Playdate, dance and treats

On the Tuesday after Mikell had her baby I sent her a text asking if I could stop by and pick up some of her kids after I went to the Temple. Her kids have been asking to come over for some time and I wanted to give her a break from the craziness so she could have some time with her new baby. By the time I got to her house Kelly had chickened out about coming but I was able to take Brooke, Jenna and James. They were pretty excited about coming over and I made sure to take a picture of the four of us in the car before we drove to my house.

We baked cookies, played at the park, watched netflix, jumped on the trampoline and played with toys. Basically we had a fun afternoon and by the time Mikell came to pick them up I was exhausted. I am glad I was able to have them come over and am happy that they love to come.

Thursday was Picture Day for our Dance class at Elevated Dance. The top picture the girls are wearing their crocodile costume for the crocodile dance they are doing for the Peter Pan Ballet. In the bottom picture they are wearing their Troll costumes for "Hair Up" which is music from Trolls. This class has been so fun this year and I love seeing these sweet girls every week. 

Hayden Rose, Ainsley, Kambrie, Lynden, Abby, Addie, Chloe, Quinn, Josie and Hayden

Kambrie, Chloe, Josie, Abby and Quinn

Hayden Rose, Ainsley, Hayden, Addie, Lynden

On Sunday Avynlea really wanted to make some treats and she wanted to make cheesecake cookie cups. They turned out delicious and I am happy she made them. Yum!

Trampoline Fun

Sunday night Kefford and I sat inside and watched our kids playing together on the trampoline. I love watching them bond and have fun together, we suspected that this was another "let's see who can do it better" competition since they all did the same tricks and then we would watch one person declared the winner. These kids are great!

I am glad that we got a new jump pad for our trampoline and that we were able to set it up and that the nights are not so cold. The kids love jumping together out there and it is a lot of fun to watch them. I would have liked to have joined them but, it was a bit too crowded on the trampoline for my taste, I don't like getting hurt, and jumping is not fun now that I have bladder issues. Also it was not warm enough for me, bring on true summer weather and I will be right out there watching just not participating. :)

Kenedy's Prom Photos

Kenedy sent me the pictures she had on her phone from her Prom date. This first one is from the paint balling day date they went on. Now I see why she didn't have any visible bruising, they keep their faces protected with the masks. Pretty smart.

After Kody picked her up they went to meet up with the rest of their group to get pictures taken. When they got to the designated picture spot they saw another one of their friends groups so they joined up for the group pictures.

I love these pictures of Kenedy and Kody, they look so cute together and I cannot stop looking at the two of them.She is really lucky to have such good friends in her life!

After they took pictures they went to eat at Goodwood BBQ. Kenedy was asking me what she should order and I was giving her a lot of really good suggestions, I love Goodwood. But she decided to go with her tried and true..

Chicken strips and fries :) Still really good just not as good as she could have had!

In the restroom at the restaurant Kenedy said they had a bowl of mints and a bottle of mouthwash with some dixie cups to use. I think that is a brilliant idea for the restaurant to have especially during Prom season, nobody wants to be on a Prom date with a person who has bad breath. Kenedy took some pictures of her friends freshening up their breath, she thought they looked funny.

I am so glad that Kenedy had so much fun on her Prom Date and I am so glad she shared her pictures with me!

Meridian Prom!

Earlier in the week we found out that Kefford's Great Uncle Dean lost his battle with cancer and passed away. I am sad that he is gone but am grateful that we made the effort to go and see him even though we couldn't see him. I know Aunt Kathy told him we stopped by and that he knew we tried. I didn't know him as well as Kefford , obviously, or even my kids but I liked visiting with him the times I was able to and appreciate how generous he was with us in letting us use his RV the times that he was able to. It was a really nice funeral and I enjoyed hearing the stories of his wild days. I never really knew about all of his struggles but hearing about them made me appreciate and love him all the more for how far he has come and for his example. It was nice to see and visit with family whom we rarely get to see and also to visit with the ones we are blessed to see a lot more of. 

Kenedy was not able to come because it was Prom and she had a day date with her Prom date. The other three kids came and I took a picture of the four of us waiting for Kefford in the car to go home.

 The thing to do out here and maybe in many other places is to go on a day date the day of Prom. Kenedy's date and the other guys in the group, I assume, decided to take the girls paint balling. I thought it was a crazy activity for a date right before Prom but Kenedy went and had a lot of fun. No visible bruises thank heavens!

When I got home from the funeral Kenedy had me do her hair and make-up. She decided that she wanted her hair down for this dance with big loose curls. I curled her hair and while it was cooling I braided a headband in her hair to make it more fancy. After I was done with that I finger combed her hair and then did a lot of teasing and spraying with hair spray. 

I think she is better at doing make-up then I am but she wanted me to do her eyeshadow so I picked the colors and got to work. When I was done she went over it making it a little more dramatic because she said I use a very light hand when applying. I agree I do, I am too afraid to go too extreme so I keep it really light. I need to practice more dramatic makeup applications for the future.

Her dress we bought online from a boutique that I have been getting our church dresses from. They advertise their clothing as modest and beautiful and I agree. I love the dress she chose and was really happy with the price and overall look. It was perfect and she looked beautiful wearing it. This was the only formal dress they had with different color options and I hope they get more selections for formals because I really don't want to deal with the hassle and frustrations of looking anywhere else. Modest, low priced formals are hard to find unfortunately.

As Kenedy was walking across the room to where I was so I could take some pictures suddenly the way she was walking reminded me of her when she was little and it made me get really emotional. It was almost like a flashback to seeing her as a little girl again, kind of like how they do in the movies. It is so bittersweet watching Kenedy get older and knowing that soon she will be gone. I love watching her be able to have these life experiences but it is so surreal and feels like I was just at my Prom. One more reminder of how fast time goes by and to appreciate all the moments when they happen. I managed to choke back my tears but not before they were noticed and it was a little embarrassing.  

Before Kody came to pick her up Kefford showed Kenedy some video on youtube of how to pin on boutonnieres. She got the gist and was able to pin it on him with only a few tries.

Getting her wrist courage on was a little tricky because Kenedy had fingernails glued on that she was not used to. She bought a pack of fingernails from Claires and I told her they were never going to stay on. Avynlea reassured both of us that she had some really strong nail glue from when she had fingernails that would work really well. I was pleasantly surprised when it worked and Kenedy's nails stayed on. She took them off for paint balling but put them back on after for the dance. 

 I am glad that Kody asked Kenedy to Prom. I really like him, he is a sweet boy and very kind. They make a really cute couple, but they are just good friends. :) Kefford was looking at Kody's suit and mentioned that he thought they might have the same suit. Kody asked if he got his at JC Penneys which Kefford did. It was the same suit, so funny! 

Swat Training

On Wednesday for his mutual activity Ryker got to do a little bit of Swat team training. We have a guy in our Ward who trains Police in this for his career and he was more then happy to come and show the boys a little bit of what being on the swat team entails. I thought Ryker was really lucky to get to do something like this. When I was in high school we had a a swat team member come and talk to us at a fireside one time and it really made me want to look into it as a career. I thought it sounded so cool. Obviously that career interest was very short lived and now while I am happy Ryker got to experience this I would never want him to pursue such a dangerous job. 

Kenedy was at the church also while this was going on and managed to snap some photos for me. She is so good!

Meanwhile I spent some bored time exploring more filters on snapchat. 

 And then Avynlea saw what I was up to and demanded that she join in. :)

New Baby and a Daddy Daughter Date

For family home evening last week Avy wanted to make rock candy but it was really last minute and I was not in the mood for her to do it so I told her to save it till the next Monday. I forgot all about it but not Avynlea because this week for Family Home Evening she reminded me that I told her we could do it. I wanted to tell her no again but since I am the nicest Mom I let her do it. The kids each got a cup filled with sugar and they added a color and a flavor to it along with the water. After boiling the sugar water mixture it on the stove to melt all of the sugar they added it back to the cup and then put the sticks in. Avynlea figured out with yarn how to tie them all together so that the sticks stood up in the sugar water. I now have 4 cups of sugar water on my counter crystalizing and hopefully turning into some delicious rock candy.

Tuesday I got a call at 2 in the morning from Mikell telling me she was in labor and asking if I would come over to be with her kids so Alison could take her to the hospital. I grabbed a blanket and a book and head over. After they left I read a little bit and then slept a little bit on the couch while her kids slept. They all woke up around 7:30 and I was able to help them get ready and play with them a little bit until Mikell's Mother-in-law came over to relieve me. I was fine staying their but I think her MIL needed to feel needed so I was happy to let her take over. 

Baby boy Andros was born about 9 AM and after lunch I headed over to the hospital to see my newest nephew. He is so cute and it was fun to sit and hold him for a bit while I chatted with Mikell. Steve was out of town on a business trip and was heading back that day so I think Mikell appreciated the company. After a little bit Michelle came in with Caleb and Whitney came with her three girls. It was a bit chaotic but fun to be able to visit with everyone. 

When Heather was in town Rylee found out about a 50"s themed daddy/daughter date that she got to go on with her Dad in April for Activity days. She was so excited about it and asked if I would make her a poodle skirt to wear. I was excited to make a poodle skirt and we went to the fabric store the next day, got the supplies and then I made it when we got home. It looked so cute and Rylee was loving wearing it around the house. 

This last Tuesday night was the Daddy/Daughter date and Rylee was thrilled to be able to wear her skirt and get all dressed up for this date with her Dad. I got a really bad migraine that afternoon and was laying low in bed but managed to crawl out right before they left so that I could take a couple of pictures. Kefford didn't know what he should wear and so I told him to wear his plaid shirt which I thought was a good 50's style. He said he tucked it in when he got there which he thought made him more 50's preppy. 

I went back to bed and fell asleep as soon as they left but the next day Rylee told me all about the fun they had hula hooping and dancing. She said Kefford taught her some dance moves that he said I taught him when we were in college. So much fun and I am a little bit envious of her cute poodle skirt!

Rylee's Activity Days Leaders posted a ton of pictures on our Ward's Relief Society Facebook page from the date. 

 Rylee and Kefford

Reagan and Rylee

Twirling down the runway

 Hula Hoop Contest. Rylee was waiting for her turn to participate :)

Fun 50's dancing. You can see Kefford in his blue plaid shirt in the back corner of the picture dancing with his favorite 10 year old!

Easter Sunday

We were planing on going to the farm for Easter dinner, our church starts at 1:00 and since we didn't feel that that would give us enough time to make it for dinner we decided to go to our old Ward, the Linder Ward, for sacrament meeting, their Ward starts at 9:00. We got the kids up and had them get all ready for church before they could find their Easter baskets. Avynlea and Rylee requested that the baskets get hidden again this year since they really like that tradition. When they both asked if I would hide the baskets I asked Rylee why she was asking me and it came out that Rylee has reached the age of not believing. I knew it had to happen sooner or later but I have to admit it is a little sad that none of my kids believe in Santa or the Easter Bunny or anything. It is also a bit of relief to be able to drop the pretense and not have to hide behind anything anymore. 

They still have to keep the magic alive so I told them again if they don't believe they don't receive :)

After they got ready in their Easter finest I let them go find their baskets. Kefford hid them and I didn't even know where they were hidden but they were hidden good because it took all of them a while to find their baskets. Avynlea was the last one to locate hers and I had to start searching also so I could help her. I finally spotted it in the Laundry Room and let Avy know to limit her search to that room. She finally found it hidden under a towel and I have to say well done to Kefford, he did a good job with the hiding. 

While we were wandering around getting ready Kefford spotted a basket that was left on our doorstep. It seems that someone left an Easter Egg hunt on our front lawn for the kids. It was such a fun surprise and they loved being able to go out and hunt for more eggs. It was done anonymously and I really wish I knew who did it so that I could thank them. It was such a fun and kind thing for someone to do and it kills me that I can't let them know how much we appreciated it.

Before we left for church I wanted to get some pictures of the kids dressed in their Easter finest. Once the "nice" picture was taken Kenedy insisted on the second one because they did it last year and it is now tradition.

Kefford and I got a picture of the two of us and then I said we need to do a tradition one like the kids so we copied their pose. 

I loved going to the Linder Ward for sacrament meeting. I was able to visit with some good friends I haven't seen in a while and it felt a little bit like coming home. I am glad they are always so welcoming when we decide to come around and are always so happy to see our family and to let us know how much they miss us.

After church we had some time before we needed to leave and so Kenedy opened up Snapchat on my phone and we all played around with some of the filters. 

Once we got to Nyssa we had a little bit of time before his parents got out of church so I suggested stopping by to see Uncle Dean. Dean was diagnosed with cancer and has not been doing good the past couple of weeks. He is expected to not last long and I wanted the kids and I to be able to see him one last time. Kefford got to visit with him about a week ago when he was in Nyssa with Brad which was good. Unfortunately Dean was not able to have visitors and so we talked with Aunt Gloria a little bit and also Uncle Burdette and Aunt Kathy who were there helping take care of him. Kathy is Deans little sister and I just love her, she is always so sweet and easy to talk to.

After about a 40 minute visit we headed over to the farmhouse for dinner and time with family. The kids loved playing with their cousins and I had fun visiting with everyone and watching the happenings. It was also Bob's birthday so we had an Easter/birthday dinner although he disappeared pretty quick after dinner and we did not get to see very much of him. I am not sure if he had meetings or if he was with Uncle Dean but I missed seeing more of him.

I was in the mood to make a potato salad and so that is what I contributed to our family dinner. My Mom always sliced up hardboiled eggs to put on top of her potato salads for a decorative look and I decided to do that but make it more Eastery with turning my eggs into bunnies. I thought it looked really cute and I was quite pleased with myself!

I also made our traditional bunny cake but I made it Saturday and we ate part of him that night. I never planned on taking him to the farm with us it was just meant to be a treat for my family, after all it is my tradition!

I was sent these pictures Brit took of Kenedy with her little cousins. Kenedy loves her little cousins and they love her. It is so fun to see their relationships and to see how my kids really love and take care of their younger cousins.

We had a really nice Easter Sunday and I am so grateful for the time to reflect on our Savior and remember his sacrifice for us. I am grateful that we have the knowledge that we will be with the ones we love for eternity and that I will be able to be with those family members who have passed away and see them again someday. This is an amazing Gospel we are blessed to be a part of and I am so thankful for my Heavenly Father and His watching out for me and the help I receive when I get discouraged.