The Nerd in Me.

Books from Christmas 

I have a lot of nerdy things about me, one of them is my obsession of books, and collecting books. I love to read, I remember the first book I read that introduce me to the world of books, it was James and the Giant Peach from Roald Dahl, and after that I read most of his books, than later I got into Goosebumps, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Mary Higgins Clark's books, and many more. 

In 7th grade I started reading some of the classics, and the first one was Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and I loved it! I have read it two times since then, and that book introduced me to the world of the classics. In high school one my favorite classes was AP English because most of the class we read classics and analyzed and discussed them. 

Another nerdy thing about me is that I love to buy books, and buy nice copies and to keep them nice and new. Dustin teases me about it, but back in Idaho I probably have 3 boxes full of books, and a lot of them I haven't had the chance to read yet. When we moved a year ago I didn't bring any, and now I have at least 15 in our closet and Dustin teased me that I can't get anymore until I have read every book in the closet. Well I have read all the ones I had before Christmas and some that I got for Christmas so I just need to read 5, I can do that!

This last year I have been able to read a lot more since I'm not in college anymore, so my goal was to read 12 books this year and I manage to read 16, and it was great. I just barely started a book club starting this year that I'm very excited about. 

So if you have any books that you have read and love, let me know because I want a good list of books for this coming year.

Here is the list of books I read this year:

The Hunger Games series (3 books)  I thought it was a fun quick read.

Little Women   I loved it, I can see why some might think it's boring, but I loved how it was written, it was a lot of short stories of all the sisters.

Water for Elephants:   I liked the book, but it did have some content that needed to be skipped over and some swearing.

The BFG by Road Dahl: I reread with Dustin this year, we like to read books together when we get a chance.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: LOVED IT!!! It might just be my favorite book, Wuthering Heights which was written by Charlotte's sister has always been one of my favorites, but after reading Jane Eyre I love it more. Both books are gothic novels, Emily wrote Wuthering Heights first, than Charlotte wrote Jane Eyre showing Emily that gothic novels can have happy endings too, so I think it would be fun to read these side by side.

The Time Traveler's Wife: I didn't really like this book, interesting story, but WAY too much language for me, and a lot of content to skip over, so I wouldn't recommend it. 

I reread the whole Harry Potter series and loved every minute of it. 

The Thirteenth Tale: I just finished this last night, it was a fun read, and it keeps you guessing to the end, and has a good twist in the end, and it kind of has a haunting feel. 

Christmas

We had a great and successful Christmas this year. We were sad that we couldn't come home to our families but we had a great time starting some of our own traditions this year. Christmas Eve Dustin had to work most of the day, but after work we had dinner, I tried to decorate our apartment  a little more for the dinner, since Dustin was a little down about having to work so I tried to make it a surprise for him when he got home.  After dinner we opened our PJs and a toy nativity set for Thomas and read about Christ's birth. After Thomas went to bed Dustin and built a little castle with some blocks from "santa" and watch Christmas movies.

Christmas Eve

Christmas! I wished all of our lights worked on our tree, o well!

Christmas morning Thomas slept in till 9:30, it was great! And he loved the mega blocks and wrecked our creation in seconds, he was so involved with the blocks that he wasn't interested in opening any presents. For Christmas we received a lot of books, movies, and toys. Dustin's parents also gave us an Ipad which we were very excited about! After Christmas we had a breakfast casserole that I made (one of Dustin's family traditions) and than headed to church. It was a great Christmas even though it wasn't the white Christmas I'm used to, but now that Christmas is over I sure glad that we have nice weather, and we can hang out outside still! Well, I hope everyone had a great Christmas too, and have a happy New Year!

Bow ties and hair clip that my sis-in-law, Emily made.

Tiffany, Dustin's sister gave us a lot of fun gifts and one of them was bath color tablets, Thomas thought it was so cool to have blue water.

Happy 2 year Anniversary!!!

Tomorrow is our 2 year anniversary!

I decided to blog about it today since we are planning on being busy tomorrow.

This year has been the hardest and best year of our marriage! Between having a baby, and living out in the real world as starving artists, and living away from both families we have grown stronger together. Life isn't always perfect but I can't imagine not enjoying life without Dustin, he is my best friend and he's just right for me, he laughs right there with me at stupid stuff, he has the same passion for art, he's a great husband, he doesn't get upset if the house is messy and there is no dinner on the table when he gets home because I was too busy reading the last few chapters of a book, or doing some crazy craft that has made an even bigger mess in our house. I love how he loves me, plain old, crazy, hyper, always doing something... me. 

I love this picture above because I feel like that's how we are when it's just us two. 

I love you Dustin, thanks for these last two years and I can't wait for all eternity to be with you!

Christmas Card

For those I don't have their emails:

This was a big year for the Clark family, a lot of changes, moves, growing, and a lot of firsts.

Dustin and I started this year as recent college graduates, newly parents, having new and unknown adventures ahead of us. 

So here is our year in a summary:

Dustin: This year Dustin has been able to have a lot of great art opportunities, when we lived in PA he got his first Children's book job, he's had many caricature gigs, and gets to draw people all day at his work at SeaWorld. He also got an art piece in an art gallery in New York and won an award, and had the opportunity to go to a caricature convention for a week and learn more from the pros. He's also a good father, and husband who always tries his best. He's had many callings in the church, anywhere from Sunday school teacher to Elder's quorum secretary. 

Jessica: Has grown and learned a lot this year, learning to balance art with motherhood,  housecleaning, and homemaking. Jessica loves traveling and seeing new things, that she has enjoyed living in PA and Fl this year. She has learned to drive stick, finally after all this time, but still freaks out on hills (so good thing Florida is pretty flat). She's also learning to live with big bugs such as cockroaches... YUCK!

Jessica has been enjoying photography, art, reading, crafts, cooking, and hanging out with friends. She also loves roller-coasters so she is been having a blast being so close to all the theme parks. 

Thomas: Thomas is cuter than ever and he knows it. He has grown and changed so much this year. He started as a dark brunette to a little blondie. He is always on the move, and getting into anything that he can reach. He loves going on walks, he loves going to SeaWorld and loves looking at all the bright colored fish. He has flown across the country three times this year and has been to 13 states. He loves being in the center of attention. Thomas loves wrestling with his daddy and cuddling with his mommy. He is a joy, blessing, and great contribute to the Clark family. 

We hope you had a great year like we did. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

My Little Man

Thomas is still growing as ever, I feel the last few weeks he has put on some weight! I think the whole milk is making him a little fuller, and also he's growing appetite.

I also feel like he picking up things a lot more, he doesn't say any words but I know he understands me when I talk to him. He starting to fold his arms during prayers, and claps afterwards because he's proud of himself. He understands why we clap, so sometimes when we see a show at SeaWorld or some type of performance he will clap. He also loves to dance anytime there is music going. 

He climbs on everything, he's already figured out how to take plug outlet protectors off. He's not walking yet, but I know he could if he showed any interest in it, he just cruises everywhere, but sometimes he will let go on whatever he's holding on to to clap, so he's standing on his own, he just doesn't realize he's doing it. 

He likes to get into EVERYTHING, nothing is ever safe. 

He loves his walker, the other day I saw him walking with it and trying to put things in it like a grocery cart (you can tell he goes grocery shopping with his mom a lot!)

He loved wrestling with Dustin, he LOVES Dustin! Everyday that Dustin leaves for work he cries until I find something to distract him. 

He loves pretzels, String cheese, and hot dogs, he likes everything but those are his favorite, at least this week!

I love this little man of mine!

Christmas in SeaWorld!

I'm pretty far behind in my blogging, I have a lot of things I have been wanting to blog but just haven't had the time, so my goal is to catch up with the blog sometime next week. (fingers crossed). But I wanted to hurry and do this post... so it will be quick, at least that's the plan...

So here in SeaWorld they have a lot of fun things going on for Christmas, most of it is on the weekends so we are planning on doing some of the activities with our good friends, the William's, tomorrow but today Dustin and I headed over there to take some pictures because it will be more busy tomorrow so we wanted to get it out of the way. :) 

They have a lot of fun and pretty decorations all over, so we tried to take a few family photos.

Also at SeaWorld they have this Polar Express exhibit, that I actually really love because I love the book and also in the exhibit they make it so Christmas-y and smells like Christmas and everything, so I love it since sometimes it's hard to think it's Christmas when there's no snow here in Orlando, so I head over there a lot with Thomas. So here are some pictures in front of the train.

When you go in, they have it all cute, they make it like you are in the North Pole, and they have this huge Christmas tree where the Beluga whales are. It's really cool because they have the Arctic animals in there so it helps with the illusion that you are at the North pole. The animals they have in the are the Beluga whales, Polar bears (which sleep most of the time but today he was moving all over!), the walrus (which I think is pretty cool).

Also in the North Pole they have Santa. And I think this picture is HILARIOUS! It's a classic, Thomas crying.... made me think of The Christmas Story. I'm really tempted to put it on our Christmas card, I'm probably an awful mom thinking this picture is that funny. 

Family Visit

Here are some pictures from the visit from my brother, Paul and his family that I mentioned earlier. They are kinda random order, but thanks to my sis-in-law we got some pictures since Dustin had the camera at his art convention.  So enjoy.

Thomas at Harry Potter World, he loved Butterbeer this trip, I couldn't feed it to him fast enough.

Paul and I after the big drop in the Jurassic Park ride, we got pretty wet. 

Inside Hogwarts, one of my favorite things to do.

Meeting Mickey before Thomas cries.

Worn out in Universal.

I love this picture of Thomas. Thanks Brie!

At Disney, I had to take a picture by Little Mermaid for my mom, because when I was little I watched that show so much that still today my mom can't stand that movie.

Thomas & I eating at Pinnochio's haus (I think that's what it's called.)

In Universal, heading to Harry Potter World, I still get way excited even though  I was just there the week before. 

BATH TIME!!! I love both of their faces! This is my niece Susanna.

Paul, Brie, and Susanna at Universal.

One of my favorite roller coasters in Orlando, this was right after Paul and I went on it. 

Cinderella's castle at Christmas, beautiful. 

Hanging out in our apartment.

Fun Pictures of the cousins!

I had so much fun with Paul and Brie!