Cheer Showcase

Elder Holland is my favorite Apostle. His words speak straight to my soul and he always says the things I need to hear. I love finding his quotes and I especially love this one.

The girls have their first competition on Saturday and on Thursday they had their showcase which is basically their dress rehearsal. Avynlea and her team did a really great job, Avynlea especially is such a good cheerleader and works really hard to improve and to be able to do more and more. I love every time I get to watch her perform.

Brooklyn Robbins was at the showcase and she came over and sat by me so we could visit, I have not seen her since Homecoming. She took this picture of Avynlea, Dreya and Hailey and then sent it to me so I could have it.

She then had me take a picture of the two of us so we could have record of our visit. 

On Friday Avynlea had a game to cheer at and I headed over to the school after dance so I could watch her. I was able to see the last half of the game and was able to see her stunt between the third and fourth quarter. 

Caleb and Garrett

Michelle asked me if I would watch Caleb and Garrett for her while she did a session at the Temple. It has been a while since I have watched any of my nieces and nephews and I was happy to say yes to her. They came over at about 2:00 and we played for a little bit but then Garrett was starting to get upset so I put on "Masha and the bear" for them to watch until my kids came home from school.

Both boys were very happy to see their Cousins and my kids were happy to see Caleb and Garrett. They had  a lot of fun playing with everyone and wrestling with Ryker. 

Ryker is a favorite with these two and it was so cute to watch them play and have fun. We especially loved when Ryker took off his sweatshirt and we saw that they were matching, so cute!

Blood Draw Fail

We have a Life Insurance policy on Kefford and I guess the time has come to take one out on me. In order to get a policy I have to get a physical from one of the Company's nurses. I was happy that she came to my house, I would rather not have to go anywhere and I liked that aspect of the physical. I don't remember her name but she was a sweet lady who kept complimenting me on things about me, like how beautiful she thought my teeth were, and my house. She weighed and measured me and asked me questions about my health history she also had me pee in a cup so she could get that tested. At the end of the exam she had to do a blood draw and that is where the real excitement happened.

I was supposed to fast, which I did, and drink lot's of water, which I did, to prepare for the blood draw. She tried getting blood out of my left arm first and she got some in the tube and then my blood stopped flowing. She tapped my arm and wriggled the needle a bit but it was done. So she had to try my right arm and that one did worse. She couldn't get ay blood from that arm! She poked me a couple different times in that arm and kept wriggling the needle around but it was not happening. By this time of course I was feeling really woozy and not good. Once she gave up on that arm and took the needle out I had to lay down on the floor so I wouldn't pass out. Once I could move I crawled over to the couch and laid there while she came at me again with a needle, this time in my hand. Same story there, repeated pokes and lots of wriggling with nothing forth coming, it was not my day. She finally had to call it quits and say that I am going to have to have a different nurse come and try again, oh awesome. So I get to go through this all over again next week, hopefully better results will come.

Meanwhile I get to walk around with bruises on my arms and hand, good thing it's long sleeve weather.

Progress

At tumbling on Saturday us Mom's were chatting in the viewing area when we saw the kids sitting on the blowup just watching us. When they saw they had our attention they made the motion that they wanted us to take their picture. We happily complied. Hailey is always at tumbling with them but she got really sick and was not able to be there this week. This Saturday morning tumbling class has been good for Avynlea. It has been fun for her to be with her friends and to progress more on her skills. I am proud of her for how hard she has been working on her tumbling and love watching her flip. 

Paige, Dreya, Landon, Natalie and Avynlea

Avynlea's choir teacher has been on maternity leave since November, when her baby boy was born, and Saturday afternoon the Choir Booster members had a baby shower for her. Avynlea and Madison wanted to go so we went and listened to her birth story and then ate some cake which was not all that tasty. After that, the girls waited in line so they could talk to their teacher and catch her up on how their choir group has been. Oh and after she told her birth story she asked the kids who were there to fill her in on how their different groups were doing. The kids were eager to talk about the music they were learning and how much they love it and how they have been learning it. Instead of clapping when they were happy or excited about something they all snapped their fingers and I thought that was really funny. "Snaps to you!"

I have been watching a weekly youtube channel about the weeks Come Follow Me lesson, which I really love and I love this quote from one of the creators. She talked about how the Lord met the woman at the well at the well, He went to Lazarus's bed to raise him from the dead and he even met the sinner at his cross. I love the examples of how the Lord will put forth his effort to meet us where we are at but that He then doesn't want us to stay, He wants us to progress and get better and become better. I probably can't explain it as well as she did in her video but it was really good and it has been helping me understand and learn more about what I am reading.

Sunday night Kenedy, Rylee, Avynlea and I played two rounds of Codenames. Kenedy and Rylee as a team won the first round and Avynlea and I as a team won the second round. I love playing that game and I equally love playing it with my kids. Ryker then wanted us to play Munchkin with him so we cleaned up Codenames and started playing Munchkin. That game lasts a long time so we never got to finish it that night but it was fun while it lasted.

Basketball

I went to the Temple early on Tuesday morning because I was going to be subbing a couple of Dance classes later that morning and I wouldn't have been able to go at my regular time. After I did my Initiatories I went up to the Celestial room to ponder and pray. While I was up there I was reading in the scriptures and I came across this one...it is D&C 6:36

I felt it spoke to me at the moment because I have been trying to figure some things out in regards to hearing and feeling the Spirit. This verse was what I needed and I am grateful that I was able to come across it. I need to remember to always put my trust in the Lord even when things are not working out the way I thought they would.

 Thursday night I went to the J/V boys Basketball game to watch Avynlea cheer. She hasn't been feeling really great but you would never have known that while watching her cheer. She was a professional all the way and was a lot of fun to watch!

 Meridian was playing against Skyview and it was a win for Meridian which is always fun!

 After the game Avynlea and I headed over to the Stake Center to watch Ryker play some church ball.  I thought Ryker did a good job being more aggressive and trying to shoot more instead of passing the ball off. It was a tight game and we lost but not by much. I thought it impressive that we were able to keep it so close considering we had a lot of Deacons playing against older kids. The other team might have won but our small guys put up a good fight and kept them on their toes.

Ryker and Matthew

Blog book #12

I love having a Blog and I love that at the end of every year I can put together a book that will sit on my shelf for my kids to look at and enjoy. I am pretty pleased that I now have 12 books sitting on our shelf filled with pictures and memories. Ryker jumped in the picture I was taking of Rylee with my blog book and I let him because that is a pretty good picture ;)

Brit posted a quote on her Instagram stories and it really spoke to me so I took a screenshot of it. I need to remember to talk to Heavenly Father more with what is in my heart and to work better on trusting him. 

Church CleanUp

Saturday morning it was our turn to help with the Church cleanup. Kefford and I drove separate because I had to leave the clean up early with Avynlea in order to get her to tumbling on time. When we got to the church Kefford was cleaning windows with Rachel Pace, she is one of my little dancers and she was pretty excited to see me. I was assigned to help Natalie, Rachels big sister, empty out the garage cans and while we were doing that we were joined by their older sister Makayla and then Rachel got done with windows and came to tag along with us as well. It was fun and pretty cute to see these three girls following me around.

Rachel and Kefford

Avynlea's friend Natalie stayed the night at our house after the Stinky Sneaker and was going to tumbling with us. Because she was with us she got to help with the church cleanup as well, lucky girl.  Avynlea, Rylee and Natalie took care of cleaning all the chalk boards.

Natalie, Avynlea and Rylee

Ryker had the backpack vacuum and was in the chapel vacuuming the floors and the pews. He looks pretty professional with that thing on his back.

Saturday night Avynlea cheered at the J/V boys vs Rocky game and she looked super cute while doing it. We were doing pretty good and were staying even until the halftime where we pulled ahead for a bit and then in the end Rocky passed us and won. That was a sad loss but at least it wasn't by a lot.

It was Stake Conference weekend and Ryker had to go early to the Stake Center to help direct traffic. I felt bad for him having to stand out in the cold but he did save us a good seat so I was happy about that. :)

Stinky Sneaker

Joshua posted a picture on our family chat that showed it was snowing in Seattle. It happened to be snowing out here in Meridian also so I snapped a picture out the back window and sent it to my family. I love how pretty it looks when the snow is freshly falling. It feels and looks like I am in a snow globe.

Team cheer tumbling has been done since December but for those that wanted to continue working on skills, Kaeleigh, the tumble coach, kept our practice spot open. So Avynlea has been going every Saturday along with 5 other cheerleaders who are her friends and if a practice has to be cancelled they go on Thursday for a makeup. Avynlea has been working on her roundoff back handspring for quite a while and has it down but is still pretty nervous about doing it on her own. On Thursday she went to tumbling and was able to do her stunt with her spotter standing a couple of yards away from her. After she completed it her friends who were watching were so excited for her they cheered and mobbed her surrounding her with hugs! It was the best thing to watch, I love how supportive this small group of kids are with each other, they cheer each other on and give such positive encouragement. 

Friday night was the annual Stinky Sneaker game vs Mountain View. J/V gets to cheer at the Varsity game for the Stinky Sneaker but first they had to cheer for the J/V boys who were also playing Mountain View. It was a close game but Mountain View pulled ahead and it was a bummer of a loss for J/V.

I love going to the Stinky Sneaker game! Meridian has the best school spirit and it is so fun to be caught up in the excitement! We were able to sit opposite from Meridian this year which was a lot of fun because we could watch our cheerleaders and our kids cheer and have fun. 

Meridian won the game 72-52 and we also won the Stinky Sneaker for the 9th year in a row!! Way to go Meridian Warriors!

Matthew and Ryker

Madison, Sadie, Avynlea, Rose and Paige

Avynlea, Hailey and Dreya

Funny Atticus

A couple of weeks ago one of my little dancers Mom came up to me before class with a Birthday invitation to my dancers birthday. She said that Roen really wanted to invite me to her party and I thought it was so sweet that she thought of me. It was at Eagle Island's sledding hill and it was on A Sunday. I felt weird about possibly going to a Birthday party on the sabbath but I really felt I should make an appearance since she took the time to invite me. So I went and visited and froze and hopefully made Roen happy by my being there. She is such a sweet girl and I really love her and her Mom, such a great family!

Ashleigh and I frequently chat with each other over Marco Polo, her video sent today really made me laugh. Atticus makes frequent appearances in her videos which makes me happy because I love anytime I get to see my Nephew. He has discovered his nose and in the video had his finger up it for a short time. He is too young to be picking anything he just discovered a hole on his face and was exploring it. But it sure looks funny. Towards the end of the video he was off camera playing with his toys while Ashleigh was chatting when all of a sudden Atticus's cute little face popped up and he started making funny noises with his mouth to the camera. He is turning into such a cute little ham! I am so grateful for technology and how man keeps coming up with new and faster and funner ways to help me communicate with my family. What a blessing!

All About Ryker

With the New Year Church Basketball starts up for the Young Men. Ryker wasn't sure he wanted to play ball but he kinda had to, if anything to try out the new basketball shoes he got for Christmas ;)

We had a lot of Deacons playing and a lot of them are still 11. When we came in and saw the tall guys on the other team and then our little team of what seemed like mostly 11 year olds, those of us there to watch were worried. 

Turns out we shouldn't have worried, we have some good players in those young, and old, guys and our team ended up winning. It was a fun game to watch and Ryker did a really good job in being more aggressive and confident. Towards the end of the game he got fouled and shot two free throws. They didn't go in but I am so proud of him for his improvement in playing the game and for being so positive with his teammates.

Ryker was playing a game on his computer and I thought it funny that it looked like he was sitting in  a Disco ball. He was sitting on my Mermaid pillow with all the sequins covering it and the way the light was shining on it was a cool effect.

Hannah Terrell, Ryker's friend from the Verona Ward, sent him a text to invite him to go on a double date with her. She is a sweet girl and I am glad she invited Ryker and that he had fun. They went bowling and it seems like they had a good night. 

A New Baby

While I was in California Mikell had her 6th baby, a baby boy. I always go to the hospital to visit my new Nephews and nieces but since she left the hospital before I got home we went as a family over to her house on Sunday so we could all meet the little one. Mikell and Steve were still deciding on a name for their newest baby and didn't have anything official to call him yet but she did say they really liked the name Luke. Even without a name he is still cute little baby and I was happy to meet him and visit with Mikell and her family. Steve has issues with anyone holding his newborns, luckily I made the cut but my kids have to wait for a day when he isn't around to get their turn.

Kenedy took this picture of Avynlea while we were sitting around visiting and it especially made Brooke laugh. My kids are pretty funny.

I took this picture of Avynlea while she was eating an applesauce pouch. I thought she looked like a baby eating her food and kept saying "Mama, Mama" to her in a baby voice. Heather does it to Mom when she is drinking from her water bottle and it always makes me laugh so I took a video of this and sent it to Heather. We are all pretty funny :)

Last Days in California

I wanted to be helpful and last year my Mom had her Christmas tree out for longer then she wanted so I took it upon myself to take her tree down. I took off all the ornaments and put them in their packaging and then I took the tree apart and wrestled it into its box. It was hard work and I was sweating by the time I was done but I was pretty proud of myself and really happy that I could help my Mom out. 

My Mom and I wanted to go to the Temple and I also wanted to visit my Aunt Jeri who lives about 30 minutes past the LA Temple, depending on traffic of course. On Friday Heather drove Mom and I to the Temple and then she took her car to charge while Mom and I did initiatories. I haven't done initiatories in the LA Temple since I went through for my own and it was cool to be able to do them again. I got done before Mom did and after I changed I looked around the locker room area and found the Bride's Room. The door was open so I went in and looked around. I really did not have any memory of being in the room when I was a bride but being in there brought back memories of when Ashleigh was a Bride. I was her hair stylist and was able to go in and be with her for a bit to fix up her hair, that is a good memory.

After we were done we went out and took a couple of pictures and then sat on a bench in the sunshine to talk while we waited for Heather to get back. It was a really nice time with my Mom.

After we got picked up we headed over to Simi Valley to see Aunt Jeri. We stopped off at Panera's  to get some lunch to take with us. We had a really nice and long visit with my Aunt. She had a tray of Christmas Cookies she had made sitting on the table and after we ate our lunch Heather and I sampled some of her cookies. Every single one we tried was so good and we tried a lot, we also had to try some of them twice just to make sure they were as good as we thought. They were delicious! My cousin Lisa stopped by to visit her Mom not knowing we were there and it was fun to catch up with her as well. She works the graveyard shift at the Hospital and had just woken up from sleeping so she would not be in the picture with us since she didn't have any makeup on. I thought she still looked beautiful but I can understand not wanting to be in a picture when I don't feel my best. She was sweet and took a picture of the rest of us for me. I love my Aunt Jeri and have good memories of her always being actively involved in our lives. She always sent us cards and money on our birthdays and remembered us at Christmas as well. We didn't see her as often as we wanted but I am pretty sure she is all of my siblings and my favorite Aunt because we knew she loved us and stayed in touch often. I just love her so much and am so glad I was able to visit her again.

Saturday Heather, Mom and I met up with Ashleigh and Atticus for one last hurrah before I left to fly home that afternoon. We went to Brandon's Diner for Brunch and it was delicious. I was glad I got to see Ashleigh and Atticus once more before I left. I had a really great and relaxing time in California and am really glad Kefford and my kids let me go down once a year by myself. After two uneventful flights I was picked up by Kefford and then I came home to a clean house with Christmas all put away! My family is the best! It was sad to leave my California family but I was happy to come home to my Husband and kids.