Calianne got to be "Champion of the Week" in her class.  Mariah helped her find pictures for her poster and Calianne put it together herself.  It was pretty fun.  We think she is a great champion!

On Monday of this week, for Halloween, we carved Jack o' Lanterns!  Savannah even popped in to get something she needed so we got her in some of the pictures!  Everyone put a little of their personalities in their pumpkin.

On Tuesday, for our church youth group activity, we met at 4:00 and went up Payson Canyon to do the ropes course at Maple Dell.  It's a beautiful spot especially with all the leaves orange and yellow.  Unfortunately, it was a cold snap of a day and when the sun went down, it got even colder!  We all survived, though, and had hot chocolate and doughnuts and Sarah, Megan, and Mariah all got to go on the zip line.  It was pretty fun!

On Wednesday, it was crazy hair day at Cali and Cheyenne's school!  They had great fun with that!  After school they had a bit of a Halloween party for piano lessons and they all got to play for each other and get treats.  Mariah and Chey and Cali all enjoyed that.  Sarah worked at Funfinity that afternoon and Bethany had jazz.

On Thursday, Ben had a Halloween party at Joy School where he dressed as Optimus Prime!  After school, I drove to Spanish Fork for a haircut while a friend drove Cali and Chey to their Up With Kids Halloween party where they dressed as Fred and George from Harry Potter!  On my way back from my haircut, I picked up Cali and Chey from their activity, Kevin and Mariah went to basketball practice, and I got home in time to drive Meg to Spanish Fork for tennis!  We had a bit of time for dinner before I drove back to pick up Megan from tennis and drive her to her friend, Alyssa's house, where they went to shoot Zombie's with paintball guns in Provo.  When I got back home, Cali and Chey and I went to basketball practice and Kevin and Mariah went to another basketball practice!  Thank goodness Sarah was home to watch Bethany and Benjamin!  I am super grateful that all days are not that busy!

Ben and I went for a walk before the day got crazy.

Friday was Halloween!!!!  The day was so beautiful it was hard to believe that we were supposed to pretend creepiness.  Ben and I went to two Halloween parades.  First we went to Bethany's school and saw all the kids parade by in their costumes and then we went to Cali and Chey's school and saw all those kids parade by in their costumes.  What a lot of happy kids!

That's Beth in her self-made vampire costume!

That evening we went to Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik's house first as is our tradition and then came back to go to every house in our neighborhood which is in our ward.  I love seeing all the people I know while we trick or treat!  It's definitely a perk of our close-knit neighborhood.  Sarah worked at Funfinity and got to give out treats to all the trick or treaters on Main Street.  Megan and Mariah took turns giving out treats at our door.  Savannah showed up later that evening to escape the trick or treaters at the dorms since she didn't have money to buy her own treats to give out and she kind of wanted to get to bed before 1am and knew it wasn't going to happen at the dorms that night.  I think all our kids ended up having a fun night.

On Saturday, Sarah, Megan, and Savannah all came and helped me at Cheyenne and Cali's basketball practice!  Kevin and Mariah were at their own practice, so they couldn't come.  It was so fun to have the older girls together and helping their little sisters!  I wished my whole team had come, but it was still fun.  They can be so silly together!

Kevin also took the twins and Mariah to the church for another practice that day just the four of them.  Kevin bought a high-tech basketball that measures how many dribbles you do in a minute and how long it takes you between catching the ball and shooting the ball.  He is pretty excited about it and they've all had fun trying it out.

It's been a busy, full week.  I love my family and all the good, good things in our lives.  God makes our lives good.