Mariah's school play opened this week!  She played the chorus role of the farmer's wife in The Music Man.  She actually got a one-line song solo--which she did great on!  It was super fun to see her on stage and the whole group did a great job.  My mom came from Las Vegas to see it and stayed until Friday morning.  Kevin, Sarah, Bethany, my mom, and I saw the play on Thursday night.  On Saturday night Kevin and I went again as did Megan, Savannah, Cali, Chey, and Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik.  It was fun to see how they had already improved!  They'll perform once more on Monday night and then it will all be just a memory.  I think it's been a great experience for her.

Cali and Cheyenne are all dressed up in that picture because they just barely returned from a fancy birthday party in time to go to the play.  Their friend invited a group of girls to her house in their fanciest dresses to get their hair and nails done and go see the movie Cinderella.  They had a ball and looked gorgeous enough for one, too!

 

 My mom and I had a great time while she was here in addition to Mariah's play, which, of course, was the highlight.  We visited and talked everyday and she was patient with all the chores and childrearing I needed to do inbetween.  On Wednesday, Grandma took Ben out to McDonald's for his birthday and then to WalMart to pick out his present.  He picked out Transformers--no surprise there--and was so thrilled!

 

That night we got to go see The Lamb of God, a large orchestral and choral performance, which we took the Young Women to see and I had extra tickets so my mom came, too!  On Thursday, Mom and I went out for lunch and then strolled through Springville's art museum which Mom has driven past but never before had a chance to go see!  I'm so glad she could come.  It was so great to have her tender presence in our home.  I just love that gal!

Sarah and Megan both got their bridges smashed this week at school and both of them held over 200 lbs!  Hooray!  Hooray for Grandpa Jim's help, too!

Also this weekend was Sarah's much-anticipated turn with one of the programmed baby dolls for her child development class!  A lot of people had told her how much they hadn't liked it so by the time Sarah's turn came, her excitement had dimmed.  I think she actually did enjoy it, though--probably more than she will admit.  You want to give Sarah a grade on how well she takes care of a baby doll?  Um, yes!  Sign her up!  Bethany thought it was a great assignment, too, and carried her doll around on Saturday so she could burp her baby and change its diaper with Sarah, too.  I think, though, that Sarah is looking forward to turning the baby in and getting a full night's sleep again!  I knew she was getting a bit of a real look at the experience when she said, "I feel so confined, like I can't go anywhere!"  Um, yes.

The last big thing this week was that Mariah got to go to her first church dance!  She and Megan went together and impressively, had a great time!

It was a great week!