Merry Christmas

I hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas. We are sad we didn't get to see any of you, but we thought about all of you. We are doing well, and looking forward to the new year. Let us know when the Family Reunion is going to be because we want to come to it!

Love,

The Cluffs

GRADUATION

Apparently the Yardley communication system from Logan to southern Utah has been broken and the information hasn't been transmitted but I am finally at the end of my college career. I am graduating this coming Saturday Decemeber, 13 from USU. I can not believe I am not going to have to go to school anymore. I only know how to go to school what am I going to do with myself. I guess I will have to grow up now.

Here they are. The cutest kids on 7th street. We had a good time this year trick or treating in Glendora historic discrict during the day and then at our ward party at night. I took a bag along for Landon. I know he can't eat it all, but I can help him.
Hayden was Woody riding Bullseye from Toy Story. He would put on his horse and run through our one walkway yelling, "to infinity and beyond."
Landon was a cow. He thought it was o.k. We wanted to make him a koala, but those costumes were $80. Who has $80 to spend on a costume. I bought his thinking he could fit into a 12 month size. It was a little tight. So we added some hoofs at the knees. Sigh. The kid is 23 lbs now and growing.

LA county Fair

Before school starts for Serge, we spent Saturday doing a few things. The boys washed the cars while I went door to door for proposition 8. That was really a good experience.
Then we headed out to the LA County Fair. We had a really good time. The boys were entertained immensely. I think my favorite part is that they have a different breed of horse every day. The expert tells you all about how to recognize the horse to it's history. It was fascinating to me. We learned about the appaloosa. Serge and I also enjoyed the showrooms. Who can resist a deal? However, I can't believe how expensive the food was. $7.50 for a hot dog and I have to put the mustard on it myself? Seriously folks, something is wrong here. I think Hayden's favorite part was watching the barrel racers. As soon as the horse would get into the arena he would shour, "Go!" usually the horses did what Hayden said, despite their riders.
All in all, I wish the LA fair would magically turn into the Utah State Fair.






Landon was exhausted.

Half Marathon

Well we did it!!! We ran the Top of Utah Half Marathon. It was so much fun. There were 1200 runners who crossed the starting line. Apparently the number changes by the time people cross the finish line. My mom was a little worried about all the people at the starting line, but I was more worried about all the people waiting in line for the port-of-potties. Rule number one of racing is always use the bathroom before a race. That was my main priority. The race turned out pretty good. My mom and Krista both got 2nd in their age division. I got like 29th or something like that. We all finished under two hours. My goal time was 2hr and 10 min so I was really happy with my time. I would have liked to go a little faster. I probably should have but I got some wicked blisters about mile 10, just where Travis was filming us. I do not look like I was enjoying life, but then I remembered only three more miles. As I was nearing the finish line I have never been so excited to finish a race before. One thing I couldn't believe when I did finish though was all the the runners doing a cool down along the race course. Who cools down after 13.1 miles of running? I was exhausted afterwards. They had an awards ceremony that I was happy to sleep through. Surprisingly, the biggest complaint from all of us who ran about sore muscles were just our quads. I definately think I will run that race again so if anybody would like to join me I would love a racing partner. Well I should probably get back to the homework that I am trying to avoid.

Twin Falls

I am finally trying this blog thing out. Thanks for setting it up. It will be so nice to be able to see what everybody is doing. I have been meaning to set one up for Travis and I but this summer has been crazy busy!!! Well to update everybody on what we have been doing I will start with this past weekend. My Mom, Vanessa, and Krista came up to visit us on Friday. On Saturday my Mom, Krista, and I woke up and went on a long run to prepare for our Half Marathon this coming weekend, Aug 23 here in Logan. After we cooled down we all headed up the road Twin Falls to go the temple open house with some of our old neighbors from California. They actually live in Twin Falls now and keep commenting on the "beautiful Mormon building". It was fun to go through the temple with them. The Temple is so beautiful. The sealing rooms there are huge, well one of them is. It could fit the whole family with room left over. That never happens. So for those who are not married keep that in mind. J/K. We spent the rest of the weekend in Twin Falls then it was back to work on Monday. My Mom and the girls got to spend the day shopping and getting Krista ready for school. We helped move Krista into her apartment on Tuesday. It will be fun to have family in Logan again. Krista usually comes over for Sunday dinner. She has to try all of my experimental cooking, lucky her!!! We all went Miniature Golfing last night. It was so much fun. We all thought my Mom would put us to shame with all the golfing she has done lately. Apparently, she works more on her long game. Travis and I actually tied for first. I love when that happens Travis is so competitive. It is fun to give him some competition and watch him squirm. My Mom and Vanessa left on Wednesday, however, they will be back on Friday. Our Half Marathon is this Saturday and I am so excited. It follows the same path as the Marathon that Greg and Melinda ran last year. I haven't quite decided if I could ever run for 26 miles like Greg and Melinda did. I will let you all know how the race goes. I can predict how it will turn out but..... My Mom keeps talking about how to prepare for the race with eating and resting. I keep telling my Mom thanks for the advice but I am just looking to finish not win the whole thing. Well I wish I could post some pictures of the weekend and everything that has been going on but we have lost our camera unfortunately.

Our Summer

Well Yardley Family,
we just wanted to share with you what we've been doing this summer. Since I'm not in contact with a lot of you, I would love to hear about your summer too. Serge finished his 4th year of School at Cal Poly Pomona in June. We have one more to graduate from Architecture school. We are more than ecstatic for that day!
Then we took a quick trip out to Tennessee for Serge's sister's wedding. She was married on June 21st. Her husband is not in the Army(like Tammy), but climbs and repairs radio towers all over the U.S. with his family. They own a ranch. They entertained us well. We went horse back riding a couple of times, ate MRE's, some of our family went caving and my favorite was the "hick swing." They hooked a rope to a scoop tractor and then we harnessed up. It was like nothing I've ever seen.
We also visited The Hermitage, the home of President Andrew Jackson.

It was pretty cool. Then we visited the Country Music hall of Fame. I like the cars that they had on display. I would recomment it to those visiting. We then got sodas at the local Soda shop. I'd never had an old time soda and it was pretty good, although, I would recommend a fruit flavor to those of you trying it for the first time.


We also celebrated Landon's 1st birthday. It was an emotional one for me. He's overcome so much. He's such an example to me. He's survived almost every organ failure and three open heart surgeries, plus one other surgery to place his feeding tube. We're so glad to have him in our family and he's such a joy to be around--always happy.
In July, Serge's Grandpa Woodruff hosted us in St George for their family reunion. We stayed in condos and had lots of "structured" time. 6:15 morning walk, 6:45 devotional, 7:00 breakfast, 8:30 toddler time, 9:00 youth games, 10:30 carmel making demonstration, etc. It was really fun and a good getaway for me.
We stayed in a three bedroom condo with Serge's brother and his family. I felt like I was in a palace-- compared to our 400sq. foot home. The only down side was the heat.
Then, we missed testimony meeting in order to slip away to the Yardley family reunion. We had a good time there. It was way too short of a time to catch up with everyone that I haven't seen for years. The food was great and the company better. My favorite part was when Aunt Mildred kept saying, "Roy will be so mad." I'm not sure how much she remembers at 97, but she remembers that:)
One the way back we stopped by Charlotte and helped her get settled into her new home. It's a cute little place, that is just the right size for their family. He twins are sooo cute. They will turn one on Aug. 21st. Talk about spitting image of parents--that's Sydney to her dad and Sadie looks like a Yardley through and through. Char's an amazing mom!
We went to the Orange county fair. That was fun. It's always a treat watching Californians(I am one of them now, so I can say this) react to horticulture. They grow a real garden for display every year, since Californians don't know how to--or have any land to do so. One lady was talking to her five year old and said, "honey, look at these. It's like Jack and the Bean stalk." She was pointing to string beans. Honestly people. Seeing cows and pigs is just fascinating.
Hayden had his third birthday on the 12th.


(This is the boys at our camp spot playground)
I can't believe he's getting so big. Time really does fly. He's so smart and fun. He makes me laugh and cry all the time. Mostly laugh though. We had a small birthday party for him and then went camping this last weekend.
(Hayden at San Antonio Falls)
It was a good time--and he got some time on a pony. We have just a short time to go before school starts again and we're excited.
I am busy staying home and trying to keep on top of all the appointments and spending one on one time with the kids and my hubby. Sigh, I'm exhausted. We are excited to travel a little more, since Landon's health allows and he tollerates it more. All in all, we've enjoyed the summer.