Happy Birthday Peyton!

Our little Peyton turned 9 yesterday. I can't believe how old she is getting. It is just not fair that kids have to grow up. She has been such a joy to our family for the past 9 years and we think she is the best. On Saturday she invited two of her friends, Rachel and Jordon, to celebrate with her. Their first stop was Tropical Smoothie Cafe for her favorite smoothie. They loved drinking and being silly together.
Then we headed to the mall to do the Hurricane simulator Peyton loves. I can't imagine why standing in a booth with 90 mph winds would be fun but they liked it.

Then we came back to the house and had pizza and bread sticks. They enjoyed the little break before they went on to their next activity.

Peyton chose ice skating for the next activity. She enjoyed skating with her friends and Ryan had a good time taking Hailey ice skating for the first time. I think he described Hailey's ice skating like "a drunk and blind giraffe". She was that good.

They came back home and played wii and ate brownies. They had such a great time and Peyton said it was one of her favorite birthdays (I think she says that every year!).

Later that night we went to my parent's house to celebrate her birthday and my niece Summer's birthday with my family. We sang to them (here Kate and Hailey are really getting into it) and ate more brownies.

On Sunday morning we got Peyton up and made her some breakfast (it was suppose to be in bed but she wanted to eat upstairs). She couldn't wait to open her gifts so at 8 AM she woke Ryan up and Grandma and Grandpa and she was able to open her gifts. She loved everything she got.

That night we had a family dinner with the Ferrells to celebrate her birthday and my niece Makenna. We had a tasty dinner and delicious cake. Here is Peyton with most of her cousins.

Happy 9th Birthday Peyton! We love you.

Happy Anniversary

12 years ago today on a very HOT day in Arizona I was sealed to my wonderful husband Ryan in the Mesa, Arizona Temple. My Papa Cardon sealed us and it was so wonderful to have someone who was such a huge part of my life growing up performing such an important ordinance for us. We had so many wonderful family members and friends there to celebrate with us. It was definitely one of the best days of my life (despite sweating like crazy). I am so grateful for the patience and love Ryan has shown towards me over the years. I have learned so much from him and I am so blessed to have been given 3 beautiful daughters to help me learn and grow. Happy Anniversary Ryan. I love you.

Day 3

There was no crying today! She was very brave and put her back pack on and gave me a kiss and stood in line. I know she wanted to cry but she didn't. I am hoping this continues and I can go on and continue my quiet days with Alexis.

"I don't want to go!"

Well I had a feeling this would happen. The 2nd day of school has not started off very well at all. Hailey woke up and said her stomach hurt and she didn't want to go to school. I knew she was just nervous and that she really wasn't sick so I just continued our morning as planned. When we got to school Hailey slowly started getting quiet with each step we took toward her line by the playground. She started getting tears in her eyes and I knew what was going to happen next (this is exactly what Peyton did on her second day of kindergarten). When the bell rang to have the kids line up she started balling and said she didn't want to go. I had to get away from the situation so I had Ryan deal with it. She continued to cry hard and a teacher's aide came to help out. I told Ryan we just needed to leave so the aide picked Hailey up (she was screaming at this point) and we left. I hope she calmed down and I really hope she didn't bite or kick any teacher. I haven't received a call from the school yet so I am hoping that is a good sign. I pray that she gets over this and that we will not have to do this every day. I'll keep you all posted.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school. Which means Hailey started Kindergarten. I was really nervous about how Hailey would handle going to school. You never quite know what you are going to get from Hailey and I was worried she would cry and not go in her classroom. Ryan was out of town (once again for the 4th year he has missed the first day of school) so I was praying that Hailey would go without a fight. When she got up in the morning I could tell she was a little nervous and she was very quiet. She got dressed and combed her hair but ate very little breakfast. We drove to school and it was a nightmare getting a parking spot and Peyton was freaking out because she didn't want to be late. We made it on time and dropped Peyton off at her line outside and then went in to Hailey's classroom. She found a seat next to 2 other girls and sat down and started coloring the picture her teacher had put out for them. I gave her a kiss goodbye and that was it. I worried the whole day but when she got off the bus she said she had a great time. Hopefully she still likes it after a few more days. I am so proud of both of my girls and I love them to death. I hope this is another great school year.

My little kindergartner.
My grownup 4th grader.

The best daughters in the world.

Here's Hailey in front of her classroom.

Here she is at her table.

Here are the girls getting off the bus after their first day. Hailey got to sit by Peyton and she really liked that.

We started the tradition of having a candlelight dinner the first day of school a few years ago and the girls were so excited to do it again this year. They chose Pei Wei and I made chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. We had a great time but wished Ryan could celebrate with us.

Happy first day of school girls.

Ferrell Family Vacation Part 3

On Wednesday the kids went on a hike to a waterfall and we were able to enjoy some nature ourselves. Alexis love playing on the playgrounds they had. She loved this fun airplane and climbed all over it.
Right after lunch their was a huge hailstorm so we decided to take a pottery class to pass the time away. I wasn't too great at it but it was a lot of fun. Here is my sister in law Amber.

My sister in law Ashley was a little more talented when it came to making the pottery.

On Thursday morning Ryan took the girls fishing in the pond they have on sight. They stock it with Trout and will cook it for you if you would like to eat it.

Peyton was the first to catch a fish. She was so excited. Ryan thought it would be fun to have Lexi kiss it. I didn't think it was funny.

Hailey was next to catch a fish.

Peyton just had to do the climbing wall one last time. It was a little slippery from all the rain so she didn't get as far as she wanted.

Later that day they went miniature golfing (also at Aspen Grove).

On Thursday afternoon they had family water games. Peyton enjoyed every minute of it. Here she is doing her synchronized swimming routine with her group.

On Thursday night the kids performed with their groups in a closing show. They did songs from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream coat. It was so cute. Then they had a family dance. The girls loved dancing with their family.

One last family picture before we left on Friday morning.

This was by far one of my most favorite vacations I have ever taken. Aspen Grove was such a fun place to make family memories that will last forever. Thank you mom and dad Ferrell for taking us on this wonderful vacation. We love you.

Ferrell Family Vacation Part 2

On Monday the kids had a great time with their groups in the morning and were excited when we told them that we would be having family games in the afternoon. We did gunny sack races.

I don't know what this one was called but you definitely had to work together to get to the finish line.

The kids loved pushing the earth ball through the obstacle course.

After the games were done (there were many more I didn't get pictures of like the ones where we got REALLY wet) we were able to do some fun things like archery.

Rocket making and launching

The climbing wall

Peyton absolutely loved the climbing wall. She made me take her there 3 different days. They also had a high ropes course that anyone over the age of 11 could do. I tried it but didn't get very far because I was a little afraid of heights. Oh well, at least I tried.

On Tuesday the kids headed back to their groups and Jaxon and Hailey were lucky enough to get their faces painted.

They also got to go swimming every day. Here they are with their counselors.

On Tuesday night they had Frontier night. They served snow cones and had tons of fun things to do. They had a small train take you around the field.

They had a dunk tank (or their own version of one). Alyssa was able to hit the bulls eye and get Ryan wet.

The girls were able to climb on this fun fire truck.

They had this fun game where you try to knock each other off the beam.

They had panning for gold.

More face painting.

A watermelon eating contest.

Here Peyton is riding the train with Grandma Ferrell.

Alexis enjoyed her ride on the train.

Peyton got her face painted also.

It was such a fun night and we made so many wonderful memories.