JANICE HALES CLARK

Jan Clark, our mother and grandmother passed away on December 18, 2008.

Jan was an amazing person, well defined by our family motto of Truth, Love and Courage. She loved and taught her sons to be men of honor. She loved and was proud of her daughters-in-law, her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren.

She was a great presence in her family and in social settings. She radiated beauty, intelligence, grace and genuine interest in people. In the tradition of the powerful women she descended from she was also strong and a little feisty - you always knew where Jan stood.

She was courageous in the face of incredible, prolonged physical difficulties. In no circumstance did she focus on herself. She was a great partner to Fred and he was devoted to her.

There can be no greater blessing than to have been raised by parents of strength and honor. Thank you Jan and Fred for who you are and all you mean to us. Your family loves you dearly.

A MOVING EXPERIENCE

Well, we knew the time would come but when it actually happens the process of moving is tough. It's emotionally difficult. Seeing the moving van in front of our home on Silverstone Circle with boxes piled on the driveway as 15 years of living is packed and prepared for transport was not easy.

And, it's physically difficult. Coping with unpacking 15 years of living into a new home is overwhelming. However, it's an important chance to reset, renew and reorganize. We're making great progress. By Thanksgiving we should be close to being settled.

In the meantime, Kristi is adjusting very well as a freshman at Utah State. It's fun to see her occasionally at the new house. Rich and Reina and Becca are taking care of the house on Silverstone and helping to show it to potential buyers (which are, unfortunately, few and far between). And Jenny and her kids are preparing to move in to the Silverstone house while Ben gets settled in with Mesaba Airlines in Minneapolis. Still lot's of changes to come as we prepare to conclude 2008 and move on to 2009.

New Directions

Big changes are coming for the Clark family. Starting on October 1 Dave will be the director of entrepreneurial programs at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. Chris will be the managing director of a newly formed community choir in Logan. And we'll be moving to - take a wild guess - Logan! We've already started the process of purchasing a home there and our wonderful home in Sandy is for sale. Transitions are hard but new challenges and opportunities are exciting. We'll have more details and photos of the new surroundings after we're settled.

Visit to Orlando

We spent a fun week in Orlando from May 4 - 11 and saw Jen, Ben, Dax and Jacy. Highlights included an evening in Disney World (actually Disney Hollywood Studios) and a day at Sea World, where this picture was taken. We also got to see Steve and Laura, who happened to be in Orlando at the same time. They hosted us for dinner at a sea food buffet. Jacy will be as cute as her older brother!

Heli-skiing in Canada

Here are a few pics from Dave's heli-skiing adventure in British Columbia. Over the course of three days we skied 70,000 vertical feet of untouched, fluffy powder. The group was great, the food superb, and the pow pow was gnarly dude!

Jacy Noel Johnson

One of fun things that's happened as we've begun the new year is the visit of Ben and Jen and Dax and Jacy in connection with Jacy's blessing. Jen stayed with us for a week and then Ben came, but not without some challenge. Due to storms in Atlanta that resulted in massive flight delays and cancellations he flew to Las Vegas and then drove from there to Salt Lake, arriving Sunday morning just in time to take a quick nap and make it to church. We had a nice family brunch before church and were joined by Fred and Jan who came all the way up from Las Vegas, by Em and Joe and their kids from Layton, by Steve and Laura from Provo, and by Ben's parents, Kent and Celeste. The Clarks left that afternoon to return to Vegas, and it's a good thing they did because when we woke up the next morning there was more than a foot of new snow outside. The pictures are of Ben and Jen and Jacy in her blessing dress, and of Dax the next day by the snow mound created by the snow blower.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! We had a wonderful time on New Year's Eve with the Butlers, Rich, Steve and Laura, Becca and Kristin and Laura's family. Dave and Connie Pixton and their children Aubrey, Jacob and Joseph joined us for an evening of food and fun. On New Year's day there was racket ball in the morning, sledding in the afternoon, and Cafe Rio and football in the evening.