Sarah and Megan left us this week to go to EFY!  Aren't they adorable?  I dropped them off Monday around 12:30 and Kevin picked them up Saturday at 7am.  Sarah texted us every night with her biggest lesson of the day.  They both had a terrific time and learned a ton and made new friends and learned more about themselves and the gospel.  They loved it and they learned a cool new chant:

Mariah left us this week to go to basketball camp with her team at the University of Utah.  They played in seven games.  Mariah played mostly Varsity but also played a day with the JV.  She's gaining confidence.  Kevin went and watched her play one day and said she played well!  She came back to us Thursday about 1:00.  We gave her lots of hugs!  She's totally adorable, too!

As for the rest of us, on Tuesday, I finally took Ben to get his hair cut.  Isn't he adorable?

That night, Kevin, Cali, and Chey had a softball game, so Ben and I ditched his T-ball game so Bethany, he, and I could all go!  It was a beautiful evening at the ball field.  Cali and Chey both got hits and I got to watch Calianne pitch a great inning.  It was tons of fun!

On Thursday, I took the kids to see Jungle Book in the theatres.  It was live action and sometimes scared Beth and Ben into hiding their faces in their mom's lap, but as Mowgli pulled through in the end, they decided they liked it all in the end!  Yay for Mowgli and for fun times at the movies and adorable kids!

On Friday, we had Bethany's birthday party!  The idea to have the party this week in order to cut down on stress next week when we'll be camping and having the baptism, only occurred to me Tuesday!  Everything fell together so beautifully, it all seemed like divine providence to me.  My second counselor in RS has an above-ground pool and when I asked if we could have Beth's party there, she said yes!  Mariah helped me make sure no one drowned and those little girls (and Ben) had tons of fun!

 

 

Yep!  This adorable one is Bethany!

Sweet girl turning 8.

 On Saturday, my sister, Maggie, and her family came through town to take their family to the amusement park at Lagoon!  They stopped by our house and took Megan and Mariah with them!  They had tons of fun being with their cousins.  What a treat!  My sister is pretty adorable, too.  :)

Two of my daughters left me this week for adventures on their own!

Sarah left on Wednesday to fly to California with Allyson and her family.  They went to Disneyland Wednesday and Thursday, went to the beach on Friday, and went back to Disneyland on Saturday!  Allyson's family will stay and do more adventuring, but Sarah flies home to us today!  Yay!  We missed her so much!

Mariah also left us on Wednesday.  She went wit her basketball team to a basketball camp at USU Eastern in Price which is about an hour south of here.  She played eight varsity games while she was gone, endured a smelly dorm room, progressed in her card game skills, and had a great time.  She came home Saturday amid much hugs and squealing.  We missed her so much!

Megan did not leave, but had to cover Sarah's shifts at Funfinity so we still saw her less than we like!  She worked every afternoon at Funfinity and had the chance to teach tennis with her coach most of the mornings (after she ran her cross country workouts, of course).  In the evenings when she was home, she missed her sisters terribly and decided she felt bad for all people everywhere who don't have sisters to hang out with.

She got her first official nametag this week, too!  So proud!

Calianne and Cheyenne started their Girls' Day Camp adventures this week.  They decided to have it every Friday for seven weeks.  They had 11 little girls show up this Friday.  This week was game day!  Their partner, Elizabella, couldn't be here this week, but they did really great on their own.  I was impressed!  They learned that some of the girls wanted to play the games they had planned and others wanted to just swing or climb the tree house.  They all were happy, though, and by all accounts, so are their moms!  C&C had a great time doing it, too!  They only had one softball game this week but loved it and continue to practice with their dad most evenings.  They had team pictures this week, too, with their cute coach!

Beth and Ben finished swim lessons this week.  Ben said, "It's over?"  I said, "Yep!  Did you learn how to swim?"  He said, "Yes!"  Long pause while he looked at the sky ponderously, then, "Actually, no."  Ha, ha!  Yeah, that's kind of what I figured.  But they both had a great time and got better at being safe in the water, I hope.  Bethany cried and cried when her cousin Emma left.  Benjamin played in two T-ball games this week and reported proudly to his dad, "The ball went into my mitt two times!"  That was so nice of that ball!  Ha!

I took the time to go hiking with my friend, Robin, this week, and it was sure fun!  We hiked to Stewart Falls and it was even more stunning than I remembered.  Gorgeous.  I can't believe I live in such a place.  I'm sure glad I took the time to do it!  Life needs moments like those.

 

Last Sunday, Sarah and Megan took us all to the art museum because they each had a little picture as part of an artist's collage about Springville that was on display.  It was pretty exciting!  And it was fun to see all the Springville-inspired art.  It was also a great way to start Art City Days!

Unfortunately for Megan, for most of Art City Days, she had to be at BYU taking an ACT prep class.  It was 9-4 M-Th and 12-4 on Friday.  Saturday from 8 to Noon she took the official ACT for real!  She did not love it.  She was a good sport though and took notes and did homework and when it was all over Saturday, she felt pretty good about it.  Way to fight the good fight, Meg!

Swim lessons for Bethany and Benjamin started this week for a half hour Monday through Thursday.  They were super excited to go and smiled all through the first lesson that I watched.  They're having a great time!


Cali, Chey, and Bethany got to go on a hike for Activity Days on Wednesday!  Since Beth turns eight this month, she was invited to go, as well.  It was fun for the three girls to have an activity together before Cali and Chey head off to YW!  They each got a sparkly visor to wear and made bracelets, too.

On Wednesday night, we took the family to the opening night of the carnival when all the rides are just one ticket!  Megan had to work.  :( But we saw her at Funfinity and shared our French fries and scones.  Sarah and Mariah only wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel this year and the younger kids went on three or four rides.  We had a fun time!

 

 

The very best part of Art City Days this year is that my mom and two of my sisters and their kids all came to my house on Friday!  Maggie and her kids stayed until Saturday and Mom and Amy and her kids stayed until Monday!  Twenty people in the house at its height!  It was a party!  So, on Friday, when we went to the Children's Art Fair to do free crafts, we had cousins to go with us.  They made paper hats and decorated sunglasses and got their faces painted and got balloon animals and lots of other odds and ends.

That afternoon was HOT so Grandma and I took the kids to the reservoir.  The ice-cold mountain water cooled them off pretty quickly but they had fun.  Later we fed all the kids outside and we watched old family movies.  Fun!  We had all the kids sleep outside in the tent!  13 of them!  It's a good thing we have such a big tent.

Saturday morning was the parade!  The kids brought bags and filled them full of tossed candy.  We had cloud-cover so it was no longer hot and it only rained on us a little!  Grandma wore her jacket.  I wished I had mine.  It was fun!

Beth and Emma walked this way everywhere together!

That afternoon we drove back to Main Street to wander the craft booths and let some of the older cousins go on some carnival rides.  We met at the splash pad when we were done and the cousins pretended to be statues.  Then it started raining in earnest so we headed back home!

We visited more before Maggie and her kids needed to leave and then visited more until FIREWORKS closed our day!  Happy, happy Art City Days!

On Sunday we showed Grandma and Amy the whole cultural celebration broadcast on YouTube because we just can't help ourselves, we love it so much!  Then we drove over to the new Provo Temple to walk the grounds.  It was lovely.

Mom and Amy and I sat and visited when we got home and Kevin took the kids on another walk!

Mostly, 4-yr-old Hannah led the way!

It was a lovely, lovely weekend.  I'm so glad a big group of my family decided to visit!  It made our week super, super fun!