Category: 2024

That’s A Wrap- 2024

The week between Christmas and New Years day it very unique. I love it. Ryan and I usually take it off and of course the kids are out of school. There is no structure. You bounce back and forth between constructive activities, and wasting time. There is no time. You don’t know what day it is. It doesn’t matter because there is no schedule, no demands. If there is something scheduled it most likely will be forgotten. Sometimes you go to bed at 8pm. Sometimes it is 2am. Sometimes you shower and get dressed for the day, sometimes you don’t. I get to be my true introvert self and rarely leave the house. A lack of a plan is the plan. We love it.

We had lots of relaxing, family time activities. The Bourne’s were at Grandma’s all week so my girls spent most of their days playing with them. The weather wasn’t to bad so they even went to the park a few times and got to be outside. I took them to the church one afternoon to play in the gym and draw on the giant chalk boards.

Grandpa Terry, Emilee and Jovee all gave talks on Sunday. We had a family dinner with everyone at our house afterwards to celebrate getting to go to three sacraments. Lots of games were played and football was watched. I caught Ryan getting a little extra snuggle time in with Emilee while he explained something about football rules to her.

Becky invited me to go to a paint class with her so we filled one of our afternoons painting a winter sunset scene. I really like painting. I never know what to do with it when I’m done, it is not good enough to hang up anywhere. It is a fun thing to do and I like learning the techniques and creating things.

Ryan and I worked on some projects together. He made some awesome shelves for my holiday decoration boxes. I can now take one at a time out without having to restack or take other boxes out of the way. I LOVE IT. I went through all my decorations and storage stuff and organized it and cleaned it out. So satisfying. We got a new security system that Ryan installed too. We live far enough away from people that there aren’t that many people but not far enough that I don’t think a weirdo wouldn’t wander by. Ryan got a dart board for Christmas so we hung that up and put a frame around it to help protect the wall a little from wayward darts.

Look at that beautiful organization!

We celebrated New Years Eve at our house with all the Terry Family. We had lots of food and yummy treats. We watched movies, played games, ate and visited while we passed the time away until midnight. I made a balloon drop with confetti for the kids to pull down when we got to midnight.

https://youtu.be/v5mnrlAsQ8E?list=PLBwkO01uWtw9DJu2WA-l0-1CZ6EuoK5Kl

It was a fun night to celebrate the last day of the year and the starting of a new one. It is pretty crazy to look back over a year and see and the things that happened and how things changed. It is weird how things change and don’t change at the same time. I think 2024 was good to us. We had some good times and made new memories together. No broken bones. I waited until 2025 had started before I typed that. We are not perfect but we are blessed and grateful for our good health and the comfortable lives we all have. There is a lot of crazy stuff going on in the world right now and we are mostly untouched by it. 2025 will bring a new chapter into our families lives. The foremost in my mind is Matthew will graduate and is planning on going on a mission and the dynamics of our family will shift from how we have known them for the last 18 years. For the last picture of this edition of my blog I thought I would put this picture. I wish I had one of our whole family doing this but this one will work. Ciao 2024

Christmas

It was Ryan’s families year for Christmas. The Bourne’s came from Idaho and the Ross and Ryan families are already here. The Lee’s couldn’t make it.

Christmas Eve we spent most of the morning cooking a preparing the meal. We had ham and cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, jello salad, and Ryan smoked a brisket. It was all very delicious. We ate dinner around 4pm. After dinner and pie and cookies for dessert, the cousins continued to play and have fun together. Some of us watched a movie and played games or took a nap. When everyone was rested and not stuffed from dinner anymore we had a little family gathering. Emilee, Jovee and Tyler started us off by sharing a little thought they each wrote about what Christmas means to them and what some of their favorite parts about Christmas are. Then most of the grandkids shared some kind of talent. We had several piano numbers, a flute, a trumpet, dancing, and even a little acrobatics. Grandpa then gave us a Christmas message and we all had a family prayer together.

Later that night when we got back to our house we opened our Christmas Eve PJ’s and did any last minute wrapping and headed to bed.

Christmas morning we plan for 6:30am at the earliest to wake up for presents. The kids have the option to sleep in longer if they want but so far they have not taken us up on the offer. This year Allison woke us all up at 6:30 sharp with excited cheering that it was Christmas morning. The kids wait at the bottom of the stairs until we get into the living room and then they come up and we start opening presents.

Matthew got some golf clubs and a guitar. He pretty recently decided that he wants to learn the guitar. It isn’t the piano but I’ll take it. Allison wanted lots of clothes and some fancy head phones. Emilee wanted some lego sets to put together and she is currently collecting palm pals and had a list of those she wanted. I didn’t do a very good job of taking pictures this year. Here are the few I did remember to take. Last year we did a scavenger hunt for the kids for the family gifts. They seemed to like it so we did it again this year. The family gift was tickets for one of the Chiefs play off games in January. It will be a fun family event! I’ll post more about it after they go to the game.

After we opened presents and ate breakfast and chilled for a little bit, we went back over to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. We opened more presents there with them and then the Chiefs played at noon so everyone came over to our house to watch the game. We ate snacks and leftovers, played games and hung out together.

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

December was just lovely. It flew by really fast but it wasn’t chaotic and out of control with to much going on. It was perfect.

We made treats, did puzzles, listened to music, looked at lights, drank hot chocolate, did toys for tots and the giving tree, wrapped presents, watched Christmas movies, went to Christmas parties, celebrated with family and friends. It was an awesome month.

Allison had another wrestling match. It was an away meet so we didn’t go but someone recorded it for us. Spoiler alert-she wins! I finally figured out how to combine her videos so we can watch all her matches for a meet in one video.

https://youtu.be/IAO7dOd16K4?list=PLBwkO01uWtw9DJu2WA-l0-1CZ6EuoK5Kl

Ryan and I went on a brief overnight date to downtown Kansas City. He gets a free weekend night as a perk through his Hilton credit card so we usually use it in December. We went with our friends Dani and RJ. We booked a few reservations at some of the Christmas pop up places they have for appetizers, dinner, and dessert and had a nice relaxing night with lots of visiting.

Christmas was on a Wednesday this year. The kids finished school the Friday before and Ryan and I had our last day of work on Monday. Then we had the next week off to celebrate Christmas, New Years and enjoy being lazy, and getting things done around the house that we wanted to. Ryan built some shelves for all the decorations in our storage room. I haven’t taken down all the Christmas decorations yet so I will wait to take a picture when its all packed away and finished. He installed a new security system around our house. I was in my purging our house of things that we don’t need anymore and customizing/organizing a few areas. I did Ryan and my closet, the pantry, and the storage room- which like I said is now just waiting on the Christmas decorations. We played games with the kids and hung out. There is a touch of a sad note for me this year because it will be the last Christmas before our kids start leaving the house and we start tip toeing into a new era in our lives. That is another reason I really wanted to soak everything in as much as possible.

That a girl

I am just putting a little ‘good job’ note in here for me. On December 12, 2024 I got all the way caught up on my blog. I have been several months behind at any given point for the last year or two. Woohoo!

Shadow Nativity

For part of our church Christmas party this year the youth were asked to do some kind of performance. One of the leaders came up with a shadow nativity. They basically act out the life of Christ to a song called Halleluiah behind a screen with a bright light so you can just see their shadows. It is about a 5 minute long song, so it is short but very sweet and touching. Emilee was willing to do it since no one could actually see her and there were no speaking parts. She was actually put in charge of turning the lights on and off when they needed it and thought that was perfect. Allison is living at the school gym for wrestling right now so she didn’t have time. Matthew said, “No thanks.” The leader in charge texted me and asked if I thought Matthew would be able to participate. I told her he would love to and let Matthew know that he was voluntold to do it. They went to the first practice and when they came home I anticipated a little push back from Matthew for making him do it. Instead I got a play by play of the rehearsal as he speed acted/sang through the song and all his parts. The reason the leader had asked for him specifically is because she wanted him to play the adult Jesus because he is older and able to be more mature and reverent than other boys that were participating. Matthew ate that up and was all in. It reminded me of the time I signed him up for a summer play of The Greatest Showman. He was not happy and protested the whole way to the first practice. Then I didn’t hear much protesting after that and he said it was going pretty well. When we went to the performance he was literally swinging from the ceiling on rope ribbons while he sang his little heart out. He definitely has a drama side to him, he just doesn’t let it out very often. It was cute to see him be excited about it. Campbell caught wind of it and said she was coming to watch and she told Ramey and he came to watch. Matt did a great job and Emilee nailed the lights.

I recorded it…I must have been holding my phone upside down though because it is sideways and I can’t get it to straighten. Add it to my list of mom fails. 🤦‍♀️ Just turn your head to the side while you watch it.

https://youtu.be/UP_kbdPS9Dw

Merry Early Christmas to Me!

Shorty after we had Matthew and were living in Wichita, Ryan surprised me with a piano for my birthday. This is the awesome piano I have had for the last 18 years. It has been a great piano and I have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours playing it. We moved it to four different houses with us and every time the movers told us it was the heaviest piano they had ever moved.

Many good memories playing songs on this piano.❤

When we were building our new house, I decided that at some point I wanted to get a baby grand piano and planned for a spot for it in our living room. Nay Sayers-like my husband (and specific friends he asked because he knew they would agree with him) said it wouldn’t fit or it would look weird. I ignored them because I knew they were wrong and it would look beautiful. I didn’t know for sure when I would get one but it was on the list. I went and looked at pianos a few times and met a nice guy named Blair at one of the piano stores that kept an eye out for what I was looking for and would send me some options every now and then. A few weeks ago he sent me one that really caught my eye so Ryan and I went over to look at it. It was lovely and I liked it but I didn’t get it. I did however, see another one while I was there that I really liked and I ended up getting it instead. We bought it and a few days later it was delivered and was my early Christmas present. AND I LOVE IT!! It fits perfectly and doesn’t look weird at all. It is so pretty and all my kids and Ryan have said they will start playing again or want to learn at least one song. Will they?? …probably not. But it is so pretty they wish they could play it. 😂🎶 I can play it! And I love to play it! John Cazier helped me break it in and my sister and mom over Thanksgiving too. I’m excited to play it for years like I did my last one.

It’s Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime!!!

I have been so excited to decorate for Christmas this year! I wanted to put everything up early but since I was hosting Thanksgiving I thought I should keep my Thanksgiving stuff up at least until then. I did put my outside lights up and my tree without decorations on it early. It has been two years since we have had our decorations up. I forgot what some of them were! Two years ago we had just moved into our rental and only had room for a few things. Last year we moved in to our new house two days before Christmas so I put our tree up and that was about it. This year is was a little like Christmas opening up all the boxes to remember what I had. It was very fun to get it all up. The kids and Ryan were excited too. It feels nice and Christmassy around here now. We were in our last house for 7 years so I had a spot for everything. I have a few things that don’t work anymore or some areas that I don’t have the right decoration but I will tweak it a little each year and eventually it will all pull together. My goal this year was to get a bigger tree. We went from 7 1/2 feet to 12 feet. It is big! I love a beautiful tree but don’t love the setting up. I might get a little tired of setting it up every year, but I think it fills the space pretty good. I also got the garland for the stairs. Allison had a really cute idea to put ribbon on the kitchen cupboard doors with a bow so it looks like presents. I thought it turned out pretty cute! Ryan and I attempted to do the lights ourselves this year. He even crawled up on the roof for our tall front porch. The smaller eve next to it had a 30 foot drop off the one side so we decided it wasn’t worth the risk of our lives and ability to move all our limbs. I ordered a grinch and stuck him in the yard to make it look like he was stealing our lights, then we didn’t have to put them on that eve. Next year we need to get some bigger lights I think…and see about finding someone else to install them.

The Thanksgiving Family Reunion

It has been a few years since my entire family has been together. Last Christmas we decided that we would all get together for Thanksgiving. We were debating on having it at Sherri’s house or ours. After a little discussion, Sherri said that she would, “rather host a holiday that wasn’t about food because its not really her thing and it might not live up to everyone’s expectations.” It would have been just fine at Sherri’s but that tipped the scale to have it at our house. So the plan was set for 5 families, 6 couples, 11 adults (we will count Matthew as an adult now), 12 kids, and one baby, for a grand total of 24 people to gather together for a Thanksgiving Holiday Family Reunion. Matthew moved to the workout room, the girls moved to the basement living room and that left a room for each married couple. A few kids slept with their parents in their rooms but most of the kids slept in the basement living room and had a big sleep over together each night.

The Cazier’s arrived Sunday before Thanksgiving. My parents and the French’s arrived on Monday evening, and my brother and his family came Wednesday evening. Ryan and I had to work Monday and Tuesday so my family entertained themselves during the day. They played lots of games and ping pong. DeAnna organized a baptism temple trip for everyone that wanted to go on Tuesday. That was a good experience for the cousins that got to go together.

The rest of the week we spent hanging out and having fun together. We did our traditional white elephant party. The kids had one and then the adults had one. They were both lots of fun. DeAnna and Emilee ended up with matching white elephants. Allison was the amazing entertainer of all the cousins. She organized several group games and contests. She prepared the giant living room sleep over each night. One of her biggest hits was a dance party in our basement. She strung lights along the walls in our cave (that is our unfinished area under the garage. Someday it will be an epic entertaining room.) and then made each person an invitation and person ticket. Once the doors opened they had to get a secret password from Grandpa Jones and then they could give the password to get into the dance and dance their hearts out. It was a pretty cool party.

Thanksgiving morning several us were getting ready for our Thanksgiving feast. Sherri recruited Allison and Tyler to help her make an obstacle course for anyone that wanted to do it. They did it relay style so when one person finished an obstacle the next person would go until a team one. When they were all obstacled out anyone that wanted to run in the family Turkey Trot ran a mile route that Sherri had mapped out through out neighborhood. The Cazier boys finished in a pretty impressive time. Tyler, Nathan and Michael can have a nice track or cross country career in their future if they want to! It was a VERY cold day so I was impressed with any of them that went outside to participate in the outdoor activities.

Everyone had lots of Thanksgiving food. It was a delicious feast. After we ate a lot of us took our post meal nap and then woke up and ate pie for dessert. It was a fun day. The whole week was fun. We went to a few movies, put puzzles together, played lots of games, visited and enjoyed each others company. My mom helped me put up my Christmas tree too. We were up until about 1am on Friday morning. Everyone was leaving the next day so we were playing until we were exhausted. We all went to bed healthy but between then and morning almost half of us came down with a stomach bug. We were so close to a sick free get together. It was brief but violent and by the time it was done a little more than half of us had it. A little bit of a sour note to end on but I had a great week and I am glad we could all get together. I think everyone else thought so too.

We were lucky to get two of these gems in the White Elephant party.

Of course we updated our family picture since we were all together. It has been maybe 5 or 6 years since we have done that. We are blessed with a great family. I wish we were all closer and could see each other more often but I am grateful for the times we get to get together.

My dad does a good job at taking lots of pictures when we get together. He was the official photographer for Thanksgiving. Aubry and KJ participated in the kid white elephant but there pictures were accidentally videos so I couldn’t get them to upload. Aubry got a cheeseburger mug and KJ got a toothbrush ornament.

Jackson-11 months AKA Jack
Kenny-3 AKA KJ
Joseph-5
Aiden-6
Peter-7
Aubry-8
Kylie-9
Nathan-10
Michael–11
Emilee-12 AKA Emi
Hannah-13
Allison-14 AKA Alli
Tyler -15
Matthew- 18 AKA Matt

Wrestling

Allison decided to do wrestling again this year. In October she went to the middle school after school and helped there for a few weeks. It helped her get a little extra conditioning in too. Then in November her high school season started. It is a lot of hard work. I think she will do good at it though if she wants to. She made varsity. Campbell is on varsity too and helps us get Allison to and from practices a lot which is awesome. It is fun to watch her wrestle, even though she tries to get us not to come most of the time. We still attend and love watching her. She won one of her three matches at her first meet.

Birthday Wrap Up 2024

Starting in June and continuing with one person in our family each month until September we have a birthday to celebrate. Emilee wraps up our families birthdays each year in November. This year was her 12th birthday. It was on a Sunday which is not the greatest day to have a birthday. She thought of ways to celebrate all week to get the most out of it. She had friends come play, got an early birthday present, had a family over on Sunday for dinner. We made individual pizza’s on the grill and had a double stacked cookie cake to blow out her candles. She got some Palm Pals and parts to her Harry Potter Lego castle for her gifts. It took us a while but when we were all home on a week night we went to K-Macho’s for another birthday dinner. We love having Emilee in our family and it was fun to celebrate her!

Halloween Spooks

This year our Halloween ended up looking a little different than it has for the last 10 years. The McDonalds kids and ours all made individual plans with their friends so we didn’t get together like we usually do. We still made pizza and home made root beer for people to eat as they came and went to get ready or stop in on the way to their party. Our houses in our new neighborhood are spread out pretty far so we didn’t have any trick or treaters.

Matthew dress up as Dr Duffensmirch from Phineas and Ferb. Campbell was Harry the platypus. They went to a party with a group of their friends from school. They actually went trick or treating for a little bit too.

Allison and her friends assembled matching outfits and were gangster minions together. They went trick or treating in Grandpa Terry’s neighborhood and then spent the night at our house.

Emilee was a witch this year. She went trick or treating with Reese and a few other girls. They picked a neighborhood that is known for handing out full size candy bars and they were not disappointed. They found a few haunted houses people were doing as they trick or treated too.

Ryan rediscovered his Joe Dirt costume from almost two decades ago and proudly wore it to work. He gave himself a goatee to go with the costume.

The night of Halloween Ryan and I shuttled the girls around were they needed to go and then enjoyed a quite night at home. We did go to a Halloween party with Dani and RJ Halloween weekend. RJ is a pilot so he provided Ryan with an outfit to borrow and Dani and I got First Officer costumes to go with them. I think we were a hit. Ryan LOVED being a pilot too.

FBC Final Season Together

As I mentioned in a previous post, this was Matt’s last season with his competitive team. They started playing tournaments on the weekends right after Labor Day in September. He has been on this team since 4th grade. There have been lots of changes over the years but at the end of this season there were three boys, plus Matt, that were on the team when he started. Coach Jimmy was the head coach and there were several others that were awesome coaches. Coach Kent, Coach Uhl, Coach Robby. Ryan helped coach most of those years too. If he wasn’t actively coaching he filled in and was helping in some way. He had a hard time just sitting in the stands and watching. There were some tricky times but overall it was a great experience and I am really glad that Matthew was able to be a part of this team and make good friends. The boys and their families on the team were all good kids, good people. That makes a big difference when you are spending the whole weekend together for months at a time during Spring, Summer and Fall baseball. We traveled a few times and had good times and memories from that as well. We went to Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Gulf Shores. I have posted many pictures from his baseball over the years and that was another blessing from being on this team. There were several parents that great photography skills and they took so many pictures and shared them with everyone. I wouldn’t have very good pictures if it wasn’t for them. Matt had his arm back in top form for this last season. He had the highest batting average on the team most of the time. He hit triples and doubles pretty often and was robbed of a home run or two by inches several times. He had good plays at short stop. Watching the boys play and read each other from playing with each other for years was a lot of fun. I will miss it next Summer when it is time for baseball season to start. We all will.

At the end of the season we had one more get together at a restaurant to say good bye to everyone and give appreciation to the coaches and recognition to the boys for their hard work. It was a fun night. One of the parents made each of the boys a poster of them in their uniform for their rooms. There was a slide show of all the boys, and lots of pictures on the tables to look at while we visited and ate dinner. I am sure we will run into them and keep in touch over the years but it is an end of an era for sure. I have really come to love baseball and appreciate it. I love a quite baseball field in the morning with the sound of the team warming up and the sun shining on the grass.

Here are some pictures from the season.

Coach Jimmy and the original kids he started with. Matt, Aiden, Jake, and Cam
We had lots of meals together between games.
Lots of gorgeous sunrises and sunsets.
Campbell had a tournament at the same place we were and came over when she was done.
This is the day Matthew wore the wrong uniform. He called and told me he didn’t look like the other kids.
This is the core group that we spent our weekends with.

Here are some cool action shots, thanks to our photography parents.

Turning a double play.

Running the bases, trying to catch Ramey.

Catching the pop fly.

Getting the out.

Making it look good. 🙂

This is getting on the field in position first.

Getting runs in. His speed was top notch this season too.

Beating the runner.

Crushing it.

And…stealing bases.

For one of the games we were so far ahead of the other team, the coach let everyone pick the position they wanted to try for a few innings. Matt went with pitching.

Family Pictures 2024

Since we were doing Matthew’s senior pictures it was a good time to update our family pictures too. The ones I had hanging on my wall were a few years old. Kids getting older and going through puberty make it looks like even longer. So we got everyone’s pictures taken. I think they turned out pretty wonderfully. I love my sweet family.

Matthew’s Senior Pictures

It was time to get Matthew’s Senior Pictures taken shortly after school started. He has to have his picture turned in by December 1st for the yearbook. I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to get them scheduled and edited before the deadline. I wanted Summer/Fall pictures too. Matt doesn’t love taking pictures but he was a good sport about it for the most part. He tolerated three outfit changes and two separate sessions taking about two hours total. He doesn’t think they are that big of a deal and would have not done them at all but his mother is a picture taker and documenter so I wanted them and wouldn’t take no for an answer. They turned out great. I was very happy with them. I have such a handsome son. 😊 Matthew’s reaction didn’t include many words but I think he was happy with how they turned out too. Here they are!

September

September is one of my favorite months, and not just because it is my birthday. Its a little bit of a chill month. And usually the weather is beautiful, cooler and still pretty. Sometimes the leaves start changing at the end but this year was pretty warm so it was almost end of October before they started. Fall is just my favorite. I really like all the seasons and maybe they are all my favorite when they start, but I think Fall is my favorite right now…since it is Fall.

Per my request, Ryan took me to a Royals game with our friends the Gudjenov’s for my birthday. It was a great game, great company, fun environment and good food. Turning 43 wasn’t bad at all. I highly recommend it.

Emilee opted to not do softball for the Fall. She stuck with horse lessons and piano. She still loves horse riding and looks forward to her lesson every week. She is pushing to quit piano right now. I am letting her take a little break and then hoping she gets back into it.

Allison took a break from extra curricular activities for the first time…ever. She wants to start doing a weight training program but we are still discussing which one to do. She is going to help with wrestling at the middle school which starts mid October and is followed immediately by HS wrestling so she will be busy again before to long.

Of course football started. Matthew and Ryan both are in a few different fantasy football leagues. They love it and look forward to it all year. This picture is his school buddies that he does a league with each year. They get together and draft their teams and eat way to many donuts and junk food.

Homecoming was in September this year, I think it is a little early but nobody asked me. Matthew went to his last Homecoming with Campbell. Ramey and Ellie doubled with them. They took pictures while the sun was still up, then they changed into casual clothes and went to dinner at Taco Bell. Then it was off to the football game. Shortly before the game ended they went to change into their dance outfits again and then went back to the school for the dance. After the dance they hung out at Ellie’s house and played games. Matthew is still growing pretty fast and starting to put on weight too. The pants he is wearing he at the end of July for senior pics with Campbell. Just two months later he barely fit into them!

While Matthew was at his last Homecoming, Allison was at her first!! She went with a couple friends and had a fun time. We had pizza at out house for dinner and pre-game hanging out. She went to the football game with her friend Olivia and met other friends at the game. They came over to our house and got ready at half time and then I took them back to the dance. After the dance she spent the night at Olivia’s. Allison looked beautiful and so did her friends. I think they had a fun time at their first official high school dance.

Left to right-Olivia, Addie, Kylie and Allison

Each year at the high school they have FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes). It is several school districts in the area that get together and do it and Spring Hill hosted this year. One of Matthew’s best friends, Ramey, spoke at it and several other people he knew participated in it. Matthew and Allison both went but this is the only picture I got from it. I am really glad Matthew has always picked good friends that have good morals and values. He has a great group of friends- boys and girls- that really support each other and are good kids.

First Day of the 2024-2025 School Year

It was a big year for the kids in school this year!

Emilee is officially a middle schooler now. She started at Forest Spring Middle School. Because of our move she is attending a new middle school that Matt or Allison didn’t attend so she gets to blaze her own path. She was a little nervous to start without really knowing people. It was hard to not be going to the middle school most of her friends were at. She was a good sport about it and crushed her first day. She even made a few friends right away because she was pretty good at opening lockers so she helped some girls around her a few times. She was most excited about her FACS class and engineering class. She catches a bus each morning which I think she likes because she is on her own schedule and doesn’t have to wait for anyone.

Allison left middle school behind and became a Freshman this year. She is planning on doing wrestling in the winter. She decided to give Spanish one more try because last year was a disaster with a new teacher that has now been fired and not a lot of Spanish was learned. She rides with Matthew and is pretty gracious with accepting that she is the Freshman and he is the Senior so she doesn’t get to pick the music or where they park. She started seminary this year and has done great at getting up and getting there on time. She likes to be in the know so she is quickly learning every person in the schools name. She has a good group of friends that seem to get along pretty good for the most part. She would love to get a job and is keeping her ears open but opportunities are a little scarce for 14 year olds.

I remember when Matthew was in kindergarten they called them the class of 2025 and I thought I had forever until then. Now it is here and it doesn’t seem like it took forever at all. He has the confidence of a senior that has high school figured out…but is in no hurry to graduate yet. He should have 9-12 college credits when he graduates and could take a few less classes his last semester but he loves weights and lifetime fitness so much he is going to take them. He has Campbell and a solid group of friends that keep him busy along with his part time job at Costa Vida. Seniors had a first day of school sunrise event that he went to the first day. We are all going to try and make the most out of his last year in HS and enjoy all the things. Starting with senior pictures which he is not as excited about but his mother has told him are very required. I know his eyes are closed in most of these pictures. These were the best our of the 20 options I took. He said, “Its ok mom, it will remind me I was to tired to even open my eyes on the first day of school.”

Matthew and Campbell and a few other friends started the first week of school off by going to a Zach Bryan concert. He is one of both of their favorites. Matthew says one of his top three favorites. They had a great time and stayed up really late on a school night, just like seniors should.

Zach Bryan Concert

The End of Summer 2024

After the float trip it was pretty much time to get ready for back to school. Since we weren’t doing our own family vacation anywhere this Summer I was a little worried it would be a boring, slow Summer. It really wasn’t though. We had lots of family come visit and between camps, sports and the kids going to visit grandparents we were pretty busy.

Sherrie and Dave (Ryan’s birth mom) came up for a visit at the beginning of Summer to watch Matthew play baseball. We had some extra time between games and were right by Liberty so we went and saw the Liberty jail visitor center with them. His half brother Dave and his family came up to visit for a weekend too. They took Allison to the zoo with them on the day Emilee had a softball tournament. Emilee went home with them for a week and spent time with her cousin Lizzy and then they stayed at our house for a week too.

We squeezed Matthew getting his wisdom teeth out between baseball seasons. He recovered pretty quickly. We were very grateful for that because a week after he had them out Campbell wanted him to take pictures with her for part of her senior pictures and we were worried he would have bruising or maybe still be swollen. He was fine, still a little hard to smile a full smile but the pictures turned out great. Campbell is a sweetheart. She is outgoing and responsible and beautiful. Her and Matthew are pretty cute together.

Allison was not in a hurry to get her learners permit once she turned 14 but I was. Kansas makes them have it a full year from when they get it before it can become a limited license and they can drive themselves to school and work. Allison is young for her grade so I need her to have that before the start of next school year so she can drive herself to school. Matthew and her go together this year- which I love- it is great sibling time for them. So…we braved the stupid DMV to get her learners permit. They tried their best to be difficult. My deep breathing exercises before and during all interactions helped me remain calm. Even though we had an appointment to get a learners permit scheduled through their system they tried to tell me they wouldn’t have time to do it before they closed. Even though their computer stopped working so they thought we wouldn’t be able to finish. Even though my valid drivers license with my current address wasn’t proof enough and I had to find an electric bill that anyone could forge to prove my legal, valid, #1 source of identification drivers license did in fact have my real address on it. Even though the employee had to work until 4:32 instead of 4:30. Even through all that made up stupid drama, we all persevered, Allison passed the test, took a beautiful picture and got her learners permit! When I took these pictures in the car she told me she had used up her one good picture for the permit so this is the best I was going to get.

Ryan had a work trip to upstate New York right as school was starting. I had never been there so I decided to tag along. It is a lot different than New York City. It is a lot like Kansas. We stayed in a VRBO with his boss and a few of the other VP’s of the company. There were some other spouses that came too. There were several nice dinners, and the main work event was a day at the Saratoga Race Track watching horse races. Neither of us had ever been to a horse race so it was a cool experience. We also wrote our names on a table at one of the places we went to mark our spot in history that we were there.🤣 We had a great long weekend. We did a ferry boat tour of one of Lake George. I am glad Ryan has found a place that he loves to work at and feels pride and happiness from it. He works hard and works with good people. I am proud of him and appreciate all he does to provide for his family.

A few years back when Ryan found is biological mom and met her and more of her side of the family, he also looked into his biological dads side. His dad passed away back in the late 90’s and the only family he really has left was a sister and a cousin. Ryan didn’t reach out to either of them because he was a little overwhelmed at the time and was working through the emotions of meeting Sherrie. His information was public on the 23 and Me website so his dads cousin saw the connection and put it together and he and his aunt-Rae-Ann reached out to Ryan to see if he would be interested in meeting them. He talked with them on the phone and a few times after that as well every few months but it never worked out to meet them in person. In August he was traveling pretty close to where Rae Ann lives and he felt ok about meeting her so he reached out and they set a meeting up for an afternoon while he was in the area. He said said it was a nice afternoon and he appreciated meeting her and getting to know her and more about that part of his history from her. He plans on keeping in touch with her and his cousin going forward. Here is a picture of there first meeting. I can see a family resemblance in them.

Summer Float Trip

We didn’t do a big vacation this Summer because we are going on vacation in October together-more about that later- but we wanted to have a mini-cation together at some point this Summer. We have been wanting to do a float trip with the kids for a while so we decided it was time to do it. Ryan had a friend from work that lives by the Current river in Missouri. They have people come stay with them a lot and they have all the stuff you need to float the river. They have invited us several times and it hasn’t worked out so we decided it was a good time to do it.

The week of our trip Allison went to girls came Monday through Thursday. She was actually pretty close to were we were going to be so instead of having her drive home and then all the way back to the same place, we left on Thursday and picked her up at the camp she was at before they left to come home. She was actually at camp for her birthday. We had lots of little celebrations to celebrate her this year. Becky made her a cake and we celebrated with the rest of the KC Terry’s on Sunday before she left for camp. I sent a surprise gift bag for her to open on her actual birthday at camp. Her main gift this year was a new bed and mattress for her room. She wanted a queen bed instead of a twin. She also wanted to but some board and baton on one wall in her room and make an accent wall. We got that put up for her and painted it the blue color she wanted. Then we let her pick a place to eat out for her birthday dinner when we were on our float trip and Matthew and Emilee were back.

Matthew and Emilee came home from their Florida trip late Wednesday night and we left to get Allison Thursday morning and then go straight to the river. On Tuesday Ryan’s work buddy that was going to take us to the river and let us stay with him called and said that his wife was pretty sick with COVID and he would still let us use stuff and take us to the river but it might be best if we don’t stay at their house so we didn’t get sick. I would always rather stay at our own place than with someone so I thought it worked out great. Ryan decided to see if he could find a VRBO even though it was last minute. There were literally two options available. One was a definite no and the second was pretty new but had a handful of decent reviews. Once we gathered our kids from Florida and girls camp we headed to the Current river. We had some time to pass before we could check into our place so we stopped and watched the new movie Twisters on the way. It was pretty good. It still makes me feel old to watch ‘new movies’ that are remakes of movies that came out when I was young. After the movie stop we finished making our way to our little VRBO that the kids quickly nick named the “Crack Shack”. We were a little concerned when we pulled up. It looked a little rough from the outside. Luckily it was clean and not as bad on the inside, and had good door locks. It was literally 30 feet from a Dollar General store which is a little ghetto but very convenient. We settled in and went to dinner at an outdoor burger and ice cream stand. We watched the Olympics and played games the rest of the evening.

The next day we met Ryan’s friend and he hooked us up with all kinds of floating options. Ryan decided to get a kayak and the rest of us went with a tube. He drove us to a spot on the river to get in at and planned to meet us about 4-5 hours later at the pick up spot. Allison was a little tired from her week at girls camp and was a little less than excited about the whole trip. It took some convincing to get her to come out of her room and do anything with us the first night. With a little bit of help from us, mostly her brother Matthew, we loaded up and headed to the water. Once we got on the river it was much better. All of us loved it. The weather was great, the water was clean and a perfect temperature. It was so relaxing. We had the river to ourselves most of the time too because we went early instead of in the evening. We stopped to swim and play in the water a few times. We caught a baby turtle, saw some fun animals, got tan, and enjoyed each others company. I love float trips. It was the perfect length too. About the time we were getting tired and had run out of snacks we saw the pick up point.

After we dropped off the equipment we went home and showered and went to a pizza place that was recommended. It had potential…but they must have been short staffed and had a new cook, and something. It was comical how ridiculous it was. They only had half the items on the menu available…no pizza, which is what we went there for. Once we ordered the waitress (who had to go ask someone else about everything because she was brand new) said it would be about 45 minutes before the food was ready. We decided to try some of the games they had…the only one that worked was the dart board. That after asking almost everyone that worked there only had two working darts. They had axe throwing-another reason we went there… but it wasn’t available. When the food finally arrived it was ok. Nothing great. We decided to see if we could save the meal with shakes for dessert. After what seemed like forever waiting for the shakes we asked if they were coming and our waitress said they were almost ready. Then we watched her walk over to check on them and they must have told her to do it herself because she then went over and made them by herself one at a time. It took a while and we think it was her first time handling ice cream ever. By the time we got the shakes, the first three were liquid, two were the wrong flavor, mine was only half full and tasted like thick milk. It was so ridiculous from start to finish we just all laughed about it. We left and went back to our crack shack. The Dollar Store was still open so we got some junk food and played games the rest of the night. The next day we headed home.

It was a short but sweet vacation. Lots of little hiccups but I will still probably remember it as one of my favorite vacations with the kids. Our season of life is getting ready to change after this year. I have loved this season. I love the kids being older and a little more independent and watching their personalities develop. It is a time they are developing themselves and trying things but it is still a little bubble that their lives don’t have to much craziness or stress. They are all awesome people and I love spending time with them.

Family Visits

Last December, DeAnna called and said that her family was going to go on a trip and see some of the church history sites and asked if she could come and stay with us for a few days since we live by them. We said yes, of course.

When it got a little closer Sherri and Kenny decided they wanted to join in the fun so they asked to come visit too. So we had a party with the Terry, Cazier, and French families for a week in July. There were 11 kids and 6 adults. I am hosting Thanksgiving in November so it was a good practice run for when I have 14 kids and 10 adults here.

We had a good time. I was again a little nervous about the weather. July in Kansas does not usually encourage one to be outdoors due to the ridiculous heat and humidity so I was trying to think of good indoor things to do around here. The weather ended up being pretty awesome the whole time though. Seriously gorgeous 80 degree temps and low humidity. Everyone arrived on Thursday and Friday. Saturday we went to a park and played pickle ball for a few hours. There was a playground and baseball field that some of us played kick ball on too. Sunday we went to church and played games, jumped on the trampoline and hung out at the house. Ryan squeezed in as many games with John and sushi runs with Kenny as he could before he had to leave for a conference Sunday night. Monday we went to Liberty Missouri to see the Liberty Jail, where Joseph Smith and a few others were put in jail for false charges for several months. That night we went to a Royals game. It was a pretty exciting game. I think there were 4 maybe 5 home runs, a little drama with people getting hit by pitches that resulted in coaches getting kicked out. Between that and the stadium food it was a pretty fun night. Tuesday we went to the Spring Hill Aquatic center and spent a few hours at the pool. There was lots of games and activities at the house. I am glad we had the trampoline, it was a big hit. Hannah had a birthday while she was here too. We made her a cake and she picked what we had for dinner. It was a fun couple of days. I enjoy the chaos of big family gatherings. My kids do too. They love having cousins to play with from the time they wake up until they go to bed. The Cazier’s left Wednesday to go to Nauvoo Illinois and then home. The French’s left the next day.

Jake and Becky came that same week and were at Grandma Terry’s house. We saw them a little bit. The Bourne’s, grandparents, and Terry’s came to our house on Saturday and Sunday to hangout together. Ryan and I had Allison to ourselves for a week because Matthew and Emilee left the same day the Cazier’s did to spend a week with Grandma and Grandpa Jones. It will probably be the last time Matthew goes to spend a week with them since he will graduate and move on to other things this year. He loves going there. Grandma cooks him tons of good food, grandpa tells him funny stories, and he can walk out the door and fish in the ponds around them anytime he wants.

Liberty Jail
Kansas City Temple

Alli’s Trip

The kids all went to Florida this Summer to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Jones. Allison went first. I know my mom loves it but all my kids like going to visit too, especially Allison. She can relax and not have anyone to mother. My parents always seem to find fun places or things to do while they are there too. This year they went on a swamp tour in an airboat and held some alligators. They did some school shopping. They got hooked on the show The Flash, went swimming, baked lots of cookies and treats, and did more shopping. She flew there and back on her own. I don’t love it, but I am able to take her to the gate and my mom picks her up at the gate. While she was there is was her Aunt Rachel’s birthday so they decided to make her a video with a birthday song. I will attach it to this post for your enjoyment.

https://youtu.be/6W9G-e-jnh4?list=PLBwkO01uWtw9DJu2WA-l0-1CZ6EuoK5Kl

On a sadder note, shortly before she left, her guinea pig Peanut passed away. We had him for almost 5 years. He was the first one she got and he had a very happy life. She took amazing care of him. He had a few vet check ups and the vet always said he was well taken care of. It was all Allison. We could tell he was getting pretty old and might not be around to much longer. She spent a lot of time with him the last few days swinging in the hammock with him wrapped in a towel snuggling with her. The morning we found he had passed away Allison and I went and found a nice wooden box to bury him in. Emilee painted some wooden grave markers for him, and Matthew and dad dug a hole for him. We buried him in the flower bed by Allison’s window.

That left us with Milo. Allison watched him pretty closely and thought he was getting lonely. Guinea pigs are pretty social creatures. We discussed it for a while. Milo is three years old and I didn’t want to get another baby. I didn’t want to get another one at all, but we looked around and found a lady that had a guinea pig rescue. She had a few male guinea pigs that were about the same age as Milo. Dad and Allison took Milo over to her house to meat the different ones and see if there were any that would make a good buddy for him. There were a few solid ‘No’s’ but Milo seemed to like a chubby chill guy named Oreo. Allison brought him home and over the next few days they became the best of friends and Allison renamed him Bubbles because Oreo was to basic. All is right with the guinea pigs once again.

Bringing Oreo, soon to be known as Bubbles, home for the first time

4th of July

The city of Olathe doesn’t allow fireworks. People still do, but it limits the fun a bit. That’s why we loved going to Nebraska and having a huge firework display and doing our own right from Grandpa’s drive way. Ever since Grandma and Grandpa Terry moved to Olathe we have been anticipating a July 4th celebration at our new house! Our house is not considered inside city limits so we can light off whatever we want. Last year we lit of fireworks on the road but we didn’t have a house yet. This year we had the house!

It is always such an awesome holiday. It really is one of my favorites. It is low key and minimal prep. The point is to just relax, eat and light off fireworks. For the past few years at some point during the summer we go with Terry cousins and spend the day at World’s and Ocean’s of Fun Amusement park. Last year we didn’t go because we had a family reunion at Branson and everyone went to Silver Dollar City together instead. This year my kids were really looking forward to it and the day that worked out was July 3rd. I was a little nervous in anticipation of the heat but it ended up being a great day. It was overcast so not blistering sun and humidity but still warm enough to swim. Everyone was tall enough to go on every single ride if they wanted too for the first time too! Jovee is one of the biggest roller coaster junkies in the group and up until this year there was always one or two off limits due to height for her. Emilee has had a little anxiety about a few roller coasters since going on one when she was really young that she probably shouldn’t have. Height wise she has always been as tall as kids several years older than her. She was trying to talk herself into doing the Patriot. We got in line the first time and then when it was our turn she couldn’t do it. We watched everyone else go and then she decided she would give it another shot and the second time it was our turn she did it. She loved it and was much more relaxed about going on the rest of the rides after that. Leah is not a big roller coaster fan but for Allison’s birthday she said she would go on any ride Allison wanted her to go on with her. It was a great day. We hit all the rides we wanted then ate lunch and went to the water park side. After they were all done there we headed home with a stop at chick-fil-a on the way.

The next day we had a BBQ at our place with all the KC family and my friend Dani came with her son Ethan. We played games, ate food, went and got fireworks, set of the day time ones and then repeated it all until it was dark enough to do the night time ones. We had one small incident. The kids were lighting off smoke bombs and bottle rockets and things like that. The three youngest kids like to light smoke bombs and run through the smoke. They lit what they thought was a smoke bomb and it was but it had some firework stuff in it too. So they were all standing around it and ready to start running in the smoke and it started shooting out whistlers at them. They ran pretty quick. Luckily no one was hurt. It was a good lesson to read the entire description and always stand back even if you think it is just a smoke bomb. Other than that is was just a fun time. We topped the day off with strawberry short cake and it was another successful Fourth of July!

Matt and Carter’s Boat

A few years ago in 8th grade Matthew met his now best friend Carter. They goof around and have a lot of fun together. Carter also introduced Matthew to one of his now favorite hobbies-fishing. They love to go fishing together. Matthew told his dad he was a little disappointed “he wasn’t introduced to this amazing pass time and life saving skill years ago”. Matthew has a flare for dramatics sometimes too.

Anyway, these two have spent a lot of time fishing together and they love it. This Spring when the weather started to get nice enough to start fishing they decided to up their game. Instead of just fishing from the shore, they told me they were going to split the cost of a boat so they could boat around the lake and have access to all the fish.

So one Friday afternoon they headed off to Scheels and came back beaming from ear to ear with this lovely boat.

They went with an inflatable two person canoe. I asked Matt if they were concerned about poking a hole it when they are casting. He seemed pretty confident that neither of them would have issues but just in case they both do know how to swim. They have had some fun adventures in there canoe. One of the first times they went out Carter didn’t notice that his pole slipped off the boat and sank. He refused to give up on it so he spent the next hour or two walking around feeling with his toes until he finally found it. Matthew kept him company by fishing around him in the boat while he looked. I was also told there is a rule that all fish caught in the boat have to be documented with a picture.

This is a fishing picture from Florida when he went to see my mom, not from his boat trips.

Random…but Noteworthy

These are pictures I have that I like but didn’t really need a full post about them, or didn’t go with pictures taken at the same time that I put in other posts. So I thought I would just do a collection of them here.

This is our one and only picture from Easter 2024. As much as I love pictures and documenting events, I sometimes am horrible at taking the pictures. This was the end of the day and everyone was headed to take off their Easter clothes and I insisted on one family photo. Some of us were more willing participants than others.
Sherrie and Dave came to visit us for a weekend to watch some of Matthew’s games. We had some time to pass before a game and were right by Liberty Jail. So we went to the jail and still had time to pass. There happened to be a bazaar across the street from Liberty Jail so we walked around. They had this little selfie spot so I had them hope in for a picture.

Both of these pictures are in Utah when we were staying with DeAnna for my Grandpa’s funeral. I thought 6 people brushing their teeth in the bathroom was pretty cute. DeAnna made lots of good food while we were there too, Sherri wanted to document that ‘she can cook but chooses not to’. While we were in Utah, dad took Emilee and Matthew to their softball and baseball tournaments they had going on that weekend. They love it so much they decided to go watch a Royals game one of the nights we were gone.

I am not sure where we were coming back from…maybe the eclipse, but the girls were being a little grumpy to each other but when they fell asleep they snuggled right up to each other.

This is one of the many times we have had to rent a skid loader to do some lawn stuff. It won’t be the last either. Ryan and I take turns between freaking out about why we have so much land to take care of and someday it will be awesome.

We try and do an annual amusement park day with our cousins each year. Sometimes it ends up being in Branson and Silver Dollar City, sometimes Worlds/Oceans of Fun. It was a great time this year. Everyone is tall enough for all the rides. Jovee is the biggest adrenaline junky and finally hit the tallest minimum requirement for the rides she had been waiting to go on for years. We went on July 3rd which was begging for heat stroke, but the weather was cloudy and perfect so it was a great day.

We have had typical so hot and humid days you can barely go outside this Summer for sure but there have been a lot more than usual gorgeous beautiful weather days. This hammock is one of our favorite spots to hangout on those days.

Grandpa Jones Funeral

My sweet Grandpa Jones passed away at the end of April. He was a pretty awesome person. I wasn’t as close with him as my grandma but I loved him and know he loved me and his family. I remember lots of stories about him but you always learn and hear knew things about someone when they pass away. Everyone except two cousins were able to come to his funeral so there was a lot of memories and stories shared. He was a good example. He lead by example on how to work hard, try hard, love those around you, and do what is right. He had a witty sense of humor, loved sports and was an amazing Gardner. He hasn’t been able to keep his yard up the past few years like he used to and it was a little sad to see over grown bushes and no flowers and immaculate landscaping everywhere.

My grandma passed away two years before he did. They are my first set of grandparents to pass away. It was a bit of a different feeling at his funeral having neither of them there. It was sad when Grandma Jones died but he was still there and around. When he passed too it felt heavier because it is like the closing of their generation. More finality to it. I walked around their house and took a lot of pictures because I will probably never see it again and up to this point in my life they have always been there and been a consistent, happy, familiar, predictable piece in my life. It is like a chapter closing. I don’t know how often or if I will see a lot of the cousins and aunts and uncles again. Grandma and Grandpa were the connecting piece for us. They were both amazing people and I miss them.

This is the eulogy for my Grandpa, written by my uncle Jared and edited by all his siblings.

A few days before he passed he told his kids that he thought he was dying and wanted to say goodbye to them. They are in Utah so I didn’t get to see him but i was thinking about him a lot that week. The day he passed I was planting plants in one of our flower beds. I had been doing it long enough it was starting to be more exhausting then enjoyable and I stopped for a minute and he came to my mind and I thought about a time we went to visit and when I got out of the car he and my grandma were planting dozens of petunias together in one of their flower beds and I helped them finish. Then all of the sudden I had a distinct feeling that they were both there watching me for a minute. I felt love and concern for me from them and then it was gone. I thought it was a memory but a few hours later I got the message that he had passed earlier that day. Maybe not, but I think that after he passed grandma was waiting for him and before she took him to wherever they were going they stopped by to visit me and probably other family members that weren’t able to be there when he passed. It was definitely a unique and special feeling.

His funeral wasn’t until mid May because one of his daughters was in another country after he passed for a few weeks. I went out to his funeral and brought Allison with me. It was nice to see family and talk about grandpa. His funeral was very nice. It was a lot like grandma’s but his had a little more somber note to it like I mentioned because now they were both gone. I know we get to see them again someday and they are together now which makes me happy. Besides grandma he had four brother and both his parents waiting for him that he hadn’t see for a long time. His mom passed away pretty young so it had been over 60 years since he had seen her. I bet that was a very happy reunion. He was in the military and got a 21 gun salute at his graveside and an American flag to honor his service. That was a touching experience to witness as well. You will be missed by a lot of people Grandpa. Thank you for being a good example and good leader for your family for many generations.

This is a poem that my uncle Jared read at my Grandpa’s funeral that my grandpa wrote.

These are pictures I took of pictures that were displayed at his viewing. Several of my cousins put together 7-8 picture boards of different parts of his life. They did really good job.

The glare is a little hard but he posed for the wizard in this stain glass.
One of many picture boards to show his life story.

These are pictures from his funeral, the graveside service and his viewing. My aunt Kristin takes the pictures for everyone to have.

Before Allison and I left to come back to Kansas we went and spent some time at my Grandma and Grandpa’s house. I don’t think I will ever see it again so I wanted to walk around and sit and take pictures of things that I have always associated with their house to remember. The yard pictures don’t do it justice compared to how beautiful my grandpa kept it until he wasn’t able to anymore. Whenever we stayed at his house, he would come to the breakfast table dressed and ready to go out to the yard to work after eating a bowl of Wheaties, fresh home grown fruit and fruit juice and a slice or two of raisin bread with a healthy dab of butter spread across it.

We had many sleepouts in sleeping bags in the back yard. Grandpa often forgot to turn the sprinklers off so I remember many an early morning waking up and relocating to the living room floor soaking wet to finish the nights sleep.
This is a unique staircase. My cousins and I tried everything we could think of to use as a slide to go down them.
Hundreds of hours were spent by kids, grandkids, great grandkids, other family and friends in the orchard. Besides the swing and sandbox, golf, horse shoes, canoeing, gardening, family reunions, parties, yard games, obstacle courses, kickball, whiffle ball, and so many more activities to create lifetime memories were here.
If you sent them a picture it would be put up somewhere in the house. They had pictures of everyone everywhere.
Usually this gate would be surrounded by beautiful roses.
Lots of family visits, FHE, musical performances and other family gatherings were in this living room.
Upon arriving at their house, if they didn’t great you at the door, they were on their way to meet you here in the entry way of their house. I can still here the sound of the floor creaks from walking on this area of the house.
They had this picture framed above there fireplace for decades.

This is the program that was handed out at his funeral. I put several paper copies in my kids memory folders too.

Finishing The School Year

Allison finished up 8th grade this year! She survived middle school and is ready for her Freshman year. She did a lot during her middle school career. She tried orchestra, wrestling, weights, theater, art teachers aid, and track, all while making friends, and finding out who the good friends were and keeping up pretty good grades. She was on the honor roll each year.

Allison and Leah using their creative talents in cooking.
Last day as an 8th grader.

Emilee finished 5th grade and elementary school this year! She will be moving to a new middle school next year that neither of her siblings went to so she will blaze her own path. She finished the year with a wax museum project and finished reading the Harry Potter books. She got a bunch of books from a friend to read over the summer and she is excited to read them. She is looking forward to taking a cooking class, and engineering class in middle school. She loves to build things and see how they work. She also decided that she is ready to get contacts for next year. She doesn’t want to do orchestra or band so she is going to stick with the piano.

Multi tasking while she helps with dinner.
Wax museum-Lydia Darragh
Mrs. Tapia
Last day as a 5th grader

Matthew finished his Junior year and will be a Senior next year! He supported his high school baseball varsity team at State and they ended up taking second place. Life and our family will have some big changes when he graduates. He wants to get as much baseball in as he can over the next year. He has tournaments every weekend in June and July and then Fall ball starts in September so he will have plenty. He got a new job at Costa Vida. He loves working there because of the free or discounted food he gets. He also gets to look forward to having his wisdom teeth removed this Summer and taking his Senior pictures. We are taking a family cruise that he is helping plan in October together too.

Heading to his work interview-looking spiffy
this is a favorite picture of mine with Matthew

Ready for Spring

Once Spring started making its appearance we did a few projects on the outside of the house. We put in the flower beds, lined them and filled them with rocks. We got the front flower beds planted. We will keep working on them a each year. We have a plan but it is a few year plan before it will be all done. We got some patio furniture so we can enjoy our deck and the patio. One of my favorite things we did was hang patio lights from the ceiling and hung up a hammock. It is so relaxing. We love it! For our house warming gift Ryan’s parents gave us a blackstone grill. We have family gatherings and do cookouts with it a lot. The kids have been requesting a trampoline and we got that so there would be more to do outside. Fall and Spring will be really nice to use outside. Once it gets hot it gets a little buggy and is not so great but I love having some outdoor spaces to enjoy!

This is pictures of out patio lights and a rainbow we saw from our deck one night.

Mother’s Day this year was nice. Ryan and the kids made me dinner and spoiled me on Sunday. The day before we did a family service project for the local food pantry. It has been a while since we have done it and Ryan and I felt like we were due for some service. This time we went to one in Lawrence Kansas. The Harvester truck brought a bunch of food to a local church and unloaded it. The volunteers divided it up and got ready to disperse it, then a line of cars came through and we loaded it into each car. We all enjoyed it. We need to get back into it as a regular thing that we do. We went to lunch together after that and then the kids helped me plant another flower bed for part of their Mother’s Day to me. It is so nice having grown children to help with projects. It saves my back a lot!

Of course with Spring the kids started their Spring sports. Allison is finishing up her gymnastic season about the time school ends. She had sever meets and got a personal best on the bar 9.5. It was pretty awesome to see her! She added a few new flips to her floor routine that she learned as well. In the Fall she thought this might be her last season for gymnastics, but as it got closer to the end she decided she wasn’t quite ready to be done. She has at least one more year in her! After the last meet they did the end of the year banquet. They had Mexican food and cake for dessert. The girls all dressed up and seemed to have a fun time. She got the “Tootsie Roll” reward for being able to roll with whatever she is doing at the gym. She was also voted by her team to win the Spirit Award because she is always positive and helps keep everyone focused during practice and meets. She is pretty awesome. Allison excels and puts full effort into whatever she does. She is a great leader and her dad and I were proud of her for showing that this year in gymnastics. It made us happy that her team recognized it in her too.

Matthew played for his High School team this year during the Spring. He played for JV as the short stop, and the coaches also took him to varsity games to help and fill in where they needed him. The varsity team made it to state again this year. Matthew went with them. Last year they lost the first game but this year they made it to the final game and ended up taking second. Matt loves baseball and loves to play as much as he can. There is some school politics that make the high school season not as fun but he had a good time. He was really excited to get into the competitive season with his regular team. His arm was back to full mobility in February and he worked on the strength side of it through the last semester. He was hitting well but his strength really started coming back and he started hitting some bombs at the beginning of his competitive season. His strength isn’t 100% yet but it coming back quick. He is consistently hitting doubles and triples and even got a home run during one of his HS games. It is fun to watch your kids do something they love.

High school baseball pictures

This is his FBC team

Emilee played softball again this Spring. Her team last year split in half and some stayed rec and some tried competitive. Emilee decided to try competitive. She decided to pick the same number as Matthew and she loved doing batting practice and playing catch with him. If he was able to come to her games she always came up to say hi and was super excited he was there. She played mostly short stop, center field or 1st base. She improved a lot and had a good time. Her team ended up getting 4th in the division they played in.

Eclipse

In April of this year there was a total lunar eclipse crossing the united states. It was similar to the one that was about 7 years ago that we went up to Lincoln Nebraska to see. Sherrie and Dave Torgerson’s house in Dardenelle Arkansas was in the direct path and they were going to have totality for almost 5 full minutes. We decided to take a very quick mini-cation and drive down Sunday afternoon to see it with them on Monday and then come home Monday afternoon. There were lots of family there which meant lots of cousins to play with. The weather was great so the kids got out water balloons and played a lot of games outside.

Allison and one of her besties Allie Sluga went on a little trip together. Allie invited her to go to the Ozarks with her and her grandparents took them for a few days. They had lots of girl time and did lots of shopping together.

I thought this was a good spot to put this picture showing Allison’t makeup talents. She is the Lorax, keeper of the trees.

Allison got one of her best scores on the beam at her last gymnastic meet this year. She got a 9.5!!

Matthew had his Junior Prom this year. He went with Campbell. They both looked great! It was a little crazy helping him get measured for a tux and getting the flowers and plans ready. Time really does fly when your kids grow up. They went in a group with his friends Ramey and Nick. They took pictures at a winery before they went to dinner at an Italian restaurant. Then they stopped by our house for a few minutes before they went to the dance. When the dance was over they came home and changed then went to the after party. It was at Chicken and Pickle. It was a great place for the afterparty. Unlimited chicken fingers and pickleball to play. Matthew won a few rounds and got some of the prizes for pickle ball.

This is a side by side of their first dance together- Freshman year Homecoming dance, and Junior Prom.

Spring Break

Spring Break was a week earlier than it usually is for us. That might not seem like a big difference but in Kansas in the Spring that makes a big difference as far as temperature. For the first part of our Spring Break, Kenny and Sherri came to stay with us for a few days. It wasn’t quite warm enough to do a lot of yard things but Sherri helped me make a plan, and we picked out the rocks and plants to put in when it got warm enough a few weeks later. A house surrounded by three acres of mud gets messy really quick so we were anxious to get some landscaping in.

We did some shopping and visiting and went to dinner a few times while they were here too. Allison is great at babysitting and her and Emilee both enjoy spending time with cousins. KJ showed us real quick how un-baby proof our house is now.

Ryan had to go to a conference in Omaha for work for the last part of our Spring Break. On the last day of his conference, the kids and I drove up and we had a fun mini-cation in Omaha Nebraska. We stayed in a hotel for two nights. When we got there and checked in the first thing we did was an escape room. One of the family Christmas gifts we got was a “family escape room night” and we hadn’t done it yet. We picked a room with a batman theme that had a 17% success rate. I thought is was a lot of fun. Each of us picked a piece of the puzzle and worked on it. Allison solved hers then jumped to someone else and helped them finish. She could have easily finished it by herself. It is fun to see how her brain works through things. By the end the puzzle Matthew had was the last one and tricky because it seemed like we didn’t have all the info we needed but we had found all the clues. Someone finally came on the intercom and told us that we were missing half of his puzzle because one of the keys we found accidently opened two things instead of just one and we used it to open the one it shouldn’t have been able to open, so we thought we had found all the clues but had missed one. Once we figured that out and found the other half we solved it with time to spare. Technically they said since they had to help us we didn’t get a free t-shirt. I think since it was an error in their puzzles that required them to help us that shouldn’t have counted. Ryan and I didn’t debate with them though so our kids didn’t have to crawl under a table and die from embarrassment. We went and got dinner then tried out an ice cream place right by our hotel that turned out to be delightfully delicious. Later that night we went and saw Kung-Fu Panda in the movie theater together.

The next day we went to the Omaha Zoo. The last time we went to the zoo as a family we were still in the stroller, carrying snacks and hungry, hot, or need to use the bathroom every five minute stage. It was a fun time and we saw lots of animals but after a full day at the zoo, there was still a lot of zoo left to see and everyone was exhausted. Let me tell you, going to the zoo with three grown children is A-MAZ-ING! If anyone wanted to carry something they carried it themselves. We ate breakfast before we went and planned on getting lunch there. However, we were able to walk through the entire zoo and see everything we wanted to see in a few hours. By the time we were hungry we were done and went and found a restaurant outside the zoo. We picked a Mexican restaurant called Mexicity. It was a local restaurant and we could barely understand the owner because of his accent but he made delightful authentic Mexican food. It was so good. All of us practically licked our plates clean. A few months later we still talk about how good it was. A little hidden gem in Omaha Nebraska. Who would have guessed!?

After dinner we headed back to our hotel and stopped at the ice cream place on the way again. They had some different flavors than the day before so we each got something different to try and share. We played games at the hotel lobby that night, then headed home the next morning. We usually get two rooms when we stay in hotels now. The kids share a room and Ryan and I get our own. Everyone get a bed and everyone is happy. It was a pretty fun trip.

Hiding, Hoops and Horses

We have been trying to have a family game night once a week or so. It is a little tricky because all of us have to much going on but we do what we can. Sometimes it is a board game or card game but one night Emilee requested we play hide-n-seek. The last time we played it took all of us almost an hour to find Matthew. He was still small enough to fit under the sink in a bathroom and none of us even thought to look. So he was our current hide-n-seek champion. Allison claimed the thrown this time though. After a few rounds, it was dads turn to find everyone. Allison, requested a little assistance to get up in her spot. She was the last to be found and it took a little clue for dad to see her. Can you see her?

Matthew kept himself busy with the Stake basketball tournament on the weekends in February. The first week we went to our new ward they announced it then were moving on because they assumed no one wanted to play since they had passed on participating the year before. Matthew looks forward to this every year though so he boldly raised his hand and said he wanted to play. The bishopric said they would find another ward or two to combine with so they could have a full team so he could play. He immediately wished he had kept his mouth shut and just played with Heritage Park Ward again. Despite combining with two other wards, when he went to the first game, there was only three of the required five minimum players needed for a team. They borrowed a few people from other teams and had a game. After that Matt just brought his own friends from school to play. They won a few games but usually lost. Ryan coached them when he was home otherwise it was just them, I was usually the only person that came to cheer them on. Not the greatest year of Stake basketball but they had fun. He likes playing basketball for fun not competitively so he has a good time. This picture is the score when they played Heritage Park. They actually held their own pretty good up to half time. Then they got smoked.

Emilee was excited the weather was warmer than usual for February because she got to start her riding lessons back up sooner. She still loves it and looks forward to her lesson every week. There is a new horse called Artemis that is a bit of a stinker to most riders but he and Emilee get along really well so she is always happy when she gets to ride him.

Valentine’s Day

This was our last year with a kiddo in elementary school. That means it was the last year we had to make a valentine box (at the very last minute because they changed their mind and do want to bring one) to take to school to collect all your valentines. Emilee made her own box out of a clothes box and other items she found in the wrapping paper drawer.

It was a low key day. Ryan was actually out of town for work so he took me on a Valentine’s date later that week. We got a few treats for breakfast for the kids valentine gift. I also told them they could all request as many hugs and kisses and they wanted all day long (lets be honest, they can do that everyday) but they didn’t take me up on it as much as I wanted.

Super Bowl!

The Chief’s were in the Super Bowl AGAIN this year! They have made it twice in a row before but never won it twice in a row. There were some very excited people in our family to watch the Super Bowl.

The day of the game Allison had a gymnastic meet. She was first thing in the morning but they had meets that went all day…into Super Bowl time. Ryan was just flabbergasted that anyone would schedule something on Super Bowl day that would conflict with the game. I told him they scheduled these meets months if not a year or more in advance. He maintained that everyone knows the day of the Super Bowl and they scheduled it to be stinkers. I suggested not everyone is into football as him and might not plan their life around it. I don’t think I convinced him that some people don’t know when the Super Bowl is let alone not watch it. He said, “Its basically a national holiday.”

Anyway, we cheered Allison on at her meet and she did great. Here is a video of her floor routine.

https://youtu.be/6vGswWr27gA?list=PLBwkO01uWtw9DJu2WA-l0-1CZ6EuoK5Kl

The day before Allison and Leah made lots of yummy treats for the Super Bowl. After her meet we went home and got the food and everything ready. Grandma and Grandpa and Ross and Lauren’s family came over to watch. We all made some food and had some good eating options. There was a list of who was bringing what and Matthew added a few of his own contributions to it. I thought is was funny so I took a picture.

It was a great game and spoiler alert- The CHIEFS WON! BACK TO BACK SUPER BOWL WINS! It was very exciting. I took a video of the last play right before they won in overtime. There was lots of cheering, lots of fireworks going off, and a city parade a few days later that they called off school so everyone could celebrate. They actually tried not to cancel school but they have done it in the past for other parades and the precedent had been set. They had so many teachers/staff calling in for subs they ended up just having to cancel school all together. We didn’t go to the parade but we enjoyed the day off!

https://youtu.be/aNixajtBMvM?list=PLBwkO01uWtw9DJu2WA-l0-1CZ6EuoK5Kl

The Mini-cation Idea

So, buying a house is pretty expensive. We new this. It is still a bit overwhelming sometimes though. Everything in our lives right now is expensive. So we have been trying to stick to a budget and watch our finances pretty close. Ryan and I both like to go on vacations. It is something we both look forward too and having a trip planned is a big motivational carrot for us. Vacations are expensive too. So we decided that for the next little bit while we are getting everything settled and taken care of with the new house and other life expenses since we need to put a pin in bigger trips that we want to go on someday we are going to do mini trips. Then we still have something to look forward to without breaking the bank.

The first one we took was in February. We took a long weekend and went to see my sister Sherri and Kenny in their new house in Dallas Texas. The bonus was my Grandma June was flying in to see her too, on the way to spend a month with my mom in Florida. Double bonus- my mom came to meet my grandma and stay with Sherri for a bit too. So the kids took Friday off of school and we left Thursday evening after all the kids activities were done. We drove about half way and then stayed the night at a hotel. After breakfast the next morning we finished the last few hours and were enjoying Casa De French by early afternoon.

My mom was already there so the 5 of us went to dinner that night and did an Escape Room together. It was pretty fun. Allison supervised the girls and kept a close eye on KJ for us while we were gone. Occasionally she let Matthew watch KJ. She is a pretty awesome babysitter.

The next day we went on a little drive to see Fort Worth. There were lots of long horned steer to see and shops and even a few shows to watch. Emilee and Sherri road a mechanical bull, and the kids and a few adults raced to see who could finish a maze first. It was a cool place to check out. It was early February and the weather was pretty nice.

Emilee’s mechanical bull riding experience:

https://youtu.be/gPvJWezc6Zc?list=PLBwkO01uWtw9DJu2WA-l0-1CZ6EuoK5Kl

My grandma flew in about mid afternoon so my mom, Sherri and I went to the airport to pick her up and everyone else went home. My grandma was a little nervous because she has never flown anywhere by herself. We had is set up like when a kids flies alone. Someone walked her to her gate and got her on the plane and then Sherri was going to meet her at the gate in Dallas when she got off the plane so she wouldn’t be by herself. She is starting to have a little bit of dementia as well so we didn’t want her to be alone navigating an airport for the first time in her life anymore than she did. We got to the airport and my mom and I went to wait in baggage claim. Sherri went to get a gate pass to wait at the gate for her. Things went downhill from there. Sherri got a gate pass but then security wouldn’t accept it. By the time she got back to the airline and called to have them bring Grandma to us in baggage claim, Grandma was no longer there and ‘someone’ had already taken her to baggage. My mom and I were in baggage claim though and Grandma was no where to be seen. The airport just lost her! We got to see a little bit of the Sherri fire that is always exciting to witness. It used to be free and often out of control when she was younger. Now as an adult she has harnessed the rage and controls it quite well. If she chooses to use it, it is something to witness. She let them know how she felt about them loosing her sweet 85 year old grandma with dementia in a GIANT airport. Meanwhile, we kept calling her cell phone and she finally answered and told us she was watching the traffic drive by. Someone had put her in a wheelchair, gotten her luggage (without going to baggage claim somehow?!?!?) and wheeled her outside to the curb and deposited her on a bench by the pickup lanes. It was a little stressful but we were very glad to find her, she was very glad we found her, and we all went back to Sherri’s. We spent the night visiting and made tacos for dinner and watched a movie together.

We had to leave the next morning to get back for work and school. My mom and grandma stayed with Sherri for another week then went back to Florida. It was a fast but fun get away.

I like traveling with our kids. For the most part we chat a little, read, nap, do our own thing but we like eating together. So it is fun to decide on a place to eat and then visit together while we eat and travel. It is wonderful to have a third driver now too. Matthew drove almost half the way there and it is awesome.

It was a successful mini-cation!

Allison is happier then she looks. 🙂
Escape Room- we won!
Aubry and Emi
Four Generations in this picture!

January 2024

If I looked back at my other posts from January I would bet that they say something to the effect that it is kind of a boring month but I love it because after the holidays I need a month of boring.

This year was not different. Relative to our usual schedule of kids activities and normal life events going on it was pretty slow. I loved it, and I needed it! There will still be some rearranging but I was able to go through each room and at least get the initial unpacking and organization done so everything is pretty functional. I did a little more decorating. Found some rugs, got a few things like and end table, bookcase and barstools. I hung up most of the pictures. I want to do another picture wall in the basement but I don’t have a solid plan in my head yet so I just keep thinking about it for now.

An usual change for me though was I got into plants. I like plants but as far as having live plants in my house I have never been interested because the few times I have been given a plant it doesn’t last to long. My sweet mom would give me starter plants after I got married and then they would die. She eventually gave up. I have just not had the desire or energy (I know it doesn’t take a ton but it requires some attention) to take care of them. Maybe now that my kids are older and a little more self sufficient I have enough band width to add some plants. So I did! I love them. They make me happy and don’t feel like a burden at all. The first one I got was a bit of an impulse buy from a store that doesn’t really have plants they just had a few randomly. I say that because so far it is the one that is struggling and I would normally think it was because I don’t really care to figure out why, but that is not the case. I think there was something in the soil or it wasn’t that healthy when I got it. I am still hopeful that it will turn around and make it but time will tell. After I got the first one I went and got a few more. Ryan took one to work and the rest I put around the house. I want to get more but I am making myself wait and not go crazy. The kids think I am a little silly but I like them. They don’t talk back or sass me either! Here are my plants I got. I repotted them and gave them all new soil and food and a nice sunny spot (or not sunny if they prefer) to grow. Three of the four are thriving and growing for sure. Crossing my fingers for the fourth but I am already way ahead of my past track record.

We had a few guests in January! Our first visitor was Sherrie. The girls stayed in Arkansas for a few days with her after New Years so she brought them back up and stayed the night with us.

A few weeks later Ryan’s best friend Mike Johnson came for a weekend. Those two are quite a pair. They love to get as much sports watching, eating, and talking in as they can whenever they get together.

It had been a bit to long since we had gotten out our Terry Family Growin’ Board and measured everyone. We got it out of storage when we moved so we measured the kids in January. Everyone had done some significant growing, Matthew hit a milestone he has been waiting on for a long time. He is the tallest in the family. He officially passed his dad in height. He is still growing so he is hoping to increase that lead by another inch or two.

Allison had two gymnastic meets in January. One at the beginning and one towards the end. The first one she had a few mess ups and wanted to just forget it. She still had some good moments but we can focus on the second one. Here are some pictures. I wish I had a parent photographer that takes amazing pictures for everyone on the team like I had for Matthew’s baseball but so far it is just my limited skills that are available. I tried to get some good action ones because we had pretty good seats at this meet.