My birthday was on Monday.  I turned 45 and Kevin and I went out to eat and to the movies (Star Wars!) and even did a little shopping afterward.  All that even though we had stayed up until 2am the night before!  We had the Groslands over for our traditional New Year's Eve game night/new year countdown/midnight hike (which some participants got a little overly enthusiastic about and got back at 2am!).  Before that we had a yummy birthday dinner provided by Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik at their house.  Fun times for me!  Everyone always makes my birthday so fun!

School started again on Tuesday.  Groans abounded at the Skinner house, let me tell you.  Still, Mariah went back to basketball which she loves (and didn't really take a break from) and Cali and Chey went back to starting play rehearsals and Beth and Ben started a new carpool which we were all kind of excited about.  So, things work out.

Savannah went back to work and got quite a few hours in this week.  She also had some of her girlfriends over on Saturday night for games and popcorn before school starts again for those college people.  Cali and Chey and Beth were included and were thrilled she decided to have a party.  Me too!

Sarah got TWO jobs this week!  Go Sarah!  She interviewed with Kelly to work as a substitute in the school system.  She has to attend a 2 hour training before she starts and that will be Monday.  She also interviewed at the Brick Oven and started the next day working in the salad bar room.  She had three shifts this week and the dollar earning has begun!

Megan has been trying to really relish her last days of freedom!  She has hiked the mountains with Sadie, finished several books and a puzzle, and hung out with Alisa.  She even went out on a date on Saturday night and doubled with Sarah!  They went laser tagging and had a lot of fun.  We've been going over her schedule and trying to stick our courage to the sticking place.  It's going to all be good. . .  (We are also practicing our Positive Mental Attitude).

Mariah had only one game this week and they WON!  This is momentous since in pre-season, they lost 11 games with not one win.  We think regular season play will be a lot better.  We shall see!  Mariah sank two three pointers in two consecutive possessions.  It was beautiful.  Our whole family went to watch at the away game, too, so that was momentous and beautiful, too!

Cali and Chey started their play practices.  They don't do a lot so maybe they will like this experience and maybe be bored to death?  They also had their first Springville Rec basketball game (fun!) and a Bantam basketball game (not so fun!).  Being with their friends, though, is always fun.  Also, Cali is finishing her drama class and they had a performance where Cali sang and danced and hammed it up on stage.  She is pretty awesome!

Bethany found out that some of the girls in our ward attend a sewing class at the Corn Wagon every other Friday, so Beth is going to try it, too!  She went on Friday and started work on her project bag.  She thinks it will be a lot of fun.

Benjamin and I had our second guitar lesson on Saturday.  We can almost play a whole song!  It is fun and Ben likes our teacher's laugh.