We Are On The Hunt

For the perfect prom dress.  Rylee received an invite to the Junior Prom from her friend Will.  We know have a 1 1/2 weeks to find the perfect dress.  We both thought of our last search and decided to try Dillard's first.  Reganne & I searched all the racks for ideas.  Rylee wasn't finding anything that appealed to her.  I looked around and saw the same dresses from homecoming hanging on the racks.  Even the see through one.

Next.... We wondered through the mall trying to find anything that looked remotely like fancy dress.  

All the wedding dress/prom dress shops all close at 5:00.  Rylee the suggested the one shop in the outlet mall may have something that might work.

Gorgeous front..
No back or sides.

It fits but crazy low neckline.
It was lined.

Shimmery princess dress
More modest than the other but a little big.

Gorgeous!!!
Another one with flesh colored lining on the side.
Downside way to red.

The shimmery one is the winner.  They will even order in a smaller size and it will be here 3 days before the dance.  There are still many details to figure out.  The major stress over the dress is done.

When You Say Goodbye..You Must

Say Hello!!!  It is the first Sunday of the new year.  This means our first week of 2 hour church.  How exactly is this going to work?  We have had a lot of training classes over the last 3 months.  It was now time to put it into practice.  Ryder was a going to be ordained a Deacon and we invited everyone to come share the day with him.  

We are so glad the MacPhearsons brought Grandma JeanAnn with them to make the weekend complete.  We are sad that Grandpa Chris couldn't make it this trip.  Hopefully, he will feel up to traveling soon.

Crazy Kids
Dinner at Chuck A Rama
Not sure we filled them up or not.
They did drink enough.

Sunday arrived and with the craziness of everything changing around us.  There were over 30 boys names read over the pulpit for advancements.  It was going to be a busy afternoon.

Newest Deacon

Family support!!!
We really appreciate everyone that came.
Ryder was worried about one thing.
He wanted his temple recommend.

Time for one last family dinner before everyone hits the road.  It was Ryder's pick and we headed for Olive Garden. 

The kids side of the table

The adult side of the table.

I missed the middle of the table.  It was yummy and the waiter treated Ryder to dessert in celebration of his special day.  He took time to talk to Ryder and shared his memories of becoming a deacon as well.

We were sad to say goodbye to everyone and hopefully not for very long.  Everyone hold onto your hats for next Sunday when there are 15 new Deacons passing the sacrament.

Happy New Year

This illustrates the holiday season perfectly.  Everyone is exhausted and in need of a lot of rest.  We also need a bit more exercise.  Of course snuggles with those we love and last but not least sunshine.  The sunshine feels amazing inside the house.  Wait until you step outside and you hit the icy sunshine.  

Time to take the decorations down and start that all important spring cleaning.   It's time to get this year started and face the challenges that await us.  Good Luck to everyone in facing them head on and moving forwards.  What didn't work today may tomorrow.  The most important thing is no matter what happens today we get to wake up and try again.

Keep up the hard work!!!

Saying Goodbye to 2018

This month has been crazy busy.  Full of new adventures,  new experiences, and even some family favorites.  

The Cabelas' Raindeer
looking over Santa's shoulder.

Goofy faces
while trying for a group selfie.

Are they fighting??
Nope, Rylee teaching Reganne MITTS

Another excellent quarter for Rylee.

Teasing & tormenting
a fact of life at our house.

These looked delicious for Christmas Dinner.
Yes for half of us.  A little too doughy
for the other half.

New Years Eve Picture
How sad she looks not being able to
get to the food on the island.

It has been a crazy year and as it draws to an end how much we have all learned.  One lesson I have learned it living day by day is good until you realize that you should have ordered your Christmas Cards 2 weeks ago.  Once again it's way to late to send them out.  Next year??  It's not called procrastination but living in the moment.  I just need to learn how to expand those moments.

The Day of Last Times

December 30th the day of last times..... The last time for 3 hour of church.  The last time in primary.  The last time enduring sharing time.  The last time church starting at 11:00.  The day being full of last times could bring tears to my eyes instead the craziness in switching classes kept the eyes dry.

One minor problem is the leaders forgot that the new Eleven Year Old  Class didn't have a teacher or even a room to meet.  Everyone soon got settled in time for Sharing Time.

The last Happy Birthday song.

The last time being embarrassed or
being told to be quiet.

The amazing Eleven Year Olds
Not all pictured but 15 boys and 5 girls.

This boy is ready to become
a Deacon

I am amazed at the timeliness of this current church wide change.  The double whammy of Ryder being in the eleven year old class and us being the teachers.  How was the transition going to work?  How will kids be effected?  One student in the Sunday School Class until March or One student left in a class until December 30th.   When I received the email on that Friday morning the sweetest peace and excitement passed over me.  I had my answer to my questions and the knowledge that Heavenly Father is aware of these children and is aware of their challenges they face everyday.  Most of all how ready they are for their new adventures.

Merry Christmas

After a late night Christmas morning comes really fast.  Ryder waited patiently until maybe 7:00 am.  We then let him loose to get the girls up which took a lot of work.  While everyone made it slowly downstairs the dogs were eager to be right in the middle of it.

Dexter found his new toy
all by himself.
He proudly showed it off to everyone.

Reganne's present to Dad
I believe he was surprised.

Another surprise from Reganne.
Cherry Chocolates!!
She loved the story about Grandma & Grandpa Waters
and wanted him to remember it as well.

Rylee loving new punching bag & gloves.

Ryder loving his Xbox accessories
They will teach him how to drive.

Finally I an wear my Doc Martins

The presents were all opened and the girls headed back to bed.  We started a new tradition of Christmas Morning Breakfast with the Wheelers.  Dacoda & Ryder were starving and dying to eat.

The Dads were cooking.

It was really chilly & rainy
to eat outside.
They did an awesome job.

Time for a nap and it's only 9:30.  

After a long nap everyone was starving and ready to eat again.  Time for more Christmas fun.

Ryder's present a large Nerf gun.
This boy is in heaven.

Let me show you how it works.

Family Christmas Picture
2018

Lets start another tradition . We have tried it in the past without much success.  However, the kids are growing up way to fast.  There needs to be documentation of how they are growing and changing.  More important how we are expanding.

Using auto take.
Dacoda didn't quite make it.
I do love the Superman effect.

Much better.
Christmas Day 2019

Time to play
Ginger had to play.

And play...

It was a great day full of family, surprises, and yummy food.  Only 364 days until the next celebration.  It may take some of us longer to recoop.

Christmas Eve...

It's finally here!!!  The presents are wrapped and under the tree.  School is out for the year.  Time for our family traditions and if we are lucky we might a few new ones.

I still had some shopping that need to be done.  The girls wanted to sleep in and Ryder wanted to get the show on the road.  We finished the shopping, errands, and everyone was hungry.  Time for some food and where are we going to go to get our Chinese food?  The kids vetoed the one from last year.  How about the newest place in town Hu Hut.  Oops they are closing at 4.  No Chinese this year.

Everyone in town has found out about our next tradition going to the visitors center.  The crowds grow each year and this year they added a program by the sister missionaries.  The crowd was even larger.

Trying to photo bomb each other
at the Book of Mormon Tree

Temple picture
I love how they arranged themselves

Checking out the lights.
It's cold outside and Reganne refuses to wear a coat.

One more picture
of my family

Pretty good picture
for an iPhone camera

It was a great day and full of fun adventures.  It seems really weird this year that we won't be setting out cookies for Santa.  The kids are growing up and changing daily.  My one Christmas wish is that we still have the excitement tomorrow morning brings.  Reganne out lasted everyone and was the last one into bed.

Christmas Eve Eve

It's Sunday and with still 2 days away from the big day.  We loved the Christmas Program at church was really good.  We then had the rest of the afternoon to relax and enjoy before the craziness starts.  

We have a live tree upstairs that when Dave found another one on for dirt cheep he just had to get another one for downstairs.  It was time for a little family togetherness and decorate the new tree.

Gathering together
and trying not to fight.

Finding the right ornaments
and adding a few more lights.

Perfection!!!

It looked perfect but once again all the strong opinions and emotions makes it struggle sometimes to complete a family task.  The end product looked amazing the only thing left was to add presents.

Let's get the party started and enjoy this holiday season with family and friends.

Doing Scary Things

And being successful is hard for everyone.  Rylee has been taking piano lessons for about 9 months.  The music studio holds 2 recitals each year at Dixie State University.  She has been working really hard on the piece of music that was selected just for her.  She was ready to give it her best.

A little bit of craziness to get there and for her to get warmed up.  

Walking on stage with Sam.

YES!!!
She did it and sounded great.

She made it off stage and back to where we were sitting.  Sam was awesome and a quick thinker in moving her to the first position in the program instead of towards the end.  I think my favorite part was the big smile that was on her face as she walked towards me afterwards.

She gave me an awesome example to follow that we all can do scary things and be successful.  We just have to try.

IMX Swim Meet

It is time for another swim meet and this is going to be a big one.  The IMX Meet brings teams from across the state as well as a few from Nevada.  This year there are even more kids competing which requires an additional session.  We arrived in plenty of time to find good seats without getting to wet.  Ryder was checked in and ready for warm ups.  

Events for Session 1
Thanks goodness for wipes.  They
clean Sharpie off.

First scheduled event was actually a combined with Event 2.  This meant Ryder was a no show for his first race.  The Heat Sheets, kids, and even the coaches were confused on what was actually going on.  Ryder was very disappointed that he missed out.  There was still one event left tonight that he needed to get ready for.  He swam a good clean race.  Time for some food and a good nights rest.  We didn't need to be back until 12:00 for Session #3.

Warm Ups
Love to watch the arms & legs in
full range of motion.

Take your mark.

Good clean strokes

In the zone
on his backstroke.

He worked hard and was successful in completing each event without getting DQ'd.  Now we have to wait for his finally results that should be posted in the next day or two.

11 Male 100 Free 5th Place Overall 1:20.83  Entry Time:  1:31.39

11 Male 100 Breast 3rd Place Overall  1:51.52  Entry Time:  1:51.87

11 Male 100 IM 1st Place Overall 1:34.01 Entry Time:  1:39.76

11 Male 100 Back 4th Place Overall 1:46.96  Entry Time:  1:32.00

4 Ribbons and the biggest smile ever.  He has worked really hard to compete in the new age bracket.  He proved to himself that he can compete with the 11 year olds and be successful.  6 weeks until the next meet.