Happy Birthday Meagan!

This is a picture of Meagan when she was a baby. As you can see she came into this world with a positive attitude and a smile and that is one of the things that I love about her the most. Walt Disney's character, Pollyanna, doesn't have anything on our Meg. Meg can find the positive in any situation, so you just better get used to it. You could put the most negative, cantankerous person in a room with Meagan and come back in an hour to find two, very happy people. You just can't help but be happy when you are around Meagan!

Sorry, Meagan, but I couldn't resist using these pictures that I found of you. You must have put these together over Christmas break to show to your class and then changed your mind for some reason. I LOVED these pictures and the simple story that they tell about you and your life. Oh, the things that I could tell you about Miss Cluff. I am so glad that Heavenly Father sent you to our family.


Meagan was born on the evening of January 12, 1988. Her due date was December 31, 1987, so as you can see she was a whole year late. That is funny because she is punctual to a fault. It was pretty much the longest pregnancy of my life because I was so excited for her to arrive. I remember telling my friends that we couldn't come to the New Year's Eve party that they had invited us to because our baby was going to be born on that day. Boy, did they laugh at me. We didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl, but we sure were thrilled to be adding to our family. She was 8 pounds, 7 ounces when she was born and 12 days late, but I didn't care because I was so in love. I had told my employer that I would definitely be returning to work after the birth of our child, but Meg had a way of changing my priorities and helping me to see what was really important. She was the beginning of my growing testimony of the importance of families and I will be forever grateful to her and all of our other children for teaching me that truth. It really doesn't matter if you live in a palace or a shack down by the river as long as you are together and you choose to be happy.


By the time Meagan was in the first grade we had added two more children to our growing family and our fourth child was born while Meg was still in first grade. Meagan is a good sister and even though she has been gone 4 years she does a great job keeping up with what is going on at home and which activities her brother and sisters are involved in.


We really do all feel loved by Meg and we enjoy the times when we can all be together.

We had lots of fun in December 2008 when we went to Disneyland. We hadn't been in years and it was so fun to see how much it had changed.

Meagan has gotten a lot of enjoyment over the years out of playing the piano. I don't know if she always enjoyed practicing or going to lessons but she likes to play the piano and she has always been willing to play for others. I'm so glad that some of our other children began to play the piano after Meagan left home to attend college or else our house would be too quiet.

Meg really does love the snow, even after 4 years of tromping through it to get to classes and being cold. When I visited her a couple of weeks ago she taught me how to shuffle my feet so that I wouldn't slip on the ice. She is a snow professional.

Meagan really does like to smile and I love pictures of her where she is scrunching up her nose and giving the camera a mischievous look. That is her real smile, fun and full of life. As the song from Rascal Flatts says:

My wish for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,

Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small,

You never need to carry more than you can hold

And while you're out there gettin where you're gettin to

I hope you know somebody loves you

And wants the same things too

Ya, this is my wish.

I hope you have a good birthday Meg. I know I was just with you, but I wish I could be with you again today. I'm so proud of who you are becoming and where you are "gettin to". Thanks for agreeing to come down to a young and inexperienced Mother and being willing to let me grow up at the same time you were growing up yourself. I love you so much and am grateful for the privilege of being your Mom! Happy 22nd Birthday, Meg! I really do wish that all of your dreams come true!

Christmas Fun

Christmas really starts at Thanksgiving when you get together and attempt to take a good family picture. Our pictures definitely weren't perfect and these aren't even the best ones that were taken, but we had a lot of fun trying to get all 8 of us to smile and have our eyes open all at the same time.

Before I go any further with Christmas reminiscing, I have to stop and wish Richard a happy one year anniversary of being the Bishop. Don't you think he is holding up well? Congratulations, Richard, you are doing a great job. I can't wait to see what you look like in a few more years.

While on Christmas break we went to see this fun movie.

No, we don't have more children that you have never seen before. These are some of our friends that we invited over before Christmas to make gingerbread houses with us. We had a blast! Elmer's Glue may or may not have been used to make these houses stand upright.

Sad to say that Elmer's Glue played a big part in this house (mine) and it still caved in. What was I thinking making a flat roof?

Sarah's roof is caving in too, but at least she can still smile about it.

As you can see, we all had lots of fun and ate lots of candy.

We also made the time to go and see the Christmas scenery and lights at the Mesa Temple.

On Christmas eve we had a progressive dinner. For the Cluff family that means you make several stops at fast food restaurants and get one thing at each place. Our menu consisted of pizza, hot chocolate and lots of candy. Delicious! Then, we went to the drive-in movies. Not exactly a tradition yet, but it is definitely being considered. We saw The Frog Princess and A Christmas Carol. This is Richard sitting in the driver's seat and watching the movies by looking in the rear view mirror. Why does he do this? So, he won't have to get out of the car and be cold, of course. What a goofball!

This is Matt laughing and freezing at the same time. When we told him that we were ready to go to the drive-in he said that he didn't need lots of blankets or even socks to keep him warm, but he soon changed his mind.

Here is the back of the suburban gang giving a thumbs up to the drive-in movie idea. I don't know why Kaylee is frowning. Probably because she wishes she were sitting on top of the suburban enjoying the movie. Sorry, too cold!

Here I am laughing at all of them trying to stay warm and agreeing that the drive-in movies on Christmas eve was a fantastic idea. Were there lots of people there, of course not.

And now, to answer the question that you have all been asking. Who did Paige pick in the family Christmas gift exchange that she went to such great lengths for to wrap her present in pink paper and put lots of bows, ribbons and even a balloon on? Drum roll please.......................Matthew! Great job, Paige, he definitely loved your gift and your creative wrapping was a hit.

On Christmas morning we went to Richard's sister's house for breakfast with his side of the family and then in the afternoon we visited my Mom and Dad. This is a picture of my Mom and Dad and the water fountain and flowers that they have in their living room. Do you see where I get my creativity?

Even after all of this fun, we still had a coupon for free bowling that we took advantage of while we were all still together. Isn't bowling and especially bowling shoes the best? We hope you had lots of fun with your family during the holidays and made lots of memories. Happy 2010!

Santa's...No...Miss Cluff's Little Helpers

This is Meagan and I have to say it....Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'll admit-I've been a stressed out mess since Thanksgiving...sorry roommies, family, and friends! Everyone has been helping me so much and I really appreciate it!

Family, thanks for helping me stay (relatively) sane over Christmas break while I was getting things ready for my classroom. Paige and Kaylee did a great job on the giraffe-my students love it, they say our classroom looks like a jungle :)

Family, thanks for providing some comic relief and making me laugh when I felt like hyperventilating. This is a green eggs and ham sandwich Matt made....mmmm....who's hungry?

We went to the temple lights while I was home too and had fun taking newlywed pictures.

Another one of Matt's bright ideas-don't worry, he totally staged it...he loves Kevin WAY too much to ever be mean to him.

Thanks for your advice Paige! I wore the outfit you picked out on my first day of school.

Who thinks of these things?...Well, MY family does-I'm the luckiest girl alive...I'm doing my best to be half as funny, creative, and cool as them :)

Thanks Mom for coming to Utah! That was SUCH a blessing! Thanks for helping me unbury my car, spending hours and hours in my classroom, stocking me up with a lifetime supply of groceries and things to make me smile, for listening to me ramble on and on about my class, and for putting up with all of my craziness.

Friends and roomies, thanks for not thinking I was a party pooper when I fell into bed at 9:30 every day this week (and thanks for helping me grade papers!). Courtney-thanks for the surprise package! It really made my day! You know me so well!

Thank you all bunches and bunches! It means so much to me!

Gone For A Year

I just got back from spending a week in Provo with Meagan and I had so much fun! Her apartment complex put up several of these Christmas trees in the complex so that it would look festive for the holiday.

Here is a picture of some of the bikes that belong to the students attending BYU.

Here is Meagan unloading boxes from her car to transform her classroom into the best 1st grade classroom ever. She had a cold and wasn't feeling her best, but her classroom turned out so cute.

This is the school where she now works as a 1st grade teacher. Yea, Meg! Spring Creek Elementary, home of the hawks.

This is a fun reading corner that her students are going to love, especially once they become better readers.

You can see that the subtle brainwashing of these small 6 and 7 year old children that will be students in Meagan's class has already begun. Reading is fun and hopefully they will begin to believe it too.

This is a giraffe that Meg let Paige and Kaylee paint while she was home at Christmas. Didn't they do a good job? It's pretty much the best giraffe I have ever seen. Her classroom theme is stretch yourself and be the best that you can be. The tree next to the giraffe is her warm fuzzy tree. She has the children write about one good thing that they "caught" someone doing each day and then she picks a few at the end of the day and reads them and awards the good deed doers with a "warm fuzzy" and they get to put it on the tree. It's never to early to start teaching children to be kind and recognize kindness. Way to go, Meg!

You have to admit that this room is really cute! Meg and I had so much fun putting it all together.

Here is Meagan on her first day of teaching. She was so nervous but she mustered up enough courage to strike this confident pose. I told her there have been plenty of times in my life when I was technically "in charge" and couldn't have been more scared. I remember once when I was put in charge of leading a hike at girl's camp and I thought "do these girls really think that I know where I am going?" Thank goodness for Heavenly Father and faith or we wouldn't get very far in this life.

I didn't come home until late Tuesday night, so while Meagan taught on Monday and Tuesday, I wandered around Provo enjoying the sights and the snow. I don't think I am really mature enough to live in Utah because I was constantly tempted to pick up snow and just throw it at random people. How do the people in Utah maintain such self control? I thought the snow was wonderful and BEAUTIFUL.

I don't know if it is worse living in Arizona where every street corner has a Check Into Cash business or living in Utah where every street corner has a jewelry store. I thought it was funny and so, of course, had to take a picture.

I also enjoyed some of these yummy treats while waiting for Meagan to come back to the apartment. These things are pretty much the best thing ever invented and sealed in a plastic bag for human consumption.

What would a trip to BYU be without stopping at this yummy place? (I bet you are so jealous and pretty much craving ice cream right now aren't you Cousin Emily?) Meg and I met here after her first day of teaching so that I could hear all of the details of her day and more importantly eat ice cream.

Meg and I flew into Utah on December 30, 2009 and I didn't fly home until January 5, 2010, so it was really like I was gone for a year. Here is Meg and I right before she took me to the airport. We are both looking a little tired from staying up late and getting up early, but we are happy. I had sooooooo much fun! Thanks for letting me come and visit your world Meg! I think you are so brave and I want to be just like you when I grow up.