Birthday Fun

After Ryker had his party Kefford and Kenedy made everyone dinner. 

Kenedy had to leave soon to go baby-sit and so she had me open the present from her. It was a beautiful dress that she had pinned a couple of months ago with the hopes that she could get it for me for my Birthday. I love it and love that she has such great taste and knows what I would like.

After dinner I got to open my presents and Ryker opened his presents from us.

                                         From Rylee I got scented wax for my Scentsy.

Ryker got some more Legos the time with a Hobbit theme.

I love the movie Maleficent and was excited to watch it again with my very own copy!

Ha ha new underwear for Ryker

I sent Kefford an email a while ago that showed the Leather jacket I have been wanting for a long time on Jane.com. I told him that I have been wanting it, the color and size, and that he should jump on it because things go quick on this site. Unfortunately I knew he got it because I was sent a confirmation email but I forgot all about it and so it was a happy surprise when I opened it up and remembered that I was getting it. Yay for bad memories!

I got a birthday hug from Avynlea as she handed me my gift from Heather.

My very first Tiffanys box!!!! I was so excited! It was hard to open this little box up because it was wrapped so pretty.

I got my initial necklace. Heather and a couple of other members of my family have had initial necklaces for  couple of years and I suppose Heather finally decided it was time for me to get mine. I was so excited! It is so pretty and I will wear it all the time! She is the best sister and friend ever!!

Me and my Birthday buddy Ryker!

The next day on Sunday Ryker was able to receive the Priesthood. What a special moment that was for him and his Family. Most of Keffords family was able to come for this big milestone and I am grateful for their support and love. I sure love this guy and love watching him grow. 

My girls like taking pictures of sunsets and rainbows.

Sunday night Ryker got to go to his very first Fireside. He looked so handsome in his sweater watching a movie his sisters were watching while he waited that I had to take a picture. 

I opened up my birthday present from Brit earlier that day which was a cute apron she made for me. Later I was putting away the gift bag and I discovered another fun surprise. Qiana made me a sun catcher Giraffe. That explains why she was so excited for me to open my gift. I love that girl and love that she thought of me and wanted to make me something special for my birthday!

Ryker's Favorites:

Food: Steak

Sport: Basketball

Book: All Adventure Books

Color: Green

Dessert: Ice-Cream

Candy" 3 Musketeers

Friend: Braeden Irish and Baeden Jones

Primary song: Called to Serve

Radio Song: Monster by Imagine Dragons

Movie: Star Wars Episode 2

TV Show: Teen Titans

Toy: Nerf Sword

Thing to do: Read or play Nintendo

School Subject: World Civ or History

Car: Lamborghini 

5 things I love about Ryker

1) His thoughtful nature. He is quick to notice if I am not feeling well or if something is bugging me and always asks if I am OK or what he can do to help. He is that way with his sisters also if they are not feeling well, he is a great comforter.

2) He is doing so good in school. He cares about his grades and wants keep them high. He gets behind sometimes in turning in his work but quickly realizes what he needs to do and gets it done and turned in.

3) How excited he was to get the Priesthood and begin his duties as a Deacon. I was sick on Sunday and missed watching him pass the sacrament for the first time which really made me sad, but i loved hearing him tell me all about it and how he was nervous but luckily they gave him the easy route. I love this kid and his dedication to the Lord. He is growing up to be amazing!

4) His funny nature. Ryker gets pretty goofy and he makes me laugh a lot. He likes telling jokes and has discovered the art of the cootie catcher and likes to make those and have funny sayings inside.

5) Ryker is creative and very artistic. He loves drawing and does a really good job. I was as excited as he was to see the drawing books my brother sent to him and love watching him use them and show me his work. 

                    Basically I love this kid so much and am so grateful he belongs to me!

Ryker is 12!!!

Since it was Ryker's 12th Birthday he got to have a friend party. I had a really busy week and that morning had to be at the Super Saturday to help and then right after we went to Ryker's basketball game and so I did not have a lot of time to plan a party. I had originally planned for Kefford to take the boys to the YMCA to go swimming but the night before he decided he did not want to do that and  looked up movies to take them to. Not very many of his friends could make it and of the ones who came only two could go to the theater. I kept it really simple, the guys came, they played on the Wii and on the trampoline, we sang, ate cupcakes and ice-cream, Ryker opened presents and they left for the movies to watch How to Train Your Dragon 2. Even though it was not a huge extravaganza Ryker had fun and that is all that counts. I had Kenedy take pictures for me since I was busy with the serving and she did a good job taking a lot of pictures.

If I had known pictures were being taken of me I would have at least smiled. Here I am explaining the ice-cream we have.

Brock, Nathan, Baeden, Alen and Tyler

He was only to open friends gifts at this time but I through in the gift from Joshua that had just arrived in the mail. Ryker was really excited with this cool gift from his Aunt and Uncle. 

Alen Begic, Ryker Peterson, Baeden Jones, Brock Anderson, Tyler Pierce and Nathan Colton

Shopping at the Library

On Tuesday I was trying to kill some time before I had to pick up Kenedy from Cheer so Rylee and I stopped in at the Library to pick up a book I had on hold. Rylee and I discovered the cutest little shopping carts the Children's part of the Library now have for kids to use. 

Rylee looks like a giant pushing this cart around but what a fun thing for kids to use while "shopping" for books!

Candy Stash

On Sunday my kids dumped out their candy and started the time old tradition of candy trading. As I watched I made sure to keep an eye on any unfair trading going on. They did really well and it was fun watching them. I don't have a problem with my kids eating Halloween candy. I told them that as long as they eat healthy meals that they could have access to their candy. I don't like when they come to the dinner table saying they are not hungry because I know they have been filling up on Halloween Candy. I want them to eat good meals and then they can have at it with their treats. 

I was super impressed with all of the candy they got and in the pictures it may not look as impressive but they got huge amounts. Luckily they are nice to share with me :).

I thought I would add these pictures of Trinity that Ryker and Avynlea took with my phone

As well as this picture of my cute Rylee I took during FHE

Back to Basketball

Saturday was Ryker's first game of the new Basketball season. He hasn't played for a couple of years and was really anxious to get back to business. He came downstairs the morning of already dressed in his uniform and asked if I would take him to the church so he could practice. The girls had friends over and so I could not do that but I did pull out the Hoop so he could practice in the front yard. 

Finally at 3:30 he was able to play the game. Our team lost but I thought Ryker did a good job in his first game. He definitely has some things he needs to work on but I am confident in his abilities especially with how hard he practices.