Spotted and Kissed

Rylee had been planning on going to Sweethearts (girl ask guy dance) since her 15th birthday. She said to me then, "Mom, can you believe at this time next year I'll be able to go to Sweethearts?!"

That day had finally arrived. She hemmed and hawed about who she should ask. She kinda had someone in mind, but worried that he might have a date or that he kind of liked someone else. With her friend's encouragement she finally decided to ask him...Matt Roll.

Being the planner she is, she wanted to make sure she asked him several weeks in advance and in a creative, fun way. We scoured Pinterest, as well as other internet sources, to find a cute way to ask. The one she decided on was not necessarily unique or new to me..but still cute.

She came to me the day of and said, "Mom, I need lots of circles." We punched out dozens and dozens of circles together. I also helped her with making signs to put on the poster.

         With the poster complete and extra circles in hand, she and her friend Sarah went to his house to decorate.

                                                  The initial plan was to decorate his front door, but when his mom saw what they wanted to do, she invited them in to decorate his bedroom. So they spotted his mirror..

his floor..

his wall..

..and his bedroom door. Then threw Hershey kisses all over the ground.

"Matt, Now that I've SPOTTED you...and have KISSED the ground you walk on...Will you go to SWEETHEARTS with me???"

For the final touch, balloons and crepe paper.

How could he not say YES to all of this?!

The rest of the story..... Matt came to Rylee the next day at school, with flower in hand. He told her he would love to go to the Sweethearts dance with her, BUT couldn't. Being the big baseball star he is, he had a tournament and would be out-of-town the weekend of the dance. She said he felt so bad, he was almost in tears, when talking to her.

Bummer!

Do you think that stopped her??? No way!

Next...

She rallied and thought of someone else to ask. I was out-of-town visiting my friend Krissi when she came up with her next plan. She texted me a picture of bananas and said she was asking Kyle Ruby. I didn't get the full story, but I guess her initial plan didn't work, so they had to go with plan B ...something to do with bananas???

This is such a FUN..but nerve-racking stage of life as a parent. But I'm actually enjoying teenagerhood (mostly). :)

Snow Day!!!

When the school district declared a "snow day" we started to make plans. We settled on sledding at the new park in Meridian. Jason closed the carwash and came home from work early to play with the kids, but not before he created some cool carwash sign sleds. :)

It was a really cold and blustery day...winds whipping snow in your face kind of blustery. As I was dropping Jason and the kids off (I was content doing errands while they played) he told me to not go far, thinking Abree or himself might not last that long. :)

Rylee

Abree-Treyson-Taylee

Surprisingly, they ALL stuck it out like troopers and had lots of FUN...in an exhausting kind of way. 

Primary 2013

For the new year in Primary, it was out with the OLD...

..and in with the NEW!

Instead of the typical birthday pencils, we decided to give out crazy straws...

"Sip-sip HOORAY! It's YOUR birthday!" 

 We use the popsicle sticks in the cans (with each child's name on them) for taking turns during Sharing/Singing Time. We seemed to be getting a lot of "repeats", so I colored one of the tips red and started a new system...draw from the red end and turn the stick upside-down when the child is called on. When all the sticks have been used, start over again with the red tips showing.

Hopefully this will help with our repeat problem. :)

For our "spotlight" gift this year, we are giving out these customized (by me) lip balms. Actually I can't take full credit. I printed the labels off here, then cut them out, stuck them on and shrink-wrapped them with plastic sleeves for stick-ability and cuteness.

I also replaced our plain white tablecloth with a bright red one.. with polka dots! And we have a fancy mirror with the 2013 theme in vinyl, "I Am A Child of God".

I should take a picture of our Primary table to show you how CUTE it is...but do you think I have time for that??? :)

PS- We have 18 Sunbeams this year..yikes!

New Year's Eve

I saw the idea for a New Year's Tree on Pinterest and thought we'd try it out for our family New Year's Eve party/FHE.

Maybe it will become a new tradition???

 The kids helped me to decorate the tree. We stuffed balloons with silly jokes and also placed sparkly icicles, circle garland and noise makers on the tree.

 We topped it off with a Happy New Year hat and 2013 glasses.

 In the evening, we gathered for pizza and treats.

 After dinner, we did the kid gift exchange. Each cousin brought a white elephant gift to give. We sang "Jingle Bells" as they passed the gifts around in a circle. When the song ended, the gift in their lap was theirs.

 The Clawson's had just moved back from Arizona. We were so happy to have their family back in our midst.

Missing Dean and Candice's family though.

 We sent the kids to play, and then the adults did their own white elephant gift exchange.

As midnight approached, we popped the balloons and read the silly jokes. Kyrick was the most entertained..and most entertaining. We would read the joke and then the kids would laugh. As Kyrick figured the joke out, he would laugh extra hard and really get a kick out of it. Sometimes he would admit he didn't get it..but when explained, it was funny all over again.

Taylee 

Treyson 

Kyrick 

Abree 

Audrey 

Grandpa Waite 

Grandma McKinley 

 Lexie & Tyrel

Sydney

Maliah

Minutes before midnight, we turned on the t.v. and watched the ball drop as we counted down from 10. The kids went crazy with noise makers..for the few minutes we adults could stand it...then it was back on the tree for next year. :)

Happy 2013!!!

Christmas Evening

Christmas Day..evening, we gathered at Grandma McKinley's house. We ate snacks and opened gifts.

The younger grandkids received cute Band-aids from Grandma. What kid doesn't LOVE Band-aids???

Each couple received DoTerra essential oils.

Thanks Mom!

Older grandkids received a Nutella snack.

Then it was Grandma McKinley's turn to open gifts.

A picture of Grandma Ison, from Brinton and Amber, brought sweet memory tears.

The purple sign was from Lexie and Tyrel..perfect color, perfect saying.

Tyrel was trying to impress us with his bushy beard growing skills.

Our family gave Grandma a journal...but not just an ordinary journal.

I repurposed a childhood Little Golden Book (had my mom's name written on the inside cover) and a clearanced journal. Took the pages out of the book and took the cover off the journal and bound them together (get it?). A journal blast from the past.

Happy Christmas!!!