DAD TURNS 80!

My dad turned 80 years old on August 15th! We had a party for him a week early in Mesa at Jeanie and Max's house. (Thanks Max and Jeanie!) We had a great time being together as a family and enjoyed every minute! I think we were busy every waking minute and looked forward to going to bed at night! Below are some pictures of our time together. (I stole all these pictures from my girls blogs!)
Our entire family with Grams and Gramps.
The Clouse Family

We had family pictures taken (yes we have red cheeks - it was HOT!)
13 of the 16 grandaughters - (known as "Charlie's Angels")

Yes, lots of swimming took place!

Abby and Daddy
Line Dancing at Texas Roadhouse

EX-AUGUST-ING

I was hoping to update before August was over. Oh well, it's only September 1st!
August was extremely busy with lots of fun things. I was able to go to Virden for a Jones Reunion. It was so fun to see a lot of relatives that I haven't seen for years.
Dad and Mom in front of the old homestead. (That is the most comfortable porch swing ever made!) Kent and Shelley live there now. Thanks for letting us stay with you!
Mom admiring the pecan trees

The silos out back of our house - I remember seeing baby owls down in one of them. My dad also had to get a baby calf out of one of them!

Fields by the house.

Our Jones cousins Terry, Geralyn and Pam and my sister Nyla and brother Kent intently listening to Jeanie's wild childhood story! We had such a great time catching up. We spent many, many hours at each other's homes growing up in Virden.

Shelley and Kent's with some of their family (Kyle, Karen, Trey and Emily)
My cousin Marla (husband Jeff) and Aunt Jessie

Some of Uncle Sterling's family - Don, Sherrie, Aunt Iva, Keith, and Margo
My Dad and his brother Merlin (his wife Carmelita)

Mom, baby Kadyn, Trey and Karen

We were able to see my darling little niece Emily perform at her piano and voice recital. She did awesome and even won an award! Thanks for letting us come Emily!
Emily and Kyle listening to Aunt Jeanie tell stories about their dad!
More stories!

(oops! - out of order!) Jeanie, Karen, Kadyn, Emily, Shelley and Carole at the recital.

Emily showing us the Boston Terrier puppies that they raise. We always had a Boston Terrier when we were kids - Spike, Skipper, Skippy were some I remember).

SO....

So...
Sunday evening we needed to go get our trailer and bring it home from the Fairgrounds. Mark, Jess and I were all sick with the stomach flu (plus, the kids all left that day so I was sad anyways).
We had it all hooked up to the truck and ready to go when Mark remembered he needed to plug the drain to the shower - SO - he went back inside the trailer, SET HIS KEYS ON THE TABLE, plugged the shower, locked the door and came out. (remember where he set his keys??)
SO - we thought the door would open easily with a screwdriver - nope - - maybe some little scissors in the firstaid kid? - nope - Maybe if he broke the scissors in half? - nope.
He was able to open the side storage door (can't remember how) -. He tried (not very hard) to crawl through - said he was "too big" (sounds like the 3 Bears!). He then tells me to stick my head in - (sounds like Hansel and Gretel) - I was sick (literally) of waiting so I did!
Yep, I crawled IN through this hole---

and OUT this one (after I maneuvered a play pen out of the way).

I could have won a million dollars on "Funniest Home Videos" if someone would have saw me - or called the cops!

Way too busy!

We've had a way too busy summer! It seems like I'm always packing to go somewhere.
Mark's last day of work at La-Z-Boy (after 28 years) was June 26th so we feel like we've been on "vacation" ever since. He's working hard building up his boot repair business and helping me with "honey-do's". Since he's home all day long I think of things for him to do!

The 3 Honeyville wards went on Trek to Martin's Cove July 16-18. It was awesome. There were about 120 people that went. I think all of the kids had a great experience. I've been there a few times and I love that place. There is such a peaceful feeling everytime I go. We were in charge of the food which I was very nervous about. We had more than plenty and lots of help and it turned out just fine. Thanks to Audrey's Foods for helping us with our menu's and getting all the food. (That's definitely the way to go.) Dana was our picture taker so I'll have to steal some from her. The "Women's Pull" was definitely the hardest and the most emotional for me. All of the men were lined up along the hill and could only watch the women pull the handcarts up this sandy hill. Let's just say there were a lot of tears when we reached the top!

After we got home from Trek we had a great visit from Sheridan, Torrie and their 4 kids (which are dang cute) and Grant, Wanda and Siarra. It was so fun to see them again. We had a little "get together" Saturday evening and had a great time visiting and eating. They all live too far away and we don't get to see them often enough! (I haven't had time to go through my pictures yet - ).

The next week was the Nicholas Reunion at the Girls Home. It was so much fun! Thanks Boyd and Ellen for a great reunion. Grace even wrote a theme song for it! For lots of fun pictures go to Katie and Tawnya's blogs. We missed those that couldn't come this year but enjoyed visiting with all that came. All my kids were there except Shara - which she'll be at the next one in two years - yeah!!!
And now I'm packing to go to Mesa tomorrow. I have a reunion in Virden this weekend and then the rest of my family is coming the next week for my Dad's 80th birthday party. It will be fun to see the "Clouse House" clan again.
We're so blessed to belong to such great families.

Happy 1st Birthday Kody

Our little Kody Boy turns 1 year old tomorrow! (July 16th) Wow, that year went by fast. We're leaving on Trek tomorrow so we won't be here for his birthday.

He is such a cute little guy and we love him a bunch. He is so lovable, squeezable and huggable that we can't get enough of him. We wish they lived closer but we do enjoy the times we get to see them.

Have a Happy Birthday Kody! We love you lots and lots. See you soon!

Calie's Shower

My cute little niece Calie had a bridal shower in Taylorsville. It was so fun to be able to go to it. They live in Las Cruces so we don't get to see them very often. She's getting married in September in the Salt Lake Temple so that will be so nice to be able to go it.


Reese and Tawnya (and Katie and Amanda)

Lucas wanted to touch the buffalo (not so sure!)

Kody (soon to be 1 year old on July 16th)

Aunt Carole, Calie, and Aunt Melanie

"Clouse" Cousins - Katie, Amanda, Calie, Jessica and Tawnya

Calie telling us how she met her fiance. (her fiance's nieces I think)

Happy July!

Reese wearing Gramps hat.

Rub a dub, dub - 3 kids in the tub!

Hope you are all having a fabulous July. Summertime is flying by way too fast. It's half way over and I don't want to think about it ending.

Last week we had Katie, Tawnya and the kids here. We had a great time. Didn't do a whole lot but we still had fun. Katie bought a new couch from LaZBoy.

Lucas stayed with us an extra day so we took him to the Honeyville Little Buckaroo Rodeo - which he slept through most of it on my lap. It was very hot so we were both soaked when he woke up.
We went to the annual Fireman's breakfast and the parade. Lucas thought it was great fun catching the candy.

Then we headed down to Spanish Fork to take the couch (and Lucas). We ended the day at Grace and Jim's with yummy food, family fun and fireworks.

We'll be heading to Martin's Cove next week for Trek. Then it's Family Reunions the next 3 weeks.