Table Rock Hike and Swimming

Yay, Heather finally came for some Summer fun! We went walking every day that she was here which was so fun to have a walking buddy. One morning we talked Ryker into going with us to hike up to Table Rock. Avy and Rylee were up in McCall on a Grandma's trip with Alison and Kenedy was sick of hiking to Table Rock since she has done it a lot with her friends recently. So it was just the three of us. When we got to the start of the hike Ryker spotted a friend he knew from school and since we started at the same time he hiked up with him leaving Heather and I to huff and puff behind him. 

For some reason this hike was a bit harder this time around then previous times we have gone hiking. I wonder if it was because i felt I was  pushing us to go a bit faster then we would normally go because I was on a bit of a time crunch. Whatever the reason it was a bit more difficult but we made it to the top alive. We had a really nice breeze most of the way to the top which was helpful and then once we got up there the wind was really blowing so that it was really chilly when standing on the edge. 

We took some pictures, looked at the view, found the Meridian Temple (I think) and then we hiked it back down.

We went swimming and although I didn't't last too long in the water it was nice to be there with Kefford and most of our kids. Kenedy was at work.

I enjoyed watching The kids play their water games and they had a good time swimming around and showing off their water talents.

Blueberry Picking!

On our drive back from Utah Mikell called Alison and while she was on the car phone speaker I mentioned that we needed to go blueberry picking. Mikell said she would look up the info and send a text out to get everyone involved. Heather was coming for her summer visit Monday night and I was hoping we could work it out so that she could come with us again but Monday morning was the best day for everyone else, so no Heather this year:(

I brought all four kids with me and I told them they could not quit until they met their quota of a full bucket each. I thought we picked a lot of blueberries last year but they were all gone by the end of summer and I really wanted to get enough this year to last all year. 

We had a great time picking blueberries and my kids had a great time being with their cousins. Caleb LOVES Ryker and was his little buddy the entire time, it was pretty cute. Those two were the only ones I got pictures of because my kids were off down the rows picking with their cousins and I was too focused on filling my bucket to follow them around for pictures.

I did manage to get two group shots of some of us who were there. By the time I thought to take a big picture most of our fun group were gone. Mikell, Whitney, Kylie, Michelle, Brit and I were all there with our kids along with Grandma Alison who had Isabelle and Audrey with her. Definitely a fun group!

Tayvia, Kenedy, Hazel, Rylee, Alison, Isabelle and Avynlea

Ryker, Brit, Xander, Asher, Audrey and Elizabeth

Isabelle, Tayvia, Rylee, Asher and Brit

Ryker, Kinsley, Sadie, Avynlea, Hazel and Caleb

Utah!

Kefford mentioned that his Mom was going to Dustin's house in Utah to pick up Isabelle and Audrey to bring them to the farm for a couple of weeks. I called her up and asked it Avynlea, Rylee and I could tag along so we could visit my sister for a couple of days. She was more then agreeable about us tagging along and we left Wednesday and came back Friday, it was a really quick trip, but it was a good trip. 

We went to the wood crafting place to pick out a project and the girls really wanted to do a craft so Emily found some flowers she never did anything with and let them have those. I loved their creativity and thought their flowers turned out so cute!

Thursday morning we went to the Mt Timpanogas Temple so the girls could do Baptisms. Rylee is not yet 12 so she had to wait in the waiting room. This Temple was so busy and it took about two hours for the girls to get done with their Baptisms. Poor Rylee had a long wait but she brought her Kindle and played on that while also watching some of the Brides come through. 

 Thursday night Avynlea and Rylee got to go to Mutual with Isabelle and they played on the beach at the lake close to their house. Emily had a temple recommend interview and after she was done we went to pick up our girls. 

 Friday morning we went to Bridal Veil Falls for a quick hike. It was nice and not too hot thank heavens.

 Rylee found a big stick and some rocks and a smaller stick that she wanted to keep. I told her we would take a picture and then leave the Nature in the Nature, she really makes me laugh!

It was a really short trip but I am glad we went, we had a lot of fun and enjoyed being with Emily and Isabelle.

Ryker has been working at the farm a lot this summer. While we were in Utah Taylor sent me a picture and said...

"I went to the shop to clean my car and Ryker was pushing Aspen around on the chair for about 20 minutes straight, then he helped me clean my car. He's such a good boy!"

I love hearing kind words about my kids and am grateful Ryker is being so sweet to all of his little cousins and that he is so helpful. I really have great kids!

Spartan 2018

A couple of months ago Danny Ricks talked Kefford into signing up to do the Spartan with him and a couple of other guys. Kefford wasn't really wanting to do it but he let himself get talked into it and signed up then regretted it off and on up until the day of. He was worried about it constantly for those months and wasn't sure how well he would do. He trained the best he could and the morning of was ready come what may. 

I couldn't go and watch because it would have cost me money to be a spectator and I didn't want to pay to stand in the heat and watch Kefford run by briefly. I knew he would do good though because he is very athletically inclined.

When he came home he was exhausted but pretty proud of how he had done. he completed all of the obstacles and did not have to do any burpees other then the ones he did to help his teammates. I am pretty sure he was glad he did it and I told him he should do it again next year. We got some pictures that were take at the race and then Danny sent the group pictures they took together.

Danny Ricks. Ren Lamm and Kefford

This was the beast of a hill they had to run up, that would have killed me.

Ryan Ercanbrack, Kefford, Steve Payne, Danny and Ren

End of School

Last day of High School for Kenedy! She moving on to bigger and better things and I am so excited for her to get to experience College, she will love it! Kenedy was done with school about a week and a half before the other kids got out. 

The next week I got to go to the Middle School for Avynlea's awards assembly. Once again she got the award for 4.0 and I am super proud of her for keeping her grades up. She loves school and loves to work hard and do her best!

Beginning of June it was Avynlea and Ryker's turn for their last day of school. The High School does not do any awards assemblies but Ryker also got a 4.0 grade point average for the year. It came down to the wire but he was able to get the straight A's he was working for and he was so happy that he did it! He is now a Sophomore and Avynlea will be moving into the 8th grade. Nothing I can do about my kids growing up but I sure love them and am super proud of all the good they accomplish!

And another week and a half later we finally got to Rylee and her last day of school. This was a big year for Rylee as it was her last year in Elementary School. She had such a great 5th grade year, she loved her teacher, she had her best friend in her class and she thrived! I am so happy with how her last year went and am really proud of her and how hard she worked to do well in school.

Rylee had her Awards Assembly that day and Avynlea and I along with Alison went to watch and support her. Rylee got her fifth grade promotion certificate as well as a certificate for her being in the safety patrol. The biggest award Rylee got was the presidential Award for Academics. Not a lot of students get this award so it was a big deal and I am really proud of Rylee for receiving it and so happy she was recognized for her hard work.

After the assembly we took some pictures, said goodbye to Alison and then headed outside for our last elementary school picnic ever! 

We stopped in to get a picture with Mr Thornburg, Rylee's teacher...

and we also got Serena to take a besties picture with Rylee. The girls liked to hang out in their teachers closet throughout the year and so we took a picture of them in their favorite hangout spot.

And just like that everyone is now officially out of school and the summer can begin!

Kefford Birthday Fail :(

I had an epic birthday fail for Kefford this year and I feel terrible about it. I was not on the ball with planning for it and when the day came all I had was a pair of socks. Because I was so embarrassed about not having anything we didn't't really do anything for his birthday. The day after was Sunday and I cooked him breakfast and had a cake but we really didn't do any official birthday stuff until 2 days after his birthday. I feel so bad and hope that I can learn from this and do better every year to make his day special

5 things I love about Kefford

1. He is really funny and makes me laugh a lot. I love his sense of humor and how sometimes he acts like a 12 year old boy.

2. He is quick to forgive and forget and that is a quality I admire. He is really good at letting things go and moving on from the negative situation.

3. He is super handsome and only gets better with age.

4. He is grateful for the food I make and will eat anything I put in front of him. He does not always like it but he will eat it and thetas appreciated

5. He has a strong testimony of Jesus Christ and is a good example of service in the church. no matter what his calling he fulfills it to the best he can and never takes the easy road.

Camp Hogwarts

The week after school got out we had our Ward Girls Camp. I was excited to be able to go up and be with Avynlea and Kenedy, this is Kenedy's last year. Kenedy was a YCL this year and went up the day before to get things ready for the campers. The church recently changed how Girl's Camp is done, doing away with certifications (yay) and also making it so the YCL'S are completely in charge. Because of this I really did not have any responsibilities other then being an adult leader up at camp. It was nice to relax and be able to participate with out having to worry about being in charge of anything. 

The theme was Harry Potter and I was excited to participate in immerse myself in all things Hogwarts. I wore my Luna Lovegood glasses and a lot of the campers had no idea what they were, which was pretty sad to me. I had Avynlea, Brooke Williams, Ally Hansen, Halsey Murray, and Lainey Olson in the car with me for the drive up and they watched the third Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. 

When we arrived we went through Platform 9 3/4's and then the campers were sorted into their houses. I helped decide where to put the campers and I accidentally left the list on my bathroom counter for a day. Avy came out one day and said she saw what house she was going to be in and that it was Ravenclaw. I am not sure how she came up with that because we did not put her in Ravenclaw which she found out when she got sorted into Hufflepuff. 

After the girls were sorted, they were taken to their cabins so they could unpack and acclimate a bit to their new surroundings. At about 1:00 we changed into our swimsuits and headed out to go white water rafting. I have never wanted to go white water rafting and did not want to go for girls camp but I let myself be talked into it and I am glad I did because it was surprisingly fun. 

The YCL's went together in one boat with Zach Shoemaker as their guide, the first timers or ones who were nervous went in the raft with Blake Hansen and the rest of us, myself included, went in the fun boat with Rod Givens. Our guides were men from our ward who owned the boats and the life jackets. It was awesome to have it be friends taking us and we also didn't have to send any budget on our rafting trip!

I had mostly Beehives in our boat and we had so much fun. Some of them got knocked out during the rapids but we were always able to get them back in. We tried doing the "circle of faith" which is where everyone in the boat stands up on the outer edge and holds hands. I was next to Rod and he was trying to get us to all lean back while we were doing this but most of the girls would not. At one point Rod let go of my hand and I lost my balance but managed to push myself forward so I would not go in. Right at the point that I felt I was safe and going to fall in the water I felt a push from Rod on my shoulder and in the water I went. My guide pushed me in! I didn't go under and was quickly pulled back into the boat. He tried denying his part in any of to but the adults in the other boats all saw what happened so we know the truth :). 

Karma came back to bite him though because not too long after that we hit a pretty big rapid and we lost half the girls in our boat and also our guide. I was freaking out a little as I watched Rod and the girls floating away because they did not go over what to do when you lose your guide. The YCL's boat was able to grab all of the floaters and Blake paddled his boat up to mine and had Jeni Lindley jump in to help me row to shore where we waited for the other boat to catch up and we got our group back.

It was a fun adventure and I decided this white water rafting business was pretty fun and I would do it again.

The YCL's over the Hufflepuffs made their girls some really cute tutus to wear and Avynlea had fun posing for my camera.

The next days big adventure was to play a game of Quidditch. Each house was a team and they played against each other until someone won the final game which was Ravenclaw. The adults had to play Ravenclaw at the end and despite our best efforts I was not able to get the golden snitch before the other team did. I felt bad for not being able to get it but I did try hard.

Avynlea was the seeker on her team and it was so much fun watching her be athletic and run around the field on her "broomstick". She did so good!

Team Slytherin:

Sarah Kropf, Emily Laing, Ally Hansen, Annika Barnes, Kenedy Barnes and Lynea Ririe

Team Hufflepuff:

Halsey Murray, Tippy Steele, Olivia Moorhouse, Macey Gwilliams, Aliya Allred, Avynlea Peterson and Morgan Williams

Team Gryffindor:

Echo Walker, Averie Gunter, Shanae Ririe, Elizabeth Laing, Hope Robbins, Hope's friend, Lainey Olson and Madi Eberhard

Team Ravenclaw:

Kaitlyn Lindley, Annica Kropf, Eliza Roecker, Leah Only, Elise Linnarz, Kelsey Roberts and not pictured is Brooklyn Robbins

We had plenty of things to occupy us during the rest of the week. One day we went on a little hike that made my thighs burn. We wanted to hike to a waterfall we heard about but took the wrong trail. A smaller group went later on the right trail and it took them way longer then they were told and the waterfall was not impressive at all. 

It was a great Girls Camp and I am really glad that I was able to go with my girls and be a part of it.