We got our first letters from Savannah on Monday of this week!  That will be her prep day the whole time she's in the MTC, so that is when we will be hearing from her until sometime mid-December!  I started a blog for her where I will post her letters and pictures (when she has any).  If you want to follow the blog the site is savvysmissionaryblog.blogspot.com.  You can receive updates in your email if you put your address into the appropriate box on the first page!  She seems to be doing really well.  I can't wait to hear from her this week!

Sarah took the ACT for the third time this week on Saturday!  I am so proud of her for being willing to take it again.  She's been studying for it a lot -- everyday after school some weeks, including this one.  It was her first full week with no tennis, but she still didn't seem to have any free time!  Probably because she's working a couple more days now and all that ACT stuff.  She did get back some more pictures from Sadie Hawkins and I'm including them for your viewing pleasure!

Megan and Mariah ran in the state cross country championships on Wednesday!  What a thrill to even qualify for the race!  They both ran Varsity again and Kevin and I were pretty darn proud.  They ran in Sugar House park in SLC which is an enormous park and a beautiful course.  The boys team was also there to compete and their JV came to cheer them on.  It was really fun.  They both ran great and had a great time!

At the starting line

The finish line

The whole cute team!!

 Poor Meg came down with a cold that very evening and it has been wiping her out ever since.  We're so glad it waited until after the race but it will be nice when she feels well again, too!

Mariah had to come straight home from the meet and be at the junior high for her first choir concert of the year!  She was stressed and a little late for being there early, but it all worked out.  The choir sounded lovely.  She sang alto and they all did fabulous!  I loved being there to hear the beautidul music!

Cheyenne and Cali went shopping with me Friday to find great Halloween costumes!  Now that they know what they will be, they are much happier and can live a stress-free life.  On Tuesday, their activity days group had a daddy-daughter cowboy dinner.  They made some great memories with their dad!

Bethany was feeling sad about going back to school this week, so I promised that I'd come be mother helper at least one day during the week.  I went on Thursday and it was so sweet to see her in her room.  We made cootie-catchers together!  I was oh-so-qualified to help all the 2nd graders with this particular project.  It was fun!  I went to her parent-teacher conference after that and got to hear about how well she is doing in her studies and how quiet and sweet she is in class.  I suppose it is good she is quiet at school but she can still talk our ears off here at home--even when Sarah and Hunter are trying to get their homework done.

Benjamin and I got bored again Tuesday morning this week so we went to the park, not to play on the equipment, but so that he could show me how he climbed the tree.  He did show me complete with narrative:  "Then you put this foot here and you pull yourself like this here..." etc., etc.  He's pretty good at it.  The ants also came for his ant farm this week and he is fascinated!

That would be all, except that this week I applied and was accepted and got trained to be a substitute teacher.  Wow!  Cool beans!  My tentative plan is to be a substitute one day a week.  We'll see how well this quenches my thirst for adventure!