Basketball

In January Ryker tried out for 7th grade boys basketball. During tryouts they were told they have an A team and a B team. A team being the better team. Most of the boys would be on B team and would be guaranteed playing time. A team would take 12 boys and their playing time was not guaranteed. Ryker had mixed feelings about which team he hoped to be on, A team was great but he would be able to play definitely if he made the B team. Ryker ended up making the A team and we all thought that was pretty great. I go to all of his games to watch and cheer them on. The coach does let all the boys play in every game but some way more then others, which I think is fair, the point is to win and you need your best players to win. 

Rylee has been wanting to play basketball for a long time and finally I signed her up for a Y-ball team. Rylee has never played ball before in her life and so at her first game she did not play very well but she has a fun attitude about it and I know she will get better as she puts forth more effort and learns the game. We found out her team colors are red and black so she had me get some red laces to put in her black basketball shoes and she wanted red socks to wear. Luckily it is Valentines season and I was able to find black socks that had red hearts on them. 

Kefford bought tickets for him and Ryker to go to a Boise State Mens Basketball game. Boise State won the game against Fresno which made it exciting and fun, they even got a picture with Buster Bronco.

Cousins, Cousins!

Me and my Rylee having some fun with the camera.

Kefford's cousin Taylor has a sign making business and I really love her stuff. So far I have signage from October through February and am hoping to get some for the rest of the months. I really liked how Januarys looked on my piano with my cute penguins on either side.

While we were in Nyssa Alison snapped this picture of Bailey and Ryker playing with their cousins. I love how much my kids love their cousins and they are so good to them. It is really cute to see these "tough" boys being so gentle and fun.

Ryker, Tayvia, Bailey and Asher

At the dance studio while we were waiting for class to start my girls got a little silly.

One night Whitney dropped her girls off for us to watch while she and Dustin went to the Temple and out to eat to celebrate their anniversary. I was so happy that for once Sadie let me hold her and cuddle. I finally figured out that in order for her to "like" me I had to get her away from her Grandma and Mama. We had a lot of fun with Sadie and Madison and hope they can come back and play more often.

A Night of Ten Minute Plays

January 7th Avynlea and I went to the High School to watch Kenedy perform in a Night of Ten Minute plays. Rylee had Basketball practice right up until it started and so after Kefford picked her up he brought her to the High School so that she could join us and watch her sister. Kefford does not like spending money and he does not like watching plays and so much to my disappointment he stayed home with Ryker. He does show a lot of support for our kids and goes to lots of things so I try to not make a big deal about him missing some things. 

Kenedy's play did not come on until close to the end. Hers had a small cast, just her and two guys, she was the star of the play. It was about a girl breaking up with her boyfriend on the red carpet of a movie premier because she had met someone else who treated her better or something like that.  Kenedy did a really great job but it was a little uncomfortable for me to watch her playing a girl so mature and with such mature topics. It just felt really surreal and different, I am not ready for her to grow up. I was not happy about the dress she had to wear but she decided to wear  her hair down to try to hide a lot of the skin that was showing and she said they pulled the dress up as high as they could with safety pins.  Despite the weirdness I had a good time watching her and always love supporting my kids in their activities. My parents were the best at supporting me and my siblings and I have learned from them.

Megan, Lauryn and Kenedy

Megan. Lauryn, Ashlyn, Gabi and Kenedy

Elizabeth, Avynlea, Kenedy and Rylee

When we got home I sat down close to Kefford on the couch and looked up to see his foot right in my face. I thought it was funny and took a couple of selfies with his foot. These pictures make me laugh so hard. I am too funny ;)

While at the Farm

We stayed the night at the farm and while we were there Rylee expressed a desire to do some shooting. Kefford loaded up a gun for her and let her practice out in the backyard. She says it was a lot of fun and she did not miss one target except when she was hitting the bag. Pretty sure she will be wanting to do it again.

While we were at the church Kenedy was able to get Sadie to snuggle with her. Sadie is pretty picky about who she lets pick her up and Kenedy was loving it.

Ryker and Kenedy stayed at the farm for a couple of days and we brought Ally home with us. I took the girls to church on Sunday and thought they looked so cute all wearing glasses. Ally got some fake glasses for Christmas and was wearing them a ton so I assume Avy and Rylee pulled out their fake glasses to match and join in the fun.

We went back to Nyssa for New Years Eve. Bob and Alison invited Tami and Alan and their kids over for hamburgers and homemade fries. It was a lot of fun to visit with Karli and Taylor and I am glad we had the chance to see them. Brit and Kelsey were also there with their family. After Alan's family left the rest of us visited on the couches for a while watching Bob watch TV. Not the most exciting New Years by any means but I am always glad when we can be with family. I went to bed before midnight and the next morning found out that Ryker kept his Grandma up till 2:30 playing games. He had it in his head that he needed to stay up all night. Crazy kid. Luckily he got too tired and fell asleep and Alison was able to go back upstairs to her bed. Rylee got to be with Brielle and Qiana and Avynlea stayed the night at Ally's house. Kenedy wanted to go to the multi stake New Years Dance and so she went to that and then stayed the night at Mikells house. Lot's going on but I am sure everyone had a fun New Years!

December Randoms

Sometimes waking up at 7 in the morning to read scriptures as a family is a little hard for the kids. On this morning Avynlea was still pretty tired when she had to crawl out of bed so she climbed onto my lap and snuggled with me for a bit. I was not complaining one bit, these morning snuggles are great!

In November I had a dental cleaning and since my dentist was out of town I had to be seen by one of the other Dentists in the office. I had to have new X-Rays taken and the dentist came in to talk to me about them. He saw a cavity that concerned him and started questioning me on my eating and cleaning habits. I was starting to get really angry because it felt like he was grilling me. I floss and fluoride rinse every night and brush twice a day. He couldn't figure out why I would have this cavity and was asking if I had changed my eating habits in the past year. Asking if I drank a lot of soda, no, drinking lots of coffee throughout the day, no, drinking more sugary drinks, no. I drink a lot of water and really that's about it. It was not a good visit and after making an appointment to come back in December for a filling I left still feeling pretty angry.

I went back in the beginning of December and I was so glad that my regular dentist was back. I really like him, He got me situated and said that before they started they were going to pull up my past two X-rays . After looking at them he showed me that there was no change in the cavity from when we first discovered it and now. My flossing and fluoride rinsing has helped keep it from changing and he said he saw no reason to do a filling. Hooray! I realized the other dentist never looked at the previous X-Ray and was only going on what he was seeing in my current one, that was why he was grilling me, because he could not figure why I would have a cavity when I was doing everything right. 

After Dr Higginson decided to veto the filling we were talking about my teeth and I mentioned how I was not happy with the color of my canines. He decided to whiten them up for me and that is how instead of getting a filling I went in and got my teeth whitened. He really is the best! I went away feeling so happy and excited that I was really taking good care of my teeth.

After my visit I was on the google hangout with my family telling them about my visit and I sent them some pictures. 

I really liked the instagram message my friend had put up and took a snapchat of it.

I also have daily messages sent to me from LDS.org and I really liked the one I was sent on this day.

Avy and Kefford were having some fun messing around and wanted me to take a picture. It took Avy a couple of tries to get the straight face she wanted, but she eventually got it.

After our winter dance show we had one more week of dance classes. Our Friday night classes were really relaxed and we basically let the kids dance around to christmas music. I was starting to get really bored and took a couple of selfies for fun.

I took this picture of me and Rylee at our Ward Christmas breakfast. Cutie Pie Rylee.

Christmas!

T'was the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring...until 7:00 AM. I was super impressed that our kids stayed quiet and asleep until then, it was nice. Once Ryker came quietly knocking at our door at 7 all the girls got up and came into our room to open their stockings. Such a fun tradition! Kenedy was woken up and acted all put out about that but she got over herself...eventually. Everyone had fun seeing what was inside their stockings and really liked it all.

We always have the kids wait on the stairs while we go down and get ourselves ready for the picture taking. They had an extra long wait while we all waited for Kenedy to finish curling her hair, seriously. Finally we got tired of waiting and I let the three kids come down.

Thanks to great deals and ebay I was able to get the girls some things for their American Girl dolls. Rylee really wanted Caroline's Cow and she got that plus the mini doll and some accessories.

I managed to find Sage's riding outfit at a good price on ebay for Avynlea.

Pretty sure he was happier about these books then the picture portrays.

Kefford found Kenedy a new phone case which had her favorite animal on it.

A new DS game

and speakers for her phone

Rylee has been wanting some new boots for a while and described exactly what she wanted them to look like. She was so super excited to open the package and find her perfect boots! 

My Mom sent us some new pyrex bakeware which I was really excited about plus a wisemen plaque for our Christmas decor. She also sent the kids some money and yummy popcorn.

We opened out secret person gifts from my family.

Alec had Ryker and he gave him a mine craft spider stuffy and a mine craft poster. Ryker had Anita and he picked out a giraffe mama and baby ring for her.

Joshua had Avynlea and he sent her a pair of chameleon goggles that lets you see behind you and the game "Exploding Kittens". Avynlea had Camryn and she sewed and cut a My Little Pony blanket for her. 

Ben had Rylee and he gave her the cutest Apron for her and a matching one for her doll. Rylee had Heather and she sent her a Sloth ring.

Dillon had Kefford and he gave him some cool batman basketball shorts. Kefford had JayLynn and she was given a playdoh set and a Monster High Doll. 

Alyssa had Kenedy and she sent her a really cute hat and scarf. Kenedy had Erin and she gave her an adorable Minnie Mouse Umbrella.

Stephanie had me and gave me a sparkly headband, earrings, bracelets and a cute scarf. Fancy! 

I had Ben and I made him a Gryffendor cloak. I got the idea and was really excited about it but then after buying the material I started to have doubts about whether he would like it or think it was dumb. It was too late by them so I made it and hoped for the best.

Emily sent me this picture of Ben after he opened his gift and said he LOVED it! I was so happy.

Kefford and I decided to just get each other a picture of the Los Angeles Temple for Christmas. We have never had a picture of the Temple we were sealed in because I have never been able to find one we liked. While in Utah this summer I found one at the BYU bookstore that was perfect. Over thanksgiving Kefford and I were able to get it for 20% off thanks to black friday deals. 

Because we got the picture I was not really expecting anything else. When we came downstairs that morning I was surprised to see a rather large gift under the tree that was not familiar to me. I wondered what it was but did not worry about it too much just enjoyed watching everyone open their gifts. Kefford did surprise me with some small gifts which was fun and I loved. Towards the end this big unknown gift was brought over to me to open and when I took off the wrapping I found the suitcase I have been wanting for so long. I was so surprised and excited! I had given up on getting this a long time ago and can't believe Kefford got it and was able to surprise me with it! I love surprises and I love presents, it was perfect! Now I need someplace to go :)

After we were done opening presents Rylee helped me in the kitchen with making breakfast and was able to start putting her apron to good use.

Joshua got the game he sent Avynlea for Christmas and sent her a picture of him with his game. Avynlea wanted to replicate his picture and send it to him.

I had Kefford help me hang our new picture and after rearranging some things on the piano I love how it looks! 

After our fun Christmas morning we headed out to the Farm to spend time with Keffords family. We all got new Peterson Farms sweatshirts which we love and our stocking box filled with fun foods and odds and ends. That evening, Gwens family, my family and Whitneys family went down to the church to play dodge ball. 

We had a really fun Christmas and enjoyed spending time with each other and family