Sarah, Mariah, Calianne, and Cheyenne

We had a piano recital this week!  All the girls played a Halloween piece and they even got to wear costumes.  We had a bit of a Halloween preview!  It was pretty fun.  I was so focused on getting all the performers spruced up and there on time that I didn't realize Bethany was barefoot until we got out of the car in Orem.  Oops!  Sarah played Phantom of the Opera, Mariah played the funeral march, and Cali and Chey both played some spooky songs, too.  They are all sounding really great and I am proud of their continued hard work.  What awesome kids!

Many moons ago, Sarah decided that she'd like to make sock monkeys as a service project for kids in need.  I thought it was an awesome idea so I bought a box of colorful, striped socks (they're cheaper in bulk, ya know!).  I waited . . . but no sock monkeys  appeared.  Then this  term for Sarah's English class, they were given the assignment to do something that they've always wanted to do but haven't for whatever reason.  Ha!  Sock monkeys have started to appear in our house!

Aren't they soooo cute?

Which brings me to the very important point that this week was the last week of the school term.  My children have always taken their grades seriously and work hard all the time on their homework, but these last couple of weeks of the term the stress level at our house has been very high.  Holy cow!  I think all four of my oldest dissolved into tears over their projected failure at least once.  Poor dear girls.  They want so badly to do well.  And they did!  As I knew they would.

Benjamin was sick at the beginning of this week.

Good thing I have such an awesome hammock for him to fall asleep in!  He is feeling better, but now sweet Beth is sick.  :(  Poor girl!  These things do go around . . .

It's a good thing we aren't all sick, yet, because we had a very special event to attend this weekend! Kevin's brother, Matt, baptized his oldest son, Conner, on Saturday.  We were so glad when it worked  out that we could  be there.  It was  a  very special day!  What a great family they are and what a great kid is that Conner!  We love them so much!  Congratulations, Conner!

Gavin, Matt, Lynsey, and Conner

Matt lives in Rexburg, Idaho near Grandpa and Grandma Skinner so we got in some time at Grandpa's house, too!  It was beautiful weather. We went to the baptism on Saturday morning and had a great lunch at Matt's afterwards!  Later, we  got to go to a pumpkin patch and back to Grandpa's to ride the four-wheelers!

Grandpa and Grandma!

The pumpkin patch had a train ride!

Both of my guys in flannel! I love it!

We had a  great time!  After church with Matt's family on Sunday, we  headed back home.  It was a great weekend!  It was a beautiful time to be in Idaho!

It was a crazy, busy week!  So, how appropriate that we should start it out with crazy hair day at the elementary school!  They had red-ribbon week at school and everyday had a different theme.  I got a picture of some of the cuter ones.

I made Cheyenne move the front ponytail out of  her face so I  could  take a picture!

At first I just put Bethany's hair in a side ponytail.  I told her I thought she looked cute!  She said, "But Mom, I kind of don't want to look cute.   I want to look crazy!"  Silly me.

Later on Monday we attended the end of year banquet for Sarah's tennis team.  Pizza and awards! It was  great fun!  Sarah had a great season and is already looking forward to whenever she can play again.  She really loves tennis!  Go Sarah!

The tennis team!

Sarah and Allyson with Coach Flood!

Tuesday was "Dress like they did in the 1980's."  I kind of felt like I was  doing  crazy hair day again!  But, I totally knew how to do this kind of hair.  Let's get out the curling iron and the hairspray, ladies!

Tuesday was  also Megan's final tennis tournament.  Lucky for me, they held it at Springville High School so I could  buzz back and forth between her games and home!  They played six matches that day!  I didn't see all of them, but Meg was sure tired at the end of the day -- and sore!  She and Alissa (who are double partners) had a lot of fun even if they only won once, and would have been sportsmanship champions  if they had such a category!

Everyone on her team had cute red ribbons to put in their hair!

Fifth place!  Go Megan!

Tuesday night we had a YM/YW activity that was tons of fun.  We had the kids come dressed  as hobos and then had them sit around campfires where we let them choose their dinners from a coded menu and then we served them.  Afterwards, Sister Shelley, our leader talked about how much we have and how we are all beggars before the Lord and  we should care for the poor around us.  It was really fun.  Mariah had a great hobo costume, too!  But . . . I didn't get a picture!  :(

Wednesday was Savannah's last cross country meet -- District Finals!  Savannah may go to California to run in the mongo Footlocker meet in December, but besides that, this meet marked the end of her cross country career!  She's been running every year since 7th grade and always been a top runner.  We are so proud of her and so glad that she's had so much fun!  She had a great race and  ran the three miles  in 22:11.  That's way better than I ever did!  Go Savannah!

Her team before the race!  Go Springville!

End of  the race!  Exhausted but happy!

Believe it or not . . . nothing happened on Thursday.  If something happened, it's not on my calendar, I took no pictures, and  I don't remember it.  I'm sure the kids  did lots of  homework.  They always do!

For Bethany, Friday was Grandparent's Day in Kindergarten!  Both Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik got to go and though I was not there, I've been told by all three that they had a great time! Grandma even sent me this adorable picture!

Friday was also Mariah's final cross country meet -- her District Finals for junior high!  She ran a great race and finished 9th!  Which meant she even got a medal!  How cool is that?  Springville Junior High placed 3rd that day and Mariah was her team's second finisher!  Go Mariah!

We're not done with Friday events yet, though -- no, no, no!  That night was the first choir concert of the year and it featured the combined high school and junior high choirs.  That meant we got to see a choir concert with both Savannah and Mariah!  How fun!  Both their choirs sang great and we had a great time listening to the beautiful music and watching our girls perform!

It's a good thing we had so much fun  during the week, because on Saturday, we had some work to do!  My friend brought me bushels and  bushels of  apples  from  her family's land out in Vernal.  We worked all day Saturday to turn the apples into applesauce and put it all up in jars.  Holy Cow!  What a lot of work!  I did the boiling of the apples as  the first step and the processing  as the last step and the girls just cranked and cranked and cranked -- for almost four hours straight.  By the end of the day, we had bottled 98 quarts and we were quite exhausted!

From this . . .

. . . to this!  In "just" eight very long hours! :)

It's always so fun in the beginning!

And here's their "We're never going to be done!" faces!

What good sports!  Way to go Skinners!

Someday he will totally be embarrased by this picture!  But for now, it's so adorable!

We only had  three days of school this week because Thursday and Friday were Fall Break!  Megan had had two meets cancelled because of rain so she had both the makeups this week.  This meant that she played on Tuesday and Wednesday over at the high school.  That was great fun for me as it was so easy to go watch her!  Watching at Springville High School is also my favorite because the backdrop is so pretty! Horses and mountains . . . it's pretty awesome especially with blue sky.  Unfortunately we didn't get any of that this time!  Megan played great!  She can play tennis really well!  She is fun to watch, too, though, because she is so cheerful!  She stays upbeat with her partner and her opponents even if she is losing.  That's a big deal.  She is a sweet girl and generous with her compliments to others.  I'm so proud of her!

There are horses in that field in front of the trees.  I'm sure if  you got a magnifying glass you could see them!

On Tuesday we had some excitement because Kevin was on TV!  He was on the morning show "Good Things Utah." He was representing his new agency Addo Recovery and talking about how important it is to be aware of sexual addictions and to seek help.  He looked great and did great for his ten minute spot!  He said it was kind of cool to see the set.  He took this cool picture:

Our first day of Fall Break was rainy!  By rainy I mean it rained almost constantly all day.  Whoa! Not fun.  Cali and Chey invited friends over and still made a great day of it!  The rest of us were kind of climbing all over each other.  I wanted to climb all over Maple Mountain.  That would have been way more fun.  :(

Never fear!  Friday dawned sunny!  Yay!  So, we packed up the car and drove up to SLC to go to the zoo! Fall is my  favorite time for the zoo.  The air is cool and comfortable for walking  and the colors on the trees so gorgeous.  Savannah opted out but the rest of us enjoyed being stared at by the animals and watching Ben's reaction as he saw most of these animals  for the first time!

Doesn't Sarah look awesome with wings?

Show-off sea lion!

Our new best-friend!

Parsel-tongue anyone?

There was even a carousel!

These girls told me they didn't want to go on the carousel because they "still had their dignity."  They claimed they were the only teenagers in the whole zoo! (They loved it, though!)

Friday night Mariah, Chey, Cali, Beth, and Ben spent the night at Grandma's house!  They had a great time, as always!  They love being able to go to her house and stay the night.  It's one of their favorite things.  It's kind  of nice for me, too!

Kevin and I went to see an Agatha Christie play Friday night, "The Unexpected Guest."  It was so fun!  I didn't have it figured until the "shocking climax!" which is  the best way, don't you think?

Friday night after she worked, Savannah had her friend Jessica over and they watched episodes of Dr. Who.  She did much screaming!  That girl really knows how to get into a show!

On Saturday, none of  the twins' friends could play!  Instead they worked really hard on their big job, which was cleaning the backyard.  You should have seen how hard they worked on it!  AND it looks great!  Mariah did a stellar job on our carport, too!

Saturday night Savannah and Mariah got invited to go with the Morrison's to a musical in Orem. They had tons of fun!