Paul and Marcelene

I was viewing some of my photos that I have stored in My Pictures on the computer and found this precious one in my Heritage Photos folder. This is my Dad, Paul George Gauger and my mother, Marcelene Bennett Gauger. This I believe is their engagement/wedding photo, my family can correct me if I am mistaken. We have commented over the years of how my son Jeremy Paul, and Paulene's son Paul look like Grandpa Gauger. And as I have mentioned, my sweet new grand daughter, Cameron and Mary's little girl Malia Marcelene, was named after my Mother. Paulene's oldest daughter Audrey named their first girl Amanda Marcelene after Mother, as well. I thought that you would like to see this beautiful picture of them. I hope as you look at this picture of Mom and Dad or Grandpa and Grandma Gauger or even Great Grandpa and Grandma Gauger, you can appreciate the names that are being carried on in the family and can feel of their loving spirits as I do.

Montana Trip August 6th - 11th

On the road again...this time to Florence, Montana. Collette and I enjoyed the 6 1/2 hour drive chatting and singing to the oldies stations on the radio and when they faded out, we rocked on with favorites from Collette's ipod. Heading over the mountain pass just past Salmon, we saw a big horned sheep and lots of deer on the side of the road. We wondered if we were really in Montana when we hit Darby, just south of Hamilton, because the smoke from forest fires had the area completely socked in with what looked like thick fog. You couldn't see any of the beautiful Montana mountains on either side. The kids were waiting up for us and were so excited to have us come for the whole week.
Tuesday morning we headed to Hamilton for Zadyn's physical therapy. We had a fun time playing at the park near by with Avery and Kyler while Zadyn had her session.

They loved playing with Aunt Collette, especially taking imaginary trips in the jeep!

We snuck in at the end of Zadyn's therapy session and I was impressed as I observed the interaction between Zaydn and her therapist, Holly. Zady enjoyed showing off for us as she "worked" in her swing. She is really making great progress and had a successful day.
We celebrated Zadyn's 2nd birthday on Thursday, the 9th. Alisa made her a Princess Cake, aka the traditional Barbie in the bunt pan. It turned out way cute and Zady was excited. She loved the purple and pink streamers and her special balloons, but she didn't quite know what to think about the candles to blow out. She loved all her presents and was really the "Princess" on her special day.

I loved going to school with Avery and Kyler in the afternoon. Alisa home schools them and I was very impressed with their skills. Avery read to me, I watched them do Math pages, they did art projects, and we played so many fun games together. Friday morning we went to the library for story time and learned all about panda bears. We went for a hike on a nature trial in the afternoon and then had a "reward" treat they earned for completing points from their library summer reading program. They shared the new "Charlotte's Web" movie with Grandma and Aunt Letty, we really liked it.

It was hard to leave Saturday morning, knowing that it would be a long time before we could visit again, due to distance and weather conditions of fall and winter. Avery and Kyler promised to write me letters and send art projects so that we can keep in touch. I am thankful for the blog sites so that we can stay tuned "heart to heart", too. Thanks for a great week!

Thoughts from recent funeral...

I have written some insights I gleaned from the funeral of President James E. Faust and posted them on the Clark Family Blog. I felt they were worth sharing.

Weekend in Pocatello - August 3-5

We attended Idaho State University Summer Commencement on Friday, August 3rd. Cameron graduated with a Master of Physician Assistant Studies. We are so proud of him and his family for this great accomplishment. We also attended the ISU Physician Assistant Certificate Ceremony and Reception afterwards, where Cameron and 28 other graduates in the PA Program were honored and given their awards. I especially enjoyed the video presentation showing the graduates practicing on each other in their classes drawing blood, taking blood pressure and other fun activities. We all celebrated that evening at Butterburrs, my favorite family restaurant in Pocatello, with our family and Mary's family.

We stayed at Jeremy and Sarah's apartment for the weekend and loved visiting and playing with Isaak. He is really growing and is such a happy-go-lucky guy. Collette, Sarah and I walked in the cool evenings by the old houses featured in the "historical district" near the campus. We were fascinated with the colonial styles and had a ball chatting about this and that. Chad and Jeremy (yea, that was one of my favorite 60's British Invasion rock groups) were involved in some pretty intense X-box competitions, too.

Dale and Chad sold our bbq sauce at the Idaho Falls Market on Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm. As you can tell from their shirts, they have a great time selling and interacting with customers! They had another record sales day... the habenero original sauce (hot) featured on the left tied with the new mexico green sauce (mild) on the right, with the chipoltle (medium) in the middle coming in a close second.

It is "the bbq sauce your mom warned you about"!
Our sweet Malia Marcelene was blessed in Cameron and Mary's former ward Sunday afternoon. Cameron gave a beautiful blessing and Malia was so good. It is traditional in the families to take a picture on blessing day of all the guys who stood in the circle to help with the blessing. The Clark men are on the back row left to right...Jeremy, Chad, Dale, and Jefrey. Cameron is sitting holding Malea, with a friend on his left and Paul, Mary's dad, on the right. Lucky Malia to be surrounded by all those handsome gentlemen!




Malia's grandmothers and older sister, Bailee, were sure bustin' their buttons, too, as you can tell. I am so thrilled that Malia was named after my mother, Marcelene. I am sure that she was smiling down and that her heart was in this picture, too!





We traveled home Sunday evening and reflected all the way home on what a wonderful weekend it was and what a wonderful family we have. Stay tuned for the upcoming Grandma travels to Montana!

First Part of My August Journey...Kuna, Idaho

It's difficult when visiting family has to come to an end. I don't know what it is, but winding down and getting back into the swing of things...I think they call it reality...takes a few days! I am anxious, though, to share with you some of the great highlights that this very lucky traveling Grandma had with my wonderful family. I am posting it in segments, so here is the first.

I headed up to Kuna, Idaho, to help tend Jef and Sarah's three boys while Sarah attended Young Women Girl's Camp, August 7-9. It was so much fun hanging out with three fun and on-the-go boys. Chauffeuring to swim lessons and karate was a "kick", I felt so important and all three boys were very good. Check out pics of the "Karate Kids", Logan and Mason, on the Clark Family blog. Cole and I became fast buddies because I loved listening to him as we played trucks and trailers. He didn't even mind posing for this cute picture!

One of our favorite things to do was head to the park near their home. As you can see, they had a super time. They played so well together, too.

I loved watching the stunts they performed on their bikes in front of their house. They are amazing and they loved entertaining Grandma.

They shared some great movies with Grandma during rest time , one new favorite being "The Bridge to Taribithia". It was a joy to listen to Logan practice his piano while Mason did some school pages just before dinner. It was way cool watching the series Survivor Man with Jef in the evenings after the boys went to bed. I loved these few days with the boys but time went by too quickly. I had to leave Thursday night so that I could get ready to head to Pocatello the next morning. Stay tuned, that will be the second segment upcoming.