While Matthew started the MTC the girls started school! Allison is a soft more at Spring Hill High School. She is taking honors math and chemistry and an AP History class. She is planning on wrestling in the winter. Emilee is a 7th grader at Forest Springs Middle School. She is excited for math, spanish and her engineering class. She is doing club softball and still doing her riding lessons. Hopefully they will both have busy fun school years!
This is last Summer but I wanted to make sure it is in one of my books. This is from our back porch. I love our view and seeing the beautiful sky.
We went to a karaoke bar for Ryan’s birthday. They had a band playing for part of the night and the friends we were with had them announce happy birthday to Ryan. He was thrilled and loved getting to sing-If I Had A Million Dollars.
I got these pretty flowers for my porch but they blooms only lasted like a day and I kept cutting the dead ones off every morning and was frustrated they didn’t last very long. Then somewhere in the cobwebs of my brain I remembered that some flowers close up at night and then open in the day. So I waited a little longer and then went out and checked them and sure enough they had opened and looked beautiful! I’m glad I remembered before I cut off perfectly good flowers all summer.
Allison went on a youth temple trip.
Found this sign above a drinking fountain in Emilee’s softball facility. It is now one of my favorite quotes to share with my children.
Emilee went to her first church girls camp and had a great time. The food was ‘tolerable’ the weather was 80’s-AMAZING, the cabins were air conditioned and there was a lot of fun activities!
Memorial Day weekend usually feels like the kick off to Summer for us. This year is was cold and rainy, so it was a bit of a ‘waawaa’ kick off but it was still Summer! The first few weeks were unusually cool and lots of rain, it wasn’t really hot until almost the end of June, we still squeezed in fun stuff.
Allison started her Summer with Girl Scout Day camp. She was a youth leader again this year so they had a few sleep overs in addition to just the day camp that the younger girls do. The theme this year was the Lorax from Dr Suess and Allison kept her streak of winning the swap award for her creative swaps she makes. They recommend bring 10-20 swaps. Allison always makes about 100 and this year she came home and made more because people were seeking her out wanting her swaps and she ran out.
After GS camp, she had a wrestling camp that she did. then she was off to Florida for a few weeks to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa Jones. They love having her and she loves going.
When she got back from Florida, her and Leah had a Creative Camp for kids age 4-12 that they planned and did together. They did a really good job. They had 10 kids sign up and their crafts were pretty awesome. I was impressed with their organization and planning and carrying the whole thing out. They are both really great with kids.
Emilee has been reading, hanging out with friends and swimming as much as she can. She started the Summer by going to Arkansas and spending the week with her cousin Lizzy at her house and then a few days at Mimi’s house. They have a pool in their back yard so they love being able to swim whenever they feel like it. She has been playing softball. She did a rec team this year, and quickly decided that she would rather do a competitive team again so we signed her up for tryouts in July.
When she got back from Arkansas she had horse camp for a week. She still enjoys it but she is becoming a fair weather horse rider. If it is to hot or to cold she would rather pass. We will see how much longer she is interested in it.
Shortly after Allison got back from Florida, her and Matthew headed out and spent a week there. She loves going to Florida too. Grandma makes them all kinds of yummy foods, stays up late watching shows and movies, and takes them swimming and to fun places around Tampa. Kenny and Sherri visited for a few of the days while Matt and Emilee were in Florida so they got to see them and spend time with cousins too. Matt kicked Sherri’s butt in pickle ball a half dozen times and then she made him play her left handed and ended up beating him by a hair. She talks about beating him in pickle ball now…but doesn’t mention the first 6 games.😂😉
Matthew has been enjoying his Summer before he heads to Brazil on his mission. We have been getting all his clothes and supplies that he is supposed to bring gathered together. His friends Carter left on his mission at the end of June so they spent as much time hanging out, playing games, eating Costa Vida, and fishing as they could. He has done some odd jobs for people to earn a little money, been a huge help in getting the girls to and from their activities, and playing some baseball.
His FBC team decided to do a handful of tournaments this Summer. We didn’t think they would but enough of them were around for the Summer that it ended up working out. His competitive team is way more fun than high school, it has been fun to see them playing together and having a good time. Coach Jimmy has been his coach since 5th grade. He has spent hundreds of hours coaching and practicing. He has been an amazing coach.
He also loves going to Tampa to spend time with the grandparents. He has a fishing pole he keeps at their house and they have a lake right by them so he can literally walk out the front door and fish anytime he wants. Grandma keeps a steady supply of ice cream and other treats for him too.
June has flown by. This summer is going way to fast, and I don’t think it is going to slow down. We are trying to make the most of it and enjoy every minute together before Matt leaves.
January was a typical January this year. There were a lot of social media comments and jokes about how January is a 12 years long, never ends and the most miserable month of the year. I don’t think that. February seems longer to me, ironic since it is the shortest month of the year. I get why people struggle though. It is a long cold and dreary month. I am ready for the calm boringness after several months of go go go with the holidays. We had a few things that spiced the month up though.
RJ and Dani decided we should all go to a show together at the Kaufmann Center downtown. They had never been and it had been a long time for us. We all went to Chicago together. I had seen the movie, never the play. I think the play was a lot better. It was a nice adult date night down town. Allison watched their son and dogs overnight at their house and Matthew and Emilee watched each other so we stayed downtown and used hotel points after the show. It was nice to not have to drive all the way home afterwards.
The following weekend was Ryan’s works holiday party. They rented out a speak easy under the KC Hotel downtown with a roaring twenties theme. It was pretty fun, everyone dressed up and had a good time. We were going to stay in the hotel that night too but mid week Ryan got sick and we didn’t know if we were going to be able to go or not so we canceled it just in case. Luckily he was better and we got to go. It is a pretty fun hotel but I didn’t mind coming home since we had stayed downtown the weekend before. I was talking to the new marketing person Ryan just hired and her spouse. They seemed really familiar and eventually we figured out that they come to my office for dental work, so they reason they looked familiar is because I have cleaned their whole families teeth for the past few years. LOL. Small world. There were some group pictures taken but I didn’t get any copies so I just have the pictures of Ryan and I. I thought we looked pretty good, Emilee thought we looked silly but she clearly doesn’t know how people dressed in the 20’s. Our costumes came with fake cigarettes but we decided to not carry those around all night.
The next weekend we had Grandpa Terry’s 73rd birthday to celebrate! Every year he says he just wants a very simple meal for his birthday dinner with everyone. This year he said he wanted tacos, Ross said that was boring and made chicken fajitas instead. They were very good… I think Roger enjoyed them and ended up being ok with the switch. Rhonda made him a carrot cake-she makes a very good carrot cake-and he blew out all the candles successfully. The Terry family has decided we are going to continue with the decades old tradition of blowing out the candles on a birthday cake despite COVID trying to do away with it. It is kind of gross if you think about it, but we have all survived this long. 🤷♀️🤷♀️ I do not have a clue why Allison is holding a candle up in an orange for him to blow out too-I would guess either an inside joke or she didn’t want to eat cake for wrestling reasons and was including her orange in the celebration.
And last but not least for January-for part of the kids Christmas present Ryan got tickets to the Chiefs playoff game…if they made it. Of course they made it to the playoffs. We have gone to the super bowl 6 times in the last 7 years and will probably go again this year. He had four tickets. I was fine with not going because if I watch the game I prefer to do it in the warmth of my living room. IT WAS COLD! Allison had some wrestling stuff she didn’t want to miss so she passed her ticket onto Matthew’s friend Carter. So Emilee, Carter, Matthew and Ryan braved the weather and went to the game. We won and it was a fun game. No one lost any toes or fingers to the cold. The Chiefs hold the record for loudest stadium in the NFL and Emilee said she believes it. She had a fun time with her dad and brother. Next we have to try for a three win in a row at the Super Bowl!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
