This week was Mariah's birthday!

She turned twelve and has joined the Young Women with her older sisters at church.  Holy Cow!  She is so grown up!

Thursday was Mariah's birthday but it was a crazy, crazy day.  We knew we'd be busy, so we planned to celebrate Friday night over at Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik's house!

Grandma made a lovely dinner.  We had ham and potatoes and corn and rolls and jello.  Mariah got to open her presents (finally!) and we all had cake and ice cream.  It was great!

I made that cute owl bag!  Didn't it turn out awesome???

We are so happy that she came to our family 12 years ago.  She is so full of energy and drive and pushes us all to be better.  Happy Birthday, Mariah!!!

On Monday, Sarah had a junior high basketball game.  Kevin and I and Grandma and Grandpa all watched her together.  It's so fun to watch her in these level games.  She had another game Tuesday and another on Thursday, but we weren't able to go.  They haven't won, yet, and that can be frustrating for Sarah, but she is having a good time!

Also on Monday, Megan went to referee training.  She is going to try to earn some money by reffing for the younger leagues through city recreation.  I hope it all works out.

On Tuesday, the girls had a combined Young Women activity with the Young Men to go rock climbing.  Savannah convinced Mariah to go, too, since she'd be twelve in two more days.  They all had a great time!  They were all oh, so sore the next day, but they loved it!

On Wednesday, I went to parent-teacher conferences at the elementary school for Chey, Cali, and Mariah.  There I found out that my children are about as close to perfect as they come -- a fact I was pretty sure of already!  Megan, Mariah, and Kevin had a basketball game that night and lost their first in that league.  Sarah, Chey, Cali, Beth, Ben, and I had fun watching anyway!

Thursday, our crazy day, Cali and Cheyenne had their first basketball practice (yay!) from 4-5, Mariah and I had our first basketball practice from 4:30 to 5:30, Mariah, Megan, and Kevin had a game at 6, and Kevin and Megan had their first basketball practice for their Springville team from 7:30 to 8:30.  What do you think of THAT!  Also, Savannah was at work from 4 to 9:20, and Sarah had that third basketball game of the week over at the junior high.  That's just about everybody!  Beth and Ben got to go on a lot of car rides!

On Saturday, we decided to get our Christmas tree!  Savannah was at work in the morning, but the rest of us went to the lot, and the girls picked out a beauty!  We even bought some hot sugared almonds as we left.  It was fun!

That afternoon, we dropped Beth and Ben off at a friend's house, picked Savannah up from work and drove into Orem for the matinee performance of the Forgotten Carols!  Our family watches the DVD every year, so it was a real treat to see it live.  The spirit was so strong.  It was such a great event to share as a family!  We will always remember it.

That night Kevin and Mariah had another basketball game.  (You saw that coming, right?)  It was their first with the advanced Bantam league.  They won by a lot!  Kevin's hoping for a bit more of a challenge with future games.  Heh, heh.

I also taught preschool this week.  Bethany would prefer to be going to princess school, but she doesn't complain too much when we learn letters, instead!  :)

Sarah is so FUNNY we love her guts! Even though it gets annoying sometimes we live with her.
                                                  - STIFF!!!!!!!!

(Yes.  Sarah added the last two lines.  We do love her guts, though.)