Family Pictures 2014

All about me! And some of my kids. :)

For a long time now I have had trouble sleeping. I go to sleep just fine but then I wake up throughout the night and my body keeps me awake usually starting at about four in the morning. It is not the funnest thing but I decided to use this insomnia to my advantage rather then just wasting my time lying in bed wishing I could be sleeping. So I usually have myself stay in bed until five and then I get up and go on the treadmill for an hour. While on the treadmill I will read my scriptures and the Ensign all electronically on my Kindle. Bam! Just like that killing two birds with one stone. I am staying active and getting spiritual. The one morning I got up and got my workout gear on and then I decided to take my picture to see if I looked as good in all black as my sister Heather did int he picture she posted of herself in all black. One can see in the first picture how tired I am, I almost deleted it but thought what the heck. You can also tell my tiredness by how unkempt the bathroom is. I took a picture while the closet was gaping open and my morning stuff all over the sink. If I was not so tired it would have been a much more put together picture. 

I thought I looked a lot uncute in the previous picture so I took another one trying to look more awake.

After looking at the picture I decided I did look as good all in Black as Heather does, at least from the waist up. :)

I love braiding my girls hair and I am always so happy to try new things. I thought this day Avynlea's hair turned out looking very awesome when I did the zig-zag braid and so I took a picture to document it. Her hair is also getting thicker and it makes it even more fun to do braids on her.

While I was helping Avynlea cut some wrapping paper I accidentally cut my earbud extender cord in half. Drat! I was a very sad camper when that happened but my optimistic Rylee immediately grabbed them and said "I will keep one half and you keep the other half and that way we can remember always that we are family". Oh this girl is silly.

Me being the great supportive Mom that I am went to watch Kenedy cheer at one of the Basketball games. I love watching her cheer but am not always interested in watching what she is cheering for and so I brought a book along that my friend loaned me. So, yes, I was that person sitting in the stands at a High School football game reading a book. I did watch every cheer Kenedy did and I also did not spend the entire time reading, I did watch some of the game going on. I also took some pictures of myself reading while attending the game. When in Rome do as the Romans do, and when at the High School, do as the High Schoolers do. :)

Since I posted all of these selfies of me I am going to use this space to write about a funny happening that I really want to remember. I have ben serving in the Nursery for the past two plus years. I have loved it! I feel really bad that so many people turn down a calling to the Nursery or complain about it saying it is a terrible calling. It is such a loving and joyful place to be. I really put my all into this calling and at the risk of not sounding humble those kids loved me and I loved them. It was the greatest thing to hear them calling me "Sister Peterson" and them talking to me and being excited to see me. But like all things in the Church, change has to happen and a couple of weeks ago I was told I was being released and being given a new calling. I am now the First Counselor in the Relief Society. Big change! I was sad to leave the Nursery but excited for something new and for the chance to get to know the Ladies of our Ward and to serve them.

This past Sunday was my first Sunday in many, many years to attend Sunday School and Relief Society in my Ward. I was sitting in Sunday School and I was listening to the lesson and then all of a sudden my mind started wandering and it wandered right on over to Nursery. I started thinking "What are they doing?", "Do they need me?",  "Do they miss me?". You know, just random drifting thoughts. Then suddenly I heard my name being said followed by the question, "What are your thoughts on this?". I looked up and realized I was asked a question and I had no clue what was going on or what they were talking about. In my mind I was panicking trying to figure out what to say and then I decided to just own it. So I said "I am really sorry I was not paying attention, I was thinking about the Nursery". I could feel my face getting warm and I knew I was bright red. Luckily everyone laughed with me and the lesson moved on and I payed close attention to the lesson from then on. Oh man, classic Elizabeth story, I never fail to have crazy stories to tell about me.

I have these funny things happen to me a lot and it always makes me laugh.

Saturday morning Avynlea and Rylee wanted to go to the Breakfast with Santa event that was happening at their school. Kenedy was at Tumbling and Ryler was on a campout and Kefford had no interest in going so it was just the three of us. We decided to do the Santa thing right when we got their and it was only Rylee who did the Santa thing. Avynlea refuses, she has never liked the idea of sitting on a strange mans lap. But Rylee was all for it and hopped on up and told him what she wanted. After Santa we had a yummy breakfast with our friends the Mortensens and then we went home stuffed full and happy.

Oh the Beard!

This year Kefford decided to participate in "No Shave November". I was not sure how I would feel about him with a beard since he has not really grown one out before, but I was on board with him trying it out. It's his facial hair after all and I think I spent the entire month without shaving my legs not because of the no shave thing, just because I get lazy and don't feel like it. So we were even in the no shaving department.  

He had a lot of comments on his beard throughout the month and a lot of them were geared towards thinking I was not liking his beard or ready for him to shave. But to the tell the truth I thought he looked really good with his beard. I liked the hints of gray and I thought he looked really handsome. I was really bummed when the end of November came and it was time for him to shave. He just looked really good! So like most Men shaving their beards, Kefford did it in stages. He then took a picture with each kid in the different facial hair stages he created.

Whitney sends the kids birthday cards with a coupon for a free A&W ice-cream cone. In Ryker's card there were two coupons, one for him and one for me! Yay I love ice-cream! So Ryker and I picked a rainy day after school before I had to pick up the Elementary kids to get our ice-cream. It was super delicious and such a yummy treat. I love ice-cream cones, the cone being my favorite part!!

Tree Decorating

Once Thanksgiving was done it was time to put up our Christmas Tree. I am loving that my kids are old enough that I can just sit and watch the happenings. Tree decorating is not a favorite thing of mine but I love watching my kids do it. After they were done putting up their own Avy and Rylee got out my and Keffords ornaments and started placing them on the three. They also got very curious about dates and ages and so for the time it took them to hang my ornaments all I heard was " how old were you in 1981...1995...2007...1978...1985..." Cute curious kids.

Last year Alison bought me a sabastian the crab ornament because one of my kids, I think Ryker, insisted on it. He was with her while she was buying ornaments and I got a special one because my Ryker was watching out for me. :)

A couple of months ago my friend Cristal went to Disneyworld with her family and I was the lucky one asked to take them to the airport at five in the morning and then pick them up two weeks later at midnight. Because i am so awesome she brought me back a delicious cake pop and the cutest Ariel ornament. I love the Little Mermaid and awesome friends!

Avy and Rylee decided to get fancy and model the tinsel.

Then Ryker joined in. Apparently modeling is serious business!

Avy got to hang the star this year and it was a bit tricky since the star holder decided to be broken. I think this is the last year of this star and we are going to have to get a new one for next year.

I love having the Christmas decorations up and I love our beautiful Christmas tree filled with ornaments tat mean something and bring back awesome memories. Tis the Season!

Target Fun

On Monday Kefford only had to work a half day and so we went out to do a little bit of Christmas Shopping. While we were at Target Kefford wanted to take a picture of us with the Christmas Lights in the background.

Then he had the idea to put on hats for a picture. He was pretty disappointed not to be able to find a red Santa hat and had to settle for the green sparkly one. I liked the glasses I found to wear. I think they are snazzy!

For our last picture Kefford found a can of Yams and put on a Buster Broncos Hat, while I found a holiday squirrel and a nifty Santa Hat headband.

Fun times with my handsome hubby!!