Beautiful Girls

Heather and I both ordered the same dress from my favorite online boutique Hattie and Grace, she sent me a picture of her in her dress so I had Rylee take a picture of me wearing mine to send back.

I thought the arm shadows in this one was pretty stinking funny!

On Sunday we were hanging around and I decided to take some pictures. First I did a pretty picture of Rylee...

then I styled the girls hair and dressed them up to take some pictures for my Hair page. I went with sparkle and fancy for Avynlea using Kenedy's prom dress...

and a little more edgy and rock and roll for Rylee using Kenedy's sunglasses and my faux leather jacket

They are so cute!

Rylee had 6th grade registration the week before school started and I took her over to Star Middle School to check it out, get her schedule and figure out how to open her locker.

When we moved to our new house one of the reasons we picked this location was because it kept us in the Meridian Middle and High school boundaries. Well wouldn't you know this last year a new middle school was built in Star and they changed our boundaries to Star. I sent in requests to have both my kids stay at Meridian and Avynlea was accepted while Rylee was not. When I went in to appeal to the Principal she said she did not realize they were sisters but there was nothing she could do. I guess only 8th graders were accepted to stay. I wanted to fight it but after praying about it and pondering over the summer I decided to let Avynlea stay at Meridian and keep Rylee at Star.

When I took Rylee to look at the school and get her schedule and locker we both got a little more excited about her going here. It is a beautiful school and her classes are basically down the same hall with a few in other places like orchestra, digital tools and PE.

As we were leaving I asked Rylee if she wanted a picture in front of her new school and she did.

Avynlea took this selfie on my phone and then it was edited to look like a cool cartoonish version of her.

Ave and Rylee were cleaning some clothes  out of their closet to give to Brielle and Qiana. Rylee stuck in this cool art she did to give to them and they loved it and had to send a picture of themselves holding it. 

Back to McCall

Kenedy has been wanting another girls trip to McCall with her friends for quite a while. She asked her Grandma Alison when would be a good time and after a lot of thought and rearranging they finally settled on a date and Kenedy invited her friends. Kefford was going to try to go up with me but he had to do Scout stuff with Ryker and Alison was going to go up with us but Whitney just had her baby and she needed to stay back and help her. I was not really excited about being up there alone with Kenedy and her friends but I understood why the others could not come. I tried to get Any and Rylee to come up with me but they wanted to go to the farm and be with their Grandma and cousins. No big deal.

Kenedy invited multiple people but most of them had to keep dropping out even up to the last minute. Gabi Caroaca and Lauryn Warner were the two who ended up being able to come with Makayla Wilcox coming for the last night. 

The girls spent a lot of time hanging out, making iMovie trailers, playing games and swimming in the lake. I spent my time watching tv, reading, hiking, playing games with them and relaxing. I was bored a lot of the time with no one to hang out with, I could have hung with Kenedy and her friends and I did a little but I didn't want to be too invasive and I let them do their own thing for the most part.

One of our friends from the Verona ward, Russ Pollock,  happened to be at the cabin next to ours doing their landscaping. We could hear them working throughout the day and it was actually a comfort to me to have him next door so that if I needed help I had Russ that I could call. 

We went over to say hi and see what they were creating and after visiting with him and the owners for a while we were invited to check out the owners sisters house on the other side of the Peterson home to check out the landscaping Russ had done on theirs.

We went over and found the most amazing and beautiful view and the landscaping was stunning. I fell in love and told the owner not to be surprised if she looks out her window and saw me sitting in her chairs enjoying the view.

The girls wanted to take some pictures and I was the photographer and helped them pose.

Kenedy enjoying the scenery.

Gabi, Lauryn and Kenedy

Lauryn was being sasquatch 

After the pictures we headed into town to get some Ice Cream and walk around the shops. Lauryn didn't want any Ice Cream so when the girls wanted to take pictures she borrowed mine to use as a prop.

Kid size Ice Cream from Ice Cream Ally, basically the size of my face.

Kenedy wanted to take some pictures in front of this yard filled with Back eyed susan's and daisy's, she is pretty cute!

Later that night Makayla arrived and the girls decided they wanted to do a little skinny dipping in the lake. I would not let them go by themselves because it made me nervous to have them lake jumping at night so I drove them and sat in the car turned the other way talking to my Mom on the phone while they did their skinny dipping. Funny girls.

Family Fun

I took Avynlea to Nampa to go to JC Pennys for some back to school shopping. While we were out there I thought it would be fun to check out Stella's Ice Cream shop home of the donut humps. I have seen this place on instagram and have heard from friends about how good it is and so we had to try it out. Avynlea got a waffle bowl with some ice cream in it while I went for the donut hump. The donut hump is basically an ice cream sandwich using a donut as the sandwich part. 

My overall review of the hump is that it tasted good but with every bite I felt like a big fatty eating ice cream and a donut at the same time. I couldn't get out of my head how many calories this could possibly be and how unhealthy it was. It was just a lot. I only ate about half before I called it quits and took the rest home for the freezer and another day. I don't know that I could eat another one of those again, it was really too much sugar. But I did have fun hanging out with my Avynlea.

 My friend Angela Kashyap just bought a boat and she invited me and my girls along with our friend Michelle Ray and her kids to come boating out at Lake Lowell. Avynlea was the only one available to come with me and so we packed some snacks and headed out for a couple of hours on the lake. 

When we got there Angela was already in the water with her kids and I noticed a sign that was posted with an Ecoli warning. I was a little hesitant but everyone else seemed ok with the possibility that we were swimming in Ecoli so I went along with it. 

I had a lot of fun sitting in the boat and chatting with Michelle and Angela while Angela pulled the kids around on the tubes.

 Emma Kashyap, Avynlea and Natalie Kashyap

Angela talked Michelle and I into going one time on the tube with Avynlea. It was the funniest ride of my life! Michelle kept screaming and I felt like I was falling off the side the entire time and could not stop laughing. It was great times!

 It was a really hot day and so every so often Angela would turn the boat off and we would jump in the water and float and talk and laugh. It was some of the funnest times and I am so glad we went. Also nobody got sick from the Ecoli so that is a relief!

 One Sunday evening we took a family bike ride around the neighborhood. That was really fun getting out and riding bikes as a family. I loved my kids at all stages but having teenagers and being able to do more because they are independent has been a lot of fun

 Whitney had her baby! I got the text early in the morning that Whitney had her baby and I was so excited! At about 10:00 Avynlea, Rylee and I went to St Luke's in Nampa so we could meet the newest member of our family. She was so cute and it was the best holding this beautiful angel while visiting with Whitney. They hadn't decided on a name yet while we were there but the next day they announced her name was Laney. I love her and her name, she is so sweet!

Also in McCall

On Friday we went into town and got ice cream at Ice Cream Ally which we then took over to the Lake Payette beach and ate. We all got the kiddie sizes which were the smallest sizes and those were huge! I somehow managed to eat all of mine and then was sick the rest of the day. It was a lot of ice cream. Maybe next time I can find someone to share it with.

The kids played in the sand and water for a little while and then washed the sand off by playing on the splash pad. 

When we got back to the house we changed into our suits and went back down to play at BlackHawk Lake beach. I managed to snag myself a float and was able to float around for a little bit which was nice and relaxing.

Alison brought colorless otter pops for all of the kids to enjoy. 

After we got back from the lake a lot of the kids got into the Hot Tub for some more water fun while some of the adults got dinner ready.

We wanted to do s'mores and Whitney had the brilliant idea to layer the crackers, chocolate and marshmallows in a pan and broil them in the oven until ready. It was a genius idea and they tasted so good! I love s'mores!

That night the kids popped popcorn and watched a movie together. It was pretty sweet to see them all gathered in their pajamas.

I got up early every morning and went hiking and the mornings were amazing! I loved the scenery and the air, it was perfect and so beautiful!

The big kids took their little cousins out on a hike which didn't last very long. I am not sure who gave out first the older kids who had to wrangle the little ones or the little ones who got tired of walking. Either way they did come back happy which is always a win.

Makayla, Avynlea and Allie...

 three cutie pie sleepy heads.

Whenever we are up in McCall together Michelle and Whitney ask if I would do their hair. I love playing with hair and coming up with hairdos so I am always more then happy to create fun looks for them. I have recently decided to start an instagram page for my hair creations and took some pictures of their hair to maybe post on it.

I love being in McCall in the summer with the Peterson family and I am so glad we have this yearly tradition!

This picture of Avy is a good representation of how I feel while being up in the mountains...oh so relaxed.

McCall Trip

In August Ave, Rylee and I headed up to McCall With Allie and Mikayla to spend a couple of days with Cousins. It was our annual Grandmas weekend in McCall (lots of annual things happening ;)) 

Kenedy was back at work working at Kids Choice Daycare and Ryker had no interest going up to McCall since Bailey or his Grandpa were not going to be there.

We had Allie and Makayla with us because a couple days before Gwen had sent a text asking if they could spend time with us which I was more then happy to have happen. I told her to just let them stay with us and then go up to the mountains with us and we would meet her up there. 

We headed up Thursday morning and it was a really fun weekend with my sister-in-law, their kids and Alison. I love spending time with the Peterson family and it was so beautiful up in the mountains.  

We spent a lot of time at the cabin visiting while the cousins played. But one of the favorite things to do was go down to the little beach and go swimming. That was an activity everyone enjoyed! 

Alison had floats and the kids had fun lounging and playing in those. 

Thank goodness Alison was on top of it for pictures because I did not take any but was able to send the ones she took to me.

Avynlea floating in the lake

A favorite pasttime for some of the kids was to jump off the end of the dock. Here we have Rylee running and jumping which splashed Me and Gwen, loved it. Jenna was super nervous to jump although she really wanted to so I held her hand for her first couple of jumps until she was brave enough to do it on her own. Once she was comfortable she spent a lot of time jumping in the water, it was pretty cute. The next day I helped Xander, Tayvia and even little Hazel the same way. Once Tayvia got comfortable she started jumping on her own while Xander was good for a one time jump holding my hand. I just held Hazels hands and dipped her in the water then she was done. It was a lot of fun!

It was fun to see all of the cousins playing together with the big cousins being a part of the fun. Rylee enjoyed floating with Madi and Brooke, she is such a good big cousin!

I enjoyed visiting with Gwen as we sat on the end of the dock and embraced the warm sun.

Avynlea found this big caterpillar and thought it was cool enough to take a picture.