Family Call with Avynlea

I stayed at Joshuas house while I was I Utah and in the morning I would wake up early and go walking. Joshua started a running club with his kids and on this morning I went walking but stopped before I met my goal so I could join Joshuas family for run club. They run around their block and each time they do a lap they mark their time down. I was excited to be a part of their club and I was pretty proud of myself for running the entire way without stopping. 

We had a family chat with Avynlea and everyone found the filter settings so we had fun playing with the filters. 

Leah is one of my Young Woman and good friends with Rylee and she asked me to make her a pillowcase for graduation. She said I could pick out whatever material I wanted and I found the cutest fish material, I am a little obsessed with it. It turned out really cute and Leah was super excited about it when I gave it to her.

 

Fathers Day

 Right after the reception Kefford and Rylee drove back to Meridian, Kefford needed to get back for church and work and Rylee went with him. I stayed because Kefford was coming back Tuesday night to go with Danny Ricks on a church History tour and then I would drive the car back to Meridian. I did not want to do all of that driving back and forth so I stayed with my family for a few more days. Sunday was Fathers Day and Rylee made it a nice day for him. She even did better than me on his Birthday and got pictures of him with the gifts she got him as well as the sign she made for him. 

Rylee got him some fun socks, a new shirt and a nail file kit, all picked out by her.

Ryker and Anna June 14th 2025

 

I think Avynlea took this screenshot of herself taking to Kefford. Anytime we get to talk to Avynlea is a good day.

Ryker and Anna designed their wedding announcement and I think it turned out really cute, I love the simplicity and the florals.

I am planning on having separate wedding books of my kids weddings but I wanted to document something that happened after the Temple ceremony. We were all standing outside waiting for pictures and Ashleigh said to me and Joshua that we should get a siblings picture of the ones who were there. I thought that was a greta idea and looked around for Erin and Emily. Erin was close enough but Emily was off a ways standing by a tree next to the parking lot. Ashleigh said that she was not feeling well and that she was waiting there for Matt to pick her up. She then mentioned that we could just do a picture later. I said or we can just go to Emily and take a picture where she is at. So we started heading over there with Joshua a little ways ahead of us. Right as soon as Joshua got to Emily she blacked out and started to go down and he was able to grab her and help her get down. By this time the rest of us got there and were able to help her get up and into the car with Matt where he and Joshua gave her a blessing. Remember Emily just had a couple of back to back surgeries and was really having a hard time and I am grateful that the Lord blessed us to be able to help her in that moment. I love when I can see and recognize Tender Mercies from the Lord. We did get the picture and unfortunately the wind would not let up so its not the best of pictures but we did manage to get one.

Family Dinner

It was time for Ryker and Anna to get married and they decided to get married in Utah at the Jordan River Temple on June 14th. Unfortunately Stephanie was getting married in Hawaii on June 19th and already had bought tickets for Mom to go out there for her wedding and she was leaving the morning of the 14th which was the day Ryker and Anna were getting married. So Mom and Stephanie were out. Heather and Jackson had something come up and they couldn't come. Ashleigh I talked into coming because I really needed the help and support and I was grateful she made the effort to come. Erin also came in from California while Andrew was able to come for the rehearsal dinner but missed the wedding because he was flying to Hawaii. Emily and Joshua were also able to be with us which was great. I wish everyone could have come but I didn't pick the dates and I am appreciative of the ones who were able to make it. Kefford and I stayed with Joshua at his house and we had fun being with his family. Leona really likes Kefford and it was cute to see them together.

We were outside with the kids who had their swimming suits on and were playing with water. I told them they should put the hose on the slide and make it a water slide and they had a lot of fun doing that. The hose was a bit wild and it was funny to watch them get sprayed by an uncontrollable hose.

My job for the wedding was to put together and host the family dinner. Anna had a lot of family that were going to be coming and we had a low number of Lutes but the Petersons were coming and they have a lot of kids so it was about 80ish people we were planning for. Kefford and I talked at length about what to serve and it shouldn't have but the planning of the dinner really stressed me out just because of expectations I had. We decided on getting sub sandwiches from Jimmy Johns and I bought chips, waters, clementines, and made a load of pasta salad. I also ordered cupcakes from Sam's Club for dessert and to use as part of the table centerpieces. Erin, and Ashleigh were super helpful with all of the set up, Emily came but wasn't able to do much because she had just had surgery, she was good to help with ideas and she let us use her lace curtains as a backdrop to try to hide the ugly church wall.Kefford, Rylee, Kenedy, Ty, Andrew, Maren, Matt and Isabelle were also filtering in and out to help with set up.  It took a long time and a lot of different ideas but we were able to get it looking pretty close to how I imagined and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. We had a lot of leftover food which is just fine because I would rather that then not enough food. 

I had Kefford welcome everyone and we had a prayer and then ate dinner and visited. I at some point went to sit with Anna's parents who were talking with Bob and Alison to visit with them and we had good conversations. I wish we had thought I advance to have some ice breakers or ways to interact more but I did my best. Ryker and Anna did go around each table and telling names and how they were related so we did that. I thought it was a good night and I was so happy when my part was done.

Elizabeth, Erin, Ashleigh and Emily

We thought out funny when Andrew showed up wearing the same shirt as Ryker

Rylee and Leona

Happy Birthday Kefford!

 Kefford turned 49 this year and his birthday fell on a Sunday. When Ryker, Rylee and I got home from church they wanted to make some posters for their Dad for his birthday. The posters turned out great and I don't know how but the only pictures we got this day was of Ryker and Rylee making their posters and then the one that Rylee made. Big fail of not even taking a picture of the birthday boy but does he even care? Probably not. We did our best to make it a good Birthday for him and I think he appreciated the effort. 

A Night With Sister Peterson

Avynlea mentioned that she wanted to do a missionary fireside with the Young Women in our ward and I liked th erode so I ran it past Jessica Pace and she loved the idea as well so we set up a date. I was nervous on how it would go but Avynlea did a good job and the girls who came asked her good questions. It was a fun night and I am happy Avynlea suggested it and that it went so well.

back row l-r: Piper, Elizabeth, Rylee, Mikayla, Juliette, Allison, Brighton, Jessica and Kristi

front row l-r: Samantha, Addie, Melody, Brooklyn, Aubree, Eliza, Rachel and Leah

I saw a new hairstyle on line I wanted to try and I thought it turned out really cute. I had Rylee take a picture for me so I could see it and so I could have record of it.

While I ws in California helping Mom after her shoulder surgery I made this quilt for Ryker and Anna. I had it quilted and then I did the binding and I was so proud of how it looked when I was done. I love it and hope that Ryker and Anna do as well.

Hiking Group

 

One day someone in a Group FaceTime with Avynlea started us all of these crazy filters. The problem is anyone can put a filter on someone else and on this day Avynlea was putting these filters on me. Not super cute but I was rolling with it.

Andrea Gremmert started a hiking group in our Relief Society and sent around a group genius signup so we could see if there were any hikes we wanted to go on that she had scheduled. I thought I would give it a try and signed up for one that had other ladies I thought would be fun to go with. I don't remember where the hike was but it was a pretty tough one. Andrea told us it was a 5 mile round trip hike which was super helpful for me because I was able to track the miles on my watch. As long as I know how much time I have left in working out or doing hard things I can pretty much push through. Knowing we were close to being done even though I was dying inside helped give me the motivation to get it done. I also have the mindset and a just get it done attitude. I was tired but I kept pushing through and didn't want to take long breaks. I just want to keep moving, get it done and rest at the top. Kirsten Chidester had that same mindset and we pretty quickly became the leaders of the hike and got ahead of everyone. We got to the top first and had a bit of a wait before everyone else came along, on the way down I was with Kristi Crapo and we led the pack on the way down going quickly and finishing before everyone else. It really is not a competitive thing for me it is 100% me just wanting to get this hard thing over with. At the bottom Kristi pretended to fall down so that when the rest of the ladies showed up they would think she got hurt and they did but I felt bad for our deception very quickly and told them she was just pretending. It was a good hike with fun ladies and I was happy I did it.

Andrea Gremmert, Kristi Crapo, Kirsten Chidester, Becky Eberhard and Elizabeth Peterson

 Kristi took a picture of Kirsten and I up ahead of them, its hard to see us but we are up at the top of the trail.

Finished! The view really was beautiful and it was super peaceful up at the top

Kenedy sent a couple of cute pictures of her with the baby she nannies Edie

The church has finally made my wishes come true and released sleeveless garments! They were not available win the United States yet but Avynlea was able to get us some from Japan. I had fun trying on some outfits I could wear with the new garments and sent some pictures to Kenedy. She in turn sent those pictures to Gabi and sent me a screenshot of their texts. I was super flattered with the kind words and they gave me a little boost of confidence

I bought Avynlea and Rylee Tiffany initial necklaces when I bought Kenedys but had them set aside for a time I felt was right to give them to them. Kenedy got hers when she graduated with her bachelors and I thought Rylee deserved to get hers when she graduated High School with her Associates degree. When she opened the box the necklace was super tarnished because it had been sitting in its box for a couple of years. Luckily Kefford was able to figure out how to untarnished it and shine it right up

Mt Rushmore

 The night before we stopped at Walmart for some car snacks and Kefford also bought an air mattress for me to use while we slept in the car. We drove until late and then stopped at a rest stop for some rest. The front seats of the car fold down flat and so we put mine down and then blew up the air mattress. It was a very tight fit and I was very close to the ceiling but it wasn't a bad spot for me. Kefford on the other hand tried sleeping in the drivers seat and it did not go so well for him. he could not get comfortable and my air mattress was severely invading his space. We decided that for night two we were going to get a hotel room. But in the meantime we found that by going a couple of hours out of our way we could go see Mt Rushmore which was exciting to both of us. First though we passed by Chicago and I took a picture of the skyline as we drove by on the freeway. It would have bene kind of cool to have stopped in the city but we had a destination and didn't want to spend the time stopping.

As we were getting closer to Mt Rushmore we kept seeing so many billboards advertising something called Wall Drug. We should have counted how many billboards we passed because it seriously was an insane amount and after seeing so many I looked it up and found that it was a pretty big tourist destination so we decided to make a stop there. It was basically a giant drug store with so many rooms and things to see. It had a restaurant and Kefford and I both got burgers and fries to go. There were some fun things to see and it was worth the quick stop.

Finally we made it to Mt Rushmore and it was the most beautiful and peaceful spot. I loved it and wished we could have spent more time exploring and seeing all the area had. it would be fun to do a family trip back some day and go camping. I loved seeing Mt Rushmore in person, it was smaller then expected but still majestic and impressive. One of the highlights of our trip.

As we were driving away Kefford had me take a picture of the backside of the monument.

That night we stayed at a motel in Casper Wyoming. It was not amazing but it was a place to sleep and we got free breakfast which is always a plus. We got our room key and went up to our room, upon opening the door we found it to be already occupied and had to go back down to tell the receptionist who apologized and gave us a new room. That could have been super awkward but luckily the guy in the room was just watching tv.