Missing a Friend

We heard tragic news about a good friend this week. Whitlund Cluff lived next door to us until last year. He was 7 years old and Josh and Matt always had a great time playing with him. I never worried when Wit was over. Such a sweet and smiley little boy. He sometimes had a bit of mischief in his eye-but he was never up to anything bad.

Wit had an accident this week and didn't survive. It was a bit hard on the boys. We went to the viewing on Friday night and that seemed to help them get closure. We planned on going to the funeral, but Josh said he really didn't want to because he didn't want to be sad anymore.

We talked about some memories the boys had of Wit, one of the sweetest things Josh said was "Wit was the best friend I ever had. He never fought with me." That was so true. I don't think I ever saw that little boy be mean to anyone. Josh always liked having Wit to play with at recess in Kindergarten, he was one friend Josh could always count on-and that helped Josh get through the social bit of Kindergarten.

Some other memories the boys had:
-They loved to play hide-and-seek with their toys outside and would spend a lot of time doing so.
-They liked to play "Knights of the Roundtable" with their swords.
-Matt remembered that Wit gave him some hiking sticks (which he still uses).
-I remember waiting for the boys at the bus stop and having wit come over to our house when his mom wasn't home yet (she had dialysis).

I was comforted at the viewing, it was one of the happiest viewings I've ever been to. I was a little surprised until I reflected on the experience later. Wit always brought peace and joy to those in life, why wouldn't it be the same at his passing?

We are sad to loose this friend, but grateful for the joy and memories he brought to our lives. Our hearts and prayers go out to his family.
I don't know how to do a link (apparently), but here's the address for his obituary: http://blackburnvernalmortuary.com/Blackburn_Vernal_Mortuary/Whitlund_Cluff.html

Johnson Reunion 2009

We gathered together again for the 9th annual Stan & Billie Johnson Reunion. Chellena was in charge this year and I'm not sure the cousins were ever more excited. They all adore their Aunt Chellena! If she ever went anywhere during the reunion, all the kids were looking for her. They could have cared less if their own mom was missing (the price we pay for being there for them everyday, I guess).



We had picnics, pictures (I don't have many of them yet), playing on the park, games, pinatas, Family Home Evening, RAIN, stories from the kids about ancestors (which was pretty fun), flying kites...lots of fun!



I'm not sure anyone had as much fun flying the kites as Keith did. At one point we found him snitching string from some of the kids who were finished flying their kites and adding it to one of the boys kites. He had at least 3 kite strings tied together to have the highest flying kite of the day. I think he only stopped because I gave him the "look". It was about to rain and there was thunder and lightening--I was sure he was going to get struck if he kept it up--or some other dumb thing would happen.

There were 2 pinatas, I didn't get a picture of the 1st, but here's the 2nd. I heard Dave call it the Madonna pinata. Fitting.

We all had a great time getting together with my family and also really enjoyed being able to stay with Mel and Cable in Tooele. I'm pretty sure Joe has adopted Melanie as his 2nd mom. Works for me!

Ah, More Mr. Potato Head

I think the glasses are the only thing we have left of the Mr. Potato Head we once owned. Matt found them and the results were picture worthy. What is it about kids and these glasses? What fun.

Poor little Keifer recently recovered from what the doctor said was "RSV in the wrong season, or infection from allergies" in addition to having 2 ear infections. The little guy began loosing weight and I was worried about him as he began to get better and he was fussing a lot. Mom was stressed a lot. Not eating very well during being sick didn't help. Result=we now drink formula, Keifer is chubbing up again, and he is a happier baby. Of course, he's only happy if mom is in sight. He has a bit of a fit if I walk away from him for any reason.

Funny story: Keifer kept getting mad at Matt last night (truly getting mad-it was funny). Matt didn't think it was funny. He kept saying that Keifer hated him and was extremely sad about it (tears were involved).

I asked why Keifer was mad at him. Answer: Because I didn't tell him "good night" last night. (Which he was mad that we didn't let him do the night before because it was really late).

Funniest part: I truly believe this story. Knowing the boys' relationship and personalities, I think this is probably what happened.

Preschool Graduation

Oh the fun we had this year with preschool. We had 7 great kids who got along (most of the time) and some of them even fell in love...well, I think Matt was already in love, but the apple of his eye happened to be in his preschool class. The mothers rotated turns teaching, which ended up being tricky at times due to 4 of us having babies during the preschool year. Our Principal Mindy did a great job coordinating everyone and everything.

Matt sure enjoyed preschool at everyone's house. His favorite part, I think, was Ashlyn's pink convertible. He told me on many occasions that he needed a car like that, and it could even be pink. Although, I'm not sure if it was the car, or driving around Ashlyn that was more fun for him. He once told me he loved her, but wasn't going to tell her until they were married. Good luck with that, bud!



Here are some pics of the kids at their graduation. It was a little bitter sweet. I am ready for a break from school, though. In fact, today we are cleaning house like crazy so we can play the rest of the week (with a break for this post, of course). The kids had fun and were sure cute.