Don't Hate Us Cause You Ain't Us!

WARNING: This is going to be a long post. I am catching up on all of the amazing things that we experienced during the month of April. I borrowed the title of this blog from Allie who is often quoted at saying, "don't hate me cause you ain't me." Well, it seemed an appropriate title for this blog because the Cluffs had LOTS of fun in April.

What are all of these gardening pictures about, you ask? Well, Paige, Kaylee and I had a wonderful opportunity to go with all of the young women in our Stake and plant the summer flowers at the Mesa, temple. It was such a wonderful experience and now whenever we go to the temple this summer we can remember what a good time we had planting the flowers and feel happy that we had a chance to give service and have fun at the same time.

We took a few pictures of some of the young women standing by the temple after all of the planting was done. Isn't that a beautiful sight? I hope this service opportunity inspired every young woman that participated in it to have a desire to be married in the temple when the time is right.

This is what you get when two middle aged people have a camera and attempt to take a picture of themselves. Not the best picture, but boy, did we have fun! Richard and I left April 15 and flew to Salt Lake City, Utah to spend time with his parents and to attend Meagan's college graduation from BYU. We were gone for 10 whole days and we got to sit by each other for all 3 hours of church on 2 consecutive Sundays. Wow, that hasn't happened in a long time!

While we were in Utah we went to the tulip festival and enjoyed spending time with Meagan and getting to see lots of beautiful flowers.

We had so much fun! Now whenever I have an especially busy day I think to myself, I'll always have the tulip festival. We were also able to visit several of the temples in Utah and that was wonderful.

Best of all, Richard and I were able to attend Meagan's college graduation from BYU. I'm so glad that some of the pictures we took at graduation turned out o.k. because I have to admit that I cried a lot. I didn't think that I would be so emotional, but there is something unexplainable about seeing one of your children accomplish something that was really hard. We are so proud of you Meagan and our whole family is so excited that you have decided to move back to Arizona. We missed you and I don't know if we will realize how much we missed you until you are really back in Arizona. We love you!

O.k., enough of the mushy stuff, this is the beautiful Gila Valley Temple. On April 30, the children and I played hooky and traveled to Central, Arizona to see this temple. We had such a fun day together.

I know some of you may be thinking that this just looks like an old farming community, but it is beautiful to us. So many people that we love have lived in the Gila Valley and we really enjoy it when we can return to our roots and see some of the places and the people that we love so much.

Here is Allie and Paige goofing around in the backseat. Paige recently said to Allie, "Allie if we weren't sisters, I still choose you for a friend." Lets all say it together... PRECIOUS!

After seeing the temple we changed our clothes and headed into town to The Water Depot, one of our favorite parts of any visit to "the valley". This place has shaved ice every bit as good as Bahama Bucks and the prices are fantastic. Definitely worth the trip! If this place was in Mesa we would say Bahama who?

Next, we headed to the house where our Grandpa Ervin and Grandma Letha used to live when they were alive.

We have so many memories of so many good times visiting our great grandparents in this house.

Then, we headed to the local park in Central where we had lots of fun together playing on the swings and the teeter totters.

On the way home, everyone really needed to use "the facilities" because all of those shaved ices we ate were beginning to take their toll. Well, the only place we could find to stop was the Bylas rest stop. We do not recommend it. A word to the wise, if any of you have not had a chance to visit the Gila Valley Temple yet be sure and use the "facilities" in town before you start driving home.

Thanks Mom and Dad!

It was great having you up here for graduation Mom and Dad! I had so much fun spending time with you! It's just what I needed!

Thanks for taking me to the Tulip Festival-now I can check that one off my bucket list :)

I'm so glad we all got to visit Grandma Terry and Grandpa Les while you were here too. Wasn't the Burger Bar food tasty?

Of course, graduation was wonderful too...but really the highlight for me was just getting to be with you two. Thanks for coming!

I couldn't have graduated from BYU without you! Thanks for listening to me vent about how nuts life got sometimes, thanks for sending me e-mails and packages, thanks for visiting me, and thanks for believing in me and loving me!

It's the Little Things!

It really is the little things in life that make it so great! Here are some of the little things that make me smile:

Getting flowers a couple times this week from 6 and 7 year olds,

Watching popcorn popping on the trees and flowers everywhere,

Seeing a hot air balloon high in the sky.

Yes, I know Heavenly Father loves me!

-Meg

Priceless Priorities

These pictures and lots of others that I could post remind me that we need to plan and prepare for the future, but not forget to live each moment and laugh and have fun. I am not a fan of lists. Sorry to all of you list makers, but for me they usually just don't work. I know, I should try harder to adhere to lists and then I wouldn't feel like I'm running around really fast but not accomplishing much, but I just can't bring myself to do it. Life is way too much fun and my philosophy is that if I stuck to a "to do" list each day I would miss out on so many great things that aren't always planned but just happen. Take this weekend for example: I left the house Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. to take Meg to the airport. My plan was to drop Meg off, stop in and see my parents for a quick minute, drop off several bags of donations at D.I., stop by a yard sale that was being held for a good cause by some friends of mine and then hurry home so that I could cheer for the 11:00 a.m. baseball game being played by my favorite team, the green frogs.
Below is what really happened...............

I dropped Meg off at the airport and stopped by to see my parents. I should get points for having a plan and attempting to carry it out, but then, while I was at my parent's house, my sister, Sharon, called and said "why don't you stop by my house and see some ducks that have been living in my pool?"

At that point, my plans were already fading away quickly and all that I was thinking in my mind was MUST SEE DUCKS. So, I did. This is my sister, Sharon's house. She lives in Tempe and she is a good example to me of making sure that the people around you know that you love them by serving them and telling them often how much they mean to you even when you have a bunch of other things that you "should" be doing. Her children have followed her example and are really great at helping others too, so even though she has never won an award for Mother of the Year and her home has never been featured in Better Homes & Gardens I love her and I think that she is wonderful.

When my Mom and I got to Sharon's house we saw that she really does have two ducks living in her backyard pool. She throws bread out and they will come right up and eat it. Those might be even cooler pets than chickens. She even has a boy and a girl duck, so she just might get ducklings. Wouldn't that be ducky?

By now, I was so far off from my plan that I decided I might as well have a really great time looking at all of Sharon's amazing things. In this picture she is showing us her garden and this picture is not doing it justice because it really is amazing. Apparently, ducks don't like vegetables. Maybe ducks are better than chickens. NAH!

Here are some huge tomato plants that she tended through the winter so that they could give her lots of yummy tomatoes before it gets too hot. Sharon always says she isn't good at growing things, but she's not fooling me.

As we left Sharon's house this is what I saw across the street. One of her neighbors had taken the time to put out these happy face signs and wish someone living in that house a happy birthday. That is a very nice way to tell someone that they mean a lot to you. I will have to tuck that idea away for future use.

Here is a cute dress that my sister made for someone that she loves very much.

And, here is a yummy apple pie that Sharon had made just that morning that she sent home for our parents. Wasn't that a nice thing to do. Sharon was saying that is didn't look very good, but that isn't what matters. I'm sure it tasted fabulous. (I wish I could have stayed at my parent's house longer to try it, but I had to get back on track with my plan for the day.) I don't think our efforts have to be perfect, we just have to keep making efforts to love those around us. So, I left my parents and headed for home with a trunk full of bags that I will drop off at D.I. one day, just not this day. As for the friend's yard sale, those friends know that I love them and I will keep showing them that I love them, but ducks just don't land in people's pools every day, right?

As I pulled into our neighborhood at 10:45 a.m. all of my kids were walking to the field where the green frogs would be playing soon. Thank you kids for being kind and supporting the green frogs even without me being home to "encourage" you to support the green frogs. You guys are the best and I love you! I know you had other things that you probably needed to be doing and I really appreciate you taking time away from your own "to do" lists and living in the moment and letting someone that is in your family know that you love her.

11:00 a.m. found me slightly off track with my list, but sitting in the sun exactly where I had hoped to be, watching the green frogs play another amazing game. So, if you come to my house or see me in the neighborhood running around like a crazy woman, know that my intentions are good, but I am just awful at sticking to lists. Show someone that you love them today, leave something undone and spend the time you would have spent on that chore letting someone know that you love them. (This post is most likely NOT endorsed by my amazing husband who is very talented at making lists and sticking to them, but who loves me anyway, even if our car is still full of bags that need to go to D.I.)

Passover, Pizza Conference & A Visit From Meg

Some people call it general conference, but the Cluffs call it pizza conference because for years we have enjoyed going to our Stake Center and watching the sessions on Saturday and then going into a small classroom and relaxing and eating pizza between the sessions. Why do we go to the Stake Center and watch when we could stay home? Because it is so much better. We pay closer attention and we have lots of fun together. What could be better? This year because none of the local t.v. stations decided to televise conference, we went to the Stake Center for both of the sessions on Sunday too and it was great even though we couldn't get pizza.

On Saturday in between the sessions we amused ourselves by playing basketball in the gym and posing on the empty chair carts.

This is our current front door decoration. The Cluffs LOVE quotes and some of the Cluffs (hogs) had lots of fun writing quotes on just about every square inch of room on the door.

We had a fun lesson last Monday night learning about the Passover. I went up our street and asked each family that attends our Ward if I could put a small piece of red tape at the top of their front door to symbolize what the Lord asked his covenant people to do to protect themselves. That was a whole lot easier than getting lamb's blood. We ate unleavened bread (not so good, but excellent later in the week as pizza crust) as we walked down the street talking about being obedient to the Lord and always following what He or His servants (the prophets) ask us to do. We kept our tape on the door all week as a reminder. If you look at the top of this picture you can see it.

I had fun planting some new flowers in our pots by the front door while Richard and Matt attended the priesthood session of conference.

We had a great week and today we are excited because Meagan is flying in for a visit. Her school has spring break this week and so we will get to see her and catch up with all that she has been doing. Yay! Paige and Kaylee are especially excited because Meg is so fun and will always play with them and even let them play hairdresser and come up with crazy hairstyles. We can't wait to see you Meg!

It's Always Fun For Everyone At Grandma's House!

This is my parent's house, where the grass is always green and there are always lots of flowers in bloom.

Every year my Mom hosts an Easter party and she always finds just the right fun games to play and just the right prizes and candy. This year was no different, everyone that was able to attend had a really great time.

This is my Dad and he mostly stays out of Mom's way and lets her create the magic. He is a good man to put up with all of the running, noise and mess that often happens when we all get together.

Here are some of the grandchildren and great grandchildren concentrating on playing a game so that they can win one of the prizes that Grandma bought.

Bingo was the game of choice this year and we played until everyone had a chance to win.

These were some of the fun prizes that we had to choose from. We also ate yummy tacos and nachos and had lots of fun visiting and catching up with all of our extended family. Thanks, Mom and Dad for continuing to provide lots of fun, laughter and great memories!