Dairy Days Parade

It was fun to see this picture poop up on my instagram of Avynlea at her first summer practice. She is the flyer on the right.

We left Utah on Friday rather then waiting until Saturday because Avynlea had to be at the Dairy Days Parade with her cheer team. Last year it was cancelled and I am so glad that they were able to once again have the Dairy Days Parade. Avynlea went early to get the float ready and have a BBQ with her team. While there she got to meet Joey and Lauren, radio hosts from Joey and Lauren in the morning. Avynlea listens to them on the radio and listens to their podcast and loves them so it was pretty exciting for her to be able to meet them.

Avynlea, Lauren, Joey, Aly and Natalie

Kefford didn't want to go to the parade so I went by myself and found my friend Amy Little to sit by. It was hot but it was fun to be with a friend and to cheer our daughters on when they came by. Avynlea was as cute as ever. I was looking for her on the float and didn't see that she was walking until she almost passed me! Luckily I saw her just in time!

After the parade I went home but Avynlea went with her friends to go swimming at Rory's Grandmas house. She sent me a picture of the 5 of them and also sent me a picture of her with her cheer little sister Sydney who is a flyer on JV.

        Paige, Natalie, Rory, Avynlea and Hailey                                  Sydney and Avynlea

Avynlea also gave me this pictures she had of her flying with her stunt group and doing some partner stunting with Allen. Avynlea has become so flexible and it is crazy to see how much she improves each year on her stunts.

Utah Adventures

We had a fun week in Utah with our family. On Monday Rylee, Avynlea, Jaylynn, Heather, Stephanie, Anthony and I met Ryker at BYU so we could go to the Bookstore and spend some time with him. We wanted to see his dorm but he didn't want to have the entire crew go up there because he thought it was too many people and didn't want to be embarrassed. I understood and said we didn't have to. We walked around the Bookstore and found some fun things to get and found a stature for the girls to take their picture with.

Ryker left to go to class and so we ate lunch at the creamery and then we went back to Emilys.

On Tuesday Heather, Avynlea and I met up with Stephanie and her crew at Ikea. It's always fun to visit Ikea whilst in Utah and I found some fun things for our house. Avynlea found this cute bucket hat and coin purse made form the Ikea bags. I bought her the bag and Rylee one as well since they were 99 cents but I didn't spend $4 to buy the hat she would never wear. 

I got an emergency alert on my phone about a dust storm happening in Meridian and Kefford was out in it and took a picture for me. That does not look like something I would want to get caught in.

Wednesday was aquarium day. Heather, Jaylynn, Isabelle, Rylee, Avynlea and I met up with Mom, and Joshua and his family at the aquarium. Emily had classes all this week which is why she missed out on most of the things we did. 

The aquarium was fun and what you would expect from an aquarium, what made it more enjoyable was my girls being able to be with their little cousins. They had fun exploring everything with them.

Rylee and Avynlea with Fred and Amos

Jaylynn, Fred and Rylee

Avynlea

We got some pictures inside the sharks jaw. I would not want those things clamping down on me in real life, yikes.

Avynlea pretending to be trapped inside an animals habitat, I think it was a beaver

Going across the ropes bridge was a good time but maybe a little anti-climatic

And of course Avynlea pretending to smooch a fish

We all packed lunches and were able to enjoy a nice picnic outside once we were done with the inside of the aquarium.

Later that evening Emily took us girls to one of her favorite clothing and knick knack boutiques. I didn't see anything that caught my eye but it was fun to explore and look at everything. Avynlea found a Dino head that she had to put on and walk around with.

On Thursday Heather and I went back to BYU so we could see Ryker one last time before we left. It was raining pretty hard when we got their and we had to wait outside the dorms for Ryker to come down and let us in. Luckily we had a covering to stand under. While we were outside waiting two boys came out in their socks to enjoy the rain. Heather commented that those were probably Ryker's roommates and here we were looking kind of dumb waiting for Ryker. Sure enough when we finally got to go in and up to see Ryker's dorm those two boys were in fact two of his roommates. 

Once we saw his Dorm we went back to the Bookstore so Ryker could get a notebook and a calculator and I bought a skirt and top for Rylee because she needed a church outfit for EFY and the one she brought ripped. It was good to see Ryker one last time before we left Utah. I know he will have a lot of fun attending the summer session at BYU and will have good experiences learning how to be on his own. 

Friday morning we went over to Mallorys so I could say goodbye to everyone before Avynlea and I left for home. We spent about an hour being there with my family and I could feel myself getting grumpy and couldn't figure out why. I finally decided I wanted to just leave because of my bad mood and when I started saying goodbye to everyone and I started crying I realized my bad mood was really just me being sad about having to leave. It's always hard for me to leave my family but I am grateful that I do have opportunities to spend time with them. Maybe not as much as I would like but we did make the most of our week together and had a lot of fun. I left Rylee to stay with Emily for the weekend because we had signed her up for EFY and she would be picked up by Abby Eaton on Monday to attend. I had a hard time leaving her but I was excited for her to spend more time with my family and also for her to have a fun week with Ella at EFY.

 

Mom and Dad's 50th Anniversary

Mom and Dad's 50th Anniversary was June 19th, the day we drove to Utah. Mallory planned an anniversary party for her but we couldn't do it on the 19th because we got in too late so we had her plan it for the 20th. The reason we did a Father's Day lunch was so we could do a 50th Anniversary dinner for Mom. When we got to Emily's Mom came in and sat down and then after a couple of minutes she started to notice the pictures and the decoration and when she realized what we were doing she started to get pretty teary. It was really sweet and I am glad Mallory made it so special for her.

Leona has one facial expression that is just pretty cute and we see it a lot. When I was taking a picture of Rylee holding her little cousin I had her mimic that expression and she got it pretty spot on.

Happy 50th Mom and Dad! We were so happy that we got to celebrate this special day with Mom. I know she misses Dad a lot, we all do, but I am so grateful for the knowledge of eternity with our families.

standing: Jaylynn, Avynlea, Ben, Breana, Joshua, Fred, Elizabeth, Rylee, Matt, Stephanie, Ben, Anthony, Isabelle and Alyssa

sitting: Andrew, Bonnie, Amos, Heather, Mallory and Emily 

 

Utah Bound and Fathers Day

Saturday the girls got back from Trek at about 2:30 and after I picked them up we hurried home and I gave them about 10 minutes to shower and change sp we could hit the road for Utah. We stopped once on our way down to go to the bathroom and heather and I saw the girls taking pictures together so we followed suit. We had found these cute 1776 t-shirts at Target and wore them for our drive down to 

Utah.

Sunday morning Kenedy was speaking in her Ward in Texas and she sent us the link so we could listen in. We were at Matt and Emily's house where everyone was gathering before their Ward for a Fathers Day lunch. We put Kenedy up on their TV but the sound on their end was not working and all we could do was look at her giving her talk. I was pretty disappointed that we were not able to hear her but it looked like she did a great job.

 was doing Stephanies hair and Amos asked me if I would put a ponytail in his hair. I said sure and pulled out my elastics. He got a little nervous when he saw my elastics and said never mind. I asked him if he was sure and I showed him that I had a pink elastic, he said "I like pink" and let me put a teeny tiny pony tail in his hair. He was pretty happy about that pony tail and I was happy that he liked it. 

Stephanie fond a cute scrunchie she liked at the store and asked me if I would braid her hair so she could wear it cute. I gave her a cute little updo and she loved it so much! She told me later in the evening that she wanted to take a nap but didn't want to mess up her hair so she very carefully laid so that her hair would stay looking good. I love that I can help people feel pretty by doing their hair, it makes me feel happy.

After Sacrament Meeting in Emily's ward Kefford left so he could drive home. I wanted to get a picture of him with the kids because it was Fathers Day and the little stinkers had a hard time cooperating. 

We were so glad that we were able to celebrate Kefford for Fathers day, he is a really great Dad and the kids love him a lot and love to be around him. I love that he is such a great example for our kids and that he loves them and loves to be with them.

 

Ryker goes to College

While the girls were on Trek Kefford and Ryker left to Utah so Ryker could go to summer semester at BYU. Kefford really wanted to have Ryker have an experience living away from home before his Mission. He felt, and I agreed, that he needed to know what it was like l living with roommates and not being at home. Originally I was going to drive him down Saturday after the girls got home from trek, help him get moved in and then stay a week visiting family. But we would have Mom, Heather and Jaylynn with us, along with Rylee and Avynlea, plus all of their stuff and Rykers stuff and we just would not be able to make everyone fit. Kefford decided that he would drive Ryker to Utah on Thursday and then we would meet up with them on Saturday. 

Once they got everything packed up I went out to take a couple of goodbye pictures and Ryker being Ryker was not very cooperative.

Ryker is staying in Heritage Halls and Kefford was kind enough to take a couple of pictures of him and his dorm for me.

These pictures Ryker sent me once he had more stuff unpacked.

I think the minimal decoration is so funny and so opposite what Kenedy had in her apartment. They are very different people and I love it.

I was a lot irritated when I got home and realized Ryker did nothing to pack up and clean his room. It looked like he did not move out at all. Emily sent me this funny cartoon which describes exactly how it is.

 

Ryker Goes Through the Temple

On Wednesday June 16th we got to go with Ryker to the Temple for the first time. We wanted him to go before he left for Summer College and I was happy to be able to do it at a time when my Mom was in town so she could be there also. The Meridian Temple did not have any openings this week so we reserved the boise Temple. Because of Covid restrictions we were only allowed 16 people not counting Ryker which made it hard as Kefford has a lot of family. Kefford and I took up 2 spots and my Mom was an automatic number 3 so that left 13. We invited Bob and Alison and then to make it fair with the siblings we started with the oldest after Kefford and extended an invitation and then depending on whether they said yes or no let us know how many more spots we had left. We had Jeremy and Gwen, Mikell and Steve, Trevor and Michelle, Dustin and Whitney and Kylie and Andrew all say they could come. We had one spot left and Ryker invited Alan which made 16. The day of Whitney let us know that Dustin could not make it because he wasn't feeling good and so we invited Tami but she was busy so we ended up with 16 total including Ryker. 

What I loved about this session was that it was only our family, aside from the Temple Workers we were the only ones in the Temple and it was pretty special. Ryker was surrounded by people who know him and love him and the Spirit was really strong. I wish I could have had more of my family attend but it is what it is and I am just grateful that we could plan it so that at least my Mom was there.

Andrew, Kylie, Steve, Mikell, Jeremy, Gwen, Alan, Michael, Trevor, Bob, Alison, Whitney, Ryker, Kefford, Elizabeth and Bonnie

Michelle asked if my girls could babysit her boys while we were at the Temple and they agreed to it. Jaylynn I think helped a little but Heather helped a lot with baby Joshua to get him to stop crying and putting him to sleep. I was really grateful for their help so while the girls were at Mutual I took Mom, Heather and Jaylynn to Reeds Dairy for some ice cream, my treat. :)

 

Swimming at the Hot Springs

On Monday we went to Roystone Hot Springs in Sweet. I drive past them every time we go see Doris for our eyebrows and I have always wanted to check them and I thought having family here was a good time to do it. It was me and Rylee, Emily and Isabelle and Heather, Jaylynn and Mom. Avynlea had to work and Ryker didn't want to come along. We had to reserve the pool and because of covid it was only our group there which was really nice. We had a lot of fun and the only picture I got was of me trying to recreate a picture of my Mom from when she was a newlywed. She looks much better in her picture, she was younger than me and hadn't had kids yet so she wins. We had a lot of fun swimming , playing water games and being crazy!

We packed lunches and after our swim time we ate our lunches on the grass in front of the place. It didn't have a ton of shade and there were big piles of ants hanging out by us so we ate pretty quick and then headed home. Rylee of course had me take her picture in front of the sculpture they had in front.

In Texas Kenedy went swimming the same day and sent me a picture of her, Leo and Gladys in the pool. What a fun coincidence!

When we got home I changed my clothes and then we went to Target to get a few things. I looked real bad with my hair not washed and pulled back unflatteringly and no makeup on, just not a good look and of course I ran into Russ Pollock at Target. I saw his girls first and very quickly tried to go the other way before they saw me but he rounded the corner and saw me before I could make my escape. I was super embarrassed but chatted with him for a minute before I could get out of there. When I got home I took a selfie so I could send it to Kenedy and tell her what happened. At least Avynlea looks cute in the picture

 

Ryker's High School Graduation and Party!

Ryker's Graduation was supposed to be Saturday June 12  at Meridian High School with the senior class divided into two group one going at one time the other going a different time. Because of Covid restrictions this is what they came up with. But this was not good enough for the seniors who wanted to graduate all together.  After trying to come up with different scenarios to make everyone happy they ultimately decided on using the Idaho Center which meant everyone could graduate together, no masks and no limit to how many people could attend. It also meant they had to change the day to Friday June 11 which was fine. Those of my family who were attending would be here and they all could go which was awesome. the ones who came were...Mom, Heather, Jaylynn, Joshua, Emily and Isabelle.From the Peterson side Alison came to the Graduation.

I bought 2021 balloons for decoration and put them up in the living room. Kefford helped me by picking them up and tying the strings and Rylee helped by posing with the 1!

It was fun to have some of my family with us at Graduation, we were able to get pretty good seats and had a good view of Ryker and the stage. Ryker was sitting on the opposite side but when the graduates were lining up to walk across and get their diploma they lined up in front of us so we got to see Ryker up close.

Ryker was graduating with a 4.10 GPA but because he only had a 4.8 at the time they pulled grades for the cords back in May he did not receive the highest Honor Cords which were blue and gold. They gave him two gold. We were not happy about this but because they pulled the grades when they did and pre-ordered the cords Ryker was stuck with the two gold. Kefford and I felt he deserved to be recognized for the GPA he was graduating with so Kefford found Kenedy's cords which were both blue and borrowed one so the Ryker could have the Blue and Gold he should have been given in the first place. Ryker was also a part of the Honor Society so he had a white collar to wear with his Graduation Robes as well as the MHS Gold collar and the blue and gold highest honor cords.

When Ryker lined up to walk across he was mouthing something to me and making motions that looked like taking a picture. I was confused until right after he got his diploma when he suddenly stopped, turned towards me and smiled. I quickly realized he was telling me to take his picture when he posed on stage and so I did. :)

I sent the link to my family members who could not make it and Erin and Ashleigh both tuned in to watch and sent screenshots of Ryker. I am grateful that they were able to watch even though they could not be here.

After the ceremony we went outside to meet up with Ryker for some picture taking. Before he found us he  got a picture with his friends with the Leis that Abby Eaton made for the four of them which had money and candy!

Ryker, Grace, Echo and Matthew 

Once we found Ryker we put the Leis that Ashleigh made for him and sent up with heather on him. I had Heather and Jaylynn put them on him. Hers were also made of money and candy!

Rylee and Avynlea both wanted to pose with his Diploma Cover, dreaming of the not too distant future I guess :)

Ryker was a good sport and let us take lots of pictures with him. He is more like Kefford and not thrilled with all of the pictures and attention but he humored us and suffered through them all.

Rylee, Ryker and Avynlea

Family Picture: Rylee, Kefford, Ryker, Elizabeth and Avynlea

Kenedy was sad about not being able to be at Ryker's Graduation so she had us take a family picture with space on the end so she could add herself to it later.

Ryker and his proud parents

WE also had him pose like this so Kenedy could photoshop him lifting her but she never got behind that one.

Grandma Alison, Ryker and Grandma Bonnie

Rylee and Ryker

The entire Graduation gang:

Alison, Elizabeth, Kefford, Avynlea, Rylee, Jaylynn, Heather, Ryker, Emily, Joshua, Bonnie and Isabelle

Alison had to take off so she got a hug and said goodbye

Ryker and Heather 

Ryker and Isabelle

Emily, Ryker and Isabelle

Ryker and Avynlea

Jaylynn and Ryker

There was a graduate with her family by us and I could not believe the amount of Leis she had on her. The poor thing looked so awkward and uncomfortable. It was such a crazy sight I had Ryker pose nearby so I could get a picture of her with all of her neck gear. The poor thing

Matthew and Ryker

Avynlea spent her Freshman year and part of her Sophomore year riding to and from school between Matthew and Ryker and wanted a picture with her in between them. I didn't understand what she was wanting until it was too late and so I told her we would try again the next time Matthew came over.

After we were done taking pictures we were all very hungry and so we headed down the road a bit to Fiesta Guadalajara for dinner. They put our group in a banquet room which was nice so we could be apart from the rest of the crowd. Ryker was a gentleman and helped his Grandma into the restaurant.

Out Entire Family:

Kenedy, Avynlea, Elizabeth, Ryker, Kefford and Rylee

We wanted to get Ryker set apart an Elder and given the Melchezidek Priesthood and planned it for right before the party. We wanted to not make it difficult for family and so we had it right before his party which they all were coming to any way. It was nice to have so many there, Joshua had already left for the airport so he missed being in the circle but Heather, Emily and Mom were able to be there which was special. Those in the circle were...

Kefford, Bob, Jeremy, Kelsey, Steve, Dustin M, Trevor and Andrew 

The next day was party day! I made a banner with all of Rykers school pictures from Kindergarten to High School which I didn't get a picture of...fail. I didn't get but one picture of the decorations, I was jut not thinking about it. I did get a picture of the food table which was the most important part. I wanted to do a cookie theme and then Kefford suggested nachos because he had the nacho cheese dispenser and so I combined the two and the theme was "He is NACHO average Graduate, He is one smart COOKIE":)

Matthew stopped by the party and we were able to fulfill Avynlea's picture wish, Ryker didn't want to comply but he came around.

I had spent the previous couple of weeks baking all different kids of cookies and we ended up with about 12 different kinds. The cookies and the nachos were a big hit!

I ordered Ryker a graduation cake per tradition and had it for Sunday.

Congratulations Ryker! We are sure proud of you and excited for your future!!!