The DREAM TEAM 2010!! Don't they just look like winners? They had their last game on Monday and Coach Skinner tried to make sure every girl got a basket. They did. It was cool (and they still won by a whole lot). They finished the season with seven wins and two losses and they had a fabulous time because they love basketball! It was fun. This is my other favorite picture from the season. Do you think those two coaches are into the game? You bet your Bob-Jim-Dandy!

We were still getting over sickness this week. Mariah missed two days of school and Calianne missed one when she started throwing up AGAIN -- which is breaking the rules. I'm just saying . . . Kevin got the flu, too. Yuck! I've had a cold, but it hasn't been bad. I saw my midwife this week, and things are still looking really good in my pregnancy. That's good!

Sarah was really bored after school this week. Savannah spends her time either reading fan fiction on the computer or writing it (what does your fourteen-year-old do?), Megan always has at least one friend over -- maybe two (and she won't let Sarah play), Mariah has been sick, and the twins play with a younger crowd than Sarah is interested in. So, on Friday, I took her to the fabric store. Fabric stores can soothe all types of emotional distress, don't cha know. She is excited to start working this week on some pajamas that she picked out. We'll see how that goes.

Bethany is getting to be a LOT of fun. Her language seems to have just exploded in the last few weeks. We can get her to mimic just about anything and she is retaining a lot. It is fun to communicate with her. She definitely considers herself a very big part of the family -- which she is even though her size is so very small! She says, "bye-bye, night-night, Mommy, Daddy, Sarah, Cali, she tries the other names, downstairs, outside, shoes, socks, coat, go, sorry, thank-you, juice, plate, spoon, eat, no, mine, stop it, go away, diaper, p-u, poo-poo, up, down, ball, baby, dolly, blanket, pillow, stuck, hug, kisses, show, treat, cookie, car, dog, woof-woof, nose, eyes, teeth, cheeks." I can't think of any others right now. She also loves it when I sing. She likes "Itsy-bitsy Spider" and will do the hand motions and sing "itsy" and "wash out." Her other favorite is "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree." She can do most of those hand motions, too. Her other favorite thing is to run. She will stand at one end of the room and say, "Ready, Setty, GO!" and then she'll run to the other side of the room, turn around, and repeat. She also loves to be chased. She'll open her eyes really wide and say, "AHHHH!" and then run. The twins love to chase her when she likes this game.

Tonight, we played "Mr. X" with the four older girls. That is a board game that is really called Scotland Yard. One player is Mr. X. He gets to move secretly and the other players have to try to converge on him and discover his spot. Kevin is very, very good at being Mr. X. I am sorry to say that all the man's daughters and even his wife could not corner that villian again!! It was fun, though, even if we are no match for our beloved Dad!

Last weekend we drove down to Las Vegas to spend some time in the beautiful 70 degree weather and visit my family! After all the fun Valentine parties at school on Friday, we jumped in our van and headed south. On the way, we stopped at my sister, Margaret's house in Cedar City, ate dinner together, and visited with her fun family. We had to pry the kids away from each other. We almost didn't make it any further down the road! Once we figured out who was really a Gillespie and who was a Skinner, we drove the rest of the way and arrived late at night in LV.

Saturday was beautiful! After a wonderful breakfast which Kevin made and Mom provided, Amy's family came up to Mom and Dad's. Together, we took the kids on a simple hike through the desert. Look at all those cute cousins!

Some of them were a bit dramatic about the rigors of the hike.

But we did make it! All the way up to the gates to the water tower. The adults, too! Megan took our picture and she was very frustrated that she couldn't get Grandpa to be serious long enough to take a picture! He can be very silly. It made all the rest of us laugh!

Saturday was also Savannah's fourteenth birthday! She decided that she wanted to spend it shopping at the mall with her cousin, and bosom buddy, Samantha. So after the hike, Grandma took her down to Pete's to spend the rest of the day with Sam. They went to the mall and then Savannah went to her first church dance ever (that's the exciting thing about being fourteen!) in Las Vegas with Sam and her friends. Those of you who have seen Savannah dancing at a reception or family gathering, would think that she would be very anxious and excited to begin going to dances regularly -- since she so thoroughly surrenders herself to the joy of the music (this is a polite way of saying that she is a wild woman at a dance). Not so! It took a lot of coaxing and reassurances before she agreed to go. By all reports, though, she had a fabulous time. She even danced with two boys. She said, "The first boy I danced with came up to here," and she placed her hand about six inches above her head. "The next boy I danced with came up to here," and she placed her hand about six inches below her chin. Funny that! Isn't she a beautiful girl?

On Sunday we got to go to church with my brother, Pete, and his family. It was really nice and afterward we stayed at their house for a little while to visit and let our kids be really loud together. The weather was gorgeous again so we sat outside by the pool in the sunshine. I loved it!

Later, back up at Mom and Dad's, Diane and Jason and Dave came over for dinner and visiting. Amy and her family came up after that for more visiting and, since it was Valentine's day, Grandma had heart cookies for the grandkids and fixin's for decorating. Great fun was had by all!

On Monday, we stayed until lunch and then had to get back on the road again. Still, the girls found time to play with Grandma's legos and build a house -- which is traditional! They always need to play with legos when they are at Grandma and Grandpa's!

We had so much fun and it was so good to see everybody. It was really hard to leave! Since we've been back we've had to deal with stomach flu and a nasty cough in the little ones. That makes real life even harder to come back to!

Still, we did have Mariah's last basketball game on Thursday and that was tons of fun. The whole family came to watch her last game. I thought that was neat. Here she is with her team and her coach. Way to go Liberty!

Well, it was the week of the science fair! Here is Sarah and her friend Allyson with their display board all about pennies. The picture was taken Monday (science fair was on Tuesday) and Sarah was dressed for her basketball game that afternoon!

Here, also, is Megan with her display board on beaches. We took her pic just before school Tuesday. They all did a great job and I was impressed with all of us that we managed to get it all done before the deadline! Hurrah!

Megan and Sarah had two baskeball games this week. They continue to do well and Kevin continues to have fun coaching them. Mariah and I had a game this week, too. Mariah scored some more baskets! She is doing really well. I decided that coaching is bad for my health! This last game really stressed me out with a girl who was badly fouling my girls! I am going to focus on having more fun next game!

Friday was the teddy bear picnic in Cheyenne and Calianne's class. Bethany and I were invited to attend. We sat on a blanket with C&C and their teddy bears and listened to the class recite some things they had been learning and sing some songs. Then we got to glue 100 dots on a giant paper teddy bear and drink juice and eat cheese and crackers. It was great fun. What could be better than Kindergarten?

On Saturday, we had orchestra in the morning again. Both Megan and Mariah are doing a lot better and are able to play along throughout most of the pieces now. I am pleased. It is definitely worth the long drive. We are listening to an audio book as we drive and we always stop for a treat on our way home. It's fun.

Also on Saturday, we took Cheyenne to the dollar store for her time alone with Mom and Dad. She just couldn't stop smiling as she walked through the store choosing something to buy. She finally chose one thing (ring pops) and Kevin told her that she could pick out two more. "OK!" she says with a bigger smile. She is a careful chooser, that girl. After careful consideration, she chose a bag of play rings and a crown. It was precious to spend time with that sweet girl.

Saturday afternoon, we took all the girls (and Sarah's friend Allyson) to the women's BYU basketball game against UNLV. We won (by quite a lot) I am happy to say! Those ladies play some great basketball! We had super seats, of course, since no one goes to women's basketball games and the older girls really enjoyed watching the whole game. They even got their pictures flashed up on the big screen a couple of times and they hammed it up by dancing and waving. Cheyenne and Calianne sat on either side of me and they took turns asking me if it was over yet and telling me how bored they were. Although, Cosmo (the BYU mascot) did help liven things up for them. Bethany entertained herself by taking on and off her shoes. . .

After the game, Kevin took us all out to dinner. He said, "We could go to Arby's or out for Chinese food, or we could go to Brick Oven. . ." At which point he was unanimously shouted down, "BRICK OVEN!!" So, look at us! We went to Brick Oven two weeks in a row! That IS fun!

Here is all of us at the game. It was a really fun day!