Awww!  Isn't he sweet?  Yeah, right! Don't be fooled by that adorable grin!  Ben has a great love for flowers.  This includes taking them apart to see what they are made of.  He has played much with his friend, Mason, who lives a few houses down the street.  They have great fun together!  Including putting everything they can find into the fish tank.  I didn't stop to take a picture of that one.  I was too worried that they had smashed the fish under the scented candle.  (They didn't.  Am I happy about this?  Probably not!)  I find the two of them in very interesting places.  When they see me with the camera, they always stop and say, "Cheeeese!"  They're so accommodating.

 Bethany and Calianne and Cheyenne had a good week as well.  They played with their "20 million" friends which I believe was Sarah's count according to how many times she had to get up to answer the doorbell.  They also all three started swim lessons this week.  Cali and Chey are working on breathing and front crawl and they look on with envy as Beth plays games that help her learn to float and get her face wet!  The twins also had tennis this week.  They missed it on one day because of a birthday party, but when I say they missed it, they really missed it.  They are really starting to love it.  Cali asked if they could have a water party at our house.  Since it seems like they are always having a party at our house, I said yes.  They had great fun making invitations and filling water balloons and snack bags.  They were great organizers!

Mariah decided to celebrate summer solstice by climbing 100 trees.  She only made it to 44, but I am still pretty impressed.  She also took Ben with her for some of it (yay!) and when she came back she trained Cali and Cheyenne in basketball for the better part of an hour.  Then she came with me to pick up our neighbor's little girl and helped me watch her the rest of the day.  My neighbor is pregnant with twins and is on bed rest!  Mariah took her almost the whole time.  She even took all the little people to the park to play.  My life is a lot easier because of the work of my terrific older kids!  I was very impressed with Mariah that day!

Sarah and Megan both read a lot of books and played a lot of tennis this week.  They also worked at the softball fields one evening this week.  Megan was scared to go again but then she had a good night and even got a compliment from a coach.  Way to stick with it, Meg!  They both played in a tennis tournament at the high school this weekend.  They're looking really good out on the court.

Sarah cut her hair short again!  Isn't it cute??

Sarah's not the only one to take the leap to short hair.  Calianne decided she'd like short hair.  She even had enough to donate to locks of love!  I love her new hair do!  It's never messy!  It's never in her eyes!  And she looks adorable -- a little reminiscent of Ramona Quimby even.  :)

Savannah and I went shopping this week!  Savannah bought a new dress, heels, and a new skirt.  She looks absolutely stunning in her new dress and heels.  I love it!  Savannah loves it, too!  She worked a bunch this week, too, although not every day so that was nice.  She got to go over for a "Big Kids" visit with Grandma this week, too.  Sarah, Megan, and Mariah went over for lunch and a movie.  Then Savannah showed up and they went out to dinner and then watched another movie.  Fun, right!  I think it's so fun that Grandma just calls up and asks for time with the kids.  Lucky girls!

This week was Young Women's Camp.  Yay!  I got to go!` It was tons and tons and tons of fun.  I was assistant camp director so I got to interact with the girls a lot.  This year Savannah was a Youth Camp Leader, Sarah was a 4th year, Megan was a 3rd year, and Mariah went as a 1st year.  Four daughters at girls' camp!  What richness.  What a blessing to be there, too!

Cheyenne, Cali, Bethany, Benjamin, and Kevin went to Grandma Gazdik's for the week.  She only lives around the corner, but it was easier for the kids to sleep there since then Kevin wouldn't have to wake them early each morning and spend extra time getting them ready, feeding them, and driving them over.  Still, he wanted to be with them, too, so he just moved in with his mom for the week, too!  Grandma did a great job getting the kids to ballet, parties, activity days, tennis, and piano lessons.  I think they all had a great week.

Savannah, Sarah, Megan, Mariah, and I left for camp Monday morning after breakfast provided by the stake YW presidency and a brief devotional.  It was just our ward this year!  We drove to our campground in Green River, Utah right next to the Green River itself.  That day we had a get to know you game (organized by Sarah), decorated shoes, made hair bows for the battered women and children's shelter, had dinner, and sang campfire songs led by our very own super-silly Savannah, who knew all the words and the proper silly way to sing them.  We laughed so hard we cried.  That night we learned about the stars from President Hylton.  That was definitely a highlight.

Tuesday we drove to Arches National Park and hiked to the Delicate Arch.  It was beautiful!  And windy!  Which was good because it was also quite hot and the wind kept us cool.  Well, it kept me cool anyway.  I don't feel the heat at the same spot on the thermometer as others do apparently.  The girls all did the hike just great.  Afterward we walked to another double arch that had shade and a lovely natural amphitheater and had a devotional.

Wednesday we split our numbers in half and took two trips down the river to see the Crystal Geyser.  We had great fun on the river.  We ran our raft right over a log we were trying to avoid, but after that we got better and managed to catch up to the other raft so we could douse them all with our baling bucket.  Bishop Roylance became our resident viking, instructing us, "Fighting Speed!"  The second trip had more wind so it was a little harder for them.  Sarah came back with five blisters!  Her hands hurt so badly!  That night we had another great devotional from Brother Gierisch who is employed in the decorative work done in the temples.

Thursday we drove to Goblin Valley.  Again it was hot but the wind kept things bearable.  The girls fanned out and climbed and explored.  We only had one big fall and the girls thought it was very exciting.  No one was hurt!  Then the wind kicked it up several hundred notches whipping sand into our eyes and we headed for the safety of our cars and drove back to camp.  That night we had skits and sang, received awards from our YCLs, had one last devotional and then had testimony meeting.  The spirit was strong and I could tell the girls all were feeling a great love for each other.  That was really neat.

We broke camp early Friday morning and were home by lunchtime!  It was great fun.  I was so glad I could be there.  Savannah, Sarah, Megan, and Mariah were glad that they could be there, too.

We've had a great time being back together as a family, too!  We had a super father's day today.  We had Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik over for dinner and presents and gushy cards.  We are so thankful for all our grandpas and for our wonderful dad, Kevin B. Skinner.  So, so, grateful for that great man and for all he does for all of us -- including making it possible for Mom to go to camp!

This is Sarah Skinner writing the Skinner update. My mom is a busy woman getting ready for camp and all. I was bored and this is the result.
So last Sunday night the family drove up to Salt Lake airport to bring our long lost father home. It has been so nice to have him home again this week. He is an amazing Dad! Any-hoo my amazing Dad brought home shirts from San Fe for all of the family. I had the hardest time during this picture to not blink. It took like 10 tries.

Savannah this week had work everyday and is becoming a every rich child. She also took the A.C.T. this Saturday and feels good about the first half. She also was the only Skinner young woman that was able to go to the Temple. I so wish I could have gone. This week Megan, Savannah, and I stayed up in the late hours of the night talking and let me tell you we have the funniest conversations at that insane time. It is so fun to share a room with such great sisters.

Me. I mean Sarah had a tennis filled week playing Tuesday, and Thursday mornings with her class and then Friday and Saturday playing in a tournament the high school coach had. She played really well beating the first two people she played and then lost to a pro 11 year old girl who whipped her butt. She had fun playing with her though. She also score kept Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night at softball games, watching all those games makes her badly want to play!

Megan had a tennis week too! She went to play tennis Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday early in the morning. She said it was okay but she would like it if Sarah was there with her sense of humor. She umped Tuesday. Besides that she was couch buddies with me (Sarah) reading. She finished 3 books this week and Sarah finished 3 books too. What good readers we are.

Mariah played softball Tuesday and Thursday.  She won one and lost one. She is really good and enjoys it greatly. She went on a lot of bike rides this week, she is so active.

Cheyenne and Calianne played tennis Monday and Wednesday this week and are getting better. (I hope). They also played with their 20 million annoying friends. I swear I opened the door about 10 times on average every day to let their friends in. They have such fun and I am glad they do but why oh why always at our house?

Bethany went to ballet. She is such a cute ballerina. She plays with her own friends when she can but she plays a lot with the twins and their friends.

Ben has really hit the terrible threes like no other. He destroys like every thing, but is so cute that you can't even be mad at him. He says his week was good. He really likes his trucks and all. He is so CUTE!

My mother this week made Bethany a dress just like the one she made for herself a couple of weeks ago. When I saw this I asked if she was going to make me one and she just laughed. What is up with that?  She has also been into watching tennis for some weird reason. She is so funny about that.

This week was also Art City Days so the carnival was in town so my mom took the youngest 6, (I was score keeping and Savannah at work,) From what I heard they had a good time and Ben was adorable on the rides and loved every second of  it and when it ended would not get off, screaming and holding on for his life my mom had to pull him off every ride then had to keep him in line for the next ride while he was still screaming and trying to run away . She says it is hard to have little children sometimes. I absolutely agree.

Being Art City Days, the youngest 5 but Ben went to the Art Festival to do arts and things. I believe they had fun? The Parade Saturday was in my opinion interesting. The funniest part was seeing people I know and stealing candy from my siblings. (They love it when I do that.)

Well that will conclude this week of the Skinner Update from Sarah Skinner.

Monday was Memorial Day which meant that Dad was home!  Yay!  It also meant that we went up the canyon with Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik to have a picnic dinner and play a family softball game.  We were sad that Savannah couldn't be there because of work, but it was tons of fun.  The food was good, the weather was chilly but beautiful, and the softball was hysterical.  Our older girls really play well!  Kevin has done a good thing there!  We got Cali and Cheyenne hitting and even Beth and Ben took some swings!  We had a good time.

Tuesday Kevin left us for some certification training in Santa Fe.  He didn't have to be to the airport until three, so we had him all morning again!  Just as we were getting used to having him around all the time . . . he had to leave!  :(  His training started Wednesday.  It was 8:30 to 5:00 through Saturday and then again on Sunday from 8:30 to noon!  So, we are looking forward to finally getting him back with us tonight!  He is looking forward to being back with us . . . and to not sitting in class all day!

It was also the first week of summer vacation!  Yay!  Yay!  Yay!

Savannah had to work everyday.  :(  Poor girl!  It's okay, though because she likes her job at the toy/book/chocolate store!  She had fun being on her computer when she was home.  She started running again.  A coworker lent her Galaxy Quest and told her she had to watch it.  She's so funny because she kept pausing the movie whenever she thought someone was about to do something really stupid . . . which in Galaxy Quest is about every 30 seconds.  She never would have made it through if I hadn't sat next to her and slapped her hand every time she reached for the pause button!  It was hysterical.

Sarah had tennis twice this week and also did her job as scorekeeper.  On Thursday night she was at the field from 5 to 10!  She was very sick of softball and her camp chair by the time the last game got called!  Cousin Kayla came over from BYU to play tennis with Sarah and Megan on Thursday afternoon and they had tons of fun with her!

Megan would have umped on Tuesday but games got cancelled due to torrential rain.  Instead, she went running and long boarding and also has been practicing violin an hour a day.  I'm impressed!  She has a new ultra-serious violin teacher.  She is also working on a story for the Booksie contest and that has her typing a chapter everyday.  She's having fun with that!

Mariah had softball games Wednesday and Thursday night.  They tied Wednesday night after TWO HOURS and they won Thursday night by one run!  She got to do a little babysitting Friday afternoon and she went to Discovery Park with a friend on Thursday for most of the day.

Cheyenne and Calianne have been very good about doing their workbook and practicing their piano every morning!  I don't even have to remind them.  They spent Thursday night with Beth at Grandma Gazdik's house and had tons of fun.  They've had friends over every day and been to friends' houses, too!  On Saturday, I even got dressed up with them and attended the baptism of one of their friends with them!  I also finally fulfilled my promise and took them with Beth and Ben to the new water park in Springville!  They had tons of fun!  Afterwards, I filled my other promise to them and finally bought pizza for dinner . . . something they asked for every single day. (!!!)

Bethany has had fun having all the sisters at home.  In fact, I don't think we had one of her friends over all week!  She has been playing with Cheyenne and Calianne and their friends.  She has even been sleeping on the floor in their room all week.  Such fun!

I gave Ben a haircut this week and he SCREAMED through the entire thing.  I am rethinking my belief that boy's hair is easier than girls.

Friday night since Grandpa was out of town and Kevin was out of town, we all went out to eat at Wendy's with Grandma and then back to her house for a movie, cookies, and frappe!  We had a party and it was great fun!

Saturday was the big annual Art City Days Nestle 5K Fun Run!  Kevin was heartbroken that his conference prevented him from participating for the first time in 13 years . . . (Man!  We've been around a long time!)  The rest of us carried on in his place!

It was beautiful weather.  Megan and Mariah led out followed by Savannah.  Sarah and the twins ran together and I pushed the stroller with Bethany and Ben!  Bethany walked/jogged next to the stroller for about 1.25 miles.  I'd say, "Bethany!  You are doing such a great job!" and she'd say in her prettiest voice, "Thank you, Mommy!"  I made them both get out and walk up the giant hill.  Ben ran a little bit off and on after that but he told me it was scary.  Maybe all the people?  Beth ran in the finish.  It was fun and since she was under six, she even got a medal!

Her number also got called for the raffle!  She won a $20 gift certificate to Olive Garden and a 20 pack of Diet Nestea.  They usualy give away Juicy Juice!  This year they gave away Nestea.  I think this is a little like giving away hams in Jerusalem, but oh well . . .

Megan was our big winner of the day.  With a time of 23:39 she came in second place for females aged 12 to 14!  Did I mention that there were 2558 runners in this race?  That is a big deal to come in second place only 7 seconds behind first!

Mariah also did stunning with a time of 23:54, she came in fourth!  This year they only gave medals to the top three finishers so she just barely missed being recognized.  We recognize how awesome she is, though!

So, it's been a good week.  We've missed our dad but enjoyed more time together with school out.  Summer is going to be grand!