Cluff Clan Unite!!!

For the first time in 2 1/2 years, the Cluff clan gathered together again. It was Easter weekend. We total 35 people now, but with that size of family, it's impossible to get every single last one of us together anymore, but this time we got close. We were only missing Scott (Melanie's husband) and Ammon & Kaylynn (Dane's oldest kids). Scott was in North Carolina working, Ammon was in Arizona on a mission, and Kaylynn was in Utah at college. So with the 32 that were able to gather, we packed in a lot of fun in a short time.

Dad and Mom (and Dad's famous bug eye),



Dane's family,




Dallas and Weston,



and Shira and Sophia (in case you've been under a rock for the last couple of years, Jeremy is no longer part of the family)



all live in Ashland, so they were already in town when everyone arrived. Everyone else made the trek back to the homestead sometime during the weekend.

Nial arrived from the Seattle, WA area with his fiance, Elle, on Thursday night.


Tasha and her family arrived from San Diego, CA just behind us on Friday night.




Daisha and her family flew in from London, UK




and pulled up with Mel and her family who flew in from Fayetteville, NC on Saturday afternoon.



Hyrum and I arrived from Myrtle Point, OR with our family on Friday night.









We started off the reunion by going to the neighbors house for a massive Easter egg hunt.





Then we went back to the house for biscuits and gravy (Cluff style).




After everyone had arrived, we went to visit Dane's family at their new house in Talent.

I LOVE it! It's got amazing curb appeal, which they deserved after their houses in Ashland and Coquille.


We colored Easter eggs and took a few fun pictures.







Here are the 5 sisters in the family, together again. To be fair, some wanted to shower and some wanted make-up, but we took the picture anyway just in case it was our only chance during the weekend. We fought over who had to sit on the ends since that always makes you look fatter.





Here we are again later, with showers and make-up. Ha! The skinniest ones had to stand on the ends! They just happen to be the oldest and youngest, since we're standing in age order.





4-5 years ago, all 5 of us sisters had children together in just over a year. Here they are in age order.


From left to right it's Joseph (Melanie's), Talea (mine), Dru (Tasha's), Tabitha (Daisha's), and Sophia (Shira's). Isn't it so fun that all of us had babies together? It wasn't planned either! It was purely coincidental. I found out I was pregnant, then Melanie confessed she was pregnant too (she was due 2 months before me), then Tasha found out she was pregnant, then Daisha got married (just after Talea was born) and quickly became pregnant, then Shira got married right after that and became pregnant. From oldest to youngest, they are 1 year and 3 months apart in age. The funny thing is, each of these kids is the last-born of my sisters, but Talea is my first-born, and I have 3 more kids now after her! Our 5 kids would all gravitate to each other to play since they're all the same age, and that was WAY too cute! Adorable little Joseph was the only boy, but the girls played with him just the same. Hyatt liked having Joseph to play with along with Dyson.


Since we got a picture of all the girls (we're all 2 years apart until Shira...she's almost 9 years younger than me), we had to get one of the boys.


This picture is typical of our childhood: the girls all together with their older brother goofing off around them. Bet you didn't know Dane could still ride a unicycle all these years later!



Then we got a picture of the girls with the sister-in-laws included (Elle isn't quite in the family yet, but she's engaged to Nial, so she counts now)



and a few of the boys with the brother-in-laws included (minus Scott).




And of course, one with the girls and mom, since she calls us her Barbies



and some of all the siblings.


(This is in age order: Dane, Melanie, Natasha, Daisha, Tiana, Shira, Nial, Dallas, Weston)


It was so much fun to be all together again! Such a rare treat! It's hard to make that happen with 9 siblings who are spread across the world, not just a state.

We had a traditional hot dog roast down by the creek on Saturday night. It wouldn't be a Cluff gathering without blackening an oversized dog over a pile of garbage and wood debris that mom's collected.



On Sunday, it was a triple occassion day. It was Melanie's birthday, Easter, and Paisli's blessing day. All of my siblings, even the ones who don't go to church, all joined us at church for the blessing, and that made it extra special for Hyrum and I. We've blessed all of our babies, except for Hyatt, in Ashland in order to have the most possible amount of family present with the least amount of travel. It's funny that Paisli was blesssed on Easter, because Talea was also blessed on a holiday: Fourth of July.




The blessing dress and bonnet Paisli is wearing is a family heirloom, which is why it is an aged white. My grandma gave it to my mom for Tasha's blessing, so Tasha wore it, then Daisha, me, Shira, and then Melanie's daughter (Kira), and then my daughters (Talea, Kiersa and Paisli). It'll keep getting passed on too.

Although Paisli seems fond of scowling all the time right now, she does smile a lot too.



We ate a traditional English Easter dinner that was soooo delicious. Daisha and Edward were the main cooks, with my dad and Melanie assisting. Edward even made his famous English roasted potatoes. I felt bad that the whole weekend I wasn't that much help to anyone when it came to cooking or doing Easter bunny stuff because I was constantly feeding a baby or wrangling my other babies, so things were done before I ever got a chance to step in. Oh, I did color a couple of eggs. My sisters are just so efficient about getting things done that it didn't seem to matter much anyway. My Johnson sisters are just like that too: completely organized and on top of every bit of planning and fixing. I stick out like a sore thumb in both families since I STINK at planning and I never seem to have enough time away from kids to get things done. Did I mention none of my kids were planned? That's how bad I stink at planning. Hyrum and I are last minute kind of people and fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants types.

So with Easter dinner eaten, and plans for Hyrum to pack up and leave in place, we finally gathered everyone together for a family picture. Now THAT will get your blood pressure up! It's tough getting 16 kids and all the adults to get in one spot and stand still and look at a camera! Luckily some relatives stopped by for a visit and they were able to take the picture so Melanie could be in the family picture for once (she's our photographer since she's a professional). AND, I finally got a picture of Kiersa's adorable baby teeth (she already chipped a bit of one front tooth somehow).


When it came time for Hyrum to leave, I about cried. I'm never away from Hyrum, so the thought of leaving him, or him me, brings me to tears. Plus, I'd have to take care of all the kids for several days without his help, and hook up the trailer and haul it home without his help, and I didn't want to be without him. I felt very torn because I wanted to be with my family still, but I didn't want to be without Hyrum. Then, I realized that Tasha was leaving in the morning anyway, Nial was leaving Tuesday morning, Mel would soon be going up to her mother-in-law's house, and Daisha was planning on coming to my house in Myrtle Point in a few days, and I see the rest of my siblings regularly. So then I didn't feel so guilty about leaving everyone. I told Hyrum I was going with him, so we downloaded the pictures off everyone's cameras, gave our goodbyes, and headed home.

Just in time too, because Kiersa came down with diarrhea the next night that made a mess in her bed (I'm so glad she wasn't sleeping in my trailer for that), Tilly came down with a bit of the same case, Paisli was getting sick, and Hyatt was still on antibiotics so he needed to settle down and not be playing so hard every day. I'm thinking that the sickness will never end. I can't remember what it feels like to have everyone healthy. Actually, during the weekend, I think I went almost 2 whole days without having to wipe a nose (after over 2 straight months of wiping at least one nose each day), and then it all started up again with Kiersa, Paisli and Hyatt.

Anyway, Easter was fun, and since it will probably be another couple of years before we can all gather together again, I'm glad we had the chance to play for the short time we did.

Oh, I finally gave in and bought matching outfits for my girls (I used to think that was kind of corny to do, but I think it's fun now). Gotta love the rainbow retro dresses! I actually found one in each of their sizes! Shocking, but true.