Jensenpalooza

Why do birthdays last only one day? Well they don't at the Claytizzles. We celebrate for at least a week. It is a decision that the honoree makes. If they want something or want to do something they can justify it by stating that it is Jensenpalooza, Madisonpalooza or Parkerpalooza. This year, Jensenpalooza started on Wednesday. She wanted me to take her to Wal-Mart to just "look" at the mini-Puffer fish. I complied, after all Jensenpalooza had begun.

Fish-man Jimmy educated us in the pros and cons of the Puffer fish. They are not very social and very aggressive. In other words, we couldn't put them with any ol' guppy. They could, however, cohabitate with a "shark", aka "catfish". We deliberated. Jensen decided that the mini-puffer was just too stinkin' cute to pass up and the sharks were cool lookin' anyway. It would take 24 hours for the aquarium to regulate after it had been set up. An hour later we walked out with the aquarium starter kit.

Jensen's actual birthday was spent tye-dyeing t-shirts for girls camp. She didn't mind because that meant spending time with Jordan and Emily Mathews. We had to do the shirts twice because they looked more marble-dyed than tye-dyed.

Friday, Brittni, Brittany and Alana came home from school with Jensen for a sleepover. Melena came over later because apparently she thinks dance practice is more important (wink, Melena). Jeremy Watkins joined us for Kung Fu Panda. We just called him boy for the day because he was the only boy. Where is "the boy?"

Pizza and pasta were for lunch followed by a sprinkle cake from G-ma. Also in attendance were G-Pa, Jean and Elaine.

To finish the day we all went to the Primary pool party which was an absolute blast. Way to go Melody. It was only supposed to be until 6:00. I told Melody that she was going to have to tell me when to leave because I was judgement impaired. Relaxation was my drug of choice. She said she would. At 8:45 we all pretty much decided it was time to go. The kids' skin was wrinkled beyond recognition and Aislinn's feet were bleeding. That's hard core swimming.

Back to Jensenpalooza. Sunday, she graduated from Primary. Hoo-rah! I can't believe it. No more kids in Primary. At first, I was happy but now that pool parties are involved I might have to kidnap some younguns' for a ticket to the pool parties. We are so proud of Jensen and her accomplishments. She is looking forward to YWs and the Personal Progress program.

Jensenpalooza ended with dinner at the Ingalls. Jensen was the guest of honor so she got to pick the menu. Fry-bread tacos. Always a delicious treat. We were joined by Chris and Jessica. If you don't know the Ingalls I am sorry for you. They are the nicest, sweetest most generous people in the whole entire world. Thanks for a good time Roxanne and Mike.

Christmas Eve

Lew and Madison had to work today so we had dinner kind of late. Lew got off a little early so he finished Christmas shopping and started dinner. Jensen and I went to the mall. Madison was gonna cut Jensen's hair but she was slammin busy. So Jensen and I just shopped some more. Her friend Alana spent the day with us, too.

We had dinner of turkey, green beans, mashed taters, gravy and cranberry sauce. It was delicioso. As is tradition, we open one gift on Christmas Eve. Since Madison is a consumer now, she bought us gifts so we opened the ones from her. We also opened gifts from Jensen. Madison got me a gift set that included hair spray, mousse, shampoo and conditioner. It is just the right kind for my hair. It's funny because I was going to buy some Paul Mitchell this morning and she said, "No you're not getting that, it's too heavy for your hair. Just wait." And then surprise! She also bought me a wooden wind chime. Our neighbor has one and I like the way it sounds so I asked for one for Christmas. Jensen made me a cute little picture of a pig. She colored it purple with a green background. Purple is my favorite color. She is such a good little artist.

After the gift exchange, we watched A Christmas Story, which is also a tradition. It was a marathon so we started watching it towards the end and then watched the beginning. Even though we have the movie, we don't mind watching it on TV because we can get potty breaks.

Kimmy

Tonight we had Madison's friend Kimmy over for dinner. Madison met her in her Sociology class. When I first met her I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone because she is so much like Madison. They don't look exactly alike but I could tell that their personalities are very similar. Madison had invited Kimmy to institute and she has a lot of questions so we had the missionaries over to answer her questions. We also had my BFF Jean over. The missionaries taught a really good lesson.

We enjoyed spending time getting to know Kimmy. She seems very nice and she seems like a good BFF for Madison.

Church Bookstore

Today Madison and I went to the church bookstore. Of course, we couldn't just go straight to the bookstore we had to stop at the flea market. We finally made it. I bought Sheri Dew's latest book, "No Doubt About It". I always enjoy her talks so I thought I would enjoy her book. I also bought Believing Christ by Stephen E. Robinson. He was at Time Out for Women and he gave a talk that changed my whole perspective on the gospel, for the better, I might add. I already had the second book, Following Christ, so I thought I should get the first. Madison got a CD which was also a sequel by InsideOut. They are an a capella group that sings Primary Songs, amazing. Of course, we couldn't just come straight home, we had to stop at Target. I was looking for a gift for my mother whose birthday is today.

Happy Birthday MOM!

The Spencers

Happy Birthday MOM!

66 years young. We went to Ruby Tuesday's to celebrate mom's birthday. She was celebrating with a bunch of people that she works with so we went along. She has made a lot of very good friends and kept in touch with them since retiring. They seem right nice and friendly.

Happy Birthday MOM!

Christmas at G-ma Pat's and G-pa Don's

We had Christmas at mom's today. It was nice relaxing time. We stuffed our faces full of delicious food and then we openend presents. Then we took turns taking catnaps in between conversations. I think mom puts something in her food because we always fall asleep. Present at the party were the Clayton5, G-ma and G-pa, of course, Missy and her kids, Jerry, Tiffany and her fiance, Francois and Nick and his girlfriend's daughter, Skye. We scored good on presents. Mom always makes us a stocking gift bag plus we got gift cards to AMC theaters and Smokewood Grill, delicious.