We started the week with a birthday party for Sarah's 18th birthday at Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik's house.  Sarah told me that now that she's 18, she can be married without my consent!  Way to celebrate the thought of being 18, Sarah!  Thanks for reminding me how very grown-up you now are.  We had a fun party and are glad she hasn't decided to go get her own apartment, yet!  After getting some cowgirl duds for a present, we finished the night with some country dancing with Dad and Grandpa.  Ben even gave it a whirl with Bethany!

She really liked her unexpected cowgirl hat and shirt!

She liked all her presents!

Savannah and Grandpa

Thanks for another great party, Grandma and Grandpa!

Savannah's departure date is growing ever closer.  Unfortunately, my denial bubble has burst and I don't know what to do with all these feelings!  Hopefully, we will at least be physically ready when October 14th comes?  She worked all week again.  On Saturday, she watched the afternoon session of conference with her friends (who are also anticipating leaving soon on their missions!).  Afterwards, they went to Ladies Night at the Sister Missionary Mall and Savannah won a $50 gift certificate and a grab bag with four skirts!

Missionary picture!

Sarah played in the Varsity Regional Tennis Tournament on Thursday and Friday this week.  Out of the eight schools in out region, Sarah and Allyson came into the tournament as the first seed for Varsity second doubles.  After being granted a bye in the first round, they had to play two of their toughest rivals.  They were tough matches, but in some really great tennis, Sarah and Allyson came out victorious in both!  They are now regional champs!  Because of rain on Friday, they played on the indoor courts, and us parents had some seriously great seats.  I took a lot of pictures

They made their dads so happy!

Megan now goes to cross country practices after school instead of to tennis as well as keeping up with her very impressive load of classes!  On Friday morning, she and Mariah left for an overnight cross country trip to attend a meet in Cedar City.  Both girls ran varsity and both PRed.  They are seriously so cool!

Both Megan and Sarah had boys over doing homework with them this week.
This happens often, just not usually at the same time!
You can see how they felt about their dad taking a picture of this momentous
event in our family history.

Mariah has been doing great in cross country, as I mentioned.  She got Sarah and Megan both to coordinate schedules and watch Castle with her!  Important sister bonding going on there!  She also does an impressive amount of homework and is dedicating herself to keeping up with her piano!

Cali and Cheyenne have been bringing their basketballs to school in anticipation of the upcoming basketball season with their dad as their new head coach!  They got to babysit on Saturday night and did a great job.  While watching conference, they've been making friendship bracelets!

Bethany's reading seems to be taking off.  Today she spent about 20 minutes reading library books to her dolls.  Wow!  I think she is just figuring out that she can read without me.  Pretty cool.  She still finds plenty of playmates after school in between piano and dance.

I got to walk Ben to school all week with his friend, Mia.  I love watching their two very different backpacks side by side!  He's very busy with playmates after school, but before school he is a pretty good pal to me -- going shopping with me and sometimes helping with the vacuuming!