Monday night was the high school basketball banquet. We had good food and basketball decorations. Nice things were said about the coaches and the season and all the players. Mariah was especially honored by the coach for her good attitude and never-giving-upedness and was thus awarded the Red Devil Award for the year. The coach always has the seniors give speeches at the end-of-year banquet about what they've learned from basketball, and Mariah did a fantastic job. She also got a cool, senior poster. The sophomore team was honored as well for having a great season and improving tremendously. Cheyenne has loved being a part of it.

Seniors with their posters.

Seniors with their coach!

Everyone

Sophomore team with their coach

Let's see, besides that, Cali and Chey have both been busy with track practices and piano practice. The junior high school play is High School Musical and it was being performed this week. They saw it twice in addition to seeing it in school and might go see it again on Monday. They have a lot of friends in it and have just really enjoyed it! They even brought Bethany on Saturday before they went to a church dance that night. Busy, busy, busy!

Mariah has been busy with track practice, too, and the extra rest she's getting from not getting up at 5am, is being eaten up by miles and miles of running. The poor girl is exhausted again! She had a track meet on Friday and spent all afternoon in the rain waiting for her event--the two mile--which was second-to-last. She did have some fun on Saturday when she went to her grandpa's house to watch the BYU women's basketball game with him. They even won! Yay! Meanwhile, Dixie has been celebrating her imminent arrival:

Dixie made this post on Instagram!

Beth and Ben had karate and music lessons. Beth had her last two rehearsals for the school play and we will get to watch her in it next week! Ben went to a birthday party on Saturday and got to participate in laser tag and VR. Third grade boy heaven!

Sarah didn't have school this week because it was UVU's spring break. She has been wanting to visit Rexburg, so she took McKay with her and stayed with her grandpa and visited with him and lots of her school friends and even her cousin. She had a great time! McKay had a good time, too.

Savannah finished a paper that she had been dreading this week. Yay! She and I also looked at classes for next year and Fall is going to be a good semester!

The weather has been a lot nicer this week and I was able to walk on the trails almost every day. I'll take that!

Guess what? I didn't take any pictures this week. We had a pretty uneventful week, and I liked it!

Actually, Kevin did take pictures when Mariah and I were signing her acceptance letters for Dixie's academic and athletic scholarships. Aren't we cute? It was a momentous occasion!

Savannah, unfortunately, has been sick most of the week. That wasn't nice, but she was able to rest and seems to be doing better today. We did watch TWO Marvel movies yesterday to stay on track for our goal!

Sarah got exciting news this week. She was accepted into the clinical trial program for education majors at UVU! That means she will do all her learning in an elementary school next year in actual classrooms. Even her UVU classes will be taught at the elementary school. She will do that for an entire year, August to June and be ready for student teaching fall of 2020. She is super excited for it and us for her.

Mariah ran in her first track meet of the season this week. I only caught the end of the 800m, but she came in third! She also came in third in the mile. She is pretty awesome. The good news in her financial life is that we finally got to the bank to get her a bank account! She is on her way to financial independence!

Cali and Chey started track practices for the junior high this week. The workout must have been pretty intense because they were really sore the next day! Nevertheless, the next day, Friday on which there was no school because of end-of-term, they woke up early and ran three miles in the rain, went to a birthday party in the early afternoon, and then played tennis with Sarah and McKay before heading off with another friend to a show-taping at BYU. Who needs ache-free legs in order to live a full life? Not them!

Bethany and Benjamin had karate and music lessons this week. Beth had activity days where they made sugar tubes and Ben had scouts where they delivered flyers for the food drive. On Friday, I took them both to the pool in the morning and then to McDonald's for lunch (because they hadn't been in soooo long)! It was great fun. I should have taken a picture!

This week, Mariah, and six of her senior friends tried to become Questival Champions! This is an activity SHS does during spirit week. They have all week to earn points by completing various challenges. This meant that on Tuesday night, we had Mariah’s friends at our house watching all six Star Wars movies at once (this is possible, if you’re interested. It’s on YouTube!), recording another member eat an entire pizza by himself, and taking a picture of three girls in the same sleeping bag—among other great, point-earning events. They didn’t win but they had a great time and were definitely a contributer in earning the house cup—er I mean the seniors sweeping the competition.

Cali and Chey went to a couple of plays this week. One at Mapleton Jr. High just because it was Mulan and another at an elementary school for a YW activity to support a couple girls in their group. They also had to turn in their class requests for next year at the High School! This meant that their mom was very excited about planning their futures! I talked Cali into taking debate and Cheyenne into taking anatomy! Hopefully, they are feeling a little bit excited, too.

Beth and Ben had karate this week. Bethany had drama on Thursday and Ben had pack meeting on Wednesday. There was a half-day of school on Monday and they had their friend, Eden, over and went sledding! Because, when life gives you lemons . . .

Savannah went to see Captain Marvel this week in the theatres with her friends and then came to Cedar City with us on Friday. Sarah didn’t come with us on Firday because it was her boyfriend’s birthday and she had to help him celebrate but she did come down on Saturday for the reception.

Why did we go to Cedar City? Because my niece, Rebecca was getting married! Yay, Rebecca! On Friday night we went to her bridal shower at my sister, Maggie’s house. My sister, Amy, planned it and was there with all her kids. My sister, Diane, flew from St. Louis and was there with her two little daughters and my mom! So fun! There were women from the groom’s side of the family, too.

The next day was the real shindig. We all went to the temple in the morning and the sealing was at 10am. Happy Day! Then we had a lunch together at 1:00. Afterwards, we all helped decorate for the reception which started at 6:00. There were cupcakes and dancing and the bride in her beautiful dress. My brother, Pete, and his family came to the reception and then it was like an almost complete family reunion for us! So, it was really fun. Rebecca got married, the cousins played, and the adults visited and it was a fun time for all! We decided that we should really do these more often. 😊

Kevin and I had a getaway in Salt Lake City this weekend! We stayed in a really nice room in the Grand America Hotel on Saturday night and then on Sunday morning we went to the tabernacle for the Music and the Spoken Word broadcast. What a talented group of musicians! It was beautiful! Afterward, we went back to the hotel for a delicious brunch. It was really fun to get away with my cute husband! Shout out to my kids who took care of things at home and even went to church without us. They are great!

The view from our room

Savannah planned our Friday night festivities this week. We watched Antman and had Dakota and Hunter join us too! Savannah has made Marvel a weekly tradition for us! She is hanging in there with her college classes and her cool job. She took care of dinner for the fam while we were gone. She is pretty great!

Sarah has been healing from oral surgery all week. She didn't struggle with the recommendation that she not run all week, but not smiling and laughing? Impossible! Especially when hanging out with her new friend, McKay who makes her laugh A LOT. She still got her stitches out on Friday and she is very happy to have them gone!

Mariah's sports vacation ended and she started track this week. Just five miles a day to start. She was so relieved it was so easy. (!!!) She is also still working four days a week but she gets to sleep in now(7:15 baby!) and is looking a lot more rested. She sent her acceptance to Dixie State this week and agreed to run for them in exchange for tuition and housing. We are all really excited for her!

Cheyenne and Calianne don't start track for another couple of weeks. They had piano festival on Saturday so they spent their week filling our house with beautiful piano music! Sarah, McKay, Kevin, and I watched them perform for the judges on Saturday and they did Superior!

Bethany also performed at piano festival and we were proud of her Superior rating, too! She is also doing well in karate and getting ready for her Wizard of Oz performance this month for drama! I need to also record that Bethany had her last basketball game this week. I had a great time coaching this little team. They made great improvements and had a great time together.

This is a headshot that she took of herself

Benjamin and Beth and Cheyenne just finished a week with no screens! Cheyenne challenged them to it and they rose to the task! Ben was so bored, he asked Kevin to throw the football and some baseball with him, and once Kevin got over his shock, they did so and had a great time that included a bloody nose but not a knocked out tooth. Yay! Ben also did karate this week and at scouts he made a harmonica and a balloon-powered boat. Cool!