A Final Look At 2010

January, 2010, found Meg and me in Provo, Utah getting her classroom prepared for her 1st grade teaching debut.

The above pictures are of Meg's cute classroom and here is Meg on her first day of teaching.

I enjoyed playing in the snow, trying not to fall and talking to Meg for hours. What a great way to start the year.

Because it was my year to have the Delta pass I was able to fly to Utah a lot in 2010 to visit Meg and enjoy the cool weather.

This is what our garage looked like in January. We decorated it with blow horns to celebrate the new year. I think most of our home is held together with scotch tape, but it sure does make life enjoyable.

January also found us ridiculously "egg"cited when one of our chickens laid its first egg.

As you can see, we might have gotten a little carried away with our "egg"citement.

We also had an opportunity to get in the party wagon and take a trip to San Diego to attend the marriage of our friends, the Wagoners, son.

We had lots of fun. Can you see how much fun Matthew is having? Sometimes he gets a little tired of being surrounded by girls but he puts up with us and for that we are grateful.

What would a trip be without a pit stop at McDonalds?

Allie and Paige had lots of fun posing for silly pictures in front of the San Diego Temple.

Sarah was a little cold, but having lots of fun.

Isn't the San Diego Temple beautiful?

Paige and Kaylee had fun swimming in the indoor pool where we stayed. It doesn't get any better than swimming in January.

We even had time to stop and enjoy the beach for a few hours.

I'm not sure what you call this, maybe kelp? It can be found at most beaches and it is like bubble wrap, it pops when you step on it. This stuff fascinates me and I am pretty sure that the person who invented bubble wrap got the idea from this unusual sea plant.

We even found some patches of snow as we left California and had fun throwing snowballs at each other and making this cute snowman. A temple, a beach, indoor swimming and snow, what a fun trip!

By the middle of January almost all of our chickens were laying eggs and Matt's chicken, Kevin (named after the funny bird in the movie, UP), was laying eggs with double yolks.

We were able to go to the rose gardens at Mesa Community College in January and prune the roses. It was part of Disney's give a day of service and get a free admission ticket into Disneyland promotion. Getting into Disneyland for free probably makes pruning roses not service because we are getting something amazing for our time, but that is what they called it.

We took our amazing cousin, Annie Jones, with us to prune roses at MCC and we couldn't help but feel all of the cousin love that Annie was dishing out that morning. Thanks for helping us to have such a fun time, Annie.

This is what our door and garage looked like in February. I couldn't find any other great pictures to document the fun we had in February but hey, February only has 28 days so you can't expect too much.

In March, we went to the party of the century...

At this house...

For this cute girl. Happy 16th birthday, Annie! Our kids were so jealous that you had such a fun party. You definitely had the party that every kid hopes to get when they turn 16 but rarely does. Thanks Jones cousins for such a fun night, we loved it!

March was also Spring Break, so of course we had to go to the "pit of abomination" aka Skateland. Kaylee's pose pretty much shows how passionate she and I are about Skateland.

Skating rocks! If you have never skated or if it has been awhile, you should definitely give it another try.

Other fun things we did in March were to pretend we had a broken leg and walk around on some crutches that we bought at Savers.

We also had time for a quick day trip to Tucson to visit the Reid Park Zoo. Of course we had to start our trip with a yummy slush from QT.

And, before we saw the animals we stopped to eat at McDonalds.

This is Matt at the zoo, having fun and surrounded by sisters again. One day he will look back and realize how much fun he had with us.

One of the best things about the Tucson zoo are that you can buy fun animal posters to color for only 25 cents.

Sarah drove us to Tucson...

and Matt drove us home. March was also when our driver's side window broke and was stuck halfway down (or halfway up for all of you optimists out there). Anyway, we decided that it might not be as fun to have a convertible as we thought it might be and we were glad when we could get it fixed. Our broken window was probably one of the reasons we had a record amount of rain in the month of March, it was wet and it was breezy, but we still thought it was funny.

We got home from the Tucson Zoo and still had enough daylight to play jump rope with our friends, the Rays.

We also had a fun picnic with our cousins Charles and Maelee during Spring Break.

We fished and fed the ducks at our favorite pond in Tempe. Sarah and Matt taught me how to text and although I was painfully slow at first I have gotten the hang of it and actually like it.

Here are Sarah and Paige practicing being teenagers. I think Sarah is working her "angst" a little better than Paige, but Paige is learning fast. Just kidding, they are both great girls, just being a little silly in this picture.

There, much better. Here are the 2 girls we know and love.

We had a fun Easter party and my mom and dad's house.

April brought "pizza conference". That is General Conference, but we call it pizza conference because between sessions on Saturday we eat pizza in one of the classrooms and...

horse around in the gym and...

play basketball. We love to hear the talks and eat pizza and enjoy the day together.

In April, Paige and Kaylee played neighborhood softball and we enjoyed...

cheering for them.

Towards the end of April, Richard and I flew to Utah to visit Meg. We got there just in time to enjoy the tulip festival.

The real reason for the trip was to watch Meg graduate with her bachelor's degree in elementary education from BYU. Way to go, Meg!

Richard got to see where she worked and we had lots of fun being together.

What a great day for a Dad.

In May, we were able to go and tour the Gila Valley Temple.

Afterwards we went to our favorite shaved ice store in Thatcher. Yes, it is only $1 for a large, we wish Bahama Bucks would charge these prices.

We drove past the house where our Great Grandma Cluff used to live and even stopped to take a picture.

I was able to go on a school fieldtrip with Kaylee to the Phoenix Zoo.

Paige turned 12 in May and started going to young women's activities.

Paige even turned 12 in time to drive back to the Gila Valley Temple with the young women and young men and tour the temple again.

Kaylee showcased her cooking talent by making and decorating this baseball cake and entering it in the Primary talent show.

Paige said goodbye to the 6th grade and graduated from elementary school.

But, before the end of the school year, Paige and I had a chance to go on a fieldtrip to a place called Camp Sky Y.

We were able to try climbing this tall tower.

I think the prince who rescued Rapunzel really had his work cut out for him. Climbing this high is not easy.

We had a fun day at Camp Sky Y and we were tired by the end of the day.

In June we had a fun swimming party at Richard's sister, Debbie's house. She doesn't need a wheelchair and we don't need crutches but sometimes it is fun to pretend.

Richard's dad, Bill, his brother, Robert and Richard all sit poolside laughing and teasing each other.

Meagan brings Hyrum Mitchell home for a visit and Hyrum asks Richard if he can ask Meg to marry him. When it's right, it's right.

Paige and I go to girl's camp and have lots of fun together while Sarah stays home and begins college classes so that she can have a year of college completed by the time she graduates high school.

Richard goes to girl's camp for Bishop's night and has fun performing in a skit with the other Bishops.

It will be Richard's last time going to girl's camp as a Bishop. Later in June he is released. He enjoyed serving as a Bishop twice and serving in the Stake Presidency. Now he enjoys teaching gospel doctrine on Sundays and spending more time with us. We are so glad to have him with us more often now.

In July I flew up to Utah to visit Meg and Hyrum and to fly with Meg to Mexico where she taught English the summer of 2009.

July 30th, 2010, Meagan and Hyrum are married in the Salt Lake Temple and our family returns to Utah again to celebrate with them.

Before the wedding we spend time school shopping...

looking for the perfect dresses to wear to the wedding receptions in Utah and Arizona...

And I spend a lot of time waiting for people to try things on.

We also try to figure out what to do for wedding decorations and...

Paige starts practicing how to make frosting and decorate wedding cake.

It was a busy summer. My mom bought me another blender because she had a feeling that I would break the one I had making batches of strawberry-lemonade slush for the reception in Arizona.

My mom was right, in the process of making all of the slush I blew out the motor of my blender again. In 24 years of marriage I have broken more blenders than I care to remember. Richard even bought me one once that had a video showing the blender grinding rocks. NO, I did not grind rocks with that blender, but it did break. Now, my blender of choice is the Black and Decker Crushmaster and I buy a new one whenever I see them on sale, knowing that it is only a matter of time until the one I am using breaks. If I really took them up on their 1 year warranty I would own the Black and Decker company.

In August, Hyrum and Meagan and Hyrum's parents came to visit us and we had a reception for them in Arizona.

Here is a picture I took of Meagan and her friends, Ximena and Diego when we visited Mexico in July.

Matt went caving in the summer with the Priest Quorum and got this cool cut on his leg.

Matt is holding a large mud ball from his cave adventure.

The middle of August finds us at IHOP, not Dennys ( a big mistake) for the first day of school breakfast. They built an IHOP right next to where we live but I think I still like Dennys better.

Here is Paige, slightly concerned about attending junior high for the first time. You can see Sarah is in the back seat giving Paige lots of sympathy.

Kaylee has no worries about the 4th grade.

Matt and Sarah are excited to attend their first day of their senior and junior year, respectively and they are especially excited that we rolled our windows down, blew them kisses, honked the horn and yelled to them to make good choices. Times like this make parenting so satisfying.

The summer was so busy and so crazy that I decorated our door with this phrase, Some think life's a dance...here, it's a circus. That pretty much summed up how the summer went but the good news is we survived.

In September we swam as much as we could, knowing that summer was really over. Our next door neighbors, Robert and Peggy Turnbough are so nice and let us swim in their pool as often as we want.

In October, Paige and Kaylee had fun playing on a neighborhood volleyball team and we enjoyed another "pizza conference".

In November, Kaylee turned 10 and enjoyed the freedom of going wherever she wants to in the public library without the supervision of an adult. Woohoo, freedom!

Paige practiced sleeping in later on the weekends and practicing for when she turns 13 next year and becomes a real teenager.

In November we also became "foster parents" to the Jones cousins' 4 chickens. 4 of our chickens were tragically killed by a coyote in August including Matt's beloved, Kevin. Yes, a coyote can jump a six foot brick fence, who would have thought?

We enjoyed turtle-sitting our "grand turtle", Little Richard. Allie got him this year and when he grows up he will become a huge desert tortoise. We are practicing with our "grand turtle" so that we can be good grandparents when Meagan and Hyrum's son is born next May.

For October Break we drove to Payson for the day with our neighbors and friends, The Rays, and had lots of fun playing in a park...

wading in a stream...

rolling down hills...

and feeding ducks and trying to catch fish using some beef jerky as bait that we bought at the dollar store.

The weather in Payson wasn't as cool as we thought it would be but we sure did have a great day!

On Thanksgiving day, Richard and I and Paige and Kaylee participated in a neighborhood 1 mile fun run.

In November we saw the new Disney movie, Tangled.

We also used our Disney day of service free tickets and went to Disneyland.

The weather was nice and we had a great time.

We even had time to make a quick trip to the beach before we started home.

In December, Sarah went to a military ball with a friend from school...

and Kaylee and Richard went to a Daddy/Daughter dance at the elementary school. They all had a wonderful time.

Kaylee had her very first piano recital. This is a picture of Kaylee with her piano teacher, Sicily Wilcock.

Here are some animals that we made for a homemade nativity set. We found out we aren't that artistic and it didn't turn out so welll.

We also made gingerbread houses.

Not our best efforts, but a good time was had by all.

Hyrum and Meagan surprised us with a visit. They were supposed to spend Christmas in Korea, but because of weather their flight was cancelled. Too bad for them but great for us. It was so fun to see them and have them here for Christmas. We had lots of fun games of kickball and soccer and Meagan and Hyrum made a nativity set that put ours to shame.

Then on Dec. 31st we got back into the party wagon and headed to the Fiesta Bowl parade. We talked about it and think that we have been attending the Fiesta Bowl parade since 1989. What a tradition. It was cold but fun.

My sister, Sharon, and her son Kurtis met us there. We also met up with our friends, the Wilcock family. They cooked a fantastic breakfast that we all enjoyed and kept us warm with lots of hot chocolate.

You've got to love a parade and if you have read even a portion of this ridiculously long blog post then we know that you love us too. This last picture is the Sun City Grandmas dancing in the Fiesta Bowl parade. They are my favorite entry in the parade each year and now that I am going to be a grandma in 2011 I am one step closer to realizing my dream of becoming a member of their dance team. We hope you had a wonderful 2010 and we wish you a Happy New Year and an amazing 2011.

Christmas With The Cluffs

What does Kaylee playing the piano have to do with Christmas? Well, tonight was her very first Christmas piano recital. She did a fantastic job playing Frosty The Snowman and I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus. It was so fun for us to go and watch her perform and then afterwards we had some delicious refreshments. Way to go Kaylee!

This is Kaylee's piano teacher, Sicily. She is 15 and in our Ward and we really like her a lot. Sicily has 6 students and we really enjoyed listening to each of them play the songs they had worked so hard to learn. Two of the students surprised and amazed us by playing some of their songs upside down just like Jon Schmidt. Most amazing! I bet you all wish that you could have been there with us tonight.

What do these things have to do with Christmas? Well, isn't it obvious? This is Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus. We haven't made our yearly gingerbread houses yet, but this year we did try to create our own nativity. Unfortunately, we aren't very creative. Last week we made some salt dough and created these beautiful works of art during our family home evening. Then, a few days later, after we baked our art, we painted them. Below you will see more photos of our first nativity attempt. They are hideous, but I do smile every time I pass by them. If you ask any of the family members which one they made they won't tell you, but we did have a really fun time doing it.

This is a close-up of Baby Jesus.

This is the angel and the star, of course.

Even though the one on the right looks a little like Gumby, these really are the 3 wise men in case you couldn't tell.

Someone thought that it might have been possible that an elephant was at the birth. Elephants aren't specifically mentioned in the scriptural account of Christ's birth but elephants are mentioned in the scriptures so we know they existed. I think the animals are actually some of our better attempts at art, don't you?

This looks a little like something out of an Arthur episode, but it is really a lamb.

Is this a dinosaur? No, it is a camel, silly. I think the person that sculpted this creation forgot about the ears. If it had ears it would obviously be a camel. I wish I could tell you that all of us are under the age of 5, but those of you reading this that know our family, know that just isn't true. What do you think, should we make this a yearly tradition and is there any hope that our sculpting and painting skills will improve? At least we had lots of fun! Tell us what fun family traditions you have going at your house.

Dances and Parties

This weekend we had 3 people in our house going to a dance. One was Sarah. She attended the JROTC millitary ball. She had lots of fun and enjoyed her first formal dance.

Kaylee also got to go to a dance on Friday night. She went to the Patterson Elementary School Daddy/Daughter dance. She had lots of fun dressing up and dancing too. Sarah did her hair.

This was Kaylee's date and he joked with her and told her that this outfit was what he was wearing to the dance. She made sure to tell him that she had bought the ticket to the dance and she expected him to dress a little nicer.

This was the finished product. Well worth the wait while he took a shower and got all handsome for Kaylee. They had so much fun at the dance and they both came home exhausted. They must have really been cutting a rug out on the dance floor because it looked like they had even been sweating.

Then, on Saturday, Kaylee had a birthday party to celebrate turning 10. Her birthday was really last week, but it is tough when you have a birthday around a major holiday because you can't really have a party and expect any of your friends to come.

Look at all the friends that showed up to help Kaylee celebrate. They all had lots of fun playing games and eating cupcakes. We must be growing up because we don't have any children whose age is in the single digits anymore. It was bound to happen.

Thanksgiving Weekend Festivities!

Even though this isn't a picture of me falling down the rabbit hole in Alice In Wonderland's fairytale, that is what life feels like sometimes. I have got to start blogging on a more frequent basis because these catch up blogs are just not very fun for me. We are still having plenty of fun in everyday life, but the events, people and pictures just aren't getting the attention they deserve. As Paige left for school this morning she said, "I don't care what else you get done today, just blog." So, in honor of Paige, blogging is exactly what I will do.

Thanksgiving eve started out with a party at Richard's sister's house.

Look at all of these tasty pies and treats.

Allie made these fabulous treats. They were beautiful and tasty. They are crushed Oreo cookies covered in chocolate. I'm pretty sure they are not very good for you, but they were delicious. Way to go, Allie!

Lots of good food, family and fun conversation. Thanks for letting us come and invade your home Don and Debbie.

After the fun party we returned home to choose names for Christmas gifts. 3 years ago we started a new tradition of choosing an envelope that has $30 in one dollar bills and the name of a family member. You are then responsible for using the $30 to buy that family members' Christmas gift. We have seen a lot of creativity in the past few years and it has made Christmas much more simple and easy to enjoy. Plus, $30 in one dollar bills makes you feel rich!

Thanksgiving morning we participated for the first time in the neighborhood 1 mile fun run. Richard decided if he wasn't going to be the fastest runner then he might as well look the best. Yes, he is wearing green, plaid, swimming trunks. Underneath the sweatshirt he is wearing a matching green t-shirt and then the whole ensemble is complimented with his green cap that he bought while he was in Ireland. We had lots of fun. After the 1 mile run, we came home, cleaned up and headed to my parents house for Thanksgiving lunch. My brother, Kenneth and his wife, Mary were in town visiting and it was fun to see everyone.

At 2 p.m. we left my parent's house and drove to California. We had FREE Disneyland tickets that we needed to use before the middle of December. Yes, you read that right, FREE. We got them for participating in the Disney service projects that allowed you to give a day of service in 2010 and get a day to play at Disneyland.

As you can see, we had lots of fun. We went to Disneyland the day after Thanksgiving, on Friday.

Saturday was Kaylee's 10th birthday. We looked in all of the shops in Downtown Disney. The above pictures were my favorite thing that they were selling. I really like caramel apples. They don't have to be this fancy, in fact, I like the plain caramel ones the best, but these apples were really creative.

We had lots of fun posing with funny, Disney mannequins.

Then, Richard drove us to the beach. By the time we got there it was getting windy and cold, but we still went out for a few minutes to enjoy the sunset and the sound of the waves.

For Kaylee's birthday we went and watched the new Disney movie, Tangled. It got two thumbs up from me. Good job, Disney. We all thought it was a really good movie.

Here are Kaylee and Richard posing in front of Ursula, the sea witch.

I think Kaylee loves the beach as much as I do. It was fun spending time together and relaxing. Would you like to know what Kaylee thinks is the best part of FINALLY turning 10? She can go to the public library now and go wherever she likes without parental supervision. There are signs posted in the library that say if you are under 10 years old you must be with an adult at all times and now that she is 10 she is free to roam the library. We will have to try and get her to the library soon so that she can see what true library freedom is like. Happy Birthday, Kaylee!

Matt Turns 18!

I know, I'm a little late to blog about Matt. He turned 18 on November 5, but what can I say, he was more than a little late making his entry into this world. He was supposed to be a Halloween baby.

Matt is our third child and our only boy. Richard sure was happy when he found out we were having a boy.

Wasn't he a cute kid? This is a rare photo of a boy who is actually squeaky clean. Boys sure can get into a lot of messes.

Here he is on a school day when he was in kindergarten. I was going to say that it was a first day of school picture but the candy canes in the background remind me that it couldn't have been the first day of school. There he is with his pal, Sarah, who is only 15 months younger than Matt.

Matt used to wish and wish for a brother until.... he figured out that he would never share a room or wear hand-me-downs. Pretty smart, huh? He does his share of teasing, but all in all he is a good brother and pretty patient considering that he has 5 sisters.

Matt is a lot of fun and we are so glad that he is in our family.

His birthday didn't start out all that great this year. His mean mom took him to MCC where he took his placement tests and enrolled in an online class next semester. Matt is 1 year away from serving a mission and I kept telling him that he will be glad when he gets home from his mission to have all of his English and math out of the way. I don't think he was very glad, but he was a good sport and took the tests and enrolled.

After that, we went to YC's Mongollian BBQ. When you look up the definition of the Word of Wisdom it will never say anything about YCs because even though the food there is mostly vegetables they give you soooooo much.

Last, but not least, Matt and I celebrated his birthday by going to Megamind, which we both enjoyed. It was fun to spend the day with you Matt. I hope you have a wonderful year. We love you!