We celebrated Earth Day this week by agreeing to take down the giant sycamore tree in our front yard.  It felt like a rather shoddy way of celebrating the holiday in truth.  But, the limbs keep falling on our neighbor's house and after three certified arborists all independently told me that the tree really was dangerous and needed to come down, what could I do?  It will come down sometime this next month.  Stay posted!  Goodbye our beautiful tree!

Well, Sarah did it and finished her last week of driver's ed!  Hurrah!  She takes her road test Monday.  If she passes that, and she will, then on her birthday we just have to show up at the DMV, give them the records from her class, and they will make her a legal driver.  She is ready!  She is doing great driving, too.  She volunteers to drive every time we go anywhere.  That's a good sign that she's getting comfortable with our great beast of a van!

Last night Calianne and Cheyenne showed me the blisters they've gotten on their hands from doing monkey bars.  Calianne said, "When you do monkey bars, you feel like you're soaring through the sky!"  Cheyenne agreed, "Yes!  It's like you're flying!"  Who knew that monkey bars could produce such raptures??  They have been doing monkey bars at recess and then Saturday they spent a couple of hours at the park doing it some more!  They obviously love it.

Bethany has been playing with her friends and Ben has been joining in.  He has even had some friends of his own friends over this week.  One day he and one friend dug in the dirt looking for bugs.  Ben kept yelling, "Poopy head!"  I thought he was yelling that at his friend, but it turned out that was what he was calling the bugs.  That's better.  Another day, he and another friend loaded our wagon with bricks and giant rocks -- just for the thrill of loading heavy things!  Bethany played dress-up and house and sat on the couch with her friends looking at books.  So sweet!  :)

Since the weather has finally swum upward into nice temperatures, we've been able to be outside comfortably for the first time EVER (okay, ever this spring).  Mariah has spent a lot of time up in the maple tree in our front yard (good thing we don't have to cut that one down!) reading books.  Meg has found time to climb up a couple of times, too, and she even talked Mariah into taking her picture.

Megan continues to go faithfully to track practice.  I saw her run one of her events at her track meet on Friday.  She was the last runner in the 4x400 relay.  The opposing team was at least 50 meters in front of her when Meg grabbed the baton.  At the 200 meter mark, the girl was still 50 meters ahead of her.  Kevin said, "Wooo, this is going to be close!"  And I said, "Um, no, I don't think so."  But Kevin was right.  That's where Meg puts on her kick.  At the finish line they were toe to toe.  It was amazing!  Meg didn't pull off the win for her team, but boy was it fun to watch!!  I feel bad the rest of you weren't there to see it!

Saturday morning the high school tennis coach organized a tennis tournament for the students and their parents.  Kevin, Sarah, and Megan all went over and played.  They had tons of fun!  It was a beautiful morning for tennis, too, as Ben, Beth, and I walked over to watch some.  They paired Kevin up with some senior boys from the team.  Kevin says he got his can kicked!  They are all very sore today.

A little bird made a nest in the flower arrangement I have hanging right next to our front door.  She built it while we were gone to California and I'm sure she thought she'd found just the right, quiet spot.  I'm sure she was horrified when we came home and she'd already laid her eggs!  She's been faithful, though, and the little birds have hatched out.  They are the cutest little bunch of fluff!  Hopefully, the momma will stick with them until the end.  They are so sweet!

We decided to go ahead and sign Mariah up for softball.  She's been going to practices twice a week and even though she didn't play at all last year, it still seems like she'll be a pretty strong force on their team!  She is having fun.

We had a piano recital on Wednesday this week!  Calianne, Cheyenne, Mariah, and Sarah all played.  They did a terrific job.  They're all progressing and making beautiful music.  It is fun to hear them play.  Afterwards we stopped at Krispy Kreme for donuts!  It was great fun watching our kids watching the donuts get made.  We missed Savannah because she was at work!

Thursday was Mariah's Hershey Track Meet with all the 6th graders in Springville.  Mariah was one of only six girls who braved the mile and she came in 2nd place with a time of 6:53!  She also ran the 200 and came in 4th with a time of 32.43 seconds.  She's a fast girl, huh?  It was fun to watch her even though the day was COLD and windy.  I must love her a lot. . .

Savannah discovered a new obsession this week and has been working her way through all the episodes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  If nothing else, it provides bonding time with Beth and Ben. . .

Sarah is still plowing through Driver's Ed.  This week has been a little smoother sailing since she didn't need to drive as much after school and she is getting used to the early hours and the format of the bazillion worksheets she has to do each day.  We will still be really happy when it is over!  (Next week!)

Megan ordered some shoes online on Saturday and was excited for their arrival all week -- tracking the package each day!  They got delayed in SLC on Wednesday because of "adverse weather conditions" but made it on Thursday.  Oh!  Such happiness!  She also did track all week and had a track meet on Friday.  She is a really fast girl, too!  On Saturday she played her violin for a judge and did really well.  I took her picture on the way out!  You can even see her new shoes!

Also on Saturday, our church regional sports committee put together a 5K fun run for free for whoever wanted to participate.  Kevin, Megan, Mariah, Cheyenne, and Calianne all woke up early and did the run!  They had a grand time meeting up with their friends and pushing themselves for the distance.  It was fun for them all.


Ben is doing pretty well on the potty training.  At least he does well with peeing when he has reminders.  We have not had any success with the other stuff!  Today when I was changing his pants, I told him we had to get his "panties" on.  He said, "Grandma said -- panties are for girls -- NOT for Benjamin!"  Oops!  I guess after seven girls I am having a hard time changing my vocabulary!  Good thing he has a grandma to set him straight!

Bethany still loves to play with the other little girls in the neighborhood -- especially dress-up and house.  One little girl left very angry because Bethany told her she wasn't old enough to drive in their pretend game.  I guess driver's ed is trickling all the way down to our youngest ones!  Beth considers herself my very most personal friend.  The other day she asked which of the kids "came out" first.  When I told her it was Savannah, she said sadly,  "Oh!  I was hoping it was me."  You gotta love the illogic of little people love!

Sarah started Driver's Ed this week.  She has class everyday at 5:45 in the morning for three weeks.  For the first three days she also had to drive in the driving range directly after school until 6pm.  So, for the first three days of this week Sarah was gone for 12 hours each day!  Holy smokes!  Then when she got home she still had to do homework for driver's ed in addition to her other school classes.  It was a hard three days.  Thursday and Friday were a little easier, but I am still not sure if she is going to forgive us for asking her to take driver's ed in the first place.  She is not a happy camper.  "Just two more weeks!" I tell her.  Hopefully it will go quickly!

Savannah and Mariah got to go to the temple on Tuesday.  It was Mariah's first time to go and we were so glad that Savannah could go with her.  They both had a great experience.

Megan had track practice everyday after school and a track meet on Friday.  She ran in four events on Friday:  the 400, the 200, the medley, and the 4x400 relay.  She is a speedster and doing really great.  She is not thrilled about having to practice everyday, but she is being a trooper and making every practice so far. It's great to see her be dedicated.

Megan also had to make a mouse-trap car for science.  She and Kevin worked on it together!  Oh, the crazy things the school asks us to do!

I taught preschool this week.  We talked about ladybugs and worked on our handwriting and our phonemic identification.  The kids did a really good job.  They've learned so much.  I don't think they even realize how close they are to reading and writing.  We made ladybug kites on the last day and that was my favorite part.

I started potty training Ben.  We are in that great trial and error period.  We'll make it, though.  He's doing pretty good, really.

Speaking of Ben, guess who had a birthday???  Ben turned three on Tuesday.  I didn't have his presents, yet, though, and his sisters were having busy, busy days -- so we postponed our celebration for Thursday.  It turned out really well.  His Grandma Gazdik had her birthday on Wednesday, so we celebrated both birthdays together.  Grandma's brother James and his wife, Kathleen, were even in town to join our party!

I made this super cool cupcake train for the party.  It kind of fell apart on the way there, but Ben loved it and was so excited to eat it.  He was so excited to go to Grandma's house for his birthday!!  Oh my goodness!  He was jumping up and down!  He was so excited!

We had a cake for Grandma, too!

Then we opened presents.  Ben knew just where he was supposed to sit and just what to do.  Man, he was cute!

Then Grandma opened her presents, too . . .

and we got a picture of both the birthday kids together!

It was a great party!  We all had a grand time!

I will try to cover two weeks in this post.  The week of March 24th, we were mostly preparing for our trip to California during the week of March 31st, but many memorable events happened, as well . . .

Megan got published in the junior high newspaper as part of her journalism class.  She wrote some great articles!

 

Megan also had an orchestra concert on Wednesday night.  I took this picture before the concert started and she's looking at me like, "Mom!  I can't believe you are taking my picture!  Again!"  Ha, ha.  At least I behaved and didn't take any pics during the performance.  She and her orchestra did a great job!

 Megan also had her first track meet on Friday right before we left on our vacation.  She ran the 400 and placed 3rd and her medley team where she ran the 800, also placed 3rd.  Way to go Megan!

Sarah got to take a day off school since her choir participated in a choir festival.  She said they did fantastic.  They also got to go to the mall for lunch afterward which was great fun!  And, of course, she got to wear her fancy choir dress . . .

Also of note, on Friday, as I was packing to go, I got a call from the high school.  Savannah was helping put away some technical equipment and stood up under a metal shelf.  She cut her head open.  Youch!  So, Kevin was just getting back early from work about then and he took her over to the doctor for two stitches.  Poor girl!  Thankfully, it wasn't any worse and the doc cleared her for swimming after 24 hours.  Yay!

Friday we left with a loaded van directly from Megan's Payson track meet and headed for Las Vegas.  We got to Grandma and Grandpa's about 9:30 that night and even got to do some visiting before the day was done.

Saturday was so fun as we got to participate in Easter activities with my whole family!  Maggie's family came down from Cedar City and David came down from St. George.  It was so great to see everybody!  In the morning we colored eggs with Grandma and that afternoon all the families met at a park for ham dinner, rabbit-shaped cake, and a giant egg hunt.  We hear about that Easter party every year headed up by my sister, Amy.  It was so special for us to be there for it this year!

We left directly from the picnic dinner festivities to finish our road trip to California.  We got there about 10.  We carried Beth and Ben up to the room along with all our bags and supplies.  Beth and Ben were too worn out to be excited that we had finally made it there!  They didn't even wake up . . .

The next day was Easter Sunday!  Kevin made us a great breakfast and we headed up to Ranchos Palos Verdes to see the Gazdik family!  We went to church with them and when we got back we got to enjoy their lovely house and lovely view and even had another Easter egg hunt at the playground of Julia's elementary school!  They treated us to a fantastic dinner and then to a walk on the beach at one of their favorite spots.  We stayed at their house late talking until we realized they had school tomorrow and said our goodbyes.  They are such a fun family and it made our Easter Sunday super special!

Also, we usually give presents to our kids for Easter.  This year, this trip was the gift.  But, I did make something for each child . . . a hat!  They were silly sun hats but I had a great time making them and an even more fun time seeing all of us in them.  I ran out of time to make one for Kevin and even though I made a totally cute boy version for Ben, he refused to wear it.  So, it was all us girls.  Which was fun, too.  You will see pictures of those hats throughout the trip!

On Monday we packed up just our beach gear and headed to the first beach we would try -- San Clemente.  This turned out to be our favorite beach for boogie boarding.  (A friend in my ward had some boogie boards that she lent us for the week!!  It added so much to our trip!  I am so grateful to her!)  It was also the beach where we lost Bethany for about 10 minutes!  It was so scary.  I think we learned our lesson, though, because we were extra careful after that and didn't lose anyone again.  Yay!  I didn't get any pictures of the boogie boarding, but all four of the older girls tried it and got the hang of it right away.  They were out in the waves most of the time!

That's Sarah and Megan out on the boogie boards . . . and Ben trying to drag Kevin into the water!

Calianne and Bethany really enjoyed flying kites (more than anyone else!)

Cheyenne is sitting on a boogie board here watching other boarders.  She gets up the nerve later on!

Before we left, we walked out on the San Clemente pier.  There were lots of seagulls and Bethany ran after them all yelling, "Caw-caw!  Caw-caw!"

On Tuesday, Kevin had a meeting with a business partner in the morning, so the rest of us slept late and then enjoyed the hotel pool.  (In fact, most of us slept late every morning.  Kevin, however, was up early every morning and ran on the beach.  He was loving having no allergies and running at sea level!)  When Kevin came back, we went over to the Dana Point Harbor to see the pirate ship and to take a walk around the point.  We even saw a little seal!

 

 Then we took the kids over to an ice cream stand that overlooks Crystal Cove where Kevin and I went for my birthday!  When we were done with the ice cream we walked down to the beach and showed the girls the tide pools.  We played in the sand and walked in the waves until dinner time.  It's such a beautiful beach!

On Wednesday, we went to Balboa or Newport Beach.  It was a very pretty beach and had some more good boogie boarding.  I even got a turn this time around!  We played all day in the ocean and in the sand -- burying each other and building sand castles.  Ben used the sunblock cans as cars and built tunnels and bridges and followed the "train" tracks left by the lifeguard's SUV.

When we left the beach, we walked over to the Balboa Kid's Fun Zone where my mom has fond memories of visiting when she was young!  We rode the ferris wheel and saw Zoltar (the fortune telling machine) and dad even bought some souvenirs for lucky young Skinners!

Thursday was our only day away from the beach.  The girls wanted to see Hollywood!  So we braved the roads and drove to the capital of the rich and famous!  Once we got there, we got offered a really great deal on the open-van tour of celebrity homes so we went on that, too!

Justin Bieber lives here!

Brittney Spears' home!

Friday it was rainy in the morning and Meg didn't feel well, so we stayed in the hotel and watched Back to the Future.  After lunch, it was sunny again so we headed for our last beach, Salt Creek, which was just around the bend from our hotel.  It's also where the Dana Point High School surf team practices.  We thought it would offer the very best boogie boarding opportunities, yet!  When we got there, the waves were full of surfers and boogie boarders and the waves were BIG.  It turned out that we watched a lot of great boarders, but we were too scared of those waves to try them ourselves!  We still had great fun and built our biggest castles that day.  The swimming was nice past the breakers, too, but I'm the only one who can vouch for you on that one.

Our own Marvel hero, Savannah, keeping Ben alive in spite his love of water.

Oh!!  And it goes the way of all great sand castles!  Dang those tides!

Megan's new sarong!

This castle was safer from the tide!  We didn't have to witness its demise.  Smart Cali and Chey!

Lovely sunset at Salt Creek Beach.

And then it was Saturday and time to go home!  After we packed the car and checked out, we couldn't resist one more walk on the beach, this time across the street at Doheny.  It was a great week and we had tons of fun!  How blessed we are to have each other to share such great times with!

On the way back, we stopped again in Las Vegas.  Kevin went to Priesthood Session with Jason and Paul and Dad and Pete and Matt and Jack.  That's a lot of family!  The rest of us got to visit with Grandma and Amy and Diane and their little ones.  It was so fun to see them twice in a week and we had a good visit.

We made it all the way home Sunday.  We love you California!  We love you the family we visited!  We love all these great memories!  Let's go make some more!