Family Pictures 2016

This year we actually got our Family Pictures done when it was warm outside. We did them in the evening in the middle of September. I would have liked to have done them a little bit earlier in the day because we only had a little over an hour before the sun went down and I didn't like feeling rushed but Kenedy had cheer practice, of course, and we had to wait for her to finish. My friend Lindsay Hurst took our pictures and even though it was a little bit more money then what I usually paid our photographer I am going to probably use her every year. When I have gotten pictures back in the past from our family shoots I find some that I like and some that I do not. When Lindsay sent me the proofs of our pictures I loved every single one of them, all 132! I was so impressed with the quality and the fun and was so excited to look through them. My only problem is I have no idea how to narrow it down to decide on which ones to print, frame and put up in our house. Such a dilemma!

I love that she did family pictures, individual pictures of everyone, and then had different groupings, like Kefford and Ryker.

Me and my girls

Ryker

Avynlea

Rylee

Kenedy

Elizabeth and Kefford

Kefford with his girls

I like to call this collage of pictures the Brady Bunch shots. It was cracking me up watching this happening.

Me with my favorite boy!

Beautiful girls

My favorite kids!

A couple of years ago I had the idea for a picture of our family reading. We tried having it executed last year and I was really disappointed with the way it turned out. This year I wanted to try it again and had everyone bring a book, Kefford is not a reader and we are not fakers so he was on his phone for the picture. Lindsay grouped us up and proceeded to take a bunch of pictures and when I got them back I was so excited with how amazing they turned out and how well they matched my vision! It was a happy moment!

I had a twirly skirt on and had fun twirling for the camera!

Pretty sure our kids were in the background of these pictures arguing about something. It never ends.

Watching Kenedy get her pictures taken made me excited for Senior Pictures next year. She is gorgeous and looks like a model.

The girls again

More of my beautiful Avynlea

And more of my cutie pie Rylee

These photos turned out looking fun but all that walking and jumping in my heels really made my feet hurt.

Fun Kefford and Elizabeth moments

Kenedy and her Daddy

Avy and Rylee could not be left out of the fun twirly pictures

I was really happy with our Christmas card this year and love the quote on Joy from Elder Nelson

Piano and Friends

On the 10th the kids had their Christmas piano recital at the assisted living facility. It was fun for the kids to perform their christmas music in that environment and they all did a really good job!

Avynlea and Rylee performed a duet of "Oh little Town of Bethlehem". They did such a great job and it was so fun watching them perform together. Avynlea commented that this was the first time she wasn't nervous to get up and perform. I suspect it was because she had her sister by her side.

Ryker performed "" and he sounded awesome also. He was irritated with me because I made him dress up for the recital and other kids performing were not dressed up. He looked good and I am glad I made him put on his suit. He looked nicer then those other kids and I think one should dress nice for performing. 

After the recital we took Avynlea to her friends house for a late night christmas party and later that evening Ryker and Kenedy went to a Stake Dance. It was Ryker's first Dance and he was excited plus a little bit nervous, it was pretty cute. He wanted to leave so that they would get there when the dance started but Kenedy being the all knowing older sister told him no way, nobody arrived hen it started and she made him wait at least an hour. 

Kefford and I were invited to a couple's white elephant christmas party put on by a couple in our new ward. I was nervous about going because it is hard for me to be social with people I do not know but I knew we needed to go so that we could start making friends and being comfortable in our new ward. With everyone leaving that night poor Rylee was left to fend for herself. I left my phone with her, turned on a movie and promised her we would not be gone too long. She kept texting Kefford while we were gone and it was pretty cute reading her messages. 

The party was a lot of fun and I met more people from our ward which was awesome. We played the m&m game where you take some m&ms and then according to what colors you get you have tot ell different things about yourself. It was pretty entertaining. For the white elephant exchange Kefford wrapped up a box of onions and mints and I made a "for making life's major decisions" kit with a rock, paper and scissors inside. While we were getting ready to start the exchange the other guest talked about last years party where one of the guys got a homemade crocheted minion bikini from another attendee. I thought that was pretty funny until I opened the gift I chose and realized I inherited said bikini. oh boy. The most clever gift, in my opinion, was a 2017 scenic calendar that had a picture on every scenic page of a different couple from the party. They people have all been friends for years so I wasn't surprised to see all of their pictures show up. I was surprised however when I saw even Kefford and I were featured on one of the months! She found my Facebook page and took a picture from their. Pretty clever and a little alarming. We had a great time and really enjoyed getting to know more people. The kids all saw the gifts we got and Ryker told me he thought it was mean of someone to give that as a gift when clearly we could never use it. I was confused by his reaction until I realized he did not know how a white elephant worked. Once I explained the concept and gave the example of what his Dad gave he got it and found the humor in it all. 

On Monday Kefford and I drove out to the farm while the kids were in school so that he could work on a gift for Kenedy for Christmas. While he was busy at the shop I played with Sadie and Madi at his parents house. We were playing with the train and Madi was cracking me up with her imagination, she kept saying she had an evil plan and had put bombs on the train, hilarious. Sadie gave me my phone and told me to take her picture so of course I did. I love that these two have become really comfortable with me and I sure do love them.

Moving in to a new ward and not knowing anyone has been harder on me then I thought it would. But I am grateful for the people who have reached out to make us feel welcome and wanted.

Christmas Cookies

This last Sunday was fast sunday and after we came home from church Avynlea and Rylee helped me mix up a batch of sugar cookie dough. They told me we could not bake the cookies until after we broke our fast because part of the fun of making cookies is eating the dough. I can get behind that!

They were good to help clean up any messes that might have been made. Let's be real, there was a lot of mess, two young girls working with flour and sugar, it got everywhere. Luckily they are good to help clean up the mess as well as they are in making the mess.

After dinner I blogged on my computer at the counter and supervised the girls rolling out the dough and cutting out their cookies. It was a bit of a sticky mess at first because they did not realize they needed to work more flour into the dough. I was able to coach them and show them how it was done and eventually they turned out some pretty good looking cookies.

Kenedy was feeling the hunger of the fast as well since while we were in the middle of making our dough she decided to make a treat for the family as well. Mint chocolate cookies.

After the cookies were baked I made everyone frost at least 6 since for some reason they did to want to do that part, weirdos. I told them to frost but not eat because we were going to watch the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional and then they could have a cookie after. Right before 7 we turned all of our Christmas lights on, we got the fireplace going, we turned off the house lights, set up my computer with the live stream and settled in the Living Room to watch the Devotional. I loved how cozy and Christmasy it felt during that time and loved watching the Devotional making it a great start to the Holiday Season. 

My favorite thought was when Elder Holmes talked about what if on Christmas morning we looked at all of the wrapped presents under the tree, wondered and contemplated what was inside of them and then walked away for the rest of the day. He compared that to how we treat the gifts from our Savior and challenged us to become better. I know I am getting things messed up but the essence of the message was thus and I hope to do better and become better.

Rylee played around with my hair during the broadcast and was pretty pleased with the three braids she made and then braided those into one braid. She had to take a picture so that i could see her handiwork.

After the devotional we all got to eat some of the delicious cookies that all three girls made. What a fun night and a wonderful start to our Christmas season!

A Christmas in Nauvoo

Saturday night we went to the Linder Wards Christmas Party. We are obviously not a part of the Linder Ward anymore but we still love all the people in that Ward and we wanted to go and see all of our friends, also we were invited :). They had a themed party this year which was A Christmas in Nauvoo. Pioneer dress was encouraged but it was not mandatory, for those who chose not to dress like a pioneer they asked that we come in Church dress since the first portion of the evening was in the Chapel. My family chose church dress and although many people wore period clothing, plenty of people wore clothing of the 21st century. In the chapel they put on a nice program about the birth of our Savior and we sang some lovely Christmas Hymns. After that we headed into the gym where dinner was served family banquet style. I sat with my friend Denise Bryan and she kept me laughing the entire time. Kefford and Kenedy sat across from us and the other two girls sat a couple of tables over with their friends. Ryker was at a birthday party at Wahooz with a couple of his friends and did not show up until the very end. After dinner they encouraged us to walk around the "shops of Nauvoo". They had the tin shop where the kids could make Christmas ornaments. I found Avynlea in this shop helping Ezra Hurst make his ornament. 

I found Kefford in the bakery chatting with our friend Nate Hope. In the bakery you could frost sugar cookies which was a fun idea. I chose not to since I was pretty full from the ham and turkey dinner we ate.

Rylee was found in the Candy shop helping "sell" candy. She was with her friend Jules Hurst. Kenedy was wandering around looking at things with me and jumped in this picture with the girls.

I was able to visit with my good friend Judy Kinzel in the candy shop since she and her husband were the supervisors. I sure do miss that lady and was so happy to have had a chance to visit. I was glad to have been able to visit with so many friends that night. 

Ken Kinzel was snapped in a picture with

Rylee, Jules Hurst, Suzie Stolte and Laurel Stolte

I found another picture of Avynlea being a good friend and helper to Ezra on Facebook. She did not want to make her own ornament she just wanted to help him.

It was a fun night and I am really glad we went. We had so many people stop to talk to us and to tell us how much they miss us, we miss them also. Thank heavens they let us crash their parties so we can stay in touch!

A new Lutes Baby!

 Early Thursday morning we got the word that Joshua and Mallory had their little baby boy. They named him Amos Gerald and he is beautiful. They sent pictures to our group hangout and we all fell in love. I am so sad that I can't be there to visit and hold my new nephew. After 9 years, with Rylee being the youngest Lutes grandchild thus far, we finally have a new baby to love on and I can't wait to be able to see him in person and hold and love on him!

I tried taking a picture of my holiday decor with the lights on but it was still daylight and of course it didn't turn out so well.

So I tried again when it was dark and no other lights were on and I think it turned out better. Nothing beats how it looks in person and I love sitting in our living room with the christmas lights on and looking at how beautiful it is. 

My kids trade off after dinner dishes and this last week it was Kenedy's turn on dishes. Friday night she had cheer practice and then immediately after she had a birthday dinner to go to. Our sink was piled up with dishes and since Kenedy was not there to do them I did not want to leave them until she got home. So I was sitting on the couch tired and worn out thinking how much I did not want to do the dishes when I thought, wait a minute I have other kids. I called those other three downstairs and asked them to get the dishes done and clean the counter off. Without one complaint they went into the kitchen and got to work. I was so impressed and really happy with their willingness to help me out even though technically it was not their week to do the job. I have great kids!

2515 N Marburg Ave

On November 30th Kefford and I went and signed papers for the sale of our first home. We have loved living in this house on Marburg Ave and have made a lot of memories but as Kefford said even though the house is no longer ours we can take the memories with us.

Mole Removal take two

About a month and a half ago I took Ryker to the Dermatologist to have a mole looked at on his back. It was a suspicious mole and we were concerned about the look of it. The Dermatologist looked at it and said he would need to remove it. They numbed up his back and shaved the sucker off. They told us they were going to have the specimen looked at and that they would call if there was further action needed. A couple weeks later I did get a call saying that the mole was inspected by an expert in California and it did need to be further removed. So I had to take Ryker back in for the further removal of his little friend. I asked the nurse about what exactly the problem was and she said that basically the mole had cells in it that potentially could turn into melanoma and it really needed to have the deeper layers removed. His Dr drew around the area that needed to be removed and then after looking over his papers again decided he did not need to make it so big, so he redrew a smaller area.

After they shot his back up with the numbing medication I told Ryker it looked like he was beat up in that section, it was discolored, partly because of the iodine, and it was swollen. It basically looked really painful even though it wasn't because of the numbing.

His nurse asked Ryker what music/bands he liked to listen to and Ryker said Imagine Dragons and I said he also likes 21 Pilots although not as much as Imagine Dragons. The Dr took his iPhone and set it up to some speakers and had it playing 21 Pilots so that Ryker could concentrate on the music and keep his focus off of the cutting and sewing. It was a great idea and would have been helpful for anyone but Ryker. The poor kid could not stop focusing on the tugging on his back and was scaring himself imagining the horrible things they were doing to him. I think his imagination was working overtime and not in a good way. Luckily he kept his cool on the outside and I did not even know his thoughts until he told me as we were leaving. The poor kid.

I thought they did a good job on the stitches and everything went really quick. Ryker was really happy to have it over with fast

They had the section of flesh they cut out sitting in a sample cup and I don't know what possessed me to go over and take a look at it but I did and it grossed me out. So of course I had to take a picture of it so I can have it recorded for posterity. Yuck and kind of funny!