Monday was Labor Day and everyone had the day off!  So we talked to Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik and we drove up to Payson Lake for an evening picnic and walk around the lake!  It was beautiful and even starting to get a bit chilly.  We had a fun time being together and reminiscing about past trips to that spot.

It was good to have that family outing on Monday, because we took Sarah up to Rexburg this week for school at BYU-Idaho!  We left Thursday evening and stayed at Grandma and Grandpa Skinner's on Thursday night and on Friday morning drove Sarah to her apartment.  Just Megan, Kevin, and I went and we were good helpers!  We helped her tote things up to her (very nice!) dorm room and unpacked boxes.  Then we went and got her parking sticker and turned in a check and got her ID card and bought her first BYUI sweatshirt!  Afterwards, we went grocery shopping and got her stocked up on some food.  Unfortunately, then it was time to leave her!  She's been in touch with us, though, and she went to all of the orientation stuff and met all her roommates and went to church today and she starts classes tomorrow!  We all believe it's going to be great!  Rah, rah Sarah!  But we miss her to pieces!

Sarah made all her sisters a friendship bracelet to say goodbye!

The view from her window!

Megan got to play in two tennis matches this week with her friend, Alyssa.  They won their first and lost their second.  Meg started to run again but hasn't tried to race, yet!  She is writing pieces for her Creative Writing class.  Her first assignment was to narrate an account from when her parents first met!  A piece she continues to apologize to us for!  Silly girl!  I am attracted to Kevin's "goofy grin!"  Anyway, it is fun to see her personality come through in all things she creates and it was super fun to have her with us on our trip to Idaho!

Mariah ran in the Murray Invitational Friday afternoon and did super!  She's also keeping up in her Chemistry and AP World History classes in spite of the homework load.  This Saturday, she and Kevin went up to Ogden so she could be awarded her T-shirt for shooting 10,000 free-throws!  Did I tell you that in her last 100, she shot 85 in a row?  EIGHTY-FIVE!  That's crazy!  We're super proud of her commitment and hard work.  Her sisters did help, though, and they think that they should get t-shirts that say, "I rebounded 10,000 free-throws!"  I think Dad did the majority of those, though!

Cali and Chey started tennis practice this week.  I accidentally missed their piano lesson.  :(  Oops!  On Saturday they decided to use Cali's new frosting tools and make frosting-stuffed cupcakes.  They are really good!  I took them to Barnes and Noble on Monday to use birthday gift-cards from Grandma and Grandpa Elton.  The store was preparing for a Harry Potter party later in the day, so we took advantage of some of their props.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a fun day!

Bethany wanted to start dance this week, but we had a bit too much going on Thursday, so she'll have to start next week!  She has to read to me for 20minutes every night, so we are working our way through a book of fairy tales.  That way, we are both having fun!  She's doing well!

Ben is enjoying first grade most of the time.  He did tell me that he liked the shorter days of kindergarten better!  His newest craze on the ipad is to play Block Craft which I guess is a knock-off of Minecraft.  He builds and builds on there!