Seminary Mothers Day Program and Dance Connection Dance Recital

I was invited by text message to a Mother's Day program Ryker's seminary class was having. I thought that sounded like fun and added it to my calendar. The next day I got another text message from the seminary teacher asking if I would share a few thoughts the day of on why I love being a Mom. My first thought was "this guy must not want me to come". I really do not like public speaking and definitely did not want to speak in their seminary class. I sucked it up and said I would do it and then tried to forget about it until I remembered way late the night before. I thought of a few thoughts to share and wrote them in my phone and tried not to stress about it. They had a really nice program planned and the kids who spoke did a nice job. The entire class sang a song about mother's and that was really sweet. I managed to get a picture of Ryker smiling during the song which is a rarity. Standing to his left is my trek son McKay and in front in the plaid is Macy one of the YW in our ward. It was fun to see kids I knew but I was still not happy about speaking. 

In the program they had plans to play a newlywed type of game but with Moms and kids. The seminary teacher randomly picked three kids along with their Moms to go up front to play the game. Guess who was one of the ones picked...Ryker and I. I could not even deal but I was a good sport and played the game. They were running out of time so I only had to speak at the end for about 2 minutes which was perfect. I said a few words and then sat down. I was told I did a good job and am happy with what I said.

After it was over we got treats and I got a picture with Ryker before he had to leave for his next class.

After I left the Seminary I went to meet Holly at Costco to stock up on snacks and food for our Dance Recitals. I found the limoncello chocolate almonds on sale and bought two packs. They are so good and it is hard to stop eating them once you start. I wanted to be greedy and keep both bags for myself but I shared one bag at the dance meeting because all of the teachers love them. 

I only had one class perform in this recital which was great. Charlie was the first of my dancers to arrive and she was really nervous and seemed unsure about what was happening. I sat and talked with her before some of the other kids came but she just looked at me like she did not know who I was. Later I saw my class backstage and as soon as Charlie saw me she said "Elizabef!", she was so excited to see me and finally knew who I was. I laughed and laughed.

I was so proud of these girls, they did such a great job and performed so well, I was so happy!

Samantha, Shyla, Mia, Charlie, Addie and Braylee

Cyndi got all of us teachers flowers and then after cleaning up we loaded up and headed out to eat.

We went to Luigis and KEfford and the girls got to come and eat with us. Rylee was super surprised by the size of her pizza, she ordered a medium thinking it was going to be a slice of pizza and instead got a huge pie. 

The next Monday in dance class I took a picture with my little monkeys. They were really frustrating at times but I love them and will miss seeing their little faces every week.

Mia, Charlie, Addie, Braylee, Samantha and Shyla

Honor Choir and Baby Laney

I like playing around with the instagram filters when I am taking pictures of my dancers in dance class. They are the cutest and on this day I got some cute pictures of Brynlee, Lucy and Aida.

Avynlea was talked into signing up for a district wide Honor Choir by her teacher Mrs Johnson. She didn't really want to do it but felt the pressure and said she would. Later she found out the practices interfered with cheer tryouts and decided she was not going to do the Honor Choir after all. The week of the last practice and the concert her teacher told her she could still do it so Avynlea decided she was back in it. I didn't find out about the concert until the night before because when she decided she wasn't going to do it I deleted all of the information off of my phone. Luckily I was able to go and get a good seat and be able to watch Avynlea perform. It was a good, quick, one hour long concert and I am glad she was able to do it and learn her songs so quickly.

I had told Whitney a couple of days before that I would watch Laney while she and Dustin went to the Temple. Then I found out about the concert which conflicted with babysitting. I told Whitney the situation and let her know that Rylee is perfectly capable of watching the baby because she has experience babysitting babies and that Kefford would also be home to help if needed. She decided that would work and she dropped the baby off while I was at the concert. 

I got home after about 30 minutes from when they dropped her off and I found Kefford holding a crying Laney. I quickly took her and tried to give her some comfort. I could tell she was really tired so I held her and rocked her until she fell asleep. She slept for about an hour and when she woke up she was in a much better mood.

Avynlea and Rylee were able to hold her at that point and Rylee even got a smile out of the little nugget. She is such a sweet baby!

Book Signing and Thank You's

My friend Devri Walls is an author of fantasy books. She came out with her second book in her "Venators" series and had a meet and greet in Boise. She invited me to come and of course I want to support my friends so I went to her book signing. I went last year to the release and book signing of her first one but I have to admit I have not read the book yet. I read one of her stand alone books and loved it but "Venators" is a series and I don't like to start a series until all of the books have been written and released, it drives me crazy to have to wait for the next book to come out.

So this year I went to the book signing and bought her new book even though I hadn't read the first one yet. I was just a little confused when people would ask questions I had no idea about. I did ask Devri how many books she was going to have in the series thinking if it was just a few more I would continue to wait until they were all out. She said she did not know right yet, it could be a few more it could be ten more, it just depended on how well her books were doing. I am thinking I probably should just start reading the books.

's

Our ward was getting really big and the Stake decided it was time to redo some of the boundaries in our Stake and give some of our Ward to other smaller Wards. We all pretty much assumed where the lines for the split were going to be and if we were right our Young Women's president would not be in our Ward anymore. I saw our Bishop a week before we officially found out the new boundaries and in telling him how much I loved my Beehive calling he assured me I had nothing to worry about in being released and they wanted me to stay right where I was. I felt good about that and didn't give it a second though. Fast forward to the next week where we were told our assumptions were right and the boundaries were divided where we thought they wold be so goodbye to our President. I was still fine and happy until I was told by the Bishop that he owed me an apology because as it happened I was released along with the President and I was not not going to be in the Young Women's anymore. He is a new Bishop and didn't realize that because the President was released her counselors are also released, he felt really bad and I couldn't be upset with him. I felt blindsided and a little bit like I was being pushed out because I really loved my calling and was not ready for a change. I was really sad for about a week and then I was able to process it and be ok with a change. 

The Wednesday night I was at Devri's book signing was my first night not having to go to Mutual. It was strange to send the rest of my family off and not be going with them, Kefford is the Young Men's President. But the more time I think about it the more I am looking forward to not having to be so busy with Young Women's. At Mutual that night the new presidency had the girls write Thank you's to us outgoing ladies and when I got home I found a bouquet of flowers with the sweetest notes from the Young Women. Reading their sweet messages really made my night, I love those girls so much! 

 Later that week I was called to be the Sunday School teacher for the 16 and 17 year olds. I was really nervous about that but then I looked at the class list and read who was in the class I was really happy because they are girls that I know, love and that are my friends. 

While I was being sustained on Sunday I looked behind me and saw Abby Larson celebrating in her seat that I was going to be her teacher and after Sacrament meeting she couldn't stop telling me how excited she was. I then had Madi Eberhard come over with a huge grin and a big hug for me telling me how excited she was! These girls are the best and I am so happy I get to be with them in Sunday School!

Cinco de Mayo!

Sunday May 5th was Cinco de Mayo and we celebrated Mexico's Holiday with a taco dinner! I wanted to make the Mexican rice recipe from my friends Favorite Family Recipes blog so I made sure to have all the ingredients on hand. When it was time to take it off the stove it didn't look very good but then I went at it with a fork and started fluffing and it turned into looking amazing! I was so excited, it tasted amazing as well! I will never make boxed Mexican rice again, this recipe was so easy and so yummy, it tasted exactly like the Mexican rice you get at Fiesta Guadalajara!

I usually only have soft shells on hand for tacos but for Cinco de Mayo I wanted to have the crunchy shells as well, I love those crunchy shells! It was a really good dinner and I love celebrating the little things with my kids.

It was a beautiful day and later that evening some of us hung out in the backyard for a bit. Avynlea wanted me to take some pictures of her doing flips on the trampoline and showed me how to hold down the shutter button on my phone to take a series of multiple pictures. I think we got some good ones of her flipping out!

Mammograms and Cheer Tryouts

At my last Dr appt I was told I have to start doing yearly mammograms. Ugh. I don't know why I have to to start I thought 45 was the magic number and I am only 40 plus I don't have any breast cancer history in my family. It's perplexing but it is also Dr's orders so I will go along with it.

But first a couple of selfies before I head into the office...

And a couple of selfies while I wait to be collected by the nurse and to send to my sister :)
The mammogram was an experience I am not looking forward to repeating every year. I was fine until she really started to manipulate my breast for one of the pictures and as I was standing there I started to feel really clammy and sick to my stomach. I asked if I could sit down because if I didn't soon i was going to pass out. So I sat with my head between my knees while th enurse put wet paper towels on my neck. She brought me in some juice and water and then had me suck on a lollipop when it came out that I hadn't had anything to eat that day...oops. Once I was feeling better I was able to get  through the rest of the appointment but man it was rough going for a while there.

Avynlea had her cheer tryouts on Saturday and as she got out of the car I made her let me take a picture before I wished her good luck. 

After the tryouts we went back to the school at 3:00 so she could get her letter. I parked and waited in the car while she went to wait with the rest of the hopefuls. When the girls got their letters most of them opened them right away but Avynlea brought hers to the car where she opened it with me. She made it onto the JV team nd I was really happy for her. I know she was hoping for Varsity and was a little sad and my mama heart hurt for her but after a while she was able to get excited about being on JV. She is going to rock it as a cheerleader and I cannot wait to watch her!

Sunday morning I came out to find Rylee asleep on the couch. When I went to bed the night before I checked on her in her room and saw her asleep in bed so I was a little surprised to see her downstairs. When Rylee woke up she was also surprised to find herself downstairs on the couch. She said she had no idea why she was down there and did not remember going downstairs in the night. She must have been sleepwalking.

Shooting some Guns

I didn't do Easter baskets this year because our California trip was their Easter but I did get my kids a bag each of their favorite candies. Rylee and Avynlea dyed Easter eggs and I managed to only get a picture of Rylee with one of her eggs, Mom fail. Later that night I let Rylee practice doing a french braid on my hair and thought with some instruction that she did a really great job!

The next Saturday was Emmett's Youth Appreciation Day. Avynlea had some of her friends stay the night and go wth us to the event, but not before doing braids in their hair. They all wanted me to braid their hair and I was happy to oblige.

Avynlea, Sadie and Rose 

Rapunzel was spotted walking around the event and Kefford talked Ryker into going over and getting  a picture with her. Kefford wanted him to put his arm around her waist but he refused, getting in the picture was about all he could handle.

One night Rylee wanted to sleep in our bed with me, she asked Kefford if that was OK and he was super nice and slept on the couch so she could have some Mommy and me time.

For Family Home Evening I made a picnic dinner and we loaded up the kids, guns, bullets and the bow and arrow and went out for a little target practice.

Rylee was first up with the bow and arrow and watching her facial expressions are my favorite thing ever!

I was impressed with how well Avynlea handled the gun. She was a little bit of a pro!

I took a turn and then Kefford showed us all how it was done!

We all took turns shooting at the water bottles Kefford had set up and we all managed to hit them, it was a fun time with my family and I am happy for warmer weather so that we can get out and do more things together.

Dance Pictures

Picture week at the dance studio is my favorite week! I love how excited the girls are to get into their costumes and to see them all fancy and made up is so much fun! While it is a lot of fun it is also a lot of hard work trying together the girls posed and smiling for the camera. Group shots are the toughest because you have to get a whole bunch of littles smiling at the same time and looking at the same place, hard work, but still really fun. 

I was able to get shots of the girls after I had them posed and I love seeing all of their fun personalities!

Disco Hippo and Twinkle Twinkle

Picture on left

Back Row:Desi, Lily, Aida, Morgan and Ady
Front Row:Sadie, Eva, Lucy and Brynlee

Twinkle Twinkle and I'll Do Anything For You

Top picture

Back Row: LeeAnna, Paisley, Sofi, Juliette, Hannah, Annie

Front Row: Madison, Dottie, Reagan, Rylee and Sara

Flowers and When Can We Do This Again

Top Picture

Back Row: Kaya, Abigail, Savanna

Front Row: Rimi, Sophia, Amelia, Kylie and Ashtyn (missing Taytum)

Oysters and Stompy The Bear 

Back Row: Roen, Ellie, Aden, Kya, Eden Haley Bateman

Front Row: Colby, Kate, Etta, Eleanor and Gueneviere (missing Lennox)

Because i have two Eden's in this class I will usually call them by their first and last name. When I do this Eden Bateman would always correct me by saying her name is Eden HALEY Bateman, cracked me up every time

The last two classes were on friday night and Kate's Mom was watching me handle the kids and do what I do admit all the craziness and decided I needed something to relax with at home. After pictures were done little Kate told me I couldn't leave because her Dad was bringing me a present. When he arrived he handed me a box with a slice of chocolate cake in it and a bottle of wine and told me I deserved it and now should go home and relax. I died, I didn't know what to do with that bottle of wine and stressed about it all weekend while simultaneously laughing my head off about it. I finally decided to regift it to my dance boss Melissa which she appreciated! The cake was really good though and I truly appreciated the kind gesture.