On Monday and Tuesday of this week, Chey, Cali, and Beth did Hymn Festival for piano.  They had group practice on Monday and performance on Tuesday where they played their church pieces and had to conduct for others.  Pretty great experience!  They all got superiors.  I'm glad they're learning.
 
On Wednesday was the state cross country meet.  Mariah ran a great race.  Her team finished 4th!  Pretty impressive!  Mariah was disappointed because she wanted to beat Maple Mountain.  Alas!  It will have to wait until next year.  They still had a great time and went out to eat as a team afterward and then to the football game where the boys' team presented their first-place trophy to the school.  Fun times!

Thursday and Friday were Fall Break and no school!  On Thursday we took the kids to the aquarium.  It's been here in Salt Lake for a few years now but we've never been.  It was really neat!  They even had a 4D Movie Experience where our seats rumbled and we got blasted with water spray.  We walked through a shark tunnel and saw penguins and jelly fish and a giant goldfish.  On our way home, we stopped at the BYU Creamery to have dinner served by our own Megan!  Surprising her at work was one of the best things of the day!

Friday we let Dad go to work and let the kids play in the neighborhood.  That night though, we took the fam to see a children's musical at The Scera.  It was called Captain Louie and was about a little boy who was having a hard time moving to a new neighborhood.  Does that sound apropos or what?  The twins needed to attend a musical for their choir class and we found this one.  It was a lot of fun.

Cali and Cheyenne had their final regional tournament on Monday this week.  They got to miss a whole day of school and play tennis ALL DAY!  So fun!  They did great, beating four teams easily and getting two matches of actual competition toward the end of the day.  They are really getting good and it is fun to watch them.  They placed third and it is was exciting!  And it was a beautiful day!

The weather continues to be stunning and our street is in its most glorious state.  Beth and Ben have been outside playing a lot and the leaf hotel even made a reappearance across the street at dear, patient Sister Schroeder's.  Fun times outside with lots of neighbor kids!

They also have a clubhouse on top of our shed.  It's the best place for it, of course.

Beth and Ben also had their first karate tournament this week.  I couldn't attend because I was at our Relief Society's super Saturday, but Kevin went.  It's fun to see what our kids are learning and get some cool pictures!

Yes, Bethany did win that giant trophy.

Mariah had a week off of intense Cross Country races in anticipation of State next week.  It was a great week to attend Sadie Hawkins on Saturday.  The dance theme was Teen Beach Movie and her group decided to go as bikers.  I thought she looked pretty adorable!  They did pictures and went to Nickle Mania and had dinner and went to the dance and played games afterwards.  I think a good time was had by all!

We saw Savannah and Megan this week as they came over Friday night to do some star gazing for Megan's astronomy class.  We all drove out to Mona so we could see the Milky Way and Megan could pick out constellations.  It was COLD!  But it was fun.

I've been packing and packing.  I gave lots of stuff away, too, and am throwing a bunch of stuff away, as well.  We had our roof redone this week so we had a large dumpster in our driveway for a few days.  That was handy to have around!  Kevin brought up lots of boxes of expired food storage that we slid right into that handy dumpster!

Sarah has been working away up in Idaho, too!  I had a fun reminder of her this week while I was packing things from a cupboard's highest shelf.  She was apparently sneaky with her vandalism as a young child!  Cute girl.

Mariah ran in Regionals for Cross Country on Friday.  They so, so badly wanted to win and beat Maple Mountain but they came just shy of missing their goal by FOUR POINTS!  Mariah was super mad! She ran a great race, though, running each of the three miles at an average 6:13min/mile!  She came in tenth overall and third for her team.  There were six teams running and we did take second.  Maple Mountain just better watch out at State.  That's all I'm saying.  Her basketball team had a fundraiser tournament this weekend.  She wasn't allowed to play since an injury could be disastrous to the cross country team's season, but she had to be there to help score games and such.  Mariah also came with me and the twins and Bethany when we met one of our favorite authors at the library this week!  We had great fun meeting Sarah Eden, winning prizes, and getting our new books signed.  This is how we fan girl in our family!

Cali and Chey had their last two regular season tennis matches this week.  They won both of those pretty easily and so they have finished the season undefeated.  Way to go girls!  They really enjoy playing.  Also, Cali and Chey both came with me Saturday when we drove to Cedar City for my sister, Maggie's, surprise 40th birthday party.  They were great travelling companions and told me all about their lives.  We loved being with special members of our family even if it was for just a few hours!  Love Maggie!  Love my brother, Dave!  Love all those Gillespies, too!  I must have been having too much fun because I forgot to take any pictures with Maggie!!  :(  But Cali and Chey and I did drive past the new Cedar City temple and got some pictures there.  We were so glad we went.

Bethany and Benjamin didn't come Saturday because they were busy playing with neighborhood friends.  They started coming over at 9am, and according to Kevin stayed until 10pm.  We're letting them soak it in for a few more weeks, because when we move, things will be different!

Savannah, Sarah, and Megan still seem to be enjoying college life.  It was Savannah's turn to be sick this week, though, so that was no fun!  Megan gets the award for sending me the most pictures this week.  It was Homecoming week at BYU so she went on the "True Blue Foam Slide" and attended the parade and BYU Spectacular and the football game and was even going to try to make it to the dance.  Can the girl really claim that she still doesn't like college?

I took the Sadie dog walking every morning this week.  It was gorgeous every morning.  That Sadie gets me out to see the beauty around me every day, I decided to add to my list of "Reasons why having a dog might not be so bad."  Ha ha!

Monday was Sarah's 20th birthday!!  And she was up in Rexburg being responsible and going to school.  So, Beth, Ben, and I hopped in the car and drove up to see her!  We had so much fun!  Beth and Ben were great in the car and when we got there we gave Sarah lots of birthday hugs and got to see her room and her apartment.  Then we walked to a nearby park and played and talked for a bit.  After that we went to WalMart to buy some pants and a CAKE and went out to eat at Costa Vida.  Back at the apartment, we Facetimed with family at home and had her open her PRESENTS!  It was so great to see her and be able to be with her for her birthday.  She is doing great and loving her classes and is super happy to be 20--since it is one of her favorite numbers.  We love that girl.

Costa Vida

One of her birthday presents was this dress!

On Tuesday and Thursday, Cali and Chey had tennis matches.  They won both pretty easily.  They wish they had a little bit more competition to test their skills, but they are still having fun!  They also had piano lessons this week and made suckers at Young Women's.  They've had a busy week.

Mariah continues to run everyday for the cross country team and goes to open gym for basketball twice a week.  She still manages to get her homework done in spite of all the boys who text her wanting to "talk!"

Beth and Ben had karate and fourteen friends (that was hyperbole) over everyday.  The weather was nice this week so they played outside a lot.

With the weather so nice, I went hiking twice with my friends!  Round Peak one day and Wardsworth (in our canyon) the next.

We had our house inspection this week and now we have to work on getting some stuff fixed.  We may even need a new roof!  But we are moving forward.  We even got to go look at the house we are buying once again.  We're excited!

Megan and Savannah are doing well in Provo.  Meg is still on the stressed side of the "Getting Used to Things" scale, but we have confidence she will figure it all out.  Savannah is enjoying her classes, and we love hearing her stories of her quirky teachers!  Megan is teaching Savannah how to make hamburgers thanks to her expertise from working at the Creamery and I love hearing that they hang out together!