"Homework" and Christmas Outfits

I am a crazy mom and really don't want Ry to start 1st having forgotten anything from Kindergarten. So, we spend about 30 minutes a day doing what the kids call "homework". I found some workbooks for Ry on Scholastic.com and figured that B would be left out, so she has some tracing and counting books. Ry so far can do all of the work on his own and B is getting really good at tracing and pretty much knows her abc's. She LOVES to do work...Riley is a little reluctant at times, though he does a really good job. He has GREAT printing!!! I loved school and really want my kids to love it too and know how important it is to do well! Here's to hoping!!

I FINALLY put the kids in their Christmas outfits yesterday!!! I know it is the middle of the summer, really don't care! I am not so crazy as to dress them just for a quick picture...so they were all Christmas-ed out for church in JULY!!!

They wouldn't let go of each other for separate pictures, so I cropped! Imagine this dress with white tights and black, Paten leather, knee-high boots (and B a little shorter!!) and that was her in the winter!! SO CUTE!!!! I am sure her hair was done too...we were in a hurry!

My Mr. Man...since Christmas he has grown out of his shoes and pants!!! He also had a tie on, but it was all twisted and Ty was already at church! You get the picture! He may be wearing this outfit this Christmas...should fit him still...I hope!!!

Well now I have to get to work! Laundry, sorting, packing and organizing. Need to make sure all lanterns have batteries, all sleeping bags are clean and accounted for....oil changed in the van and van nice and CLEAN! Yes, I am the crazy lady to cleans the car before a road trip. I can't stand being in a dirty car for that long!!! Carpinteria here we come...Ty and the kids are super excited...I am a little tired thinking about all of the work. But I do love hanging with the family and the kids have a TON of fun! This is the 60th year! What kind of wife would I be if I didn't support such a family tradition???? It is just a lot of work for a vacation, that's all!

One more of my super cute kiddos!! Can't wait to see what Hayden is going to look like!!!

Family Weekend

Well our fun filled trip all started with Tyson working half day on Thursday, July 1st. I rushed to have us all ready to leave for Logan by 12:30 pm...the kids even made it to swimming lessons. That is pretty good for me!!

We were only a little bit late to my doctor's appointment in Logan. We had our 3-D ultrasound and the baby is looking perfect!! We found out that we are having a BOY!!! So our little Hayden Ryker Cluff (not sure on the spelling quite yet) will be here on or before November 30th!! That was exciting news, Riley is THRILLED!!

From Logan we were off to Salt Lake City to fly to Cali! My brother Randy picked us up and we surprised my mom...she had no idea we were coming! We had a great weekend with the family! Rick baptized Drake on Saturday and his birthday party followed. Then on Sunday Justin blessed his little Ansley Marie! It was great to be with everyone and have the whole family together!!

We also played a little. The kids swam and swam. We saw the last air bender...which was AWESOME!! We ate at most the places that we miss the most: Red Robin, Rubio's Baja Grill, In 'n' Out, Lascari's, Senor Peppers....and of course mom's awesome cooking!!! I even got to see the new Twilight movie while I was there! Ty was able to squeeze in a round of golf with my dad too! I had fun hangin' with my sisters-in-law and my brothers!!! Love you all so much and can't wait for the next visit!!!!

Swimming Fun

I love to swim...swimming with two kids in the pool, not so much! Oh so lucky for me the pool here in town will swim with my kids for me!! YAY. This week and last week the kids have been going to swimming lessons from 11 am to 12 noon. Perfect time for us considering Brie has been waking up at 10:30am lately! Aubry is in level 1 and just starting out and really enjoys it! Riley is in level 3 and he loves too! Thank you to the Le Grande Aqua Plunge...can't wait until session 4 in August...something to do between Carp and Maui.

All ready to go
Riley mastering his back float
Riley swam over to Aubry's station for some hugs and loves

Brie really fights this...she is starting to do better.

practicing his rainbow arms while waiting his turn with teacher

Do you think she thinks she is a model?

Birthday Girl "3"

My baby girl is officially NO LONGER a baby!!! :( Sad day for mommy! She is potty trained and off of the bink and bottle...yes I totally babied her! So for her third birthday I asked her what she wanted to do...and she wanted to go paint nails. She is such a girlie little girl!! No complaints here, she sat in my lap while I had a nice spa pedicure and she had her nails and toes painted super cute!! She did pretty good until the lady tried to paint flowers on all 10 of her fingers...that took a while!! It was nice though! I still owe her a trip to the cupcake shop, because according to her cupcakes are her favorite!

Aubry Lynn - 3 yrs old - weight: 30 lbs. - height:

Nicknames: B, B-lynn, stinky-lynn, Brie, Brie-ner

Nicknames she gave herself: Princess Aubry, Princess B

Pretty toes

She always wants to wear church dresses...like every day, so I decided that she could for her birthday day!! She was so excited!

Her new thing for pictures...she smiles a little and looks away all shy!

Her pile of presents
Maga and Papa gave her a tricycle...which she LOVES!!!

again, looking away from the camera for her picture!

Riley helped me wrap, then helped her un-wrap!

Princess Aubry

Memorial Day

Memorial Day 2010

Tyson is normally on call (ER) every Monday. He got kinda sick of the whole never having a 3-day weekend. He got someone to cover his ER call shift and went golfing in the morning, then we met up with his family at a park in Nibley (near Logan) for a picnic. It was fun even though the weather wasn't great. We had a baby shower for Ty's nephew's wife and celebrated Ty's niece's high school graduation. The boys played a little baseball and the girls sat around and chatted. Afterwards we went to Ty's mom's house. The kids played outside, the adults played a game: Know or Blow it...fun! Then our sister-in-law Heather did a quick photo shoot for us. Below is our most recent family picture!!

I found Easter Pictures

I pulled out my SLR camera today to take pictures of the kids in their Easter clothes (slacker...I know) and found Easter pictures too!!!! YAY! We had a super fun kick-back Easter this year. My baby brother Matthew and his sweet wife Rachael came to visit us and it was great!! It was Conference weekend, so we were lazy! The Easter Bunny did not arrive until the afternoon and the kids were happy when he did! Matt helped the Easter bunny hide the eggs for the hunt, even though it was FREEZING cold outside! We were just glad that we didn't have snow!!! (In door hunts are no fun)!! Matt, Ty and Ry played the wii, while B and auntie Rae played littlest pet shops and beauty shop (seriously wish I had a camcorder on them-to flippin' cute!!) Thanks to Matt and Rae for coming to see us and making our Easter fun!!!

I was just starting to be preggo sick....so I was glad Rae was here to help. We managed to make a yummy big breakfast, everyone snacked on candy, then we had a traditional ham dinner!

We need to buy bigger Easter baskets...or put less stuff in them...bigger baskets!!! The vacuum is out because Matt likes to clean...come back ANY time MO!! ;)
B was very excited about her chocolate bunny

New pet shops...auntie Rae with some Easter candy.

Mo with Easter candy

Riley Matthew and Matthew Thomas

All bundled up for the Easter Egg HUNT!!!

She was super fun to watch this year!! She broke a few eggs, not a gentle child!

Now for some Easter Clothing CUTENESS:

Silly, silly poses. Riley thinks he is a model!

Cheesy smiles...well at least I got them in their outfits. Maybe next Sunday I will put them in their Christmas clothes...I don't think I ever got a pic of those outfits!!!

What I was Up to Before I got sick pregnant

Not to toot my own horn...just wanted to share some things that I had done before I became a pregnant lump on the couch.

Freezer meals, I have a freezer full of them! Need to start eating them, now that I can get downstairs to the freezer. This is the Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti Casserole..it is yummers!!
I am one of the room mom's for Riley's class...this stuff is so FUN! I made heart shaped finger jellos and these super yummy cake balls. Ty tasted one and then told me not to take them all to Ry's class! I told I would make him some more..have I? NO! His bday is in a couple of weeks, maybe then!!

Birthday Family Fun

Since we did not throw a "friend party" for Ry this year (still recovering from last year's)...we decided to spend Ry's birthday together as a family. Tyson worked a half-ish day (2pm) and pulled Ry out of school early. Then we drove down to Layton, UT where the nearest Chuck E Cheese is. Did you know that Mon-Thurs you get double tokens??? We did not, we paid for 160 and got 320...took 3 hours to use those bad boys. I even spent some time on those games that suck them up super fast. Riley was all over the place playing games and air hockey. At first Brie was staying close by me or Ty...then she was off. Tyson played his usual hour of skeet ball and did NOT get the bonus...he normally does. We still ended up with over 1000 tickets. Brie just wanted a big, messy lollipop. So Ry used the rest of the tickets and was a happy birthday boy. Next we were off to Toys R Us to pick out a scooter, he spent his own money on an RC plane he HAD to have!! Then to Red Robin to eat dinner...so glad that I was feeling good that day...fried zucchini and a whiskey river bbq chicken burger have NEVER tasted so YUMMY!!!! Then we crashed Uncle Adam's house and stayed until nearly 11pm. They won't answer the door next time!! All in all, we had a great day and Riley was a super happy birthday boy!!!

Saturday came and it was family party time. I had a super fun pool party planned, but mother nature did not cooperate. It was windy and COLD...way too cold even for the heated pool. So The Cluffs that live nearby all came and we just hung out and played. We had a casual BBQ of burgers, hot dogs and brats. Everyone had a good time and Riley loved his yummy cold stone ice cream cake and presents. He also got a lot of bday money to replenish his wallet!! Thanks everyone!

He loves Iron Man

Birthday Boy

Why do our children have to grow up so FAST???? It just seems like he should not already be SIX! Today I celebrate my handsome, fun-loving, helping, cuddly, time out getting, best big brother, all around wonderfully loving, sweet son! Man I love this kid! Don't get me wrong, he can push me to the very edge at times - but he really is a good boy. He LOVES his sister - he just adores her and takes care of her and does whatever she asks! He is a very tender hearted cuddly boy too! Sometimes this is hard because he is only six, but he is the size of a 10 year-old! Riley, I love you and Happy, happy Birthday to YOU!!!

Aubry got him this iron man thing. HE LOVES IT!! Wants to wear it to school today-sorry bud!

His stats: Age-6, Height-51", Weight-71 lbs.
He was the star of the week at school a little while back and we made this poster of most of the places that he has been so far. He was born in CA...then he moved to Pennsylvania. While living there we took him to Harmony, PA; Palmyra NY; Niagara Falls in Buffalo, NY; and Nauvoo, IL. Then we moved to Logan, UT when he was 3. For his 4th birthday we went to see Thomas the Train, he loved the Air Force Museum in Layton, UT. He has been to Maui, HI twice now and can't wait to go back this summer. He LOVES camping at Carpinteria, CA every summer with the Cluff side of the family. Finally, we moved to Malad, ID and had a super cool Star Wars party for his 5th birthday.
His answers for the star of the week form
Pets: Zeus (dog) and Tabby Cat
Fav Color: Green Fav Movie: Star Wars
Fav Game: Star Wars Fav Book: The Universe
Fav animal: Elephant Fav song: I Am A Child of God
Fav Food: Red Noodles (Beef flavored Ramen) Fav Fruit: Pears
Fav activity: Play with friends Least Fav Food: Spicy Salad (Dole Asian Salad)
My mom likes the way I vacuum and help
My dad likes the way I play video games with him
I am good at Cleaning
When I was a baby I lived in Pennsylvania and flew on airplanes a lot to visit my family in California.


He likes to play with his hair...what can I say, he is just silly.

Pregnancy Update

Well, not to be a total complainer....pregnancy is HARD!!!!! As of this morning I am 11 weeks and 5 days pregnant and here are some interesting little facts:
Pounds lost: 32-ish
Trips to ER for IV fluids: 3
Kidney Stones Passed: 1
Number of weeks spent on the couch: 4 or 5 ... kind of a blur
Am I glad I am pregnant?: YES...cannot wait to find out what we are having and to hold him/her!!
Will I do this again: No Way! Three will complete our family!

With all of that stuff said...I am actually starting to feel better. Not normal, not great, but better; which is a marked improvement from the super crappy of three days ago! Maybe 12 weeks will be the magic week this time! That would be a blessing, I am not sure how much more of this my body/sanity and family can handle!!

Shout out to my mom! I LOVE, love, lOvE, LoVe you!! Thank you for sacrificing your time/sanity/everything to come here and help us this past week! You are an angel and a blessing! I only hope that someday I can be as great of a mother as you are!! We love you soooooooooo much!!

That is it for now. Things are looking up for us and I am very thankful!!!!