Oh!  I forgot a few things!  Ben went back to school for his kindergarten assessment and we got this super cute picture with his teacher:

Then Monday night, Mariah had her last choir concert and she got an award and was praised for being on the choir council.  It was a great concert!  She is a pretty cool cat!

On Tuesday, Sarah graduated from high school!  Wow!  Where did the years go?  We took the kids out of school so we could all attend her 2 o'clock ceremony.  Afterwards, we took lots of pictures and then went to Chuck A Rama for dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik.  That night she went to her all-night senior party at the high school.  Good times, a great accomplishment, and lots of good memories.

On Wednesday morning, Kevin left for a four-day trip to Washington for more training in the class he will be teaching.  Later, Bethany's school held their annual end-of-the-year dance festival.  This year Bethany's grade did a dance from Israel.  She was definitely the cutest one there!

Wednesday night was Jakob's last night in Utah before leaving for summer fire-fighting work in Oregon.  So, he and Sarah and Megan and Mariah went out together!  They went out to eat and went bowling and drove up to Squaw Peak to see the lights.  They will all miss Jakob, but Sarah most of all . . . though Bethany might be a close second.

Ben just likes to be in pictures.

Thursday morning, Ben and I hiked the Y again, because, yes,-- we are just that cool.

Friday I attended another graduation, this time for my 6th graders finishing elementary school!  They sang "Glorious" and it was! This ceremony wasn't nearly as long but was all the more poignant for the obvious grief their teachers were feeling as they said goodbye. How lucky my twins are to have been part of a class where their teachers loved them so much!  And what an overall good experience they have had at Brookside Elementary.  It was a good day.

So, my only children who made it all the way to the end of their last day of school were Mariah, finishing up junior high, and Bethany, finishing up 2nd grade.  Way to go kiddos!  Ben finished kindergarten last week, Megan has been going rather part-time since the seniors abandoned the school, and the twins left after their graduation to party with their friends for most of the day!  Still, it was a happy day for all!  (oops!  except for Sarah who watched Hallmark movies curled up in a blanket on the couch and may or may not have been contemplating a move to Oregon for the rest of the summer.)

Saturday, Megan went to a mandolin lesson and Mariah went to a basketball shooting practice and the rest of us rode our bikes to the library.  Do you know what?  That was pretty fun!  We even rode past the river for part of the way and I thought, "Blue skies, rivers, and libraries.  What could be more summer?"  Ahhh. Sarah and Megan worked the rest of the day.  While they were there and after dinner for the rest of us, Mariah, Cali, Chey, Bethany, Ben, and I went to the reservoir for some evening fun.  It was really lovely! 

That night Kevin returned home from his trip and we were all so happy to see him!  What a week!

It was a rewarding week to be a mom in this family!

On Monday night we went to the high school for the Senior Awards Night.  Sarah applied to five local scholarships and found out at this event that she won two!  What a great validation for all her hard work!  She won $500 for the school's Family and Consumer Science Award and she won $1000 for the Intermountain Power Award.  She also got honored for taking hard classes (a scholar medal to wear at graduation) and for being a sterling scholar (a nice trophy).  We are super proud of her!

On Tuesday night, we went to the junior high for the 4.0 banquet!  Mariah has earned a 4.0 all three years of junior high and so got to be recognized at this banquet.  What a nice way to congratulate her on her hard work!  She does work hard and we are super proud of her!

On Wednesday, I went to the Elementary school to see Ben perform in his kindergarten play.  He was a hunter being out-witted by penguins.  He said that it was so great because he got to be a hunter with his two best friends from school, Walker and Eduard.  They sure were cute hunters!

He sang songs, too!

On Thursday, I went with Ben on the Kindergarten Forest Day field trip.  It was tons of fun.  We walked to the park and had a snack.  BUT!  My last kindergartener on his last field trip and I got to be there?  I felt pretty blessed.  Cute kid!

On Thursday night, Cali and Chey (and coach Dad) had their first softball game!  Kevin has taught them well and they all did really great!  Mariah and I went and watched under the lights with the beginnings of a summer wind blowing through the trees back by the creek.  Oh!  How lucky we are to have small-town softball games as part of our summers!  I felt so nostalgic!

This is Calianne at bat!

Friday was Ben's last day of Kindergarten!  He always gives me amazing hugs before he leaves for school.  Mariah was home having ditched Lagoon Day at the junior high so she took this picture for us.  I'm glad that even though Kindergarten is ending, the great hugs are not!

Friday night was Bethany's dance recital!  Her class did a tap number and a jazz number.  She remembers all the choreography herself now and only has to look around to her classmates now and then.  I am impressed!  Oh, and that smile while she dances!  It's the best!

She asked us to get her flowers after her performance this time!
How could I say no??

Saturday morning was Cali and Chey's piano recital!  They are both doing really well and even learned new songs in just two weeks because they were bored of their old ones!  The both passed AIM tests with a 96%.  We love hearing them play the piano and are so glad they are including this in their lives!

Megan worked Friday evening and again Saturday morning.  Her friend works a couple of shops down at SOS Drug at the soda counter (yes!  We still have one of those!  How cool is that??), so during Meg's breaks, she walks over there and sits at the counter to chat for a bit.  Saturday after they were both off work, they went out for some food and shopping and then went to play tennis.  Fun day!  We love that Meg girl!  After my early-morning church meeting today, I came home to find just Megan and Ben awake.  They were curled on the couch together.  Love that love!  Meg is so good at giving it.

Remember that Run for Funds I told you that my kids at Brookside did last week?  Well, it turns out Ben ran more than any other kindergarten boy in the whole school!  He got a "Winner" certificate and . . . a brand new scooter!  Wow!  How cool is that?! We were all pretty excited for him.  He is one tough cookie.  I took him hiking with me up Y mountain this week on Thursday morning before school.  We had a great time together.

Bethany came home with a note this week that her artwork was chosen for the school art show and will be on display in her gym for a week.  I can't wait to see it!  She continues to practice piano and go to dance, but my favorite thing she did this week was when she and her friends cleaned her entire room including the closet!  Boy does it look good!

Cali and Chey had their 6th Grade Play this week where they reviewed "Music Through the Ages" by traveling by time machine to different musical greats in the last ten decades.  Cheyenne was one of the two scientists who operated the time machine and Calianne appeared in 2010 as Carly Rae Jepsen singing and dancing to "Call Me Maybe."  They both did FANTASTIC and they had a great time doing it.  They came home telling me stories of their rehearsals everyday.  They will miss it!

Mariah endured her second week of early-morning driver's Ed!  Yay!  No basketball this week, but district finals in track had her racing Wednesday afternoon and Thursday afternoon.  She ran the 3200 for the first time Wednesday and (since they put her in the slower heat) lapped eight people and finished first!  Whoa!  She might run that one more next year!  She also ran in the 1600 the next day and missed her PR by one second and PRed in the 800.  Directly after her track meet we drove her over to the junior high for a choir concert with the orchestra!  I love those.  They're always so beautiful.  They finished by singing, "Amazing Grace."  Beautiful.

Megan also ran in the district finals for track this week.  She ran in the 1600 and the 800 and did great, too!  She worked this week and took the AP Exam in World History.  She felt pretty good about it, too!  She and Mariah went out late Friday night to play Frisbee with some of the cross country team.  Good times!

Mariah and Megan.  What do you mean you don't see Mariah?!

Sarah worked this week and took her last math test and went on two bike rides with Jakob and watched Parent Trap in stages.  She gave me lots of tight hugs and said, "Mom! What am I doing with my life?!"  Senior crisis in full swing!

Saturday was tons of fun as it was the day that Miranda Grigg, one of Savannah's dear friends, got married!  We went to the reception and stayed the whole time!  It was up the canyon at a pavilion by the creek and the kids ran and played with friends from the ward and we visited with ward members who had moved away but came back for the event and there was dancing and hilarity and bubbles to blow as the couple took their leave.  It was a great event and we gave Miranda lots of hugs for Savannah!  Happy, happy day.

To Eternity and Beyond!  We love that Miranda girl!