This week was Sarah's birthday!!  Happy Birthday our sweet, happy girl!

Her friends decorated her locker at school!

That evening we went to Chuck o Rama with Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik for her birthday dinner.  Yum!  What fun!



Then we went back to Grandma and Grandpa's for gifts and a cake to take home (since we at so much at Chuck A Rama!)

We gave Sarah two chances to blow out all the candles in one blow.  We even sang twice!  It was just too hard, though!  Fifteen is a lot of candles!

She got a tennis bag and a tennis skirt and a pretty dress from Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik and a movie (The Scarlett Pimpernell) and some books and a skirt that I made for her and cards and gift certificates from her other grandparents!  She even actually had a great time all day!  We all had tons of fun.  She is such a fun girl!  We all love her to pieces.  We're so lucky to have her in our family to take care of us and make us all smile.

Our oldest three daughters were all in uniform on the same day this week, and we couldn't resist taking pictures!  Sarah and Megan both had tennis matches this week and Savannah is getting ready for her big Regionals Meet next week. What a bunch of good-looking athletes we've got in this house!

Our soccer athlete, Mariah, had two games this week.  She played great, helped with the goals, kept the ball on our side of the field, and they won both games.  You should see her play.  She runs full speed for almost the entire game.  She really gives her all!  She's amazing.

Sadly, while at the field on Wednesday night, Calianne got attacked by wasps almost simultaneously with Benjamin.  Ben got stung once on his ear, but Cali was stung FIVE times, on her cheek, twice on her arm, and twice on the back of her head.  One second everyone is fine and the next I've got two screaming children.  Crazy bugs!  What is with them?  We weren't doing anything to bother THEM and even if we were, isn't FIVE stings completely over the top?  It is very frustrating to want to yell at a group of bugs.

This is Cali right after the stings, but in the next couple of days, her eye swelled up so much that it was almost completely shut.  It was so sad!

The rest of the week passed pretty uneventfully, although Friday was the Brookside Elementary Carnival.  We just love those!  We even let Ben go on some of the rides this year.  It was great fun!

ALSO, it was our week for preschool!  I forget to report on preschool because it is on Monday and Wednesday and I've already forgotten about it come Sunday!  We have just a small group of four kids this year.  It is nice because they get more individual attention and preschool is a lot calmer than any other groups I've done!  We learned D in handwriting, so we talked about ducks and learned some duck songs and a duck finger play.  We even ate like ducks.  It was great fun!  Bethany is a sweet girl and is learning quickly and loves to be with her friends.  I love to be with her.  :)

Kevin and I watched Sarah play on Tuesday in a doubles match on our home courts.  They won!  They looked great!  She and her partner are both really playing well!  This is her doubles partner, Hannah, in the picture with her.


And YES, Sarah did get her hair cut again, even shorter.  I don't know if she has actually forgiven me, yet.  I don't even know if she agrees with the totally unanimous response she gets from people who see her hair, "Your hair is SOOO cute!!!"  I think it is adorable.  But then, I always think she looks adorable, and that is why she says my opinion doesn't count.  Hmph.

After this fun match on Tuesday, Sarah, Mariah, and I drove up to the Barnes and Noble in Orem for, in Sarah's words, "The most exciting 20 seconds of my life!!"  We got to meet Shannon Hale!  She wrote, among other things, The Goose Girl, which Sarah has from Audible and has listened to so many times, she has whole passages completely memorized.  I should have taken a picture, but, we were being hurried through since the line was so long.  Shannon Hale was super nice, though, we really liked her, and we got two books signed, one for Sarah -- a hard copy of The Goose Girl.  The other we got signed for Savannah.  She would have come, but she wasn't feeling well.  She is a fan of Shannon Hale, too.  Mariah is now and has started her first Shannon Hale book.  It was fun!

On Wednesday, Mariah had a soccer game.  It's starting to get cold and even a bit dark at these evening games, now.  It's a good thing Mariah is so fun to watch!  We even lost Ben for about 15 minutes Wednesday night.  There is a large playground as well as some big dirt hills among some trees bordering the fields so there are lots of places for kids to play.  We found him coming back from the direction of the parking lot.  "Dark!" he told me when he saw me.  I think he noticed it getting dark and headed for the car!  What a responsible kid.

On Thursday, Kevin and I got to watch Megan play tennis in a home match.  She plays first junior varsity singles.  She didn't win her match, but it was fun to watch her.  She is doing a lot of good things out there!

Sarah played again on Thursday in an away match.  She played singles and did really well even though she didn't win.  It was fun for her to get to play!

On Thursday night Kevin and I were co-presenters at our weekly Relief Society meeting.  Fun, huh?  I've never got to present with Kevin before.  Although, I think, technically, this time he was presenting with me . . . the topic was budgeting and being happy with your financial situation.  Fortunately, most of the people in our ward, do seem to be happy with their financial situation.  We are not a rich ward, but those in attendance all seemed to already have budgets and be comfortable with where they were and where they could be.  It just proved to me again that we are surrounded by really cool people.

On Friday, Savannah ran in another giant Cross Country meet.  This time in Salem.  She did really well, running in the 23 and something range, again!  Since it was homecoming week, we had this big poster stretched across the front of our house for most of the week . . .

She gets a poster because she is a varsity athlete at Springville High School.  It's pretty cool.  We are totally proud of her.

Saturday was really busy, even for our standards!  Kevin and I went to the high school's booster breakfast in the morning in order to support our two high school athletes.  We were going to take Sarah and Savannah, but they had youth conference, so we took Cheyenne and Calianne.  They said that when they go to high school they will be in sports, too . . . either cross country or tennis or soccer or basketball or swimming.  Which goes to show you that there are no limits to the dreams of eight-year-olds!

Sarah went to Youth Conference and was gone all day at the Stake Center.  She had a terrific time being with friends and participating in the activities.

Savannah was going to go to some of Youth Conference, but a mix-up at work, made it so she missed all of it.  It's okay.  We know she still has a testimony.  She did work that afternoon and evening.

Kevin and Megan and Mariah went to Orem for, you'll never believe this, another celebrity autographing.  This time the celebrity was Jimmer Fredette.

Mariah and Megan and even dad were excited to go, but I think Mariah's excitement may have outmatched them all!  She now has a signed shirt and her own signed basketball!  I asked Kevin if he gave Jimmer some advice on his game while he had his ear, but he said he managed to refrain.  I was impressed!  He did ask after his recent marriage, though.  I suppose he is always a therapist at heart!


When they got home, Megan and I went shopping for clothes, as I had promised her we would do.  After MUCH looking, we found a dress that she absolutely LOVED.  I was so glad.  I really don't understand clothes these days.  Instead of dresses, they sell skirts and the skirts either come to your mid thigh or down to your ankles.  If you are 13, this means the dress comes past your ankles and drags on the floor.  THEN all the tops are either sleeveless or see-through so you ALWAYS have to buy two tops to finish the outfit.  Again, if you are thirteen and trying to make your money go far, this is very counter-productive.  However, we did find a dress as well as other things she would have liked -- all at Eagle Outfitters.  The store was heaven sent.  I am sure of it.  We actually made it home in time for dinner!

When we got home, Sarah, who had just gotten back from youth conference, left to go dress-shopping with Grandma for her birthday.  She had a successful trip, too!  We can't wait to see what she picked out!

We took Cheyenne back to the doctor this week.  She was so excited to get that cast off!  She had been counting days for two weeks.  This story has a sad ending, though.  When we got the cast off, it was immediately apparent that her arm was bent -- and not at the elbow.  The new x-rays confirmed our suspicions.  The bone in her arm that the doctor had pushed back into place was back out of place and healing all wrong.  Dr. Larsen said I could leave it and it would correct itself -- mostly -- within a year or so.  Ideally, though, he'd like to do surgery, straighten the bone and put in pins.  *Sigh*  I asked Cheyenne, who if you remember, REALLY wanted that cast off and would have to be in a cast again if we did surgery.  She had no hesitation.  "I want it fixed, Mom."  We had surgery the next morning.

What an adventure that was!  Actually everyone was really, really nice at the surgical center and everything went as smoothly as it could possibly go.  We showed up at 6:30 in the morning and were back home around 11am.  That was Thursday.  Cheyenne didn't go to school the rest of the week.  She is a quiet little girl on most days as it is, but the surgery made her even quieter.  They gave her a lot of pain medication, but it still hurt quite a lot.  We know it is a sign that she is feeling better now that she is getting her volume back.  She is even chasing her brother again and being silly with Calianne, so all is well.

In other news, Mariah made her poster for student council, received the second most amount of votes and is now Vice President at Brookside Elementary School!

She also played in two soccer games this week.  They lost one and won one.

Savannah worked three days this week, had a cross country meet on Saturday, and watched the entire first season of Voyager which she found available on her computer.

Sarah's tennis team held a tennis clinic for a fund-raiser on Saturday, so we sent Calianne (Chey was sad to miss that, too!).  Cali had a great time and asked Sarah when they could do it again?  Sarah says she is going to turn Cali into a star tennis player!  "Stick with me, kid!"

Megan had two tennis meets this week.  I got to go to the one she had on Monday.  It was stormy, but it stopped raining long enough to sweep off the courts and play some games.  It's a good thing because it was a good 25 minute drive to get there!  She's worth it, though.  Plus, Ben, Beth, Megan, and I shared breadsticks from Little Caesars while we waited for her turn to play.  :)

Bethany had preschool again this week.  Her friends also came over quite often to play.  She makes up stories all the time now.  She is quite humorous.  After preschool on Wednesday, I asked her "How was preschool?"  "Bad!" she says with big eyes.  "What happened?"  "Well . . . ." long pause while she thinks, "I was just wearing the prettiest clothes and everybody was mad because their clothes were not as pretty as mine.  So everybody else took off their clothes, and then I was the only one with clothes on!  Then they put me in the dungeon -- the preschool dungeon -- but then I just escaped and I came home."   Her life is just one big fantasy adventure!

Benjamin continues to get very dirty everyday and have plenty of adventures of his own, most of which go on inside his own head.   Cute boy.

On Saturday Mariah and her friend, Jessica, planned a huge activity for twenty some kids to re-enact the Hunger Games.  Jessica's parents and myself then were then committed to spend our afternoon up the canyon in the bushes and trees to keep them safe while they all tried to "kill" each other -- by pulling each others' flags.  They had a ton of fun and credit has to be handed to the imagination and planning skills of Mariah and Jessica.  Megan and several of her friends participated, too, and they all had great fun.

Here they are after we counted down from ten and then they all ran to the cornucopia to grab their backpacks and get to the trees before their flags were taken!

Providentially, the odds were ever in their favor.

Cali and Cheyenne got baptized this week!

The service was beautiful.  Their friend, Elizabella Francom was baptized at the same service so we worked together as families for the program.  Savannah conducted the music and Elizabella's mom gave the prayer.  Then Grandma Elton gave a lovely talk on baptism after which the Elton and Francom families sang "A Child's Prayer" together for the congregation.  Meg played violin too!  I think it turned out well.  It's such a lovely song.  Then Elizabella's ten-year-old brother, William, gave a talk on the Holy Ghost.  He did really great.  Then was the baptism.  Beth said "Oh boy!  It's my favorite part!"  Cheyenne and Calianne and their dad were all in white. Everything went smoothly.  As I helped them change from their wet clothes into their dresses, they both said they felt great!  When we returned to the chapel, the confirmations were done by Kevin.  They were beautiful blessings.  Then Sarah played the closing song and we were done!  We took lots of pictures.

We were so grateful for all the family who came to make the occasion extra special!

Happy Girls!

Grandma Gazdik

Cousin Kayla who got baptized last month and came from Las Vegas.

Grandpa Skinner and Maria

Grandma Elton

Afterwards we had a yummy breakfast at our house.  The morning was so nice, we even ate in the backyard.  We were so happy to have so many family members come and celebrate the day with us.  Thank you!!

In other news, we had another busy week.  Megan had her first tennis meet.  I thought she played GREAT!  She lost, but watch out for next time!  She is practicing everyday after school and practicing that violin, too.  Go Megan!

Mariah played soccer twice.  She won once and lost once.  She also has been busy applying for student council at the elementary school.  In order to apply, the kids have to write an essay and perform at least five hours of community service outside their immediate family.  She found out on Friday that she was chosen by the teachers to be one of the six student council members.  She was so excited!  I would say I'm proud of her, but I'd be proud of her just for applying and I'm proud of all the cool kids at Brookside.  I do think it will be good for her.  I am excited for this opportunity for her!

Sarah had two tennis meets this week.  One she didn't get to play in and the other one she and her partner lost.  She is playing doubles now with a junior named Hannah.  They have gotten to be great friends.  Sarah comes home from tennis saying that she and Hannah laughed so hard that she could hardly hit the ball.  I am glad she is having so much fun.

Savannah had a cross country meet on Friday after school.  She ran in a huge invitational.  The varsity race she ran in had over two hundred runners.  Exciting!  She ran a great race.  She ran three miles in 23:32.  Go Savannah!  She also worked three days last week and is keeping up with her schoolwork.  Yay!

Cali and Cheyenne are not big fans of third grade, so far.  They miss summer vacation and they miss second grade "when school was fun."  I'm not sure what is so different this year, but it is a hard adjustment for them!  They sure play hard when they get home.  They always have a friend with them.  It's a sacrifice to stop in order to go do piano lessons or do homework!

Bethany has started preschool.  I taught last week and then she only had one day this week because of labor day (we are meeting on Monday and Wednesdays since ballet is on Tuesdays).  We have a small group this year -- just four children -- three girls and a boy.  She has really enjoyed it so far and we have high hopes of teaching her to read!  She has been big on telling me how much she loves me this week.  "I don't ever want to lose you!" she tells me as she gives me her giant hugs.  She is good at lovin'!

Ben didn't set anything on fire this week.  Yay, Ben!  He still stays very busy and gets very dirty every day.  He likes to barrel into us, running at full speed, and grab our legs in a fierce hug, then run off again.  He is great.

I spent most of the week cleaning up the house and finishing the dresses I sewed for the girls' baptism.  They picked their own patterns and their own fabrics.  I love how it shows their different personalities.  Didn't they turn out cute??  Sometimes sewing does turn out well.  :)

My mom and sister arrived on Friday night and stayed for the weekend.  It was so fun to have them here.  Maggie brought her three girls, Rebecca, Emily, and Elizabeth, and my mom brought Amy's daughter, Kayla.  We had such fun together.  Mom, Maggie, and I talked and went to the quilt shop and talked some more.  We even watched a movie together Saturday night and Saturday afternoon we went on a walking tour of downtown Springville.  Now I'm sure you all are jealous you missed that!!  Actually, it turned out really fun.  We saw some cute shops, Grandma bought us all ice cream at Hogi Yogi, and we finished off at Springville's own tiny pioneer museum.  Those girls could really have fun anywhere.

Playing Apples to Apples.

They blended right in with the founders of Springville monument.

They sang "Do-Re-Me" here because we said it reminded us of Sound of Music.  Touring your town can always be an adventure even if you are not in Austria.

It has been a full week.  We are so grateful for all the good in our lives and all the good families and friends and for Cheyenne and Calianne and the beautiful young girls they have grown up to be and their desires to do what is right.  Life is good.  It's been a good week.

 This car is apparently not a coupe as advertised, but actually, a pick-up truck!  Who knew?

The picture above resulted from Ben activity that was decidedly less cute!  He took the popcorn (in it's nice, brittle, brown bag) out of the microwave, placed it on the stove burner, and . . . turned it on!  I ran in when I heard him crying his distress cry.  The flames were almost to the top of the microwave.  YIKES!!  I thought water?  No, it'll take too long to fill something.  Lid?  Fire might be too big.  Fire extinguisher?  Fire extinguisher.  And therein laid the second miracle of the day (after me actually responding promptly to Ben crying), the fire extinguisher was where it was supposed to be and full.  It made short work of the blazing fire.  I stood looking at the remains ready to blast any remaining sparks.  As I realized that there wasn't anything still burning and the fire was really out, I also then realized how fast and hard my heart was beating.  Whoa.  That was pretty scary.  I turned to look at Ben.  He looked back at me with big eyes.  It seemed we were going to be okay.  Whew.

There's never a dull moment around here at the Skinner house!

Actually, we started the week with a birthday party on Tuesday for sweet Cheyenne and Calianne.  They turned eight years-old!!

Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik held a great birthday party at their house, as usual.  It was great!  Somehow all the presents were ready in time for the big hour and Cali and Chey were happy with everything.  Yay!  We hope they know how much we love them and how happy we are that they came into our lives eight years ago.  They are such fun!

This week we also canned peaches.  I really don't know how we managed that.  In fact, if my neighbor had called and said, "Would you like these extra peaches?" instead of just bringing them over, I probably would have said, "There is just no way that I can fit that in anytime this week, let alone tonight." -- which was Monday.  It just proves that sometimes you don't know what you can do until it is thrust upon you.

My kids are feeling overwhelmed with the new demands of school and most of them have sports demands as well so I even had a hard time convincing myself to ask the girls for help with the peaches.  It turned out awesome, though.  It only took them an hour to fill 29 quarts and they sat and talked to each other.  It's sometimes hard to find a job that so many people can be in the same place doing together.  Canning is cool like that.  Yay for free peaches from neighbors!

Bethany had her first ballet class this week.  She was so excited!  Go Bethany!

Ben wanted to be in the picture, too.

Megan tried out for the junior high tennis team on Tuesday.  The coach decided to keep everybody and hasn't told them who will play at what level, yet.  Either way, it looks like Megan will start playing tennis everyday, too, starting next week!  Go Megan!
 
Mariah had a soccer game on Wednesday.  She played great and assisted two of their goals.  They won!  Go Mariah!


Sarah played in a tennis meet on Thursday.  She's switched to playing doubles and it's taking some getting used to.  I got to watch her since they were at home.  It was fun.  Go Sarah!

Savannah had a cross country meet on Saturday where she ran three miles in 23 minutes.  Kevin and Grandma went to watch the race.  They said it was great!  Go Savannah!

On Saturday we also had Cali and Cheyenne's friend birthday party.  Calianne said they wanted a "ninja, spy, dance party."  I said, "  .  .  .  .  . "  Yah, I didn't have any idea what to say about that.  Fortunately, I have older daughters who are very creative and great with little kids.  I love having older daughters!  I asked Megan to be in charge.  I told her I would do pizza time, cake time, and present time and she could do everything else.  She was awesome!  Sarah helped as assistant.

First she taught them how to fold origami ninja stars.

Later they played a version of sharks and minnows called "Spies and Ninjas."

These are the "lasers" that the ninjas (or was it spies?) had to navigate in order to get to the lollipops at the end.

Here they are enjoying their pizza but you can also see some of them still wearing their ninja headbands that Meg made for them!

It is safe to say that in the end, a fun time was had by all!  Yay for eight-year-old birthday parties!  Yay for big sisters!  (Have I mentioned that I love having older daughters?)  Yay for Megan!