California Beach Trip Days 1, 2, 3 and 4

On Saturday July 24 Kefford, Avynlea, Rylee and I packed up the Traverse and headed down to California. Traveling with two kids in our 7 seater was so much easier then traveling with 4 kids in our 8 seater. Everyone had more room and we also had more room for our camping stuff. We missed having Ryker and Kenedy with us once we got to California but not having the extra two bodies for the drive was kind of nice. Joshua and his family were already there when we arrived and it was a treat to be able to spend more time with his family as well as Andrew who rode down with them. Leona even let Kefford hold her for a little bit before she realized what was going on and needed to be put down.

July 25: Leona was more content to be on her own crawling around and was not too happy about being picked up by anyone other than her parents. Rylee got lucky and was able to hold her because she had Leona's bottle and who isn't going to let someone hold them if they are willing to feed you.

Our family was able to watch our Ward sacrament meeting via zoom. We went into our bedroom to watch it and were joined by Amos and Frederick. During the sacrament portion our Ward mutes the zoom and so Kefford took that time to talk to the kids about the importance of the sacrament. It was fun to have Amos and Fred in the room with us, they were pretty reverent and almost made it through the entire meeting.

After church and while Heather and Mom were watching their meeting via zoom, the four of us and Joshua's family as well as Andrew, Erin and Jaylynn walked down the street to the park. We all had fun exploring but I especially loved watching Rylee and Avynlea on the mommy and me swing.

Kenedy had her last Sunday in Texas and she sent me this picture she got of her and some of her church buddies with the missionaries.

On Monday July 26th Kefford and I went to pick up the RV we rented for us and Mom and Heather to use while camping at the beach. As soon as we got back to Mom's house we loaded it up with all of our stuff and Rylee headed out in it with Kefford and I to go to the beach. Mom, Heather and Avynlea rode down in Mom's car. The three of us in the RV stopped at Wal-Mart to get groceries for the week, I took a picture of the tub I packed with some food from home so I could remember what we had and not buy extra. Once we got the groceries we then spent some time trying to find a gas station that had an RV propane fill up. That took much longer then you would think and it was pretty hard to find one. We finally found one that was close to the beach site we were going to and once we got the propane filled up we finally arrived at our beach destination.

It was nice to have an RV to relax in and we spent a lot of time at the table playing card games and having fun. Mom and Heather shared the couch bed, Avynlea slept on the bed that turns into a table and Kefford and I had the bed in the back. Rylee wanted to share a tent with Jaylynn and she set it up and had it to herself for a couple of nights until Jaylynn arrived with her family on Wednesday. Rylee quite enjoyed the space to herself and was living her best life those few days.

Every night a different family does dinner for everyone and we asked if we could have that first night, I wanted to get our turn over with and not have to worry about it for the rest of the week. We did a baked potato bar with the potatoes cooked over the campfire and they were delicious. For our dessert we bought ice cream sandwiches which was a yummy treat and enjoyed by everyone.

Rylee and Fred

Amos, Atticus and Fred

Ryker was pretty bummed to be missing our beach trip and being with everyone so he had me FaceTime him after dinner on our first night so he could see everyone. He and Avynlea had fun playing with the filters on the FaceTime app and then Rylee and Atticus had to get involved in all the fun.

After dinner Rylee took Fred and Atticus on a walk to the lookout, she is such a good big cousin and loves her little cousins so much.

July 27: Tuesday was the first day we got to actually go down to the beach. We arrived early afternoon on Monday but I told my girls they couldn't go down. They had to stay up with us and get our campsite set up as well as help prepare dinner. This was another reason I wanted to do dinner on the day we arrived. We didn't have to worry about coming up from the beach early and miss out on any fun we were having. We just stayed up at our site and got things ready and then everyone came to us to eat and hangout. 

Rylee went Boogie Boarding

Avynlea and Kefford 

Kefford took it upon himself to bury the littles in sand. They all liked it and all were patient and let him do his thing.

Atticus

Fred

Amos

I enjoyed time with my sisters while down at the beach. Mom stayed up at the campsite the entire week because she couldn't manage the stairs with her bad hip and Heather had surgery on her face and wanted to stay out of the sun as much as she could so she only came down one day. I missed them but am glad that I have so many other sisters to be able to hang out with and have fun with.

Elizabeth, Emily, Ashleigh and Mallory

Kefford and Elizabeth 

That evening we had dinner at the other campsite, the one that Joshua, Andrew, Emily and Ashleighs families were staying at. Heather read a book to the kids while Kefford and Avynlea did their own entertaining.

Fred is just too cute and so easy to love.

Later that evening Avynlea and Ben took Amos and went to the lookout to watch the sunset.

I just love the close bonds that my kids have with their cousins big and little.

July Stuff

July 6: Bailey came home from his two year mission! Ryker was really bummed that he was in Utah at school and couldn't be there for when his best friend got home. Alison and Bob worked a shift at the Temple and then hung out at our house for a couple of hours as we waited for the time Bailey's plane landed and we could go meet him at the airport. 

The Lyon's invited us over to hang out and they gave us a couple of options as to what day. One of them was Saturday night but Kefford didn't want to go over there that night because we had already started our fast and he didn't want to miss out on treat eating. I told Kyle that we couldn't do that night and the reason why so we made plans for Tuesday night. When we got there they had a glorious spread of treats all laid out and made it be known that it was "Kefford's Snack Counter" Hahaha!

July 10: Avynlea went out on a motorcycle ride with her dad and they made a stop at Owyhee High School to check out the field. Kefford had Avynlea stand on the end zone so he could get a picture and send it to Rylee, this will be her school in a couple of months.

July 11: Facetiming with Kenedy and a screenshot was taken. I miss her and am looking forward to when she gets back from Texas

July 13: Avynlea got a job at Sodalicious and on our way to Violin lessons Rylee and I stopped by to get some drinks and see the cutest employee. Rylee made me promise I wouldn't embarrass Avynlea but come on, I need to get my fun somewhere and if taking a few pictures is embarrassing then I am embarrassed for you. :)

July 15: Avynlea left for cheer camp. Last years away cheer camp was cancelled due to covid and it was so nice to have things normal enough that the kids could have cheer camp. They went to the same place they went Avynlea's freshman year with was "Camp Living Waters" up by Coeur d'Alene. Kara posted a picture of the kids on the bus heading up and Avynlea is in the gray shirt close to the front behind the girl in the blue shirt. 

July 18: Ryker called me asking for my stew recipe, he had been craving stew and wanted to make himself some. I told him I didn't have a recipe I just made it up in my head but I found one for him on Pinterest and sent him that. He went to the store and was a little shocked at how much the ingredients cost but was ok with it once he made it and realized how many servings he was able to get out of it, quite a bit for one person. He said he was delicious and sent me a picture. I love that he wanted to learn how to make this dish and that he was able to do such a good job with it.

July 21: Emily invited Ryker to go with her, Matt and Ben to the rodeo but when they got there they realized they were told the wrong day, I think by her sister in law. They were quite disappointed but stopped for snow cones on the way home which helped ease the disappointment a lot. Emily thought it funny that the boys chose the literal kid table to eat at. 

 

4th of July

Ryker got to go to the Stadium of Fire for the 4th of July which I thought was really cool. Lee Greenwood was a featured performer and I was excited that Ryker could hear him sing. Some of my favorite patriotic songs are his and Ryker loves patriotic music as well so I knew he would enjoy it. Nitro circus was also doing a performance and Ryker loves them so it was cool he got to watch them do their tricks. He got some pictures with a couple of them after and I had to put a sticker over the glove of the guy on the right because his glove did not have a nice word on it. I am glad for photoshop, lol.

July 3: In Texas Kenedy got to float the river with a bunch of her friends. I am glad that she had been going to the singles ward and that she found a good group of friends to spend time with. Kenedy is in the blue camo tube smiling at the camera

I posted these pictures on my instagram stories and I set them to "God Bless the USA" my favorite patriotic song sung by Lee Greenwood :). There is. a lot going on in our country to dislike and our leaders are not doing such a great job but despite all of that I love this country and believe in it and am proud to be an American!

July 4th: Kenedy went with her friend Gracey to watch a hometown 4th of July parade and they got to meet Captain America! Well a poor imitation of Captain American but fun none the less.

They also met up with some of their guy fiends to watch the fireworks.

Javin, Sam, Mitch, Gracey and Kenedy

With the 4th of July being on a Sunday we didn't have plans with anyone. When the fireworks were starting the girls and I walked around the neighborhood to see them. 

We headed over to the park to watch all of the neighborhood fireworks going off and sat on the big rock for a couple of minutes but then some kids from Avynlea's school showed up and she got too embarrassed so we left. I went home and sat outside to watch and the girls walked around a little bit more before they came back home.

When they got back we sat outside in the back of Ryker's pickup for a bit and then we got in the Traverse and drove down the road a bit so that we could watch the fireworks going off all over the valley, it was pretty fun and I loved seeing all of them going off all around us.

Ryker went to the BOnneville Salt Flats with some friends and had his picture taken and I love the picture, such a good one!

 

Rylee at EFY (a post by Rylee)

Me and Ella had such a great time at EFY, I'm so glad I got to do it with her. When we first got there we were both very overwhelmed and a little sad but also super excited. When we first got there we dropped our stuff off in our room and went to the Creamery with just the two of us. It was very crowded and took a long time for us to get our food and after that we were both a little shaken because the realization of being on our own had just hit.

We got settled into our room and met our counselors and the rest of our group (which had 2 counselors 12 girls and 16 boys) and then all of us went to the first devotional where we were introduced to everyone and they talked to us for a while. 

On about the third day Ryker finally found me. It was really frustrating because I didn't know where the place I was at was called and I couldn't understand him on the phone but he found out where I was and came to talk to me. we talked for a little bit and took this picture then Ryker had to go back.

Me and Ella and our friend Kate were walking around campus when I saw this statue and wanted to get a picture with it so I had Ella take my picture. I didn't really care about who the statue was I just wanted a picture with it.

On the last full day we had a dance and while we were waiting some boys from our group walked up all wearing the same shorts. We all loved it and so me, Ella, Ellie, and Kate took a picture with them. 

This is the our whole group

Bottom picture, First Row: German, Kade, Griffin, Seb, Dominick,  Cole, Sam, Lex, Eva, Sami, and our  Counselor Jackson. Second Row: our Counselor Rachel Jackson, Kal'el, Ella, Abby, Bailey, Ellie, Ella, Rylee, Brenna, and Bob. Third Row: Cameron, Sam, Kate, 

This is my BEST friend that I made at EFY her name is Ellie Mumford. We made an awesome handshake that I still can remember.

This was while we were waiting in a super long line for one of our firesides. its was always super hot but we kept ourselves entertained with each other.

This was the second dance we had and it was the best because we knew each other and weren't afraid to dance. this is Lex, which me Ellie and Ella adopted to be our older brother because he was so spiritual and so nice.

this is a photoshoot me, Ellie, Ella, and Kate took. Kate and Ellie are sisters and are the two, me, and Ella got closest with. we had so much fun together and after this we went to the dance and we were the only ones wearing our EFY shirts. Overall EFY was wonderful and I loved it and I miss everyone from it.