Boise Youth Spectacular

Way back at the beginning of the year we heard an announcement about BYS and when you could sign up and what it was all about. BYS stands for Boise Youth Spectacular and it is basically like EFY except in Boise. Kenedy really wanted to sign up to go and she was hoping her Friend Hannah would be able to sign up also and room with her. I didn't have any time to sign up on the day of and had planned on doing it later that day in the afternoon I got a call from Hannahs Mom saying she tried signing Hannah up but it was already full. I couldn't believe it and thought it was so crazy that it would fill up so fast. When I picked Kenedy up from school I told her what Lanette had said and she was really sad and upset about this news. When we got home I decided to check it out for myself and I am so glad I did. I was able to sign Kenedy up easy-peasy. I called Lanette and told her and she found the site where I was and signed Hannah up also. I don't know where she was looking before but we got it all worked out and the girls were signed up to go! Of course a couple months later Kenedy came home and told me that Hannah can't go anymore because they were going on a family trip during that time. Bummer, but I told Kenedy it will still be fun and she will make new friends and have a blast.

So towards the end of July Kenedy packed up for her three day stay at Boise State and in her words here is all about BYS...

Well i first of all wanted to say that BYS was the most amazing, spiritual thing i have ever attended. I met the most amazing people and had sooo much fun. I felt the spirit like i never have before and i cannot wait until next year to go again.

Umm okay I really don't know what to say, but this is a picture of my counselor, Kalin, taking a picture with all of us. The girl next to him in the green shirt was my other counselor Chelsey. This was on the first day so we all didn't really know each other and we just kind of sat around while we waited until we could go to our next "class".

At BYS they separated you into 4 sections: orange, blue, green, and pink, and then into even smaller groups and I was in group green number 12. I think it was numbers 1-10 were in pink, numbers 11-20 in green or something like that. We called ourselves district 12 from the hunger games so in some pictures we are doing the sign from the hunger games.

I'm pretty sure this was at lunch, but we had caterers for our food, for example panda express catered us for lunch one day, and then pizza hut for dinner.

This was on the last day and we were just messing around. I wasn't aware that it was a nice picture, i thought we were doing silly faces...awkward.

This was on the second night and it was really late, most of us had just taken showers, and we decided to take a group picture. We were in our dorms so that is why no boys or our counselors.

This is on the second day and we took a picture with the b at boise state, which is were we stayed. You can't really see me because i am in the bottom section of the b but if you look close enough you can find me.

This was at a concert that we were all at, Beyond 5 came and performed for us, honestly they are the mormon one direction, but they have really good music.

I don't even know what on earth i am doing, we were playing some sort of game and this is a really bad picture.
 (Elizabeth here, I just want to say that it is not fair that even in her "ugly" picture Kenedy is still beautiful! "Ugly" pictures should not be cute and she is most definitely still cute!)

These are some of the boys in my group.

Then later on that day, there was a chubby bunny contest to see who could fit the most marshmallows in their mouth while saying "i am a chubby bunny" and they had to say it clearly. My counselor was in it and he is the shorter one in the tie dye shirt.

Floating the Canal

One Saturday we were in Nyssa and trying to decide if Kefford should take the kids to the Dam with some of his siblings or not. He ultimately decided it would take too long but told the kids to get their swimsuits on anyway. Instead of going to the Dam he took them to float the canal. He did this before with the younger three and they loved it. Kenedy was jealous that she didn't get to go before and so it was a happy day for her along with the others. Luckily I had my camera with me this time so I could get some pictures.

Alison came with me to drop the water travelers off at their designated spot. We were going to go back to her house for an hour or so and then I would drive back to a further spot to pick them up. Kefford put the floaties into the canal and most of them were able to climb on. Avy was having a bit of trouble and so her Grandma picked her up to toss her onto the float but Alison lost her balance and tossed Avy into the water instead and almost fell in with her. It was really funny and I wish I had that on camera!

It was a fun activity for Kefford and the kids and I know they had a blast and would do it again in a heartbeat!

16 years!

Kefford and I celebrated 16 years together this year! It is amazing how fast time really does go by. It seems like we were just married and now we have 4 kids and 16 years have gone by! Amazing. We have had our fair share of ups and downs but I sure love this guy and am so grateful for all he does for me and our kids. 

To celebrate our day we went to the Botanical Gardens which did not impress me much. I think we needed to visit them earlier in the year to really get the most out of them. It was too hot and not enough shade. 

After the gardens we went to the movies and them to Tocanos for dinner. It was a nice day spent together. 

My Friend!

I have been visiting teaching Judy Kinzel for the past two years and have really loved getting to know this amazing Lady. She has been such a good example to me and I always love going to visit her. She just turned 70 and I was invited to go out to lunch with a small group of other older ladies, friends of hers, from our ward. It was so much fun and I laughed a lot and enjoyed all of the company. SO happy to call this Lady my Friend.

Tie-Dye!

I have a friend who lives across the street and she does tie-dye in her garage and then sells it at Fairs and craft shows. She recently told me that we could come over and do it with her any time we wanted and so one day I finally took her up on her offer. I made a shirt and then my two girls wanted to make a shirt. They picked a really cool rainbow pattern to do and decided that even though it would be the same they would make it different by reversing their colors on the rainbow. Rylee started with purple on top and Avy did blue. 

Beth had them wear some extra shirts she had to protect their clothes from the dye. It is a good thing we did because Rylee managed to get some on her.

We had so much fun making these shirts and would love to do it again. I thought their shirts turned out so cute and I love how mine looks also!