We had a really fun visit from the Gazdiks this week!

That would be the second generation Gazdiks. Aunt Sanae came from their new home in California with Anna, Erin, Jordan, and Julia to visit Kayla at BYU. They left dad Mike, at home.  I actually can't claim credit for this picture (I stole it from Anna's facebook page!  Thanks, Anna!)  It was so fun to have them around for a little while  They are such a fun, happy family!

They even came to Kevin, Sarah, and Megan's last basketball game.  They were great cheerers!  I was impressed.  Megan and Sarah were pumped up and so motivated.  They played great!  They didn't win, though.  It was the best team in the league, afterall.  They ended with a 3-7 season and improved as they went along!  It was fun to watch them and all they can do!

In other news, Ben continues to want to go outside ALL the time.  When the weather first turned cold (yes, back in November), Ben simply took our space heater outside, faced it toward the front yard, and turned it on.  I'm not sure if he's noticed that it didn't work, but he continues to try to convince each of us to bring him outside whenever he can.  He has convinced Sarah a few times this week and Sarah brought her camera.  He is a cute little imp and does reward whoever takes him outside with plenty of joyous smiles.

Mariah seems to not notice that it is cold outside, either.  But then, she's got to get in her 500 shots a day there on our crooked hoop on the back road.

My big project for the week was to move Megan into Sarah and Savannah's room, the bunkbeds into the twins room, the queen bed into Mariah's room, and Bethany up into Benjamin's room.  That's a lot of shuffling around!  The twins are VERY happy.  Mariah after much distress, has decided she is "in paradise."  Bethany and Benjamin are happy, too.  That just leaves my three teenage girls who now share a room.  How will they do?  Time will tell.  The dust (and clothes and bottle collections and books and knick knacks) are still settling.  I am hopeful that they will dandify that room right up.  This is how I made the beds fit:

Wheat buckets!  The dresser is still there.  It is now underneath Megan's bed!  When (if?) they get the room all organized, I will post a new picture so you can be impressed instead of horrified.  :)

Mariah has been going early to school twice a week to sing in the school's choir.  They had a performance on Thursday and they all sang so sweetly.  Mariah just loves to sing and it is so fun to see her spiritedness!

Lastly, we can't end the update without letting you all know that Savannah took her driving road test this week and . . . passed!  She got an 82%.  We're going to make her keep retaking it until it's 100%.  Heh, heh.  Just kidding.  Now we just have to go up to the DMV and get her actual license . . . and add her to our insurance . . . yikes!  Nonetheless, it won't be long now and she'll be roaming those roads on her own!  Go, Savannah!

Sixteen candles . . . make a lovely light

Our oldest child turned sixteen years old this week! What a beautiful girl she is and we're so pleased with the young woman she is turning out to be!  For fun, she went with Annette and Miranda on Saturday out to lunch and to their favorite haunt, the Antique Mall -- which suits the three of them just perfectly!  On Monday night, we had one of her favorite dinners and opened some presents.  One of which recalled her younger days (wasn't that just yesterday?) and brought lots of laughs . . .

You should hear the song it plays!  It is not a PowerPuff Girl song.
It is very funny!

 We also got her some clothes and a leather-bound journal and I made her this lunch bag with her favorite personal Chinese character on it.  She was amazed I could do such a thing -- which made it totally worth it.  It was a fun night.

Mariah and I had our last basketball game this week, and we would just like to personally thank you for all your prayers in our behalf, because . . . WE WON!!  Not only did we win, but it was 20 to 8.  We couldn't even press in the last four minutes!  We hardly knew what to do with ourselves.  After the game, the team all mobbed each other in a huge team hug and jumped up and down chanting "We won!  We won!  We won!"  I don't know.  It kind of made all those losses worth it.  It made the win all the more sweet!  Mariah played a great game as always and scored six points. 

As for me, it's been an interesting experiment to be a basketball coach in a league that keeps score.  I'm really glad I did it.  It's given me a new experience and a new skill to pursue in a life that is sometimes limited in those types of opportunities.  It was a challenge.  I loved it and wished I was better at it.  Isn't it funny how we really don't like to do things we're bad at, but the only way to have things we're good at (and thus have lots of options of things we like to do) is to do the things we're bad at over and over?  God is tricky that way.  Humility built in to the skill -- if we just remember the beginning days -- and if we ever do get any better!  Anyway, Go Team!  It's been a great ride!

I have so many pictures this week, it is blowing my mind!

We also had Valentine's Day this week.  Kevin gave me roses.  He is so sweet.  Calianne (my holiday girl) has had her Valentines written for a whole week beforehand.  It would have been even sooner, but I talked her out of it a couple of times.  Cali and Chey had a great time at their school parties and came home with loads of candy.  Mariah's class got to go see the musical, "The Secret Garden" (one of my favorites!) over at UVU.  They had a great time, too.  I'm thinking junior high and high school Valentine days are not nearly so much fun.

Although, I did braid Megan's hair into a heart for her!
That's kind of fun!

And I shaped our dinner hamburgers in the shape of a heart.
Sarah even took a picture, so it must have been fun, too!
We had cheesecake afterward.

On Friday, we packed up the van and took the whole family down to Las Vegas to see some shows and do some gambling!  Ha, ha!  As if!  We did something way better in Las Vegas because my family lives there!  On the way down, we got to stop at my sister's in Cedar City and she even made us a yummy dinner!  After we literally tore the cousins apart, we made it all the way to LV and to Grandma and Grandpa's house!  Yay!  More hugging and joy! 

Saturday morning, my dad filled a life-long dream for Sarah and took her shooting out in the desert with Kevin, Megan, and Mariah. 

 After lunch, we did go see a show in a casino near the strip -- it just happened to be free and starring my niece and nephew, Samantha and Jack Elton as they competed in their high school improv group. It was great fun. We also got to meet our new little niece while we were there, Hannah Pauline Rich. She is adorable.

After that, we all descended upon a park in Las Vegas. My brother Pete's family came and my sister Amy's family and my sister Diane's family and, of course, Grandma and Grandpa. It was great fun.
 

On Sunday, we went to church in Pete's ward and then we had a wonderful dinner back at Grandma and Grandpa's.

On Monday we had to head back home, but it was a great trip.  The kids all like their cousins so much and I am so grateful for those family friendships that they have for added strength in a dog eat dog world.  Thank you, my brothers and sisters, for having great kids -- and lots of them!  We love you guys.  :)

 We had two concerts this week -- both on the same night!  Why do they do that to us parents?  And our poor children?  Megan had an orchestra concert on Wednesday night and Savannah had a choir concert.  Since we had been to three choir concerts so far this year (and loved every one of them!) but hadn't been to any Megan concerts (this was the first orchestra concert of the year), we decided to support Megan and take everyone to her concert, then Kevin and I would go to the high school afterward to catch the end of Savannah's concert.  Megan did great!  They played some fun songs.  We're so proud of her and the progress she is making on the violin!



Kevin and I rushed over to the high school afterward and caught the last song of Savannah's concert which was a big number with all the choirs singing and moving to "So Happy Together."  It was stunning.  We did get to eat cheesecake with our lovely girl afterwards.



We did have basketball games this week.  I had one on Monday, which we lost, and Kevin had one on Tuesday which they also lost, but Sarah had a great game and scored 12 points including two free throws.  Way to go Sarah!  She came home on a great high.  Megan and Mariah played great games, too.

We can't let the basketball season pass, without letting you know that Sarah has been working her first job these past weeks as a referee for the junior league!  Isn't she an adorable referee?  Anyway, it has turned out to be a more stressful job than she at first expected.  Just remember, referees are people, too!  Sarah won't let her friends razz referees at all anymore.  You can't beat that for a learning experience, eh?  We think it is neat that she has taken on the responsibility of a job.  Go Sarah!

When we went to the BYU Women's game last Saturday, they announced at the end of the game that they'd be playing 18th ranked Gonzaga on Thursday and really needed the support of their fans, so PLEASE come.  Mariah latched onto that and would not let go.  She begged and pleaded and begged some more until Kevin relented and agreed to take her and whoever else wanted to go (Sarah, Megan, and friend, Rebekah) to the Thursday night game.  BYU won 70 to 40.  I am sure they couldn't have done it without the loyalty of their most dedicated fans!

On Friday, Kevin and I took Calianne and Cheyenne out to dinner at their favorite restaurant.  They get a little ignored during basketball season, and Kevin and I wanted to give them some extra attention.  They are such good friends, I don't know if they even notice the rest of us somethimes!  It's so fun to watch them grow up together and learn new things! 

 

Bethany continues to amuse us all.  Last Sunday I asked her if she wanted to watch Nephi (one of our Book of Mormon videos).  She said, "That would be scary because Laman and Lemuel are murderers in their hearts!"  It was so funny.  That is something Nephi says in the video.  Also, while we were reading Book of Mormon during the week, Bethany wanted a turn to read.  We finally relented.  She turned to her book and read, "And it came to pass that there were three bears . . . "  Fairy tales Book of Mormon style!  Grandma Gazdik called this week from her vacation in Arizona.  Kevin put her on speaker phone and invited everyone to say something to Grandma.  Bethany on her turn said, "Um, I am really cute and everyone likes me."  I couldn't have said it better myself!

 

Benjamin didn't light anything on fire this week or leave unsupervised.  Yay!  Savannah brought some touchable bubbles home from Funfinity this week and Ben was SO excited.  This video is so funny!

This is Kevin and I at the end of a long day.  Megan thought it was wonderful, "You're twinners!" she shrieked and ran for the camera.  We look excited don't we?  Actually, we look like we think Megan should go to bed! 

We had another full week.  Savannah had driver's ed every morning at 5:45 and we had basketball games Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  Kevin, Sarah, and Megan almost won both and did win one.  They played really well.  Katy and Mariah almost won one and lost both, but Mariah played really well, too.  In fact, the game we almost won, the score was 9 to 10.  It was 9 to 8 until the last 5 seconds of the game when the other team won on a break-away layup (don't even talk to me about heartbreak . . . ).  Mariah made 8 of our 9 points.  Wow, right?  Talk about carrying our team, huh?  She is the light of my basketball life! 

Savannah's last day of driver's ed was Friday.  Yippeeee!!!!!  . . . and she passed.  Although, we knew she would.  She's even come around to starting to think of herself as a driver.  This is good progress!

Mariah had her first science fair on Friday.  She had the experiment and the poster done two weeks ago, as her anxiety demanded, so all that was left was to worry about the fair itself, which she did with gusto.  She found, however, that it was not so bad at all -- maybe even a little fun.

Friday for Megan was Job Shadow Day.  She got to go to work with her Dad.  Doesn't she make an adorable marriage and family therapist?  I'm sure if her dad had actually let her sit in on some sessions, she would have given great counsel, too!

Since Kevin couldn't have her come to work until the afternoon, she spent the morning shadowing a stay-at-home mom.  It was great to have another mom!  She reorganized the coatroom, cleaned the kitchen, and even helped with hair to send the other girls off to school.  She was a great help.

I think if Ben is going to go on to his great computer career, he may have to lose the bottle.  He does know how to play on the ipad, though.  Those are great baby toys!  This week he melted my cup on the stove and let himself out of the house in his pajamas at night in below zero weather.  He's so adorable, though!  He smiles so happily when we discover him!  He has no idea he's done something wrong or dangerous. I love that kid!  If I can just keep him alive . . .

Bethany continues to be a sweet, talkative little presence.  Just now the girls were in the kitchen talking about music.  Megan was protesting loudly how much she didn't like a particular song.  Bethany, who was not part of the conversation, but thought she was, of course, said, "Do you like this song, Megan?" and began to sing Twinkle Little Star.  How can you resist that, I ask you?

On Saturday, we finished off the week by attending another BYU Women's basketball game (except for Savannah, who had to work).  The cougars played a great game, we had great seats, and we didn't lose any of our little people this time.  What could be better?