It was the first week of school! Holy Moly! Were we ready for that? I suppose as ready as we could. Of course, for Mariah, Chey, and Cali, since they've been doing school sports ALL summer, it didn't feel that different. Beth and Ben were excited to see their friends again!

I took this picture on a hike the day before. That's the junior high and off to the left behind it is the high school. Even farther you can see Sage Creek Elementary. All in line! Really not that far away from me all day!

Savannah got in almost a perfect 40 hour work week! Classes don't start for her until after Labor Day but she did pay for her tuition completely out of her own bank account and she is raring to go! Ok, she may not be quite that eager, but she's determined to make it a good semester and we are proud of her.

Sarah had a good week at work. She even got a day off and went to Zion's with a couple of girls who also had the day off. We think she likes it!

Megan is gone on a mission. *sob!* No, we are thrilled that she gets this awesome opportunity and love getting her enthusiastic letters. She has already grown so much.

Mariah went to Lagoon Friday night on a triple date. They had a great time, but someone (?) forgot to check the train schedules back to Provo. So, they missed the last train and guess who got a call at 12:15am and got asked to drive to Salt Lake and rescue them? Kevin B. And he's just such a great dad that he did!

The next day Mariah, Chey, and Cali had grass relays in Highland for Cross Country. This is where they race as several relay teams and also jump over hay bales as part of the race. They had a lot of fun! Mariah (even though she was working on four hours of sleep) ran on the Varsity relay team and they placed 4th! They were pretty excited!

Cali and Chey have been pretty exhausted going from school to cross country to tennis practice. We've changed dinner time to 7:00pm to accommodate late tennis practice and that is how long they are gone everyday! Tennis season in only one month. We are hoping they survive!

Bethany likes her new teacher, Mr. Wright, and her substitute who will teach until her Chinese teacher arrives from Asia. She doesn't sit by any of her friends, though, and reports being lonely. She plays with her friends at recess though and I took her to the pool on Saturday where she played completely alone and completely contented for over an hour! She is just a happy little thing.

Benjamin likes his new teachers, Mrs. Taylor and Ms. Wong. He has come home with a reading challenge for the year and he is revved up and ready to READ! He also had his first flag football scrimmage game. It looks like it is going to be fun! He had two other practices this week and I also took him to the pool twice during the week with Beth in hopes of tiring them out enough to get them to bed early enough for school. It's only kind of working. . . Oh, they had karate twice this week, too! They are hard to tire out.

Kevin and I are going to try to hike Timpanogos this coming Friday, so I have been trying to be extra diligent in getting miles in on the mountain (though it is nowhere near the amount I will need to do on Timp! *groan*) Still, I'm seeing beautiful views and growing strength in my legs!

Sarah left us this week! She went to the movies with Savannah and I, visited her Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik, and played a last game of Pandemic with her dad and Savannah and I. Then she packed up her little car and took off for Jacob Lake Inn near the north rim of the Grand Canyon! She got there safe and sound and started work in the gift shop the next day selling Indian rugs and jewelry. She will work 8 hours a day, 6 days a week. They split up the day into four hour shifts, though, and then all the kids get together to do stuff every night at 10:30pm! So far, Sarah is exhausted! She is looking forward to when the rest of the fall staff move in and she will make some permanent friends. It is definitely a new adventure!

Savannah worked all week and went to institute and took her friend's 5:30am Saturday shift at the temple. She also went to the movies with Sarah and I and played Pandemic! 

Mariah had her first cross country meet this week on Friday. She did awesome, running second for her team and placing 20th overall in a field of 216. THEN her team placed 2nd out of 26 teams and got a TROPHY. Mariah was very excited! As she should be! That represents a lot of hard work and hundreds of summer miles run. Way to go girl!

Cheyenne and Cali had their first tennis matches this week! On Tuesday they went up to Logan for a match they both played doubles with different partners and both won! On Friday and Saturday they played in a JV tournament at our high school. Teams from as far away as Vernal came for the tourney! On Friday they played four games to determine brackets. Saturday they played a double-elimination tournament. CC played as a doubles team. They lost their first match Saturday and then won and won and won... They played seven straight sets each to six. They ended up taking second in their bracket, had a great time, and were completely exhausted by the end of the day!

Beth and Ben had swim lessons every morning this week! Why the last week of summer instead of the first week as in previous years? I don't know! That's just how it worked out. I feel like they learned a lot of good things about strokes and form. Hopefully, even with school starting, we'll find some time to swim and practice the things they've learned! Beth and Ben also had karate this week and Ben had football practice and a birthday party. They still had plenty of free time to invite friends over and to institute a couple "Night Games" nights with--get this--kids in the neighborhood! That last week of summer can be a real winner!

Bethany also had a dance recital Saturday night. A young woman in our ward held dance class once a week on the grass by the church during the summer. Saturday night all us parents and family came to watch their dances. Bethany had great fun and we loved it!

Afterwards, I went to the store with my two favorite boys who happened to be in matching clothes! I found it very entertaining as they fought over who would push the cart. "Ben, I am going to push the cart." "No! Dad! I got it!" Ha, ha! I've had that conversation with everyone of my young children! It was fun to watch Kevin have it, too with his little boy.

It was time for our yearly week at our lake house/tent campground, Palisade! The water was really, really low this year with seagrass skimming the surface throughout. We still swam! We gotta cool off! And the kids still jumped from the swim dock, but otherwise we did a lot of raft floating, canoeing, and paddle boarding. It was still tons of fun!

Sarah, Beth, Ben, and I packed up and left around 2:00pm on Monday. We met Nik and Hannah Grosland at the campground where we put our feet in the water and set up camp. We roasted hotdogs and s'mores over the fire for dinner and waited for the rest of our gang. Kevin, Savannah, Mariah, Cheyenne, and Calianne joined us around 10pm after doing a full day of work for some and athletic practices for others.

Tuesday we kept Kevin and Savannah all day and played in the lake. We missed Megan! That night after dinner Kevin and Savannah went back to Springville. Bye Kevin and Savannah! We're so glad you could come!

Not five minutes after they left, Nik and Hannah's mom pulled up! Surprise! Robin spent the night and morning with us. Fun times! We walked around the lake in the night AND the morning. When she left Wednesday morning, Nik and Hannah headed home, too. Bye, Grosland's! Thanks for coming!

As we ate lunch Wednesday, the Francom's pulled up! Wendy brought her five kids aged 16 to 4, a raft-boat, and two kid-sized kayaks. Ben, Beth, Cali, and Chey all have friends in her crew and they loved being able to play all day at the lake with them. The little kayaks were especially a hit. Beth, Siena, Ben, and Mia all had a great time. They left around dinner time. Bye Francom's! So glad you came!

Thursday morning as we were finishing breakfast, Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik pulled up! Yay! Grandma played games with the kids in the cool, morning shade and Grandpa told us stories. Grandma brought us chicken salad for lunch (which was a nice break from PB&J!) and black cherry soda and watermelon. Then we watched the kids play in the water and try to all ride the paddle board at the same time. When they left later in the afternoon, they returned about 30minutes later with milkshakes for everyone! Wow Grandma and Grandpa! You are awesome! Bye! We love you! Thanks for coming!

As Grandma and Grandpa left, Jen and Stuart Grigg arrived. Finally! We had been waiting and waiting for "Sister Gwigg." She is always the one reminding me in the winter that I need to reserve our site so "we will always have Palisades." (Ben told her that when we moved from Brookside!) She is also our minnow-catching expert and I think this is the third year she has brought us her famous pasta salad for dinner. Yum yum! Stuart took our picture all together before they left after sunset. Bye Griggs! Thanks for coming!

So that left just us Skinners (minus three) to pack up the next morning, heave a sigh, and wave goodbye to Palisades for another year. Bye Palisades! We're so glad we came!

P.S. We made some funny memories while there. Our first night, we learned that Cheyenne has an alarm on her phone . . . at 3:16 in the morning. The alarm says in a very cheerful voice, "It's 3:16 AM!" and then plays super cheerful music. Everyone woke up except Cheyenne. When Savannah found the phone and turned it off, she whispered into the darkness, "Why . . .?" So funny!

Also while there, whenever Beth would get weepy about spiders or sunburns or whatever, I would tell her, "Come on, Beth. Toughen up! You're a warrior. You're a warrior princess!" So, I'd been preaching this to her, but then when it was time for bed it backfired. She said, "It's too early for a warrior princess to go to bed!" So funny! I think it was sinking in.