New Scriptures!

Rylee was so excited to finally get her very own set of nice scriptures! What a beautiful girl she is, inside and out!

The Adams Family!

The High School play being put on this year was The Adams Family. Kenedy tried out along with two of her friends. Her best friend got the lead role of Wednesday and Kenedy and Megan were both cast as Ancestors. Kenedy was so excited to be in it and so happy for Lauryn to have the lead role. Unfortunately because of cheer conflicts Kenedy had to drop out which was really sad for her. But being the great friend that she is she was really excited to go and watch them perform. The Mia-Maids were all going to watch it on thursday night for a mutual activity and so I took Avy and Rylee with me to watch it at the same time. 

We got there early enough that we had front row seats and the perfect view of the performance. We all really liked the play and I loved seeing Kenedy's friends perform. I thought it ran way too long, it started at 7 and we did not get home until after 10, and think they could have started a little earlier but whatever. I guess not everyone brings kids with them who need to be home sleeping at that late hour. It was a fun play and Rylee thought parts of it were hysterical and could not stop laughing about the absurdity. 

Megan Warner, Kenedy and Lauryn Warner

Some of the Young Women had roses to give the girls afterwards and I commented that they really should tear the buds off the stem right before handing them over to be super authentic to the play. So they did and it was funny and really appropriate.

Saint Patricks Day!

Saint Patricks day is a tricky day for me to remember. It is the day after Rylee's birthday and all my focus the previous week is on her birthday and lately I forget Saint Patricks Day. This year I found some chocolate coins while we were at the store getting Rylee a birthday balloon so I felt prepared. I also had stuff for  yummy Irish dinner even though I was not going to be there to eat it. But wouldn't you know, the morning of I am downstairs making lunches when Ryker comes down and says the Leprechauns forgot to come. Shoot! The two girls were still asleep so Ryker helped the Leprechauns out and when the girls came down they saw furniture topsy-turvy and gold coins scattered. Thank heavens for Ryker! 

Everyone wore green and nobody got pinched. Avynlea was not thrilled a first with her sister wearing a matching shirt with hers but i went on about how cool it was they had rainbow shirts to wear on this day and finally she went with it. 

For dinner I made corned beef, green rice, green koolaid and green jello. I had a Relief Society Dinner I needed to be at so I missed the green dinner.

May the Luck of the Irish be with me better next year!

Rylee is 8!!

Monday March 16th we got to celebrate Rylee's 8th birthday. This kid has been so excited to turn 8 because it meant she is one year older and more importantly it is the year she gets to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. When she came down this morning she came in with a big smile and when I told her Happy Birthday she lit up even more and came over to give me some snuggles. Goodness this girl lights up with happiness. She was pretty excited to open presents and so we let her open her present from Grandma Alison in the morning. I also made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and she got to eat off the special plate.

Rylee and Avynlea are on track break and got to go with me to all of my dance classes. After the other two got home from school we packed up into the car to take her to Claires for another special 8th year happening. Ear Piercing!! I let my girls get their ears pierced when they turn 8 and this was super exciting to Rylee. I almost caved and let her get her ears done when Avynlea got hers pierced but I am glad I had her wait because it was so much more exciting for her to have the anticipation and finally have this time she has waited so long for. She chose some cute earrings and did really good with the piercing. No tears or cries!

My kids get birthday parties only on certain years and year 8 is one of them. Rylee and I had been talking about her party for a while deciding what to do and who to invite. Since the new Cinderella movie was coming out a week before her birthday we decided to take her and her friends to see it. About two or three weeks before her birthday Rylee came to me and told me she did not want a party any more. It perplexed me but upon talking about it further with her I understood. She said it makes her too nervous and she would rather just do things with her family. I was completely ok with it but really made sure this was what she wanted because I did not want any regrets or last minute mind changing.

I signed up to have the missionaries over for dinner the night before but they had to reschedule and Kefford rescheduled for Rylee's birthday which he did not thinking. No big deal we could let them come over. We had Rylee open her presents before they arrived and she was pretty happy with everything she got.

Dinner was Rylee's favorite spaghetti and meatballs. We tried waiting for the missionaries to arrive before we started dinner but they were late and after an hour of waiting we had to start. 

When they arrived they were super apologetic and explained that a Sister missionary got hurt and they were waiting with her to help her out. They were forgiven :). When they found out it was Rylee's birthday they did an impromptu singing of Happy Birthday complete with parmesan cheese maracas!

Missionaries had to leave pretty quick and could not stay to eat cake so Rylee cut them a couple of pieces to take with them and then we sang to the birthday girl with the rest of the cake.

Rylee put two skittles on the cake to mark the part she wanted for herself.

5 Things I love about Rylee:

1) I love her enthusiasm for life. She gets excited about everything! She is excited to go to the dentist or well child check ups she was excited to go to the Bishop for her baptism interview. She just loves life and I love how happy she is and willing to experience life.

2) She is really sweet to her siblings. Of course like with all siblings there are disagreements and such but if anyone were to give up something for a brother or sister it would be Rylee. She will share her birthday candy or let a new toy be played with by a sister. She is caring and loving and likes for others to be happy.

3) Being baptized is a big deal to her and she has been excited about it for a long time. Turning 8 meant she finally got her very own scriptures with her name engraved on them. She has always loved carrying around her "cheap" scriptures and being able to read from them with the family. Having her own scriptures that are really nice ones is huge and being baptized is beyond great. She loves going to church and I see how she thinks and asks questions and I know she is working on her testimony. 

4) I love Rylee's personality! She is funny and makes me laugh all the time with the things she says and the faces she makes. She finds laughter in a lot of things and that is a great trait to have. 

5) She is and will always be my baby. She does not want to take the time from playing to cuddle so much anymore so when she does I will take it and love it. She always has kisses to give and "I Love You's" to say. Rylee is our sassy sweetie pie and we all love her a lot!

Rylee's Favorites:

Dinner: Spaghetti and Meatballs

Dessert: Chocolate Cake

Candy: Skittles

Toy: American Girl Doll Caroline

Friend: Mom :)

Book: The Magic TreeHouse

Movie: Donald Duck

TV Show: Peppa Pig

Color: Purple and Yellow

Place To Go: DisneyLand

Thing To Do: Play Outside

Radio Song: When I See Your Face by Bruno Mars

Primary Song: Love is Spoken Here

Scripture Story: Jesus Dying for us.

Disney Princess: Jasmine

Road Trip!

Friday morning we Rylee, Avynlea and I left Boise with Alison, Mikayla, Trista, Trista's friend Madison and Sara's Bosses Mom Wendy to go to Pocatello. We were on our way to watch Kenedy in her final cheer competition of the season. We were taking Wendy so she could visit her daughter in Rexburg for her Birthday. Once we got to Pocatello Alison dropped Me, Rylee, Avy and Mikayla off at the Hotel while she and the rest of them took Wendy to Rexburg and picked up Sara. Sara did not get off of work until 6 and so I knew we were going to be on our own for a while. After checking into our room the girls changed their clothes and I took them swimming in the Hotel Pool.

Kenedy was coming up on a bus with her cheer squad and they arrived about an hour after we did. Some of the cheerleaders came swimming and the girls enjoyed watching them perform some of their cheer jumps into the pool. After they left my girls wanted to show off what they could do.

After they had their fill of swimming I had them shower and change and then we walked down the road to eat dinner at Applebee's. The food was really good and after everyone had their fill we headed back to the hotel where we watched TV until Alison came with the girls.

Trista and Madison had the fun idea to make posters for Kenedy and so when they got to the room they had pink posters, paint markers and glitter glue. Avynlea, Rylee and Mikayla had a lot of fun watching and helping. The posters turned out so cute!

After a late night we got up the next morning and got ready to go cheer on our cheerleader. Kenedy and two of her fellow cheerleaders came by so I could braid their hair and then we went down to get some breakfast. It was pretty crowded with all of the cheerleaders and hotel guests so after we got our food we came back up to our room and ate it in there. I made Meridian color cheer bows for my girls to wear and borrowed some Meridian shirts in their sizes from my friend Lana. If I had known Mikayla was coming ahead of time I would have made her some also. She borrowed a bow from Madison and did not act bothered at all that it was not the same so no worries there.

I sent the below picture to Kenedy and her reply back was "Ugh that's going to be embarrassing". Hahaha. I knew she would be embarrassed but I also knew that she would love it.

Kenedy was able to perform with her stunt group and JV Pom. She was amazing. I was getting annoyed watching some of the other teams performing because the girls would pull weird faces that they thought made them look cute and peppy and to me they only looked fake and rehearsed. Kenedy was so fun to watch because her smile was so big and so real. You could tell that she was loving what she was doing and it showed all over her face! She was disappointed with her stunt routine because she fell out of the last stunt but to me it was awesome to watch . I had never seen her perform with her stunt group and I really did not know she could do so well. It is so cool to see how far she has come and how much she has improved this year. 

The teams win awards according to their schools division. Meridian is a 5A school and they were the only 5A to compete at this competition, so, we won first place in everything. Not too shabby! To me it didn't seem like it was a must win type of competition for Meridian, it was a chance for experience and team bonding. I know Kenedy had a lot of fun and we had a lot of fun watching. I am so glad that my Mother-in-law is so supportive of my kids as well as Keffords sisters. It means a lot to me and to my kids with how much support and love they get.

I had Sara and Trista send me the photos they took and this next group of pictures are the ones that Sara took.

The music was so loud and jarring at this competition and sitting right in front of me was an older man who would leave every half hour and come back in reeking of cigarette smoke. By the time the competition was over my head was throbbing and I felt like throwing up. So I did not get any of the pictures I wanted to get with Kenedy, I was out in the hall trying not to throw up. 

While we were waiting for Sara's ride to meet up with us I took some pictures of my cute girls.

These last pictures are ones that Trista sent to me. She took them on the way up to Pocatello and on the ride back down.

I had such a fun trip and am always glad for the opportunity to spend time with family!

Sew Fun!

I wanted to take some pictures of the girls dolls posing with the sleeping bags Kenedy made so that we could have them for her display at the boutique. They really turned out so cute and the dolls seem to really love the sleeping bags!

I made Kenedy pose for a picture in front of her display at the Boutique. She is usually less then thrilled when I want to take pictures. With the amount of selfies I find of her on my phone you would think she would love it!

I did Avyleas hair in cute loops and I told her that it made her look like a hamster, Ryker then walked in and said she look like a panda bear. Avy took my phone and snapped some pictures of her with her animal face and hair.

My girls have been wanted to sew more and so I told them we would do it on Tuesday after I got back from the Temple. I was worried that I would be too tired because I did not sleep well the night before but I sucked it up and we got to it. They both picked a pattern and then some material and working with them we got it done. They did so good for their first time and they had a lot of fun. I was a lot more hands on with Rylee because she is still young enough I felt I needed to but even then she did a lot and felt really accomplished. Avy did awesome as well and we were all surprised with how fast it went. They are both really happy with what they made and are looking forward to making more! I love how cute the dresses look and love the material they picked from my stash.

I commented to my girls that it felt a little like the blind leading the blind because I am not the best at sewing. My Mom cringes whenever she is around to watch me sew as I do not always do things the way they should be done. I am trying though and getting a lot better. I am lucky to have wonderful friends who give great sewing advice when I need it.

Fun Days

Rylee rode with me to pick up Avynlea from piano lessons. While we were waiting, Rylee found my sunglasses, put them on and then requested some lipstick to wear to make her feel grownup. I said no to the lipstick but I did let her put on my chapstick. She then showed me the pose she was going to do for when Avy got to the car. She is a silly girl and makes me laugh a lot!

Sunday was a beautiful day and after dinner I let everyone know that we were going on a family walk and that everyone was required to join. We walked to the park where we shot some baskets and the kids played on the swings and ran around. It was so pretty outside and the sunshine felt so nice.

After we got home and walked through the door I remembered that I left a batch of rolls in the oven. Oops. Thank heavens we didn't stay out any longer. 

On Saturday Kefford took Ryker, Avynlea and Rylee to his parents house for part of the day so he could change the oil in the car. Kenedy had cheer practice so I stayed home with her. While they were out there Whitney brought out Maddies t-ball set and the kids all got to play some ball. Whitney sent me this picture of Rylee hitting the ball saying she loved her face in it. Rylee has always had the best facial expressions. 

I was puling out Avynleas ponytail holder and I lost my grip on it. It looked so funny sticking out that way that I took a picture so that Avy could see. I told her to smile but this was the best she could do.