Happy 26th Birthday Kenedy!

 Ahhhhhh Happy Birthday Kenedy! 26 years old! My goodness how the time has gone by fast. I love her so much and love that she is going to be living by us and that we get to spend more time doing things together. She is so fun to hang out with and I love just sitting and chatting with her as well. I am so glad that she is here and that we got to celebrate her Birthday with her.

Pictures of her I used on Instagram for her Birthday. She has always been so beautiful

We went out to dinner for her birthday and Kenedy wanted to go to the Japanese restaurant that is a couple of miles down the road. We have never been there and we all really liked it, it was good food and a good atmosphere.

Tyler, Kenedy, Elizabeth, Kefford and Rylee

 I asked Kenedy what kind of cake she wanted and she requested a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. I did not have any yellow cake mixes and was making plans to go to the store to get some when I had the thought that I could make one from scratch. I looked up recipes on Instagram and found a good one and made her a yellow cake with chocolate frosting all from scratch. It tasted really good and I was really proud of it.

I took Kenedy shopping at Barnes and Noble for her Birthday and had her pick out some books as a gift from me. I also ordered her a shirt she wanted from Alter'd State which did not arrive in time for her Birthday because ei ordered it a little too late but it just prolonged her Birthday a little bit longer.

Valentines Sunday and Avynlea mole removal

 

On Sunday I made a family Valentines dinner with heart shaped biscuits, a heart shaped meatloaf, baked potatoes, Berrys, pink whipped cream and raspberry jello. It was a delicious dinner and reminiscent of valentine dinners my Mom made for us. :)

Later we went to Nyssa to spend time with Mikell and her kids who were in town. Little Emily immediately fell in love with Rylee and attached herself to her. This made Whitney a little jealous who still has not had Emily warm up to her despite her best attempts. It was really sweet to see how much Emily loves Rylee, I think their Spirits recognized each other from Heaven.

Luke also loved sitting with Rylee and I thought this was a cute picture of Luke and Emily on Rylee with Emily giving Luke kisses.

Rylee, Emily, Whitney, Avynlea and Luke

Em ily, Whitney, Luke and Avynlea

My girls, and Kefford, love Dillon, they find him hilarious and love giving him attention. Rylee took a series of pictures of her trying to give Dillon a kiss and him trying not to receive it, lol.

Dillon and Rylee

Rylee

Avynlea and James

I took a picture of my hair that I did for Sunday and it looked really good when I went to church. I got some compliments on it with people wondering how I was able to make the heart. It was actually really easy and I am so happy with how it turned out.

Avynlea has been bothered almost her entire life with the mole that has been on her shoulder since birth and has finally decided to have it removed. I took her in at the beginning of January and they shaved it off but t immediately started growing back. After talking to her dermatologist about it over the phone and sending her pictures they decided to have her come back in and they would cut it out. It was a really easy procedure and Avynlea handled it really well. I was fine as long as I did not pay any attention to what was going on. I am. glad for Avynlea that she was able to have it removed especially knowing how self conscious she has been of it.

Cousins Baptism and Valentines Date!

 Whitney organized a Cousin Temple Baptism trip and she invited my kids to come if they are able to. Rylee, Kenedy and Tyler were all game to go and Avynlea was driving in from Rexburg and she made it to the Temple just as we were getting there which was so fun. The younger Cousins loved having their older Cousins there participating with them and my kids enjoyed being with the Youngers. Ken edu gave them all a deluight when she accidentally got baptized for male names. The Temple workers used Temple names for her because she didn't bring her own and after she was done and in the shower Whitney notivced that the paper they used for her were male. It was too late for her to come back out so she just did confirmations for females and Tyler got Baptized for the names Kenedy did. It was a funny thing to have happened and a fun memory that won't be forgotten.

Bottom picture l-r: Avynlea, Xander, Asher, James, Brooke, Jenna, Tayvia, Hazel, Madison, Sadie, Rylee, Kenedy and Tyler

For our Valentines Day Kefford and used the gift certificate that Kenedy and Tyler gave us for Christmas and we did a paint and sip class painting lovebirds. It was a fun activity to do and Kefford and I liked the painting. We don't drink alcohol which is typically what people have during a paint and sip and so Kefford did not have a drink and I asked for a soda water with lime, it was delicious and I was very happy with my drink of choice. After the class we went to dinner and then came home and watched a movie while Kenedy, Tyler, Rylee and Avynela went to paint pottery at the pottery place. It was a fun day for everyone.

 

Happy 21st Birthday Avynlea!

 Happy 21st Birthday Avynlea!!! I wasn't able to be in Rexburg with Avynlea for her Birthday but I did send a small package for her to open with treats and small Birthday gifts. The bulk of her Birthday present from Kefford and I was cash sent through Venmo to add two a fund for her Hawaii trip she is taking in June with some of her Mission friends. I love Avynlea so much and am so glad that she is in my family and I get to have her forever. She is always a joy to be around and makes me happy. I wish I could have been there with her to celebrate but I am glad she has good friends who were able to since I couldn't.

Some baby pictures of my girl that I used in an Instagram post for her birthday

I got a pattern to make an eyeglasses case from the quilt store and I decided to use the fabric Kenedy gave me for our Christmas Eve dinner gift exchange to make the case. I recently have needed to wear readers while doing some tasks and I do not have a case to store them in so I was excited to make one. It turned out really cute and I was so happy to have been able to use the material Kenedy gave me.

I remembered that I bought material and another bow pattern while in Utah for Black Friday shopping and I searched my stuff and found it and made this cute bow for my front door for Valentines Day. I love it and now I have a Halloween bow and a Valentines bow, what bow should I make next?!

February nails by Nails with Brynn

End of January

 Peterson Orthodontics bought tickets to the Boise State vs Utah State Basketball game for Kelly and Kefford families. Unfortunately Kefford and I were not bale to go because it was the weekend of our Stake Conference and we had Elder Brown from the 70 here for our conference. The night of the game was the adult session of conference and we did not want to miss it. I am so glad we chose the adult session over the basketball game. Elder Brown was an amazing speaker who held my attention the entire time. I really loved his messages and the energy and love for the Gospel that he has.

Rylee invited Esther to go to the game with her Kenedy and Tyler and they had. a lot of fun.

Tyler, Kenedy, Rylee and Esther

Our Relief Society did a water color paint night for a mid week activity and I went with Rylee and Kenedy. We had a lot of fun visiting with other Sisters in our Ward and learning how to water color.

One of the dance teachers, Augustine, who used to work for Cyndi at The Dance Connection is pregnant with her first baby and she invited some of us to her baby shower. She is due to have a baby girl and I nam really excited for her. The baby shower was lovely and it was fun to visit with her and Cyndi and Brigitte.

Cyndi, Elizabeth, Augustine and Brigitte

Isabelle is leaving for her mission to California, Ventura mission and she had her farewell talk which we were able to listen in on since we could not be there. I loved listening to her talk and thought she did such a good job. She is going to be such a good missionary and I am so proud of her for choosing this path.

I don't know why I don't have a picture of her speaking but I at least have a picture of her on the stand.

Avynlea's friends threw a surprise birthday party for her which she both loved and hated at the same time, lol. I think she loved it more then she hated it and it was so fun and sweet of her friends to do this for her.

Chase, Bailey, Boston, Halle, Gwyn, Ellie, Talmage, Isaac, Logan, Pink shirt, Ryan, Claire

Madison, Avynlea, Sadie, Andrew M, Andrew E

Ferris wheel and Family Yoga Tricks

 

Avynlea's college bestie, Andrew Escalante,  came through town on his way to BYU and he stayed with us for the night. I met him briefly when I was in Rexburg with Avynlea after her surgery and I thought he was really nice. After having him spend a couple of days with us I still believe he is really just but I now have added high energy, loud, outgoing, easy to talk to, and funny to my opinion of him. We took him to Scheels so he could ride th eFerris Wheel and he liked it about as much as I did, not much lol.

Avynlea and Andrew

We went to Tin Roof tacos for dinner as a family and these are the pictures that Rylee took with my phone.

Rylee at church taking a heart picture with my phone.

Allie Hansen is going on a mission to Argentina and she spoke her farewell talk this Sunday. After sacrament meeting I had her take. picture with me because her Mom asked for pictures and a letter to Allie that she could send with her on her mission and I could not find any pictures of the two of us. Which is crazy because I have known and loved her at least since her first year at girls camp.

Allie and Elizabeth

After church Maddie Hawk came over and the girls wanted to try to do a family yoga trick involving them and Andrew and it went about as well as the pictures show. It was entertaining to watch and gave us all lots of laughs.

Kefford has a doppelgänger in the area working at a Dental office

My nails for January, a cat eye frosty blue

Roller Skating

We went Roller Skating on New Years Day at the roller rink in Nampa and it was a lot of fun. Avynlea and I won the limbo contest for the adults, they declared me the winner before realizing that Avynlea was also an adult and so they gave it to both of us. I was excited that we won and I had a couple of people tell me how impressed they were with my skating as well as compliment me on my youthfulness, it was a great day for me and my self esteem ;) Our prize was a drink coupon of their snack bar and we got an 8 oz sized cup filled with a drink from the soda fountain, anti-climactic for sure. We both got the vitamin water because Avynlea does not like soda and I do not like sugar sodas. At least we have the title of being the winners even though our prize was lame, and we all had fun skating which was great.

 

Rylee, Avynlea and Kenedy

Limbo Winners!

Elizabeth and Avynlea

Rylee, Elizabeth and Avynlea

Tyler, Kenedy, Elizabeth, Avynlea, Rylee, Ryker and Anna

Kefford was there, he skated for about 5 minutes and then just watched and took some pictures :)