May Mayhem!

I have to hurry and capture the events of May before it is over. I don't know if these events are necessarily in order, but here is what I remember. First off, Allie applied for and received her passport and she, Richard and Richard's father aka Grandpa Bill are planning on going to Ireland soon. I know, I am jealous too. Meg and I are planning on going to Mexico later this summer and we are both excited about that trip.

Speaking of Meg, she graduated a few weeks ago and planned to return to Arizona, but has since changed her mind and decided to stay in Provo, Utah. I can't say that I blame her. We are excited that she is coming to visit this week.

You can see that it would be hard to give all of this up. I think she slept on the top bunk all four years of college and a girl just can't walk away from memories like that and lets not forget six roommates sharing one bathroom. Just kidding Meg. We love you and are so happy that you are staying in Utah. We will be so jealous this summer when we are melting and you are not. We can't wait to visit you in July.

I went on a bike ride with Kaylee last week and she asked me if I was born in 1892? I said, "No, that would make me 118 years old, Kaylee." She then asked if my parents were born then? I don't know where that question came from but you can bet I went right out and bought more make-up.

Attention everyone! Matt got a summer job with City of Mesa and his driver's license this month. He passed the driving test in the suburban. How many people can say they did that?Way to go Matt!

Another one of our children who shall remain anonymous, lets just refer to her as Allie C., no A. Cluff, asked if we could get a turtle. Not just any turtle, but one that grows up to be HUGE. She reasoned that with a turtle that size we wouldn't have to mow the grass. I reasoned that with a turtle that size we wouldn't have any grass. I am happy to report that we do not own a turtle.

May was full of field trips for Kaylee and Paige. Here is Kaylee posing at the Phoenix Zoo. The 3rd graders finished their animal reports and got to go to the zoo. Can you guess which animal Kaylee did her report on?

Paige and I accompanied the 6th graders to a camp in Prescott called Sky Y. We did all kinds of fun things like climbing this tall tower, hiking, making a catapult and eating s'mores.

Here is Paige all suited up and ready to climb.

Look at her climb. It was really hard. I know because I tried to climb it myself. Paige climbed much higher than I did. Thank goodness there are no pictures of me climbing.

We had lots of fun this month. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be a Mom and to get to spend so much time with our children. (Even when they ask for more pets and think I could have been born in a different century.) I am especially thankful to be married to such a good man who is a hard worker and supports us in our silliness. Thanks, Richard!

Last, but certainly not least, we all attended Paige's fancy 6th grade promotion night. She is now officially a 7th grader headed to junior high in August. Way to go Paige!

Paige Turns 12!

This is our cute Paige. We can't believe she is already 12!

Paige has always been playful and full of fun and she is excited to be going to girl's camp for the first time this summer.

Here is Paige at about 2 years old. She loves being outside and spending time with her family.

When Paige was much smaller (about 6 months ago) she wanted to have her birthday party here. Where is here you ask? A house about a mile from where we live where a man lives that collects all kinds of stuff and proudly displays it in his yard. He usually has a sign out front letting children know that they may choose one thing to take home. Paige always thought it would be fun to go there with her friends so that each of them could choose one of these treasures for their very own. We are secretly jealous that Paige thought of this great idea before we did. Maybe one day she will get brave enough to stop by and choose something from this unique yard. All of you reading this that live in an HOA are jealous aren't you? Admit it!

This is what greeted Paige when she opened the door and walked down the sidewalk to school on her birthday. Her nice sister, Allie, used some chalk to wish Paige a happy birthday and brighten up her day. It worked! Paige and I had a fun day together. We ate at Wendys, shopped, went to a movie and best of all, Allie, Matt, and Sarah met us at the temple and we all did baptisms together. It was so fun to be in the temple together. We only have a little over 2 years and then all of the Cluffs can be in the temple together. We can't wait. Paige loved doing baptisms and said that she wants to go every day.

Here is Paige and Sarah the day after Paige's birthday all ready to go with the young women in our Ward to tour the Gila Valley temple. I know, we already went, but lucky Paige and Sarah got to go again. Paige turned 12 just in time to go and they had a great time. Paige we are so glad that you are 12 now and that you let us go with you to the temple on your birthday. We love you. You are always making us laugh and we are so glad that you are in our family.

Those 3 Magic Words

Today, Matt spoke to me those three magic words that every Mother loves to hear from her son.... "Mom, I'm employed." Hurray for Matt, he got hired today to work for the City of Mesa in the Parks and Recreation Department. Way to go!

Happy Mother's Day!

We love you Mom! Thanks for being our biggest fans, a good listener, and a great example! Thanks for teaching us and believing in us! Happy Mother's Day Mom!

A guy in my ward sang "An Angel to Watch Over Me" by Sally DeFord today and it was beautiful! I thought of you Mom and it made me even more thankful for all that you do and all that you are. Sorry, but I can't get the blog to show the entire video, but if you double click on the video you can just watch it on YouTube. Love you!

Saturday Fun

As of last Saturday I have officially been to IKEA :) Me and my friends were there for almost 3 hours!!! We sat in every chair, opened every cupboard, and basically touched everything!

Today my roommates and I got J-Dawgs and had a picnic. I know Mom, you say it's JUST a hot dog...but they really are delicious. Polish dog, onions, special sauce, ketchup and mustard...Mmm!

Last week was Teacher Appreciation Week at my school and one of my students and his Mom decorated our classroom door. Needless to say, all of the 1st graders LOVED it and so did I!

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.