Saying Goodbye

Saturday morning the kids and I woke up at 5:15 to go cheer for the National Guard Troop that is leaving our area for a 10 month deployment to Afghanistan.  We met our good friends the Shupe's out on the highway with signs and flags.

It was particularly hard because my brother Quincy was on the bus and headed for his second tour of duty over seas.

The kids stayed up late the night before, after swimming their hearts out at the first swim meet of the summer.  They were exhausted but really wanted to show Uncle Quincy how much they love him!

I think they did a fabulous job!

Quincy and I were texting back and forth..........he couldn't believe how big the kids sign was!

He LOVED it!

We sure love Quincy!

We will continually pray for the safe return of all the men and women....

and especially our favorite, Uncle Quincy!

I was surprised how emotional I got as the fire trucks and police officers escorted the bus of National Guards men out of town.

It will be a difficult 10 months for us all, but especially his sweet wife, Gloria and his two beautiful daughters, Avry (4) and Lola (1), and my sweet mother.I don't care how old a person is their mother still worries about their safety!


 Of course, Quincy is the one that will have the hardest time in my opinion.  He is the one that will be risking his life daily, as he goes out and purposely looks for land mines to deactivate.  That is his "main job".....to deactivate land mines (I think there is a more technical/military term for them but I forgot it).  


Freedom is most defiantly NOT FREE!!!


I am full of gratitude for the men and women who protect our freedoms and liberties everyday!  I am indebted to them!

Looks like we are waiting for a parade or something!

Hunter, Hallie, Shelby, Logan and Kiersten

Wendy and I were good and avoided the camera!

Calder, Quincy and Brady

We just love Quincy!

He is so fun to be around and he is amazing with my kids!

He has taken the boys fishing, gone to archery shoots with us, gone on camping trips with our family and we sure love any time we get to spend with him.  He fixes our quads, rails and dirt bikes all the time, he truly is our personal mechanic .........so in every way he will be missed.

We anxiously await his safe return!

The weekend before he was deploying, him and a couple of long time buddies, Calder Good and Brady Good, took a trip to the river for some hand fishing.

Quincy caught this 30 pound catfish..........with his bare hands!

Amazing huh?

Chicago for Easter

The Thursday before Easter, Hunter, Logan and myself headed off for a long weekend to Chicago.

We were all excited to go spend the weekend with the Chicago Gang!

The boys were of course happy to get to fly again......it's been a while for them.

We traveled Allegiant Air this time.
We left Kiersten and Mr. Grant at home this trip.  Kiersten had spent quite a bit of money on dance competitions/conventions so we thought it was fair that she stayed home.

The boys did just great on the flight.  With as much electrical gadgets  as they both had, I would hope so!

On Friday our day was filled with pure kid fun!

I took Logan and Carson to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese.  They had a wonderful time of course.

Ticket galore!

Carson and Logan are the same age and they are two of a kind.

They play well together and are the silliest little 6 year olds I know.

While I had these two at a friends party, Marla was having a birthday party for Nolan.  Apparently she did not want Carson to be at Nolan's party because I was given specific instructions not to come home until a certain time.  It worked out great because we did a little shopping at Target!  Win, win situation I think!

After Nolan's party with his friends was over, we headed over to Odyssey Fun World for a little cousin birthday party.

The Frog Hopper is always a hit!

I love Logan's expression in this picture!

This shooting game was really cool.  You got to shoot little targets and then something in the scenery would move, closes or open up.  It was a lot of fun!

We then discovered that the last gun worked over and over without having to put in any tokens!

Jackpot!!!

The boys all took turns shooting their hearts out.  Okay let's be honest, I enjoy a few rounds myself!

Hunter, Nolan, Logan, Carson and Garrett

Friday evening Marla and Aubrey went to pick up Grammy Boswell from the airport.  Troy took the rest of us to Jalisco's.  Yummy Yummy Mexican Food place.

We had a fun time!

Saturday morning was full of Easter egg hunts.

We went to the park right down from Marla's house where some neighbors had planned an Easter egg hunt. We all chipped in 12 eggs for each kid (delivered the night before) and when we arrived at the park the hunt was on!

We were all so excited that Grammie Boswell could come with us!  Even though her flight to Chicago had to be the day after ours.  At least we get to travel home together!

I love my mom!

She is just so fun and everything impresses her so she is super easy to please.

The boys had a great time and got more then 12 eggs...........guess they had extras they said.

Hunter's favorite thing to do while on this trip was to go long boarding with Aubrey.  Hunter always flocks to older kids.........plus the fact that Aubrey is a super fun cousin and she has cute friends was the sealer of the deal.  Not sure Aubrey loved it as much as Hunter, but she was a great cousin and was always willing to take him with her.

The reason for the trip was to attend Nolan Forrest Hoyt's baptism.

We were so grateful to be able to come be a part of his big day.

It's fun that Nolan and Hunter are the same age and Carson and Logan are the same age as well.  Makes for some fun playing buddies for sure!

The whole gang

Sunday morning it was off to church but the kids did get a peek at their Easter baskets before we left.

Aren't these two just adorable!

Logan was thrilled with his goodies and he couldn't believe the Easter Bunny found him all the way in Chicago.

Garrett is such a doll!

He is just a sweetheart!

After church it was more Easter fun............another egg hunt!

The boys all had a fun time being together!

I really enjoyed visiting everyone.  

I was grateful we were able to make the trip even though it was so quick!

See what I mean........silly, silly boys!

These two are such crack ups......

......their humor isn't always "appreciated" by their older brothers but they always do entertain us!

It was a fun filled weekend and it went by way too fast!


One day we got to have yummy food at one of my favorite Mid-west places............Portillo's and Barnelli's.  Delicious Chicago Dogs, pastas and awesome salads.  The line is always huge there and they have workers standing out in the rain, snow, wind or whatever the weather to take orders from the huge line of cars.  It doesn't really even matter the time of day it's always packed.  It's just as packing inside.....but they are amazingly fast and oh so yummy!

Can't wait to make another trip to Chicago again!

Boys, Boys, Boys

The kids sold their Nintendo DS's and games to get the new Vista PlayStation's.

They boys were especially excited about this!

Half the time Logan was happy just to be watching Hunter play.

Logan really looks up to Hunter!

They kind of have that love hate brother relationship so that makes times like this especially sweet!

We are working on them being better friends.  They either get along like pals or they want nothing to do with each other.  Any suggestions?

"12 o'clock hair"

So this is a hard thing to admit.....

I might not be responsible enough to take a child out of town and this story surely proves it!

While in Phoenix at the Nuvo Dance Convention in March we were staying at a hotel in downtown Phoenix.  The first night we were there I set an alarm on my iPhone for 6:15 a.m.  

Kiersten and I went to bed around 10:00.....

soon enough the alarm on my phone goes off.  I woke up Kiersten so she could take a shower first.  I laid back in bed and dosed off.  Kiersten comes out of the bathroom dressed in her dance clothes, hair in a towel and eyes sleepy.  I get up out of bed, thinking about just getting some clothes on to go eat breakfast at the hotel and then come back to take a shower and get ready.

I can not tell you  how glad I am that I did not go through with that idea.

Kiersten mentions how tired she is and that she isn't sure she'll have enough energy to dance.  

I agree I feel extremely tired as well.

I check the clock on the night stand....

12:00

Okay that must be wrong.

I go check my phone that is charging across the room...

12:00

SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!!

It is midnight....

I do not know how it happened but when I set the alarm for 6:15, because I checked and it was still set for 6:15, it somehow turned on an alarm for 12:00 p.m.

I could have died!

Poor Kiersten had two hours of sleep and then HER MOTHER woke her up and made her shower and get dressed.

Of course we were extremely excited to get 6 more hours of sleep.

Seriously next time I should probably send her with someone else.....she'd get a full nights sleep that way!  We joked about it all weekend.

Honestly we still joke about it.  I randomly ask her if she wants 12:00 hair or 6:00 hair.  Because washing your hair at midnight really makes a difference.

Nuvo Dance Convention

The last weekend in March Kiersten attended her first dance convention.  One of many I am sure.  It was at the Phoenix Convention Center.

It was a fun girls trip!

Kiersten crocheted on the drive down.  She has loved learning to crochet!

Doesn't she look adorable?

There were a dozen or so girls from her dance studio that attended the convention.  So it was fun for her to have friends to hang out with.

Kiersten and Felicity

Brynzee, Shaylin, Jalen, Callie, Reyanna and Kiersten

All these girls are so cute and I am so grateful Kiersten gets to be a part of company.

She just loves it and as she is my only daughter I am loving it as well.

I wasn't sure how the schedule went or how it all worked as this was our first convention.  But there ended up being time both days for me to catch a movie that was just a few blocks away.

One of the movies I saw was The Hunger Games which I LOVED!  I loved the books and was anticipating the release of the movie.  

It came out a couple of weeks earlier, but Justin was putting in so many hours at the office that I could never talk him into taking me.

He was a bit bummed that I went without him.  He read the books too and loved them.

  I told him a girl can only wait so long!

The dance convention was taught by several famous dancers.

Ray Leeper, Mark Meismer, Travis Wall, Sonya Tayeh, Denise Wall, Stacey Tookey, Chebar Williams, Kim McSwain, Ivan Koumaev, and Anthony Morigerato

These people have been on Dancing with the Stars, been back up dancers for User, Michael Jackson, Madonna, and many other singers I can not remember.

The weekend was very fun.  It was full of dancing, swimming at the hotel, eating yummy food, shopping and girl time!  I read a book by the pool, got to go to the movies and enjoyed every minute of watching Kiersten dance.

Thanks Kiersten for being by sweet daughter.

I love you!

  I have a very funny story about "12 o'clock hair" but I will write another post for it.  It took place on this trip and it just proves I might not be responsible enough to take a child out of town without someone accompanying me!

Size One In Velcro?

Does anyone else have kids with shoes that look like this?

Hunter is always telling me that "the cool kids don't tie their shoes!"

Well I guess you are only going to be "cool" when I am not looking.....so get down and 

tie those bad boys!


Seriously I need size one shoes in VELCRO!

I love my Hunter Boy!

One day I imagine he will be the most amazing lawyer ever.  He has an explanation for everything and it usually involves why nothing is his fault.  Because in Hunter's eye it is always someone elses fault.  

Hunter is quick witted for sure!

I have a hard time keeping up and I consider myself pretty fast.

Boy can this kid argue.  

The thing is that he truly doesn't think he is arguing.  When I get after him for arguing with me I can tell by the look on his face that his is so confused.  He generally tells me that he isn't trying to argue he just needs to "explain."

When we talk about what arguing is, he really doesn't feel that what he is doing is arguing.  Pretty talented kid he can even argue about wither he is arguing or not!

He really doesn't want to misbehave but he always has a lot to say and he has a hard time not telling you everything.  Even if whatever you are talking about doesn't even involve him, he needs to tell you something about it.

He is also my "everything has to be fair kid."
  We have to talk about life not being fair at least one a week.  Of course if things are in his favor then it's fine if they aren't fair.


He really is way too smart for his age.  A lot of the time when he "argues" or is "explaining", how ever you want to view it, he ends up being right.  Now I can't always admit that to him. One thing is for sure, I am continually impressed with his mind.


In the same breath he is my kid that says "Yes Mam!" most of the time when asked to do something.  He wants to be good all the time and has a hard time when I have to reprimand him.  


I love that about him! 

I dread the day that he stops caring about getting in trouble.


Thanks Hunter for being such a fun kid! I sure enjoy being your mom!

Who Hates A Thief?

Ummmm I DO!!!


So our trip to New York was awesome fun!


Our flight back to Phoenix didn't get in until 1:00 Arizona time which is 4:00 New York time.  We were defiantly on NY time after our week vacation.  When we got our luggage from luggage claim at Sky Harbor Justin noticed that one of the bags was unzipped about 1/3 of the way.  But being that we were half asleep he didn't think anything of it.


We stayed at a hotel over in Phoenix that night.  We got up about 11:00 the next morning and as I was getting ready I went to my luggage to get my jewelry out............hummmm must be in the other bag.  Checked all three bags not finding it.  And you know when you don't want to admit that something is missing you just recheck the bags.  So I rechecked every bag just sure the jewelry bag would "turn up."


Then the horror hit......


my whole bag of jewelry and watches was stolen!!!


Now remember I have my love of watches..........I know it sounds crazy and I kind of hate to admit
 it but I had 7, yes 7 watches in there.  Four of which were just purchased while in NY.


I couldn't decide if it would be better to SCREAM or CRY! So I cried!


The bag also contained my favorite jewelry and tons of it.  I packed tons of necklaces, bracelets, rings and earrings so I would have a selection to choose from while on our trip. It seriously made me sick to my stomach.  Justin got on the phone with Southwest Airlines and LaGuardia Airport.  We filed a claim but nothing sounded promising.


What a way to end such a wonderful trip.  I was however grateful it happened at the end of the trip and not the flight over.


I know it is just material stuff which doesn't matter in the big scheme of things.  But the fact that it was stolen from my bag is the part that is upsetting.


I try my best to not judge people and to ignore human error for the most part, but there are two things I hate and that is
 a Liar and a Thief!!!


Another reason it was so upsetting is because in the bag was my 1 carat diamond stud earrings that Justin gave me before we ever had kids.  They were my favorite earrings and most of the time I was wearing them.  It made me so mad, sad and sick to think about.  I knew it was going to take me years and years to replace most of the stuff in the bag, if ever.


I made an itemized list for the airport security but basically they said it was my fault for leaving anything valuable in my bag to begin with.  Absurd I tell you,  they practically strip search you and then you trust them with your belongings and they ROB YOU!!!


I told my friend Wendy about the whole thing and she suggested filing a claim with my home owners insurance. I was not hopeful but we did it any way.


Less then a month later Met Life sent me a check covering everything I had on my list and the prices I had listed.  There was a $500 deductible which they took out, but still it was a huge check!


I should be a spokes person for Met Life Insurance because as we went to get me new diamond earrings while in Phoenix I told every jewelry store about my story and about Met Life.


 I was able to get new earrings, a couple of watches, some jewelry and still have a stash of cash for future jewelry I find.


I still hate thief's but I now love Met Life! 

"But I a Good Boy Mommy?"

So a few weeks ago, I was at the Safford Mall, better known as Walmart.  It was just Mr. Grant and I, as the other kids were still in school.  We were picking out a birthday present for one of Logan's friends.  I let Mr. Grant hold a couple of trucks and tractors.  I went to put the ones he had up and told him that we could buy one another day.

I took this one, the "Daddy tractor", because it looks like the ones Justin has at the plant.  I reassured him that another time he could buy it.

Without throwing a fit, amazing I know, he looked at me and said, "But I a good boy mommy?"

So we have a new daddy tractor at our house.........seriously who could have said no to that?

"Bet Friend!"

It was 8:00 p.m. at the Cluff house and time for bed tonight.

  I told the kids it was time to pick up the toys and get in bed.  Baths, teeth's and prayers had already been taken care of.  

Mr. Grant runs up to me and says, "I watch Super Why?"

And before I could even answer him he adds, "I be your Bet Friend!"

Seriously this kid is going to be the death of me.  I can not tell him no when he says such clever things!

So there was an extra 25 minutes of awake time all because of Mr. Grant.  He won some serious brownie points with all his siblings tonight for sure!

First Official Outing of the Summer

I packed up the kids and headed to the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson.

I know crazy right me and four kids.....it's not the fact that it was four kids it's their ages I think that made people think I am nuts.  A 10 year old, 8 year old, 6 year old and then yes there is the glorious 2 year old!

It was actually the two year old that inspired the whole trip.


For months and months I have been dying to take Mr. Grant to see all the airplanes and helicopters at the museum.  I wanted to take him there before he out grows his LOVE of them.  I am not sure he ever will but just in case. I never could find a day that we weren't busy with other responsibilities until school was out.

So the first chance I got I piled up the kids and away we went.

We all loved the old time airplanes!

I just love my kiddos!

The kids did enjoy the space hanger.

There were lots of hands on things for them to do in there. 

Sometimes I feel like these two are from outer space!

 The wagon really came in handy walking from hanger to hanger.  We didn't go on the tram of the whole "bone yard."  It was a little to hot for that.  But hopefully we'll make it back and do that.

The kids loved the little bird nest in the nose of this airplane.  Someone here has a good kid friendly sense of humor.

It was a great place for our first outing of the summer!

There is a little air traffic control tower that they kids can play in.

There is even a plane just their size to play in....

and they can make the tail move by moving a lever.  The kids loved that!

Logan, Mr. Grant and Hunter

Then there is an actual airplane cockpit the kids can play in.  

Hunter decided he wants to be a pilot someday and learn what all the buttons are for.

I told him that was a great idea then he can fly me to the Bahamas!

Pilot Logan and his funny eyebrows!

I had a really hard time getting Mr. Grant out of this!

This was seriously Mr. Grant's reaction the whole time we were there.  He was running and talking about everything he saw.  And believe me he could not see it fast enough!

The kids wanted a picture with about every plane and helicopter!

What a big help Kiersten was all day!  I just love my girl!

Me and my boys....

I LOVE the ring of that!

It was a ton of fun...we all enjoyed seeing all the airplanes and helicopters.

There were plenty of fun things the kids could get in and touch.  I had a hard time getting Mr. Grant to want to leave this cockpit.

It amazes me how much Mr. Grant notices airplanes is the sky.  We can be driving in the car and he'll start yelling, "Airpain, airpain!"

Often times we'll be someplace and it will just be the sound of the airplane that gets his attention.  I have even told him, "no there is no airplane."  And then realized yes actually there is a airplane I can hear it.  His eyes and ears are just tuned for "Airpains and Helcopters!"

I love it!

I love that Kiersten and Hunter are old enough to read the little plaques with all the information on them.  Kiersten had read about this plane and how they dropped the bomb.  She was so good to explain it to her brothers.

We were luck enough to get one of the four wagons they have there.  They are free which was super nice.  Logan was a good helper and loved pulling  Mr. Grant.

                            Mr. Grant seriously has no idea how good he has it!

I can not express the excitement Mr. Grant had as soon as we walked in the first hanger.  I have pointing while trying to decided which direction to run in first. All which saying, "Look at dis one....look at dis one...look at dis one!"

It was more then worth the drive!  You would have thought it was a candy store the way Mr. Grant acted. Mr. Grant loved all the nose art......he would say, "Monster helcopter!"

 It was priceless!

A trip I will treasure forever!

The kids all loved getting to climb up to look inside the planes.  Mr. Grant was such a big boy and had to do it too.  

Hunter surprised me and showed more excitement then I thought he would.  He told me several times while we were there, "Mom I didn't know I liked airplanes so much until today!"

He of course liked this insignia of a cowboy.

This was unanimously the favorite bomber!

It can hold 10 people shooting....it was from WWII.

Had to get pictures by the "Trouble-maker" sign....

Whoo girl put that attitude away! 

I love how they each pose so cute without any instructions!

Hmmm I wonder where they get that from?

It was fun to spend the day with just my kids.  Not that I don't love the neighbor kids, friends and cousins but being with just my kids reminds me how awesome they each are!

Mr. Grant 2 1/2 years old

Logan 6 1/2 years old

Hunter 8 1/2 years old

Kiersten 10 1/2 years old

Mr. Grant even loved the pictures of the airplanes!

 He inherited his love of airplanes from his Grampie Cluff.  Grampie said, "he wishes he still had his airplane to give Mr. Grant a ride in!"  How cute is that?  What a wonderful Grampie!

After a few hours of the museum it was time for some lunch so we headed over to the Cheesecake Factory, my favorite place!

The kids love it too.

They kind of got a little to giggly while we were in the restaurant.  But to be honest it was hard not to join them....they all have such contagious laughs!

We stopped at the mall to let the kids play in the play area.  I was actually good and didn't buy a thing besides some yummy yogurt!

I did splurge and let the kids each get their own.....no sharing this time!

By the time we headed home it was around 6:00.  Logan conveniently needed to use the restroom just as we were through Benson so we stopped at The Thing.

Everyone wanted to go inside because the store looks like it have pretty cool stuff in it just from the window.  And it did not disappoint..........the store had cool stuff.

Hunter looked at me and asked, "Mom do you think we could actually see The Thing?"

In his voice I could tell that he was sure the answer would be, "No."

I said, "Great idea! Let's do it!"

Hunter was jumping up and down....so excited to tell the other kids.

After all the trips we've made to Tucson they finally were getting to see The Thing.....YIPPEE! 

They LOVED it!

It just made me laugh.....good thing my kids are easily entertained and excited!  When we were leaving Hunter kept talking about how he couldn't believe how cheap it was to see The Thing......, 

"ONLY 75 CENTS!"

So it was a good day and there were only a couple of times that I thought to myself that I was crazy for doing it!