HOLIDAY CARD

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE CLINGERS!!

We have been very blessed this year with health, work, a home, and most importantly, each other.
We hope this finds everyone well and that your holidays are filled with joy. love, peace, and all that good stuff.

Love,
Matt & Brynn
Samantha 4, Eston 3, Logan 1, and Lucy 1

our new contact information is:
243 E. 1200 S.
Centerville, Utah 84014
801-558-4972

We have had a Santa sighting . . .

We went to COSTCO the other day, and saw this cute old man walking around. We stopped to eat before leaving the store and the kids saw Santa eating a yogurt. So obviously they had to go and say hi.

Santa was nice enough to stop and tell the kids that he came to check up on them and that he was glad they were being good.



After my kids left, he had about 8 other kids stop him. The poor man probably had to eat his yogurt melted.

Happy 24th of July

I love my In-laws and I love going to Idaho to stay at their house. It had been quite a while since we had been up as a family and we decided to spend the 24th of July (Pioneer Day) visiting them. My sister Lindsay came along with us to play.
While there, Aunt Kim, Aunt Lindsay and Matt and I took the kids swimming. We figured our odds were good if we were on a 1:1 ratio. Swimming would be one of those situations that the Twins personalities stick out.

Lucy is our little water bug. The girl could swim all day if you let her. She will dip her own face in the water and look up to see who would do such a thing to her, but eventually keeps talking up a storm and laughing away. Lucy was mad when we took her out of the water.



Logan on the other hand, HATES the water. We took him in and he instantly started to cry. It took me being in the water with him (he is a huge mamma's boy) and holding perfectly still for him to calm down enough to stay in with us. Apparently I had him so still that he fell asleep in the water. Logan lasted in the water for a total of 20 minutes out of our 2 hours of swimming. Thanks to Lindsay for sitting with him while he slept on the side lines.



Pioneer Day is a Utah holiday, so when you go to Idaho and they have a parade and a big party in the park to honor the day, it is a fun surprise. Actually, Dallas and Brenda's Stake puts everything together. We went to watch the parade which involved lots of Tractors, about 3 or 4 members of Matt's family participated, and it was very short. My cousin Angela and her family came out to play with us. I am sad that I didn't get a picture of them or of Lindsay,her, and I. It was fun to see them. They only live 20 minutes from my In-laws.



Sammie loves going to Idaho to see her Great Grandparents, Leland and Ila. Grandpa Leland is a big guy, but is very love able and playful.



One of the things that the do every year on this day is have a fish pond. This isn't your usual fish pond of goldfish and you try to catch it with a net and then you can take it home. This is of mass proportions.

They take big trout and fill this big area with water and tons of fish. When it is your turn you get into the big pool and try to catch the trout with your hands. Eston was SOOOO excited to do this until one of the fish touched his legs. He then started to freak out and wanted to be taken out. However, he still wanted his fish. So. . . .



So, yours truly ended up reaching in and catching one for Eston. It was gross and awesome. Eston was so proud of his fish, but wouldn't touch it. He wanted to show everyone. We had the option of taking it home, but I decided to play catch and release. this guy was tiny compared to the rest of the Trout there. Some of them were the size of a small child.



Over the weekend we had a lot of fun. Matt's family loves to play a lot and we spend a lot of time outside just enjoying the open air and relaxing. We met some new "Friends" of his siblings, and enjoyed getting to know them. Hope they stick around.

We had so much fun, that we might try and go again in a few weeks.

Happy Birthday America!!

My family had a fun two day event for this holiday. The party started the night of the 3rd. We had an impromptu party at my parents house with all the kids. Matt stayed home with the Twins, because he was trying to finish some projects up so he could play with us the next day. My brother brought food. We had a backyard swim party, watched a movie, and topped it off with fireworks in my parents front yard. It was really fun. I headed home with my kids around 11:00 that night.

The killer of the whole thing was that I had to get up the next morning with Sammie and Eston to go participate in the Centerville City 5K. This was a fun 5K because we ran/walked it with Lindsay and Carly (my sisters), Dallin and Cathy and their kids (brothers family).

I'm glad that Lindsay took this picture. We were waiting to start the race, but were also waiting for Carly to show up. The gun goes off and we look behind to see Carly walking towards us wearing her flip flops. We slowly walked so she could switch shoes and catch up. The result of us doing this was, being the last people in line to start the race. It's kinda sad when you end up with a police escort behind you. We didn't finish that way, but we were close.



After the race we went and had a pancake breakfast in the park. After which we went to the parade. I do have to say that the parade is so much more enjoyable when you are not pregnant with twins. I didn't realize how miserable I was last year until I got there this year and was not restricted in movement and mass.

All the kids wore matching shirts for the day. The girls even had matching skirts. They looked pretty darn cute. However, we didn't get a great picture taken of them all. No one wanted to sit still.



Carly started laughing at Matt when he told her, "Some people fly flags, I fly babies."



For two boys with lots of energy it was pretty cute to watch them stand still with their hand over their hearts while our Flag was being carried in front of them.



The kids had a lot of fun gathering candy and playing with each other. Grandpa Jim (my dad) happened to be in the parade this year. He was on the emergency preparedness float for the city. When the float approached where we were sitting, it stopped. My dad jumped off and came and asked Sammie and Jake if they wanted to ride with him. They screamed yes and ran along with Dallin to get on board. Eston was sad about this but he will get a chance some day.



Apparently Sammie just wanted her mom the whole time she was up there.
After the parade we all headed home and took naps. Later that day we headed out to the annual Pedersen 4th of July celebration. It is one of the two times we see my cousins on that side during the year. We go to my Uncle Bob and Aunt Catherine's house to swim, eat, have a kids parade, and light fireworks. It is always a good time to see my cousins. Sammie and Eston just figured out how to swim with the help of floaties. They played for quite some time in the pool. Sammie even attempted jumping of the diving board. She never actually jumped, she just stood there and then walked off and to the side of the pool.



After which both kids got a hat and a flag to march in the kid parade. Sammie was in parade heaven.



When all was said and done we headed out to watch some fireworks that the City was putting on. Matt knows that the 4th of July isn't complete for me unless I have a parade and fireworks. In the past we have driven or walked over to Sugarhouse park, but this year we decided not to deal with the crowds. We saw a bunch of people congregating at the State Capitol and decided to try it out there. It was really nice. There weren't tons of people, you could see fireworks all over the valley, and it was relatively quiet. It was a nice change from the business of the rest of the day. The twins slept while we just relaxed. We got home and put the kids in their beds around 11:00 that night.



Even though we were really busy that day, we had a lot of fun family and celebrating our America's birthday.

Memorial Day

For Memorial Day this year, we went with my family up to Mueller Park to enjoy a nice picnic. We roasted hot dogs and made s'mores. It was a beautiful day. Logan and Lucy spent a lot of time with Grandpa Jim.



The kids weren't into the s'mores so we broke out the Popsicles. That was the longest that they sat still while we were there.



Most of their time was spent exploring. They found us lots of Dandelions.



Towards the end we all started to feel a little worn out from our hike (walk). Sammie and Jake just settled in with Spencer to cool off.



We had a good time and look forward to doing it again.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

We have had fun celebrating St. Patrick's Day this year. I didn't think that my kids would really get it and thought about just letting it pass quietly, but after taking them to the library for a few fun St. Patrick's day activities, they really got into the spirit. Sammie has been telling us all about Leprechauns and pinching people. She knows that you are supposed to wear green and thinks it is all so cool. Eston just goes along for the ride. We went to our Local Library for a little party they had. The kids got to meet these leprechauns at the wishing well.



They did face painting and each got to pick out what they had done.



Eston kept calling this inflatable leprechaun his "bunny (translation: buddy)."



Today we went to the Discovery Gateway and had many other fun activities that we participated in. After which I made green pancakes, green eggs, and green apple juice. Sammie and Eston loved it. So much for quietly letting this day pass.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!

Christmas 2008

This post is going to be a little mixed up. Christmas day is first and then Christmas Eve.
Matt and I decided that we really enjoy having Christmas morning at our own home so we stayed here. Christmas morning Eston woke up at 3 am asking about Santa. Matt got him back to sleep and we didn't hear from the kids until 8:30 am. It was nice to sleep in a little. The kids were so excited to see what Santa left. When they ran in their eyes lit up. Santa had gotten them SOME of what they wanted. We checked their stockings and also to see if Santa had gotten his cookie and milk.

Matt helped Eston check his stocking. He found a baby Jaguar and a fire truck inside along with an orange and some fruit snacks.



Sammie got some binoculars, Dora slides (for the binoculars), an orange, and some fruits snacks.



Santa left Eston a police car, that when shaken will drive across the floor. He loved it. He also got a book, a game, and a few other small items.



Santa brought Sammie a microphone that she has wanted for a while. She also got a book, a game, and a other small stuff.



Grandma Brenda made both of the older kids some quilts to cuddle in. They spent most of the following week in them.



Papa Dallas and Grandma also gave the kids this huge ball that shrinks down to the size of a soccer ball. Even us adults have a blast with it. Eston was excited when he realized he could fit inside of it.



The twins got some, diapers, socks, and other little items. They didn't need much this year. They mostly slept and would take a peek once in a while. Sammie and Eston were happy to help open Logan and Lucy's gifts.



Later that morning we went to Nana and Grandpa Jim's house for a half Pajama Party Brunch and to open gifts there. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed watching the men install Nana's 46" TV. It was funny to watch them talk in all of the big lingo.



CHRISTMAS EVE. . . .

We went over to Nana and Grandpa Jim's house for dinner. Jana and Mark along with my cousins and Gram and Grandpa Burke where there. We had some good food, and then went for the Nativity. We call it the traveling Nativity. This year we had 3 Mary's, 2 Joseph's, many baby Jesus, and all they did while we read Luke 2 was walk around the room. It was very entertaining.



Eston left his Joseph costume on for about 30 seconds. I am surprised Matt was able to snap a picture.



Before the Nativity took place we had a Christmas Carol sing along. Sammie decided that she needed to dance since she was all dressed up in her princess costume. She asked Matt and they danced to the hymns. It was precious.



What would Christmas be without having a princess or 3 running around yelling "CHEESE". We had a wonderful holiday.

Thanksgiving Pictures!!!

When the twins were only a week old we took them to have their newborn pictures done together. It was a lot of fun. These are two of the shots we had taken.





For the last 3 years, Matt's parents and siblings come down and hang out on the day after Thanksgiving. We take family photos and eat good food. These are a few of the shots that our family had taken. I won't post the actual family ones since they are probably going to be used for Christmas Cards.







Four kids is a lot of work, but I love the chaos that it brings. I think I will keep them.

Temple Square tradition

Tonight we went to Temple Square to see the lights and the multiple Nativity sets. I asked Sammie if she was excited to see all the lights and her reply was, "Actually, I can't wait to see Jesus in his stick nest."

It's nice to know one of us is focused on the right things.





It was nice to spend time as a family and talk about the true meaning of Christmas!!!