i am a printing press!

so i guess i was in the mood for the last little while, 

cause i have been busy "making things."

i found this on this etsy site and got me an idea:

so i just printed this, and i love love it!!!

once i figure out how i want it on his wall, i will post that too...

and for those who have asked,

here are the links to print these.  

i personally like the way they look on cardstock 

{you will ant true white} 

but of course you can print them at costco too.

downloadable 11x14

{some needed red, and i completely understand the need...}

downloadable 11x14

let me know if you have any other requests!

i HEART conference

watching conference was inspiring {as always}

but when cc came home from priesthood meeting 

with a great quote from pres. monson's talk, 

i just wanted to make something. 

get it out of my system, if you will.

"choose your love, 

love your choice."

i listened to his great talk and notice's that a handful of others talked about love too.

it is fun when a different phase of life causes you to hear new things...

we heard a lot about marriage and love, but a lot about being parents.

it made for a happy day at the clifford house.

you can listen to all of the talks here.

so, in honor of my future bedroom redo,

and a current trend that i happen to enjoy,

gray + yellow subway art for our love room.

and i love it.

hurry future,

we need a house!

a little help from giselle

yesterday i went walking.

i live next to a beautiful park in one of the prettiest nooks of central california

with perfect weather.

and yet i drag myself out wishing i had a buddy or an appointment to make me go.

i walked up to the duck pond and the ducks did something 

i haven't seen in my afternoon walks.

they chased me- with mouths open wide.

i was a little afraid to be honest...

maybe they were getting back at me

for all the years of running through them to watch them flail around...

when i got deeper into the "forest" we call it,

i came across many squirrels that did the same thing.

followed me like giselle- just running beside me and looking up to be sure i was still there.

it was cartoonish.

 i was about to start talking to the little guy,

 when i looked up and noticed an older man coming around the corner.

he had a little rodent tailing him too.

that cute old man had a bag of [i assume old] bread

that he was tossing out to the animals
he looked positively charmed with the task.

maybe it was the conference i was listening to or the breathtaking morning,

but the little scene grabbed me.

how many mornings have these little animals spent following this guy?

maybe this is HIS appointment.

maybe he feels like the little guys depend on him now

lets just say i will be bringin some sustenance with me on my walk next time.

and it just might help me keep my appointment too

[today was canceled- due to the lovely rain]

one of my favorite things on tv

along with being the first day of fall

(cause august still sounds too summery... 

AND it rained today!)

this weekend is for conference

8 hours of wisdom and goodness.

already, i have been given a swift kick in the spiritual pants

and i am excited for more.

"Charity is having patience with someone who has let us down. It is resisting the impulse to become offended easily. It is accepting weaknesses and shortcomings. It is accepting people as they truly are. It is looking beyond physical appearances to attributes that will not dim through time. It is resisting the impulse to categorize others.

...In a hundred small ways, all of you wear the mantle of charity. Life is perfect for none of us. Rather than being judgmental and critical of each other, may we have the pure love of Christ for our fellow travelers in this journey through life. May we recognize that each one is doing her best to deal with the challenges which come her way, and may we strive to do our best to help out.

-President Monson 

(RS Broadcast Sept. 2010)

Thanks Tommy,

I needed that.

highlights

dear blog,
i wanted to repent for being neglectful....

here are some weekly highlights:


· had a meltdown because of my suspicious recent weight gain
and my inability to make it stop last week,
then listened to a talk on saturday morning that reminded me not to care.
and i cried:

"He loves us because He is filled with an infinite measure of holy, pure, and indescribable love. We are important to God not because of our résumé but because we are His children. He loves every one of us, even those who are flawed, rejected, awkward, sorrowful, or broken. God’s love is so great that He loves even the proud, the selfish, the arrogant, and the wicked."
-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

· spent the night playing house and watchin the niece so another one could come.
i like playing mom.

· baby Chantelle Lorraine Moffat was born at 5:11 on 10.5.2009.
7 pounds, 9 ounces of adorable joy.


· yesterday i was listening to my talk radio podcasts on my phone,
cause i have culture,
and heard that obamanation won himself a nobel "piece"
for "capturing the world's attention" and "inspiring hope"
where is michael jackson's piece then?
ironically, i just lost hope in the nobel peace prize...
11 days? you gave the man 11 days to be in office
before nominating the man for changing the world?!
...don't get me started...

· my coworker who never does anything for anyone else,
helped a student at 5:05.... (after his shift!).
he declared, "today will go down in history!"
a breakthrough that makes me smile.

· after not feeling so awesome for the past few days,
and coming home a groggy hot mess everyday,
i got into the car after work yesterday,
rolled the windows down,
blasted some tunes,
and sang along.
smiling the whole way.
a surge of happiness for no reason except that God loves me.

· then we played with some cute friends
long overdue!
ate good food,
laughed a lot,
and went home with smiles on our faces.

today?

today i have 2 years of homework to do...
and i have about 100 blogs left to read...
and groceries to purchase....
and a gym i should visit...
a baby i need to play with...
and a husband to spend ample time with slash go make breakfast for like now...


so far, i'm O for 6.

He gave me a swing...

It wasn't long ago that I was sitting at "Big Kid" school, wishing for sand and a swing, you might recall it.

This weekend was, as most know, general conference. I spent all of Sunday at my adorable bishop's house. As we helped him to flip pancakes, I just thought of his cute teenage boys that must have been woken up the morning previous at 7 am with the news of said occasion and had to clean the 3-story beast. Bishop's house comes complete with a theater room and two others well-equipped for TV-watching... with the facility and the amazing persons that occupy it... lets just say it's awesometown.

Two hours later, after we had heard from some of my favorites- Eyring who taught me to look for more blessings in my life and write them down, Cook who taught me not to fear, Costa, who reminded me how precious my family is to me, Bednar who always makes me kick it up a notch, and Gordon B, who can't help but make me smile and reminds me what a joy life is- even at 97.

Then we had another full meal, but instead of eating- we went on a walk. Hoping to find where the road led to (near my bishop's house in Alpine) we randomly discovered a small park. Get the picture: This neighborhood is up on a hillside and the park is on flat ground. The houses in view are all ginormously amazing country cottage-looking houses, most of them with barns and ranches attached. This is fresh out of Anne of Green Gables or something... picture perfect. The park had a tire swing, and those bars we use to tie our sweatshirts on and swing around... it was awesome. The air was crispy and it felt like Christmas and I was 10... still no swings.

Then I discovered a small pathway on a hillside near the park. I jokingly shouted, "this must be the trail to the swings!" I ran up it so it only took a minute and when I got to the top, guess what I found? Swings!! The swings faced the incredible view of the countryside with mountains on the left. You could see all of the cute houses and wide open spaces. The cold wind would smack my face along with my huge hair and I even leaned back and came up again so it would tickle my insides and make me giggle like I was 5 again. I smiled and thanked God for the moment.
I needed a swing.