Busy Busy Week!

Big events happened almost every day this week! It started with Jeff's birthday. He is now 37!
We celebrated his birthday on Sunday even though his birthday was on Monday. He got a bowflex from me, some shorts and socks from Emily, a wii game from Tyson, and 10 packs of gum from Justin.

Monday Emily and TYson played in their last piano recital with Camie Boyle as their teacher. Both of them did an incredible job. We were very proud of them.















Tuesday Justin graduated from Sugar -n- Spice Preschool. They had a program where his class sang a song and then he got to go up and get his diploma. He said when he grows up he wants to be a baseball player or a football player or a basketball player. As you can see from the picture he makes a mighty fine graduate. His last day of school was Thursday. They played carnival type games all morning and then Jeff and I went and had a picnic lunch with him. What a fun day for him!
Friday was Buddy Field day and end of year parties for Emily and Tyson. They had a lot of fun doing everything and Ryan, Justin, Abigail, and I had a lot of fun helping out at it. We had to do the jump rope booth and get everything for Tyson's party.
Saturday Tyson had a soccer tournament and Emily had a violin recital. Tyson won three of his soccer games in the tournament and tied one game. Emily did an excellant job playing in the recital. These two events were a wonderful end to a very busy week!

The Suburban Makes History!

Every Sunday that we take both the truck and the surburban to church, we race home. We don't tell each other we are going to do it, or have any rules, we don't even always start at the same time. But something that has always stayed the same (until today) was that the truck: Dad, Tyson, and Justin always wins, and the surburban: Mom, Emily, Ryan, and Abigail, always comes in second. Well, today the surban finally won! Usally the peaople in the surburban are the ones to say it isn't a race (even though we know it is) and the people in the truck always say that "Oh it was a race all right, and we won it." But this time it was reversed. Let this day go down in history!


Emily Cluff

Lighning does it Again

My soccer team the Lightning was undefeated for the 4th time in a row. The scores were: 7-8, 8-5, 7-2, 9-2, 4-5, 5-4, 3 or4 -0, 10-1 or 0. The second time we played the Del Sol we played in the morning.......... it was FREEZING! The ones that have the or, well the first one a kid was playing goalie and we don't have them yet and we never got a kick and the other one a boy didn't have his foot in front of the line.

Tyson J. Cluff

Blown Away - Father Son Camp Out 2008

On Friday I took Tyson, Justin, and Ryan (for the first time) to the Father Son Campout at Buffalo Springs. It has been so dry here that there was a fire ban in effect so no camp fire. Therefore, Tyson and I had sandwiches made by Nicole and Justin and Ryan had Happymeals. We hiked the little hill, threw rocks in the pond, threw the football, and kicked the soccer ball around. We finally got to bed around 10:00 p.m. At about 2:00 in the morning the wind started blowing extremely hard, as it often does in Lubbock. Our tent would literally flatten out so the top was collapsing on us. There were some in the camp who packed up and went home and I was giving the idea some thought, but Justin and Ryan continued to sleep through the ordeal so I was laying on my side and with my hand and foot trying to keep the tent off of them. Poor Tyson was awake and getting covered by the tent. It blew like that for about 30 minutes and then quit and it was nice the rest of the night/morning. (By then the damage had been done though, everything had a nice layer of dirt all over it). Justin and Ryan never knew what happened, but I didn't get back to sleep until about 5 in the morning (only to have the boys up at 6:30). The next morning we had breakfast and the boys went fishing. Justin caught one. We left at 10:00 to get home to get ready for the boys soccer games. Tyson won his game, but I think being tired really affected Justin; his team lost pretty badly. Another wonderful camping experience in Lubbock.

The Perfect Mothers Day

Today was Mothers Day, and what a wonderful day it was. It is so wonderful to be able to celebrate this day with my loving children and husband. The day started early, but not for me. When Abigail woke up and started talking in her crib, Emily hurried and woke up and got her out and took her into the family room. A little while later, everyone came in the bedroom and gave me breakfast in bed (scrambled eggs, toast, and juice). Along with breakfast came gifts, cards from everyone, a mug from Emily, a copy of Tyson's book from Tyson, a necklace with Justin's picture on it from Justin, and a card from Ryan. I couldn't have chosen better gifts. We then got to watch some of our old home videos. I am amazed at how much Emily has grown the past few years. Everyone has changed and grown up, but Emily really has become a beautiful young women! Church was good, and everyone got ready to go without complaining. When we got home Jeff and the kids made me dinner which consisted of roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, and jell-o. It was all so good, and Jeff did all of the dishes afterwards. Lorel and Annabell came over later in the evening for angel food cake and strawberries for dessert. By the end of the day Ryan and Abigail were exhausted and they both went to bed easily. What a wonderful day, and what a blessing to me to beable to be a mom!

"Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeep"

One of Ryans favorite songs to sing is "Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam". He knows all of the words and does an amazing job singing it, other than the fact that he says, "Sunbeep" instead of Sunbeam. It is so cute to watch him. Another thing that he enjoys doing now is saying the prayer, but he still needs help while saying it. The other night when Jeff was helping him, Jeff told him to say, "Thank you for Jesus." Ryan then said, "Thank you for Jesus wants me for a sunbeep." It was hard for everyone to stay quiet through the rest of the prayer! What a joy Ryan is to have around!

Girls Night Out (GNO)

Yesterday the boys went on the annual Father Son cmapout, Ryan went to this time. While they were camping, Abigail. Mom and I had a girls night out. For our special night, we watched Enchanted while having IBC Cream Soda floats. I never knew floats could taste so good! Then we waxed our hands and feet. We both agreed that it felt amazing! Then we basicaly gave ourselves pedicures: we soaked our feet, mom scrubbed hers to get rid of the dead skin, then we clipped, cleaned and painted them. While we were doing all of this we were watching TLC. Mom even gave me a manicure too! In the morning we to Golden Caral for breakfest. Last, we went to Barnes and Nobles. We got some amazing books! I had a great time and I think that mom did too. I'm not so sure about Abigail.


Emily Cluff

Battle of the Books (B.O.B.)

This week I partcipated in a competition in our district called Battle of the Books. In this competition, you are put in a team of five, and every team tries to read ten books espisialy picked out for B.O.B. Then all the teams get together and awnser questions about the books, and whoever gets the most questions right moves on to the next level(my kind of competition.) Last year, my team (SpongeB.O.B. Book Crew) won the whole thing. This year my team (Bennett Book Crew) consisted of: My best friend Mikaela, My other best friend Hannah, Jacob, Levi, and I. We had our first competition this week, we got all the questions correct. I am extremely excited!

By: Emily Cluff

The Prophet Said To Plant a Garden (so that's what we did!)

Much to some of the families dismay (mainly Tyson), we planted a garden this week. Soccer practice was cancelled on Monday so we spent the evening planting the garden that Jeff has been so diligently preparing the soil for. We planted two rows of peas, two rows of tomatoes, a little spinach and onions, and two grape vines. We will finish planting this week by adding cantelope, squash, cucumbers, and watermelon.

THE HIKE WERE IF YOU FALL OFF YOU DIE!

For spring break in the middle of March we went hiking at Guadalupe Peak. It took about eight hours but we took plenty of breaks. We ate lunch at the top. (See me stuffing my face first page) The moutain was about four miles high. The way down was seventy times easier than up. We went the wrong way on the way down so we had to go up a little exept I was the farthest ahead so I had to climb the most. By the end of the hike Dad's neck was as red as a lobster!
Bye,
Tyson J. Cluff

How this all got started

My kids love to hear stories about my childhood, and I don't want them to forget theirs so I decided to start a blog about our life. For an introduction let me tell you a little a about us.
Jeff--36, Dad, Lawyer, lover of sports, and loves spending time with his family.
Nicole -- 33, Mom, loves gardening, sewing, cooking, and most of all being with my family.
Emily -- 10, fifth grade, loves reading, plays the piano great, and is learning violin.
Tyson -- 8, second grade, loves sports and reading, and life and underwear.
Justin -- 5, pre-school, loves sports, games, and people to play with (especially his dad).
Ryan -- 2, loves exploring, destroying, and singing.
Abigail -- 8 months, loves to smile, giggle, and wiggle.
We all love the gospel, being a family, and BYU!!!(and the two oldest boys hate the cowbums)