Freak Alley

After the wedding reception Kenedy, Alyssa, Avynlea and Rylee took my phone and went to Freak Alley to take some fun pictures. It looks like they had a lot of fun and were able to take some cool pictures.

Bridesmaid

Kennedy's friend since Middle School, Anna, got married and had Kenedy as one of her Bridesmaids.  Kenedy didn't get the dress from Anna until a couple of days before her wedding and when she brought it over she said there was a mix up and apologized for only having a size large for Kenedy. We were panicking a little because it was huge on Kenedy bit after looking it over I thought I could help make it fit. I was able to alter it in time for the wedding and was super happy with how easy it was. Crisis averted!

Anna looked beautiful and it was fun and surreal to watch Kenedy's childhood friend sealed in the Temple. They all seem so young still and not ready to be doing grownup things like getting married.

Kenedy, Anna and Hannah

Such beautiful girls
We went to the recaption later that night and I got to dance with Kefford for one song before we left. Good times

Cousin Attack!

I took myself off of Instagram for the summer so I am not up to date on the new filter fads. I got these pictures from Kenedy and I assume that this old age filter is the newest fad. Kefford looks pretty cute as a grumpy old man and Rylee is the cutest little Grandma. A little creepy though,  if I have to be honest to see these two so aged.

On Tuesday I drove with Rylee to meet Kenedy and Alyssa in Burley to bring them home for the summer. After we started on our trip I got a call from Kenedy that she was going to be later meeting us as planned. I was not too thrilled with the news since I was already on my way. I called Kefford about it and he suggested that we stop in Twin Falls and go check out Shoshone Falls. We have never been and I thought that was a great idea to use up some of our time. The Falls were really pretty but after about 10 minutes of walking around and looking at the waterfalls we were ready to go. 

We invited Brit and her kids over one morning to go swimming and Avynlea took a couple of pictures of her sister and cousins swimming. Brielle recently broke her arm and didn't want to go swimming which is why she was on the side. 

Asher, Xander, Tayvia and Rylee

Dustin was in Nyssa with his family visiting and Mikell took her kids out there to see them and Whitney and her kids were also there. Mikell sent me a picture of all the girls attacking Ryker. He is such a good natured kid when it comes to his little Cousins and is so patient with them. Mikell said after she took the pictures they made all the littles go outside so Ryker could have a break. 

Cheer Camp!

A couple of weeks before cheer camp the cheerleaders got their Big Sister/Little Sister assignments. When Kenedy was a Junior she had Hannah Everman as her cheer little Sister. Hannah is now a senior and she was assigned to be Avynlea's Big Sister. I love that she can be her Big Sis and how cute it is to come full circle.

Cheer camp always has a theme and this years theme was "welcome to the jungle" On the last night the cheerleaders are supposed to dress in a costume related to the theme and then they have a fun themed party. Avynlea decided she wanted to dress up as a Giraffe which I thought was a cute idea especially once I saw the pictures she found on Pinterest as inspiration. We talked over what she wanted to do and while she was at Girl's Camp I spent the week hunting for a cream or tan colored shirt to paint Giraffe spots on. I looked at so many different stores and was not able to find anything similar to what we needed. I was so frustrated and getting pretty nervous until I found the perfect shirt at Fred Myers. Thank heavens for Fred Myers. Avynlea loved the shirt and she loved the pocket and did not want any spots covering the pocket. While she was putting together Hannah's big sister gift and love note jar I started painting the shirt. I started drawing a couple of spots and them painting them in which worked but was a little tedious so I stopped that and just free handed it. As I was working on it I asked Avynlea if it was Ok and she said she loved it and that I was doing a great job. I worked on it for two days and was really happy with how it turned out. More importantly Avynlea was really happy with how it turned out and her 'Thank You for Painting my shirt" was music to my ears and made me really happy

They were leaving for cheer camp Sunday at noon and since that was right in the middle of our sacrament meeting Avynlea and I went to the Verona Ward for Sacrament meeting. It was a really good meeting and I really loved the speakers, I am glad that we went to their Ward that day.
When the time came I took Avynlea to the bus and got her stuff unloaded from the car while she went to get her cheer shoes and camp shirts from her coaches. Once we shoved everything in we loaded her suitcase under the bus and I gave Avynlea a hug and watched her climb aboard. A couple of minutes after she got on she came back off and came over to tell me that all of the other cheerleaders were telling her that while she was at Girls Camp it was announced at practice that she was one of the new JV team co-captains! I was shocked!
When Avynlea brought home the paperwork to all out in the hopes of becoming cheer captain I told her it was fine to try but to not expect it too much because she is only a Freshman and I couldn't imagine them choosing a Freshman. I guess I was wrong. I was really excited for her and I knew she was super excited, what a great start to cheer camp!

Avynlea and Hailey and Andreya, Hailey and Avynlea

When I got home I couldn't stop thinking about her being one of the Co-captains and I wondered if they might have sent her an email to let her know the news. When I checked her email I found the message from her coach letting her know that she is one of 4 co-captains for the JV team. Two of the other ones are Juniors, the third is a sophomore and then there is Avynlea the Freshman. I know she will be a great leader and I am happy that her coach's recognized that skill in her as well!

On Wednesday I picked Avynlea up from the school and was so excited to hear all about how camp was. Avynlea did not have a camera with her and she had her friends send some of the pictures they took.

In the blue tank picture Avynlea is kneeling in the middle row 7 girls from the right

In the white shirt picture Avynlea is kneeling in the front row and is the 2nd girl from the right.

In the stunt picture Avynlea is the flyer in the first group on the left.

Coach Kara sent a picture of the girls on the bus traveling home and Avynlea is in the back on the left. She and her friend Natalie slept on the floor of the bus on the way home. 

I really wanted a picture of Avynlea in her Giraffe costume and the only picture they took was after the party so Avynlea looks a little bit of a mess. Still so super cute though! She said she got a lot of compliments on her costume and everyone loved her outfit!

Garth Brooks Concert

Cheer parents were given the opportunity to work the Garth Brooks concert to earn money for our kids cheer accounts. I thought it sounded like fun and asked Kefford if he wanted to do it with me. He said he would do Saturday but he couldn't do Friday. I didn't want to do it alone so I asked my friend Cristal if she would want to do it. She is the best friend and immediately agreed to it. We worked the front gate security and it was hard but it was fast paced. It was hard in that we had to tell people when they couldn't bring things in and people were not happy when their purses were too big to bring in or when they had to leave behind food, blankets, stadium seats and other items. When we were finished with that they had us walk around by the food court and watch for drunks. We walked together and spent the time chatting it was actually quite fun to hang out with her. I am so thankful for a friend like her who doesn't even hesitate about spending her time helping us. She is the best!

Saturday Kefford and I were supposed to help again at the gate and got retrained and everything but when we took our little water break before we were supposed to be at our post we were snagged and told to come work inside. We told them that we already had an assignment but he pulled rank and said we were going with him, nothing we could do about it so we went. We were assigned to stand by the floor seating and check the tickets of everyone passing through to make sure they had the right ticket. It wasn't as fast paced as my gate assignment was but it was fine. I had quite a few guys, drunk and not so drunk, hitting on me which was annoying. I did have a good view of two ladies sitting or trying to sit in the bleachers but they were so drunk they could nt even sit up straight and kept falling over. They put on quite the entertaining show for me until they got up and staggered out never to return. I will never understand the appeal of spending so much money on a concert ticket only to get so plastered that you don't remember the show or leave before it begins. What a waste.

Once the show started our replacements showed up so that Kefford and I could leave. We were not scheduled to work the entire night, been there done that the night before and I wanted to get home. 

Kefford wanted to stick around until Garth Brooks came out so he could at least tell people he saw him so I reluctantly agreed, I was so tired, but if he hurried out I wouldn't have to wait long. Kefford was able to figure out where he was going to enter the stadium and we made our way over to that area and started helping put up the tunnel for Garth Brooks to walk though. No one questioned if we were supposed to be there they just saw the yellow shirts and let us do what we wanted. Those shirts gave us a lot of power and freedom. 

Once the tunnel was put up, it was basically pic pipes and curtains, we stayed in there and held the curtains closed so nobody could peak in. Eventually Mr Garth Brooks himself came through with all of his entourage. He stopped right by Kefford and I could see them talking but I couldn't hear what they were saying. Finally I saw Kefford give him a pat on the back and then Garth Brooks continued on and got himself up on the stage.

After we were done and Kefford got more then a glimpse of Garth Brooks we headed out. As we were leaving I asked Kefford what they talked about and he said Garth Brooks looked nervous so he asked Garth if he was nervous and Garth looked at him and said he was scared out of his mind. So Kefford patted him on the back and said "you got this". Words of encouragement from Kefford. 

Fairy Dancing

My friend Katie had her baby boy on the 4th of July and after giving the family a week or so to settle in with the new baby Avyn;ea, Rylee and I finally stopped by to deliver her baby gift and love on the new baby. He is so tiny and so sweet and I loved holding the little guy. Avynlea thought it looked funny the way I was holding him and took a couple of pictures.

Rylee has been practicing her braiding in my hair and I think she is getting better and better. Her braids are still a little loose but she will continue to get better as she practices.

We inherited Danny Ricks Traeger when he moved and Ryker and Kefford have been working hard and cooking up delicious meats all in the name of figuring the thing out. 

Monday night my eyelid started swelling for no reason I could think of. My eye didn't hurt or itch and it was not crusty or gooey, it was just swollen. I took a couple of allergy pills when I went to bed hoping for the best and woke up to my eye being even more swollen. It was nuts! I went to the Temple that morning and of course it was Bob at the recommend desk. He asked me how I was and I mentioned my eye being swollen and he said he wouldn't have even noticed it and it wasn't that bad. By the time I left the Temple my eye was back to normal and I was super grateful but really confused as to what the problem was. One of those crazy mysterious ailments I guess. Thank heavens it went away so quick!

TO occupy my time a little while the girls were at Girls Camp I agreed to teach a Fairy Dance Camp at the studio. WE dance like Fairies, hunted for Fairies, built Fairy traps and on the third and final day discovered Fairies. It was so much fun and the kids were super cute and fun to be with!

Laney, Emily, Michelle, Everleigh and Abigail

Girls Camp!

July 15th I drove Avynlea and Rylee to the church so they could go to Girls Camp. When I was first released from Young WOmen's I was really bummed out about not going to Girls Camp with my girls this year. But as the weeks and preparations went on I became more OK with not going and was able to just be excited for them to have a fun adventure. It was Rylee's first year and she was pretty nervous about going but I knew she would be OK and that AVynlea would help her out.

Before they left a couple of group shots had to be taken. First the Beehives..

Then all of the Girls heading up to camp. 

Kim sent me these pictures later in the day, I missed out on seeing them being taken because I had to leave to get to a hair appointment and wasn't able to stay to see them leave for camp. I don't know if a picture was taken of the Mia Maids, none were sent to me if there was one.

I had a couple of pictures of Rylee sent to me during the week and it made me happy to see her looking happy. 

Rylee, Sister Gwilliams, Addie, Allie, Saylor and Brynn

Tayci and Rylee

On Thursday I was pretty excited to pick them up from the church. I was so excited to hear all about their week and they were very forthcoming with all of the information. It was a very fun week for both of them!

They both took naps after eating some lunch and when I went to wake them up I thought they looked so cute and took a picture of each of them. When Rylee saw the pictures later she thought Avynlea was faking sleep for the picture because she was in the exact same sleeping position that Rylee was in. I assured her that they were both fast asleep and just happened to be sleeping the same way.

One of the crafts they did at camp was to make a charm by pounding letters into a metal ring. Avynlea and her friends all made one that says SPAM which stands for Sadie, Paige, Avynlea and Madison. Cute

Blueberry Picking

A favorite summer tradition we have is to go blueberry picking out in Emmett with the Peterson's. This year I only had Rylee and Avynlea with me but between the three of us we were still able to get about a bucket full of blueberries, which is a lot of fun! I freeze them in baggies and then we have blueberries to snack on and use in recipes for the entire year. This year we had, Alison, Whitney and her girls, Brit and her kids, Michelle and her boys, Mikell and her kids and Kylie and her little one. A fun group to visit with while picking the yummy fruit!

Avynlea got tired of picking pretty quick and once she dumped what she did get into my bucket she sat down with the babies and helped entertain them. I didn't mind, I love that she is such a fun and loving big Cousin!

Whitney took this picture of Avynlea holding Lainey which she sent to me and then she sent me the same picture that she used an aging filter on. Avynlea is still oh so cute as a little old lady!