Monday was the first day of school! Benjamin started 4th grade and Bethany started 6th grade at Sage Creek Elementary. They are still doing Chinese immersion and have an English teacher and a Chinese teacher and a bunch of the same friends. I think for the most part they are happy to be back.

Cheyenne and Calianne started their first year at Springville High School as 10th graders! They were terrified to go. The anxiety was running very high here for at least three days prior. I am happy to report that, much to their own amazement, they did survive the first day of school. Cheyenne was the most vocal about her worries before school started. Cali was quiet but would nod in agreement. After the first day, Chey said, "That wasn't so bad." Cali burst into tears and said, "I never want to go back!' Poor kid! After much interrogation, I couldn't discover that anything terrible had happened, but am left to conclude that it was super scary and in true Calianne fashion, she threw herself into it and did it anyway and afterward was left to deal with the left-over adrenaline. Deep breaths. In reality, she did terrific. They both did and they continue to go back and I do believe its getting easier and they are enjoying what they are studying.

Sarah started school last week with the teachers, but she did go to the first day of school with the Brookside Tigers. She continued to observe and help for three days and on Thursday had instruction of her own from her UVU teacher. So far she has been struggling with boredom and is really missing her traditional college classrooms! She has been very jealous of McKay who started classes at UVU on Monday with a full schedule. We are hoping she settles in and starts to enjoy it more!

Mariah also started classes on Monday but down in St. George! She is taking mission prep at institute, and she has biology, biology lab, statistics, intro to recreation management, and Chinese 2! She is enjoying all her classes and feels confident in all of them . . . except that darn Chinese! She has five people in her class and they sit in their professor's office and go over the lesson--in Chinese, of course. I don't know. It sounds like how I've always imagined Oxford would be. Or is it Cambridge? Anyhow, hopefully she will give it time and she will learn great things. In the meantime, her friends were coming home this weekend, so she came, too! It's been so fun to have her at the house for a couple of days. We love that Mariah girl!

Savannah still hasn't started school, but she worked many long days so she could take off half of Friday to make potstickers and reconnect with her old friend, Miranda. Miranda brought her baby, Skylar, (so cute!) and everything was just like old times except the baby crawling around wasn't one of Savannah's little sisters. Ha ha!

I've spent the week working on my next book, hiking, and meeting with the new YW presidency of which I am the 1st counselor. Of the three, hiking had the best pictures.

Kevin has had a busy week. He did an intensive with five women who flew in to spend three days with him. In the evenings he mowed our lawn and played tennis a couple of nights and went for a walk with his wife on one. Don't worry, he did manage to get in some Tetris games each night on his ipad, too. On Saturday night, we had another pool party with the families of the stake presidency and Kevin got to play watermelon ball, which he can't decide if he loves because its so fun or if he hates because he gets so competitive. Ha!

On Saturday, I also took Beth and Ben to the reservoir for a couple hours with some friends. I think they had a pretty good time.

Last Sunday, after a full day of regular Sunday worship activities, we piled all Mariah's stuff into the car, and Kevin and I drove Mariah down to St. George! She had an athletic meeting she needed to attend at 10am Monday morning. While she went to that, Kevin and I wandered campus and got acquainted with the places our daughter will be haunting for the next big while of her life. After the meeting, we got some lunch and then came back to get her student ID and check her in to her student housing! We brought her stuff inside and made her bed and then went shopping at WalMart for groceries and sundries. She had another athletic meeting at 5pm, so we hugged her tight and told her again how excited we were for her and this new chapter in her life and then we left her there . . . and drove home without her.

Up until that moment I had been really excited for her, but when we drove away I thought, "What was I thinking?" Raising kids is fulfilling and gut-wrenching all at the same time, I tell you.

Anyway, we had a fun time on our little trip and she reports to be settling in really well and feeling like this is where she's supposed to be. This week she has attended orientation, three full days of her Trailblazers class, four days of regular team practices, Freshman Friday, and the On-Campus Housing Ice Cream Social. I may be forgetting some things even. She has been busy! Classes start for real on Monday. I am excited for her. I really am.

Saying goodbye to Springville.

Where she'll spend most of her mornings!

The T-shirt quilt Grandma Elton made will remind her of great times!

So, back on the homefront, more change was a brewing for this mama's heart! We knew (hoped!) it was coming but Wednesday made it official when McKay proposed to Sarah! When I explained to Ben he asked, "And what did Sarah say?" For those of you wondering like Ben, . . . she said YES! McKay set up a romantic spot in the woodsy spot of our backyard and we didn't even see the two of them! After dinner watching the sun set, they told us their big news and let me take their picture. Happy day with the promise of many more happy days ahead!

Back in the realm of less earth-shattering news, Cali and Chey had their first tennis tournament of the year! Cali played third Varsity doubles and Cheyenne played second JV doubles. They had different partners than each other, of course, and that was new for them but they did really well with it. Cali and her partner won all four matches (2 matches a day) and Cheyenne won 2 of the 4. They were pretty exhausted from the sun and the tennis play but still managed to play ultimate frisbee with their friends Friday night, too!

I've decided to have a "Build-It" day with Ben once a week. This week we made a rope bridge. Can you believe it? That You-Tube. You can do practically anything with it. Anyhow, Ben and I had a great time and our scratches from tree branches are all healing really nicely. Ha ha!

Savannah had a good week of work. Bethany played with friends. Benjamin started football practices. Sunday before Mariah left, the kids made a chain to count the days until Megan gets home. Mariah wanted to be part of making it and realized while doing so that she was also counting the days until she gets home from Dixie. It's a happy chain. It's not too long. Can't wait until my M&Ms are both home again!

It was Mariah's last week at home before she leaves for college! She spent time with her friends during the week and took Chey and Cali around Springville to take photos for their English project and also took the twins to the high school to show them around and help them find where their classes will be--passing the baton as it were!

She really wanted to do baptisms in the Salt Lake Temple before she left. So Friday afternoon, I arranged for Beth and Ben to go to friends' houses, and the rest of us, including Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik went up to Salt Lake City! Kevin, Mariah, Chey, and Cali did baptisms and Grandpa, Grandma, myself, Savannah, and Sarah did a session in the pioneer's temple just like the pioneers with no movie! It's such a beautiful, history-laden, holy place. We all loved it. What a great idea, Mariah! Afterwards, we ate burgers and fries at Crown Burger. Yum!

Saturday morning, Kevin went on a last run with Mariah. She needed to run for 90 minutes but they got up late so they only went for 80 minutes and went 9.5 miles! Kevin was wiped out! But he'll do anything for his kids. There's you some proof! Crazy man. :)

After that, Mariah wanted to hike Battle Creek Falls. It's a super short hike but stunning. We had sliders last time we went and she wanted those, too. So, we had breakfast sliders! They do travel well, I have to say. When we arrived at Kiwanis park at the trailhead, we found out that the trail was closed (Boo!) but our breakfast picnic was still really good!

Since it was closed, and we had waterfalls on the mind, we drove to Bridal Veil instead. Beautiful place! And we came there before Meg left. Lots of good family memories there, too!

That afternoon, the kids went creek walking together and that night we went up to Hobble Creek Canyon for a picnic at Jolly's Ranch. Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik came and we had chicken and watermelon and corn on the cob and potato salad and lemonade. After a few rounds of Bocce Ball, we had a family game of ultimate frisbee. Cheyenne and Calianne often play with their friends and Chey even invested in a "real" frisbee. They are dang good! Beth and I kind of managed to keep up. Dad and Mariah managed to do some serious sprinting even after their long morning run. Jogging up and down the field after them was still fun!

We had a good week! I forgot to mention that Beth, Cali, and Cheyenne also had their summer piano recital this week. They all did fabulous. Cali and Chey each had their own pieces and two duets. I am so impressed that they managed to learn those pieces in the midst of everything else they did this summer. Bravo!

Sarah also had a big week because she went with McKay and Dakota down to Arizona for four days! She had a great time being with McKay's family and even got to stop and see my mom and dad on her way back. Good times!

Last Sunday, I got to see my friend, Kim! She brought some boys up for BYU volleyball camp and needed a place to stay. My fam was scheduled to start our annual trip to Palisade that night so after dinner with Kim, I sent the Palisade group on ahead and stayed up late talking with Kim! It was super to have so much uninterrupted time to talk and catch up with each other.

Of course, it was great to get to Palisade the next morning, too! The Hatch boys came with us this year (McKay and Dakota). We also had Hannah, Becca and Jen Grigg, and the Francoms got a campsite for two nights, too! Plus, Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik got a cabin for Monday and Tuesday nights! It was a party! Good thing, too, because it just so happened to be my silver wedding anniversary and a party was in order! We went canoeing, paddleboarding, and swimming and we ate Grigg pasta salad and hot dogs and Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik even brought us a cake. It was a great day!

Tuesday was more of the same except Kevin, Dakota, Savannah, Jen, and the Francoms left. We managed alright though with some cliff jumping in the morning and games with Grandma and Grandpa in the afternoon and more swimming, canoeing, and paddleboarding, of course! We finished the day singing around the campfire with McKay on the guitar. Ben even played us some songs, too! It was a lovely day at Palisade.

There's always some reading, too!

Scattergories!

This is how I do Palisade.

Werewolf!

Wednesday morning we packed up to leave as we watched the storm clouds blowing in. We drew the nice weather straw this time around! We had a great time but it was nice to be home, again, too.

Saying Goodbye . . .

The rest of the week saw work for Savannah and Dad and Mom (it's a new month!), tennis and ultimate frisbee and friends for Cali and Chey, family history and McKay for Sarah, and friends and Roblox and transformers for Beth and Ben. Ben rediscovered his transformer collection this week and told me he loves his "B" bot best because it looks just like him, or . . . what he would look like if he were a robot. Same thing.

We were going to go to the Skinner Reunion this weekend, but when that fell through, we decided to go to the movies as a family and then out to eat. We saw Aladdin the live version and we just loved it! Then we went out to eat at Los Hermanos where two very handsome waiters (McKay and Dakota) were thrilled to see us and gave us extra lemonade and chips and free churros (actually we earned those by posting to social media)! We had a great time together. It was a really fun night.