Makovers and Modeling (Kenedy College Life)

Kenedy has been pretty good to periodically send me pictures of her adventures in college. One picture she sent gave me serious flashbacks to my second year in college. She did mudmasks with some of her friends, girls and guys. It reminded me of when Melody and I talked some of our guy friends into letting us put mud masks on them. I had to look in my Ricks College scrapbook to find the pictures and it was so fun looking through and remembering all the fun. I am glad Kenedy is having just as much fun making memories as I did.

Emma Jo, Derek, Kenedy, Addie and Nate

Kefford, Elizabeth, Brandon, Melody and Blake (1997)

She also got a picture of her dying her roommates hair blue. :)

Kenedy wanted to document her last day of being 18 so she did a little photoshoot with her roommate taking her pictures. She is so pretty and I love how these pictures capture her beauty inside and out. 

Valentines Day

On Wednesday I went to the High School so that I could pay the bookkeeper the NHS fees for Ryker. While I was waiting for the bookkeeper my friend Scott who is the Vice Principle of the school passed by with some other administrative people looking a bit concerned and talking about some fire trucks. I didn't think anything of it, just said hi as he passed by and went on my way. It was a cold and rainy day and as I was leaving the school and getting into my car I saw a bunch of fire trucks in the parking lot with their lights flashing. I was really curious as to what was going on especially when I suddenly saw students pouring out of the school. I didn't see or smell any smoke and I wondered if it was just a drill and then I thought, what a crummy day to do a fire drill. As I left the parking lot and was driving down the road, a couple more fire trucks passed with their sirens and lights going and I saw all of the students gathering in the field. I sent a text to Ryker asking if he knew what was going on and he thought it might just be a drill. All of my questions were answered not too much longer when I got a text from the school saying the kids had to evacuate for a short time because of an electrical fire that had happened in the night but had gone out before they discovered it. For safety reasons they had to evacuate for the fire men to come and inspect. 

For Mutual that night I had the Beehives come to my house so I could teach them how to make Oreo Truffles and then we were going to go Heart Attack the Bishopric. Truffles are really easy to make but they do require to be frozen before dipping them in chocolate and since I knew we would not have time for that I decided to premake the ones we were going to deliver to the Bishopric. The girls were going to eat the ones they made that night. I had the pan of truffles in the freezer and after a couple of hours I went to pull them out for the dipping but when I opened the freezer the pan fell out and the truffles went all over the garage floor. Oops! I didn't want to waste the ones I had made so I checked them over very carefully and wiped them all off with a towel, hoped I didn't miss any grossness and went ahead with my plan. It was kind of sad but really funny and I feel terrible about giving them garage floor truffles but I really didn't know what else to do. Our garage floor is not terribly dirty and as long as they don't know it should be ok...right?

It was a really fun night and when it was time to do the heart attacking we divided into 3 groups and I took my group to Heart Attack the Allreds. We were trying to be super quiet as we put the hearts on the door but they must of heard some noise because we were in the middle of taping hearts when the door opened. The youngest son thought one of their pets was trying to get inside and so he opened the door only to find a bunch of suspicious looking Beehives on his front porch. I couldn't see in but the girls said the family was sitting in the front room staring at them so Lainey very politely grabbed the door handle and shut the door saying "nothing to see here". It was so funny and we were dying with laughter on our way home!

With all of our new Beehives we needed to take pictures for the Bishops board in his office. I thought this one of Rylee was too cute.

The next day was Valentines day and I had  box of Oreo Truffles for each of my family along with a card for each of them telling some things I love about them. I made Truffles and cookies on Sunday so the I could send Kenedy some Valentine love and I also sent Mom and Heather a box each. I love spreading the love. I tried to make pink heart pancakes for breakfast for my family and the pink turned out but the hearts were a little wonky.  

Rylee made the cutest valentines for all of us (bottom left) and Avynlea made a card for me and one for Rylee. I got a love letter from Kefford along with some flowers and that was super sweet. I love his love notes!

 Rylee requested braids for her Valentine hair and I had an idea and was so happy that it turned out even better then I hoped for. She told me to add the ribbon and her hair was perfect for the holiday. She said she got a lot of compliments at school with everyone loving her hair.

 I made our traditional Lutes family Valentines dinner with a heart shaped meatloaf. I like to do pink mashed potatoes and I found Cheesecake factory bread rolls which I love. For dessert I made a heart shaped cake and it looked really cute and tasted super yummy!

 The next day I was feeling really Disney with my Mickey sweater and Mermaid hat. 

Chocolate Flowers

Some of Kenedy's friends and Roommates came to Boise for the weekend to stay in a Bed and Breakfast and explore the area. After the cheer competition Kenedy went to go and stay with them at the B&B. They left early Sunday morning so they could make it back to Rexburg in time to go to their Ward. Kenedy sent me this picture as they were leaving the B&B. 

Brother Larson asked the Beehive class if they would come in to Elders Quorum the last 10 minutes of class and sing "I'm trying to be like Jesus" as part of his lesson. I was teaching them a lesson on "How The Things I Say Affect Me and Those Around Me" and it was such a good lesson I didn't want to end when the time came. But we promised and I ended my lesson so the girls could go and sing. Good thing the song fit so well with my lesson also. Jeni Lindley and I stood in the back and watched our sweet group of beehives go to the front and sing in front of all the Elder's Quorum, Blake Hansen was kind enough to accompany so they didn't have to do it A Capella. The girls did a beautiful job and after they were done the men in the aisle rows stood up and handed each girl a chocolate flower. It was super sweet but a little awkward, the girls were not quite sure what was going on but I saw a couple of Dad's who were in attendance give their girls a hug along with their chocolate and that was sweet.

When we got back to our room to grab our stuff I had the girls pose for some pictures. They are so cute and I love my group of Beehives!

 Standing: Makayla, Aubrey, Claire, Rylee, Kenzie, Tayci, Taylee, Kensey and Addie

Kneeling: Halsey, Saylor, Brynn, Allie and Kate

Avynlea's First Cheer Competition!

This year is the first year that Meridian Middle School cheerleaders got to compete at the TVCI (Treasure Valley Cheer Invitational) competition. They had competition tryouts in October and then they hit the ground running with stunt clinics and practices 5 days a week. The days leading up to the competition have been filled with nerves and a lot of excitement. They had a parent watch dress rehearsal on Monday and it was so fun to finally see the routine I have been hearing so much about. Avynlea was placed as a flyer and she was at the top of every pyramid. 

The morning of the TVCI I got up at 6:00 to get ready so that I could help Avynlea get ready. I did her hair and then took her to Rocky Mountain HS to drop her off since she had to be there earlier then the doors open. 

 I found the section where some of the other Meridian Moms had saved seats and was able to squeeze in with them and save some seats for the ones coming to watch Avynlea. Which ended up being Kenedy, Rylee, Alison, Kylie and Amelia and Maddie. Trista had planned on coming but a big snowstorm hit and her Dad advised her to not travel which was good advice that she took. Alison reminded me that last year at the TVCI when we went to watch Kenedy it was snowing a ton. We remember because we left in the middle of Kenedy's competition to take Rylee to her Basketball game and we were sliding a lot and it was coming down hard making it hard to see. Crazy weather!

Avynlea's team performed second in their category and they did such a good job! I loved every second of it and was so impressed with how well they did. It was so exciting and I loved seeing their coaches reactions when they were done. The girls performed their very best and left it all on the mat! Avynlea said later that was the best they had ever done it and I could tell.

Avynlea is the top girl on the Left.

After they were done they got to sit on the sideline to watch Meridian High School JV perform their routine. I love watching the sister schools support each other. Meridian Varsity had to pull out a couple of days prior because they had too many girls injured and sick. In the bottom picture Avynlea is sitting 4 from the right.

Since Avynlea was done with her routine and wasn't performing any more I took Rylee home with me so she could go with Alison to Nyssa for a couple of hours. Kefford and Ryker were already out there working on his pickup and Rylee would come back with them. Kenedy came home and then left to go visit with her friend Drew. And Alison and crew left so they could get errands run and get back to Nyssa. Avynlea stayed at the competition with her teammates watching the rest of the schools compete.

I came back to the school at 2:00 to watch awards and get Avynlea. When I got there all of the cheerleaders were on the floor dancing to the music and having fun while they waited for the scores to be counted. I took a picture of Avynlea when I saw her up on one of her teammates shoulders watching what was going on in the middle of a group of cheerleaders. Avy is wearing the black jacket.

Finally it was time for awards and Meridian Middle placed second only losing by 1 point to Eagle Middle School. We were all so excited and happy for our cheerleaders and gathered them all together for a group picture with their trophy. 

Avynlea and Hope

 Kylie, Amelia, Rylee, Maddie, Avynlea and Grandma Alison

Kenedy loved coming and watching her sister and thought she did so amazing!

Fast Sunday and Cheerleading

We usually take a side pew at church but on this Sunday we sat in a middle pew so we could have room for Kenedy and the kids she was nannying. It was so cute seeing her walk in with a huge backpack diaper bag and the four kids filling behind her. It seriously made me excited for the future date, far future date(but hopefully not tooo far), when she is a Mom and I will have Grandkids. I wanted to take a picture of them sitting at the end of our row because it was too cute and I wanted to send it to their parents but I couldn't get a good angle because Brigham was sitting too far forward. 

So I passed the phone to Rylee and she took a better picture for me. 

That evening when we were watching a movie Rylee came over to tell me something and I love how she plopped down and put her arm around me. It is nice to still get a bit of a cuddle in every once in a while with my growing up kids.

It is Basketball and competition season for cheerleading. I went to watch Avynlea cheer at the MMS boys basketball game and then afterwards I ran some errands before heading back to the school to watch their competition dress rehearsal. She is so good and loves cheer so much, it is so fun to watch her perform. I took the pictures of her cheering at the basketball game. I took video of her competition routine but I want to wait to share until I have video and pictures from the competition cause that is the video I want to share. 

Living so close to the Temple I often get asked to watch kids so their Moms can attend. I really don't mind and love the opportunity to spend more time with my nieces and nephews and their Moms. Mikell asked me if I would watch her kids while she did inititories Tuesday morning and of course I told her no problem. I then invited Brit to bring her little ones over so she could go as well. Kenedy brought Molly over and it was a  full but fun house. I did nail polish on the girls and then they played with the toys I brought in from the garage. Jason was having a hard time with his Mom leaving him and we got him to stop crying after turning on the fireplace, then he got a cupcake to stop him crying when he started up again. Finally the last 15 minutes of them being here without their Mamas I turned on a Garfield show on Netflix and he finally stopped crying for good.  

Brooke, James, Jenna, Jason, Xander, Hazel and Kelly

The next day Michelle asked if I would watch her boys so she and Trevor could go do sealings at the Temple for their anniversary. I told her no problem and after they dropped their boys off I found a problem. Caleb was great but Garrett screamed bloody murder for most of the time. I thought he might have some gas pains because he kept stiffening his body but then he belched and kept screaming. He was acting really tired and wouldn't take his binky so I just rocked and jiggled and bounced and tried to soothe him the best I could. Finally he fell asleep about 15 minutes before his parents got back and since I couldn't do anything else I put on a show for Caleb. Michelle told me that he usually screams like that when he is tired and she just rocks him and after a couple of minutes he falls asleep. I must not have the magic touch because it took over an hour to get the stinker to fall asleep. 

Happy 14th Birthday Avynlea!

Saturday morning I went upstairs to make sure Avynlea was up and getting ready for cheer practice and then I went downstairs and made funfetti birthday pancakes! Ave loves pancakes and I wanted to make her some extra special ones for her birthday. I put sprinkles in the mix and then added a birthday candle to her stack of pancakes. 

Cheer practice got done at 1:30 and when it was over I was there to pick Avynlea up and then we went shopping. I wanted to get Avy some new clothes for her birthday but since she is much better at knowing what she likes then I am I decided to have some fun with her and take her shopping. She got some new jeans at Hollister and then we went to Costco to get some things for the Orthodontics Practice and get some groceries. While we were there Avynlea picked out her birthday dinner which was chicken salad and croissant sandwiches. I love it when it is easy!

After Costco we went to H&M where Avynlea picked out a couple of cute sweaters. It was a lot of fun going shopping with my girl and spoiling her just a little. 

We decided to celebrate Avynlea's birthday on Sunday because Avynlea was invited to a friends birthday party which was on her birthday and she really wanted to go. So when we got back Avy put on her new jeans and her new sweater and Kefford took her to her friends house. 

With nothing else to do that night Kefford, Ryker, Rylee and I packed some snacks and went to the movies to watch "Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindewald" It was interesting but a little confusing for us to follow. I did manage to stay awake through it although I was getting a massive headache by the end of it. 

I told Avynlea I would pick her up after the party which was at 11:00pm! Way too late for me and it was raining really hard, driving in the dark in the rain is scary for me and I really do not like it.

Kenedy is in town for the week nannying for a family in our ward and on Sunday we invited her to come over with the kids for dinner and to celebrate Avynlea. 

After dinner Avynlea finally got to open her presents and she got some really fun stuff

A Calico Critters nursery set, Scrunchies, Gummies and sweatpants.

She also got gum, more scrunchies, a cork board with fancy push pins, clear lipstick, and a sweater. She had on her birthday list that she wanted scrunchies "the more the better" and did I deliver scrunchies. I think there were 14 floral and plain chiffon ones in the first package and 36 velvet ones in the second. She has every color she could ever want or need. Thank you Amazon!

Avynlea was a having a hard time deciding on what kind of cake she wanted so I mentioned why not have her favorite bakery sugar cookies as a cake. She thought that was a great idea and so I stacked the cookies and added candles and it looked really cute. Almost as cute as the birthday girl :)

Kenedy's charges had fun helping Avynlea look through all of her scrunchies. They are the Chidester kids and in the picture you see Landon, Brooklyn and Brigham. Molly, the youngest, is on Rylee's lap and kind of hidden.

Of course with a new Calico Critters set addition out comes some of the rest of the collection for some inspection and fun.

Avynlea's Favorites:

1. Food: Chicken Salad and Croissant sandwiches
2. Dessert: Bakery Sugar Cookies
3. Candy: Almond Joy
4. Color: Blue
5. Book: The Secret Language of Sisters
6. TV Show: The Office
7. Radio Song: Used To Be by AJ Mitchell
8. Church Song: Army of Helamen
9. Scripture Story: Abinadi and King Noah
10. Friend: Sadie Niblitt
11. Thing to do: Hanging out with Friends
12. Place to be: In Bed
13. Toy: Kindle
14. Princess: Belle
15. Hobbies: Cheer, piano and singing

5 things I Love About Avynlea:

1. Her smile. I love how happy she is and I adore her dimples! She has had those since birth and I love how she looks with them. She is beautiful inside and out and I love her confidence. 

2. Avynlea works so hard in school and has maintained her straight A average another year. She is kind and is good to help other kids at school  and I have gotten many emails from teachers telling me how thankful they are for having her in their class. 

3. Avynlea loves going to church and is developing quite a firm testimony of the Gospel. I love that she likes going to church and never complains about attending on Sunday or going to mid week meetings. Avynlea made a goal a long time ago to read her scriptures, write in her journal and say her prayers every night and I am so happy she has stuck with this habit. She has been working on her Personal Progress and has a goal to have it complete by the end of the year.

4. Avynlea started cheering this year and I love watching her enjoy her sport. She is a hard worker and really talented and in my opinion she is the best on the team. Middle Schoolers get to participate in competitions this year and she has loved being on the competition team. She is a flyer and is at the top of the pyramid because she is so good. Avynlea has learned new skills a lot faster then the other flyers and it was been fun to see her so excited to be learning more and improving.

5. Avynlea is my friend and I love hanging out with her. She makes me laugh with her quick wit and I love that she is usually the first one to volunteer to go with me to run errands. She has such a fun personality and I love that she will come and visit with me at halftime during the football and basketball games she is cheering at. She is a lot of fun to be around.

Spa Party and a Baby

It is really hard to take the kind of picture I want when I am the model and the photographer.

This one Mermaid my day.

 Jessica Lewis asked Avynlea if she would watch Wells for them while their family went to the hot springs. Jessica even offered to let her watch Wells at our house which worked out great for Any because she wanted her friends to come over and hang out. Ryker wanted to hold him for a little bit and it was super cute how the baby just stared at him. 

 Rylee was invited to her friend Grace's birthday party and her Mom sent some pictures of the fun they had. They got to eat out, get ice cream, soak in the hot tub and do facials. Rylee had a lot of blast and I am so glad she has a fun group of school friends.

 Addie, Grace, Tayci and Rylee

Tayci, Rylee, Grace and Addie