It was Halloween week! On Sunday we carved pumpkins and we had everyone there except Tyler so it was a full house! Grandma Gazdik even came to watch the festivities.

Kolby's birthday was also this week and we were invited to his parents' beautiful backyard to celebrate! The grandkids had fun playing together, the boys played volleyball with Kolby, and we all enjoyed the fun backyard pizza from their pizza oven. We are so grateful to have Kolby in our family!

Benjamin ran in the JV State X-Country meet this Saturday. He ran strong and hard and felt good about his race. Yay! He is a great kid who works hard, smiles a lot, and always has time to talk with you. Love that boy!

Saturday was Halloween! I happened to have all the grandkids with me Saturday afternoon so with Beth's help, we made spooky sugar cookies! Avery and Lyla were the only ones really old enough to be interested. Oliver ate the candy corn and Micah and Evelyn played with rocks in the garage. They're all so cute! We got pictures from Megan and Sarah's family of their fun family costumes.

They liked eating the cookies, tho!

Cheyenne, Beth, and I drove to St. George on Saturday for Monica's Celebration of Life. 

We stopped at Denny's to charge the car.

Monica died from cancer at the beginning of October and was my brother Pete's wife for the majority of his life. We were able to hug Pete and five of their nine kids. We are sad about the passing of Monica. It was good to be there with so much family and feel the love we all have for one another.

Bethany had Fall Break on Monday and Tuesday. It was fun to have her here! When Wednesday came around, she couldn't get herself to go back! Which was also fun because she got to go to our ward's trunk or treat and chili cookoff which we've been to every year. We can wait another year before breaking up the Beth and Ben duo! She did go back on Thursday and went to classes for the rest of the week and came back Friday. She and Chey stayed up late Saturday after we got back from St. George and had a great time.

One of the reasons they stayed up late was because they were waiting for Ben to get back from Sadie Hawkins! He went with a gal from the cross country team, Kayla, and he had a really fun time! They dressed up as Troy and Gabriella from High School Musical so Ben got to go in a basketball jersey (he asked me to buy him one which was funny because I counted and I had literally ten in the basketball bag)! He had a good week going to school and running at practice.

We celebrated Micah's second birthday this week! His dad, Ammon, got back from his rotation in North Carolina late Friday night and Megan had a party for Micah Saturday evening. So fun! The theme was, "Our little Boo is turning 2!" and she decorated with ghosts. It was super cute. We love that little guy and it is so fun to have him wander into a room and say, "Hi, Gam-ma!" Oh, my heart!

Otherwise this week was full of putting things away after the wedding and moving Savannah upstairs to make a room for Micah before Ammon arrived. It was a much more relaxed week than the one before! I even had time to read a book in the hammock chair in the backyard and enjoy the beautiful fall weather.

This week was Fall Break so Ben was home Thursday and Friday and so was Beth! On Friday night, we went to see a community play in Spanish Fork. It wasn't great, but Beth and Ben made it so fun! We laughed all the way home.

Cheyenne and Tyler got married last week!! What a week! They were married on Saturday, and on the Monday before, they still didn't have a place to live. That was our biggest stress! But we didn't need to stress. God had it all worked out, and Tyler and Chey signed on a cute little place in South Provo Tuesday morning. We were able to get last-minute wedding preparations done and move a few essentials (like a bed and a couch!) into their apartment before the big day. All my kids really pulled together to help make the wedding day a reality. Megan worked on flowers and decorations and the cake. Mariah and Sarah did a cute bridal shower and dinner the night before. Cali planned the shoe game and a beautiful speech. We were busy bees! In addition, Chey and Tyler wanted to do proxy sealings at the temple on Tuesday night and we made that happen, too! It was super special with Savannah, Cali and Richmond, Kevin and I, and Chey and Tyler all there.

Saturday was the BIG day!! Cheyenne's sisters came over to do yoga with her in the morning (this was the compromise since I said NO to the planned 4 mile run (the day would be exhausting enough!)) Beth did Chey's makeup and Micah sat on her lap and wanted some, too! Chey and I drove to the temple in the rain to do pictures with Mariah before the ceremony and the rain stopped while we did pictures! Mariah did a fabulous job and Chey looked soooo pretty. We will post those soon!

The ceremony was beautiful in the temple and so many people she loved were there to support her. She and Tyler exited the temple with aplomb and my friend Jen and her husband, Stuart were there to take pictures and video, and Tyler and Chey were so so happy! More pictures to come!

We accidentally left Tyler and Chey at the temple without a key to Tyler's car but never fear, Jen and Stuart brought them back to Springville for us! The pavilion at the church was decorated so beautifully! We had professionals do drapes and lights and Megan had everyone put out her table decorations and finishing touches as we prepared for the dinner. Tyler's mom had a wonderful luncheon/dinner of chicken salad on croissants with salads and lemonade and cookies. It was so yummy. (It did rain again at this point, but we were under the pavilion! Yay!) We did speeches to the bride and groom at the end and many sweet tributes were made!

After dinner, everyone helped set up for the ring ceremony. Chey really wanted a processional with flower girls and bridesmaids and walking down the aisle so we made it happen and it was really fun! Instead of flower girls, we had leaf children. Tyler had three of his nieces on his side and we got Chey's oldest two nieces on her side and they spread leaves from their baskets and looked super adorable and had so much fun! Ben played and sang "You are Gold" from the National Parks on his guitar during the processional and it was so genuine and beautiful. Way to go, Ben! Kevin made a good speech and Tyler and Chey were sweet and it was all very picturesque and beautiful. More pictures to come!

From there, we moved chairs and food to set-up for the reception and we also got some more pictures in! Tyler wanted s'mores for the reception. We used sterno cans for the roasting at ten different stations and it turned out really fun. We also had charcuterie that just needed to be set out and refilled. McKay busted out the music and did some singing. Roxabelle staffed the polaroid camera for the guest book. Lots of people came and walked through the line to give their congratulations! After about an hour of the line, we broke it up and played the shoe game. My sons-in-law added new verses and sang my favorite song--this time for Tyler ("Married a Skinner, feel like a winner, gonna treat her right!"). Then they cut the cake and smeared it on each other thoroughly, cleaned up and had first dances. Chey wanted time to dance after that and they all had great great fun rockin the dance floor! For send-off we had sparklers and . . . water guns (because Chey and Tyler are big on water fights). The young people had a great water fight as Chey and Tyler drove away. It really was an amazing, beautiful day and something tremendous and eternal to truly celebrate!

It reminds me of the movie Groundhog Day where Rita says, "This day was perfect. You couldn't have planned a day like this." to which Phil replies,"Well, you can. It just takes an awful lot of work." Ha ha! And it's worth it!

So, in other news . . .  since I last wrote, Ben had his regional cross-country meet (last race before state) and did great! He also had his first choir concert of the year and the first performance ever to be held in the new auditorium at the new Springville High School. The choir sounded amazing and they all did so well!

What a difference a day makes...

Also, the weekend before the wedding, Tyler's sisters had a bridal shower for Chey in West Jordan and it was a great party. I loved that we got to know his family a little better and also that all of my daughters were together! So fun!

We had lots of family come to the wedding which is always so great including Naoma & Jim, Val, Matt, Julia, Maggie, Becca, Kayla & Merrick, and Mandy & Parker. Diane and her four kids stayed and hung out at our house Saturday night which was so fun and my mom and dad stayed Saturday and Sunday for a longer visit which we loved! Micah made sure they felt at home: