Claymanda

For the last six months we have had the privilege of being "homeless" at Clayton and Amanda's, or as we like to call them, Claymanda's. It was probably the funnest and best six months we have seriously ever had! We all got along so well and had such a blast. I couldn't believe how fast we were settled in and felt at home. I think we were all a little nervous when we first moved in.....we weren't sure what to expect and didn't want to step on each others toes or have it get awkward, but thankfully it really was such a wonderful experience and I will cherish that time we had with them forever :) 

Now of course it wasn't always a party and there were some not so happy moments, but luckily we can all laugh at them now and they only add to the many fun memories that we had there. So without further adieu I would like to give to you.......

                                               CLAYMANDA VS. DAVIS
                TOP TEN BEST AND WORST MOMENTS!!!!! 

10- Worst- We moved in the same weekend Clayton and Amanda came home from the hospital after having their baby boy Jonathon. We felt horrible moving in all our stuff and having all these people in their home when it should be calm and peaceful with their new little newborn. To make matters even worse, Sam got the croup that same week so we basically hid in the basement until he got better. I'm SO glad baby Jonathon was fine and luckily he never got sick from any of our germs......phew!

9- Best- Bacon Sunday's - For a while there when we had nine o'clock church (and when Kevin was working at Winder Farms) we would come home from church and make a ton of bacon all together and have a bacon party! Well I guess I should clarify that it was mainly me, Kevin, and Clayton who participated in this bacon fest......(Amanda is seriously the most healthy and disciplined person I know!) It was so fun and so delicious! Mmmmm man I sure loved our bacon Sunday's :)

8- Worst- The bathroom ceiling - I mentioned this in another blog post, but it had to make the list. While I was using the bathroom a piece of the paneling in the ceiling fell down right onto my head and boy did it hurt! I must have screamed when it happened because Kevin came running in and then I started screaming even more for him to get out! haha :) Lets just say it was a painfully embarrassing experience ;)

 


7- Best- Game Nights - We would sometimes play games together after we put the boys down for bed and it was so much fun! We liked to play Clue, but one night we played Would You Rather and we all got out of control!!! We started making up our own "would you rathers" and wow it got pretty crazy! I'm debating whether or not I should share any of them........(they got a little too out there if ya know what I mean).........ok I guess I better share at least one now.....I came up with this one and said, "Would you rather be mauled by a bear and die or kill ten people and get a million dollars for doing it?" Then Kevin asked, "Well what kind of people?" (because apparently that would make a difference) and Clayton immediately said, "Asian children"........... it was silent for about two seconds and then.........Baaaahahahahaha! We lost it! Oh I am crying I am laughing so hard just thinking about this! It was so funny! Don't judge....it was late and just so random and I'm pretty sure we had a lot of sugar in our system ;) 

6- Worst- Sam and Baby Jonathon - Sam is definitely an "only child" right now. Things did not go well with him and Jonathon for a very very long time. Anytime Amanda would bring Jonathon downstairs for a second or give him to me to hold him Sam would freak out and scream, "NO BABY NO BABY!!!" This was very disconcerting seeing as we are having a baby pretty soon......Sam wanted nothing to do with him and more especially wanted me to have nothing to do with him. Luckily by the time we were leaving he would hand him toys and hold his hand and actually kind of play with him! He still never really liked it when I held him, but at least he warmed up to him ;) This was definitely a worst for me because I absolutely fell in love with baby Jonathon and I felt like I was never able to hold him or play with him as much as I wanted to. Love that boy! I mean look at him! Sweetest guy ever. I'll really miss seeing his cute smile every day :)



5- Best- Clayton's Humor - I don't know what it is about Clayton, but no one makes me laugh like he does. He always says the funniest things and I always fall for his tricks. Our weird minds play off of each other and we can get so silly :) It was really fun to see how he and Amanda interact on a daily basis. She totally can read him like a book and will stop him in mid sentence if he is about to make a joke.....its really funny! Clayton and I were super close and did a lot together in college and it was fun to spend time together again like we did back then :) Even though Clayton was gone a lot traveling for work and going to school, it made the moments he was home so priceless!

4- Worst- Christmas Melt Down - A few days before Christmas Sam had some psycho episode where he would wake up and scream for hours in the middle of the night and nothing we would do helped. Three nights in a row we got no sleep and it was awful. You should know that when I don't get sleep I cease to function. I always have a melt down and we all knew it was coming. Unfortunately it came at the worst time........Clayton is the choir director at his Ward so of course I supported him and went to choir faithfully every week ;) We had been rehearsing for weeks for our big Christmas choir performance. Unfortunately that Sunday was day three of Sam's craziness and so while I was getting ready and eating breakfast I started crying and crying and couldn't stop.......When I cry the whole world knows I've been crying. I get red, blotchy, and the frog eyes come out. I missed the meeting and cried thru the whole thing! Clayton meanwhile had no clue where I was. I was convinced he was furious at me and I was scared to face him so I hid downstairs all day until he came down and Kevin made me come out and talk to him. Of course he was totally great about the whole thing and that made me cry even harder......ha! Wow I cried a lot that day ;)

3- Best- Claymanda's Cooking - While we were there I think I ate the best food of my life. It seriously was incredible. Clayton is such an amazing cook and Amanda always keeps their fridge full of the healthiest and yummiest foods.......it was wonderful. We each cooked a meal once a week and I always looked forward to their night of cooking ;) We also all liked to eat a bowl of cereal after the boys were put to sleep. I loved our late night cereal get togethers :) Mmmmm! Here are some examples of the amazingly good food I'm talking about..........



       Clayton cooking a turkey with his mad skills

 

Sometimes for lunch Amanda and I would make ginormous salads....look at those ingredients!

 

Check out this bad boy! I mean come on! So delicious!!!

 
Homemade Chicken Parmesan......delicious. Clayton made us this on our last night there :)

2- Worst- The Cell Phone Incident - One day Clayton left his cell phone at home and I saw it and thought, "Ooooh! An Iphone! I want to play with that!" So I grabbed it and unfortunately it was password protected so I started guessing all the passwords I thought Clayton would use. I typed in guesses like Amanda, Lover, Jonathon.......I think I typed in five guesses and then the phone went black. It immediately turned back on and on the screen it said, "Welcome new Iphone user!" My stomach completely dropped. Now not only was there was no password, there were no apps, no contacts, no texts, and no pictures. I had erased his entire phone. All of their baby pictures from the hospital.....GONE. It was awful. Seriously one of the worst moments of my life. I still feel horrible about it. Clayton was WAY too nice to me and Amanda was wonderful. Luckily they had text most of their photo's out to family so they got them all back, but I still will always feel bad about what I did. I have vowed to never touch a technological device that has a password on it ever again!!!!

1- Best- Amanda - So Amanda and I grew up together and have always been friends. I would go over to her house everyday and play before kindergarten and we walked home from school every day until high school.  We grew up in the same ward and always were close friends. Even though in high school we were in different circles of friends, we still stayed close in YW's and at church. Since Clayton and Amanda got married it seemed like the dynamic of our friendship had changed. We were no longer just friends, we were family and it felt kind of different at times. Am I making any sense? Anyways......I kind of started missing our fun silly old friendship we used to have and that is why this is my number one best thing about living with them. We not only got that friendship back but it grew a hundred times stronger! We would talk multiple times every single day and I could honestly tell her everything and anything. I feel so close to her and love her so much as a friend and as a sister :) Becoming close again is the greatest thing I gained from living with them and I am so grateful for that! I'll miss our time together the most, but I know we will stay just as close :) If anyone is in need of a wise, caring, funny, wonderful, smart, supportive friend then Amanda McDonald is your girl!


There is no way I can capture all the fun priceless moments we had together, but I know we will always remember them. I'll always look back on those six months as the funnest, craziest, and best six months ever!!! We were so lucky to have stayed with them and I'll be forever grateful for them for taking us in :) Love you Claymanda!!!