Return to the Temple!!

It has been over a year since I have been able to go inside the Temple and going from weekly visits to nothing for a year has been really hard and I have missed it so much. Our Temple was just moved a phase up allowing Kids to start doing Baptisms again. It is appointment only, we have to go online to make the appointment and only 16 people are allowed per group. Kelsey was able to get an appointment for April 24th and it was our family, Kelsey and Brit with 3 of their kids, Jeremy and Gwen with their two and Mikell with Brooke. Ryker also invited his friend Scotlyn to go with us and we were happy to have her come along. Going into the Temple for the first time after so long felt like home. It was so wonderful and I wanted to sit in there forever. I loved it! It was Brooke and Asher's first time in the Temple doing Baptisms and I loved being able to be a part of their first time, Everyone brought family names and we brought names that Elain Josi gave us that sh his not able to do herself. She gave us 60 girls names and 64 boys names. We were able to get all of the girls names done but were only able to do about half of the boys names. We just had more girls with us and thus were able to do more. We had an hour and a half and after half an hour the Temple Worker who was recording the names told us we needed to stop doing baptisms and get on with confirming because we only had a half hour left. We were all surprised and I said I thought we had an hour and a half. He looked at the time and realized his mistake and apologized profusely for steering us wrong. Phew, I was worried.

After our session we took some pictures outside of the Temple. Jeremy and his family left earlier then the rest of us and we were not able to include them in our pictures. 

Avynlea and Rylee

Avynlea, Brielle, Qiana, Rylee, Brooke, Asher, Ryker and Scotlyn 

Kefford's Left Achilles

On Wednesday March 31 I was working out with Andrew Brown, Ashleigh and Heather when Avynlea FaceTimed me from the Stake Center saying that Kefford possibly tore his Achilles and the leaders wanted me to come and get him to take him to get checked. I immediately turned off my computer, changed my clothes and hopped in the car to go get him. When I got there I could see he was in pain and he was super pale but he was able to hobble out to the car. Once in the car he told me just to go home, he didn't want to go to the ER and he needed time without a bunch of people in his face to figure out what he wanted to do. 11 years ago he tore his Right Achilles and so he knew exactly what happened when he was shooting some hoops and felt a tear and heard a loud pop. He called out friend Adam Cope who is a PT and helped him the last time this happened and Adam told him it sounded like he did it again and he needed to be seen. We decided to go with Kurt Kinghorn who repaired Kenedy's bunion but the only available time he had was Friday morning.  When we went in Dr Kinghorn examined him and confirmed what Kefford already knew, it was torn and he needed to have surgery. His surgery was scheduled for the next Tuesday, April 6th and he put Kefford in a boot and told him to stay off of it.

Kefford had a pretty good bruise and had some minor swelling and he had to spend the next couple of days with it elevated and off of it. The good Dr told him to keep the boot on but as soon as we got home Kefford took the boot off and left it off all weekend. 

On Tuesday I dropped him off for his surgery at noon and then went to Lana's to have her help me design Ryker's Grad announcement while I waited for the phone call to pick Kefford up. When I arrived to pick him up they had him dressed and ready to go. I got all of the paperwork and was told medication instructions and how to help him. It was pretty overwhelming but I had to be up for the challenge. For the next week I helped Kefford with his medications and anything else he needed. He was a good patient and mostly stayed in bed with his foot elevated.

When we went in for his post-op on April 9th Dr Kinghrn told him that everything looked good and told us what he saw while in surgery, He said that his achilles was completely ruptured and it looked like mop ends. He had to trim them to make them even and pulled them together and attached them as well as he could. He said the final product had an hour glass shape which was not going to be very sturdy so he got a graft jacket (cartilage) from a donor and reenforced his achilles. Pretty crazy and I hope that it is strong enough to not have another rupture ever again. 

On April 23 Kefford had another Dr's appointment and this one to to check on it, make sure it was healing properly and to take out the stitches. He had to keep his foot in the boot and not take it out at all up to this appointment and so when it was taken out and we saw his foot we were pretty surprised. His foot was so swollen and bruised and basically looked like a potato. The stitches got taken out and Kefford was given permission to do some light hobbling around on his foot. He still needed to stay mostly off I think but he could do a little bit more movement. He has another appointment in a couple of weeks and hopefully everything continues to look good and his achilles heals quick and strong.

Paint Balling and Hike to Table Rock

 On April 17th Avynlea went paint balling with her friends to celebrate Natalies Sweet 16. Avynlea had a lot of fun and really enjoyed paint balling for her first time. They only had protection for their faces so she got some pretty good bruises on her body but she would totally do it again.

Dreya, Hailey, Paige, Avynlea and Natalie

On April 21 the youth in our Ward hiked to Table Rock for their Combined Mutual activity. Rylee got some pictures of her and her friends and sent them to me. They did the hike to start getting themselves prepared for Trek which Rylee and Avynela are very excited about. They said the hike to Table Rock wasn't too bad and they had fun being able to do it with their friends.

Rylee, Tayci, Ella and Claire

Rylee, Tayci and Ella

On April 23rd MHS Cheer did a cheer throwback thing on Instagram and Dreya posted a picture on her Instagram from when the girls were in Middle School Cheer and MHS cheer reposted it onto their page. I thought it was so cute seeing these girls from two years ago and took a screenshot.

Dreya, Natalie and Avynlea and in the upper corner Avynlea, Hailey and Dreya

Prom

 Ryker and his friends decided to do a friends Prom this year. With every thing that has been going on they didn't know if there was going to be a School sanctioned Prom and since they wanted to do something they did their own. I thought it was a great idea and felt they would have more fun doing it this way then at the school with a ton more people they aren't interested in being around. One of the girls have grandparents who have a large property and that is where they did dinner, dancing, games and lots of fun. Ryker invited his friend Scotlyn and it was a little sad to be on the guy side of things and not to be able to be there when he picked her up and gave her her flowers. Luckily Scotlyn sent pictures her Mom took and I was happy to get those. Ryker wore Keffords suit and he looked very handsome, I also thought Scotlyn looked beautiful in her dress. They are a very good looking couple of cuties :)

32 kids were at this Friends Prom and t looks like such a fun group.

Not all of the kids were from MHS so they after they took group shots of all 32 kids they got a couple of pictures of just the MHS crew.

April Things

Rylee, Avynlea and I went to Fred Meyer On Saturday April 3rd. As we were getting ready to leave Avynlea suddenly told me to look at the guys shirt walking by our car. I saw a Man wearing a shirt that said "Lutes Football" and I immediately said for her to get a picture. My maiden name is Lutes and it is not a common name so I was pretty surprised to see the shirt. I tried getting a picture at the same time and we were not very discreet and unfortunately the guy saw us. I know I handled it wrong and if I could do it all over again I would have jumped out of the car and asked him about his shirt. But I didn't and I regret it. As he was walking away I could see him looking down at his shirt periodically and I know we made him self conscience and he was left wondering why we were taking pictures of him. Gah I feel so bad! If I could do one thing over this is it!

On April 7th I saw a post on Instagram that "Varsity" is looking for girls to model their cheer uniforms for their new catalog. I thought Avynlea would be interested in this opportunity so I took a screen shot and sent it to her. She immediately came down and filled out the application. They needed a picture of her and this is the picture she took and sent in with the application. he hasn't heard anything yet and won't unless they are interested in using her. I know so many girls apply and so it is a long shot for her to get the gig but they are missing out if they don't choose this brown eyed beauty. 

Samantha Eaton is in my Combo Kids class and I just adore her. She is so sweet and so fun and just radiates sunshine and love. She gave me an invite to her Baptism set for April 10th and I was happy to attend. Rylee is besties with Samantha's big sister Ella and loves Sam also so she came with me. Sam looked beautiful, like a little bride, in her Baptism dress. I gave her a big bag of skittles as a gift and made sure to get a selfie with her before we left.

My Thursday kids looked so cute lined up against the wall on April 15th with their little ballet legs and feet that I wanted to get a picture. I used the picture for an Instagram post and am just filled with so much love for these little girls and am so glad I get to teach such fun and cute little kids.

On April 15th Avynlea needed more light to work on her Art project and I thought her use of her camera light and chin was pretty genius. 

Avynlea was asked by the Sister Missionaries to answer the Question "what it means to her to be a Child of God" and send it in to them with a picture so they could post it on their Instagram page. It took Avynlea a bit to figure out how best to word her response and to pick a picture but I think the end result is prefect. She is such a great kid and I love her so much!

On April 17th Kefford and I took Rylee on an Ice Cream date. I really wanted Ryker and Avynlea to go with us but they had other plans and so we were happy to have it just be Rylee with us. We went and got Ice Cream cones from Reed's Dairy and they were so yummy!

 

Texas

A couple of months ago Kenedy told me that she was thinking about looking for a live in Nanny job. She wanted to earn more money, be able to save more money and since all of her classes are offered online she thought Spring and Summer semesters would be the perfect time to do it. After doing some research and looking into different families she found a job in San Antonio Texas with a family that had one little boy. She was really excited about going to Texas and seeing a new place, I was excited for her but the closer it got to the time she was leaving the more nervous I got. I was nervous about Texas being right next to Mexico and had visions of Kenedy being trafficked and taken across the border. I even worried that the family she was going to be working for were traffickers. I kept myself awake at night with my worrying and had so much stress. Kefford did find out where the Dad works, he is a pharmacist, and called him at work to have a chat. He said it was a good conversation and that he sounded like a nice guy. 

On March 29th Kefford, Avynlea and I drove Kenedy to the airport. I cried as I hugged her goodbye and she started crying and that made me cry even more. I think this drop-off was so much harder then when I dropped her off for her first semester of College. 

Kenedy was homesick her first couple of weeks in Texas. The boy she nannys is in school and so Kenedy did not have a lot to do during the day leaving her to be pretty bored. Since then she has gotten close with the family she nannys and she has met a friend at church so her phone calls home have been less and less. 

On April 16 she went out to explore a little bit of Texas with her new friend Emma. Kenedy got to see the Alamo and apparently it wasn't as impressive as it sounds. I am glad Kenedy has a friend and I am glad that she is enjoying her time in Texas. What an adventurous and brave person she is!

 

Cheer Banquet

I somehow got roped into a group chat for Cheer Boosters in regards to Coaches gifts. The Booster President threw out some ideas she was thinking of for gifts for the coaches and asked if we had any ideas. I looked on Pinterest and found an idea for camp chairs and I snapped a pic and sent it out there, Coaches are on the sidelines for every game and we should make them some custom chairs to sit in.  They loved the idea and asked me if I would get it taken care of. I found some chairs on Amazon and kept my eye on them because I wanted to get donations from all of the cheer parents before I bought the chairs. We let Carrie know about our idea so JV could do the same thing if they wanted to. A couple days later I looked at the chairs on amazon and found there were only 3 left. Turns out Carrie bought the chairs she needed and now there were not enough left for me to get the 4 we needed for varsity. Yikes! I sent. a message to Carrie and she was able to find me the same chairs from a different seller, I had to pay shipping because this seller was not using Prime but I was able to get 4 and they actually came pretty quick. Saturday night, the day before Easter I went over to Carries and we went next door to her neighbors house to use her circuit stuff and we were able to make the chairs. They turned out so cute and looked perfect, I love that my idea turned out so well. Easily the best gift these coaches ever received from their cheerleaders!

The Cheer Banquet was Friday April 9 and it was scheduled for 7 in the evening. I taught dance until 6:30 in Eagle and this Banquet was held at Carrie's parents car upholstery shop in Nampa, deep in Nampa. I rushed as fast as I could after Dance to get home, Change and get Avy and Rylee in the car to get to the Banquet. There was some pretty bad traffic and we didn't get to the place until about a quarter after. Late but not too bad and they hadn't started anything because the food wasn't ready on time, it got there when we got there. Phew

After eating the, not as delicious as I would have hoped, catered meal from Chick-fil-A, Macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets and Caesar salad, it was time for awards. JV went first and then it was time for Varsity. They handed out the Varsity Letter awards and Avynlea got her letter! Yay! Then they announced specialty awards which only a few received. Avynlea was one of them and she received "Flyer of the Year"! She was really surprised but I wasn't, she is an amazing Flyer and deserved the award. Seniors got their awards and then The Coach's handed out the fun awards and this year it was "Most likely to..." Avynlea got "Most Likely to be Blames for Everything" which was funny bit didn't make any sense. Avynlea later explained that it became the running joke at practice that when someone needed to be blamed to blame Avynlea. Hahaha

top picture: Avynlea second row, second from the left ("Most Likely" Awards)

bottom picture: Avynlea is bottom row second from the left (Letter Awards)

Avynlea wanted a picture with her stunt group. She had a great year this year and really enjoyed the girls in her stunt group, they got along great and accomplished a lot together. 

Annie, Avynlea, Allie and Tori

I wanted a picture of the four besties on Varsity, I wanted to get one at the State Competition but did not want to make Hailey feel left out. After the banquet I didn't't worry about it as much and hurried the girls together so I could get a picture. They are such a great group of girls and helped make Avynlea's year really fun!

Avynlea, Paige, Natalie and Dreya

We wanted to get a picture of the 5 cheer besties and the Cheer Mom Besties. I had Rylee take this picture and thought this outtake was pretty good. 

Luckily she got a good one of all of us!

Amy and Paige, Elizabeth and Avynlea, Carrie and Hailey, Gricelda and Dreya, Diana and Natalie

Me and my favorite Cheerleader, I love her so much!

Avynlea wanted a picture with her Coach's from this year and after waiting her turn was able to get one with all three of them. She had a lot of fun with them this year and really enjoyed her time with them as her coach's

Amanda, Avynlea, Kara and Monet

Avynlea and Rylee

Avynlea and Hailey

Avynlea and her favorite Coach Amanda

When we got home I took some pictures of Avynlea with her awards. What a great year and cheer season this has been. I can't believe we are done with Sophomore Cheer and she is going to tryout for Junior year Cheer in a couple months. Her High School years are moving so fast.

 

Easter

 I wanted to flood my instagram stories with pictures of Christ the week leading up to Easter. I found on the Church's website pictures that I could use and every day I put one on my stories. Many people were also putting up some pictures and quoted and my friend Abby put up a quote that I really loved. After checking if it was ok with her I copied it and put it up in my stories also. It is a great reminder to me that no matter what I am going through I will be ok and that I am being watched over. I loved it so much that I put it as the wallpaper on my phone.

We are planning a family trip to Hawaii in May and so I told my kids that Easter was going to be small this year in anticipation of that trip. I sent Kenedy an easter package that had a "pick your Poison" Disney sticker, some Easter treats, An Aurora cross-stitch I made for her, cards of love from us and a Warriors tank. Ryker got a baby Yoda and stitch cross-stitch I made, some ties, socks and some treats. Avynlea got the Belle cross-stitch, peep bath bombs, a Belle sticker , warrior tank and candy. Rylee got A Jasmine cross-stitch, a white dress, peep bath bombs, an Anne of Green Gables sticker and some candy. I also gave Kefford some of his favorite Easter chips. I think they were all really happy with their surprises.

Kefford tore his achilles the Wednesday before easter and didn't want attention or to be messed with so he stayed home on Easter while the rest of us went to Nyssa to spend a little time with family. To contribute to our Easter dinner I made rolls and I had a busy Saturday so I had to make them at 10:00 at night, boy was I tired the next day. This weekend was also Conference weekend so we left before the first session started so we could watch conference while at Bob and Alison's. Dustin and Sara were in town with their girls and it was fun to see them and spend some time with them. 

I caught Avynlea taking some selfies with Evie..

And Ryker and Rylee loved holding Sophie and getting to know her a little bit better. The last time we saw them was a year ago and so we loved being able to spend some time with them.

I wish Kefford was feeling up to going to Nyssa with us so we could have spent all of Easter together but I understood why he didn't. We had a good holiday and enjoyed spending the day with family.