Megan came home from the hospital on Monday!!!!  Yay!!!!  We were considering something like a jail-break by then so it's especially nice that it didn't need to come to that!  Cali and Chey had a half-day of school on Monday just for 7th graders to get used to the junior high.  Afterwards, they walked to a friend's house and continued to look forward to all the fun in 7th grade.  Beth and Ben had open house at Sage Creek where they got to meet their new teachers and see where their seats would be.  Mariah had cross country practice, as usual, but afterward, went to her assembly orientation.  That night Kevin gave everyone a Father's blessing.  We were so grateful that we could be at home for that and not in a hospital room.

Tuesday was the first day of school!!!  Yes, Megan did go to school.  She walked slowly and came home a couple of hours early, but she gave it a go.  She so desperately wanted to be there and attend her classes on the first day of her senior year.  We were so happy she made it!  This year, the Skinners have two in high school, two in junior high, and two in elementary school.  If Savannah weren't on her mission, we'd have two in college, as well!  (Not that we'd want Savannah anywhere else!  We're so happy she's on a mission!)  Sarah's college semester doesn't start until Sep. 12 and as luck would have it, she didn't work Tuesday, so she felt the loss of her siblings keenly.

Tuesday night my Relief Society presidency met with the Bishopric and got a list of the sisters who will become new members of our ward in September.  I spent some of Wednesday making "Sister Survival Kits" (the brain child of my 2nd counselor) to hand out when visiting the new sisters.

We spent an hour and a half Thursday evening making visits and then another six hours on Saturday!  Oh, and a couple hours Thursday morning meeting with the sisters who are leaving our ward.  I also met with the current Relief Society president of our new members on Thursday and again on Friday.  By Saturday night, I was wrung out pretty thoroughly and ready to pack up and move to Australia!

I still might.

The good news is that we haven't offended anyone yet--that we know of--and the reception to our visits was (mostly) positive!  Also, my family has been wonderful with the time I've needed to be away and they are super supportive--as has been my presidency.  Now I just need to decide on people for five different callings, prepare their first lesson for Relief Society next week, and completely revamp visiting teaching.

Australia is calling!

On a different note, school has been going pretty well for all my kids.  Beth and Ben seem to like their teachers, and, apart from tearful phone calls from Ben on Friday when he thought he had forgotten his lunch, have been having good experiences!  Cali and Cheyenne aren't too sure about junior high.  They had a really great experience last year for 6th grade and junior high is a lot more impersonal than anything they're used to.  Cheyenne says she does not like it.  Mariah had a little bit of experience with the high school last year, having taken a couple of classes there at the end of her school day and is mostly just relieved to not have to go back and forth this year.  Megan seems content with her classes, though maybe a bit worried about English and Creative Writing.  Mostly she is just restless, having been so active and so busy and now unable to play tennis or run, she comes home and needs to take a nap.  Her senior year won't be what she thought it would be and we are all trying to come to terms with it as we do love the sports so much.

Friday night Cali and Chey went to a birthday party for a friend and Sarah, Megan, and Mariah went to see a movie!

Saturday, Mariah competed in the Grass Relays with her Cross Country team.  For this race, they do run it as a relay team and they also have to jump hay bales throughout the race.  It's pretty fun for them.  Mariah ran on the varsity team and they placed 5th!  Mostly they were excited to have a large team flag this year to display proudly!

Also, by the way, you know Mariah is trying to shoot 10,000 free throws this summer.  On Saturday, she MADE 47 in a ROW!!  I'm still trying to wrap my brain around that.

Today Cali and Cheyenne turned 12 years old and started Young Womens.  There were banners on our house this morning welcoming them to the program and the bishop called them to the front and talked about how he remembered when they were born.  It was sweet. 

Maybe I will hold off on Australia a little while longer.