Cluff Family Reunion/Temple Sealing

July Staycation! (Part 2)

Ben planned a great night out in the Uintas for the whole family. He wanted to take the little ones fishing. And he stayed up late the night before cooking for all of us. We had yummy food to eat and made s'mores around the fire! It was great to get out of the heat and let the kids run around and play in the stream. Maddie loved the fishing with Ben more than anything! The drive was really long but beautiful. I am constantly amazed at the majesty of these mountains. Sometimes I take for granted the beauty of this area...I know there are millions who have never seen anything like this and here we are living right in the valley of these awesome mountains! (although, I must say, the bugs up there were anything but awesome!...I have never seen so many mosquitos!)

July! (Part 1)

My sister Jana came to Utah for a couple of weeks in July and we all had a great time together with the kids! Jana is not one to sit around, so we were constantly on the go...something to do nearly every day! And since we haven't taken any kind of vacation this year, it was great to have some things planned to do for Maddie and Will! I call it our staycation!

One of our first outings was to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. I think I'm done going there for a while...

I love this picture of Will...it completely captures how he is...always goofing off!

Maddie loves animals and the Earth. She expresses her gratitude daily for our beautiful Earth and for the animals.

The next outing was to the Tracy Aviary and Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. The kids really loved going there, especially to Liberty Park afterwards. That park is amazing and there is so much to do. Maddie, Jana and I rode the carnival swings (nearly made us vomit!) and the boys and Grandpa rode the ferris wheel. There are paddle boats and a fun water feature to play in.

Sibling Love at its best!

All of us (except Joce...she was taking the picture) at the bird show!

Almost 5!

We celebrated Will's 5th Birthday with the family today after General Conference. He will turn 5 on April 9th. For the past couple of weeks, Will has been waking up in the morning and his first words are "is today my birthday?" Yesterday I told him we would be having his little family birthday party tomorrow and he has been so excited he could hardly wait. And we kept making him wait until after Conference was over. He just couldn't keep his hands off his gifts...

Grandma and Grandpa gave him a Leapster which he loves and we gave him a bike! Larry, DJ, and Shiely were here to celebrate with us too! On Wednesday, Will is having his first birthday party with friends at Backyard Adventures! He can't stop talking about it.

Will with his cake that I made...I'll be buying the next one!

Opening the Leapster from Grandma and Grandpa

He obviously didn't know how to use the brakes (or turn the thing) and shortly after this, he tried to take a sharp turn and had his first fall and said "I hate that bike and I'm never getting on it again!"


His new bike!

Maddie on her scooter! I wish I had one of these!

He did get back on the bike and we couldn't get him off of it...he asked if he could keep riding it even during bedtime! (he figured out the braking!) Bob says we're taking off the training wheels in a few days! YIKES!

Easter!

This Easter came and went so quickly! I can't believe there's a week left of March and Easter is already come and gone!

Did you know that the earliest Easter can ever be is March 22nd! The last time Easter was this early was 1913 and it won't be this early again until around 2116! Just some interesting facts we learned in Sunday School yesterday! And I never knew how the date of Easter is set: Easter is on the first full moon after the Spring Equinox (closest Sunday).

Anyway, I spoke in Sacrament Meeting yesterday and I am so glad it's over. But to be honest, it wasn't as bad as I was anticipating (and I actually spoke for 14 minutes!-the longest I've ever given a talk for.) I guess I'm maturing! :) Grandma and Grandpa came (because of Easter) and they sat with Maddie and Will. Well, they sat with Maddie anyway...during the Sacrament, Will drank from the water cup and as he was putting it away, he dripped some water from the cup (he hadn't drank every last drop), and it dripped into some other cups. Maddie made a big deal of it and made Will feel bad...he started crying (loud) and Grandma tried to take him out. But he hooked his foot on the pew and was crying out that he didn't want to be taken out. I motioned for him to come and sit with me (I was on the stand just about to give my talk). He came up and sat with me and then went and sat with a friend. All is well that ends well and to repeat...I am so glad it's over!

After church we had an Easter Egg hunt and ate a very yummy dinner of Honey Baked Ham, potato salad, baked beans, green salad, and rolls...followed by

V Chocolate's chocolate dipped strawberries! I am still full!

I love Easter!

New Mexico

We left for New Mexico on the 26th at 8:00 pm, hoping to miss the huge snow storm! The kids were really excited to leave and wanted to drive in the dark. We didn't miss the storm! We got to Kirtland at 4:00 am! Our normal 6 hour drive took 8 hours...U.G.L.Y! The roads were a mess the entire way, slushy, wet, snow-packed-we had it all! I've never been so happy to get to Kirtland!

Once we arrived safe and sound, we had a relaxing, enjoyable time with family. Maddie and Will loved being around their cousins. They took their Wii and had lots of fun playing it with everyone. Tennis is a favorite game...I even like it. We saw movies (The Water Horse and National Treasure), played Spoons and Wii (a remote flew from a hand and and broke Yancey's t.v.) at Uncle Yancey's and Aunt Natalie's and listened to Bob and Maddie jam on the piano, ate at Fuddruckers and Costa Vida (new to Farmington), and hung out relaxing! Just what we all needed.

Maddie and Dad jamming on the piano!

Sleepover with the cousins...All the cousins with Uncle Ben

McKenna Cluff...Will and Uncle Ben

We went to church Sunday morning-the 30th, came back and said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle George and took off on our ride home...drove to see Shiprock (Maddie noticed it from a distance and wondered what it was)...hoping for clear roads...no such luck. The roads from Price on were worse than on the way to New Mexico....good times!

goodbye...Shiprock from a distance

Candy, Candy, Candy...

My mom and I have been making candy for the past two days...caramel-chocolate pretzels, toffee and caramel. YUM-O! It was so much fun to spend time with my mom making these fun treats for friends (and ourselves, right Mom?) My parents are going to be gone for Christmas so it will just be the four of us until we leave for New Mexico a couple of days after Christmas. I'm glad I got to spend time with my mom making our traditional holiday treats! Thanks for all the help Mom.

So many pretzels...milk chocolate, milk chocolate with mini m&ms, white chocolate, white chocolate with cinnamon sugar



Making the yummiest caramels on the planet...so buttery!



All packaged up for friends!



And our little helper/taster/mess maker!

Fun With Grandpa!

There was a BYU basketball game last night and unfortunately, Bishop Bob was not able to go because of you guessed it...meetings. So Grandpa took Maddie and William and they had a great time. They got these lovely tee shirts and wanted to wear them to bed. Grandpa bought them shaved ice, pop and Dippin Dots! I'm sure the kids made many trips up and down the stairs. Thanks Grandpa for the fun time...and BYU won!

September 7, 2007

On September 7th, Bob performed his first marriage ceremony at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in SLC. How weird is it that he can legally marry people! He did a great job! While Bob and I were at the wedding and reception, the children stayed with Grandma and Grandpa. They took the kids to Murray Park and had a wonderful time. They asked if they could spend the night in hopes that Grandma and Grandpa would take them back to the park the next day. I'm sure that's just what the grandparents wanted to do :). We didn't let them spend the night!

William, being the friendly child that he is, even made a new friend...we're not sure of his name, but from the looks of the picture, you'd think they were best friends!