We all went to Calianne's basketball game on Monday afternoon. She started. They played man to man defense and a 1-3-1 offense to break their zone and they played it all so well that they won! Go Cali! It was tons of fun to watch her and she had a ton of fun playing! Cheyenne and friend, Sarah, ran the half-time games and they had a crowd of friends to support both events. Fun times at the junior high!

Tuesday night a much anticipated event took place. Sarah came home!! She finished her three months at Jacob Lake working 8 hours a day six days a week, making great friends and having adventures. We are so happy she's home to make great friends and have adventures back with us. Her friend, Mimi, from Jacob Lake spent Thanksgiving with us and she was a ton of fun and we were happy to have her, too!

That night Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik came over. They left the next day for a month in Arizona, so they wanted to give us our Christmas presents and say goodbye! They gave the kids each a jean jacket. They all looked super cute!

You can even see Kevin and I in the mirror!

On Wednesday we bought a new game called 7 Wonders. We played it a bunch and it is Benjamin's new favorite game! There was also some Wacky 6 and some basketball playing and a trip to the library and to Funfinity. Before dinner, Sarah, Mimi, and Bethany went to the art museum! Sometimes we forget about how fun that can be, too! That night we watched Paycheck.

Thursday was Thanksgiving! We made a lot of food and then we ate a lot of food! I made a Thanksgiving playlist and we listened to that. (Chey wouldn't let us listen to any Christmas songs insisting that Thanksgving get its due!) We played more 7 Wonders and also read some books and worked on our puzzle. That night we watched both versions of Overboard. They decided the old one was funnier but the new one, less breaking of moral codes, though there were still plenty broken. My kids have high standards! That's good!

We discovered that if Mariah gets to sit down for a minute, she falls asleep!

On Friday, Mimi had to go back to Jacob Lake. Boo! But first she and Sarah got us a big head start on the puzzle. The rest of the fam finished it that day! Sarah also brought us a fresh Christmas tree from Jacob Lake and we decorated it Friday. It looks really pretty. After decorating and lunch, we drove to BYU and went bowling. We had a lot of fun. Still . . . Cheyenne said to me, "You know Mom, sometimes I get busy and don't miss Megan as much and other days I miss her a whole lot. Today was one of those days." Oh, how I had been feeling the same thing!

Saturday Ben had guitar and Beth and Ben had friends over in the afternoon. Cali and Chey and Mariah played basketball at the Rec. Sarah went to the temple with the RS in her new/old ward. Savannah did homework. That night, Mariah and two of her guy friends came over and watched the BYUvs.U football game with Kevin. The rest of us watched a movie.

We are thankful for each other and thankful for the time we've had to spend together and thankful for this good, good life and all its opportunities--even the ones that take us away from each other for a season. Yes, we are very thankful!

Cali had her first basketball game this week! I wasn't able to go, but Kevin and Cheyenne went. They won! Cali started and then got a bloody nose in the 3rd quarter! But they let her back in the 4th. She is having a great time. She is keeping up with her homework and piano and still finding time to read and hang out with friends!

Chey hasn't started games yet but is enjoying the freedom she has with all her afternoons free. She has convinced the junior high principal to let her and another friend do the half-time games with prizes during Cali's games. Should be fun!

They both had YW in Excellence on Wednesday. The theme was "Lives Under Construction." They both had tables with some of their projects this year displayed. Mariah helped plan the evening.

Mariah was recognized with the rest of the varsity cross country team at the Nebo school district meeting this week. Cool stuff! She left us Thursday morning for the last, last meet of the year -- regionals in Arizona (NXR). Lots of the team went and they seem to have had a great time. Mariah had a great race and should be home Sunday around noon. They have always joked with their coach about wanting her to buy them a llama if they won state. She came home with this cute stuffed animal this week!

Savannah has been plugging along with papers and quizzes and assignments. She gives her all at work, as well. She did take some time away to go see Grindelwald with her friends this Friday. While the movie was good, she reports, she can't in good conscience accept it into official Harry Potter canon. Seems like a good compromise to me.

Beth and Ben did karate and music lessons. Kevin and I went to separate coaches' meetings to get their team lists for basketball and are starting to think about what we want to teach at practices! I took Beth and Ben with me Saturday morning up the mountain a little ways to show them a cool tree I found!

Bethany had a school performance on Wednesday night. She and her classmates sang some great songs and then each had a poster and short speech prepared about different historical people. You could walk down the hallway and hear them each present. Beth had Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik came to hear her and she did a great job!

          

Sarah is coming home next week on Tuesday and we cannot wait to see her!!!!

Ben had a good week. He had karate on Tuesday and Thursday and guitar on Saturday. His teacher's goal is to have him able to play along as we sing to ten Christmas songs. It's going to be super fun! He had a friend over on Saturday, Kyler, and the played from 1 to 9! They loved it. I bought him and Bethany some new PJ pants and he is sporting them in this picture. Good thing he was cozy because we woke up to snow!

Bethany had karate two days this week and piano. She had friends over on Saturday as well as on Friday and had great times! Before friends on Saturday, she and Ben helped me can applesauce, as did Cali and Chey, and Mariah and Savannah. Everyone only got to help a little bit because I didn't have many apples. They sure love it, though, and want me to plant new apple trees so they can come with my grandchildren to every harvest. Sounds great to me!

Calianne made the junior high basketball team this week! Go Cali! They practice every school day from 3 to 5, except when they have game days. She loves being with her friends and she loves playing basketball. We will love watching her play! She and Cheyenne and Mariah had their cross country banquet this week, too. We are proud of the hard work they did there.

Cheyenne made the sophomore basketball team this week! Go Chey! They practice every school day from 5:30am to 7am. She is loving playing so much basketball and is getting herself to bed every night by 9pm so that she is getting enough sleep. Good planning Chey! She is bored after school though. Ha, funny problems!

Mariah made the varsity basketball team this week! Go Mariah! She practices in the mornings, too, but doesn't get to bed until close to midnight because she is still doing cross country practices afterschool and then working for city rec until 11pm. I really don't know how she is doing it all! At the cross country banquet she got awarded academic all-region and academic all-state and All State 2nd Team and Most Valuable Runner because they needed a runner to level-up this year and she was the one who stepped up. Wow! Pretty cool! I didn't get pictures, but I did take a picture of this banner hanging in the school. Mariah thinks its a terrible picture of her but I just think she looks like you better not mess with her or any of her teammates! Ha!

Mariah also had senior ball on Saturday. That's a special dinner and dance for seniors and everyone goes without a date and just has a great time together. They do dress up fancy, though, and that's fun!

Savannah is plowing through those college classes and still trying to get in 20 hours of work a week, too! She is a great help at home and also our top contributer to the 1000 piece puzzle in our front room.

Kevin is in Atlanta this weekend teaching for IITAP. He got to reconnect with his high school buddy, Kevin Simpson. Now they're talking about taking a trip to Hawaii together with their wives. I think he should reconnect with old friends more often.

My friend, Robin, and I decided this was the week we would climb to the top of Y Mountain. I didn't want to do it in the summer, because I didn't want it to be too hot. It definitely wasn't that! It was a frosty hike! It was really pretty. Even though most of the leaves had fallen from the trees, the ground was carpeted with them. It was harder than we thought it'd be. It's quite a climb. Steep at the beginning and at the end. We made it, though, and the view was spectacular! Plus we felt pretty awesome about ourselves. But, then, . . . On the way down, with 2 1/2 miles left to go, Robin fell twisting her ankle and tearing her tendons. It took us nearly 4 hours to get back to the car, going slowly and relying on Robin's pure determination to put one foot in front of the other. She was in so much pain. She was a superhero that day. We were on the mountain long enough to see the sunset. It was spectacular!