Let it Snow

After staying up so late the night before it was a bit difficult to find the desire to get out of bed on New Years Day. But we had to get up because it was the Sabbath and church started at 10 am. We stayed the night in Nyssa so we went to church with the rest of Kefford's family. I thought it was pretty funny when I walked in and saw that Tami and I were dressed almost identical. I thought we had the same dress on but when I got closer I saw that the pattern was different and the style of the dress had some differences. Still we looked enough alike that I thought it prudent to get a picture of us twinning.

Mallory sent me a picture of Amos using the blanket Rylee made for him. He is the cutest and the blanket looks so good with him lying on top of it!

We have had crazy amounts of snow fall this year already and the past couple of days have been record snow fall. Monday Rylee wanted to get an icicle down from the roof. She was not at all tall enough to reach even while standing on a chair so Kefford told to to get the broom from the garage. It was quite comical watching her hitting all of the icicles with the broom. I am surprised she did not get hurt because she had icicles raining down on her. She makes me laugh!

Yesterday we had snow coming down all day long. School was cancelled and the three younger kids went over to our old neighborhood to play with the Hursts for most of the day. Kefford shoveled the snow before he left in the morning, Ryker and I went our about 8:40 to shovel again, I shoveled two more times while the kids were gone. When the kids got back I had Ryker shovel again and then Kefford shoveled two more times when he got home. It was crazy! I have never seen anything like it in all our living here in Idaho. Driving in it was not too bad because our Expedition is all wheel drive but even with that I felt like we were off-roading, it was nuts! 

My mind must have been super occupied while I was putting my boots on because I put them on the wrong feet. 

I did not know Kenedy was aware of me outside shoveling until I saw her insta-story on instagram. She makes me laugh, and smh means "Shaking My Head", I had to ask. I did not mind shoveling, it was not hard and it felt good to do something. 

Kenedy had a bunch of her friends over to watch a movie and play some games. At about 5:00 I heard a lot of cheering coming from the upstairs. I did not think anything of it until I looked at my phone and saw that they were canceling school for Thursday also. Two snow days in row?! Unheard of!! 

New Years Eve

For New Years Eve we headed out to the Farm. My kids love their Cousins and their Cousins love my kids, the age difference between them all makes no difference. Sadie was especially attached to Kenedy and made Kenedy's shoulders and back really sore from all of the piggy back rides she was getting. 

She also had really sore legs from the airplane rides she kept giving Sadie and Madi.

Michelle likes to have me braid her hair when ever I am around and I enjoy doing it. 

Dustin and Sara along with their kids were in town and it was fun to see their girls whom we don't get to see as often. Here are Ryker and Avy spending time with Charlotte.

Alison put together a really fun game for the grandkids and adults as well, but first, the grandkids, Rylee and younger,  got to play their game.

She bought a bunch of fun, cheap and random items and wrapped them up in saran wrap to make a big ball. One at a time the kids got to pick a number, 1-6, and while the person next to them rolled the die, got to unwrap the saran wrap ball until their number was rolled, then it was the next persons turn, whatever they unwrapped they got to keep. It was so fun to watch and the kids had such a fun time playing. Rylee scored by winning a five dollar bill, some candy and some necklaces.

Ryker was kind to let Kenedy have a break and let Sadie ride around on his shoulders for a while.

Cuddly Cousins

Avynlea and Kinsley                                    Kenedy and Sadie

After giving Charlotte some airplanes rides Ryker thought it only fair to have Charlotte give him a ride. She thought that was pretty funny and liked Ryker pretending to get a ride. 

After a little bit, the rest of the grandkids, Avynlea and older and the adults got together to play our own saran wrap ball game. I had a lot of fun watching the kids play but did not realize how much fun it was until I got to play. This was the funnest game! We managed to get the ball around the circle twice and everyone got at least a couple of items. Their were 8 $15 gift cards to Olive Garden and I got 1, Avy got 1 and Kenedy got 2 of those 8 cards. We scored big time. Among other things, Kenedy got some pepper spray, which Ryker unwrapped but let her have, we got candy and I even got a pack of tissues. It was so fun watching everyone play and seeing the items that were being flung out as the ball was unwrapped. It was a frenzy of excitement!

After the game I brought out my chocolate fondue pot and different treats to dip into the chocolate. We hade Nilla Wafers, strawberries, raspberries, bananas, and marshmallows. A yummy treat for all! 

At one point Whitney's girls needed a break from all the craziness and she put them in her parents room to watch some Peppa Pig episodes. She thought it was cute when she checked in with them later to see Kefford hanging out in there with them.

Michelle put together some Minute to Win it games and Adults and Kids alike had fun participating. It was a bit chaotic and out of control but I think everyone had fun throughout the game playing.

Rylee got to spend some time holding Caleb and she thought that was pretty great!

Bob had some sparklers left over from the 4th of July and the kids took them in the back to have fun with them. 

These next pictures crack me up. I knew Avynlea liked to have her picture taken but did not realize how much until Alison showed me these pictures she took. In the top left you see Avy sitting at the Island smiling for the camera. In the top right a picture was taken of the ones eating at the table and if you look where the arrow is pointing you can see an Avynlea blur running to the table so that she could get in to the third picture that was taken, bottom left, Avy smiling for the camera again. She is such a cheese ball. Bottom right was taken at a different time but with the cheeser still smiling and hamming it up for the camera.

By 11:00 everyone left to go to their own homes. We were planning on staying the night and going with his Parents to church the next morning. My older three kids went to stay the night with their Cousins at Jeremys and Rylee stayed with us at Bob and Alison's so she could be with Isabelle. Rylee and Isabelle really wanted to stay up until Midnight and by the time we had them ready for bed it was about 11:30. I played Apples to Apples with them until I got bored and then had them make up their own version of the game to be played with two people. 

Midnight finally came and Rylee had her first lesson in how unexciting staying up late really is. 

Happy New Year

Seattle

When I found out that Kefford had the entire week off after Christmas I tried talking him into taking me to California. He was not as into the idea as I was, he did not want to drive for 14 hours to get down there. He knew I was missing my family and so he said why don't we go and visit Joshua and Mallory and their new baby. I was keen on that and we left on Monday to drive to Seattle. His Uncle Mark lives in between us and them and we took a break from the drive to stop in and visit him and Debbie. Keffords cousin Tiffany was there with her daughter Allie and it was fun to visit with all of them for a couple of hours. 

We made it to Seattle about 2:30 and had to drive around a bit because we got there sooner then expected and Joshua was out running errands with his family. 

Finally we were able to get to his house and see my new nephew Amos. 

We were all smitten and had a lot of fun holding him and loving him. He is so cute and a pretty chill baby which was nice.

I woke up early tuesday morning and when I came downstairs to use the bathroom I saw Mallory on the couch with Amos. I offered to hold him so she could get back to bed and I was really happy when she took me up on that offer. I had a couple of hours of holding my nephew and I loved every minute of it. While they were sleeping I changed his diaper and fed him his bottle too, it was baby heaven!

We wanted to explore downtown Seattle a bit and once everyone was up, dressed and fed, we headed out to Pike Place Market. It was different from what I expected but not bad, just different. We went to the fish sellers who throw the fish around and it was fun to watch them call out and throw the fish.

We were also taken to the famous gum wall which was disgusting. It is the practice and tradition of people to put their chewed up gum on this wall and it was covered. About a year ago the city came through and cleaned it all off but that didn't stop the people. They just started over and covered  the wall again with their disgusting gum. I took some pictures of the kids and then I had to get out of there, it was grossing me out. 

We enjoyed walking around but it was pretty cold and that part was not too fun. We decided that we would shave to come back again sometime this summer when it is warmer and we would be able to see more without feeling.

On our way back to Joshua's we drove by Seattles Space Needle. Nobody wanted to get out to look at it so I opened the sunroof and took a picture out that. I thought that was pretty clever of me!

Kefford spotted a Ferrari dealership on his was back and had to make a stop so he could go in and get some pictures.

We decided to leave early Wednesday morning. It was a short trip but we did not want to overstay our welcome and Kefford was really worried about the roads on the way home. A big storm was passing through and they were predicting really ugly roads for driving. We definitely wanted to avoid all of that. Since we were leaving so early I made sure to get some pictures of Kenedy and Ryker with Amos since I hadn't already done it.

joshua decided to try a new look with his mustache, he makes me laugh a lot!

The next morning we got up pretty early and got ready to head out. Mallory wanted a picture with Amos and out entire family so we made sure to do that before we left.

I am grateful that we got to spend time with Joshua, Mallory and especially baby Amos. hopefully it can happen again soon!