A New Grandbaby!

Yesterday we hiked to Timpanogos Cave. I will post pics about that hike soon. On our way down the mountain we got word from Dennis' ex-wife, Amber, that Tasha was in labor. Wow! We were anxious with anticipation. A few short hours later at 2:23 pm on July 11, 2009 Rylen Laith was born. Then it hit us...we are grandparents. Dennis is a bit older than me, but still young to be a grandpa. But it is what it is and we are embracing it. We decided to wait to head down there until Sunday. So Sunday we got up early and drove to Cedar. And the wait was well worth it...he is a gorgeous baby. And Tasha looks fantastic for just having had a baby!

Here is the handsome guy



Tasha is a natural mother. She is already smitten by this little boy.



Dennis is a very proud Grandpa. Everyone has decided that his nose has carried on to the next generation.



I had to get a picture with the baby and Tasha. I adore this girl.



And here are three generations of the Cluff family.





We are so happy to have Rylen as a new member of the family. And I can tell you there will definitely be more pictures to come.

My 30th Birthday

Okay, so I know that my birthday was over a month ago. As my beautiful sister Lisa pointed out...I suck at blogging. This is true. I am so busy all of the time it is really hard to make the time to blog. And I, unlike some others do not have help from my husband. He is an admin but NEVER blogs. So it is left up to me. So back to my birthday. It was a beautiful, wonderful day. Unfortunately it was a Sunday. I hate having my birthday on a Sunday. I am not sure why, it is just a bummer. But I bet that is how some people feel when their birthday is on a holiday. I am not sure, that is just a guess. Anyway, so I was awoken early to open gifts. I think because one gift in particular was something I could wear to church. So I opened my gifts and I got some wonderful things from the 'Rents and Hayley. Lots of cute clothes and such. But the highlight of the morning was my gift from Dennis. Let me back up and say that I had been eyeing a dress from Macy's for months. It was beautiful, but I couldn't just buy it for no reason. So I just admired it when we went there. I even tried it on once. This dress is so "me". I nicknamed her Michelle after Michelle Phillips from the Mama's and the Papa's.



It reminded me of that era. And anyone who knows me knows that I was born about 20 years too late. I would like to consider myself a modern day hippie who has a job.

Okay, so back to the gift from Dennis. I opened the box and there is was....Michelle. I nearly cried and told Dennis how much I loved her. He also got me jewelry to go with it. And he picked it all out on his own. What a guy! Here is a pic we took a few weeks later.



Later on we had dinner with the family. The good thing about having a birthday on a Sunday is that the whole family comes for dinner. My mom and I had been debating for days on which cake to have for my birthday. She offered to make one of my favorites that is a rarity around here. It is a chocolate praline cake. It is not the most beautiful, but it is seriously SO delicious. So overall, it was a great 30th. I look forward to a whole new decade.



**The necklace Dennis got to go with my dress is in the above picture. I love it!

Billy Bob

Do you own a piece of clothing that is irreplaceable and perfect? Not perfect as in the best condition or the most stylish. Just...perfect. I have a shirt whom Lisa and I have named Billy Bob. This shirt is literally 35+ years old. My Dad got it in the 70's when Donny and Marie played at Billy Bob's Texas. It is a large bar/music venue in Dallas/Fort Worth. He was working at the studios and some annoymous person gave it to him. I say that because he cannot remember who it was. At that point it was given to my mom. About 12 or so years ago I found it in my mom's closet. It had not been worn in quite some time. At least I don't remember her wearing it. So she said I could have it. It is not the most stylish and I am not a huge Texas person but I love it! It is the softest cotton I have ever felt. You know when you wear something a lot and it just gets better with age. It also makes me wonder. When you buy something now, after a certain number of washes and such it starts to fall apart. This shirt is almost as old as my husband (not that you are old honey) and is still is darn good condition! How can that be? There were a number of years in my late 20's when I could not wear this shirt. It did not fit. So Lisa was kind enough to care for Billy Bob for me. One glorious thing about losing weight was being able to wear this shirt again. You may think I am insane. But I know you are sitting there thinking of an item of clothing you feel the same way about. So, here's to Billy Bob. Hopefully we will have 35 more years together.

Tasha's Wedding Reception / Dave Matthews Band in Las Vegas

We started out the weekend of May 7th by heading down to Vegas. Dennis had tickets for us to see Dave Matthews Band at the MGM.



So we left work early and headed down. It was a beautiful drive. We drove with the sunroof down and it was perfect! We had time to check in and then head to the concert. The concert was wonderful and I am pretty sure we got a contact high. There were a "few" people smoking marijuana at the concert.

The next morning we went to the Bellagio to watch the water show and look at the gardens. Anyone who knows me knows I love gardening and flowers. So this was a lot of fun. Here are a few pics from the gardens.






And one from the water show.



Dennis loves this picture because it looks like I am standing in front of a fake backdrop.



After the water show we headed north to New Castle for Natasha's (Dennis' daughter) wedding reception. We drove through the back way through the canyon and it was nice. It is not a highly traveled road so there was little traffic and it was a nice drive. We arrived in New Castle with plenty of time before the reception. We were very happy to see that Dennis' brother, Chad and his wife Sara came down. It was quite a drive and I know Tasha loved having them there.







Dennis' sister Lindsey also came to support Tasha.



This is us partying it up in New Castle. If you don't know where New Castle is...don't feel bad. I didn't either until I married Dennis.



We wish the best for Tasha and Chance. And are now awaiting the upcoming arrival of mine and Dennis' first grandson.

How Many Licks?

I apoloize that it has been so long since my last blog post. We have had a lot going on...weddings, travel, birthdays, anniversaries. There has been a lot that I am going to post about in the upcoming week, so keep checking back. I am going to start with something amazing that I was able to accomplish lately.

It was a Friday at work and my co-worker Lexie was kind enough to give me a tootsie pop. I love them oh so very much. So I was enjoying my pop and I got the urge to bite to get to the yummy tootsie center. And then it hit me....I have never sucked on a lollipop until I got to the center without biting it. So I decided today was the day. So I sucked and sucked and sucked. I never realized how hard it would be! It took tons of willpower and an hour and finally this was the result.



*I apologize for the picture quality, it was taken from my boss' phone*

I conquered the task. It was fun to see I could actually do something I have never done before. I recommend everyone try this once in their lives.

Thank you for reading our blog and keep checking back for all of the fun things we did in May!

Happy Birthday Tootz!

Today is my mom's birthday. She is an amazing woman whom I am lucky to have as a mother. In honor of her birthday I am going to list 10 wonderful things about my mom.

1. She works harder than just about anyone. She cooks, cleans, goes to the gym, temple, indexing, I could go on and on.

2. She is extremely patient. I guess that is why she is a 3rd grade teacher.

3. She is super smart! She is especially amazing at math.

4. She is a die hard biker. She loves to bike and typically puts 2,000 miles on her bike each season.

5. She never complains! Seriously I never hear her complain about anything.

6. She is the CEO and General Manager of Hotel Hortin. She will take in family and friends whether they need to stay for a week or a year.

7. She has a stronger testimony than anyone I know.

8. She always puts others needs first, no matter what the situation.

9. She loves chocolate

10. She is the best Grandma, Mom, Friend that anyone could ever ask for.

This is one of my favorite pictures with my mom. This was at a bike ride we did together last year called the Little Red Riding Hood. It was my first distance ride. She did the shorter route so that she could ride with me. She was my encouragement. The weather was terrible and it was freezing. But I did it and only because she was there. Had she not been there I would have quit. But that is just the way she is. She won't let you quit, especially if it concerns biking. I love you mom!

If you hide from the missionaries did you purchase a first class ticket to Hell?

We moved to Florida in 2006 for work and a change of scenery. We both worked in the hospitality industry and Orlando seemed a logical place. When you move far away from family and friends you find out quickly that you really are alone. Dennis went to the grocery store one day and ran into the LDS missionaries. He was excited because it was something familiar and began talking to them. After giving them our address he gathered his things and left. Now, if a "less active" member gives the missionaries their address...what do you suppose they will do??? They come over! At the time neither Dennis or I were interested in hearing their message. So after that when they came over, we would literally hide in the closet or a back bedroom. How pathetic is that?!? It wasn't like they could see through the door, or that we were obligated to answer the door and let them in. Looking back I think it was because we knew they were there to tell us something we needed to hear. And for the record after getting to know the missionaries they informed us that they know when you are hiding from them. Maybe it was the lights being on or the TV. We were not the first and certainly will not be the last. Months went by and at least once a week we would come home to a note on the door or a pass-along card from the missionaries. A short time after that something happened and we decided we were ready to at least hear what they had to say. So we invited them over and took the discussions, just like a new member would. We set up appointments and the missionaries started coming over once a week. We usually had them over for dinner and then we would have a lesson. They invited us to church so we went. Well, technically we went for sacrament meeting then made an excuse that we had to leave. The ward was awesome and after a few weeks of going we decided to stay for other classes. It was an amazing experience. Our ward was incredible at making you feel welcome. I even attended activites which were my biggest fear. Dennis starting visiting people with the missionaries, which was a great experience and testimony builder. During those six months we built relationships with some amazing people. Even though we were only active for a few months before we moved we encountered a ward split. This was a huge challenge. We had relationships with our ward members and now we were being asked to move to a different ward. Although that ward was amazing I always feel a stronger bond with those whom we met in the Metrowest Ward. Recently, I was talking to my family about finding our missionaries. They made a huge impact on our life and I just wanted to thank them for everything they did for us. So naturally, I turned to Facebook. And through a few searches I was able to find Elder Bonnett. And from looking through his friends I was able to find Elder Unga. I sent them messages and they are both home and doing so well. They live locally and we are planning on getting together soon. Hopefully Elder Unga will not mind me stealing this picture from his Facebook. I just wanted to show you our missionaries. This picture was taken in the community where we lived called Metrowest. So from Left to Right is: Elder Olson (New York), Elder Hamilton (Arizona), Elder Unga (Utah), Elder Bonnett (Utah)