Cliff Hanger

I came downstairs to see that Kefford had put Rylee up on our very tall plant shelf. She really enjoyed being up there!
Rylee would have made a really cute addition to the items on that shelf but unfortunately she had to come down. Kefford tried to get her to jump down into his arms but she would have none of that till finally he climbed on the couch to pull her down!

messy, messy

While I was in the bathroom drying my hair Rylee found the inkpad in my bedroom that I kept forgetting to put away.

Isn't she lovely?
I wish I could say that it has been put away so that this can't happen again, but it has been two days and the inkpad is still sitting on my bathroom counter. But she wouldn't get into it again, right?!

I still love my messy girl!
I was making pizza for dinner and of course Rylee and Avynlea were right there helping me! This is what they did with the dough I gave them!

Avynlea said Rylee looked like Santa Claus!

She really loved this piece of dough and could not put it down! I eventually cooked it for her but then had to throw it away when it was left on her plate! Smart girl, I wouldn't have eaten that mishandled thing either!

some randomness

It was looking like a nice day on Monday so I thought it would be good to get us all out of the house and walk to the school to get Kenedy today. My kids like doing this and especially little Rylee loves getting into her stroller for a ride. Isn't she cute...
So after getting everyone ready we start walking only to discover it is very windy and that wind is making it even colder. I debated whether to turn back but thought we could tough it out and walked a little bit further only to discover that we are wimps and had to get out of the windy cold! Everyone was on board with this decision except for Rylee. And why should she have been? She was bundled up in her stroller covered with a blanket having a grand time. As soon as I took her out the fit came. She screamed and fought me the entire process of getting her out of her stroller and into her car seat but I did it and hopefully warmer weather comes soon so that we can walk.

Avynlea and Rylee are showing me they finished their milk. Avynleas Dr told her how important it is to drink a lot of milk and since then Avy has been good about drinking hers all gone. Most often I flavor it with chocolate or caramel and they love that! Ryker and Avynlea were playing in the backyard yesterday and decided to make lots of mud which they then tracked into the house. So I swept up what I could and then had the kids wash the floor. They all loved doing that but eventually I had to pull, make more mess Avynlea and Rylee away and talk them into helping me vacuum.

Avynlea just sat on the couch and watched but Rylee was very dedicated to walking around with me holding onto the vacuum and helping me. It was tedious and harder with her in the way but I know she was enjoying it so I let her keep at it. Finally when we were done I just let her hold it by herself and give it a go.

Busy day!

Yesterday I took Kenedy to the Dr. for her 9 year well child check up. She did great and her stats are.. Height 54 inches (75%) Weight 55 1/2 (20%) and Blood Pressure 98/74 As you can see she is very tall and quite slim. This is normal for Kenedy and the Dr. had no concerns. Kenedy did get the second half of her Chicken Pox vaccine and although she did say ouch she was really brave and acted like it was no big deal! Good girl!
After Ryker got home he and Avynlea took advantage of the nicer day and went into the backyard. Yes it is quite Ghetto but that is because we killed off the grass last fall so that we could put better grass in this spring. Ryker does not want grass put in because it will take away his ability to make monster truck tracks. Which is what he did in this picture. You can see Avynlea swinging on what is left of our Ghetto swing set.

In other news I was driving by Albertsons when I saw a sign out front saying they were having a sale on some food items. Alison gave us some money this Christmas for a years supply so I went to the bank to pull a little out so I could go take advantage of the sale. It is a bounce back sale and the way it work is that you buy ten of the items at regular sale price and then you get a 10 dollar coupon back. Then you buy the next ten, use the coupon and then you get another ten dollar coupon and then so on and so on. I ended up with a lot of receipts because you have to cash out each 10 items in order to get the coupon and it took quite a while but I am really excited with what I ended up with.

This is what I bought and it may not look like a whole ton but I had 2 kids with me and a short amount of time before I had to get Ryker so I couldn't get everything I wanted but I am thinking of going back today. Anyway I spent a total of $103 on what you see in the back of the expedition. Good right? Well the impressive part is that I saved a total of $277!!! I know, now your jaws just dropped! (regularly the soups were three bucks a can, the granola bars were 4 bucks a box and the fruit snacks were 3 bucka a box)I am really excited that I could be thrifty and use the sale to stock up for our years supply! So fun!

One last fun happening is that I got a package from my oldest sister and she sent me a couple things because she knew that I had been feeling really homesick this past winter. One of the items was this really cool BathBomb she bought from Downtown Disney. This kids were intrigued and so I started my bath last night and then let the kiddos in to see the BathBomb in action.

They thought it was pretty cool and now I think the next time I go down to Cali I am going to have to stock up on some for the kids baths. Oh and in case you did not know a BathBomb is a ball that you drop into your bath and as it fizzles it colors and scents the water. The one I was sent was called :Pacific Ocean". I took a picture with the flash off so you could see how dark it got.

It was really fun and I had great bath! Thanks Steph for my "Pacific Ocean" bathing time! It was just what I needed!

Happy 9th Birthday Kenedy!

Kenedy started out her big day by me allowing her to open one present that came in the mail from her Grandma Lutes. Kenedy was really excited to open the package and find money and candy bars.
Kenedy kept saying that she wanted us to go to Red Robin for her birthday but I had Young Women's to go to that night and Kefford had Elders Quorum business to attend to so that was not possible. I decided to send the kiddos to their friends houses and I went to the school and "kidnapped" Kenedy to take her out to lunch just the two of us. I bought a Happy Birthday crown that I told her she had to wear and she finally did. But took it off after a while because it was hurting her head.

While we were there I gave her the Baptism book that I completed and she thought it was really great. She liked all of the pictures but said that she would look at it another time to read what was written.

Of course I had to have the Red Robin staff come and sing to Kenedy. She thought that was fun and loved the sundae that she got to eat.

Me and the birthday girl! Love this kid!!

As we were leaving she told me how much fun she had and then thanked me. We stopped in at Krispy Kreme to take doughnuts back for her class.

Later that day I picked up a pizza for dinner and we had that with a salad. Afterwards we let Kenedy open her presents. Here is her quilt that I made for her! She loves it!

Kenedy with her gifts, quilt from Mom, Easy Bake oven from Avynlea, Easy Bake foods from Rylee, and Wii gift card from Ryker. Keffords birthday gift to Kenedy and Avynlea is the bunkbed! Grandma Alison came by when Kenedy got out of school and gave her a visa cash card, chapsticks, tootsie rolls and a money holder.

Kenedy wanted a chocolate cake with the Disney Fairies on top. So I bought some miniature toy Fairies from Target and then green edible glitter and flower candies. I think it turned out really cute. Kenedy thought it was great and her opinion is the one that counts! I also got candle sparklers and those were really fun. I thought they were going to be like the fourth of July sparklers but they weren't. They were subtle but still pretty cool!Lighting the candles. Kenedy was nervous about the sparklers and stayed pretty back until we realized they were not that bad.

Birthday girl and her Daddy

Make a wish!

It was a fun day for Kenedy and we sure are glad that she is in our family. We really love her and love watching her grow.

The "Bonkbeds" are Here

Last Friday the kids had the day off from school so I took the opportunity to make them really clean out their bedrooms. Boy were they ticked off but we got it done and they look so much nicer! So anyway Ryker wanted me to change his bed around and I didn't see a problem with that so I did. Once I moved it I decided to just go ahead and move Avynlea's bed over into the girls room since we were making the change soon anyway once we got the new "bonkbeds" (Avynlea's term). This is how the bedroom looked for about a week.
They all loved it, Kenedy commented that it felt like a sleepover every night. Yes it was hard to get them settled down at night but I figured they just needed time to get used to the arrangement and I did not let it bother me. So on Monday the new bunk bed arrived and Kefford, Ryker and I took about an hour and a half and got them all set up.

Here they are! Kenedy got her quilt for her birthday and I went to Bed Bath and Beyond to get chocolate colored sheets for their beds. Avynlea wanted pink but I could not find a pink that I liked and the brown goes really well with the quilts and the curtains that I will be making some time in the near future. The curtains will be the same brown that is in the quilt.

The girls love them and love sleeping in them. Ryker has been having a hard time because he really wants a bunk bed but has to wait "nine whole months" before he can get one for his birthday. Who knows maybe Kefford will cave and get him one sooner, he tends to do that!

more valentine fun

Erin sent the kids a package that they were able to open last night after baths. They were quite excited to find really cute valentines just for them. Of course they had to have the candy bags opened so that they could start eating the candy right away. They were even nice and shared a few.

Erin is always so creative with her valentines and cards. She really needs to move out here so her creativity can rub off on me!
Erin sent Avynlea her birthday present and when she opened it she said "a book! Another old Lady book!" She was so excited and loved the stickers and the cute card!

Erin also sent Kenedy her birthday present and of course I let her open it. She was really happy to get the Judy Moody book and read it all last night in bed!

Thanks Erin my kids sure do love you!!!

an update...

I just wanted you all to know that i gave Kefford his book last night. I was pretty nervous to give it to him because I wasn't sure how he was going to react to it, plus I had hyped up this fantastic gift and what if he was disappointed. So anyway I gave it to him and he thought it was so cool he loved the book and thought the pictures looked really great in it. I told him it was a little spendy but worth it compared to what it would have cost getting the pictures developed, all of the scrapbook supplies, plus the time and mess involved. He asked how much and after I told him he said it was well worth it! Yay! I am so happy with it and so happy that Kefford loves it as much as I do!

It Finally Came!

I am so excited! I have been working on getting all of our Australia pictures into a book through Costco .com for about a month and a half now. It wasn't hard I just got bored or had other things going on that needed my attention and I have put off finishing it for a while. Well last week after my visiting teachers came over and expressed disappointment in not being able to see it I decided I just needed to get it done. So I took an hour and finally finished it! I sent it in to be published and started the waiting game. I got an email saying it had been shipped and that it was supposed to arrive on February 14. Perfect, I can use it as a valentines gift for Kefford. He still has no clue about it. But of course after waiting all day on Saturday it didn't come. Same thing on Monday, no book. Well today the wait has ended and I am happy to report that it came, I love it, and I am so excited to give it to Kefford tonight. I am also excited to have any one who is interested come and take a look! It is a fabulous keepsake of our vacation to Australia. And no I never get tired of saying that I went to Australia!

I also finally got around to making Kenedy's Baptism book. The day she was Baptized I had those who wanted to fill out a paper to Kenedy bearing their testimony or sharing a thought to her on her special day. A couple weeks later Lana and I took her over to the Temple and took pictures of her in her baptism dress around the Temple. So recently I took those two things and, including her blessing that Alison wrote down for us, I made this book on Snapfish. I got it yesterday and it turned out beautiful, doesn't hurt that Kenedy is the one in the pictures being beautiful! I am excited to give it to her tomorrow for her birthday and hope that it will be a great keepsake of her baptism day!

Ryker took these pictures for me. I got a chuckle out of his take charge ways.

Kefford made me these really cute glasses because I did not have a cute pair and he wanted me to have one. They are Ocean Pacific brand glasses but the really cool thing is that the style is Bondi Beach! I wore them to church on Sunday just for fun and felt cute all day long. Something hard to do when I wear glasses!

Happy Valentines Day Kenedy, Ryker, Avynlea and Rylee!

After dinner on Tuesday we took the kids to Fred Meyers so that they could pick out Valentines Cards. After much debate Ryker chose Batman and Kenedy picked out High School Musical 3D cards. It took Kenedy a lot longer to pick out her cards but once she did I thought she was really happy with them. Well later on when I went to bed I found this on my pillow...
"Mom, thought you want to know that I'm not happy with my valentines. Kenedy" I just laughed and put them aside until the next morning when I could question her on it. She said that she is worried she will not have enough because there are only 27 cards in the box. I let her know that she can give the cards to the kids and we can make cookies to give to the teachers. OK that was fine but then she did not like that Ryker can fold his cards and seal them with a heart sticker but she could not on hers. I let her know that 3D cards are really cool , that all the kids will love them, and that you can't fold them because they will ruin the image. She thought about it and decided it would be OK. On Thursday Avynlea Rylee and I went into Rykers class to help with the Valentines Party. The kids passed out Valentines, played pin the heart on the face, decorated cookies and had a ball. I loved seeing the excitement all the kids had and I think it turned out to be a successful party. I got volunteered to be in charge because I am friends with Rykers teacher and it turned out nice because I delegated all of the treats and games to other parents and all I had to do was show up. Pretty sneaky am I!

That afternoon I left Avenlea and Ryker playing at their friend Trevors house and Rylee and I popped into Kenedys party. The kids were enjoying their treats and reading their valentines. Earlier in the week the school had a little "fundraiser" and were selling valentines suckers. I bought one for Kenedy and one for Ryker from the rest of us and then I had them each fill out ones for each other. They had already been delivered and so Kenedy was showing me what she got. She ended up with 5! One from me, one from Ryker, one from her teacher, one from our neighbor Alex (she's a girl) and then one from Joel. Joel is a boy in Kenedys class who has a thing for her. She says that he likes lots of girls but I noticed Kenedy was the only one who got one. I thought it was cute!

That evening I took the kids ( Kefford had Elder's Quorum Meetings) back over to the school to watch the third graders perform the music they have been practicing in music. Kenedy was a little bummed because the part she wanted went to one of her friends, and I think it bothered her more then she let on that practically everyone else in the entire third grade had a part in the program but her. Lots of the other kids got to play drums or shake maraca's but Kenedy just stayed in the chorus. I think she did a really good job and, although she could have smiled more, she gets too embarrassed, she was the prettiest one up there!

Waving to the audience!

The boy in the upper left corner is Joel. I noticed him looking at my Kenedy a lot and even gave her a little eyebrow wiggle...oh my!

On Friday the kids did not have any school so I took the opportunity to have them help really clean out their rooms. Because they did such a good job I let them open the valentines my Mom sent for them in the mail. They were really excited about it and enjoyed the treats from Grandma and the valentine cards from Ashleigh! They later called her to tell her thank you and I think she and they enjoyed that. Avynlea got a little confused and called her the wrong Grandma but I quickly corrected her. Funny kids!

On Valentines day the kids got to open the Valentines that Keffords Mom sent them. They loved the fun little treats and surprises. I took a picture of them holding up their favorite item. Ryker couldn't decide on just one and look how impressive Avynlea is blowing up her own balloon! We let the kids call her to thank her and that was fun for them.

I love my kids and we had a good Valentines Day being together!

Happy Valentines Day Kefford and Elizabeth

Kefford and I had a really great, but different, Valentines Day! He gave me my gift the night before which was an electric blanket, the perfect type of gift for me. Kefford has a gift for picking out just the right things for me. I am always cold and have now been using this blanket non-stop.
Kefford also told me that he would use his reward points and send me to Califonia twice a year whenever I want. I can go twice a year by myself or once a year and take somebody with me. Isn't he amazing? He knows how much I miss my family and how lonely I can get sometimes and once again he stepped in with something perfect! I sure do love this man. I got Kefford a pair of sweatpants that he has been wanting but the other part of his gift hasn't arrived yet. It was supposed to come on valentines day but of course it didn't.
Kefford went out and picked us up some Chinese food and some pretty tulips for me and after we put the kids to bed we turned on the NBA all-star shootoff and dunking contest and pigged out! We love Chinese food!

Although we did not go out on a date we had a perfect Valentines day just being with our kids and then with each other! Love you Kefford!

California Dreaming!

Conversation with Avynlea:

Avynlea: Mom I want really dark, dark, dark, dark brown hair when I am a Mom.

Mom: Why.

Avynlea: I don't know I just like it.

Mom: Well where are you going to live when you are a Mom? (I was thinking she would say next door to me because she has said that in the past)

Avynlea: I am going to live in California.

Mom What? Why?

Avynlea: So I can live with Grandma and Erin. Erin loves me a lot. Why does she love me so much?

Mom:Because you are easy to love!

Avynlea: Oh. It's because we are bestest friends!

(I have a really cute picture of Avynlea with her Aunt Erin that I cannot find. I really wanted it for this post! I will keep hunting for it!)