Jeff & Julie Call & Family

My Day In A Lamborghini

2008-11-02T07:25:00.003-07:00

Derek and Jeff in a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder.
Pictures first...explanation later.

................

On Saturday we went to meet the Uaje's at the park to celebrate Regan's birthday. While we were there, Tawnya's brother Cory brought a friend with this Lamborghini. Cory was giving everyone rides in it for a while. I started speaking with Jeremy, the owner, and told him how much Derek liked Lamborghinis. He asked if Derek would like to ride in it. I called Derek over and Jeremy was going to give him a ride. I walked over with them to wave them off and he turned to me and asked me if I wanted to drive it. My chin dropped to the ground and I graciously accepted.

It drove much nicer than I was expecting. It was very smooth. This was an experience I will remember for a long time.

Pictures of Aunt Anita at the Wedding

2008-10-18T21:58:00.002-06:00

I do not think we have seen Aunt 'Nita, since our trip through Idaho, over a decade ago. They had to travel through blizzards to get to the wedding and probably also to get home. It was so wonderful to see family that we have not seen in so long.

Derek, Jeff, Julie, Sarah (in front), Aunt Anita, Alicia

Here is a pitcure that she got of the his and hers wedding cakes. The chocolate 'his' cake was my favorite. I kept trying to save myself a special piece with a nice chocolate covered strawberry on it, but it kept getting taken.

Derek, Aunt Anita & Julie

Sarah. She looked so beautiful.

Brie & Ben (aka. Bride & Groom)

Brie just reported that they got back from their honeymoon in Hawaii safely. They opened up their presents and cards today. They did not specify what they got but seemed to love everything. They had a great trip, we did not get too many details of the trip, other than Brie got lobster red on the first day and they loved the condo we got for them.

On our honey moon, Julie and I went on a cruise. Our cabin was so small it only had room enough for a bed and a bathroom, everything we needed. the cabin next to ours had a large group of people that would come back to the cabin about 1:00 in the morning and make loud noises until they passed out drunk. To get back at them we decided to leave them a 5:00am wake-up call with the front desk. Is that bad?

Brie & Ben

2008-10-13T11:38:00.004-06:00

Brianna & Ben were married on Saturday October 11th.

The wedding was very nice. They were both way excited. They were married in the Logan Temple. Ben's family has a history of being married in the Logan Temple. We happened to find out later that Brie's Great Granparents were also married in the Logan Temple in 1926.

Brie showing off her bright pink high heels.
Ben was very proud of his tux with tails, top hat and cane.

We went the night before the wedding to get pictures of the temple at night.

Now Brie and Ben are off to Hawaii for the week.

This picture was taken on Thursday after they took out their endowments.

Alicia In The Hospital

2008-09-30T19:55:00.004-06:00

Well on September 23rd Alicia came down with a fever after having a severe pain in the neck....hmm tempting play on words here...nah...too easy. We immediately thought of the possibility of Menengitis. Julie took her in and they did all kind of tests on her. She thought she was going to die. They did multiple blood samples, urine samples, gave her an I.V., MRI and an ultrasound, along with all the normal stuff. When Julie told her that she would have an I.V. when she had kids she vowed to never give birth...hmm...wonder if that will change...

Oh Well. After a 6 hour visit they thought she might have a form of hepatitis. We took her the next day for a follow up visit with her doctor. They determined that it was not actually hepatitis, but she does have a high level of enzymes in her liver and her spleen is inflamed. They are just calling it a liver infection.

She will have a follow up appointment this Monday to re-check the enzymes. We will wish her luck.

Brianna's New Home

2008-09-09T21:40:00.002-06:00

This is Brie's new apartment. It was very nice.

Derek on drums & Alicia, still texting of course.

Ben Holding Sarah

Alicia Holding Andrew, her new buddy and Sarah playing cheerleader.

Powder Puff

2008-09-04T06:50:00.003-06:00

Alicia Playing FOOTBALL!!!

Yes Alicia's school had the Powder Puff Football game. Alicia was on the Junior Team. It was Junior Girls face off with Senior Girls.
The Referees were, of course, Senior Boys. The Juniors ran a hand-off all the way for a touch down. The referees called it back for no apparent reason and gave them a 10-yard penalty to boot. So what happens next play??? The Juniors run another hand-off for a touch down. Without wanting to look too obvious, the referees let it stand and reluctantly call the touchdown.

The Seniors drop the ball right in front of the ref. and pick it up

again and throw it. Ooops. Where was the call?? Oh well..I'm sure it must not of hit the ground. So why is that senior running across the line of scrimage before the snap? What no call?? Well maybe they just didn't see her. The calls were so one sided it was hilarious. The Junior team wins the game but most of their touchdowns were not counted. So the "official" final is 24-18 in favor of the Seniors.

This was the half-time entertainment. The football players, and others, dressed up like the girls and danced to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." Okay even though this was a little disturbing, it was somewhat amusing.

Where Does Bread Come From?

2008-08-18T12:27:00.004-06:00

After church on Sunday we were eating and rehearsing where certain foods come from with Sarah (age 6). Pork comes from pigs, beef from cows and so forth. Pretty soon all of the kids started getting in to the discussion. Here is the portion of the discussion with Alicia (Age 16).

Dad: "So where does bread come from?"

Alicia: Blank Stare.....

Dad: "You can't think of where bread comes from?"

Alicia: "Is it a tree?"

Dad, trying to keep a straight face: "It comes from a bread plant. I can't believe you didn't know that."

Alicia: "Well..."

Dad, now laughing hysterically because I can't hold it any longer: "Alicia, don't you remember making bread? You add flour and milk and eggs and yeast."

Alicia, now catching on: "You brat. I knew that."

Sarah's Birthday Gift?

2008-07-31T16:52:00.003-06:00

Okay so for Sarah's birthday she begged and begged to have her ears pierced. Dad kept telling her that it was going to hurt... a lot ...and he was quickly shushed by the rest of the family. The rest of the family just told her that it was only going to sting a little and nothing to worry about.

SURPRISE!!

So does this tell you any thing? Maybe sometimes it is worth listening to Dad. You think? To finish the story...She would not allow us to do the other ear. Everyone else said just to hold her down and do it fast. I just couldn't do it. I felt so bad for her. I took her aside and talked to her and all she said was, "Take it out. I don't want them anymore." So now what??

We hummed and hawwed for about 20 minutes wondering what to do. Everyone else was just saying to pin her down and get it over with. Finally, hoping that she would forgive me when it was over, I put her in my lap and held her while they finished the other ear.

The good news is that she didn't cry hardly at all after the second one. She also gave the nice lady that caused all of her pain a nice hug and told her thank you.

Happy 6th Birthday Sarah. Wait and see what we do to you when you turn 7!

Tracey & Janet's Visit

2008-07-20T21:26:00.003-06:00

Tracey, Janet and Adrianna Come To St. George

Tracey and Janet came up for an impromptu visit this weekend. They stayed at Dad's house. We went over to see them and brought Badger along. This is a picture of Dad holding Badger. He gets spoiled every time we bring him over there.

Here are Tracey and Janet. It took them 3 hours to get here but will probably only take them one hour to get home. Figure that one out.

Derek's Scout Camp

2008-07-19T13:37:00.002-06:00

Scout Camp
Our entire troop which consisted of about 40 scouts. The hike to this point was on the last day. It was about 2 miles to the top of this mountain. I think that some of the scouts stayed behind to lick their wounds from the week.
This is derek and I at the top of the mountain. Everyone loves the Indiana Jones Hat....just kidding.
This is the view from the fire pit where they held the camp fires. Like it's not hard enough to keep the attention of 500 plus boys scouts. They have to give them a view like this behind the speaker.

2008-07-15T19:03:00.001-06:00

This is Sarah Rappeling 12-15 feet or so.

David & Sherie Latomme

2008-07-11T12:43:00.004-06:00

This is Sherie and David Latomme

Sherie holding Andrew and Jaden looking out the window of the nasty tree trunk prison. They were shortly hereafter released for good behavior, and very likely out of diaper changing necessities. They took this picture at George Eccles Dinosaur Museum. They stopped by during their Bryce Canyon Tour.
Andrew -"You've got me? Who's got you?"

Just call me SPIKE!

Nappy Time.

Ammon Leaving For Mission

2008-07-04T16:13:00.008-06:00

Meet The Cluffs

Karen, Ammon, Dyson, Dane, Canyon, Jasmine, Braden, and Kaylynn.

This was the gathering before Ammon left for his mission. I am so sad that we were not able to make it.
Karen and Ammon.

Ammon was called to serve in the Arizona, Tempe Mission. We will miss him greatly while he is away.

Ammon and Dane. To think these two faces will one day look the same.

If anyone would like to write to Ammon his mission address is:

Ammon Jordan Cluff
Arizona Tempe Mission
1871 E Del Rio Dr.
Tempe, AZ. 85282-2822

email: ammcluff@myldsmail.com

If you send snail mail you will need to use his entire name as they have another Elder Cluff in the mission.

Bryce Canyon

2008-06-29T20:58:00.005-06:00

I've heard of being up a creek without a paddle, but up a tree? This was actually up there pretty high.

Of course Sarah has to mimik Big Brother.

Jade. Don't worry... ...he caught himself.
Leave it to Jade to goof around.
What a stud! Derek

Dad & Denise. Kickin' it at camp. Okay maybe not really kickin' it...but you get the idea.

Sorry, but I just don't have room to put in all of the pictures that I would like to put in. I may try and do a slide show of this trip a little later. I am still a novice at this blogstuff.

We went to Bryce Canyon with David and Sherie and Dad and Denise. It was a great trip.

This is Julie and Sarah with the canyon behind them.

It is amazing to look into this canyon and imagine how it was formed this way.
Alicia, Sarah and Derek. Yes mom was nervous while they were posing for this picture. It's as if the canyon was going to grab them and pull them in. We learned to take the rest of the pictures while she wasn't looking.
Derek and Sarah. Climbing as usual.
Uncle Jeff with Andrew.

Okay he didn't care for the hat much at first, but he eventually liked it...really.

Just as we like 'em. Caged! Derek, Sarah, Alicia, Jared & Jade.

Sunday Giggles

2008-06-29T20:28:00.005-06:00

Okay, so today is the first day in our new ward after our split. Since we lost our Bishop the Stake President is presiding. Julie had to work and Derek is sitting on the stand to pass the sacrament.

Sarah looks at Alicia and just starts giggling for no reason. Alicia just gives her a weird look at first and then starts giggling herself. They start laughing so loud that I have to step in a quiet them down, but it's not working.

My arm is on the back of the pew and so I tap Sarah on the head and tell her to be quiet or I will need to take her out to the foyer. By this time she can't contain herself. Attempts to stay quiet only end in an outburst that is even louder.

While I am trying to keep them quiet Sarah looks up at me with a face that was sincerely trying to be quiet without success. Something just hit me and I just lost it. I started laughing so hard my eyes were watering. Sarah taps me on the head and says she will have to take me out.

I quickly put my head down to minimize the noise, but I think it may have been too late. I looked up with my eyes filled and noticed that our new Stake President was looking my way.

I think I may be safe from any callings for a while.

Subway Hike In Zion

2008-06-29T08:13:00.004-06:00

The Left Fork of the Virgin River is a hike known as the Subway in Zion National Park. These pictures are from my hike with our friends the Uaje Family. This is my second trip through the Subway this month. It is a 10 mile hike and has 4 rappels, 2 of which are down water falls.

Meet the Uaje Family. Austin, Jay and Nick.

Derek, Nick, Jay and Austin standing in front of the 30-foot waterfall. This was an awesome trip. This waterfall is actually about 1/2 way through the entire hike. You can walk behind the waterfall. There is a little room back there.

This is Nick. He is doing a cannon ball into one of the jucuzzi pools.

Derek, Nick & Austin at the Cascade Falls.

Derek, Nick and Austin in a water hut after one of the waterfall rappels. Don't they just look at home?

This was one of the best Subway hikes I have taken. Too many stories to even tell here. If anyone would like to experience this hike for themselves just let me know and I will get the permit to hike it with you.

Rappeling Down Dixie

2008-06-25T08:55:00.003-06:00

This is the mountain that we rappeled down. They have spikes at the top to hook up a basket that they use to repaint the Dixie when needed.
This is only about 60 feet to the bottom. So it's perfect.
Here I am hooking up Derek to the harness.
After I get him hooked up I have to hoof it to the bottom get ready to catch him. We just have a rule that two people have to check the harness and hook ups before rappeling.
This is Derek getting ready for his rappel. Nice view of the city.
Okay I wasn't really ready for the picture.
Wow, I get great signal up here. This is Alicia texting away. This shows our fantastic view of St. George.

Hello Badger!

2008-06-23T13:41:00.002-06:00

This is Badger. He is about 8 yrs old.

Badger is a Shiba Inu. That means
"Brush Dog" in ancient Japanese. He looks like a fox though. His
breed supposedly dates back to the time of Christ.
This is Badger in his Christmas attire.

Meet Bear

2008-06-22T13:44:00.005-06:00

This is Bear. He is 1/2 Border Collie and 1/2 unknown. We suspect that the other 1/2 might be black bear, because that is what he looks like. Derek thinks he's a lab.

He has grown a lot since these pictures and we can tell he will still grow a lot more.

I will post updates on the Bear growth as we go.

Additional Family Introductions

2008-06-21T08:56:00.006-06:00

It's about time I introduced more of our family. We will do this one beasty at a time. First up is Oreo. We just call him kitty most of the time. When we first got him he was adorable and loved to climb onto my shoulders and walk around with me. When I would sit down at the computer in my office he would jump on my lap and crawl up my shirt and make his way to my shoulders where he would perch and watch me work. After a while he would find the cursor on the monitor and decide to chase it around for a while. He eventually outgrew all of that.

He started getting lazy as all kitties seem to do
but was still very loving.

Kitty loves to be held. He ususally puts his paws around you and gives you a hug when you carry him.
Okay, I admit that we spoiled him a little too much. This is Sarah sleeping with Kitty.

After our move to Utah Kitty discovered the freedom of the doggy door in our new house. He began exploring the great outdoors and found a cat house close by. He has since become addicted to love and has now gone schizophrenic and lives in a bush in our neighbors yard and pretends not to remember us.

The End

Alicia's Crazy Day

2008-06-18T23:07:00.005-06:00

These pictures were taken on Alicia's Crazy Day.
Her and Alex got bored and decided to play with the camera.

um....Not really sure what this is....?

Of course this is the sword fight. What crazy day doesn't end in a good sword fight.

Alicia's Campfire

2008-06-18T22:16:00.004-06:00

Alicia's friend Alex (aka "it") with 6 marshmallows in her mouth.

Alicia's Campfire

2008-06-18T22:10:00.004-06:00

Alicia and friends ended up unexpectedly playing at a water park and got wet and cold. So they got the idea to have a campfire in the backyard. Below, Taylor is doing his fire dance, even though the fire is already lit. Hey it worked!

Brie and Ben

2008-06-17T21:56:00.000-06:00

Here is Brie and Ben by popular demand. Don't they make a cute couple??

2008-06-15T22:40:00.006-06:00

Happy Father's Day (to all us dads)

Jeff: You are going to get a brother-in-law Sarah.

Sarah: I am? Who?

Jeff: Ben.

Sarah: Oh, I'm not sure I'm ready for that right now.

It's Official!

2008-06-14T08:38:00.004-06:00

June 13th
Mark it on your calendar. It's the day that Brie officially got engaged! Brianna Call will become Brianna Smith. We don't have any detailed information yet, but they are thinking to marry some time in March in the Logan Temple. This other picture is me when I found out. I think I feel a pain in my chest.

Brianna

2008-06-13T18:08:00.000-06:00

Brianna

2008-06-13T18:07:00.000-06:00

Leave them alone for a minute and they get in to everything.

Alicia

2008-06-13T18:05:00.000-06:00

More recent picture of Alicia. This picture was taken while she was at EFY last year

Soccer In Vegas

2008-06-13T11:11:00.000-06:00

This was our last season of soccer in Las Vegas. We sure loved it there. This was Sarah's first season of soccer. She really loved it. Our team in Utah has not been as anxious to have pictures done so we don't have any for the current year.

Jeff

2008-06-12T21:16:00.000-06:00

This is me in a sweater that Dave knitted. That's right Dave! Surprised me too.

I am currently workinig on my Psychology Degree for family counseling. I hope to have my Bachelor's pretty soon.

I am still doing Stay Sharp. I have contemplated selling it, but I don't know if I could ever leave it completely after over 30 years.

I am also coaching Derek's soccer team. We are just getting started on our new season. We finished 3rd this last season. That was a huge jump from last season when we finished almost last.

Julie

2008-06-12T21:11:00.001-06:00

Julie just got promoted to manager and loves the new responsibilites. She is doing great. She is trying to decide if she wants to get her Utah Real Estate License. I think she may wait a little bit for the market to pick back up before spending too much effort on it.

Sarah

2008-06-12T21:05:00.000-06:00

This picture is of Sarah and our neigbor, Grant. Sarah never stays inside. She is an outdoor girl. When she is not on her quad she is on her bike or playing basket ball or at a friends' house. She is definately a thrill seeker.

We went rapelling a bit ago and she was very put out that we would not let her rapel. We decided to let her try to rapel down the steps to the rock ledge just so she could hook up and go down something backwards.

Derek

2008-06-12T20:57:00.000-06:00

Derek is still playing soccer. He plays midfield. He is such a good kid but is just now starting to get that teenage attitude. We can only hope that he is not as bad as the girls were.

Alicia

2008-06-12T20:52:00.000-06:00

Alicia is currently enjoying her summer and actually says that she is bored and wants school to start again. She is trying hard not to be tied down to just one boy.

Alicia is a good girl and we are proud of her.