On Monday of this week, I took Ben to the dentist to get cavities filled.  Poor kid.  It took about an hour and when we left his mouth was all numbed up.  After a couple of hours feeling came back into his mouth and we discovered that in spite of our best efforts, he had sucked on his lip.  By the end of the day, it was three times its normal size! 

That night Cali, Chey, Beth, and Ben went to Grandm and Grandpa Gazdik’s house for a fun visit and a sleepover.  The next morning, Sarah, Megan, Mariah, and I left for Stake Youth Conference:  two nights at Camp Kohowolo on Mount Nebo.  It was so fun!  The kids played games, listened to guest speakers, helped stack wood for a service project, had a dance, ate great food, and even had a testimony meeting.  There were a lot of great kids there and it was a super experience.  Sarah was one of the youth leaders and it was great to see her be in charge and take ownership for the experience.  I counted myself blessed to have been able to go and participate with my own teenage daughters!

 

Kyle Collinsworth from the BYU basketball team
 and his wife, Shay, from the BYU track team.

 

 

Sarah taught the "Bunny Bunny" Game

 

These are the kids and leaders from our ward who attended.

We got home Thursday around lunchtime.  That gave us time to unpack and repack before we left around 2:30 for a trip to Las Vegas!  This time Sarah stayed home.  She had work and her friend Allyson’s surprise birthday party which she was planning.  She had been excited for days to have the house to herself, but when we left, she wasn’t so sure about it!  It’s a good thing that she prefers the house full of people since that's the way it is most of the time!

We dropped off Megan in Cedar City so she could hang out with her cousins Rebecca and Emily.  She got to go see them in a parade, go to their pool/waterpark, go to a dance, go hiking, and go to their cabin up in the mountains for campfires and card games.  She had a great time!

We picked up cousin Elizabeth the same time we dropped off Megan so she could have some cousin time with Mariah!  The reason we went to Las Vegas was that Mariah’s schaper team had a tournament.  She got to hang out with us between games still, though.  She played in three games and only lost two.  She averaged 10 points a game and Kevin said she played great!

 

The rest of us did a lot of visiting!   On Friday, we went to my friend, Kim’s house where she fed us a fabulous lunch and we swam in her pool and the kids played and we visited.  It was tons of fun!  I love that girlfriend of mine!

 

 

 

 

Friday afternoon we hung out with Grandma and Grandpa Elton.  Grandma made us a great dinner; the kids played with toys; we all visited.  It was great fun.  Uncle John sent a box of ties to the family and Grandpa gave an impromptu tie-tying lesson to all the granddaughters.  They love their new skill!

 

Saturday we went to my brother Pete and Monica’s house for a barbecue lunch and swimming, the works!  Most of their kids were there and Samantha, his oldest, even came by for a little bit with her fiancé and we got to meet him!  We had a great time catching up with Pete and Monica and talking with their cute kids and watching the cousins play together.  Good memories were created right there!

My brother.  Racing his "bike."

After Pete and Monica’s, we went over to Diane’s for dinner!  I really scored on rounding up the invitations this time, didn’t I?  Diane made us a terrific meal and we got to see her cute little house and the room she has all set up for her new baby girl who will arrive late next month!  The kids had fun playing with her little boys and enjoyed the swings and trampoline in the backyard, too!

 

Sunday we went to Sacrament meeting and then got on the road.  We were going to stop at my brother, Dave’s, but Elizabeth was sick and we felt like we’d better get her home!  We also didn’t see my sister, Amy and her family this week, but she was in Florida, so that sounds fun, too!  What a week!