This week was full of the usual things.  Savannah didn’t have a cross country meet, but she did have practices.  Sarah had two tennis matches which I got to see.  Her coach matched her with Alyson and switched them to JV and they have been summarily creaming their opponents ever since – as well as having a great time being together.  They’ve even been staying after at practices so they can play more!  Megan cheered at two football games.  Mariah played in a soccer game on Wednesday.  They all had music lessons!

The weather has been wonderful and Mariah and Cheyenne and Calianne have been playing outside each day afterschool.  They’ve made a “hotel” over at the neighbors and have been having a great time.  They didn’t want to wait for the leaves to fall!  Who can blame them for wanting to play such a great game?

I arranged for a couple of playdates with Bethany last week.  So she has some new friends and had great fun.  She continues to have the most fun with Cali and Cheyenne, though.  This means that they get to have Benjamin with them, too, as Ben has taken to following Bethany most everywhere.  That is unless Beth is doing something boring like watching TV.  Then Ben climbs and explores.  He is fearless – and creative.  It is much easier to get onto a stool when you first climb onto a chair don’t you know.

The big news for the week is that Sarah had a birthday and turned fourteen.  Crazy girl!  Didn’t we tell her on her last birthday that that was far enough?  Ah well. We can’t deny that she is turning into a beautiful young woman and deserves all the very best that life has to offer her!

On Saturday, she wanted to go ice skating with some of her friends in the afternoon.  So Megan and Sarah and Hannah and Allyson and Sydney went ice skating.  Afterwards, they had me stop at Reams for ice cream cones and a walk home.  Sidney had to leave after that, but the rest of the girls stayed and had pizza with our family.  Then they strung Christmas lights along the back porch, brought out speakers and an ipod, and played Pit and other loud games.  They also danced a bit on the picnic table.  Mariah and Rebekah joined the crowd, too.  Actually, so did the boy who lives in the house behind us, but we won’t mention that, because boys are not allowed!  He did a good job hiding while the picture was taken.

 

Sunday after church we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik’s for dinner and cake and presents.  We were so excited because Kayla took a break from all that socializing, I mean studying at BYU, so she could be with us, too!  She ended up giving Sarah her favorite present:  a BYU t-shirt from a real BYU student.  How cool is that??

We gave her some shirts, too.  Bethany decided to try some on.

You always get help opening presents in this family.