Ashleigh Graduates

So I went to Utah for my sisters graduation and Thursday was the big entire university commencement thingie. It was fun watching all of the graduates march in and we even got to get a small glimpse of Ashleigh before she disappeared from view. President Uchtdorf was the main speaker and it was really neat to be able to listen to him in person.

I got his picture taken from the big monitor. You could hear all the old ladies in the audience give a little dreamy sigh when he got up! :)
Here are the siblings with the cute graduate!

Ashleigh the graduate with her proud Mama!

Oh baby!

Friday morning was the College Convocation and it was so great to see Ashleigh get her certificate. I have to admit I got a little teary eyed as she walked across the stage. I am so proud of her!

Elder Oaks was the guest speaker at this little graduation. He is one of my favorite Apostles and it was so cool to be sitting less then ten yards away from him. It was kinda comical to see all of the flashes going off when he stood up to speak so I went against the grain and took a picture of me instead! LOL

OK but then I took a picture of Elder Oaks. He is such a great man and so easy to listen to. I was hoping I could get my picture with him but that was not possible. They shut the curtains on the stage while we all filed out. Later as I was coming out of the bathroom I saw him down the corridor outside the glass doors getting a picture with some kids. I got so excited and started skipping/running/hopping to him with a big excited grin on my face, frantically pulling out my camera so I could ask for a picture. Maybe he saw the crazed girl coming to attack him cause right when I got to the doors he turned and went in a secret room. Oh how disappointed I was, but it's OK I did get to see him.

Elizabeth, Heather, Mom, Joshua, Ashleigh, Erin, Andrew and Emily
So excited for our little graduate!

Of course we can't be serious all of the time!

Good Friends

I went to Utah this weekend for my sisters graduation. While I was there I got to hang out and reconnect with two of my good friends from my first year in college.
Alice "Rita" and I met because she lived a couple doors down from me and we were in the same ward. There was an instant connection with this girl and we had so much fun and so many laughs. She was and still is one of my favorite people and I am so glad that we have been able to stay in touch all these years.
My family had planned on staying the night in Provo because of my sisters graduation and when my Mom expressed concern about fitting all of us siblings in the hotel room, I jumped at the chance to stay at "Hotel Alice". We had so much fun talking, laughing and making a late night run to Sonic in our pajamas! Thanks Alice for letting me crash at your place and for the good times. Love ya girl!

LynnMarie and I became friends at Ricks because we were both dance majors and most of our classes were together. My fondest memories with her were, of course dancing together, but also the little road trip we took to Utah valentines day weekend. Time there was spent admiring her grandparents "foot" pedigree chart, having her little sister try to hook me up with her cousin and gagging at all the couples getting engaged on valentines day at the Temple. She moved to Utah after that first year and we kinda lost touch, but good news, we found each other on Facebook and have been able to reconnect again.

It was really cool of her to drive to Ogden so that we could hang out at my sisters house and find out what we have been up to. I had lots of fun chatting up old times and this is one more friend whom I am happy to have back in my life! Love you too LynnMarie!

Harley Boys

On friday I texted Kefford around the time he was getting off work to see if he wanted me to get a babysitter so that we could go out. He called me back a little bit later saying "hey, I am on a motorcycle and don't have a lot of time to talk but yeah lets go out..ooohhh see ya!" click, and he was gone. I was going "whaaat?" and then just shook my head cause he is crazy. A couple minutes later he called back saying he was at another stop light and while I was trying to figure out what the heck was going on he hung up again. After he got home I found out that his Uncle borrowed his truck so he could get a new BBQ and so Kefford drove his motorcycle home. Of course Ryker HAD to have a ride on it and so Kefford put Rykers helmet on him and took off.

Not a bad looking bike! :) It really helps that the two riders are so good-looking!
They were good to let me take some pictures before they took off into the sunset!

And they are off.

Kefford has a dirt bike that he takes out riding but I know that someday he would like to get a street bike to ride around on! We will get there maybe after he buys me my scooter! :)

lets go fly a kite

On Friday all of the third graders who passed their reading goals this year got to go to the park for a couple of hours to fly kites and play. So Ryker, Avynlea, Rylee and I met Kenedy at the park to partake in the fun!
Kenedy's teacher bought all of her kids little kites to fly and Kenedy got this cute Barbie one. She tried it out and couldn't get it to do much so she said that Barbie must be afraid of heights and then gave it to Avynlea to use. Avy tried it out and then decided she would rather play on the playground and gave it to me to put away.

My friend Heidi was their with her boy, James, and she let Ryker use the kite Mrs. Olson bought for James because she brought his own from home. You should have seen Ryker with this kite! He spent almost the entire two hours we were at the park flying this kite. He really was quite the pro. Can you see his kite flying so high in the upper right corner. He got so good with it he decided to become tricky and attached the string to his belt loop and walked around like that with his kit flying high behind him. Heidi was so impressed with his dedication and flying skills that she told Ryker he could keep the kite. That was a happy moment and really sweet of her!

Kenedy enjoyed having Rylee to show off and although she did not fly kites she had a lot of fun playing kickball and then walking around with her friends, Hannah and Natalia!

Rylee tried to have a turn with the kite but it wasn't working for her!

It was a beautiful day to spend at the park!

talented kids!

We took advantage of the beautiful, sunny, day on Sunday and spent most of our time outside. As you look at the pictures be sure to notice our beautiful yard. While the kids and I were in Utah Kefford put down sod in the backyard. It was such a great surprise to see all that dirt covered up with the beautiful green!
As soon as Rylee saw me with the camera she got down on the grass and started to do her little poses. I was laughing cause she was twisting all over the place and was not doing a good job of holding still. Do you think the kids see too much of their Mom posing all over the place?

Kenedy liked being outside enjoying the sunshine with her book! Yeah she got that habit from me and I am mighty proud! Can you see what book she is reading? Baby-Sitters Club! Tell me you remember those books? I have most of them in my collection. Wanna borrow one?

Kefford got out the football and started playing catch with Ryker. He is getting really good with his catching!

And check out that throw! Nice arm dude!Yup, definitely need to stop posing where my kids can see me! Isn't she a cutie!

I love her style! Avynlea just informed me that Kenedy took that picture of her..she promises! So there you go, we have super models and super photographers all living in the same house! Plus two handsome guys who get to live with us! Lucky Guys! :)

Easter Sunday

On Easter Sunday the kids woke up to some nice surprises from the Easter Bunny!

Avynlea got one of those grow in water thingies from the Egg hunt on Saturday and unknown to me or anyone else had stuck it in an egg she filled with water. then apparently she let it sit like that over night.

Well what do you know, her crazy invention worked! My little genius!

I had invited our friends the Tomlinson family over for Easter dinner and so that morning I got the Bunny Cake ready for the big shindig!
A professional decorator I am not! ;)

Here are the four cuties dressed in their Easter finest!

(I made those dresses! :)

Easter Egg Hunting!

Today we went out to the Farm and had our annual Easter Egg Hunt with the cousins. This year Alison hid the eggs at Jeremy and Gwen's house so we all headed over there.

It took Rylee a little bit to warm up to the idea but once she started finding the first couple she then got a little bit more into it. Then when she discovered the candy that was inside she really started to have fun!

Avynlea was really enjoying herself! They hid the eggs really good this year so it was a good challenge that wasn't over too quickly!

Kenedy was the first to fill her bucket up!
Ryker had no problem finding the hidden goodies. Of all the kids he was the most excited about this hunt and kept asking when it was going to start. His excitement about it all was so cute!
Kefford was told that there was an egg hidden in the chicken coop so he took Rylee to investigate. She was not too sure about the chickens!
Can you see the bit of nervousness in her face. She is really good with her facial expressions and with mimicking things and later, when I was asking her about going into see the chickens she showed me that she was first surprised and then showed that she was crying a little. I need to get video of her doing it cause it is really funny. She is quite the actress!

Cute little Avy with her vampire fangs!

I was walking around making sure all the eggs were found when Kefford took this picture of me!

Now I am just watching Alison look for any missing eggs! :)

The kids had a lot of fun at the Eater Egg Hunt and we really appreciate Alison for doing it for them.

Boo Hoo Hoo

We got back from our Spring Break trip on Saturday and Sunday morning I woke up to find this staring at me in the mirror...

Somehow and somewhere I contracted Pink Eye! Nobody I know has it and I have not a clue as to where it came from. So this past week it has been nothing but me and my glasses all week long.
Lana gave me some drops that she had leftover from when her kids had it and so I have been putting those in like crazy. It is starting to look better but I am scared to put my contacts in just in case the disease is still lurking under the surface somewhere. Maybe next week I will be brave enough!

and finally...Spring Break Adventures 8

On Friday we all got up and got ready to drive to Provo to visit two of my brothers at BYU.

I love playing with my new make-up!
While waiting on campus for my brothers to get out of class we all had to use the bathrooms. So I told the boys to wait by the girls bathroom when they were done. I finished my business first and went out in the hall to check on the boys. I thought they looked so cute sitting RIGHT next to the girls bathroom door waiting for all of us to finish.
Ben and Ryker, two very handsome boys!
We put Ashleighs sunglasses on Rylee and thought she looked adorable! Like a cute little bug!
Back a Joshua's apartment we found a hat that he knitted and wanted to try it on. I love that Josh wanted to learn how to knit, bought a book and supplies, and taught himself! How fun is he?!

Ashleigh taking a turn with the masterpiece!

Then a very tired Rylee had a turn trying it on.

We all thought he did a great job and put in requests for our own hats by Joshua!

Since she was about 12 months old Rylee has been in love with Josh. We don't see him a lot but when we do she has to be right with him in his lap or up in his arms. She was not feeling too good in this picture but believe me she loves this guy!

See I told you she loves him! At one point Josh was messing with his computer so Rylee was sitting in my other brother Andrews lap. Josh got done and was laying down on the floor when Rylee noticed he was available again. So she wiggled down from Andrews lap and plopped herself back into Joshua's arms, where she stayed quite content!

On our way to eat Avynlea discovered a fun trick she could do with the water bottle!

This is the back of Joshua's car that I had to follow all around town. Believe me he is not the easiest person to follow. Lots of quick lane changes, fast peel outs and drive through yellow lights made it very difficult for me to keep up. We are lucky to have made it out of their alive!

Of course we all had to huddle up for a group shot before we said goodbye!

Andrew, Elizabeth and Ashleigh on the bottom row and

Joshua and Emily on the top!

One more all together now!

We had a very fun time in Utah for our Spring Break and hope to make this a yearly tradition!

I always have lots of fun whenever my family gets together and this visit did not disappoint!