Sevark Central

There couldn't be a nicer end to the long Thanksgiving weekend then to spend Saturday evening at the Hemstreet's for a big Clark family bonfire and to visit with everyone.  Its been a while since the last time we've been to one of these, so this time we had grandkids with us who loved being around the fire, playing in the dirt and cooking their own hotdogs and marshmallows.  It was an awesome evening to be all together with family and friends!

It was another wonderful Thanksgiving with the Clark / Thompson family, then pie night with all the Severtson's at JuLee & Darren's home!  But the best part of it is always just spending time with family and these wonderful grandkids that we can never get enough of!  Happy Thanksgiving...

The Mesa Temple has been closed and under a major renovation for over 3 years, so it has been an exciting time for it to reopen for public tours and for all of us to see the new changes to it!  The visitor's center has been removed and relocated across the street now and there's now a BYU Creamery ice cream shop right next to it!  We were blessed to visit 3 times during the few weeks it was open to the public.  First with our great Montelena neighbors Roger & Pat, then a 2nd time with our great friends Charlie & Rose (& daughter Olivia), then a 3rd time with our other great neighbor Ashlyn and her husband.  That 3rd time, all the family came as well and by coincidence, some of the Clark side of the family was there as well which was great since we got to see and spend a little time with Grandma Clark!  It was 3 wonderful evenings together with friends and family at a place which is so sacred and special to our family since this is where Cindy & I were sealed for time and all eternity, as well as Rod & Lexine...and then Lexine and I were married there as well -- it is where our giant Sevark family was brought together!  So it was perfect that we all got to spend this last evening together!

Its that time of year again for our family pictures!  These days are always crazy…we thought we would simplify it a bit by taking them this year in front of our home.  I guess it was simpler than driving somewhere, but herding kids was almost impossible. The pictures don’t do justice to how difficult it was to get everyone to cooperate — I guess our family is getting too big!  But they turned out great — with a bit of magic from Bentley I sure.  Love this big family of ours!

This morning was little miss Violet's baby blessing in her ward.  Porter and Amy are such proud parents!  Porter gave a wonderful blessing to Violet, then after Sacrament service, we took a few pictures and everyone went over to their home for breakfast!  It was a wonderful morning with this special little Violet girl we love so much!

Today we celebrated Caleb’s birthday…can’t believe this kid is 21 already! He’s an easy kid…just wanted some clothes and cash for his birthday, so he woke up to breakfast burritos, then we met him after work at a restaurant called “Taste of Peru” on Baseline & Alma School which was really good — Ceviche, Pollo Saltado and a fried rice dish which was awesome.  It was good to have another birthday dinner with this kid after being gone the last two years -- although we still never see him as he is Always Gone!  :-) The following evening we had everyone over for his birthday cake, then surprised him by all showing up at his Soccer game which was a blast.  Happy birthday Caleb!