Rocky Mountain Homecoming Dance

Rylee was looking extra cute this morning so I had to take her picture. I seriously love that face!

At about 5:00 I started helping Kenedy get ready for the Dance. Kefford took a nap on the couch...

 and Ryker played on his phone. Rylee thought they looked really funny so she took some pictures of them.

We bought Kenedy's dress off Amazon and I was really worried about the fit. The reviews were really good and from the reviews and the pictures customers posted I felt good that it was modest enough but I was still nervous and prayed really hard that it would be good. We also were worried that it would even come on time. When we ordered it it said not to expect it until November, that was not good news. I emailed the company and let them know our time line and asked if we could get it any sooner. They quickly replied and said they would send a rush in to their seamstress and would have it to us by the day we needed. I was happy and relieved to get it the Monday before and very Happy to see how amazing it fit Kenedy. Modest and beautiful! We did good!

I did her hair while she did her makeup, she wore the shoes she had from Prom and she looked like a beautiful Angel. I took some pictures of her before her date arrived.

 She and Avynlea messed around with my pumpkins for some pictures...

 and then not to be left out Rylee and I took a picture wth each other.

Drew finally arrived but right before he got there we realized that Albertsons forgot to put a pin in the boutonniere we ordered. We thought maybe we could use a sewing needle but that was not working at all. Drews Mom and sister came in to take pictures after he got there and when she heard our predicament she quickly went home to get a flower pin she knew she had. We were saved!

Drew was too quick getting the corsage on her for me to get a picture but that is ok, good enough.

These two make such a cute couple and it was fun to watch them exchange flowers and be all awkward with each other. I am glad that Angela came in to take pictures and she brought Drew's sister, Emma, in as well to watch the happy couple. 

 Kenedy wanted a picture with her Dad before she left

 We then had the sisters get in with the couple for a picture. I love it when someone else is just as picture happy as I am!

Avynlea, Kenedy, Rylee, Drew and Emma

Drew and Kenedy were riding to the dance with Gavin and his date Maddy. While we were waiting for Angela to get back with the pin we had them come in to wait with us. Since they were already inside it was pretty easy to get them to pose for pictures also.

Such good looking kids!

Volleyballs and Goldfish

Saturday night Kefford, Kenedy, Rylee and I were hanging out at home. Ryker was at a friends house and Avynlea was babysitting. Kenedy and Rylee took a selfie and then we heard a knock on the door. I assumed it was Avynlea and I was a little irritated that she didn't just open the door since I left it unlocked for her. I took my time going downstairs and when I finally opened the door I found it wasn't Avy at all, it was a message for Kenedy. I went upstairs and told Kefford to go and look and then I casually went into where Kenedy was and told her the door was for her. 

When she got downstairs she found an invite to the Meridian Homecoming dance waiting on the doorstep. Kenedy was really surprised because she honestly didn't think she was going to be asked. She had even already decided that she was going to go with her friend Megan Warner. She was excited about it and as we were looking at the ball and poster we saw McKoy's truck drive away from  where he and Wilson were waiting and watching.

This was another cute invite and Rylee especially was excited about the volleyball.

I made cinnamon rolls that night for Kefford to take to Bishopric meeting and I had a little bit left over. I took the leftover dough and put it in my heart shaped pan to bake, I thought the heart shaped cinnamon roll was especially cute. 

And the Bishopric loved my rolls and really appreciated being fed that morning!

I really liked how I did my hair that morning so I took a picture of it. 

Wilson loves Goldfish crackers so later that week Kenedy made up a cute little rhyme to answer him with and dropped the poster off on his doorstep with some baby goldfish crackers and Swedish fish.

 Friday night I went to Nampa High School to watch Kenedy cheer and also to watch our football team play Nampa. It was a really fun game and really exciting because we won! It was Nampa's Homecoming game so I felt a little bad that they lost but mostly I was happy that Meridian played so well! Kenedy came over to chat for a minute at halftime so I made sure to get a picture with her. 

She is so pretty and I love watching her cheer!

Carnival Fun

I got back from California late Saturday night, as I was laying in bed ready to go to sleep Kefford told me I had an appointment with a member of the Bishopric the next day. When I went to the appointment he told me that they were going to give me a new calling as a Beehive Advisor. I was really excited about that because I love serving in the Young Womens and being a Beehive advisor means I get to be with Avynlea which is fun! The only bummer is that I love my Sunday School calling and am really sad to not be with those kids anymore. I teach the 15 year olds and I feel like we have really bonded, they are such good kids and I have had such a good time getting to know them. Brother Blazek told me that they do not have anyone to replace me yet so for now I am going to be doing double duty. It may sound like a lot and too overwhelming for some people but I was really happy with the news. I am more then ok doing both jobs and am even willing to stay with the Sunday School kids until the end of the year. I don't think that will happen but...fingers crossed. 

One of my first duties as Beehive advisor was to go with the girls to the Stake Beehive activity the next Saturday morning. It was a really great activity with scripture kickball and making FHE kits as part of the activities. Another activity they did was have each group of girls pick a song from a list they had and choreograph a dance and perform it for the other girls while also lip syncing. They had a box of costumes to use for dressing up and it was so fun to see all of the girls perform. Avynlea wore a red wig during her dance and I thought she looked adorable. With the long red hair and the hat I thought she looked like Madeline from the book Madeline. She is so cute! I also think in these pictures she looks like my niece Breana. 

After the activity we went as a family, minus Kenedy but plus Avy's friend Shaeden, to the Adalant sponsored carnival. We met up with Brit and Kelsey and their kids while we were there and we had a good time eating and watching the kids play games. 

Kefford took a quick turn playing corn hole and I had Ryker take a couple of pictures for me so that I could send them to Heather. She was with Kefford and I when Kefford did a rant about corn holing this summer and I knew she would enjoy the pictures.

The girls had their pictures drawn by a caricature artist and I thought they turned out really cute!

Brielle, Rylee and Qiana

Ryker had his drawn by a different artist and his cracks me up. We told Ryker to go and pose for him a certain way, like Uncle Rico from Napolean Dynamite and Ryker did it and the drawing he got is hilarious!

Avynlea and Shaeden also got their pictures drawn by the same guy who did the other girls and they look super cute as well. Since they were eating popcorn he added that into the picture.

Memory Lane

 On Wednesday Mom and I went to the Redlands Temple to go through a session with some family names I had. It was a nice session but for some reason it took longer then usual to get through. Normally that would not be a problem but today it kind of was because we were supposed to meet Heather at Moreno Valley High School for lunch. She is a Science teacher at the school and did not have a lot of time because after her lunch period she had mandatory staff meetings to be at. By the time we got to the school we only had time to either walk around the school or go get something to eat, but definitely not both. Moreno Valley was my Alma Mater and I really wanted to walk around campus to reminisce and see how it had changed, so that is what we did.

My overall impression was that it was a lot smaller then I remembered. MoVal High is the oldest High School in Moreno Valley and so it was in the process of getting some much needed renovations and updates.  One thing that had stayed the same was the big rock in the Quad. The rock has been there since the 70's I think and it was painted for holidays and homecomings, Big games and graduations, start of school and end of school...basically for anything the ASB and/or school wanted to paint it for to show school spirit. I was happy to see it was still there and had Heather take a picture of me with it, she also got the logo on the school gym in the background. It was fun to walk the grounds and to remember the good and the bad. I think it is fun that Heather is a teacher at our Alma Mater and I am glad that Mom and I were able to visit her and see her classroom.

 After we left Heather Mom drove me by our old houses. The 12994 Alona street house was the earliest one I can remember living in. We had a lot of friends on that street and made some good memories. I remember skating parties and water balloon fights in the backyard with my Dad and sisters. We lived on the corner of a busy road and I remember sitting on top of the big wall blocking our house from the road with my sisters and brother yelling at cars as they passed by. I remember Saturday mornings doing yard work in the front yard and my Dad going to get us doughnuts and juice when we were done, also climbing around in the garage with Jeremy and Heather licking the salt pellets my parents had stored in there. The outside has been changed a lot and one of the saddest changes is that the owners took out the brick wall in the front that we helped my Dad build.

After that house we drove by 13290 Fieldcrest court. This house we moved into when I was in the fifth grade I think. We were all excited about the move and I remember helping paint the inside before we moved in. The wall we helped build in the front of this house was still there but the outside was painted a different color. Like the High School this house was a lot smaller then I remember it being. My parents moved out of this house to Riverside the week before I got married and that was a crazy and stressful time. I remember walking home from High School to this house and on the rare times that my Mom was not home and we found ourselves locked out I would jimmy the front window open and crawl inside that way. There was a playhouse in the backyard that was cool and fun to hang out in when we first moved in but got abandoned when we got bored with it. Heather, Emily and I would make up dance routines on the backyard patio and play college dorm inside our bedroom. I shared a room with Heather and Emily, then Erin and then Heather again. I remember Friday nights eating ice-cream watching TGIF and Sunday nights watching the Magical World of Disney movie. This was the house that I was accepted to Ricks college in and the house I came home from Ricks College to engaged to the Man of my Dreams. A lot of good memories growing up in this house with my family.

While I was in California Kenedy got asked to Rocky Mountains Homecoming by Drew Kashyap, a friend of hers from our ward. She sent me the picture of how he asked her and I loved it! It made me really happy to see he referenced The Office. I asked her how she was going to respond but she said she did when he came by with the flowers and box of pretzels. The past dances she has been asked to dances the invite was always left at the house and then Kenedy would respond by dropping something off to them. But Drew came in with his invite and after she read it he asked her "well?" and of course she said yes. 

His Mom came in after the asking was done so that she could get a picture of the two of them. I was really happy that she did that and that she sent me the picture she took.

Friday night, the night before I was flying home Heather, Ashleigh and I went to watch Alec play in his Varsity football game. We got there in time to see him make a touchdown and we were so excited to see that and to hear his name announced over the loud speakers. We found Anita and Jaylynn and sat with them. I had fun watching the game and visiting with my family. Whenever Alec was on the side lines we would yell as loud as we could at him to get him to look up and see us waving at him but he never heard us...or if he did he did a good job ignoring us. 

After the game which his team won we managed to catch him before he went into the locker room. We gave the stinky and sweaty boy a hug and made him pose with us for a picture. It was all good times.

The next day I was to fly home and while it was sad to leave my Mom and Heather I was excited to get back home to be with Kefford and my kids all of whom I missed. 

I am always so grateful when I get the chance to be with my family and am able to participate in things that I would normally miss out on. Life is good.

One Republic and an Ordination

After our race we headed over to Downtown Disney to get some Breakfast. As we were waiting I saw some cats wandering around. Disney encourages cats on their property to help control the rodents but they usually only come out at night, I have never seen a cat at Disney during the day, or ever for that matter. But as we were waiting I saw two cats lazing around and one of the employees fed them some bacon. I took a picture of the cats so that Avynlea could see them, I knew she would enjoy that. 

Here is the breakfast that I got and it tasted so delicious!

After breakfast we walked/hobbled around some of the shops in Downtown Disney and then we headed back to our Hotel room to rest.

Later that evening we got ready for the One Republic concert and then went to Red Robin to meet Andrew Brown for dinner. He was coming to the concert with us. I did my Mom's and sisters hair and I think they look pretty great. I really love doing hair.

Fitz and the Tantrums were performing that night as well and Heather and Ashleigh were wearing their concert t's. As we were walking up to the venue we actually saw Fitz and the Tantrums taking a break by the tour busses. Ashleigh was a super excited fan and she waved to them and said hello. They told her "nice shirt" and then backed away to get away from the crazy fan. It was cute and Ashleigh was thrilled at the "meeting".

Once we got inside we got our concert shirts and headed up to the nosebleeds to get to our seats. 

We then settled in to watch performances by James Arthur, Fitz and the Tantrums and One Republic. It was actually a really great concert, I enjoyed the music and the show but I was so exhausted from not sleeping and the race that I just wanted to go to bed. I am glad that we were able to see these bands and am always so happy anytime I get to be with my family.

Sunday I went to church with Heather and Mom and was able to watch Alec be set apart as a Priest. I was really happy to be apart of that and was even more happy that Anita came to church so she could watch also. He got a really nice blessing from Brother Hill and the Bishop had Mom, Heather and I take notes during it for Alec to keep and remember. 

Mom, Heather, Elizabeth, Jaylynn, Anita, Alec and Lyle Hill

I saw this quote hanging up on one of the bulletin boards in the church and took a picture of it so that I could remember it. 

Run Disney

The end of August I flew down to California to spend some time with my Mom and sisters. Heather got us tickets to a concert and Heather, Ashleigh and I signed up to run a Disney 10k. 

Friday night after everyone got off work we headed down to Anaheim to get our race packets. We got our bibs, corral letters and shirts. We then walked around the convention center and looked at all the fun running stuff for sale.

We got a hotel room close to Disney land because our running call time was 5 am and we didn't want to have to get up any earlier then we needed to. Unfortunately for me it didn't matter since I couldn't sleep that night anyway. I have a hard time sleeping in general but being in an unknown place and excited/anxious for the race I know I did not get more then an hours sleep if I even got that much. It was pretty ridiculous and frustrating but it's my life. We rolled out of bed at about 4 to get ready, Heather got us the Monsters Inc Oozma Kappa tanks (the 10K theme was Monster Inc so we chose to  be Oozma Kappa members), I made the skirts and Ashleigh made the hairbows. We looked really cute!

Mom was with us but she was only spectating so she took pictures for us as we were leaving and then waited a little bit longer to leave to go watch us run by.

We got to our starting corral a little bit before 5 and proceeded to wait for about an hour for our start time. The call time was 5 am and that is when the first group of runners started but because we were in a different group we didn't get started until closer to 5:45ish I think. We were able to see the first runners come in and that was fun. As we were waiting we sweated, it was 80 degrees at five in the morning and I could not believe the heat. Luckily as we were running there was a good breeze blowing and so it wasn't too bad.
We were running 6.4 miles and every time we passed a mile marker we would cheer that we were OK. We saw Mom before she saw us and so we stopped for a second so she could take some pictures. After that we didn't see her until the end.

These next pictures are of us cheering that we are OK!

And here are pictures Mom took of us at the finish line. 

When we finished we got our medals and then they gave us bananas and a box that had cookies, chips, cheese sauce, applesauce and dried fruit in it. I ate my banana but saved the rest of it for later in the day.

RunDisney has photographers throughout the course and these pictures are the professional ones taken by them. 

We held hands while we ran down Main street past the store that Dad used to do his Artist Drawings at. That was really emotional for me. I am glad that I had the opportunity to run this race with my sisters and that it could be more then just a race. I love that it was another way to remember my Dad and to think of how proud of us he would have been. We ran through California Adventure and Disneyland and all throughout the course Disney employees were lined up cheering us on. I know my Dad would have been out there standing in his special spot ready to cheer us on has we ran by and he would have cheered hard! 

I also got emotional as we held hands to run past the finish line. I don't get to participate in a lot of the races my sisters run together because of where I live. I was really happy that I had the opportunity to run this one and it made me emotional to have done it.

I had so much fun running this 10K, we did not really train for it but I am so proud of how well we did , we really did awesome! I would definitely do it again if the opportunity presents itself!