Christmas Memories

On Facebook McKenna's status talks about getting a Christmas tree. It has brought back all sorts of memories about the time we got stuck in the snow getting a Christmas tree. The story actually began when Devin, Kelli, and Kenna came over to our house. Mandy said the "a" word! Then we started toward the mountain to get a tree. There was something dead and torn apart sticking out of a frozen lake. Everyone made Meric stop for a second so that they could get pictures of it. Further up the mountain we reached a parking lot. I told Meric to stop, but he wanted to go down this road. The snow was so high that when Meric went to the shoulder to avoid some people the blazer was sucked into a drift. The snow was up the the driver's side window and snow was the only thing keeping the blazer from rolling down the mountain side. After a couple minutes of trying to get out, we realized we were REALLY stuck. A truck had followed us down the road and they immediately started to get out chains and ropes to help get us out. Of course we stayed stuck. More people from the parking lot came down to help. Four hours and another truck getting stuck, the blazer almost going down the mountain side with Meric in it we were finally out of the snow drift. Of course we still needed to cut down two Christmas trees. But we had fun! Jasper and Lucy bounced around through the deep snow, we sat on our butts and slid down the mountain side (who needs a sled?) and we were reminded of what the season is all about. Without even asking for help, several strangers worked with us for those four hours to get us out of the snow. They did it for no other reason than we needed help. When all was said and done, I will never forget going to get that Christmas tree and it is one of my favorite Christmas memories.

So now it is your turn. Share one of your favorite Christmas memories or add to mine (or someone elses) what you remember.

Mom asked me to post

What Ella's doing right now

When mom came home Ella put her self down for a nap

Whats new?

Let me go back to Thanksgiving first. Meric and I had a couple of his coworkers over for Thanksgiving. And yes they were girls, you know Meric. :) It was nice, but weird not having very many people. Also I somehow managed to ruin the mash potatoes. Don't ask me how, all I can think is that not every kind of potato is good for mashing. Also it always suprises me how many people in the military we hang out with who don't drink. We got some Martinelli's (sp?) and had our wine glasses out for dinner. One of the ladies turned her glass over until we said it was only juice cuz we don't drink. When Meric was going through school, we never had his classmates over to the house because they couldn't have fun without drinking. Knowing the reputation of the armed forces we figured most of our non-member friends would be the same way, but so far most of them aren't big drinkers.

After Thanksgiving, we did NOT go black Friday shopping. There was no way I was getting up early and fighting the crowds. It is amazing how busy our shopping areas get for such a small town. Meric and I pretty much just hung out at home and ate ourselves silly. (No diet over the holiday)

The last few weekends we have gone out geocaching. We are up to six now and are getting better at it. We have even found a few that you exchange little goodies. To explain a bit better, there are some that are small and only can fit a log for people who find it to sign. Then there are others that are bigger so that you can put stuff in it. The rule is that you take something and leave something. Some of the objects are called travel bugs. Those you log on the website and give them goals. For example Meric and I are thinking of starting a travel bug here with the goal of it reaching Spokane. So people who find it are suppose to move it from one geocache to another until it reaches its destination. I know it all sounds so geeky, but it is actually kinda fun when you find them.

On Friday Meric and I went to our first military ball. It was fun to get all dressed up and go out. Of course once we got there the fun ended. It was so boring. There was a schedule, but we were almost an hour behind. By the time we got our food we were all starving. On the tables there was a bottle of wine (for all the toasts, 8 toasts to be exact) but no one at our table drank so the bottle went untouched. There was also tea for everyone to drink. And at a table that seats 8 there were only 4 water glasses. Everyone else was drinking the tea so Meric and I hogged all the water. The waiters would go around and fill up the tea glasses, but no water. Then they had a guest speaker, some retired general. Talk about boring. The begining of his speech was all about the war and how it is going to continue. Who wants to hear about that at a Christmas party? The end of his speech was a little better. He told a few jokes including the one Dad just used on the Hillyard Herald. (Sorry Dad but that one is super old) After that they had an award ceremony. By the time they got to the dancing everyone was tired and totally bored. I don't think the award ceremony is normal at the Christmas ball and really was, I think, an inappropriate time to do it. So not a great time at our first ball.

On Saturday Meric and I got a letter in the mail from DSS. We were accepted into the class on foster parenting and it will start January 7th. I am really glad I decided not to go home after Christmas. We were told the classes would start sometime the end of January, not the first week. I would have missed classes if I had gone home. Anyway, we are excited to start. The sooner we start the sooner we are done and on to the next part.

That is it for now!

The Civil War

If you want to see a city divide faster than anything, be sure to be in Portland during the Civil War. The Civil War is when the University of Oregon Ducks play the Oregon State Beavers. This year was even more extreme than usual. They played each other for the last game of the regular season. They both had the same record. Whoever won, was going to the Rose Bowl.

Both sides were pumped and convinced they were going to win. The day of the game, there was a huge rally downtown at 6:30 am. Pioneer Square was packed. All you could see was black and orange on one side and green and yellow on the other. I was shocked that there were that many people that early in the morning, in the cold, yelling.

During the day, leading up to the game, there were shouting matches on the street, fights in both Corvallis and Eugene, and more sports paraphernalia than I'd seen in a long time.

Game time hits and the city streets were bare as every bar in town was packed. The game was intense. Back and forth, very close the entire way.

The Ducks, in the end, prevailed. What does this mean you say? Well, consider this.....Phil Knight pays for almost everything at U of O. The Ducks have a choice of 316 possible uniforms outfits to wear. They can buy whatever they want whenever they want. The first game of the year, one player punched out a Boise State player after a lose. He was expelled, but a few weeks later they quietly let him come back. He played in the Civil War, scoring a touchdown.

The Beavers are a small auggie school finding for funding. They have little money for recruiting and are working based o the talents of what they can afford.

It's basically like the Yankees winning the World Series.

Nothing makes you hate the Ducks more, than watching a game played at their stadium. LET'S GO OHIO!!!!!!!!

Defending myself.

OK So after the Hillyard Herald I need to defend myself- I am NOT a stalker!! OK so I told Lissy and Kelli about this Boy we'll call him... "k" that I thought was really cute. I've never had a conversation with him but I sat by him during a stake activity. During thanksgiving it was announced that I like "k". Of course he is now brought up in every single conversation and I am asked how I will talk to him or when we are getting married. I'm just going along with it cause I know eventually they will forget about it. So hey kept joking around that we should do a drive by. So Friday night we were sitting at home bored. When Nic, Tiffany, and Lissy got the bright idea that we should do a drive by. I didn't really wanna do it cause i thought it was stalker like but I realized we weren't stalking him we were just bored and it was kinda a joke. So we looked up his address and Headed up towards his house. When we found it we flipped a U'e and drove past a second time. The second time his little brother saw us and pointed at us as we drove past. Yeah... good time good time. SO there I defended myself and now you have the WHOLE story.

P.S. he is NOT I repeat NOT shorter than me, In fact he is TALLER than ME!

FHE via webcam

On Saturday (11/28) at 1 pm pst we are going to have FHE via webcam. We are going to do it like we did in May where everyone picks a conference talk and we all take turns discussing it. So that we don't all end up doing the same talks, please let us know which one you will do by making a comment to this blog. Also Elder Holland's talk is off limits. Mom wants everyone to listen to it and not just read it. We can all discuss our thought on it after we have all listened to it. If you have any questions about this you can talk to Mom or me. See you all on Saturday!

Ta Da!

As everyone knows I am now 18. Recently I have discovered my newest life goal. Since I am 18 I am now old enough to legally smoke. So my life goal is to take up smoking, get lung cancer or emphazema (sp), hopefully end up in the hospital with a gapping hole in my throat, and (Mandy's suggestion) have to talk with one of those machines that makes you sound like a robot. This is my new goal and I hope everyone will support me with my aspirations (sp). =)

p.s. Ella almost started crying today in the car because her butt itched and she couldn't reach it. we were all cracking up even though the poor kid was in distress. Then she announces that she wants milk when she gets home, so mom tells her that she can go to the bathroom and have milk when we get home. to this Ella exclaims...
"If I drink milk then my poop will be white!"
she then places her hands on her temples (as if she is extremely stressed out by this)

its was halarious! (sp)

Dogs

First of all, it is sad that Casey died but we all know she was very uncomfortable in the end and she is much better off now. She is that young dog who waited for us when we got off the bus now.

Anyway I am just wondering if there are any wagers on how long it takes until there is a new dog? Right now there are only 2 dogs at home. The last time that happened was when Chewy died and 4 months later we got Toby. So do you think we can last with only 2 dogs or do you think there will be a new one? Any wagers on how many months it takes to get a new one?

Memories....

I was driving with Nic the other day to the grocery store when I had to actually get out and scrap my car off. Being the cheerful person that I am, I grumbled the whole time (even though I sat in the car and Nic did it all for me). When he got in the car, he cheerfully said "Christmas is coming" to which I immediately responding "And the boss is getting fat" to finish the line in the song. Nic sat there puzzled and said "Wait, what? You're boss is getting fat?". I looked at him like he was a weirdo and said "No, like the song." He said "What song?". Then it hit me and I burst out laughing.

After laughing for quite some time I relayed the story of when mom was in the hospital for Kelli's birth and dad would drive us back and forth to the hospital all the while singing songs he of course made up.

Eighteen years later, I can't remember the words to the actual song but can still remember dad's version so well, that I think everyone else should know it too.

No...Steen's are just crazy!

It all started last Thursday...

A lot has happened this last week so I will start at the beginning. Last Thursday Meric received an achievement award from the army. He started a course in San Antonio and had to finish it here by giving several presentations. One of the doctors who was evaluating Meric's presentations recognized his hard work and nominated him for the award. It was a nice award ceremony and I got all embarrassed when they call me up from the crowd to get my picture taken with Meric. I really wasn't expecting that, but it was still good.

Friday was another pies for patriots day and this time we got 10 free pumpkin pies. This time I didn't want to keep them all though. After I picked them up, I stopped by Meric's clinic, took 2 pies and left the rest for everyone else to take home. Between the apple and pumpkin pies I won't have to make pies for Thanksgiving. (Of course if Lissy and Kelli want to come I could always make more. I know how much they love to eat pie all day long.)

Saturday as most of you know was quite the interesting day. It didn't start off too bad but in the afternoon Emmy had one of her "I must attack Lucy" moments and I didn't end good. After finally seperating the two, we cleaned them off to discover that Lucy had some deep cuts in her leg and face and Emmy broke one of her canine teeth pretty much in half. After looking up broken dog teeth online, we decided to take them to urgent care. Since Emmy's tooth had the root exposed not only was she in pain, but it could easily get infected. We sat in urgent care for 4 hours before the doctor took a look at them. He said that Lucy's wounds could be cared for at home and gave her an antibiotic so that they didn't get infected. Emmy's tooth needed to be pulled (well we could have saved it but there isn't a vet in Fayetteville who could do it and she would have needed a root canal so I figure it would be easier on her just to be done with it.) so she had to stay over night. Jasper got left home alone during this time and was completely freaked out when we got home. In fact the dog bone I gave him right before we left still had not been eaten by the time we got back. Everyone in the vet's office thought it was funny that while we were waiting Lucy and Emmy laid next to eat other licking the other's wounds, the wounds they caused. We declared Lucy the winner since Emmy's vet bill was higher. It could have been worse though because Emmy has some deep bite marks right next to her eye so she is lucky all she lost was a tooth. Now I have pain meds to give Emmy and antibiotics for both girls. Such a pain to remember all those pills and when to give them. I usually wrap pills up in cheese to give the dogs. They gobble them right up. That is except Lucy. She caught on to it and stopped eating the cheese. So I switched to bread, which worked once. Now I give Jasper and Lucy treats when I give Emmy here cheesy medicine and then shove the pills down Lucy's throat and hold her moth until she swallows. Such fun. Anyway, Meric and I decided to try a shock collar on Emmy to try and get her to be nicer to Lucy. Emmy doesn't always full out attack Lucy, she likes to just target and intimidate her too. So we figure if we can stop all that behavior she might not do this again.

So that was our long Saturday-into-Sunday. On Monday Meric got a nice suprise in the mail. He wants to thank everyone for the notes and card. It was a nice pick me up for when he got home. And I would like to thank who ever though of putting all those stars in the envelope. I have stars all over the place now. Thanks. :)

Wednesday was veteran's day so Meric had the day off. We took that opportunity to go to the temple and spend the day in Raleigh. Sitting in the celestial room Meric and I figured out that this trip was only our second time in the temple, just the two of us. It was nice to be in the temple and feel the spirit. Afterward we went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch. It was very yummy! Then we did our Costco run and headed home. It was really a nice day, even though it rained non-stop. It is weird having a day off in the middle of the week though because today feels like Monday.

So there is our week. Love and miss you all!

What's up with the Clutters lately

So it's been a while since we have posted anything about the family.

Let's see. So everyone knows that Jason was laid off. Right now he's taking some time off. He's spending time doing things around the house and enjoying Ella's company! :-) I love having him home because I get some yummy dinners when I get home. We've had a yummy roast and some very yummy roasted potatoes. This week we'll have a turkey dinner. It's great! Anyway, he'll spend some time looking into options and what he'd like to pursue. Probably after the holidays he'll really start looking for some work.

I'm dealing with having everyone gone at work. It's hard because I miss Jason and Lissy being around. I'm trapped now for the most part at work, so that's another pain. I'm sure it'll get better. At least I still have a job. I'm looking at joining another book club. Diana Crossley invited me, so we'll see how it is. The book for this month is called Lemon Tart. It's by an LDS author and is a "culinary mystery" so it sounds like it should be good. I'll let you all know how it turns out.

Dora has been doing well at school and really enjoying her improv classes. Her last class is this Thursday and then the following week is her showcase. It's all very exciting. I'll send pictures after the showcase and let you all know how it was. She's also very excited about the play they are doing at school for Christmas. She had gotten a part last year, but wasn't going to be able to do it because of her tonsil surgery. But then we had all the snow and the whole thing got cancelled because of no school. So they are going to do it this year. I will follow up on that later too.

Ella is enjoying time at home with Daddy. She has also discovered a love for doing crafts. I blame Sprout and her Grandmas for that! Anyway, she has made all sorts of cute things and has come really far on her drawings of people and faces. She loved Halloween and keeps telling us she wants it to be Halloween again, or she wants to go trick-or-treating again.

Speaking of Halloween, we had a really good one. The weather was pretty nice, but a little too windy. It disappointed Jason and Devin a little because they couldn't use the fog machines in the yard. As it is, our house was too spooky for some little kids. Our house got skipped by some of the littler ones. Oh well. We had fun with everyone over for our "party" too. It was very laid back with some very yummy foods. To me, those are the best kind of parties. I love having family get-togethers! Kelli and Bradley were nice enough to take Dora and Ella out into the neighborhood trick-or-treating. I think they were practicing for when they have their own....ahhhh! :-)

Other than that, there's not a lot going on. We're getting ready for Thanksgiving and Dora's birthday. Fun stuff! I'm going to post some pictures from Halloween. I'm sure most of you have already seen them on mine or Kenna's facebook.

Christmas Announcement

So we have made an executive decision. (Yes, the executive committee now consists of Mom, Mandy and yours truly.) Effective immediately, Mom, Dad, Dora, and Ella are no longer part of the family name exchange for Christmas.
This was done because usually Mom and Dad are giving and getting gifts from us all anyway. Also, Dora and Ella are usually getting enough gifts anyway. This also cuts done on both the Clutters and Mom & Dad's financial obligations.
We're going to keep the name exchange between the siblings and spouses from now on. Once Dora and Ella have more cousins (hint, hint, anyone) we can do a name exchange between cousins.
As you know we keep Tara and her kids out of the exchange as well, but everyone is free to get Tara and the kids gifts.
So hopefully this is now clear as mud! :-) Please add your feedback and let us know what everyone thinks. I am listing below the new list of who has who for Christmas this year. I am suggesting now that it might be a good idea to draw names in Portland this year, if we can get a good group together. Let me know what ya'll think.

McKenna has Meric
Kelli has Lissy
Robbie has Tiffany
Kristy has Jason
Devin has Dany
Tiffany has Kelli
AJ has Devin
Lissy has Mandy
Meric has AJ
Mandy has McKenna
Jason has Kristy
Dany has Robbie

the thing

This things grows outside of my apart. I'm taking the picture from the third floor. What is it?

Something real?
hmmmm.... ok
Tonight we're having a Halloween party and I am stoked because I am making most of the food. It'll be good and if your not there then your a square.
I had a midterm on Tuedsay which sucked because it was right after Iplayed volleyball and I was all hot and sweaty and I couldn't grip my pencil right because my hand was too sweaty so every paragraph has different handwriting because I had to grip the pencil differently to keep if from slipping.
The midterm is in film and I have the same teacher Tiffany had but I think he's kind of a weirdo because he always mumbles really quickly and quietly then starts laughing except only half the class understood him so only half the class will laugh so he thinks that we all didn't understand his joke so he'll explain it over again and we all just think he's crazy so we sit and stare at him quietly but he wont continue until the whole class agrees out loud that they understood the joke. He also explained to the class what the sound effects guy will use in order to get the sound of a babies head being smashed. We all though the was crazy but he explained it in detail. WEIRDO!
FYI I don't like seminary because my teacher thinks we're all decendents (spelling i know) of Nephi and that the Golden Plates are in a museum somewhere.

So there is my life. happy?

Its been a while...

So I have actually been meaning to do this for days but keep forgetting. Anyway here it is. Things are going good here. As Dad mentioned in the Hillyard Herald, Meric and I are looking into being foster parents. We submitted our application and had an interview with a social worker. She will determine if we are accepted into a 10 week course (starting in January) that teaches us how to deal with some of the issues the kids might have. The course is also designed to help us get to know the other people who will also be foster parents, kind of a support group. After the 10 week course, the social worker will give all our information to a review board and they will determine if we can become foster parents. Now when a child is taken from theit parents and placed into foster care the goal is to reunite them with their parents eventually. There are some situations where the parents either lose or give up all rights to their child and the child then becomes available to adopt. Our ultimate hope is to adopt, but even if it is for a little while we would like to give a child a good home. So that is where we are now. It will be a while before we know more.

A couple of weekends ago Meric and I did a volksmarch. Apparently it is a German tradition where you walk a lot and drink beer. It was a nice walk around a lake and we were encouraged to bring the dogs, so we went. It was a lot of fun and the dogs loved it. We got a stein for doing the walk and the dogs got treats.

Last weekend Meric discovered a new hobby, geocaching. For those who don't know it is kinda like a scavenger hunt. There are marker all over, you get the coordinates and you go find it. They are marked according to their difficulty. When you find it some have boxes where you take a trinket out and put a new one in its place, while others are just lists that you write your name on. Then you go to the website, mark found and write a little bit about finding it. I make fun of Meric for doing it, but it is actually fun when you find it.

So the other night Meric and I went out to dinner. We get our order and are enjoying our food and about half way through the meal they bring out our order again. We told the waitress we already got our food and she said "oh well, it touched the table I can't take it back" So we got 2 for the price of 1. Leftovers worked well for lunch.

BFL update: We are actually sticking to the diet and exercise! Well kinda, we haven't done our cardio days because we overdid it on our backpacking and volksmarch. Meric's knee is bugging him and my hip is sore. So right now we are letting our injuries heal, but I plan to start running again next week and we are doing good on the weight lifting. As I bragged to Tiffany and Dany, I made a great cheesecake that was diet friendly. Thats right cheesecake while on a diet! I am really enjoying trying new recipes and changing them around to fit the diet but taste good all at the same time.

One last thing. Meric and I got our tickets for going home on Christmas and I am not coming to Spokane. I was playing around with the idea of heading to Spokane when Meric headed back to NC but I didn't want to be away from him on New Year's Eve so I won't be heading to Spokane. Hopefully I can figure out a trip sometime after the 10 week course for foster care. (I can't miss a class or they will make me take it again)

Anyway I guess I have rambled enough for now. I know you all have a lot going on so blog about it!

Sooooo

I was just wondering.... do you remember when we gave our selves "Von Trapp" names? I was wondering if you remembered what every one's was?

hello everyone,
just wanted to say that I am pregnant and getting eloped to a guy named Joey.

have a nice day!

My Boring Life

Here I go. Not much is happening on my end but again I don't want mandy to make up things about me so I am going to make up stuff about myself. Its easier and usually alot nicer. My room is almost done with everything, I should have pictures at the beginning of next week. Dad and Ella were nice enough to paint my bookcase and I still need to paint the dresser this weekend.
I have been working with Tara and the kids as far as going to church and they seem to be responding well. It is amazing the things that Tara remembers even after many many years out of the church. Nae Nae is getting excited and as you know asked Dad to baptize her. I have been to the 2 lessons with the missionaries, even though I have usually just been in playing with the boys to keep them quiet. But the first time, Dule asked if she could say a prayer before I left, it was a very good prayer. We started off going to her Valley ward and then came to Shiloh Hills ward when grandma was in town but then Tara feels more comfortable in Shiloh Hills ward so we haven't been back to the Valley ward but the missionaries are from that ward. So I guess we will see how long this lasts, please include them in your prayers.
I am also hearing exciting things from my mission as well. A family that we reactivated in my 2nd area, one of the daughters who was living with her boyfriend, they got married and he got baptized. I saw a picture of them all dressed up for church and it made me happy. Mauricio, as many of you recognize the name, he recieved his first calling, 2nd counselor in the Young Mens Presidency, he is also getting excited to send in his papers next year. Also Juan who was my very last baptism in the mission will be recieving his endowments on the 20th. My companion who taught him with me and I will be going to our respective temples on that day to support him.

Anyway, thats about it. Its pretty amazing how much you can write about nothing. Love you guys!

Brand New

One of my favorite bands, Brand New, was coming to Portland. I have already seen them in concert twice but Robbie was ready to see them again so he decided to make a trip down just for the concert. He came down, bringing with him McKenna (who's never been to a concert) and his cute little girlfriend Kyrstin, also known as Go Go.

Of course the day before they get here I go home with the flu, but after a lot of medication and sleeping I was well enough to make an effort. I took Tuesday off (because I was too sick to go to work) and they arrived around 2:30. They took a little tour of my new apartment, we all sat and relaxed for awhile before heading out for a pre-concert dinner at Red Robin. Since I have never actually met Go Go face to face (even though we have been Facebook buddies for awhile now) it was a good opportunity to get to know her. Despite her apparent flaw of being fond of Robbie, she's very sweet and cute.

We then headed back to my apartment where Nic was waiting and cooking away. We hung out for a couple hours and then headed downtown. McKenna got a full flood of drunks, mosh pits and sweaty disgusting people for her first concert, but being the "trooper" she is, she ignored it all and just rocked out to the music. In the end, I think she thoroughly enjoyed herself.

We headed home where Nic made sure everyone was fed and happy, then we all crashed out almost instantly. I snuck off to work early while they all were still sleeping and this morning they rolled out.

All in all, it was a good visit.

PS: Click this link to take you to the sound that is coming from the ceiling of my apartment. Yep. you guessed it. I've got bats! My boss (who is an ER doctor) kindly informed me that if the bat gets into my apartment, animal control requires that I get the rabies shots no matter what. Yes, the series of painful shot in your stomach. I called my landlord and left a message saying "There are bats in my ceiling. I would like there not to be bats in my ceiling. Thank you". I am waiting to hear back from them.

Backpacking

Meric and I went backpacking over the weekend with one of Meric's coworkers (Cherice) and the dogs. The weather was great. Nice and cool and the rain held off until we were in our tents for the night. It got just a little chilly over night but not too bad.

It was a lot of fun but really hard. I am so sore I can hardly move and I have blisters on both feet. It is amazing how comfortable laying on the ground can be after walking for so long with a huge pack on your back. Sometimes we would stop and just sprawl out in the middle of the trail.

The dogs had a blast. Emmy and Lucy loved being the leaders and Lucy is great when you need a little help climbing up a hill. I usually was behind and Jasper was so cute and would keep coming back to check and make sure I was coming. It was funny cuz Cherice noticed right away that Jasper was a momma's boy and asked us how we got him so well trained, we laughed and said he just came that way. Lucy was Cherice's tent buddy, and as usual we have another person who would be willing to take Lucy if we ever decided to get rid of her.

In all we went just over 13 miles in 2 days. That is including the 1st mile and a half we went on the wrong trail. The trail started on one side of the parking lot, met up with another trail that looped back to end on the other side of the parking lot. Well at the start of the trail there is a road right next to it and we started up the road, missing the trail. After 1 1/2 miles we reached the end of the road at some camp ground and the trail went off into some bike trails. So Meric ran back to the car, got the map, noticed the right trail and drove back up the road to pick us up so that we could go back to the parking lot and start on the right trail. Kinda funny to do an extra 1 1/2 miles, but we called it our practice run for the real trail.

I attached some pictures from our trip. Jasper loves having his picture taken.

My cake

This is the cake I made last night... it's a triple chocolate cake mix, I put chocolate chips in that, a choclate whipping cream frosting and chocolate chips on top of that.... it's nothing like what devin makes but it was still pretty good!

ALthough the pics didn't turn out that great.....

Toby

Mom wanted me to post this picture of Toby all snuggled warm in his blankets! He's a very very lazy dog!

The Clutters

Okay Mandy, message taken. It's just to me, nothing exciting happens, so it's hard to find things to say.

But.......after reading the Hillyard Herald I have to set a few things straight. I am NOT a mean boss. I do let Lissy have time off. As a matter of fact I MADE her take time off to go on Dora's field trip. Okay, it's not like it hurt me. Either she would have been at work helping me, or on the field trip helping me. I mean it's all about me, right? Wait, I was trying to make a point. The point is that I am a nice boss and Lissy will agree with me (or she'll be fired!).

Anyway, so it's been a nice couple of weeks for us, Dora especially. Her dad has been in Arizona for 2 weeks, so she didn't have to go over there at all. It's been very nice, but went by too fast. He came back today, so Monday it will be business as usual. Although it's been since May that she's spent the night, so it will just be after school twice a week.

Dora was student of the week last week. It was a nice treat, kind of like being VIP. She got to lead the class in line whenever they went to PE or something. She also got to do a lot of other cool things. It also meant it was her week to do an oral presentation of a science experiment. I was proud of her. She had already done the research and found her project before I even got home and found out she had a project. She made a "homemade" lava lamp. It was pretty cool and everyone liked it. I bet she did great on her presentation too. She is still loving her drama class. They play fun games using their imagination and acting skills. She has her friends playing some of these games at recess now. Friday she went to Lutherhaven with Lissy on a field trip. Lutherhaven is an outdoor ropes place. They usually do a lot of "team" type activities dealing with trust and confidence. This is part of the yearly "care day" they do. It's a lovey dovey day where they get to know each other and learn about being a team, while also feeling special as an individual. The parents have to write care letters letting their child know how special they are. Dora had a good time and liked having Lissy along. Her favorite part was the car ride to CDA with Lissy and 2 of her friends.

Ella is the same handful as always. Like Dad said in the Hillyard Herald, we thought she was getting sick on Tuesday. She woke up sounding yucky and she said she didn't feel good. She was a little clingy too. She woke up normal on Wednesday and has been fine all week, so that's good. Her new thing is the WSU hoodie Jason bought her at Wal-Mart a couple of weeks ago. She absolutely loves this thing. She wears it all the time and looks really cute in it. The first week was pretty warm, still in the 80's-90's and she would still wear it all day when it was hot! Luckily this week was much cooler (50's-60's). I have to wash it almost every night because she wears it all day, every day! She's also impressing Aunt Lissy with her vocabulary, using words like strictly and especially correctly in sentences.

We've been working on getting the yard ready for hibernation. Jason got the yard all mowed for the last time and I got the rose bushes trimmed way down. Jason has been cleaning the garage to take down the air conditioners. It's also been nice with all the rain we've had not to worry about Dora's ceiling leaking. Thanks Mandy and Meric!!

Jason's also been cleaning the garage so he can get the stereo ready to play it's "spooky" music and he's making room for the fog machines to do their thing. Yep, we're getting ready for our 3rd annual Halloween party. He also bought new skeletons to decorate the yard. We were slowly cleaning it up last year and the old ones got buried under 6 feet of snow!! It was interesting to find hands and feet a little at a time as the snow melted! Ella is really excited for Halloween. She's going to be a unicorn, thanks to Mom finding Dora's old costume at their house. Dora's going to be a dementor, from Harry Potter. Basically she'll wear a black shroud and conceal herself under it. Should be fun!!

Today we took the girls and Grandma Shirley to Green Bluff. Ella loves apple cider. It was really cold and rainy today, so we didn't pick apples like we usually do. We went to Hidden Acres for apricot jam, an apple crumb pie, and two mini pumpkins for the girls. Then we went to Harvest House for their famous pumpkin donuts (thanks for getting me hooked Devin!). We also got some already picked golden delicious apples and some d'anjou pears, with of course some apple cider. It was fun, even though it was cold.

Okay, and sorry to end thing on a sad note, but I learned some sad news yesterday. When Jessica had come to Devin and Kristy's reception we talked about her sister Dee (many of you have met her a few times). Dee had a lump in her breast and was to under go surgery at the end of September. I didn't think much of it, no one did, because Jessica has also had several similar lumps under her arms. It's part of their screwed up bodies due to all the prednizone (spelling?) they've been on all their life. It's just something they have removed and then go on. Anyway, they did the surgery only to find out that the lump was definitely cancerous. So now their looking at the options. At the moment it's a year of chemo and maybe have a shot, or a year left to live. So anyway, it makes me sad for both of them. So if you all could include both Jess and Dee in your prayers, I would appreciate it. Thanks!

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Even Mandy will have to admit—that I’ve made a lot of comments!!!!!!!

I forgot to tell you...

So I forgot to tell you in my last post that Meric is evil. He made me watch Marley and Me and of course I cried. It was a cute movie, but I cried.

This morning got off to a nice start: 10 FREE Apple Pies. Yes being in the military has its benefits. Of course now we have 10 pies we need to eat or give away, but it is really nice. I guess they do this every year and will do it again in a month. They tell you a location and you wait in a long line of cars (it really wasn't too long of a wait) and when you get up to the pies they just hand it to you through your window or throw them in your trunk. Pretty cool.

Then we headed to Raleigh to go to Costco for some dog food. It was a good trip and when we got home our lawn was mowed! I was going to mow the front lawn (I take care of the front yard and Meric does the back) but I wasn't feeling well the last few days so I didn't get it done. It was a nice surprise and now something I don't need to do next week. But we still don't know for sure who did it.

Meric is off to Preisthood session of conference. It is kinda weird cuz it starts at 8pm here. So late. Our regular sessions are at noon and 4. So weird, so late.

Lissy: 1 blog is not going to be enough for long.
Kelli: Where are you?
Devin: Is this how it works? Is not enough we want to hear about how you are doing!
Dany: It has been a while since we have heard from you.
Dad: You do the Hillyard Herald so you are off the hook for blogging but I still want comments.
Robbie: Are you there?
Kenna: Keep up the good work! And I still haven't watched Supernatural.
Mom: Eventually the computer excuse won't work anymore.

Have I forgotten anyone? Write more, don't let this die! I am far far away and want to know how everything is day to day there.

Here it is from Fayetteville...

So I finally found out why I couldn't post comments... my computer didn't want me to. Something in our protection settings won't let me stay logged in when I check the blog. So I just need to comment from another computer so that you get all of my wonderful thoughts. :)

Things aren't going so well with the diet/exercise stuff. Missed a couple days, but I am still trying. It is really hard to get back on that wagon. But I will do it!

Jasper finally chewed through his last toy so we went to get him a new one. We got them a ball that makes noise when you touch it. They love it, I am not sure what we were thinking!

Nursery is going well. We had one mother tell us that her daughter told her that "if her teachers aren't their I'm not going". Truth of it that she is one of Meric's adoring fans. He has a few kids that run right to him when they get to Nursery.

The weather is starting to get colder. I am loving that it feels more like fall in well... fall. Of course if any of you came down here you would still think it is really warm, but I am loving it.

We are still trying to figure out when we will make it to Portland for Christmas or New Years. We will let you know so that hopefully we can see you too.

Guess that is it for now. More later!

Ellas

This is Ella... cutting away... does sticking out your tongue really help?

Well at least it's not her bangs this time!

So do Kelli and I always get the "privilage" of getting called "the little girls" even though I'm 14!?!?! and Kelli's almost an Adult??? Were not so little.

Finally, so people will stop bugging me!

So really I am doing this for the people who harass, who shall remain nameless only that their initials are Mandy Powell! I really have nothing interesting to report in my life. Work is the same....same nagging boss:) I am redoing the room upstairs and it is actually looking really good. Robbie was good enough to rip out the carpet last week (mind you this is the last carpet remaining from when we first moved into this house). I bought new carpet last weekend and the "little" girls were good enough to help me paint. There is still some painting left to do and installing of carpet but I will definitely upload some before and after pictures when it is done. Other than that, there is nothing. There are NO boys in my life and dad is totally making up everything about the guy in Montana(besides the fact that he was cute and had a hot accent). I know this may come as a shock to you guys but Dad does exaggerate. Sorry to drop that bomb on you all! Anyway love you guys!!

Making Up Stuff About Others!!!!

Making up stuff about others is strictly forbidden on this blog. If you all start doing that then there will be no reason for me or the Hillyard Herald. I'm the one who makes up stuff about everyone. One of the main purposes of this blog is so you have a way to defend yourselves. Besides, Mandy, Lissy can't take the time to post stuff just now. She is too busy planning the wedding :))

Hey y'all from the NC

So I might be a blogging idiot but are any of my comments being posted? If not what profile do I pick? Yep, I am retarded but y'all knew that already.

So things are good here. It has been raining, which I love. I didn't realize how use to the weather and humidity I was until David and Renae were here. At one point we walked out of a store and my 1st thought was "I am so glad that it is nice and cool while they are here and not hot and humid" not 2 seconds after I said that David commented on how you could really feel the humidity and that it was really muggy. I was like "Really? Hmm." I guess Texas really did get me ready for NC cuz the humidity ain't that bad. And if any one wants to move here that is a lady raffling off her house for $20 a ticket. It is in Roxboro, NC. It has land and a lake, pretty nice. If you want to check it our go to WRAL.com and put "house" in the search. It is nice, but you would have to live in Roxboro. I don't know about that.

So after 5 years of marriage I finally got an album to scrapbook my wedding pics. Of course it will probably be another 5 before I actually get it done. But if any of you have pics from my wedding somewhere, email them to me. Thanks!

Well we have actually stayed on track so far this week with our workouts. That is why my arms feel like they are going to fall off. But it definitely feels good and the dogs are loving it too. Meric and I are going to help 1 of his co-workers move tonight but I don't know how much help I will be with super sore arms. I guess I will just have to hold the baby :)

Guess that is all for now. Let me know about my comments.

PS Lissy this is your last chance to put a post of your own. If you don't I will start making stuff up about you and make fun of you. I think any one who hasn't gotten on is basically giving the rest of us permission to make fun of you behind your back. Just a warning ;)

Help

As most of you know Im home schooling and taking one class at school. We recently realized that (well I realized mom already knew) I have the Anxiety Disorder most of you had. I seem to be doing prety well with just the one class but it still is a little hard at times. Any advise you can give me on how you handled it would be great.

Supernatural

Ok so this blog is aimed more towards Mandy since I think she's the only other one who is watching supernatural.


I COMPLETLEY called that ending!!! It was very frustrating, relieving, and AMAZING. I can't wait for next season!!!! (which I will be starting in a couple minutes) But man... I love Dean, Sam, Bobby, and Castiel SOOO MUCH! Even though Sam was a MAJOR idiot at times! I think they play "carry on my wayward son" for every finale cause that would have been like the third one they played it for.

A Trip to the Coast

A couple weekends ago, Tasha and Eli came to visit me. Seeing as how my roommates are insane, I decided that going to the coast was probably the best idea. I wanted to camp, but if you want to camp in Oregon, you better reserve a place months in advance or get there by noon. Neither of these were possible so we camped in my living room. It would have been nice roasting marshmallows and hot dogs in the fireplace had the cold snap not JUST ended and it was very hot outside. But Tasha and Eli were good sports to my fake camping.

The next morning we got up and headed to Astoria. We stopped for some lunch on the way and a nifty little diner in a small little town. You know how much fun those place can be! Then we continued onward. Once we got to Astoria, we stopped first at the Goonies house. It's one of the few things we can claim as famous. Then we headed to the Astoria column. I forgot how difficult those 164 steps were. Tasha and Eli accompanied me to the top. Nic, of course, stayed on the ground. Even looking at the top of the column was too much for him. After this we headed to Lewis and Clark National Park to see where they stayed after completing their long trek across the continent. Finally we headed to the beach.

We ended up at Fort Stevens. Tasha and I had come here together about 9 years ago when we went White Water rafting as laurels. It was then that Tasha took the picture of me on the old abandoned ship, the Peter Iredale, that still adorns mom's wall. (yes mom, I remember that you want a new one.) We hung out on the beach and played as the sun set. Finally, after a long day, we headed back home.

It was a nice visit from Tasha and Eli. Next time they come, I want them to see much more of the Portland sights including Voodoo Doughnut, a local favorite .

Attached are a few pictures of the trip. These will not be on Facebook as my boyfriend can't stand pictures of himself online. Good thing he doesn't know about this blog!

ummm

is this how you post stuff?

Clutters Weekend 9/19

So I don't know how much info everyone wants, but I will let everyone know what we've been up to as much as I can.

I will back track, as everyone knows from the Hillyard Herald, Ella decided to cut her hair on Thursday. I'm still not sure what to do there. I'm afraid if I take her in to have them make it look normal, she will end up with a mullet or some deeply layered look, which FYI I'm not a layered fan. Anyway, it doesn't look too bad right now, especially if she will let me pull it back.

Also on Thursday, Dora started her improve class at CYT (Christian Youth Theater). She had a blast! If all goes well, it spur me into looking at more classes and possibly having her involved in their plays. Right now, I am good with just the class though, as I hate the time restraints it would put on us.

Friday I accompanied Dora's class to the fair. Due to bus scheduling we were only there with the class for about 3 hours. Not as much time as I had hoped, but it was still fun. Ella hung out with us a lot, making friends with Dora's friends and having fun. She especially liked watching the "Muttin' Bustin'" - remember the riding the sheep thing? She stood on the bleachers shaking her booty to the music and cheering whenever the audience did. It was a good time. Mom, dad, Kelli, and Kenna were out there too kind of doing their own thing. They took Ella for a while and Grandma took her to ride a llama. Of course, I totally forgot my camera, so no pics. I know, I know!!

After we left the fair, we picked Jason up from work and went home for a bit before deciding to take a drive out to Cabela's. We called Devin and picked him up on our way out. We had a good time. Ella likes all the animals, especially the catfish. We took Devin home and the Clutter family went out to dinner at Golden Coral. (Deeply jealous we do not have a Cici's nearby!) It was good food. We had only ever been for breakfast and dinner was very yummy. Turns out Ella loves shrimp as much as the rest of her family. YEA!!

Saturday, Devin and Kristy met us at our house around 11:00. (By the way Devin brought me some of his carrot cake. YUM! He's been practicing a double layer cake and enjoying the toys they got as wedding gifts. Not sure how his diet plan is going to work out for him....) Anyway, we picked up grandma Shirley and we all headed downtown. We spent about an hour, give or take, at Mobius Kids (the hands on kids museum). I'm not sure who had more fun, the kids or the boys. Oh yes, Devin and Jason found a lot to play with - I had to drag them out of there!

After Mobius, we went to lunch at Olive Garden. We had a very long, very satisfying meal including dessert. Dora told me her favorite part of the day was the pumpkin cheesecake she ordered. We left very, very full, but still walked over to the carrousel (yes, that's how it's spelled at this one). Jason took Dora and Ella for a couple of rides. Devin and Kristy went one time around with them. They all had a lot of fun. Once again, I am horrible parent and totally forgot the camera. So yeah, no pictures of the whole day. Sorry!

Dance

We have a dance on Saturaday but I dont think I'm going since all my friends have to wait till next year to go... and there are no guys in our stake worth going for! So it might be awile till I end up going to a dance.

Greetings from NC

I thought I would give this whole blog thing a try and see if it works.

So last week Meric had off from work. It was kinda nice to have a break were he didn't have to rush off anywhere or do anything. Wednesday night his parents came into town. It was a good visit. We showed them our lovely town of Fayetteville, saw some historic sights and went to the coast. It was a fun quick visit. And on 09/09/09 we got a new nephew, Nathan David Lee.

Speaking of babies, Meric's co-worker had a baby a couple weeks ago and we went to visit them last night. I love all their little features.

Tonight I get to go to Cici's for dinner. I know, I know that is not on the diet but I love it and truthfully I haven't completely gotten back in the swing of things since I have been home. But all that is going to change next week, Meric is less busy (so no more late nights) and we are going to start working out and stuff again. I will keep you updated on that and if any one wants to join us we can blog about it! Yay!

Thats all for now. Keep in tough y'all!

Welcome to Blogging!!!!!

Welcome to the Steen family blog! I know you think this is cheesy, but live far away and then come talk to me about it!

This is our family blog. This is a place where you can update everyone on your lives or just fun things. Devin, I want to hear about your honeymoon (not like that you perverts!). AJ, I want to hear about school and Jessica! Mandy, I want to hear about the dogs....and I guess maybe even Meric! Lissy, I want to hear about how dating the English guy from Montana is going! Dany, we need more pictures of those kids! Robbie, where you off to next? Kelli, how's it feel to be an adult in a month? McKenna, I want to hear about your fist dance! See how much we can share????

Here's the nitty gritty. You have all been invited to the blog. I'll make you admin once you register. This way you can be authors. (Devin, I need Kristie's email address). The downside is email notification. We can only notify ten email addresses whenever there is a new post. These have been reserved for the kids (minus Tara since she has no email address) and dad. Sorry to Mom, Jason, Meric, and Kristie!

If you are confused by the blog, play with it for awhile. There are also guided tours under help somewhere. Still stumped? I can help. Call me. This thing will accept links to webpages and pictures. So feel free to update, update, update!

Dad, I know there are many more people on the list for the Hillyard Herald. You can still send them a copy and even a link to the blog.

So...let's give this thing a whirl and see if we can stay closer as a family. And yes Robbie...I think we need to start planning family reunions!