Out with the old, In with the new

With Kenedy leaving for college it was time to move her out of her room and get it cleaned up for Rylee to move into. I had Kenedy get all of her stuff out of the room the day before we were to take her to Rexburg so we could get it cleaned and Rylee could begin moving in. As you can imagine Rylee was super excited to get her own room, she has been talking about it forever and was beyond excited for the day to finally arrive. 

Once we were done with the clean out I had Kenedy sit in the room that was hers for one last time so I could take a picture.

I also had to document the removal of her name from the door. 

Then it was time to take a picture of the new owner. 

Since it was Kenedy's last night with us Kefford and I decided to take the family out to dinner and we had Kenedy choose. I was super happy when she chose Red Robin and we had a nice dinner out.

Another Cheerleader in the Family

Avynlea has started cheering at Meridian Middle and I am not sure I am ready for 5 more years of cheerleading but she sure is cute. Also, I really do love going and watching her cheer. I loved watching Kenedy and I am excited that I get to watch Any do what she loves. They did not have their uniforms for the first game and were told to wear their school colors, yellow and black. By the time they had their second game they had their uniforms and she looked even more adorable!

Hope, Maryn and Avynlea

Life

We went out to the farm on Sunday because Kenedy wanted one last time with her Grandparents and cousins before leaving for college. I saw Rylee hanging outside with Sadie and when I went out to see what they were doing I heard Rylee telling her stories. It was the cutest thing ever!

An outtake from one of my hair shots

 Not sure what they are looking at on Kenedy's phone but it looks like it might have been interesting. I love seeing my family all hanging out together, it makes me really happy.

 On Patriots Day, 9/11, Kefford took Avy with him to Emmett and she came home with a new smile. I think she looks adorable and she picked a cute color for her braces. She was in pain the first couple of days and really picky with what she could eat but I rarely heard her complain and she got used to having them on pretty quick.

 After much debate Rylee decided she wanted to take Orchestra this year and learn the violin. We were able to rent her a violin from Dunkley Music for a pretty decent price. It has been fun to listen to her practice her violin and so far no complaining on having to practice only on what she has to practice. Knowing how to read music and playing the piano I think she is a little more advanced then the other beginners and it has been frustrating for her to have to go so slow with her learning. They are not allowed to use the bow yet, they can only pluck put the chords, and she is anxious to get going on learning to use the bow. It is cute watching her practice and I am excited that she is learning another instrument!

Kefford and I bought Kenedy a laptop to use in College and this was her first night having it. It is always fun to explore new electronics!

Hot Air Balloon Ride

For our 20 year anniversary Kefford surprised me with a Hot Air Balloon ride. We had to wait until the end of August because that is when the Boise Hot Air Balloon festival was. I am not a fan of heights at all and was really nervous about the balloon ride but I was willing to face my fears and not worry too much about it. Friday morning Kefford and I went to the park where the balloon festival was held. I was nervous but I was doing ok. When we arrived we checked in and then were able to meet our pilot and his wife. They were both pretty friendly and she told us all about how they got started Hot Air Ballooning. It was always her dream since she was a little girl to own a Hot Air balloon and after she got married her husband caught her dream bug. After a little while of small talk the announcement came over the loudspeakers that they were going to have to cancel the flights for the day because of the weather conditions. It was disappointing but we were told we could come bak the next day which would be much better weather conditions for our ride. They did want to at least blow up the Balloons that Friday morning and we were roped into helping with that which was really cool to see the process.

Their balloon was named "Wild Thing" and they had the name and smile face picture on the bottom of the basket which our Pilots wife was super excited to show us. They also had their little buggy car converted with a Basket in the back to ride in and they had Kefford and I get in and they drove us around the park.

The next morning we went back and this time we took Ryker, Avy and Rylee with us along with Avynlea's friend Rose who stayed the night at our house. They would not be able to go up in the Balloon with us but they wanted to come and watch all of the action. They had fun hanging out in the basket on the back of the buggy while they waited for the liftoff.

When the time came for Kefford and I to go up in the basket I was really scared as I climbed in. I really wanted to back out but I knew I needed to power through and have this experience. I had a death grip on the edge of the basket and I kept my grip there the entire ride. As ridiculous as it sounds it helped me feel more grounded and I felt a little more secure and safe with my hand on the bar. Being up in the air in that Hot Air Balloon was pretty cool and I really enjoyed looking at everything around me. I could not look directly down because that was too scary but I could look out and down.

Our pilot, Skip, did a great job navigating the Hot Air Balloon. He asked us to help watch for the other balloons and especially to keep watch as to what was going on underneath us. Of course I could not do that but Kefford was ok with looking down and under so that was left up to him. We had questions and comments but we could not talk to Skip at all unless it was to let him know a balloon was getting too close, he needed to concentrate on communicating with his ground crew and navigating the balloon in the safest way. I did not want to crash and die so I was ok with leaving him alone. The basket was really small and maybe we could have fit one more person in but it would have been a really tight fit. It was a pretty cold morning but I was pleasantly surprised with how warm it was in the basket under the fire that was filling the Balloon with hot air. 

Once we landed the ground crew and our kids found us and then Skip and the crew had to navigate the Balloon to the packing up site. The kids really wanted to ride in the Balloon so they let them hop in for the 2 feet above the ground travel they did to get it to where they could deflate it and get it packed up.

The kids also got to take a ride in the buggy, they thought that was great fun!

After we had finished getting the Balloon packed up and put away the "Wild Thing" flight crew had to initiate us into the club. I guess it is tradition to "haze" anybody who has had their first ride on a Hot Air Balloon. Because Avynlea, Rylee and Rose took a mini flight on the Balloon that counted as a flight and they had to be initiated as well. They had us kneel down on a blanket in the park and after giving us a small glass of Sparking cider, they had wine but we declined, Skip recited an Irish Hot Air Balloon prayer. Once that was done we had to pick up our cups and drink without using our hands. While I was doing this I saw the flight crew gathering in a circle around us very suspiciously so it wasn't a surprise when I got hit with some water. I believe that is the other part of the initiation, you get water thrown on you. I am proud to say that I was the only one to drink all of my cider handless without spilling. It was a great morning and i am really glad I was able to have the courage to experience the Hot Air Balloon but I don't think I will ever do it again, it is just too terrifying for me. 

Back to School

After a funfilled and busy summer it was back to school time for Ryker, Avynlea and Rylee. It was a little weird not including Kenedy in this years back to school picture but fun to have Rylee on the same schedule as the rest of this group.

Ryker is now a Sophomore, 10th grade, and is taking more Honors classes this year. He had a good first day of school but his complaint was his teachers did not give them a chance to settle in to school it was all back to business and lessons immediately. I told him welcome to life :)

Rylee is now a 6th grader and she was super excited but a little nervous for her first day of Middle School. She will be taking the bus but requested that I take her and walk her in this first day. I was happy to oblige and after taking Any to her bus stop I drove her to Star. We found her locker after a little bit of searching, we got confused with the layout and even though we found her locker the week before we couldn't remember where it was. We saw her friend Taycee Olson a couple of lockers down struggling to get her locker open and looking really panicked so I went over to help her. I tried a couple of times and couldn't get her locker open either, A teacher saw us struggling and came to unlock it with her master key when Taycee suddenly realized we were trying to open the wrong locker. The one right next to it was hers and she was able to open it no problem.

I walked Rylee to her classroom and gave her a hug goodbye. As I was leaving the school I started to feel a little emotional and got really sad leaving Rylee. I was never one to cry when my kids started school but this one was a little hard. I think it was mostly because she was all alone at this new school without her sister or her best friend and I was worried. 

When Rylee came home she said she had a good day but she struggled with getting her locker open and she couldn't find anyone to eat lunch with so she sat by herself. I was sad for her but she seemed positive and so I didn't dwell on it I just encouraged her to reach out and make friends.

After a couple of days of sitting alone at lunch she finally got the courage to talk to a girl she shares most of her classes with and has been sitting with Grace ever since. Thank heavens

Avynlea is now an 8th grader and she couldn't be more excited for her last year of Middle School! Since we are not in Meridian boundaries anymore we do not have a bus for her coming to our neighborhood. Earlier in the week I called the Bus Barn to find the closest available bus stop for her and the closest one is the corner of ten mile and ustick. Not too far but it is a rush to get out the door to catch it. 

She had a great first day and had fun catching up with friends and meeting new teachers.

I took another picture of Rylee outside her Middle School this time it's a first day of school picture.

And then one of her opening her locker :)

Peterson Family Pictures 2018

I was really hoping I could get Lindsay Hurst to do our family pictures again this year but her Mom had just passed away from cancer and I did not want to bother her about pictures. I wanted to get the pictures done before Kenedy left for college so  I asked the next just as best thing Lana if she would do them for us. She is so sweet and happily agreed. We went back to Eagle Island and did them there. In trying to choose what colors and outfits to wear I asked the kids if they had any thing they would want to were and Avynlea and Rylee were the only ones who had ideas. Rylee wanted to wear her new yellow shirt and Avynlea wanted to wear her white shirt that had fun little pictures on it. The colors on Avy's shirt were yellow, green, blue and white and i managed to pull together the yellow, blue and white. Kenedy did not have much options in those colors so she wore one of my shirts. I love the colors and I think the pictures turned out really cute.

Since Kenedy was leaving us soon to head off to college I had Lana take pictures of each of us with Kenedy.

I love my beautiful family and love the pictures we take to capture us each year. These kids are growing up so fast!