New York, Wednesday

Wednesday we did not slow down! We headed out early, catching breakfast at a pastry shop on the street--YUM! We caught the Subway down to lower Manhattan again to Ground Zero. We went through the World Trade Center Tribute Memorial Museum. I didn't expect it to still be so real after all this time, but I teared up at what I read and saw.

From there we caught the subway back up to upper Manhattan to see the LDS Temple, Lincoln Center and Julliard School of Performing Arts. We walked to Central Park and then caught the subway back to Time Square.



Our last meal was at another famous pizzeria then some last minute shopping as we walked to Madison Square Garden to catch our bus back to D.C.

What a fun-filled, adventure-packed 2.5 days!! WHEW!! Thanks Nat and Matt!! Lets do it again!!

New York, Tuesday

Tuesday:
Subway to lower Manhattan
Ferry boat to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island





































Dinner at Carnegie Deli (Authentic New York Cuisine--Pastrami on Rye, followed by a HUGE NY Cheesecake)
Then off to see the best of Broadway--Wicked, in the historic Gershwin theater.

New York, Monday

The New York adventure with Nat and Matt began EARLY Monday morning, 12 Jan 09.
Caught the Metro down to Chinatown in D.C. and boarded a bus to NY, NY.
Nat and I were pretty excited once we started waking up on the bus.




4 hour bus ride landed us in New York. We checked into our hotel and immediately hit the sights. Our hotel was in mid-Manhattan just off Broadway near Time Square.

First Stop was the Empire State Building. Then shopping at Macy's (as in the Macy's day parade Macy's). Macy's is so old it has wooden escalators that were so fun and creeky to ride up and down the multi-level shopping center.







We walked up and down Time Square and saw the ball that drops on New Years Eve. We stopped at Radio City Music Hall and the Rockefeller Center.




Next we caught the subway down to lower Manhattan, stopping at Grand Central Station and then on to little Italy for authentic pizza and the best rootbeer every! YUM!!

Attempting domestication--eek!

SWEET BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

4 pounds butternut squash
olive oil for brushing squash
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
3 cups low-sodium chicken stock
1 cup half and half
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1/2 teaspoon fresh sage, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoon fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Kosher salt and ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400`F. Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Bush the flesh with oil and place cut side down on a baking sheet. Roast for an hour and a half or until very soft. Let cool. Scoop squash from the skin and set aside. Heat butter with the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add unions and slowly cook until soft and golden brown, about 30 minutes. In a food processor, puree the squash, onions, and one cup of stock until smooth. Transfer to a large pot. Add the remaining chicken stock and heat soup to a simmer. Add the half and half and herbs. Season with salt and pepper. Serves six.

Calories per serving: 310
Carbs: 43 G
Protein: 8 G
Fat: 15 G

Apron #2 delivered!

This second apron is for little Kylie Koo Koo my niece. Both aprons came fully stocked with pockets full of goodies. Here I am preping Kylie's apron before I bring her in:

Santa's Workshop

Welcome to Santa's newest satellite workshop. I wanted to make a very special gift for two very special little girls so I acquired a sewing machine and went to work. I had never done a project quite like this. I made an apron and a stuffed ice cream cone pillow in 8th grade Home Ec. but that was it.

This project kind of evolved as it went since I didn't have a pattern and idea's of how to do certain things just developed as I worked along for a couple of weeks. I made two identical aprons for these two 3 and 4 year old girls.

I'm including detailed pictures for my mother who I'm sure gave up on domesticating me a LONG time ago!!

Special thanks to Rebecca Elf, head of the workshop in "Santa" Clara for letting me finish this big project on her machine there since I didn't finish before I had to fly out for Christmas!

Thanks Dad!!

This is so my dad can see that his hard work of assembling my Christmas tree paid off. The tree looked gorgeous and it set the tone for all my Christmas decorations! Thanks Papa!!

My Apartment

Several people have asked to see pictures of my apartment, so here they are in all their grandeur! You can see that it is a work in progress as there are still books to be arranged on shelves and boxes to empty and put away...but it wouldn't even be this organized if it weren't for my Mom and Pop coming out and helping me plus my friend Dianna's expertise on helping man an attractive bookcase...I still have a Looooooong way to go though!! Yikes!!

Mom and Pop come to the big city...

Mom and dad ventured out to the big city for their wedding anniversary this year. They helped me by volunteering at the Distribution Center in the Washington D.C. Temple. They did a couple of sessions too while they were out and I got to join them.


I took some time off and we ventured out to see some of the sights such as the Smithsonian American History Museum that reopened while they were out after being closed for remodeling for 2 years. We met some of the characters wandering around as we went to see the different exhibits throughout the museum.









This is the view from the top of the Washington Memorial...the arrow is pointing to the Washington D.C. Temple. You can actually see it way over on the Maryland side.


My cute parents helped me unpack my boxes even though I have been here for two months. I have not had time to unpack myself...if you have seen the pictures of the newly remodeled Distribution Center in a previous post then you will understand why I have had my hands full.

Thank goodness for good mom's and dad's out there that can come help put together book cases and even help assemble a Christmas tree so that an apartment away from home can become home!



The real brain behind "Operation Christmas Tree" laying on my one an only piece of living room furniture--the good ol' love sack.

Watch Out Washington D.C....Here I come!!

Day One at the Washington D.C. Distribution Center
More boxes to unload than I've ever seen before!



Unfinished counter tops and wires hanging randomly from holes in the ceiling! This is Amarile, my assistent.


Black granit counter tops are delayed in coming, so I was on the phone negotiating an instillation time with opening day only two days away.


The Temple Engineers just kept bringing more and more boxes out of the Temple basement that had been stored there for the remodel. Literally thousands of sizes, shapes and styles of merchandise to sort and put away in time to open.



Holly, my lead clerk is staring at the Golieth-sized pile of boxes.


Opening Day at the Newly remodeled Center
just 4 Days after I got there!












Hey Dad Look! I can still tie a mean neck-tie, just like you taught me!!

Beinvenidos a casa Madre y Padre

My mom and dad arrived home August 18th from serving and 18 month mission in the Argentina, Buenas Aires Temple. So for the first time in forever the Whole "Dale and Patsy Clarkson" Family were under the same roof...a newly remodeled roof that is. The traditional family picture was orchestrated to document the bonanza truly happened.

Heeeelllooooo Mexico!!!! 2008

This year I was less than patriotic as I jumped the boarder southward for the 4th of July. These pictures speak for themselves as I played with my favorite little sister Nat, her hubby Matt, new friends from Vegas and Krystal from San Jorge (St. George).

Mazatlan 2008

For those of you that know me, you know I am HUGE on keeping a journal and documenting life's adventures....Well, unlike me, I found myself unprepared a day or two into my Mazatlan stay as I was quickly running out of journal space capturing all my adventures down there. So I conned Krystal into what we thought would be a nice active 2 mile jaunt to the local Wally World (a.k.a. Wal-Mart). 10 miles and several dozen "Thee Official" Sr. Frog Retail Store's later we found Wal-mart...you can see Krystal's excitement in the photo.





Good news was they carried journals...bad news was they were all "Girly" which, again, anyone that know's me knows that is NOT my style. Oh well, I picked the least "girly" one as possible--a blue one, despite the large unavoidable regrettably PINK flower smack dab in the middle of the cover. You can see my less-than-excitement over the grand selection I had to choose from.

Nat's Party Pinata

Here are the nephews all foaming at the mouth either for the candy that is about to fly or for their turn at whacking this little crate paper burrow.

Nat Phat Rat's B-day Fiesta! Eye-Yeye-Yeye!!!

This is me with my baby sister Natalie at her 26th Birthday Fiesta (hence the Mexican headress garnished with red chilies) Happy B-day Sis!! And of course no fiesta would be complete without bashing a pinata. We even polished off the festivities with a delicious tres leches cake made by yours truly...yes ya'll read that right, I actually baked something. Thanks for Betty Crocker, sometimes miracles do happen! :)

Mystery Guest

I was up visiting my good friend Traci Garff in Northern Utah for memorial day. She is the stake activity chair for her singles stake and she put together a service project here a week or so ago to go plant flowers on Temple Square. I went up to participate since I thought this sounded like a good service project to do. Once we got there I saw all the beautiful tulips that we are used to seeing at conference time, all still in full bloom and gorgeous, but then the head gardener instructed my group to go rip out all the tulips. It was fun, but I have to be honest, something felt innately wrong about ripping out flowers on the sacred temple grounds! ;) Oh, well, I had permission so I guess it was alright. I was just shocked because they were all soooo beautiful and looked perfectly fine to me, but I guess they pull them out, mulch them, and replant regularly so as to keep the grounds fresh.

What was extra fun was as I was leaning over ripping out tulips, I felt someone looking over my shoulder and I turned around to see Elder L. Tom Perry in BYU sweats and a Utah State Aggies hat standing over me asking what in the world I was doing. Everyone laughed to see such a sport. I turned around and said, "You better high tail it out of here, or we'll put you to work too!" He just laughed. I got a picture with him.

Nearest Miss! DANG-IT-ALL!!

For my birthday this year, I shuffled on down to Las Vegas where I spent the day with my little sister Nat-Phat-Rat and her husband Matt. My Brother John and his wife Chelsea and 2 year old daughter Kylie met up with us for lunch. John and Chelsea were down celebrating their wedding anniversary.

Matt took me to a fantastic golf course. Anyone that knows me, knows that there is not place I would have rather spent my birthday than on a golf coarse. It was beautiful! And it was perfect weather too!

Anywho, as if the day could not get any more perfect, here is a picture of my closeset to a hole-in-one shot I have ever come to thus far in my prestigious golfing career! What a shot!! It was awesome. Matt took this picture for documentation just for all the doubters out there. Enjoy.

I'm a triathlete!

Syd and I decided to run a triathlon in St. George this year, but since Syd was in Arizona training and I was up here, I talked my nephew Adam into training with me. He decided to run the triathlon with me since he was doing all the training. His mom Pam and Syd's husband Alan all jumped on board as well which made for a lot of fun. Thanks to all the friends and family who came out and cheered us on. I really loved doing this!

Syd and I swam together for the first leg and then ended up crossing the finish line together. Thanks Syd for waiting up for me ;)

Flying in Washington

Last time I flew a plane I found myself being escorted out of restricted air-space by two F-16's flying on either side of me--this is not a lie! So needless to say, I was a little nervous to take the stick again when the REAL pilot of this airplane asked if I wanted to take over. Ashlee and I had a blast doing dives, fly-by-buzzes to her parents house, and other authentic "crop-dusting" maneuvers!

Washington State!

I went for a visit to see Ashlee Frank, my long-time Jerusalem buddy. She and Tyler live in Royal City Washington with their two girls (3rd on the way). Royal is a small farming community where Ashlee grew up. Derek and Carly Allred, Ashlee's brother and wife are also long-time Jeru buddies. It was SO fun to go see the lot of them and enjoy getting some fresh air even if they did put me to work feeding cows and such!! We even got a farm tour in this little Japanese truck that has the steering wheel on the wrong side!

A Christmas Carol

While visiting Washington DC, my brother James, his wife Mikayla, myself and Mikayla's sister Alesha went to see Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. It was done so well, it was incredible!

Capital Christmas Tree

The Christmas Tree at the Capital was beautiful!

Christmas in the 1700's

This is a Christmas Wreath in Historic Williamsburg. They did some amazing things for Christmas decorations circa 1700's using only fruit and vegetation.

December 2007

That brings us to December. I will be traveling out to Washington D.C. to spend Christmas with my little brother James and his wife Mikayla as they will not be coming home this year. We will visit the historic Williamsburg, see ‘A Christmas Carol’ the play, and the Nutcracker among other fun Seasonal Events around the D.C. area.

Here are some pictures with my niece Kylie at the St. George temple seeing the lights.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!

November 2007

In November, I had the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving in Cancun Mexico with all my coworkers on Barry’s annual office vacation he takes his office on every year. My little brother Tim and his wife Rebecca and three cute boys also joined us on this adventure. This vacation was a perfect blend of site-seeing (Chichen Itza and Talum), relaxing, beach activities including sea kayaking, riding hoby-cats (small sail boats) and snorkeling, as well as just sleeping in.

Primary President? Are you SURE Bishop??

Now living with my brother Barry, I am attending a family ward for the first time in since I went away to college. Upon returning from Argentina, our large ward split and I was called to be the new primary president of our new ward. I have since had my hands full with around 130 kids in our primary, trying to learn about primary all over again. It has been over 20 years since I was in primary. I thought it ironic as I am the only single sister in our ward and have no children. Then again maybe I failed it my first time through because of bad behavior and now it is pay-back time!

Here I am all Pimped-out for Halloween...now honestly, I ask you... what kind of an example can I really be for our children of today??
J

October 2007

Then in October my adventures went global as I took a trip to South America to visit my parents who are currently serving in the Argentina, Buenos Aires Temple. I conned my little sister Natalie into going with me at the last second since she served her mission in Argentina and would be a fun traveling companion, plus she spoke the language. We met up with my brother Barry and his wife Pam and oldest son Bryan who had been down there a week already. Barry also served his mission down there and had fun introducing his family to old mission acquaintances. Together with my parents we visited many sights including Iguazu Falls, a national park in Northern Argentina, down town Buenos Aires, the Buenos Aires Temple and others.

September 2007

September was fun with Sydney’s wedding. Sydney and I still own the house in Arizona, but now she and her new husband Alan Campbell are living there.

Syd asked me to design their wedding announcement.

August 2007

In August, my three sisters and I enjoyed our first sisters-only road trip together out to Los Angeles to see the Broadway Musical “Wicked”. It was at the Historic Pantages Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard with the walk of stars right out in front. We had a great time and even had a few star sightings while there.

Summer 2007

During the summer I spent my time working for my brother Barry at his law office in St. George and traveling back and forth between St. George and Arizona, Northern Utah, Nevada, and California visiting friends and family. I attended my cousin Jill’s wedding in Oakland and road tripped again with Sydney back from California and had a great time.

I frequented Disneyland on a couple of occasions with Sydney and her family as well as with my Brother John, his wife Chelsea, and their little daughter Kylie. I loved it! John and Chelsea lived in Orange County just down the road from Disneyland so I got to see them often during my summer travels.

In June, John and Chelsea joined me in St. George as they moved back to Utah so John could start his own accounting firm after working with Price Waterhouse Coopers a large accounting firm for the past 5 years.

March 2007

In March, Syd and I decided to turn my moving trip to Utah into a fun road trip, so she and I spend a couple of days in Las Vegas, stayed at the Excalibur and saw some of the shows Las Vegas had to offer. The “Thunder from Down Under” show was on the must-see-list for these two bachelorettes but unfortunately it was sold out. Just kidding! We decided to catch the phenomenal Broadway musical “Phantom of the Opera” instead.

In the beginning...

Hello Friends,

This is all Greek to me! I wanted to do a Christmas letter, but this will be much funner if I can figure out how to work the damn thing! This blog is a conversion of a Christmas letter gone electronic, so if the text and format do not quite fit the mold, cut this new-comer some slack!

Ok, here goes nothin'--

Another holiday season is here! For me it is a time of excitement for the New Year, as well as a time of reflection on the year now past. This year will be my first year sharing news letter, so I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures in 2007.

My year began in Gilbert Arizona where my best friend Sydney Lewis and I have purchased a house together.

In February my parents left to serve a mission in Argentina, so the whole family got together to see them off. After spending the past 5 years in Arizona, I decided to move closer to home.