an undying love for Halloween, Frankenstein and bride, and other creepy things, just keep the clowns in the closet please... bleh. So there you have it...
I went with my friend Char to see them, and it was fun. It was a small intimate show, but still glad I got to see them.
That same night Eric got a call at about 10:30pm for work. Poor guy had to go out to Pahrump to give someone a new machine. He didn't make it home until 1:30am and had to get up at 6am to get ready for work and drive back out there... Maybe we should look into Blue Diamond homes... sigh.
Needless to say he and I got home about the same time, and wow we were beat. Most of the time we are in bed by 10:00.
Friday morning he makes it to work and I tumble out of bed to an empty house. Mom and Dad are gone and so is Eric. I continue working on my sisters invites and she comes over! Mind you Shelly is some odd months pregnant... and of course it doesnt stop her. I find out she has her Fall Carnival at the school and needs some help. I send her on her way to run a couple errands while I get dressed, She picks me up and we head to a few more stores then to the school. *Note to self, NEVER join PTA* I don't know how she doesn't High Five some peoples faces! I know I could have... After all the set up and once it started I head over to the Karaoke booth to help my brother Cory. I cant tell you how many times Best of both worlds was requested and sung... Attention Elementary kids... there is more music out there!!! Please find it! After all was said and done it was a success. I came home beat and so did Eric.
Saturday, we get up and Eric is all dressed and tells me to get ready. I ask him for what and he says a surprise.... So I get ready, do my hair and makeup... and we're on our way... we headed towards the mall and Im thinking aww he's taking my to breakfast... about half way there, he looks at me and says "By the way we're going to Target for underwear and socks"... Seriously!!! Punk! He had a friend in town that he knows from the Navy and wanted to meet up and grab some grub, so we walked the mall just window shopping until we heard from his friend. I convinced him to walk into Bath and Body works with me. I haven't been in there in forever. They had their big soaps on sale for $3 each, so I picked two fall scents and then a lady hands me a coupon that says Spend $15 and get an item up to $13 for free! so I picked up 2 of their lip glosses that are awesome each for $5 and noticed a sign buy two get one free... so I grabbed another and then headed to find my free thing. I picked up a double refill pack for the air fresheners for $12.50. I paid $20.04 total for over $40 worth of stuff. it made my day! We headed to IHOP and had Breakfast/Lunch with his friends and then showed them our favorite store Cash 4 Chaos. Its like a hot topic but better and hidden. They sell more local stuff and you can always find some unique things there.
Eric bought me a book bag for school, It matches my wallet, and a necklace. He bought himself a new button up that just looks sweet on him! His friends were really glad we showed them that store. After that we dropped them off and headed home to veg for a few hours. I took a cat nap and Eric played games. Then we were off to our friends Ben and Rachel's for dinner and pumpkin carving. They invited us over since I decided not to do the Halloween dinner this year :( We had some awesome steak and roasted potatoes with special cheese, peas, and home made tortilla chips that were soo good. Then Banana bread for dessert.
Ben and Rachel went to a local orchid and picked out pumpkins for us. Goodness they were THICK!!! tons of scraping so we could get a good design. Ben didn't carve one because he had creative person block, so he looked up some crazy pumpkins on line. Rachel did a sweet possessed PAC Man, Eric did Satan... I was just corrected, I thought it was a mean ram... ahha and I did the skull from The Horrorpops, another psychobilly band I love. We played with the lights and shadows for a while and then headed home.
That has been our busy week.... or mine? Now enjoy our pumpkins...
This is part of the mess we created!


Me with my arm half way of the pumpkin!

Eric Carving his pumpkin

Rachel's Scary Pac Man!!

Rachel's Shadow, pretty cool huh?

My Pumpkin, and check out the stars on the wall and ceiling!



I cut stars out on the back so when its lit and next to a wall they will show!

This is Eric's Pumpkin!!

Rachel and her pumpkin... I liked the picture.

Eric felt the need to stab his pumpkin with every carving tool


Ben's Pumpkin... God Job???

IT'S ALIIIIVE!!!

and so are we... right Eric?... Eric? Oh right he's at work.
Since I havent been on this since April, I am sorry to say I am not going to recap every stinkin event.... I know... you wanna know it all, but seriously I know you've got that pile of laundry staring at you from the corner... go ahead and look, cry if you need to... *Waiting* Ok, feel better?

Welcome back to the ever changing world of Clarkes. In April, Eric was laid off and to save ourselves from falling deeper into debt, we decided to find some roommates and cut down costs. We moved in with my parents! We arrived beginning of June and here we are in October. We have been out of town left and right, and we have passed on going out of town a couple times. We did make it to our Gifford Family reunion, and yes... I did win 1st place AGAIN!

Gifford Reunion recap
Theme: Olympics
Sheldon Gifford Family: Team Jamaica
Colors:Green Yellow and Black
Choice Event: Skeet Shooting (Jamaica we have a skeet shoot team!)


This year we made our own shirts for team Jamaica. The famous"Annoying" green shirts as all the other teams called them. hahah they only become annoying when you dont get to wear one! and when there are soo many of us.

Team Jamaica place 1st 2nd and 3rd in both Mens and Womens Skeet Shoot and we took 2nd in both Boys and Girls. Woooo!!!
Everytime we go camping, Eric looks forward to riding quads around, and the kids look forward to it too!


Right after this glorious 3 day weekend, I make it back to work to get laid off... Super... I've had one hell of a time gettin my unemployment correct. It's funny how it all happened, but bottom line, Im glad to be out. The job stressed me out, well more the people than anything. A few weeks before, I took a big step back and saw that no matter how well I did my job, that message wouldnt get through to the right people. There are some people in the world, who can't or don't like to be out shown. Whether its a joke you tell them and they take credit for, or a drawing you found or something you've done right. I knew I would never be able to move up and so my prayers were answered and the lord found a way out for me.
Since then I have been working on my schooling. I finally made it back! Its a huge accomplishment just clicking on that "Pay now" button! Im taking Beginning Photography and Intro to Computer Graphics... both for the second time. My Beg. Photo is all digital. Before I used film which we all know is out dated, and hard on the pockets. I have a deep respect for those who still use film and use it right, its a lost art and true talent.
My comp graphics class is a BLAST! If you ever take it at CSN make sure you get Patrick Mermel! He is awesome! I dropped out of my class before cause the teacher was soooo boooring... and blah blah blah. Not this guy, he has been soo helpful with photoshop. Although Ill say poop on him for making us do our midterm in teams. Bleh!
Over all Im loving school. So glad I was able to go back.

On September 22nd, Eric and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary with me going to school and him working late! LOL we did go out the following weekend for dinner and a small show. We ate at our favorite spot, The Melting Pot, and then watch a friends band play at a record store. It was fun just knowing we can still have an awesome time.

In other news, I have been working more on my spiritual side. For those of you who are LDS, I went through the Temple on October 17th. For those that arent, Ill try to explain. To enter the Temple, an individual must be clean and worthy. There are guidelines we follow, a few for example, keeping the word of wisdom, no smoking, no drinking coffee or tea. Attending church each week, saying your prayers each day and having faith in it all. For further information go to www.mormon.org There you can chat with missionaries and ask them any questions you may have. You can also request a free copy of the Book of Mormon.
Once an individual is worthy and your Bishop and Stake President find you worthy, you receive a Temple recommend. It is like a pass to get in. In the temple we perform Sacred, not secret, ordinances for ourselves and others.
How neat that in a city full of sin there is an escape. A house of beauty and peace. Just being on the temple grounds is peaceful and calming.
The experience was overwhelming, the presence of past loved ones was so strong there and I just knew it was the right thing for me to do. I look forward to making it back there each week and being able to have that time to dismiss the world and just listen to the spirit. *From Left to Right-Anya (Cory's wife) Cory, Tiffany(Kevins wife) Kevin,Denny, Eric, Me, My mom, My Dad, Adam (Shellys Husband), Shelly and baby #5, Myrinda, and Chris (Myrindas husband)*
This is all who went. Eric surprised me by being outside when we were done. It made me tear up seeing him out there. I love him for all his support through this.

If you've never been to a temple, I recommend finding one in your area and visiting the grounds. You are welcome to walk around the outside, and I know you'll find the spirit there.

I was able to go through with most of my family. My brother Kevin was home for his R&R and it just made it that much more important to me. I loved seeing my family gather there knowing we are together forever.

I hope to post more, not just of our lives, but of some of the pictures Ive been working on. I'm very excited about them, so here are some of my favorite pictures from the weekend of Oct 11th.

Enjoy.


My niece I love her squishy cheeks!




My nephew who never fails to make me laugh!


My niece again. This little girl was feeding her some of my mini carrot cake treats, it was too fun to watch!