Kevin left us on Tuesday this week!  He went to Toronto for special training in his field.  He will be back tonight!  We have missed him so much!  What a hole he leaves in our house when he is gone.  I did a lot of things I normally do when he is here, but I hadn't realized what a comfort just his presence brings!  So, this week was harder than most.  It also may have been just a tad busier!

On Tuesday, I drove Sarah and Allyson up to SLC again for more USTA matches.  These were their singles matches.  The weather was cold but beautiful so they played outside and battled the wind.  Ben thought it was a great place to explore and walked all around the fences lining the tennis courts and found himself a fort in the bushes.  I thought they both played great although they both lost and felt bad.  It was a great learning experience either way!  . . . and they got cool t-shirts.

That night we had a YW activity where we sewed bathroom travel bags out of handtowels.  It was a little chaotic trying to give everyone a chance on the sewing machines but it was a great beginner sewing project and the girls all liked it.

Wednesday after tennis for the twins, we had a piano recital for Sarah, Mariah, Cheye,and Cali.  They held it at our piano teacher's house.  It was a small recital (we may have been half the participants!) and then we had a pizza dinner as refreshments.  It was simple and fun.  Everyone played well.  They are all doing so well on the piano!

Thursday was the 4th grade Hershey Track Meet!  Cali and Cheyenne both ran and I got to watch them (for the morning part!).  They both ran super fast in the 50 meter and both made it to the semi-finals.  They both did great in their long jumps.  Unfortunately, I had to go before they ran the 400 meter but I hear they did great in that, too!  In fact, at the end of the day, Cheyenne came home with two awards!  4th in the 400 and 3rd in the 50!  That's for the whole city!  We were so impressed!  What fun for both of them!

Cheyenne in lane 2

Calianne in lane 2

Friday I got to go with the kindergarteners on a nature hike to finish up their "Forest Week."  We pretended to be ecologists and we did bark rubbings and we identified the different parts of a plant and made nature bracelets.  We finished up with lunch at the playground.  It was great fun!  I loved being with my sweet Bethany!

After kindergarten, I went back over to the track because the junior high was competing at Springville High School that afternoon!  I missed Mariah's mile (where she placed 2nd) and Megan's 400 (where she placed 3rd), but I saw them both run in the 800.  Mariah placed 2nd and Megan passed two girls in the final 100 meters to place 3rd.  It was really exciting and fun to watch!  Lastly they both ran in two different 4x400 relays.  They did great in those, too! They're both still sunburned today.

Saturday was Sarah's first day at her new job at Funfinity!  It went pretty well, I think, since she came home feeling less scared than when she left!  She'll do great.  I think she likes it!

Savannah worked Saturday, too, but after Sarah.  When she was done with work, she went and got her senior pictures taken by our good friend, Jen Grigg.  Jen showed me some of them and they look great!  It's going to be fun to have those.

As for me, a big project of mine came to fruition this week.  I've been working on converting my bike into a recumbent!  I got stuck last week and had to get some help from a good friend in the ward who is a bike guru.  Finally, it is done and I took it out.  It is going to take some getting used to.  It is very hard to balance!  I hope I am ready before the 20 mile bike event that I am signed up for next Saturday.  (You might want to start praying now for my safety!)  (I am just kidding, by the way-- about the praying, not about the 20-miler!)