Merry Christmas!!! 

No school this week! Yay!!  On Monday Sarah, Megan, and Mariah, with friend Hannah, went to the mall for some last minute shopping and also went to see Frozen.  They all loved it.  Megan had really, really wanted to go so it was something of a continuing birthday celebration. Fun!

Savannah had to work Monday, but not on Christmas Eve, so we took advantage of the great weather and finally delivered our neighbor gifts.  There's nothing wrong with the last minute as long as you don't run out of said minutes, which we didn't!  Then we were off to Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik's house for our traditional candlelight dinner and Christmas program.  Dinner was delicious!  Then the girls reenacted the nativity for us while Dad read.  Ben was supposed to be a sheep but he declined saying he only knew how to be a cat...  Then they did Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and it was so funny!  Then we played the bells and then we had a piano/violin recital and then everyone opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa!  They are always so good to us.  We had a great evening.  It was so fun to be with each other.

The next morning was Christmas Day!  There was much unwrapping and exclaiming and expressions of gratitude.  We have sweet kids who make giving fun.

We always have French toast after Santa presents.  (Chey even wrote in a school paper that Christmas smells like French toast!)  Then we opened more presents from sisters and neighbors and Grandma and Grandpa Elton.  What a lucky group of people we are!

These are actually Santa presents but aren't they cute with their matching doll outfits??

Later that day Grandma and Grandpa came over again and we had another nice dinner.  It was a great day and so nice to all enjoy one another and the blessings we share and to remember our Savior and celebrate Him the grandest way we know how.

So . . . the next day was Thursday.  Phew!  Christmas is over.  So, Cali and Chey and I had a basketball practice in the morning and then went to Build a Bear to use Cali's gift certificate for which she had asked for Christmas.  Cali, in her kind way, shared her certificate with Cheyenne.  They are sweet friends!

Thursday also began our trip through the valley of the sick.  Megan spent all day Thursday on the couch.  Sarah took her place on Friday and hasn't been able to spend much time up since.  Cali has joined her on the beanbag just next door.  Mariah has fought the headache on and off but has not completely succumbed as of yet.  Kevin took his turn on Monday and is still fighting a lingering cough.  We are lucky that Christmas day escaped our week of sickness!  Hopefully everyone will be better again soon!

Cheyenne took down all the Christmas decorations for me and put them away!  That was a big help! She is a cleaning girl and a great help.

I love all my family!  They are the greatest present ever!  What a fun week!

It's snowing in my picture!  I'm not sure how blogger is doing that but it is kinda fun . . . We've had snow and cold all week again.  It got a little bit warmer though so on Saturday Sarah and Mariah and Cali and Cheyenne and Beth and Ben made a snowman!  Or, more accurately, a snowgirl since she does have on a tutu and wings -- a snow fairy?  She's adorable and even more cool with falling snow.


So!  It was a crazy, busy week.  Megan had two basketball games.  I had two basketball practices with Cheyenne and Calianne.  Mariah and Kevin had a basketball game and three practices.  On Tuesday, for Young Women, we took the train to Salt Lake City to see the lights on temple square.  We left at 4:00 and didn't get back until 9:30!  It was fun, though!  Savannah, Sarah, and Mariah came.  Meg had basketball.

Wednesday night we got to see Bethany in her dance recital!  She did a dance to "Up on the Housetop."  It was truly adorable and she looked so beautiful!  She is a good little dancer and she sure loves to perform!

Later that night we got to see Megan in her fiddle recital!  It was fun.  Meg got to play in a barn with a fire in the background and a Christmas tree to her side.  It was a beautiful setting while we listened to her beautiful music.  She played fiddle 1 and her teacher played fiddle 2.  She sounded really great!

On Thursday we had two more programs to attend!  First was the kindergarten program.  Bethany was so beautiful -- again!  And she so, so loved performing.  She sang each of the songs with gusto and danced her dances daintily!  She was great fun to watch and the program was just delightful.

We hurried from the elementary school watching our kindergartener over to the high school to watch our senior.  How bittersweet!!  Savannah sang in her choir's Christmas concert and it was fabulous as always.  I so love hearing her sing! --and watching her.  She loves to perform, too, and always has since she was a kindergartener!

Mariah loves to watch Savannah sing, too!

Friday Kevin and I dropped off the little ones at Grandma and Grandpa's and escaped for a little weekend getaway for Kevin's birthday!  We had a package deal that included a room in the lodge and a half day of snowmobiling at Daniel's Summit outside of Heber which is only about an hour away.  I've never been snowmobiling before so it was a great adventure for me.  Kevin did a lot of snowmobiling in his youth so it brought back lots of good memories for him.  It was very beautiful!  It was like being in a Christmas card or a John Denver song!  :)  It was so fun!

The next day we drove back into Provo and had Kevin's mom and Jim and all our kids meet us at the Brick Oven for lunch.  Yum!  Afterwards, we went for our traditional, annual, family bowling game.   The older girls are getting pretty good!  Ben and Beth still like the arcade best of all!  It was a fun birthday for Kevin B!


Sunday was Megan's birthday!  We gave her some of her presents Saturday evening so she could wear them to church on Sunday.  She looked awesome!  That night we went over to Gazdik's for our family party.  Grandma and Grandpa did a great decorating job as always and made Meg a delicious fried chicken dinner!  Then she opened more presents and we had cheese cake.  We forgot about candles and so we had to make do with what we had!  We're so glad we have Megan in our family and that she was born safely into our home 15 years ago.  She is so great!  What would we do without her?

I woke up Monday morning sick, sick, sick!  Beth was sick, too.  Then in the afternoon I picked Meg up from school because she was sick, too.  Stomach flu. Ew.  Lucky for me, Sarah took over for me as coach during my team's basketball practice that afternoon.  Cali and Chey said she did great and they were happy to have practice still!  I was happy to stay home curled into a ball.  Megan missed her team's game that afternoon and that made being sick doubly a bummer.  She was very sad.  Mariah had a game that night for Bantam.

Tuesday was better for all of us.  Bethany went to dance and to school.  Meg stayed home to regain her strength but she was through the worst of it.  I went back to practice with Cali and Chey for basketball.  That night for Young Women's we went caroling!  We had a big trailer with hay bales and we went around the neighborhood knocking on doors and singing.  It was COLD but oh, so fun!

Wednesday night Mariah had her choir concert!

She did great!  It was so fun to watch her and listen to the Christmas music!  Afterward, her artwork from her art class was on display so we got to see that, too!

Sarah and Savannah came to cheer on their sister and we took a picture by the traditional junior high tree!

On Thursday I got to go to another concert.  This time for Cali and Cheyenne!  They've been going early to school one day a week for several weeks to practice with the choir.  They've had a great time.  Their songs sounded great and they even sang Silent Night in German.  It was really neat.  Kevin and I loved watching our girls!

That night Kevin and Mariah had their last Mapleton league basketball game.  They won!  Again!  They finished their season 9 and 1.  It was a pretty close game, though.  They played with only five players.  In the last 2 minutes one of their players fouled out.  They went into overtime with only four players.  In the last two minutes of overtime, Mariah fouled out.  They went on to win with just three players on the court.  It was pretty exciting.

Friday I got to stay home and wrap presents.  Ben had been bugging me to do it.  Then when I finally did, he played with his friend Mason most of the time.  It was probably better that way!

On Saturday we had a piano recital and luncheon.  It was pretty fun to eat while we listened!  Sarah and Mariah and Cali and Chey and even Bethany played as well as some other kids from the neighborhood.  More and more Christmas music!  It was so fun!

That night we had our ward Christmas party.  It's always fun to eat with all the members of the ward and celebrate the feelings of the season together!  There was even a Santa Claus.

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This is the only picture I have this week!  Unless of course, you count this one:

I think that is Ben's head and he's in his  room.  What's he doing  with my phone??  Ah well. Back to picture number one. Remember when I told you that Ben loves  tape?  Well, this was a "gration" (decoration) that he made for me in the kitchen.  Isn't it lovely?  He enjoyed making it immensely.  It's totally worth the $2 spent in tape!  Not to mention he came grocery shopping with me and it kept him totally occupied and content to sit in the cart.  Of course, I had to untape the cart before I put it back . . .

Ben did a lot of shopping with me this week, actually.  Considering I started the week with mostly none of my Christmas shopping done and ended the week with almost all of it completed, that's a lot of shopping.  Of course, a good portion was also done online.  I had to go to the mall for a few things, though.  The first time I didn't make any provisions for him and we necessarily had to make the trip short.  The second time, I brought the stroller and the ipad.  I love the ipad!  Three hours in the mall and when I stopped to buy him curly fries he said, "Shopping is fun!"  Amazing, I  know!

Bethany's friend, Macie, moved away last week and she had a significant meltdown about it this week.  She got invited to spend all of Friday morning with her in her new house, though, and she had a great time.  Maybe she will survive afterall!

Cali and Chey had basketball practice on Monday and Tuesday with yours truly as their coach.  They are doing great.  They even went to practice with Dad a couple of times this week.  They had a primary activity on Thursday where they were supposed to go caroling.  It was toooooo cold, though, so they stayed at the church and had a fun time anyway.  Their rabbits' water bottle froze solid everyday.  We got covered in snow on Tuesday and it's been below freezing ever since.  Cali and Chey think it is fantastic!  I am not of the same opinion!

Mariah had another Mapleton game on Tuesday.  I didn't get to see it, but her dad says she was a star!  Mariah had to come out in the first half because of a bloody nose and at half time the score was 11 to 6.  We were down.  Mariah went back in after half and the game ended 37 to 22.  The 37 was our team!  She sure turned that game around!  I got to watch her first Bantam game on Saturday.  They played great and they won by seven.  It was  fun to watch!

Megan is LOVING the junior high basketball team.  She played on Monday and Wednesday and though they didn't win, their team is playing better and better and Meg looks great.  I got to watch both games!  I'm glad she is having so much fun!

Sarah had at least three study groups this week.  It is a fun way to be social and get your homework done!  It is definitely her favorite way to get work done!  She's also been going to the high school a couple of nights a week to help her friend, Allyson, train for the softball season.  We knew that ability to throw and catch would come in handy sometime!

Savannah worked just twice this week -- maybe thrice.  She had a one-day choir trip up to SLC on Thursday.  They sang at a few of the churches and got to watch a rehearsal of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  She didn't get home until about ten, but she had a fun time!

Kevin has been busy digging us out of the snow and pushing his car out of the driveway so he can go to work and be an amazing therapist and then go to various gyms and be an amazing coach and then home again so he can be an amazing dad!  He spoke in church on Sunday as part of the high priest leadership.  He did a great job.

I got a lot done last week (as mentioned earlier), but today Bethany and I have stomach flu.  I am looking forward to better days ahead.  *weak smile*

The girls only had two days of school this week!  On Tuesday, the young ones got to do Thanksgiving activities!  Cali and Chey made those cute turkeys and Bethany got to have an entire feast!  --complete with pilgrim hats!  Fun times in elementary school!

That evening my mom and dad came to town!  Yay!  They came for Thanksgiving and we got to have them until Friday afternoon.  It was so fun!  Tuesday night Savannah's boss sponsored a movie night for all his employees and their families.  I needed to go to YW with the other older girls, so Savannah took Grandma and Cheyenne and Calianne and Bethany.  They got to see a pre-showing of Frozen, the new Disney movie.  A great time was had by all!

On Wednesday, we relaxed and visited, and Calianne and Mariah helped me make some pies!  That evening we went back to the movie theatre, this time with the older girls, myself, and Grandma and we watched Catching Fire, since we've all read it, don't you know!  It was tons of fun (though it was missing the happy ending that I'm sure they enjoyed the night before)!

Thursday was Thanksgiving!  It was at my house this year!  Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik came over to help us celebrate, too.  While we were making the fixins, the girls made a chain of all the things for which they are thankful.  It was pretty long!

We had dinner soon after that -- early afternoon, of course!  It was cozy around the table but we enjoyed being together!  (Sorry the picture isn't very good!  I cut out a lot of people!)

That night Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik had us over to celebrate Mariah's birthday which was the very next day!  They decorated so cute just like they always do!  It's so fun!  For goodies, we had the option of cake or pie!

Mariah had a little helper!

My mom gave Mariah this locket that used to belong to her grandmother Marion.  Mariah's middle name is Marion and my mom's name is Marion so it was pretty special!

The next day was Friday and it was Mariah's 13th birthday!  Yes, we officially have four teenage girls in our house!  It's pretty exciting!  We got her just one present this year and gave it to her that morning.  She was pretty excited.  We love her to pieces and are so glad that she came to live in our home!  She is an awesome girl!

My mom and dad had to leave soon after that.  We all had turkey sandwiches first, though.  Yum!!  I'm so glad they came.  It was such fun to spend time with them.

To console ourselves, we went to the tree lot and picked out our Christmas tree!  It was pretty fun. The funny thing about tree lots is that the trees look much smaller on the lot than they actually are in your home! 

Our lives are pretty busy, though, so we didn't get around to decorating until Sunday evening.  Ben kept saying, "Mom!  Let's 'grate the tree!  We need to put on the 'grations!"  It was very hard for him to wait, but he made it!  Savannah worked until almost midnight at Funfinity Friday and Saturday nights.  Christmas is a busy time at toy stores, don't ya know!  Grandma Gazdik took Megan and Mariah shopping for some birthday clothes on Saturday morning and got them some really cute stuff!  Then they got to go help Grandma decorate her tree!  Fun times!

Sunday was lovely with church and meetings and choir practice and then a fun visit from our past neighbor, Jennie Komp!  Sometime after all that, we did decorate our tree.  Christmas will be so fun!