This week was Thanksgiving!  The girls only had two days of school this week.  Even so, Sarah had her first junior high basketball game Tuesday after school.  It was hard to tell, but I think I may have even had more fun than Sarah just watching her be in the game!  She was a starter and played great.  The score was 26 to 32.  We lost, but Sarah scored 8 points!  Go Sarah!

After Sarah's game, we got everyone piled into the van and drove down to Las Vegas!  We got there around 11pm their time (midnight for us).  It was worth it, though!  Then we had all day Wednesday to visit family and enjoy the beautiful weather!  We went to the park with Grandma and Grandpa and met Diane there with her baby and Amy's.  Savannah and Mariah decided to go see a movie while we were there.  Kevin, Grandpa, Sarah, and Megan all played basketball.  Grandma, Diane, and I visited while the little ones played!  My Uncle John arrived soon after that and back at the house that night, once Amy was done with school, she brought her girls up to Grandma's and while she was there, Maggie arrived with her family!  It was quite loud for a space while the cousins all screamed in their excitement to see each other.  My goodness!  We split the cousins up to different houses this time so that they could spend more time with their "favorites."  It was fun.

 The next day was Thanksgiving!  Mom had done a lot of preparing before we even arrived so there was not much to do that day as far as cooking was concerned.  Dave arrived that morning and it was great to see my little brother again!  Kevin, Jason, and friend went to play basketball as did Megan, Mariah, and Rebecca.  We all met again at the church around two o'clock.  The gym was decorated and the food was ready . . . Actually, I think a lot of work went on in the morning, I just didn't do any of it!  I really did offer . . .  Nonetheless, I was a happy beneficiary!  The gym was lovely, the food was yummy.  After we all ate, the adults talked while the children prepared a show for us.  After much practicing, the curtains were drawn and we were regaled with humor and history and hoopla!  It was terrific.  A little basketball, a little clean-up and we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's house to hang out for the evening!

On Friday we all met again at Grandma's house.  It wasn't as loud as it sounds like it might be!  The kids played in small groups or outside.  Maggie's family had to leave around noon, so we bid them a sad farewell.  Grandpa barbecued some hamburgers and hotdogs for us for lunch!  My friend, Kim, and her little one, Brooke, came to visit for a little while that afternoon and that was fun.  Grandpa, Kevin, Sarah, and Megan went to the courts and played some doubles tennis,  Jason and Paul went to cheer them on.  We said goodbye to the last of the cousins that evening.  Bethany and Emma cried the very most at being parted! 

Did I mention that many sports games were also viewed that week by the men?  But after the sports were through Friday night, Grandma and Grandpa stayed up to support us while we finally finished the puzzle we started that morning.  Victory!

Saturday we packed up and drove home!  Bethany, who slept most of the way on our way to Las Vegas, asked if it was going to be a long drive.  I told her, "Yes.  It will take all day."  This was true since we left around 10, we lose an hour with the time change, and it gets dark in Utah around 5.  Still, it went well with minimal amounts of screaming.  Yay!

We had a great time.  As usual, we missed seeing my brother, Pete, and his family.  It was great though to see my Uncle John who I haven't seen in years and watch him interact with my children.  Yay for my mom's big brother.  He is so fun.  Yay for Thanksgiving and family and tons of food!  Yay for memories that will last for years to come!

So . . . what did we do this week?  My camera is no help.  This is all I have on my camera:

Which tells us a bit of what Benjamin did this week, I guess!


Let's see . . . I'm afraid we did basketball this week and added even more.  In fact, from now until the end of February, you probably only need to skim Skinner Updates.  Let's see, you'll say, basketball, basketball, basketball.  Yep, same as last week!  What can I say?  We think it's great fun!

So, Savannah did nothing related to basketball this week.  We'll start with her.  She worked Th, Fri, and Sat.  She also did all her homework for the week on Thursday.  Why she did not do it on M, T, or W, I do not know.  She was enjoying some downtime.  She got her results back from the ACT and scored a 26.  That's not as high as she was hoping, so she will be taking it again in the spring.  This time she will remember her ID card!  Heh, heh.

Sarah had basketball practice everyday after school for two hours.  She also got a bad head cold.  She was not enjoying running with a pounding head nor having to play defense without being able to breathe!  Poor kid.  We also found out that she needs to sell some coupon cards for fundraising.  Anyone a frequenter of Krispy Kreme or Pier 49, give us a call.

Megan and Mariah both played basketball on Kevin's Mapleton team.  They had practice Monday and played games Tuesday and Wednesday nights.  On Saturday they played in a tournament in which they were the champions!  They were each awarded a new pair of socks.  Because they knocked everyone's socks off!  They have not lost any games.  They are playing really, really well.  It is fun, fun to watch.

Kevin had a meeting on Wednesday night to receive his team roster for his Springville team (Megan's team).  He couldn't attend because of his game in Mapleton, so I went.  He'll start practices for that team after Thanksgiving.

I was back at the city rec office Thursday night to receive the team roster for my Springville team (Mariah's team).  I love coaching, so I am excited.  Since I already spent a season losing every game (except one!), losing no longer holds any fear for me.  This year I just know I will be totally relaxed and happy through every game.  Heh, heh.  Anyway we start practices after Thanksgiving, as well.

Cali and Chey haven't gotten a call from their coach, yet, but they will probably start practices in a couple of weeks, too.  I know that some of you think we are crazy, but I'm telling you -- it's so fun!!

Cali and Chey and Beth and Ben have been coming to watch M&M's basketball games with me.  Actually, I use the term "watch" very loosely.  Mostly they climb up and down the bleachers, go under the bleachers, and get soaking wet in the bathroom.  They have a great time.

Those younger ones and I did have some fun this weekend together!  After the basketball tournament, Kevin drafted Sarah and Megan and Mariah to help him get the snowed-upon, rain-sodden leaves up off the yard.  I had promised Chey that when she got her cast off, I would take her swimming.  I was overdue on my promise so I took Cali, Chey, Beth and Ben to the indoor pool for a couple of hours of swimming.  Do you know what?  We had so much fun.  (Way more fun that leaf-raking!)  Cali and Chey swam races across the narrow part of the pool, Beth splashed around and floated on her back in her life-vest, and Ben . . . well, after his initial terror of the life-vest and the showers (which I didn't even make him do!) and after I carried him back after he ran screaming and crying from the locker room, it took him twenty minutes of sitting on my lap at the top of the stairs to putting his feet into the water.  An hour later, though, he was not only wearing the life vest, but was tootling around in it ON HIS OWN!  He looked like he was riding a unicycle, but he sure could get everywhere!  Isn't he awesome?  I thought he was, as my girls were, too!  They jumped off the side and Beth even could jump off without me catching her -- she went completely under the water each time!  I was so impressed.

While we were gone, they got all the leaves up!  Some of these pictures are before we took Ben away to the pool.

This is Sarah's "before" picture.  I am sure there is grass in there somewhere . . .

Meg's still got her shorts on from basketball!  But check out those cool socks!

Maybe a shovel will work better?  Have I mentioned that we only own two rakes?  (Actually one belongs to some friends who left it here during the days of the annual leaf hotel.  I'm sure we will return it eventually . . .)

How could I take Ben when he was such a good helper?

Aha!!  The grass!!  Doesn't the "after" picture look lovely?  Unfortunately, our tree is still dropping leaves so it does not look like that already!

When I got back from the pool, I dropped off the little kids, changed clothes, and grabbed the older kids because Savannah, Sarah, Megan, and I really wanted to see a certain movie that came out this weekend.  It was so. good.  We had such fun! 

We came home to hot pizza that their awesome dad had cooked up for us.

It was a very fun day at the end of a fun week.

Is that beautiful weather or what?

 We went from gorgeous warm days like that to the below snow-covered picture in 24 hours.  It was crazy!

The storm came in Friday morning and stayed until Saturday morning.  It was of particular importance to us because we needed to finish a project.  Last weekend, when the weather was nice all weekend, Kevin decided to redo the roof over the carport.  The roofing was old, leaking, and causing some of the boards underneath to rot.  Kevin got the old roofing off last weekend, but when he went to get the materials for the new roof, found out that they had to be special ordered and he'd have to wait until next weekend.  That would have been fine, except for the above-mentioned approaching storm.  So, Kevin and several wonderful men from our ward, worked on the carport just about every night this week.  Thursday was the biggest day as that was when the metal roofing came in and the day before the storm.  Those men worked until midnight and got her done!  On the positive side of things, the weather was nice and warm and dry albeit dark.  The next day we woke up to rain, the day after that, Kevin measured the snow on top of the carport -- 10 inches.  Yay!  It got done just in time.

So that was not the only thing Kevin was doing in the evenings this past week.  The basketball season in Mapleton started on Wednesday night.  He had practice Monday night and games Wednesday and Thursday night.  We had a roof to get on, but the basketball distractions were awfully fun!  Megan and Mariah played great both nights.  They won both games.  I watched Meg and Mariah both steal balls and go down the court for layups at the other end.  They played really well.

And speaking of basketball, Sarah made the junior high basketball team.  Yay, Sarah!  She had practice everyday after school this past week and has been very, very sore!  She likes her team and is already having fun.

Savannah has been working on some NaNoWriMo projects.  She's not sure if she'll go the distance this year, but she has been having fun editing some of her old projects.  She also worked Thu, Fri, and Saturday at Funfinity.

Cheyenne did a great job cleaning her room on Saturday.  She told Cali that she wanted to do it herself.  She does this rather often.  She likes to organize and make things neat and she does a good job!  She also started ukulele club at school.  Since she just got her cast off, she is behind on what the others know, but she sure wants to know!

Calianne and Mariah made a maze out of our fallen leaves in the backyard before the storm came.  They had quite a lot of fun.  Cali was very excited about it.  Darn that snow!  She was a little weepy when we had to rake the leaves up in anticipation of the storm.  Not that it helped much.  Kevin needed the trailer for the roof, so we couldn't get our leaves up.  Now they are all under the snow!  We'll have to get them up after it melts.  Mariah did most of the raking Thursday afternoon.  She and Meg had fun with the gigantic pile, at least.

Wow!  That pile is big enough to hide a person!

Look at that!  There is a person in it!

Bethany and Benjamin have really liked the snow.  Bethany went out the first night with her friend next door and they had great fun.  Ben has been out everyday.  He likes to wear his boots and walk through the paths his sisters made in the snow.  He has great fun.

Saturday night Kevin and I had a chance to go out to eat with my Aunt Connie, Uncle Scott, and cousins Heather and Mark and their spouses.  It was so fun!  Connie had some names to take to the temple and asked if we'd like to come help, so afterwards we did that.  It was a super-great experience.  It was so fun to see the Erskines and talk with them again and it was so neat to be a part of Connie's family history work.  Kevin and I are both feeling a bit inspired by Connie.  Who knows?  We might actually do a little ourselves one of these days.  Actually, we already did Saturday night!  Lucky us!

This week was Halloween!!!

Aren't we good at Jack o' Lantern carving??

 

 

We sure do have fun!

 

 

 

 On the day of Halloween, just my elementary school kids dressed up for school.  Don't they look great?  Cheyenne is a pirate, Calianne a ninja, and Mariah a zombie cheerleader.  Of course.

Bethany also dressed up for school -- preschool.  She is a fairy princess ballerina.  Why choose one?  I mean really?  She makes an awfully cute one all mixed together, don't you agree?

 Sarah wore my hat for her nod to the holiday.  I thought, "Holy Cow!  She looks like . . . ME!"  I felt a bit of displacement in time for a minute.

 Mariah, Cheyenne, and Calianne had a group piano lesson afterschool on Wednesday, but when they were done, I took those who were desirious, down to Main Street for the city trick or treat.  Sarah was the official chaperone.  Megan donned her costume and went, too.  (Meg made her own costume -- a long white dress to be a goddess with a gold belt and painted gold leaves in her hair.  It was really cool!  She chickened out when it came to wearing it to school, but she did go trick or treating with friends later that night, so it turned out to get some use after all.)

 Then, after a nutritious dinner, we even dressed up Benjamin, and Kevin and I went out with Mariah, Chey, Cali, Beth, and Ben.  Savannah manned the candy bowl here at the house, Sarah went to Allyson's, and Meg went with another group as mentioned above.  Kevin and I had a great time with the little ones.  The weather was WARM.  It was sooo nice.  We got lots of candy, (but we gave out a LOT back at home, too!  That weather really brings out the trick or treaters!)

 It was Benjamin's first year trick or treating.  He really liked it!  He knocked on doors, he said, "Trick or Treat!"  And then he'd say, "THANK YOU!"  In a deep, growly, monster voice.  He's all boy alright.  He loved getting the candy and he loved eating it even better.  What a great holiday!!  Are you sure it wasn't a kid who thought up Halloween?

Yes, Ben is eating three lollipops at once.

Let's see, what else happened this week?  Kevin is coaching a team for Mapleton basketball (since their season is earlier than Springville and doesn't overlap) and he arranged it so that he has both Megan and Mariah on his team.  Mariah is actually too young to be on the team, but because he is the coach and Megan is her sister, they allowed it.  They started practicing this week.  Kevin is excited about this team!  They will begin games next week.

Savannah has had a bad head cold all week that knocked her out for a couple of days.  She still worked all her scheduled days at Funfinity (three days this week) and stayed on top of her school work.  She is a very responsible gal!

 Which reminds me that we had stomach flu at our house the beginning of this week.  Cali, Bethany, and Benjamin all were struck with it on Sunday and Monday.  Yuck, right??  I'm really glad they are feeling better and it was nice that no one else got sick.

Sarah has been playing basketball after school in the open gym practices at the junior high this week.  They'll have try-outs for the team next week.

Bethany tells me regularly, "Mom, I love you!  I never want to lose you!"  This week she said that she never wants to break up.  Well, that's a relief!  She loves to play with friends still.  When they leave, she tells me, "Mom, my heart is broken!"  Then I put my head down against her chest to listen.  I hear that little heart pumping away and I say, "Yes!  It does sound so sad!"  Also this week she told Ben, "Ben, you are not my type!"  Then she said to me, "Mom . . . I don't want to marry Ben!"  I told her she couldn't marry her brother anyway!  Later that week she told me, "Mom, Ben will be my brother forever and ever!"  They are great friends.  Sometimes when they watch TV, they put their arms around each other.  It is so cute. 

Cali and Cheyenne and Beth spent the night Friday night at Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik's house.  They love doing that and Grandma loves having them.  It's so fun!  Grandma even took them to McDonald's on Saturday for lunch.  What could be better?