Blake's 1st Birthday!

Can you even handle this smile??  

1st Birthdays are THE BEST!!! This little man is walking like a boss! He takes a minute to warm up, but once he does, he has a ready smile. Happy Birthday, Blake!! I love you! 

That's a good-looking crew right there. Big sisters Alexa Jo. and Cailin and big brother Ian! He got this awesome bubble gun and loved popping bubbles with his siblings. I always give a book for their first birthday. Kind of boring, I know.

My trip to Erie (plus a little MJ)

I know that I have other blog posts on my tradition of making the birthday celebration of every nibling. This is another year of first birthdays. MJ turned 1 in May, Hiro and Blake turned 1 in June, and Quincey will turn 1 in November. Also, Miles will turn 1 just after the new year.

For Hiro's birthday, I was able to fly out to Erie, PA for a short visit. Sachi and Kyle are great hosts! I was able to spend so much time with the kids, which is my favorite thing. Plus, we ate like KINGS at various restaurants and bakeries. We played on the beach of Lake Erie, visited Niagara Falls (even the Canadian side!), and I got to see my first firefly!.

Big brother/little sis - Porter is such a good big brother to MJ!

I asked Katie to send me a picture of MJ on her actual birthday (May the 4th be with you) and she would NOT smile. I told Katie that "she is not excited about turning a year older.
I get it, MJ...I totally get it."

Just a small collage of all the fun we packed into 5 days in Erie. Bottom left clockwise: 1-Picasso's is a delicious sandwich shop where they have painter's pallets for tables and chalk on the table for you to create your own masterpieces. The sandwiches are HUGE! 2- Sachi and kids walked all the way to Canada's side of Niagra Falls with me. It was absolutely stunning and I was able to check it off my bucketlist. 3-Hiro diving into his birthday cake, candid photos of Sachi, Kyle, and Emma on their back porch. 4 - Cupcakes from Icing on the Lake! They were celebrating their 5th birthday so we all got free cake pops. These cupcakes were amazing--one was even called "the bees knees"...and it was. 5 - on our way to the Cleveland airport, we briefly stopped by Kirtland and this picture is in their visitor's center. When I go back in May '17, I want to tour that place. 6 - Mi Scuzi (which I think means "i'm sorry") was DELICIOUS. I had THE BEST soup that was so creamy, I am certain I gained 10 lbs. Another good eatery. (It's probably more fancy than an eatery.) 7 - Lake Erie with my friends! A great time at the beach!

Can you see it? It's not a fleck on your screen. (Well, it might be. I don't know how dirty your screen is.)
A first photo of my fireflying experience. Fascinating!

My traditional gift to give 1st birthdayers is a book. That's not my____ series is a favorite that I get from Usbourne Books. This one is "That's not my tractor". He loved using his feet to feel the textures. Such a doll!!!

Hodge Podge start to June 2016

TBT--(This stands for Throw Back Thursday and is when you post a photo of something in the past on a Thursday. ) So Thursday, June 2nd marked this little (well, not-so-little anymore) sweetheart's 7th birthday. I CANNOT believe how fast they grow up. They have a tradition in their family that they get to pick the meals for the day. My brain cannot remember them all, but I do remember she chose crepes for one of them. Haha! She is a girl after my own heart!
 I love you Millie June!

Two of my Goff cousins, Nikki and Shelby, are expecting baby boys within 5 weeks of each other this summer. So they threw a combined baby shower for them. Both of them had Amazon registries (which, can I just say I LOVE Amazon!) so I was able to find some fun stuff from that to send to them. For Nikki, we sent an activity gym and a DARLING lobster hooded towel.
Our note said, ""Dear Nikki! Congrats on the upcoming arrival of your new little boy! We are sure happy for you and Bobby! Love, The Carol Mumford girls"

For Shelby we got a jungle crib bedding set. Our note read "Shelby!! Congrats to you and Jaren on the arrival of your new little one! We are so excited for you! Hoping he loves this darling Jungle-themed crib set you picked for him! We love you! Love, The Carol Mumford girls" It was a fun time, even though I couldn't stay long because I had another event to attend.

My friend, Desi (top middle) celebrated her 60th birthday on June 4th. Her family threw a surprise birthday party on June 3rd. It was so much fun! I love getting together with these PACRAO/UACRAO friends of mine. It will be 10 years since we worked together on LAC (Local Arrangements Committee) and we still get together at least twice a year. We pick up where we left off. I LOVE those kinds of friendships. 

Pictured here with me are James Crane, Desi Nielsen, Carol Sandoval, and LaDawn Miera. 

This week we had UACRAO (Utah Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers) at the beautiful Zermatt Resort in Midway, Utah. During peak season, a room is around $400 a night, but off-season it is much more affordable and then with a conference rate...we were blessed to stay there. UACRAO always has a golf tournament which I used to participate in with my Pop. He was THE BEST at coming and giving me pointers and  encouragement. This year, I just took photos of the golfers. UACRAO provided me with a camera and I apparently got carried away and took 990. Haha! This is especially funny because Casey Bullock (camera owner) said he had a blank SD card and so I had no limitations on how many pictures I could take. I jokingly said, "So 1000??" and he gasped and said, "Well, not quite that many." I thought MAYBE I had taken around 400-500. I'll have to see if I can get a picture of the group. I didn't take it with my camera. The picture I did get with mine were of these beautiful  purple flowers. 

They have this sign out in from of the Zermatt that points to various destinations like Mexico City, Paris, ext. I got a photo with me next to the New York destination.  I'm going to NYC at Christmastime  to see my parents on their mission. I canNOT wait!! I think I mentioned before that I am realizing they are not just on vacation and I miss them even though I get to "Hangout" with them every week. Still, I love that they are loving their mission and completely believe that what they are doing is the right thing. Grateful for technology that makes the 198 days (at the time this photo was taken) before I see them, go by much faster.

 

 When I was younger (ahem, MUCH younger) I was given counsel to always volunteer when someone asks for a volunteer--I have areas where I can improve on this, but generally, I will raise my hand and am often called on. This great advice got me a free CD from Nathan Osmond. I didn't know it at the time what I was volunteering for. But, all I had to do was read, in front of 200 people, a statement (part of which is shown here). My heart was pounding a bit, as I was a bit nervous. I was successful and validated that if Cambridge says you are smart, then you are smart. And I am smart enough not to argue with that! :)
Nathan performed a couple of songs for us and I also got to have lunch with him. Great guy! He has a song coming out this weekend that is perfect for Father's Day. I'll have to check it out.

This is my dear friend, Lori. We work together (in fact, she is currently my direct-line supervisor). One of our former student employees had a birthday on June 10th, so we took this picture in one of our conference sessions and posted it on his FB to wish him a Happy Birthday! She is so much fun. She has an indomitable spirit. We often joke of finding our rich sugar daddies and opening a floral shop in Paris...only, she's probably actually going to do it.
She recently got accepted to BYU's Executive MBA program. She's definitely going to rock that program. They will learn a million things from her. I'm not even kidding. 

                              

For the past 5 years, our little town of Clifton has been hosting an "All-night" softball tournament. It is part of their Founder's Day celebration where they fund-raise to pay for the fireworks for next year's Founder's Day.

 I know I shouldn't brag, but my family has won this tournament 4 times. I was hoping to make it a 5-peat, but alas...we met our match with a team from Tremonton (I only know them as The Whipple Team, because that is who paid the entry fee.) We had to play them twice since it was double elimination. We also played the Robinson-sponsored team twice, too. I do not know who was on the other teams...I think there was at least 1, maybe 2 more.

Great efforts by all.

I have also been the score keeper for all but one of these tournaments. I keep the score sheets, but Fielding had taken my score-sheet this time. So, I called him to text me the scores so I could report them to mom. This is what his text said "

First game- Mumfords-23 Robinson-6.
Second game- Whipple-16 Mumfords-4
Third game- Mumfords-23 Robinson-15
Fourth game- Whipple-16 Mumfords-11
love,
Fielding

 I love that kid. 

You can see in the 2nd game that Whipple's were strong and Mumford's were struggling. We held them in the 4th game, but they rallied and we ran out of time in our attempts at a rally. So much fun, though!!!

Pictured here are: Back row: Sky Petterborg, Clancey Sears, Ryan (he is a friend of the Gailey's), Dave Marriott (friend of Baa & Lissa's), Jeremy Ralphs, Josh & Calais Mumford
Middle Row: Trent & Ashley Mumford, Lincoln Mumford
Front Row: Fielding Mumford, Sara Nelson (Ashley's sister), Kate, McKay, Duke, Pierce, Baa, and Abram Mumford

The kids didn't play on the team, but they played during the intermissions. This time, one of our light-posts wasn't working, so we had some delay  while they were trying to fix it and difficulties seeing the ball in right field (cue music, Pop..."here in right field") when they couldn't get it to work. Thankfully no one got too hurt...I say this because I know Josh had a pretty nasty dirt/gravel scrape on his leg (even though he was wearing a slide sleeve) and Sky commented that the day after was a bit sore from all the swinging, diving for the ball, running, etc the night before. 

It's only been 5 1/2 years...

Well, as you can see it has been a while. But, I decided to do a little better record keeping of some of the more important events in my life. We'll see how long this goes, but I am hopeful it will give my parents an opportunity to know what is going on while they are on their mission. They are keeping a blog (rcmumfordmission.blogspot.com) so I thought I could step up my game, too.
Things I have learned...shorter posts=more likelihood that I will do it.
So, here goes Memorial Day weekend 2016

A beloved quote from the Sound of Music is "That is my mountain. I was brought up on it." That is how I feel about this mountain. It represents the good people of Clifton (as seen by the Ebanez home on the right.)

My family has a tradition of doing this NCAA March Madness basketball tournament. That is fun, in and of itself, but the real fun comes in our celebrating who best predicts the winner. We do a round-by-round contest AND a full-bracket one. When we first started, we would just keep track in a notebook. It was quite the fete to call every.single.person each round for their picks. But we loved it, and took it very seriously. When better technology arrived, my cousin Trent used to painstakingly enter each pick into this huge spreadsheet manually, after we would call, text, or email our picks to him. Now, gratefully, even better technology is being utilized and my cousin Josh creates a website where we can go in and put our own picks and see how we are faring against other.
"My family is more competitive than yours."..that could be our theme sometimes, and may very well be the theme of this whole weekend.
We presented "The Schooner" to Lissa for killing it in the round-by-round bracket. Aunt Lisa came in 2nd and I think Grace came in 3rd. (She was pretty chuffed about that placement.) Ashley took the prize for the winner of the full-bracket. She will get her named on the travelling basketball. 

For some reason, we have attached a beloved childhood movie to our celebration. "Blackbeard's Ghost" with its myriad of one liners and celebration of the weaker-turned-triumphant. It's influence is evidence in the emails we send to each other (my brothers and cousins are especially brilliant at bringing that out.) and right before we present the winners, we sing the following: 

Come Cheer up me lads, tis til glory we steer
With heads bearing high we will banish all fear.
 To honor we call you, are free men not slaves (Free Men!")
For who are so free as the sons of the waves?
Hearts of oak are our ships,
Jolly tars are our men
We'll always be ready, steady boy steady (Steady!)

We'll fight and we'll conquer (we'll conquer!) again and again!

(Once more lad. Sing out! ...DON'T MUMBLE!!!!!!)
See here: http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/File:Blackbeard%27s_Ghost_-_Heart_of_Oak_(English)

The last few years, we have added the acting out of some of our favorite scenes from the movie. (I wish I had video of this...it is always hilarious!) It may be a stretch to see the correlation between this film and our celebration, but it is so much fun. "GO! Godolphin!

So this NCAA celebration brought Aunt Lisa, Megan, Clancey, Marli, and Mckell, Baa and Lissa (Pierce, Jane, and Owen), Brad and Cassi (Alexa Jo., Cailin, Ian, and Blake), Trent and Ashley (Brooklyn, Ethan, and Addi), Mel and Sky (Saxon, Kyriae, and Scout), and me with Marc's kids. The cousins always have a great time together. I love this tradition--even if I didn't get photos.

Watching Noah stand and play with "toys". Love this little nibling so much!

Sunday night, we gathered again, at Katie and Sef's. With Memorial Day, Aunt Lisa asked everyone to come prepared with a memory of Grandma Betty Jo. Mumford. We prepared our favorite "grandma" foods --Nacho Doritos, cubed cheese, "ham bologna", crackers, and fudge. I love making homemade fudge for these gatherings. So many fun memories were shared. Her shoes, her love of the gospel, her ability to make everyone feel like the most important person in the room. Her finger dancing and worn out "squares" on the arm of the chair. Our collective roommates loved her--couldn't wait to come back for a visit. Our friends loved her--they all thought they were her favorite. She is complete goodness. We miss her so much.

Monday was Memorial Day. I hope I live my life in a way that expresses my gratitude for those who have served to protect the freedoms I have. I am grateful for my family. We have so much fun when we are together. We gathered at Katie and Sef's (my mom said she didn't know whether to call it her home, their home, or what? We said that it was all of those. :) ) Aunt Lisa and I had planned some games for the group. We divided the whole gang into groups and gave them a card of their list of activities.
Team 1 - Marc, Sef, Field, Saxon, Millie, Aunt Lisa, and any small kids that wanted to join
Team 2 - Hollie, Mel, Clancey, Max, Anslea, Kyri, and Linc...and any small kids that wanted to join
Team 3 - Kate, Marli, Grace, McKay, Will, Maggie, and Duke...and any small kids that wanted to join
Team 4 - Moff, Katie, Hazel, Mitch, Porter, Justice, and Abram...and any small kids that wanted to join...you're sensing the theme, huh?

We played the candy bar game, Cornhole, Boche, Cat & Mouse, King Bullfrog, and did a photo scavenger hunt. I'm totally glad we did the Scavenger Hunt, because I was able to get a few photos of the day. (Something I often struggle with on these kinds of gatherings.)
I love my family....SO MUCH!

Get a photo with your team in a human pyramid. [check]

Get a photo with your team by the rock in the front [check]

One of these teams looks a little more enthused at my game than the other. Haha.
Except you Marc, and maybe Field.
(Duke and Aunt Lisa are DQ'd. You were supposed to be IN the photo, friends!)

On the way back to my home in Salt Lake, I stopped by my brother Brad's. He and Cassi and invited over some friends for Memorial Day and had made carne asada. If you know me, you know this is a no brainer. I love good food, and Brad and Cassi make good food alllllll the time. I got there just in time for the kids to do their pie-eating contest. Such cuties! I love little Ian...the only boy...at the end. They were all great sports about it.

Alexa Jo. is on the left and Cailin and Ian are on the right.
Their friends Molly, Annie, and Clover are in the middle. 

Molly won, but Ian has the best face. 

Pierce turned 1!!!!

My 15th nibling celebrated his 1st birthday on November 4th, in Wichita KS. I was only able to go out for a few days, but Baa and Lissa know how to throw down a good time in a short amount of time. I LOVE spending time with them and Christmas won't come fast enough.

Why I'm not a fan of this sign...

...
I've become an advocate for men lately. I just see this attitude "sneaking" into pop culture where women are making men look like morons, useless idiots. I blame Claire Huxtable. (Maybe it's been "sneaking" in for a while.) Spiritually speaking, we know they are not morons, nor do they have the corner-on-the-market of doing stupid things. They are human, just like me.

People should never have to put someone down in order to build themselves up.This goes for fat women calling skinny women the "B" word just because they are thin or guys being portrayed as useless for anything besides parallel parking. (I'm guilty of thinking that at one time.) I maintain any man is better better at grilling steaks than I will ever be.

There are a lot of deadbeat men/husbands but I see an honest collective effort of men making an effort only to be thwarted by a prideful woman looking down on them because it wasn't done how they would do it. OR not acknowledging it because it was done by a man, so how good could it have been done?

I wonder if we told men how much respect we have for their hard working and good intentions, if it wouldn't have a positive effect on society. I have incredible examples of hard workers in my family and that is an attribute I look for in a potential mate. If he's out there and doesn't think that he's worth it...breaks my heart just thinking about it.

Anyway, I'm done venting. I am not usually this sensitive, but this subject has been on my mind for a while

Hey! It's not my birthday yet!

So, my 14th 1st birthday party is supposed to be on May 3rd for my darling niece Anslea McNeil Mumford. However, her mom thought it would be easier on the families to celebrate it during the weekend previous, and that suited me just fine. I love me a good party.



We met at Willow Park to see the animals.

Then went to USU's TSC to enjoy a meal indoors. It wasn't freezing outside, but chilly and this worked out perfectly. Hollie's family were also on hand to celebrate. Blake and Jane are just as cute as can be --they are Hollie's nephew and niece. I love Hollie's family--they are always fun to hang out with.

A Mumford-side family celebration followed on Sunday. I wish I could have been there, too. As I said, I love me a good party.
Here is a collage of her successful cupcake eating adventure. Video would have been better for the animated clapping and shrieks. But this will have to do.

















Happy 1st Birthday, Anslea!! I love you! You are too cute!!!