Today was Evelyn's first birthday! What a sweet, happy little girl she is! We love her so much! Mariah had a party for her at her Grandma and Grandpa Carter's. We had homemade pizza! Megan made Evelyn a basketball cake and she opened presents. It was a ton of fun!

Bethany got to sing in the Salt Lake City Tabernacle on Saturday night! Kevin and I drove Naoma and Jim up with us and we had a nice dinner at Little America beforehand. The concert in the tabernacle was AMAZING! 3 choirs sang together with the organ and a live orchestra. We felt like we were surrounded by angels! Bethany looked beautiful and sang with emotion and grace. I love that she has held on to this thing in her life. It has brought her so many good things and brings blessings into our lives as well like the concert Saturday. It was incredible.

Benjamin ran the 400 in a meet on Friday and did great even though he wasn't feeling well. We took him out to eat afterward and that brought his spirits up! His newest plan for his future is to rededicate himself to Chinese and become a diplomat! I love him to have dreams! I wish all his dreams included living forever in Springville next to me, though! Ha ha!

Cheyenne is enjoying spending time with Tyler. She is sad that he is leaving the end of April for a job in Colorado for three months, but is enjoying the time now. She is busy still with school and work and sisters and friends, too!

Savannah is still being a terrific aunt! She is a great babysitter. She has also spent time with Peter and putting in time at work. She went with all the siblings to see McKay in concert on Saturday and he did a great job, as always!

Bethany came back from her choir tour this week! She had so. much. fun! And Bethany had energy for all of it! What a miracle! They sang in the St. George Tabernacle on Thursday night on their way to Las Vegas. On Friday they sang for a choir coach on their way to their hotel in California and that night went on a dinner cruise. On Saturday they spent all day at Disneyland! My favorite story is that their choir director had them all go on Pirates of the Caribbean together and they sang the pirate song throughout! On Sunday, they got to sleep in before doing another concert that afternoon. On Monday they went back to Disneyland for the whole day! Then Tuesday they drove all the way back to Utah. Much of the choir came home sick. Beth's roommates went to the doctor upon arriving home and one had flu, one had strep, and one had walking pneumonia! Yikes! Beth has not had a fever but has had a sore throat and lost her voice since arriving home so she has not done anything since getting home. We hope she feels better soon, but are so glad she lived it up while she was gone!

Benjamin had a couple of days of road driving with an instructor this week which he says went pretty well! He's on track to get his license on his birthday! He had a JV track meet on Tuesday and ran the 800 and the 3200. He did great! 

Our favorite coach and her adorable baby!

Savannah went out with Peter more this week and has really been enjoying her time with him. She had much better health this week and it was great to see her looking healthy again!

Cheyenne has been busy busy busy! She had tests, clincals, and pass-offs happening at nursing school. She worked all night at the hospital last night and started a new job coaching little kids in tennis on Saturday. She "accidentally" signed up for a basketball tournament in Salt Lake City and played for the UVU intramural women's team for most of the day Friday. She also is crazy about the boy she is dating, Tyler, and has managed to spend time cooking, playing games, and going to the movies with him! I love being there when she pops in and out of the house to get updates on her and all her goings-ons!

On Saturday, Ben, Cali, Richmond, Chey, Mariah, Evelyn, Kevin, and I went to the open house for the Lindon temple. It was super fun and very, very beautiful!

Also, I love my grandkids...

Guess who got asked to prom this week? Bethany got asked by her sweet friend, Taylor! She has taken him to dances in the past, and here he is now to take her to prom. So cool!  She is excited that she gets to go. On Thursday of this week she left for choir tour, so she is out having more fun! They spent all day yesterday at Disneyland and what a blessing that she had the energy to do it! I'm so happy for her!

This was the last week of the quarter for Benjamin. He had a lot of homework to catch up on, but he did it! He had to miss a couple of days of track practice, but he was back at it toward the end of the week and got to run in the track meet on Saturday. He ran the 800 in 2:18. We think that is fantastic! Mariah was there in her role as assistant coach and gave him pointers to be even faster next time. It's so fun to have them working together!

For the second year in a row, Kevin put together an online conference for couples wanting to heal their relationship after betrayal. He had over twenty different presenters (of which I was one!) that taught over a two-day period, Friday and Saturday. Kevin taught twice. Megan did planning and tech and was liason for presenters for the second year in a row. Megan and Mariah did introductions at the beginning of every presentation. It was pretty awesome. I love how Kevin gets ideas and then thinks, "I could do that," and then he makes it happen. It's inspiring. Way to go, Kevin!

 Last week, my niece, Emma, had her farewell in her home ward in Las Vegas! So, Beth, Cheyenne, Cali and Richmond, and I went! We left Saturday morning after Chey was done with her 12-hour night shift at the hospital and we showed up at the park where my family was gathering in the afternoon. My sister, Amy, fed us yummy food and we got to chat with my mom and dad and my siblings Pete, Amy and Paul, Maggie and Rick, and Diane! There were lots of cousins there, too, and it was a really fun time!

On Sunday we went to church to hear Emma speak in her ward. She did so fantastic! Then the whole Rich family sang which was also fantastic and then her dad, Paul spoke and he did good, too. It was really beautiful. We took some pictures and then drove home. It was a quick trip but we all were so glad that we went!

In other news, Megan threw a Mr. Beast Games birthday party for McKay while we were gone, and it was apparently a ton of fun!

Ben went back to school but now is working overtime to get caught up before the end of the quarter this week. Hang in there, Ben!

I love it when my kids come over and bring their kids. Here are all the current "babies" -- each from a different daughter. They're so cute!!

 Kevin and I went to Arizona this week! Back at the beginning of January, Kevin really wanted to get away for awhile together but was discouraged because his schedule was so busy. So we started thinking about me joining him for this business trip to Arizona. I'm so glad we did! The extra cool thing was that I participated in his training and got to be trained, too! I couldn't do that before I became a counselor. We flew down to Arizona  on Wednesday so we could spend some time in Sedona before the training started. It was beautiful!

So we saw beautiful places, hiked through beauty, ate really good food, and I got to see Kevin be the master teacher that he is. It was a super fun trip!

Back on the home front, our kids helped take care of each other. Poor Ben was sick all week and only managed to get to school on Wednesday. Savannah was great at driving him where he needed to go. Beth wasn't feeling well, either but did receive lots of support from her sisters, spending all day Wednesday with Sarah and her littles and even spending the night. Sleepover! She and Savannah went to Megan's a couple of times to watch the show they're currently enjoying together. On Saturday I heard the sisters went to lunch together. Good times! They are all so good to each other.

I didn't have as many clients this week. I am really enjoying helping people in my office and I wish I had more! With my extra time this week, I got Kevin's business taxes done. Yay! To reward myself, I spent all day Saturday reading and I started and finished a fun book. I hope that I didn't neglect my family too badly. I do worry about that. The rest of the week, I wasn't neglectful, I don't think. I helped out my mother daughters by watching my adorable grandchildren. Kevin and I talked about the direction of his business. I took Ben places in the car and we talk a lot about time management strategies. I try to help Beth and we brainstorm about what's working and what to try next. I see Savannah's happiness in her new relationship and also her happiness that he's willing to go at her pace. She feels respected and that means a lot to her as does their growing friendship. I see Cheyenne for brief stretches between nursing school, work, and her social life and I get updated on her life and plans. Cali even came over a couple of times this week and I got to hear about school and her friends. I feel such an abundance at this period of my life! My children are all close both geographically and emotionally. How awesome is that?! What a beautiful life. I am so grateful for all this good.

 It was Savannah's 30th birthday this week! Wow! Kevin and I have been parents for 3 decades! Crazy! What a blessing it has been. I love being a parent and I love my Savannah girl! I gathered printed photos from 1994 to 2000 sometime last year (or the year before?) and finally got myself over to the family history center to get them digitized this week. It was great timing because I got to see all those pictures of baby and little-kid Savannah. On Friday night, all of Savannah's sisters made their own slide-shows about Savannah and I had all those photos to use! I even made a highlight video, too! We had so much fun celebrating Savannah that night!

Saturday was Valentine's Day and Savannah went out with Peter for a combo birthday/Valentine's date. She came home with flowers, homemade gluten-free donuts, and a specially commissioned bee necklace. They seemed to have had a great time!

I was supposed to watch Evelyn on Saturday afternoon while Mariah and Kolby worked the BYU basketball game where they were retiring Jimmer's number. Instead, Evelyn woke up with croup and I hung out with Evelyn and Mariah at the hospital. She did not like the breathing treatments or being so miserable, poor little thing! But it was fun to see her attempt to be cheerful in between the miserable parts waving and clapping with us. She had to stay overnight so they could watch her but the prognosis is good.

I also got to watch Micah on Wednesday when Megan went snowboarding with Ammon and I watched all Sarah's little people on Friday when Sarah, Megan, and Mariah took Savannah out to lunch. I love these grandchildren!

Cheyenne and Bethany were really hankering for a road trip over this President's Day weekend so they took the chance to drive down to Las Vegas and visit my mom and dad and spend time with their cousin, Emma, who reports for her mission next month! I love watching them make things happen!

Saturday Ben went to his first formal dance at the high school! It was girl's choice so we don't have a lot of pictures, yet. He did have a super fun time. They went bowling, took pictures, had dinner, went to the dance, and then played games. His buddies were all in his group and that made it great for Ben. He was looking good!