Skinner Update

Monday, June 13, 2016

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.