High Fitness with the Beehives

Sometimes Ryker has a hard time not being angry at all of us and sometimes I like to take pictures of the ridiculous situations.

 The Beehives wanted to do a High Fitness night and Jessica Lewis, who teaches it, was all too happy to come and do a 30 minute class with them. The gym was taken so we were on the stage for the sweaty workout and it got pretty hot in there but the girls were amazing and worked hard and had fun. 

back row: Claire Elder, Kenzie Amar, Aubrey Pinon, Kenzie Bjorn, Allie Hansen, Addie Lewis, Brynn Givens and Lainey Olsen
front row: Makayla Pace, Taycee Olson, Taylee Price, Rylee Peterson, Saylor Shoemaker, Eliza Lewis and Lola Lindley

Cousin Time

Sunday after church we went out to the farm to be with family and so Kenedy could see her cousins and grandparents. We always have a good time out in Nyssa and the kids love their cousins and being with them.

Rylee spent some time reading books with Madison.

Kenedy and Makayla took some funny pictures with Amelia while in the background Ryker played with Caleb and Sadie.

Kefford even got into the playing time by holding and teasing Sadie.

Kenedy had Kinsley on her lap and they were taking pictures with filters. When Kenedy would put a filter on that Kinsley didn't like she would cover her face. It was pretty cute. Luckily she liked most of them so we saw a lot of happy faces from the cutie.

Kenedy and Makayla think it is hilarious to take filtered pictures of their Grandpa while he is sleeping. They have to be sneaky about it because if he wakes up and catches them they could be in big trouble, hahaha

Makayla is always the brave one and uses Kenedy's phone for the picture. 

Kenedy visits and a farewell

Kenedy came home for the weekend because her bestie Gabi Caroaca was having her mission farewell and Kenedy wanted to be here to listen and have one last goodbye with her friend. 

I wasn't sure if Kenedy was going to be able to come because it was snowing and we were not sure she would be able to get here. When I did not hear from her I assumed she was not coming and I called her after I got done with dance to see what she was up to. When she answered I asked her what she was dong and she said doing homework. I then asked her if she couldn't come because of the snow and she laughed and said she was sitting on our couch. I was so excited! I really didn't think she was coming so it was such a fun surprise and it was great to see her when I got home.

Ave and Ryker had plans that night so Rylee and Kenedy played some Mario Kart while I watched. It was cute watching them play together. Their relationship has improved and blossomed since Kenedy has gone to college. It has been really great watching them bond.

Saturday night Ave and Rylee were both busy so the four of us left at home went out to eat at Dickie's Barbecue. It was really good and the free soft serve was especially delicious.

The next day we went to the Linder Ward for church to listen to Gabi speak. She did such a great job and she is going to do so great on her mission to Italy. I am really excited for her. 

McKoy's family was there also to hear Gabi speak and Kenedy was really happy to see them. She has a close bond with them and it was nice for her to visit with them for a bit. McKoy's littlest sister was especially happy to see Kenedy and had a hard time leaving her side.

Ethan, Gabi and Kenedy

Blog Book 2018

It is always a happy day when I get my new blog book in the email. 2018 was a little rough for me for blogging, I got really far behind, months behind, and I considered giving up on it altogether. I don't always love blogging but I love watching my kids pull out previous years books and read through them. Seeing how much they love them really keeps me a part of the game. I do love it also, sometimes some posts get overwhelming and so it takes me a while to get to them and then when I get so far behind it is even more overwhelming. I am so happy that I stuck with it and got caught up and now have 10 years of blog books with memories and pictures and stories, most of which would have been forgotten by now. I am using google photos for storing and collaging pictures and that has been my lifesaver, so heres to at least 10 more years of blogging and memories stored:)

Happy 19 Kenedy!

Kenedy was in Rexburg for her birthday and it was a little sad not being with her on her birthday for the first time ever. I did like being able to send her a birthday package, that was a lot of fun and I did talk with her on her birthday so we managed to survive the day. :)

Kenedy went to the hot springs with her roommates and friends and then they went out to dinner at the Texas Roadhouse. I think she had a good day :)

We didn't get to talk too much on her actual birthday so she facetimed me the next day and I got to hear all about her fun day.

5 things I love about Kenedy:

1. She texts, calls and FaceTimes us quite often and I am so glad she is good at staying in touch. I love that she calls me during the week and that she likes to chat and tell me whats up with her. It is fun seeing our relationship slowly sift to friends. She is still and will always be my daughter but it is fun to have her as my friend as well.

2. I love her thoughtfulness in wanting to get all of us a Christmas present. She put a lot of thought into each gift and really showed her love for each of us. I love the book she made for me filled with pictures of the two of us and I look at it often. She has a good heart.

3. She is loving the college life and I love watching her have fun and make memories. It reminds me of my college days and I find it funny when she sends pictures or tells me stories that remind me of things I did in college. She loves her roommates and likes to have fun and is really making the most of her time there.

4. She is continuing to strengthen her testimony and I love when she tells me about things she is learning at church, in her religion classes or at the devotionals. It would be super easy to skip out on the religious part of life at BYUI or not be as devoted but Kenedy is all in and I love seeing her grow deeper in the Gospel.

5. Kenedy is just so pretty and she dresses super cute and she really is a beautiful girl inside and out. I love that she takes care of herself and likes to look pretty and get dressed up but that she can also be super casual and low maintenance and still look just as beautiful.

Monster Cookies

Kefford was going to the farm on Saturday with Ryker to work on his pickup. Rylee really wanted to go also but she couldn't because she had already committed to going to Serena's house that day. She was really sad about it so I told her I would take her, Avynlea and Ryker to the farm on Monday, President's Day. That seemed to appease her and so on Monday after I taught one dance class we stopped in Star so Kelsey could adjust Avynlea's braces and then we finally headed out to the farm. Ryker had to help Cameron Roberts with his Eagle Project that morning and so he couldn't go out with us. Bailey said he would pick him up when he was done and they wanted to go dirt bike riding so I took the pickup out to the Farm with Ryker's bike in the bed. 

Whitney was at her Mom's when we got there and I had an enjoyable time visiting with her and Alison while also holding Lainey. She is at such a fun plump age with all her fat rolls and squishiness,  I could not get enough of this cute baby. 

Avynlea went to hang out with Makayla and Ally at their house while Rylee stayed with us and played with Maddie, Sadie and Kinsley. Even though she is so much older then her Cousins, Rylee was so sweet to play their games and she had a lot of fun with them. After a while Alison made some cookies and whipped up some frosting and we all had fun making Monster Cookies.

Maddie, Sadie, Whitney, Kinsley, Rylee and Elizabeth 

Monster Cookie decorating was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed my inner creativity coming out. 

Sweethearts

It is different being on the guys side of these formal dances. With Kenedy the guys would come and pick her up and I could take some pictures and see them off. With having a boy I didn't get to see any of it because he was going to her house. I took a picture of him before he left and thought he looked pretty handsome. 

After he picked her up they went to Scentsy Commons to take pictures and then went to Aubrey;s house for dinner.

Ryker hates eating pasta, and I had to laugh and cringe a little when he came home from school a couple of days before the dance to say that Aubrey asked if he likes pasta because that was what her Mom was making them for dinner. He told her it was fine because he did not want to be rude and he did a good job that night at dinner to try a little bit of it. 

Aubrey Young, Ryker, Shandel, Mario, Lucy, Ty, Megan and Alec