8 - 1 1/2 - 1 +2 = 7 1/2 OR Cluff Complications!

Remember when we told you about our sweet, baby chicks? Well, life seemed so pure and simple then. UNTIL .....

This bad cat showed up. Don't worry, no animals were harmed in the posting of this blog, this is just a file photo, but the Cluff family is not a fan of cats. Especially, orange, chicken stalking, tabby cats that are getting plenty of food from their owners and have no need to eat defenseless, adorable, baby chicks. Technically, animals were hurt in the posting of this blog because we are missing 2 1/2 chickens.

After the cat came into our yard and used his claws to pull back the chicken wire on our coop and devour two of our chicks and seriously injure another one this is what was left of our little flock. UNTIL .....

Good, Allie, saved the day by going to a feed store by her work and purchasing two more adorable, yet different, chicks. I know, a good blogger would have thought to insert a picture here of Allie, our heroine, but what can I say, I'm not the greatest blogger and I didn't do it and now I don't know if a picture can be inserted where I want it in the telling of this story, so please forgive me. But, Allie is a heroine, nonetheless, and we thank her for her kindness and generosity in healing our broken hearts at the loss of our "babies." We are now the proud owners of 7 1/2 chickens and sadder, yet wiser, for our experience.

This is a picture of Kaylee holding Esther II, not to be confused with the previous picture shown of Kaylee holding Ellie II. Don't tell me that you can't tell these two chicks apart. Any chicken lover like us can tell the difference.

These 2 new baby chicks are Black Stars and they will lay brown eggs when they grow up, just like their friends the Red Stars that we already own. They look like little, fat penguins when they are waddling around and we think they are so cute.

This proud specimen is what they will look like when they are fully grown.

O.K., so we don't like to complain, but besides the chicken and cat problem we have one other small problem taking place in our backyard. This is our cute, little, vegetable garden. Darling isn't it? Well, we thought so UNTIL......

This stinker started causing problems. This is our backyard squirrel and he has been with us for a number of years. He chose us, we didn't choose him, but he is really cute and we haven't really had any problems with him UNTIL..... he started using our little garden for his personal daily salad buffet.

I thought I was so clever by laying chicken wire over the top of the garden because I thought squirrel would be afraid to climb under the chicken wire and eat the plants, but I was wrong. Apparently, squirrel considers the chicken wire no more of an inconvenience than the sneeze guard at your local salad buffet restaurant and it has not deterred him in the least. He is especially fond of young, tender broccoli plants. I ask you, what good is chicken wire if it can't keep baby chicks in and squirrels out?

Birthday Bonanza!

Here is the birthday boy. Doesn't he look tall? Whoever took this picture must have taken it at a weird angle because it looks like his head is practically touching the ceiling. Happy 48th birthday to Richard!


Here he is again. He is telling us that we should have no problem coming up with 48 wonderful things about him and he is right.

He is opening a card from his Dad with his 2 faithful "birthday helpers." You can bet that Paige and Kaylee are around if there are presents to be opened.

Richard is proudly holding the $1 that he got from his Dad. Paige reminded him that after he pays his tithing he will have .90 cents to spend any way he wants. Oh, the possibilities. They even considered starting a .90 cent store for Mormons instead of a $1 store because everyone knows that after you pay tithing you only have .90 cents. I think that is a great business idea.

You would have to enlarge this picture to see what I am talking about, but Paige and Kaylee's faces say it all. Richard likes things that not very many other people like. That is great for him because none of us ever ask him to share his loot, but it can be very disappointing for us at times. This is a prime example. Richard likes Good and Plenty candy and the rest of us think it is yucky!

Besides $1, Richard's Dad gave him this cool coupon book that has discounts to many restaurants and hotels. Fun!

He also got 2 tickets to see Phantom of the Opera at Gammage in November. Lucky!

The gifts just keep coming. Here he is holding some peanut m&m's. These he is going to have to hide because I know there are some people that live in this house that like peanut m&m's.

This is some trail mix that he likes. He only has to worry about me on this one. I have a tendency to pick out the cashews and craisins leaving him with only peanuts and butterscotch chips. He says you are supposed to take a whole handful, but I just don't feel the same way. Too bad for him!

After we opened presents and got the children off to school Richard, Allie and I went to IHOP for breakfast. The server told us that IHOP gives out free hot fudge sundaes for anyone having a birthday. What they didn't say was that it came with a song. Rich was a good sport and here he is beating a rhythm to their catchy tune.

He even requested 3 spoons so that we could all have some. What a guy!

Here we are watching Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Richard has been wanting to see this movie for awhile. It hasn't come to the dollar theatre yet, so we went to an early morning showing for $5. Neither of us liked it very much. Too bad! Save your money if you haven't seen it. We both thought it was a stinker. Sorry, Harry Potter fans, the truth is the truth.

And, last but not least, here are 2 pictures of a surprise, early birthday party that we had for Allie at Bahama Buck's, after the women's broadcast last Saturday. Allie and Richard's birthdays are just 3 days apart. No wonder they love each other so much and are so close.

Here are 12 things that are great about Richard. We know he is really 48 and not 12, but he is so great at these things that if you multiply these 12 things by 4 you get 48. This was Paige's idea and if you ask me she is pretty smart for a 6th grader.

1. He is a hard worker.

2. He makes lots of money. (This was Paige's suggestion)

3. He takes us on motorcycle rides.

4. He likes to take naps, but will forgo one to talk to us if we want him to.

5. He is LOTS of fun.

6. He takes us to buy treats sometimes.

7. He has great ideas.

8. He is the best Dad ever.

9. He makes PPI's fun.

10. He is handsome and his blue eyes are amazing.

11. His free tuition perk at MCC is much appreciated.

12. He loves us and that's what counts!

Happy Birthday, Richard. We love you and think you are the best!

"Life's a Climb, But the View's Great!"

Name that movie! Last Saturday, after the Relief Society Broadcast, some friends and I hiked the Y. It was my first time! The hike was uphill most of the way (note our red faces) and so we took lots of rest stops-that's my kind of hiking :)

I am ALMOST a true BYU student...all I have to do now is go to a football game (I know Uncle Don, you're disappointed in me...I promise I'll make it to at least ONE before I graduate).

Allie Turns 20!

Can you believe Allie is turning 20 today? She came into this world on September 29, 1989, at 12:00 p.m., while the theme song to the Andy Griffith show was being whistled on the hospital t.v. Maybe that has something to do with her upbeat and hilarious personality.

What an exciting day! She weighed 7 pounds and 5 ounces when she was born and that seems like just yesterday. How can she be 20 already?

We hope her day is magical. Well, maybe not this magical, but we hope her day is awesome. We want to wish her a happy birthday and tell you 20 random facts about Allie.

1. Allie is a huge fan of "Jack" as you can see from this picture. "Jack" is dependable and is available 24 hours a day. She doesn't go there often, but when she does his 2 tacos for $1 is one of her favorite things to order.

2. Allie is a primary teacher and a pretty amazing one!

3. Allie doesn't like scary movies but she loves scary roller coasters.

4. Allie won't admit this, but one of her hobbies is squeezing fruit to see if it is ripe. She only

does this to bought and paid for fruit at our house, but it is a temptation to great to pass up.

5. Allie is great at doing hair, not cutting, fixing. We actually don't know about cutting because

she has never tried it. She has offered plenty of times but every time she says "get the

scissors and a bowl" people in our family run for the hills.

6. Allie REALLY likes snow cones.
7. Allie is a hard worker and knows how to get a job done.

8. Allie is beautiful!

9. Allie is one of the funniest people you will ever meet.

10. Allie loves the color yellow.

11. If you asked Allie who her favorite prophet is I'm pretty sure she would say Prophet

Hinckley.

12. Allie isn't a huge fan of cake, but she sure enjoys Otter Pops and caramel apples.

13. Allie is smart. She passed chemistry and trig and that makes her a genius in our book.

14. People in our family respect Allie's opinion and she is often asked for advice.

15. Allie enjoys taking pictures and would love to have a job involving photography.

16. Allie is a great sister and always knows how to have fun.

17. Allie's favorite flower is a Gerber daisy.

18. Allie is kind and loves nature. She especially loves the beach.

19. Allie does not love scary clowns.

20. Allie likes cotton candy.

Allie you are wonderful! We love you and we are so glad that you are in our family. You make life fun and no one can resist your smile and fun personality. We hope your birthday is the best and that all of your dreams come true. Happy Birthday!

Zuckerman's Famous...Pumpkin!

Some roomies and I went to the Utah State Fair last Saturday. It was great!! We saw a 306 pound pumpkin...Wow, that would make a LOT of pumpkin pies!!!

We saw our fill of sheep, cows, and rabbits...but didn't visit the pigs (sorry Wilbur!). This contest took playing with your food to a whole new level. It looks like something a BYU Family Home Evening group would do for an activity. These were some of my favorites...

This one reminds me of Larry on Veggie Tales-I didn't even watch Veggie Tales as a kid...I must have learned about him from babysitting.

In honor of Halloween, meet Frankenstein!!

A Tough Decision!

So, do you remember when I wrote about these 2 great guys building me something this summer that I have wanted for a long time?



The entire family spent most of the summer anxiously watching the mail for this catalog to arrive and then we spent the rest of the summer reading it.


Finally, after much anticipation, the day arrives when Richard and Matt decide to build this fantastic chicken coop. But, after it was built, it became SO handy that I just couldn't decide if I wanted to use it for chickens after all. Our children and lots of the neighbor children could play in the backyard and I just didn't even have to worry about them getting into trouble. Just kidding, hang up the phone and don't call CPS.


Each of these children should get an academy award for their acting ability.

Well, we kept calling the feed stores, but none of them had ordered any baby chicks yet. However, Matt found a place in Queen Creek that was selling day old baby chicks. We had originally wanted to order our own chicks from the catalog, but then Matt read in the catalog that the minimum order was 25 and that was way more chickens than what we wanted. So, we set off in the car on Saturday afternoon to go and buy our chicks.

Here is Paige and Sarah excited that we are finally getting chickens.

Kaylee is REALLY excited!

Matt and Allie can hardly wait. It may look like Matt is wearing a flower in his hair for this special occasion but actually it's Allie.

These were all of the cute little fluff balls that we had to choose from. They are Red Star chicks and we bought 8 of them, one for each member of the family.

Here is Sarah with her chick.

I think Paige is already in love.

Kaylee is thrilled with her choice.

Richard named his chick, Esther.

Matt named his chicken, Kevin, from the movie UP.

Here is Allie and her new friend.

This is what the chicks will look like when they are all grown up.

Here are all 8 new members of the family boxed up and ready to come home with us.

Here they are in the backyard. I've never counted to eight this much since the kids were little and we used to watch a lot of Sesame Street. How do we tell them apart? Easy. We put a different color of fingernail polish on each of their feet. We Cluffs think of everything.

These are pictures of Meg's chick. Isn't she cute. Meg is naming her Ellie, also from the movie UP. In case you can't tell, we are huge fans of that movie.

As you can see, we love the new additions to our family. Come over around the end of February for an omelet.