worst kinds of people

The worst kinds of people forget their Moms birthdays....

yup it's me...:(

Not until my sister texted me today did I remember that I forgot my most favorite Mom in the whole worlds birthday!

I Love you Mom and I wish that I could have been there with you to celebrate. Thanks for being my Mom and for loving me despite me! (:

I am so sorry! forgive me...please?
Expect something really great in the mail really soon! (:

Ward Temple Night!

"Sydney Australia Temple"

Kefford and I got the chance to go to the Temple last night for ward temple night. After the pretty bad week I just had and the really bad day I had on Friday going to the Temple was just what I needed to get back some focus.

We left our 4 kids in the capable hands of our neighbor and friend Stacy. My kids LOVE this girl and are always excited to have her come over and babysit. Rylee didn't even fuss when we left she just waved bye and into Stacy's arms she went. When we came home the kids were excited to tell stories of the things they did.. "talent shows", popcorn making, playing in forts and reading stories. I guess they wanted to eat a snack of popcorn and Stacy felt bad about using ours so she called her Mom to bring some they have down. Her Mom was not home and so she went ahead and used ours but then later her Mom stopped by and dropped off one to replenish our pantry with. I laughed when I heard that, I told Stacy she was silly and didn't need to do that but she insisted. I am going to have to sneak it back to her house soon!

We got to the Temple early for the 6:30 session and so we went down to the cafeteria to eat a meal of steak, potatoes with gravy, peas and carrots, a roll for me and coconut pie for Kefford. It was really yummy except I don't like peas so Kefford ate those. One of my friends in the ward, Lynn, tagged along with us to the Temple because her husband was late getting home and it was nice to visit with her. When we were done we went to go change, Kefford was carrying our bags and he handed me one as we parted ways. It wasn't until after I had got my locker key and went in the cubical to change that I noticed he gave me the wrong bag. So I went out to find him waiting and we switched bags.

The session was such a great one. It was completely filled with extra chairs brought in and most of the people were from our ward. Being in the celestial room surrounded by people you know and love had got to be one of the best feelings. As Kefford and I walked out the door I looked back in and was overwhelmed with a feeling of "that is what Heaven will be like". We truly have a great ward that is really a true ward family. In the changing room I spent some time talking to my friend Mary about my frustrations with the kids and my inadequacies I feel as a parent. She gave me some really good advice and it was so nice to just talk and vent. Kefford didn't appreciate waiting so long for me, he claims it was half an hour, but it really was just what I needed!

I feel very lucky to be surrounded by so many people who love and care for our family, it lessons the sting of not being near my family a little. (:

Poor Avynlea!

Yesterday Avynlea had her 4 year well child visit to the pediatrician. She was very confident in talking to the Dr. and answered all of her questions correctly. She did say she watches too much TV and yeah sometimes they do. But notice I said SOMETIMES. Usually I do a really good job of monitoring the TV intake. I made them eat oatmeal and drink chocolate milk for breakfast so when the Dr. asked what foods she likes to eat the first thing she said was oatmeal. I chuckled at that because normally it is a struggle to get her to eat it all of the other kids like it but not usually Avynlea. In fact this morning I made the same thing and I just found the bowl in the sink still full! Whatcha going to do?
Anyway her statistics are Weight: 31 1/2 (25%) Length: 39 in. (35%) and Blood Pressure: 88/56
I was not surprised by the weight I was however surprised by the height. I expected her to be taller. But she is just a tiny thing and the Dr. never really worries about that because she knows my kids and how they tend to be smaller in weight and usually taller in height. When given the option I did decide to have Avynlea get her pre-kindergarten booster shots a total of five in all. She needed her second Hep. A, DTap, Polio, mmr and varivax. I know one of those is the chicken pox vaccine. Avynlea took the shots and of course cried, A lot, but despite it all she was very brave and does not have to get another shot for a long time! Yay!!

This picture was taken around Christmas but I thought it appropriate for this post...poor Avynlea!

Avynlea turns four!

** I want to start this post with a little message from me about my blogging habits. You may notice that I tend to blog a lot, that is done with a purpose. Lately I have grown tired of scrapbooking (that happens occasionally) and I really do not like handwriting in Journals. This blog was created with the purpose of helping my family stay in touch with our lives and to serve as a kind of journal. I say kind of because I don't write really personal things in here, I use this to keep record of things my kids say and do. I also am toying with the idea of just having this published at the end of the year and use it as my "scrapbook". So read if you like enjoy the pictures and I will continue doing what I am doing. Who knows, I may get tired of this but for now I am really enjoying having a place to record our everyday happenings!

We started out Avynleas birthday with her opening a present given to her by Grandma Alison. I knew it was clothes and I wanted her to have something cute and new to wear on her birthday.

She loved the outfits and changed in and out of both throughout the day.
After she was dressed she got a phone call from Brother Nichole's a member of the Bishopric wishing her a happy birthday! Later on in the afternoon Avynlea and Ryker helped decorate her birthday cupcakes. We had gone to the store earlier to pick out birthday supplies and Avynleas first pick of items were, Sponge Bob hats, plates, and cups, Princess Barbie wrapping paper, Giselle cake topper. After all the princess items I had her go back and decide again if she really wanted Sponge Bob or something else, she debated and ended up with Dora hats, plates and cups.

Avynlea also picked out purple streamers and after we tried to decorate she and Ryker had fun wrapping each other up.

Elaine Josi came over during this time to give Avynlea a little birthday gift..a cute My Little Pony! (She would kill me if she knew I put this picture on here..hehehe) While we were gone running errands Avynlea had a telephone message left from her church friend Daniel wishing her a happy birthday. She thought that was funny and kept telling me that Daniel wants to marry her. I have to say he has good taste. Later that day we took a cupcake over to Daniel. She also got a phone call from her BFF Aunt Erin. She liked that also, even though she hung up on her. I think the birthday excitement was too much for her! After Kefford came home from work we let Avynlea pick where she wanted to eat. So off to Burger King we went. We came home and then let Avynlea open her presents. She was really cute sitting on the floor waiting and decided which presents to open when. The other kids were equally as excited to have her open the ones they chose.

Snow White doll from Kenedy. This is Avynleas favorite princess and she was overjoyed to have the barbie. When Ryker saw it he said "cool, now you have Cinderella and her elves". After busting up laughing Kefford and I corrected him!

Here is the quilt I made for Avynlea. I really liked how they turned out and she loved it. The other girls have to wait for their birthdays to get theirs!

Avynlea and her gifts. Flip Flops, glasses and pez from Rylee, Blanket from Mom, Snow White from Kenedy, and Polly roller coaster from Ryker. Keffords gift to her has not come in the mail yet.

Avynleas cupcake tower with Giselle.

Make a wish and blow...

Mom and the birthday girl.

Dad and the birthday girl.

Avynlea got a phone call from Grandma Lutes. She, Heather and Ashleigh all sang happy birthday to her. She loved it!

The next day Avynlea got a present in the mail, Dress and Polly pockets from Grandma Lutes and socks from Ashleigh. She was so excited about the package and kept jumping around screaming "YES" as soon as she saw what was inside.

Her birthday was a big success and I am glad she had a lot of fun!

Human Cocoons

Kefford took Rylee and wrapped her up tight in this blanket so that she could be turned into the human "Cocoon". Once the other kids saw this going on they all had to get in on it!

Rylee so relaxed and happy!

Ryker is now a cocoon!
Ryker being flung around. I like this action shot. If only these pictures had sound then you could hear his girlie screams. You will just have to imagine them!

Avynlea being flung through the air!

Avynlea lives for this type of daredevil activity. After her turn was up she kept begging for another turn.

Kenedy the Cocoon!

Kenedy didn't want to get swung around because those types of things make her nervous. Her Dad did it anyway and despite all the screaming I think she secretly liked it!

Before all of the cocoon fun started Kenedy made all by herself some delicious snicker doodle cookies. They were really good and Kefford said after biting into one "this is why we have kids" Kenedy thought that was funny and laughed at him.

winter sledding

Yeaterday was the day I have been dreading for some time now. The day of the annual ym/yw sledding trip. I do not like being cold and the thought of being out in the cold for hours and possibly getting hurt made me tremble in fear. I forced myself to get up that day and get ready. I borrowed Keffords long John underwear and thought it looked really funny. I wore it around the house and asked the kids if they like it. I was kinda shocked to discover that for the first time they were appalled and embarrassed by me. I was teasing them by telling them we were going to go to the store and Kenedy and Ryker would not budge, they said no way until I changed into something more presentable! I finally put on my snow stuff and after I made sure I was bundled up enough left for the trip. Surprisingly it wasn't too bad. I didn't go sledding because I did not want to get hurt and so I hung around the fire with some of the other leaders. The sun made an appearance for a little while but once I commented on it it went back into hiding. Me and my big mouth! It was fun to watch the kids do their thing but once my toes started to numb up from the cold I knew I needed to get us out of there. Overall it was a lot better then I feared and I might do it again next year!

Lindsey, Stephanie and Natalie. A couple of our Young Women on the drive to the hill.

Poor Courtney dig a backwards flip off the sled and plowed over Lindsey getting a bloody nose in the process. Glad it was not me!

Me and Denise, my friend and one of the leaders.

Here I am! I went on the trip and didn't complain too much about it! (:

Brit!

Today is the birthday of one of my most favorite people, my sister-in-law Brit. How happy I was the first time Kelsey brought her over to meet us. I could tell as soon as I watched her load her plate up with pizza, eat it all, and then unabashedly load up a second plate that we were going to get along really well. She is an amazing mother, a good wife and my true soul sister. We don't get to see each other often but when we do it is non stop laughs, fun, and good conversations. I know we both look forward to the day when her family moves closer to ours.

Happy Birthday Brit, I hope your Husband and kids spoil the heck out of you!

love you much!