On Monday of this week, we took the whole family to see the new Beauty and the Beast!  So many Skinners in the movie theatre at a time does not happen very often!  But we had a great time and really enjoyed the movie and even lived through the embarrassment of Benjamin exclaiming loudly after the beast changed into a man, "PHEW!  He isn't NAKED!"

Bethany and Benjamin both had school talent shows this week!  Bethany played a song on the piano called, "Achoo!" and she sang along while she played.  I love it when she combines two of her loves that way and is so confident!  Benjamin didn't do anything individually but his class did a group dance where he danced with a girl!  It was about the cutest thing ever and he is a very good gentleman, I can tell.

Cali and Chey did cows all week, of course.  They also continued attending track practice all week and are still worn out but getting less so!  I think that means they're getting stronger!  They had their last early-morning basketball practice this week and played in a great bantam game on Saturday afternoon.   Calianne spoke in church last week and did fabulous.  Cheyenne is speaking this week!  They also have been given the chance to teach in their Young Women's class and have stepped up there, too.  It's great to see them grow in their testimonies, abilities, and confidence.

Mariah and I went to her end-of-year basketball banquet on Wednesday night!  We ate good food and listened to speeches from the seniors and coaches.  Mariah got a cool back to back Regional Champions shirt and a certificate, too.  She is so sad her season is over but excited for next year, too!  Mariah also ran in a track meet on Friday.  She ran the mile and then had to wait and wait until about 8:30 at night in the cold for the 4x800.  Her team was trying to break the school record and so she didn't run in any other events.  They missed the record by 5 seconds!  Maybe next time . . .



Cheyenne, Bethany, and I freezing our tails off at the track meet.  Go Mariah!



Megan had work this week.  She's still keeping on top of her homework and is really enjoying her internship at the junior high library.  She is trying not to spend too much of her money on treats from the store and fast food runs but she does have an intense weakness for small Cadbury eggs and lemonade from Chick-Fil-A!  Especially if her sisters will come with her!

Sarah and I drove up to the outlet stores in Lehi this week.  I got some new shoes and Sarah got some jeans!  We got ourselves some smoothies afterward (because we are so healthy).  It was tons of fun!  Sarah worked most of the week but on Friday she drove down to visit her friend Allyson at SUU.  She's on her way back now!

Kevin and I tore up the kitchen floor on Saturday in preparation for putting in some wood laminate.  Wait.  Uh, Kevin actually did all that work.  I . . . supervised?  And helped move the fridge!  He also put in a subfloor and worked himself into much stiffness and aches and pains.  He works hard for us, that man.  We love him!

There was no school on Friday, so we gathered as a family (which is not as easy as it used to be now that we all have such different schedules!) and went hiking!  There's an old lime kiln on the side of the mountain along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, so we explored the kiln and then hiked north along the trail for about a mile then turned around and came back.  It was a pretty day and a pretty trail and it was fun to be together!

 

Sarah nannied for her babies all week.  She also went to the YSA FHE at the BYU art museum and had a great time meeting new people!  She wanted us all to go see Beauty and the Beast when it opened in the theatres, but her twin sisters had a birthday party they'd been invited to, so we rescheduled for next week!  She is a planner of activities that girl.  On Thursday night, she and Megan and Mariah went to Barnes and Noble and then Krispy Kreme and then found a quiet road above Springville to look at the lights . . . where a cop found them and warned them against loitering and curfew and other malfeasances.  They came home and laughed and watched Studio C skits about cops and laughed some more.  I love that they are such good friends!

Megan decided this week to accept BYU's admittance invitation and will attend there in the fall!  She even might room with one of her friends.  Another friend brought her this bouquet of balloons to congratulate her!  Fun, right? 

Mariah ran in her first track meet of the season on Tuesday.  She ran a 5:34 mile and a 2:31 800 meter.  Both times are PRs over last year and it's only the first meet!  We are still trying to get enough calories in her and get her enough sleep to make up for all that she asks of her body!

Cheyenne and Calianne started practices for junior high track this week and have been more sore than they have ever been in their lives!!!  (Self-reported!)  They still love, love, love the cows.  They had a great time with their friends at that birthday party and had a couple friends over on another day to watch themselves in the play they did two years ago (the friends were in the play, too!)  They did a lot of laughing at themselves!

Beth and Ben are both still really loving Karate!  It is strange to me that Beth likes Karate because she has always had such a sweet, peace-maker personality.  She came home Thursday talking about punching and kicking and that her jaw was sore from being punched in the face?  That's what I signed up for?  And she likes it?  It's so weird!  Still, I'm glad they like it!

 

I went on some walks this week.  I took this picture at the top of one of my favorites.  Panorama!!  It was even more majestic in person.  Sarah went on my walk with me on Saturday.  We walked in the canyon and brought Beth and her friend and their bikes.  Beth was very tentative at the top of every hill!  She tried it, though!  Every time!  Slow as she could.

The kids only had a half day of school on Monday which always makes me feel pressure to do something FUN.  So, we went to the library!  Fortunately for me, my kids and I do consider that fun!  Afterwards, the kids busted out the tortilla chips and nacho cheese and with refreshments, I chalked it up to a true party day.

The rest of the week was Karate for Beth and Ben, piano for Beth, Cali, and Chey, track practice for Mariah, work for Megan, nannying for Sarah, cows twice a day for Meg, Mariah, Cali, and Chey.  The weather has been much warmer.  Everything is easier when the air doesn't bite you when you walk outside but caresses you instead!

On Saturday, Cali and Chey and Kevin had a basketball game for Bantam.  Sadly, they lost.  But even more sadly, Cheyenne slid on the ground and is skinned up in places!  Basketball can be a cruel sport.

This is the only picture I took this week!  It is from Saturday when Chey, Cali, and Beth had piano festival where they play for judges.  Chey and Cali got superiors and Beth got an excellent!  They are all sounding really good and I am pleased with how hard they have been working.

In other news, the SHS boys basketball team won the state 4A championship yesterday!  It's the first time Springville has done so since 1958.  Wow!  Balloons lined 400 South all the way to the freeway and they, of course, had a police escort back into town with sirens wailing.  Sarah and Mariah drove up to Weber State to watch the game.  Megan had to work, but watched the end with her dad and sisters from our TV.  There was much screaming and celebrating!

Speaking of celebrating, we also found out Saturday morning that Megan was accepted to BYU!  If Megan decides to go there, BYU will have gained a great student.  Good choice, BYU. 

The girls continue to feed their cows and go to bed early and look exhausted by 9pm.

Mariah has transitioned into track.  She ran 6 miles Friday and 9 on Saturday and who knows how many the rest of the week and really, really misses basketball!  We see her more, now, though and I like that!

Sarah worked a little over half of this week and loves her babies.  She came to a Monday night fireside with one of the BYU wards that Kevin had been invited to speak at.  Kevin did a great job and Sarah and I enjoyed watching all the students admire her dad!  The bishop offered to set Sarah up on a date with any boy in the ward of her choosing.  She has such helpful adults in her life! ha ha!

Since Beth finished basketball and can't join dance mid-semester, I asked if she'd like to try something new.  Gymnastics?  Soccer?  Nope.  Actually, she'd like to try Karate with Benjamin!  So, Bethany started Karate this week.  She has the bruised knuckles to prove it!  She really likes it so far.

Benjamin continues to love Minecraft.  He found a friend his age in our ward who also loves Minecraft by the name of Crosby, and he spent the rest of Friday and all of Saturday at his house building stuff with him.  I got to hear all about it!  They built a house, a portal, and another house and another portal and they went through portals and built a lava killer machine and three houses connected and a bank.  Banks are very important?  Maybe.