Happy Golden Birthday Kenedy!

For her 18th Birthday Kenedy wanted to have just her girlfriends over for a night of cake and treats. But she did spare one invitation fora boy, she also invited McKoy because he is her best friend and basically one of the girls. They played a game where one person closes their eyes and has to find a person to touch and then listening to their voice goes who the person is. It was quite comical to watch because McKoy had no chance, one deep voice in a sea of girlie voices and he was doomed form the start no matter how hard he tried.

Kenedy wanted an ice-cream bar instead of a birthday cake so I bought ice cream and a bunch of different candies and toppings for them to choose from for the toppings. I also made a double batch of brownies to use for their ice-cream base if they wanted.

Once all of the girls arrived they visited, ate their ice-cream creations and then Kenedy opened her presents. Most of her friends were on the same page and she got a lot of bath salts and bombs, they must know of her love of baths.

Lauryn and Ashlynn chipped in a brought her a shark head, she will have a lot of fun with that up at college!

top row: Bri and McKoy

middle row: Lauryn, Sophie, Makayla, Megan, Kelsey and Anna

bottom row: Lyndsey, Audrey, Carlee, Kenedy, Hannah and Sammy

Kenedy had a paper due a midnight that night that she needed to finish so while the party was going on she tried her best to work on it. 

Procrastination

The next morning, Sunday, was Kenedy's Golden Birthday day. She turned 18 on the 18th in the year 2018!

 Kenedy first opened her card from Grandma Bonnie. 

Some of her favorite candy and a $20. I told Kenedy once you turn 18 you stop getting money according to age and just get a $20, she seemed totally fine with that.

Kenedy's big birthday gift were a pair of Jordans that had not arrived by her birthday so she just had a few really small gifts to open that day. I bought her some pans I found on the Way-Mart clearance table to take to college and I also bought her some gel pens. She likes to doodle during sacrament meeting and is always asking if she could use my pens. I do not like to let my pens be borrowed by anyone because that is when I start losing them and never see them again so I bought her some of her own.

For dinner I made Kenedy her favorite, Chicken Bruschetta Pasta, so delicious! I made a double batch so that she could have leftovers for lunch the next day.

I made her a chocolate cake so she could blow out her 18 candle.

Later we got a knock on the door and it was Bishop Danny Ricks stopping by after all of his church meetings to wish Kenedy a Happy Birthday. We all enjoyed having him over and I managed to sneak some photos of Kefford and Danny talking together. 

Kenedy's Favorite Things

Food: Chicken Bruschetta Pasta

Dessert: Almond Joy Brownies

Candy: Reese's PB Cups

Book: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Movie: Pirates of the Caribbean

Church Song: Nearer My God to Thee

Friend: Mckoy 

Scripture Story: 2,000 Stripling Warriors 

Color: Blue

Thing to do: Eat

School Subject: Education Assistant

5 things i love about Kenedy:

1. When our Ward split and we were put in a new Ward Kenedy decided that once she turned 18 that she wanted to be done with Young Womens and move on to Relief Society. If we would have stayed in our old ward Kenedy would have stayed with Young Womens until Graduation but since she is with a brand new group she just wants to be done and I do not blame her. Kefford and I convinced Kenedy to get a calling in the primary rather then go to Young Womens and I love that they gave her a calling in the nursery and that she loves it. She enjoys being with those little ones and looks forward to it every Sunday, I always loved being in the Nursery and am a little envious of her new calling. 
2. I love so much that Kenedy is willing to drive for me. I really do not like to drive and I feel that I have to do it a lot, especially after school getting my kids to and from their different activities. When Kenedy is home she is usually willing to do the dropping off and picking up and that just makes me so happy.
3. I think Kenedy is sooo pretty and I love how she has learned to do her make-up so well. It never looks too much and it is really flattering the way she does it. She has asked me to help her with her make-up for fancy dances but I think she is way more qualified then I am. I think she is just as beautiful without make-up as well.
4. I love that Kenedy wants to go to college to be a teacher. She has had this desire for a long time and it is exciting to see her working towards this goal. This semester she is taking a teachers assistant class and she gets to help out at Rylee's elementary school every other day. She loves going and it is getting her a taste of what her job will be like after college. Pretty cool.
5. I will always say how much I love Kenedy's testimony because it impresses me all the time. She is light years ahead in her conviction that I was at her age and it makes me so happy to see her doing things that bring the Spirit into her life. One of my favorite reasons for being called into Young Womens this last half a year was because I had the opportunity to hear Kenedy bear her testimony and it is amazing.

A new driver

We finally got Ryker signed up for Driver's Ed so that he could start working on getting his license. I was trying to get him signed up through the school district because it is a bit cheaper then going through a private driving school but after applying twice and him not getting accepted I called it quits and signed him up wth Hatch's. The school district was hard to get into because they have limited spaces and a lot of kids trying to sign up through it, it was the cheapest after all. But I was happy with Hatch's, Ryker did all the bookwork online which was way nicer then having to drive him to a class every night and his driving he did in the morning before school. I took him to Hatch's and dropped him off at 6:00 am and then his instructor would drive with him for an hour and then drop him off at the high school at 7:00. It wasn't really that bad, I liked having it done with before school, after school can get too crazy for me. 

So Ryker passed his class and now has his Permit so he can drive with me whenever he is around and able. So far he is doing a good job at listening to my instructions and I don't find it scary at all having him be the driver. It will be nice to have another licensed driver in the family.

Avynlea just being silly because Ryker got his picture taken and so she wanted her picture taken.

Bishop Ricks came to Kenedy's Seminary class to be a guest lecturer and Kenedy was so happy to see him. She loves him a lot and they have a great friendship, he even pulled her up to the front of the class to talk about how great she is and he also mentioned how much he loves her Dad and in his order of people of importance, he said, it goes, his wife first then Kefford and then his kids. ha ha ha 

 Our new ward was having a minute to win it game night on a Friday night. I really do not like minute to win it games and did not plan on going but at the last minute we decided we better show up for at least a little bit. I was a pretty small crowd and we ended up sitting with most of the people we knew from our subdivision although I did talk to my new YW's advisor and got to know her a little bit better. They had us in teams according to where we were sitting and then had volunteers come up from each team to play whatever game they were doing. Kefford got roped into doing the cookie unicorn game and he had to stack cookies on his forehead and keep them there for a certain amount of time. He got it eventually but he did not come in first. 

 I volunteered to do the bubble game where I had to blow a bubble and then keep it in the air and get it across the room and through a hula hoop all with only my breath. Nobody took pictures of me doing this but I rocked it and got my bubble through the hoop first and in no time at all. 

Avynlea did the puzzle building game. They were each given a puzzle, with out the box so they didn't know what it was supposed to look like,  and the first one to build it won. Avy didn't come in first but she did a good job and stuck with it.

Kefford and I have been talking about getting some new couches for our downstairs living room and on Saturday we took Rylee with us, since she was the only one home, and went around looking at couches. Rylee was not thrilled with the idea of going but she brought a book and I think she enjoyed testing out the comfiness of all the couches.

Valentine's Day

Rylee and Avynlea have been obsessed lately with making slime. They have found many different recipes and have tried all of them and have found the one they love the best. I came up with a great idea for Rylee to make slime valentines this year for her classmates at school. I found a really cute printable online and on Sunday after church Rylee, with some help from Avynlea, made her 

Valen-Slimes. They had a lot of fun making the perfect pink Valentine Slime and the finished product was so cute! 

On Valentine's Day my family woke up to pink heart shaped pancakes, Oreo Truffles I made for them and a Valentine where inside I listed things I loved about them. 

Ady and Rylee also let me braid their hair in a heart shape which looked really cute. 

This is Rylee's last year of having a school Valentine's party and I am ok with that. I did not want to have to deal with coming up with another idea for a Valentines box and so I encouraged her to use her Monster Book of Monsters one we made last year. She came home with the box filled with Valentine's and she said her classmates went crazy over the Valentines-Slime's she had made! Last school Valentine's party was a success!

Kefford and I celebrated our Valentine's Day a day early this year. I needed to be at the church Wednesday night because the Young Women volunteered to baby-sit for couples so they could go on dates. For our date Kefford and I went to Olive Garden for a delicious dinner and then we went to the movies to watch Pitch Perfect 3.  I thought it would not be as crowded because we were doing 

Valentine's day a day early but I was wrong, it was still really busy, maybe everyone else had the same idea?

I know Valentine's Day is not too popular with many people but I love having the opportunity to celebrate the day and to show love to my family. It was a great day!

Free Throws and The Retirement Center

Rylee has been loving Basketball this season and is always excited to go to practice and play in games. At this game she got her first basket which I was able to get video of and she was fouled while shooting her basket and also got to make a free throw. She missed the free throw but I was super proud of her for making the basket and for how hard she tries in the games. She has gotten really good at screening her opponents and did a really awesome one at a game her Grandma Alison got to go to and watch and because of Rylee's screen her teammate was able to make the basket. Rylee has gotten more aggressive and sure of herself and has improved so much since her first year playing.

On Sunday Kenedy and Avynlea were asked to go to the retirement center and do the music for their small sacrament meeting. Kenedy played the piano and Avynlea led and they both did a really great job. I snuck a picture because I wanted record of this day. It is really rewarding and exciting as a parent to watch them use their skills. I saw a friend (Janie Pope) there from our previous ward and I asked her what she was there for and she had a broken leg and needed to be in the home for a couple of weeks. Her husband was not able to take care of her at home by himself. After they were done with the sacrament meeting we helped the residents back to their rooms and then I took my girls to go find Janie in her room so that we could visit with her for a bit. It was a really nice day being at the Retirement center and I would love to go again with my girls.

Verona Ward Young Women

This year when it came time to print my blog book I had too many pictures for one book so or this year I had my Blog printed into two books. It wasn't ideal for me but I did not want to go through and try to delete stuff or condense more pictures since I already did that through the year so two books it is!

Although it was a rough and lonely start we have really loved being in the Verona ward. Kefford was serving in the Bishopric as Executive Secretary and because good friends with all of those guys and I was serving as Beehive advisor and loved the women and youth I served with. It was a good time.

 but we knew the time was going to end somehow because the ward had gotten massive and we had more families moving in every week. One Sunday in February the announcement was made about a split and they were taking our subdivision, Bainbridge, and the one next to us, Bridgetower West, and giving us to the Oak Creek Ward in the Meridian West Stake. My family was really, really sad about this and not at all happy. When the announcement was made I started crying and couldn't seem to stop for the rest of the day. 

For Young Womens the girls who were leaving were told that we could go to our mutual for one last wednesday and so we did. Kenedy did speed dating with her group and Avynlea and I helped make hats for service for our group. The girls all signed poster boards for us leaders that were leaving and once again it was really sad. I will miss this ward a lot but am glad we will still be able to see them every once in a while since we do still meet in the same building.

Verona Ward Beehives

Elizabeth, Emily, Makayla, Sophia, Kenedy, Aubrey, Brynn and Sara

The top picture is just the Verona Ward Laurels

Kenedy asked her friend Drew to Sweethearts and his Mom sent me the picture she took of him with the invite. It was his birthday so the invite was extra fun.

Senior Night

I got an email about senior night and that we needed to have a board decorated with pictures of Kenedy to put on display about 5 days before it was going to happen. Kenedy came home from practice Monday night to tell me that she got kicked in the chin during a stunt practice and she split her chin open, bit through her tongue and sustained a concussion. Her chin was glued together and I am so glad we did not have to take her in for stitches but the concussion meant she had to sit out of practice and future games until she passed the impact test and was cleared from the concussion. She wasn't sure that she had a concussion but the next day at school she started showing symptoms, bad headaches and confusion, she said it took her ten minutes of staring at a math paper before she could remember what she was supposed to do. They would not let her take the impact test until she wasn't showing any symptoms so it was a long week for her. With all of this going on I didn't even think about the board I was supposed to be putting together until the morning of Senior Night. I quickly found some pictures I had and then sent them to War-Greens from my computer to be printed. Kenedy was not feeling good but I had her also get some pictures sent to be printed from her phone. 

I was going over to my friend Crystals to work on making cards for card club and brought along my board making supplies so she could help me be creative. It was the right choice since she had some awesome clipart of a cheerleader, pom poms, megaphones and a tag that read pep rally. We were able to get all the stuff I needed cut out and make some cards for card club! 

After I left her house I stopped off at the Dollar Store and Wal-Mart to find some more stuff for the board and then after dance I started putting it together. Ryker helped me glue the background on and then when Avynlea came home she helped me arrange the pictures and decorations and we taped them all on. I was pretty happy with how it turned out and was so glad to have had many helpers with this project.

Avynlea had Gymnastics that night and Rylee had Basketball practice but I asked both of them if it would be OK if they skipped practice for one night to go and support their sister. They were both fine with the arrangement and I know it meant a lot to Kenedy to have all of us with her on Senior Night. Because of her concussion she was not allowed to cheer at the game but she did have to wear her uniform and she stood up with her coaches to watch and support her fellow cheerleaders. 

During halftime they had all the Senior Cheerleaders and their families go out in the hall so they could line us up for the walk in. We were told when they announced her name that we were to go in and face the Visitor side and then turn and face the Home side. 

They announced Kenedy's name and that she was her parents and siblings, I can't remember if they announced out names or not, and we walked in and faced the Visitors side like we were told. It felt pretty awkward since we didn't know anyone on that side but then we saw our friends the Anderson's there and he was taking pictures of our family with with his phone so that gave us someone to smile at. We then turned to the Home side and waited while the rest of the Seniors were announced. All of the Seniors were given a little gift from the rest of the team and it was Hannah who gave Kenedy her gift of flowers and treats. Hannah was Kenedy's cheer little sister last year and they got really close, it was sweet to see her be the one to give Kenedy her gift.

After the game, which Meridian won!, we went out to look at all the boards and to take pictures. I really loved how Kenedy's turned out and she really liked it also and she made sure to thank me for doing it. 

Kefford and Kenedy

Elizabeth and Kenedy

Ryker and Kenedy

Avynlea and Kenedy

Rylee and Kenedy

We also had all of the Seniors pose for a picture together.

Audrey, Kenedy, Noel, Maddie, Autumn, Jaycee, Kaitlyn, Sarah and Tori

Dance team was also honoring their Seniors that night and Kenedy had me get a picture with her and Lauryn. These girls have been close friends since Kindergarten and we all really love Lauryn!

Rylee goes to the Capital

Rylee got to go on a field trip to tour the Capital with her fifth grade class. She never asked me if I would go with her and I never made plans to. But that morning as I was dropping her off I felt bad that I went on this trip with all of my other kids and wasn't going to go with her. I had a Drs appointment in Boise that morning and so I decided that after my appointment I would head over to the Capital to meet up with Rylee and her class. I didn't tell her I was going to do this I wanted it to be a surprise. 

After I was done with the Drs I headed over to the Capital and found a parking spot where I could see when her bus arrived. After a bit of a wait I finally spotted her bus and I got out of my car and walked over to meet up with Rylee. She was pretty happy to see me when she got off the bus and she said she saw me walking down the street and that surprised her to see me. 

I went in with her and went on part of the tour before I had to leave but I made sure to get some pictures of my girl before I left. I am glad that I took the time to spend a little time on this tour with Rylee. It meant a lot to her and it meant a lot to me to be a part of this.

I went on the opposite side of where Rylee was so I could get a picture of her. She is a little hard to spot but if you can see her on the right then it should be easier to find her in the picture on the left.

Rylee and her Best Friend Serena

I like going to the Capital and seeing how our Government runs. At one point the tour guide told us that this Capital did not belong to the politicians that it belonged to us, the people of Idaho. Rylee and I thought that was funny and joked with each other about moving in and living in the Capital since we owned it. 

Later after school Rylee got Bonnie out if his cage so she could hold him and let him run around for a while. While she was holding him he managed to climb up and onto her back and I hurried to get a picture before Avynlea stepped in to help remove him. 

Stinky Sneaker

Friday night (Avynlea's Birthday) was also the Stinky Sneaker. Stinky Sneaker is our annual friendly rivalry game against Mountain View. Kefford, Avynlea and I got to the game a little late because we went to the Verona Chili feed for a little bit before we went to the game. I love the Stinky Sneaker, it is loud, chaotic, crazy but so much fun. I love seeing so much school spirit. Because we got there late the only seats we could find were in the upper top bleachers, which was fine because the entire bottom bleachers were filled with students and they stand the entire game and I was not wanting to do that. The only problem with being upstairs was it was super hot up there and we were right next to the band. But it was still such a fun and electric game and and I was happy to be there. We couldn't see Kenedy cheering because Varsity stood on the bottom row of bleachers in the bottom section. 

The Stinky Sneaker's winner is determined from impartial judges on which school shows the most school spirit. Both schools decorate the gym and come dressed up and are constant cheering throughout the game. Meridian pulled off the win for the game with a score of 56 to 53, it was an exciting game down to the last seconds. Once the game was over everyone waited to hear who won the Stinky Sneaker and it was...Meridian!!! For the 5th time in a row we won! The kids went crazy and ran down to the floor to celebrate! 

We found Kenedy once we ventured down to the floor and I had Avynlea stand with her for a picture.

The JV cheer coach Libby jumped in for a picture when she was I was taking pictures so we got one with her also.