Allison – Page 3 – Terry Family Shenanigans

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Last Days of Summer

After celebrating Grandma and Grandpa’s 50th Anniversary we had a few days of Summer left before school started. We did school shopping and back to school nights. Aaron’s birthday this year was a pretty rainy day. We decided to go see him anyways. Our original plan was to go to the temple and do baptisms that day but Matthew had some doctor appointments and was still pretty limited to being up and about a lot so we bumped that and did it with Grandpa and a friend of Allison’s later. Ryan’s brother David and his wife Jen came up to KC one night and took us to dinner.

Our house was moving along but not ready to move into yet so we stayed at our rental and started another year of school. Matthew had surgery at the end of August on his elbow. They had to reattach some tendons and bone and he was pretty out of it for a few days. Now he is working on getting back into shape for baseball in the Spring.

My sister Sherri got a big promotion at work so DeAnna and I decided to send her a congratulation gift. We settled on a Potato Parcel. It is literally a potato that we had a picture and message printed on. Can’t get more unique than that. We think she liked it.

Then school started!!! Matthew is a Junior. Allison is in 8th grade. Emilee is in 5th grade. This is the last year with one in each school. Next year will be down to only two schools for a while. It was a bit of a rough start, the girls bus driver was new and it took a bit for her to get the girls picked up and to the right school then dropped off at the right spot after school. Matthew missed some school with surgery and Dr appointments. A few weeks in we started to get into our school grove.

Allison’s 13th Birthday!

After our family trip to Gulf Shores this Summer the girls went to visit my parents in Florida. The girls and Matthew if he can squeeze it in like to go spend a week or two with them each Summer. This Summer the girls went together and spent a week and a half enjoying all the fun things Florida has to offer. They spent time playing with cousins, swimming, going to the zoo, a dolphin watching cruise and late night movies.

A few days after the girls got back we celebrated Allison’s birthday #13! Welcome to your teenage years Allison! She had a sleepover with her friend they went shopping. We had a family dinner with the Kansas Terry’s on Sunday. Dad and I got her a new bike but then she decided she wanted to keep using her dads bike and just get some cool accessories for it. She has been into biking lately so she wanted a phone holder, water bottle holder, and a tracking thing that tells her how far she bikes, tracks her route, tells her how hard she was peddling, things like that. She is also trying to collect a huge collection of squishmallows so she got a few more of those for her birthday as well.

She went with a chocolate cake and right before we blew out the candles she asked me to put a turtle on it. Between Lauren, Ross, and I we were able to draw a turtle on her cake with a poop emoji (Allison’s favorite emoji) for her to blow candles out. I used sparkler candles that are harder to blow out which of course she loved.

Allison is an amazing young women and I am glad I get to have her for my daughter. She is one of the most creative people I know. She is funny and has a quick wit. We were going somewhere in the car the other day and I said I needed to grab a protein bar because I didn’t eat lunch. We started driving and I opened the bar and for some reason it was half the size they usually are and looked pretty pathetic. Allison looked at it and without missing a beat said, “Looks like your protein bar didn’t eat lunch either.”

When she does something she puts 100% of her effort into it. I love watching her grow up and developing her talents and I am excited to see what she does in the next few years. Happy Birthday Allison!

June 2023

Three kids and building a house can keep a person pretty busy in the Summer. As I mentioned in the last post, the girls started their Summer off with a Girl Scout Camp. Matthew started his off with High Adventure in Colorado with the other boys in our church ward his age. They went to the sand dunes and hiked those, and the mountains. They were camped right in the middle of the two. They went white water rafting one day as well. This is his third year of going. He has had a great time each year.

One of Allison’s favorite things to do is shop. She has been doing a little more babysitting lately. She is a really fun babysitter. Way better than I ever was. She always comes up with fun games and scavenger hunts and the kids she watch always have a great time. She watched Emilee and her friend Ethan a lot this Summer. This is a giant gumball machine she found on one of her shopping adventures spending her hard earned money.

Ryan and I had a few adventures in June too. We went to Las Vegas with our friends Dani and RJ. We had a pool day, exploring day and ate at some fun restaurants while we visited and enjoyed our quick weekend getaway together.

Emilee’s one wish for her Summer was to go to a horse camp. She did that at the end of June. She has been doing her regular riding lesson each week still but she wanted to have a full week of riding everyday. The last day they did a horse show for the parents to show what they learned. She had a great time. She still loves horses and hopes to get her own someday.

Another activity Emilee loves and looks forward to each and every Summer is sleeping in. She loves to sleep and would sleep until noon everyday if we let her. Dad had to wake her up one morning “early” which means before 9AM and he thought it was hilarious getting her to wake up. She wanted nothing to do with it.

Matthew kept busy with work and baseball and weight lifting after he got back from High Adventure. He went to FSY towards the end of June. It was in Warrensburg MO at the college there. He was able to room with his cousin Ethan and several of his other good friends were there. He said it was a fun time and one of his favorite parts was the testimony meeting the last night they were there. That makes me happy that he went and had a good experience.

Matthew and Carter making cooking to entertain themselves one afternoon.

Allison went to another girls camp at the end of June with two of her friends from school that are also in her troop. It was in Tulsa Oklahoma. I picked them up and they told me all about it on the way home. They had a mean counselor, it was ridiculously hot and the food was awful but they still had a great time together. Allison wore a swim suit that had the American flag on it and got the nick name Ms America for it. She came home with an American flag cowgirl had covered in sequence do go along with her nick name. She loved it.

Here are some random other pictures I have from this month that I’ll add to the end of this post.