Jan 30th

Great week of warm weather and near perfect surf. Michele and I have been a little under the weather with a cough that won't quit. It's frustrating but it doesn't stop me.

I took the varsity scouts skiing to Big Bear. The first photo is a picture of half of our crew. 

The next photos are Trevor Joyce with the ski patrol and in the First Aid center. Trevor broke his arm flying off a jump and landing on ice. The snow coverage was minimal at best and unsafe at worst. He broke it at 11 am and our other leader, Ty Mathis, took him and his brother Weston and Jadon (Weston and Jadon are the two scouts that were with me last year when I tore my ACL while skiing EPIC conditions at Big Bear). Luckily they all had their passes reimbursed due to Trevor's arm.

This picture is of me standing where I landed when I snapped my ACL. The huge cliff to where I'm pointing is where I came flying through the trees (we had 5 feet of snow over EVERYTHING last year) and flew off the rock/cliff and landed on the flat main frail. It was snowing very hard, blizzard conditions so I didn't realize that I was flying off onto a flat run. I thought it had some slope and that it would have powder. It felt a lot bigger without all the snow on it like it did last year.

The rest of us staying and skied. I shot video for most of the day and created a little ski video for the boys. They LOVED it. Probably the first time they've really ever been filmed skiing before. The day was great besides Trevor breaking his arm in 3 places and Jacob Banks  blacked out after an ugly wreck. He literally was beating the stuffing out of his head falling off of ramps and killing himself on the terrain park - not that he can afford to lose any stuffing by the way! Yehaw!!

I also signed up to go to Philmont Scout Ranch this summer from July 24 - August 8th, 15 days in total. One of our leaders who planned the trek can't go so they needed a leader. Granted that all the boys are varsity scouts, my boys, I was not planning on taking 15 days out of my family's summer vacation plans but I felt impressed to go. And Rachel Hazen wants me to go to Philmont because RJ is going. RJ is 14 in March and he's 6'1" and still growing. Wow! So I'm getting geared up and educated on what exactly Philmont is all about. After reading more about it tonight, I'm a little surprised I made such a big decision without reading what exactly I'm in for. It's going to be tough. We hike over 100 miles with 30-35 pound packs and literally campout in the total wilderness for 12 straight days. As I remember from Colorado, it rains almost every afternoon as the thunderstorms come over the Rockies. Philmont is in north New Mexico and is due south of Denver. Now I need to get into P90X shape because it's rough.

Kate had a HUGE birthday party at Kayla Parry's house and she was gone for most of Friday and all of Saturday, taking time to sleep at home for a couple of hours in between days. They had so much fun. Emily and Andrew are doing very well as we have gone bike riding and enjoying the summer-like weather.

Jan 23rd

This year is already flying by. We had a great week of activity. I had a huge varsity scout huddle with our while district. I was able to display and present my (turns out to be very unique) high adventure trip surfing from Pismo Beach to San Onofre. We had a mission president who is over the Salt Lake City mission speak to us. His talk was on "Great missionaries come from great scout leaders". He talked about how we have a tremendous influence over these boys because they see us outside of the shirt and tie in a church. They see us on campouts, hikes, surfing and lobster diving. They see us as the example of what they'll become. If we talk about our missions and are excited for them, they'll want to go too. Scout trips are the best way to get to know the "real" scout. We can talk to them in the mountains or on the ski hill. We talk while warming by a fire. The idea is to show them of what their life can be like if they follow the prophet. It really made me think about what I do and how I act with the scouts.

We went to the temple yesterday and had a great session with the other relief society presidents in our stake. The stake president held a special chapel session too. We went with an older couple, the Farnsworths. Marie is Michele's first counselor. Her husband is so funny and cool. Keith was in the US secret service a guarded Nixon and Ford. He has plenty of great stories. We all went to eat at BJs pizza afterwards and made a real night of it.

Kate had her last all-star soccer game. The game was lopsided 11-0 but those other girls were all 6'4" and outweighed me. So could kick the ball almost the entire length of the field. It was unreal to watch them play. Kate played very well and we are very proud of her.

This week is going to sunny and warm again, touching 80 on Thursday. I'm going to surf my guts out all week. This last week was an unbelievably great week of surfing. It feels better than any day all summer last year. It's incredible. I'm taking the scouts to Frank Reade's house on Thursday for a welding demonstration and then taking the scouts skiing at Big Bear on Friday. It'll be 50-55 degrees out and I'll be skiing very easy so no concerns. We all should have a great time.

2010

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free… Come all ye surfers, dancers, RV’ers, runners and athletes who are sore and trashed. Come hither ye who have been rushed to the ER, surgically repaired, rehab tormented, and sick with oink flu. We have room…. for you losers” These immortal, yet slightly altered, words of Emma Lazarus have never been truer for the Cliffords. For example, 4 of us had stitches or major injury. We had the croup, strep, and colds, colds, colds. Had our ups, had downs…  It was a little black and blue, but 2010 was quite memorable. Take a look.

Chad – This year I was viciously dog piled by pain and misery. First came misery in the form of swine flu. Almost died… well it felt like it. Fresh off my bout with oink flu, came the pain. I took my varsity scouts up to Big Bear ski resort on a perfect day of fresh powder. On my last run of the day, I snapped my ACL jumping off a rock. Ouch! Stupid is as stupid does. Had surgery. Knee looked like hamburger. Totally gross. Going through rehab. Lots of pain. Life stunk and I cried daily. However, I decided to turn my frown upside down and get my “fun” on.  I took those same varsity scouts for a week long “surf fest”, high adventure, in our RV, stopping at all of the famous southern California surf breaks. Malibu, San Onofre, Pismo Beach, etc. Scouts sleep outside, leaders inside. YPG. Oh yea, we are RVers. It’s the best investment in family. Tons of fun! I can’t wait to explore all of CA. For those who know me, I’m a closet rocker, G & R, AC/DC, Red Jumpsuit, etc.  So for Halloween, I dressed up as Bret Michaels. All women ogled me, all dudes respected me. Pictures upon request. 2010 also allowed me and my lovely wife to take a 15^th year anniversary cruise. Best trip ever!

Michele – Still relief society president and temple worker at the San Diego temple. How does she do it? Superhero? Yes and she is amazing! Let me explain. She ran the Ragnar race with friends in April, a 24 hour race that covers roughly 200 miles. 200 miles people.  Ouch! She also ran the Mud run at Camp Pendleton. Quite the athlete. Settle your kettle, there’s more. 


Michele and her lady friends went on a girls’ cruise (notice the cruise theme) and they went crazy. How so? Michele was partying like it was 1999 on the dance floor and dislocated her pinky toe. The exact details are fuzzy, but the result was a pinky toe at a 90-degree angle. That’s dedication to fun. For 2010, Michele stepped up her soccer mom status to the elite level. She had all 3 kids in soccer… all on separate teams and games every weekend. And, she volunteered to be team mom.

Kate – 12 and officially a young woman, middle school (along with a budding teenage attitude), cross-country animal, soccer star and honor roll student. Impressed? You should be. Kate is now playing two instruments, piano and clarinet. She also danced hip-hop, sang in the choir and leaps tall buildings in a single bound. Is that it? Hardly. Kate is also quite the athlete. She learned to surf and did a cheerleading camp with Emily. Kate really had a good year in soccer, despite the team’s lack of victories. She made the all-star team and is gearing up for next month’s games. She ran cross-country at school. We didn’t even know she liked to run. She must take after her mom. I only run if chased… bad knee and all. We loved going to her meets and watching her run. She also discovered Magic Mountain – the home of the big thrill rides. While I peed my pants just looking at Goliath, there was no thrill too big, no ride too fast for Kate. As the big sister, she is such a wonderful example to her siblings. We couldn’t ask for a better oldest daughter.

Emily – 9 and fine with a healthy mix of diva and star athlete. She played soccer and made $5 per goal. Bled me dry. Emily is now surfing, ripping the waves. She made honor roll in school. Emily is a real self-starter and entrepreneur. One day she came home with a Spanish book and pronounced that she was learning Spanish… in her free time. She now raps Spanish with her mom and grandpa. Hola! Emily also decided she needed some spending money, a little weekend cash sort of thing. Did she ask us for money? No Señor. Next thing we know, she is on the corner of our street shaking down all the neighbors for dollar shots of lemonade. She picked a few perfect days and ended up making a boatload of Dinero. She’s now the official breadwinner of the family. Emily also ran track, representing her school at a big meet. She was fast! As far as Emily is concerned, all the world’s indeed a stage. She loves dance, hip-hop, show biz kids, show choir and piano. We made the mistake of letting Emily plan her own birthday party. She invited 30 of her closest friends to a backyard movie night. We are still cleaning up to this day.

Andrew – 4 and sporting plenty of machismo. Andrew is 100% boy. He loves the rough and tumble. He loves video games, playing baseball, soccer and football with dad. His soccer team was… not good but he had fun. Andrew is into Star Wars. He was a star in Jedi training at Disneyland and then promptly fell to the dark side. He was Darth Vader for Halloween. Andrew, like his mom, dad and sister Kate had a nice trip to the ER… but for stitches. He slipped and cracked his melon on the kitchen counter. Amazingly, Andrew didn’t cry, even at the hospital while they stitched his eyebrow closed. He definitely got his pain tolerance from his mom. Andrew and I are best buds. We go on the father and sons campouts, Disneyland trips, eat out at In-n-Out, play xbox, and we love going to Anaheim Ducks and San Diego Padres games. Andrew loves to stand up and yell, “Let’s go Ducks!!!” He’s also my big helper around the house. No task is too big for him. Andrew is seriously a cute kid. Not that he needs to, but he likes to remind people not only that he’s handsome, but that he’s awesome, fast and strong. He has no problems with self-esteem. However, Andrew is a giver too. He loves to compliment others. He tells friends, family, police officers (he likes the uniforms) and an occasional Best Buy employee that they are handsome, strong and fast. Andrew is the son that I’d always wanted. He’s incredible. My best buddy.

Snowball Clifford– Yes she’s a part of the family, barely.  She made it a whole year without getting kicked out of the house. It was pretty much touch and go for a while. Why you ask? Well, she failed puppy training at Petsmart, chewed everything valuable in sight, and often would dig in the mud ripping up my sprinkling system. Her new nicknames – Mudball and Chewball. She wore the cone of shame briefly when she was spade, which helped cut down on the chewing. All in all, she’s a part of the family…. for now. Kidding. However, given the choice between me and snowball… the vote is snowball.

2010 highlights – Camping in the RV. Family reunions to Bear Lake, Utah (20 hours each-way), Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm, Magic Mountain and Legoland. Beach days, soccer camps at BYU, going to the San Diego zoo, 4^th of July and of course loads of friends and family who came down to have fun. Merry Christmas and may 2011 be fantastic.

Michele came across a touching address that Elder Holland gave at BYU (Ensign Dec 1977) that is definitely worth reading. In it, he recalls Dr. Suess’s How the Grinch stole Christmas. It sums up what Christmas is really about, our Savior Jesus Christ. The Grinch can find the true meaning of Christmas, and you can too. With all of our love, we wish you a Merry Christmas.