It was the last week of school before Christmas break! Cali and Chey are still on "alternating day schedule" which means they had only two days of in-school learning. They did have a big history paper due this weekend and it took a lot of their time and made them pretty stressed out! In fact, we were going to do another USTA tournament this weekend, but I pulled them out because they just had too much to do. They had tennis lessons and some practices. They also both worked at Funfinity and, of course, those hours they spend at the toy store have been busy! They also had another basketball game this week. Two of their players were out of town so they only had five to play! They got tired but they played great and won and had a lot of fun! Also, they had friends over Friday night and went to a friend's house on Saturday night to watch Elf. They both finished their papers! Now they are ready for Christmas break!

Savannah has been very busy at Funfinity, as well. Thankfully, the owner's family has been cleared of COVID so they were not short-staffed this week. Savannah's biggest struggle is with customers who don't want to wear masks. She gets at least one a day, although she says that for the most part, everyone is very accommodating.

Bethany was counting the days until school ended! She brought home her baritone so she can learn a Christmas song. We are excited. On Thursday night, after karate, she made snickerdoodle blondies and brought some to school to give as gifts to her friends. Today, she painted her nails especially for Christmas!

Benjamin made a light-up house with his picture on it for us for Christmas. It's super cute! He and Max have been making epic Minecraft worlds. Whenever Bethany can, she drags them off to play an imagination game with her and the Mila's, if they are over. They spent a couple of hours in Max's hot tub that looks over the valley Saturday night. They sure slept well that night!

Mariah got to see the tree at Rockefeller Center! We sure miss her, but are glad she's having a good Christmas season, too!

I'm so thankful for the beauty that Christ gives to the world and for this time of year that we celebrate His birth!

Savannah worked everyday this week again. She had one day where she didn't have to work a full shift, but she had to help out her sisters because she has a big heart like that! The owner's family which makes up almost half of the regular employees, got quarantined this week so it made it even crazier than usual. They are super grateful for Savannah! As are we!

Cheyenne and Cali had a very busy week. They had tennis Monday thru Wednesday, they worked at Funfinity, and they helped with service projects for Hope Squad (responding to letters for Santa)  and Key Club (food drive). Not to mention a physics test and all their regular homework! Cali also organized a party for all their friends at our house Saturday night (wearing masks!). They built gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and played games. Fun times!

I told Cali she had a perfect 80's hairdo this week!

Also of note, Cali and Chey had their first city league basketball game! It's really fun to see them playing with their friends and getting to play most of the game (there's only seven players!) and having Kevin be their coach.

Beth and Ben had karate. Ben tried out Coding Club at the library on Monday with Max. Also, it snowed this weekend so Beth, Ben, Max, and Claire all went sledding on Saturday. That night they played Werewolf in Ben's room. It's fun that they can all play together!

Kevin watched a BYU basketball game followed by a BYU football game Saturday night. That's what he loves! After it snowed in the morning, he took Beth and Ben with him to shovel our driveway and some neighbors'!

That afternoon, when they were bored, Cali got Beth and Ben doing some Christmas crafts. What a great idea!

I'm writing everyday. I'm also trying to walk more. This week I went walking with my two new neighbors. We are becoming friends! I also still try to walk even when it snows:

Savannah worked six days this week! She really enjoys helping out at the store and especially loves it when either Cali or Cheyenne are there. She knows enough about the store that she frequently changes displays and increases sales. She's pretty much a Funfinity rockstar. I think by Saturday, though, she was reaching burnout. Thank goodness for Sundays!

Cheyenne and Calianne had school twice this week, but were busy with at-home school work, as well. They both had a tennis lesson on Tuesday and piano on Monday (this is always online). They went to group tennis on Wednesday. Saturday morning they were able to do a service project together with youth city council making lap quilts for the elderly. They also got together with friends a few times this week, but they wore masks!

Cheyenne worked at Funfinity on Monday and again on Friday. Calianne worked on Thursday and Saturday. They also got to help with another service project through YCC where they helped as Santa's elves for children visiting with Santa at the art museum. That was fun and they got cute shirts, too!

Bethany stayed home a day this week because she wasn't feeling well, but she has been doing better! She and Ben had karate on Tuesday and Thursday. They've also been playing with Max. On Saturday they made airplanes and launched them from Max's indoor balcony. Good times!

Ben has been talking about his "Big Brain." When he does something smart, he says, "That's my big brain."

Bethany loves to play Among Us (along with other games), but on Friday night, she and her friend, Claire, drew each of the Among Us characters and made their own video. That was pretty creative!

I hope y'all are being creative with your lives, too!

We only had two days of school this week and because of alternating day schedule, my high schoolers only went once! 

Wednesday, Cali and Chey did some outdoor stuff with their friends and invited Beth and Ben to come with them where they rollerbladed and ezy-rollered at the park. Later that afternoon, I took Cali to Salt Lake City for the third game in the USTA tournament. Kevin took her Monday evening where she won. On Wednesday, she lost, but she played great and her opponent went on to the final match. Go Cali!

Thursday was Thanksgiving!! We are grateful for Thanksgiving and turkeys and Grandma's sweet potatoes! Sarah and McKay and Megan and Ammon and Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik all came for dinner. We wore masks around G&G unless we were eating. We managed to have a good time and lots of good visiting. After dinner G&G went home and we played some family games. It was a good time. We are thankful for family!

Friday we put out Christmas decorations and looked for craft supplies at the dollar store. Beth and Ben went swimming at the rec center. That evening, Grandma and Grandpa Elton arrived for a visit! Yay!

Saturday we visited with Grandma and Grandpa and we decorated the Christmas tree. Cal and Chey and Savannah went in to Funfinity to work in the afternoon. So, G&G, Beth, Ben, and I drove to Lehi to see Megan and buy some chocolates at the store where she works. Fun times! When everyone got home that evening, we watched a Hallmark Christmas movie. Sweet!

We are having a fun visit and had a great week! We hope you all did, too!

 Cali and Cheyenne survived their first week of alternating-day school attendance. They went to school just twice this week and did the rest online. I still saw them doing a lot of math and physics at my kitchen counter, so that was normal. They sure work hard on those two subjects! 

They played a lot of tennis this week. They had a private lesson with Bob. Cali went back to Craig's which is twice a week. Chey went to the courts on her own and they both went to the courts Saturday morning and played with Sarah and McKay. Fun times! They also had a USTA challenger tournament that started this week. Chey played great but lost on Friday night so she won't play again. Cali won Friday and Saturday night. She'll play again on Wednesday!

Calianne worked at Funfinity this week and Cheyenne started, too! Savannah continues to work most days of the week and comes home almost always happy from it. She especially glows when she gets to spend her whole shift mentoring one of her younger sisters!

Bethany and Benjamin have played more outside with Max. I love to see it. One day they spent the whole afternoon on the trampoline! The Mila's and Bethany have played a lot, too. I let the kids come inside if they wear masks and Beth and her friends did some sewing! They made some pillows. When Max comes inside, they play on our new, cheap, retro video game system. Their favorites are Contra and PacMan.

We hope you are all doing well!

 The governor announced an "emergency state" for Utah starting on Monday of this week and to last at least two weeks. In addition to wearing masks in any building besides our own house, all extra-curricular school activities were cancelled and all school sports. We were also asked to not have any social gatherings outside our own household.

So . . . we were all already wearing masks. Chey had just decided not to do basketball this year so the school sports didn't affect us. But we did tell the kids if they wanted to be with friends, they would need to play outside. We didn't do karate or group tennis. Church will go back to half-ward meetings on alternating weeks. We cancelled our YW activity.

Cheyenne was still quarantined through Wednesday. She did get to go back to school on Thursday, but by that time, SHS had hit the number of cases (15) that required them to go to an alternating day schedule. School was cancelled Friday to let teachers get ready for the new way of teaching. Next week, the twins will attend school in person on Monday and Thursday and will do the rest of their work online. Bethany and Benjamin will attend school like normal.

All of these things are totally doable! But, I tell you, change is hard for the human psyche, and things keep changing! I find myself mourning not only the life we had a year ago but also the life we had last week and the ability I used to have to make plans for the next week or month or year. It's a weird time. It's still possible to be happy. I just have to keep finding new ways to do it!

It got super cold this week and since the kids didn't have after-school activities we were all free to go to the store and buy coats. Yay! Good thing since they'll have to talk to their friends outside for the foreseeable future.

Other than that, the twins did go to a private tennis lesson and they met up with two girlfriends to play on Friday.

Beth and Ben invented a new scary game that gets played in the woods and in Max's shed and they've involved Max and Annaliese. You know I love it when they play outdoors AND with the neighbor kids. I love seeing them out my window, especially when they remember to wear their new coats.

Savannah continues to work at Funfinity and she seems to really be loving it. Calianne worked with her twice and Cheyenne put in her application to work during the Christmas season. She has an interview on Monday.

I finished the second, short chapter book in what will be my ten-book series featuring kids learning from New Testament stories in their everyday life.

Kevin had a great week in the stock market and continues to develop new content for Addo's online mental health platforms.

We will see what our next week brings!

 We had a great time with my sister last Sunday. We had dinner with Megan and Ammon, then we had a nice walk, and then Sarah and McKay came over and we played games. It was a fun day! They left Monday morning and we were so glad they came! We had such fun with them.

The rest of our week was pretty routine but I will give you an update on everyone!

Savannah had a rough start to her week, feeling pretty sick and stuffed up so much in her head that she couldn't hear out of one ear. So, she didn't work Monday. She was feeling better Tuesday, but her shift was already covered so she went back to work Wednesday. She has always loved that little toy store and she seems to be happy to be back working there again!

Cheyenne, after much prayer and agonizing, decided not to try out for the school basketball team. Tryouts are actually this coming week, but it already freed her up on Monday and Wednesday when she didn't go to open gym. She and Cali might start a city rec team with their dad as a coach instead! Wednesday night, Chey found out that she had been exposed to someone who had recently been confirmed as having Covid. That means that she has to quarantine by not going to school or anywhere really until next Wednesday. She's been doing her classes online and has practiced tennis in the garage and practiced a lot of piano. She reports, though, that she is SO BORED!

Calianne, meanwhile, had tennis three times this week and worked twice. She also had a Hope Squad activity and felt a bit overscheduled. She has been wishing for quarantine! She did have Saturday off, though, and was able to clean her room and go out with her friends who were having a surprise birthday party for Adam--who I actually don't know--but there were 2 girls there and 11 boys. Whatever works!

Bethany had karate on Tuesday and Thursday. She also had the Mila's over on Friday night and again on Saturday. Saturday night she went to Macy's house for indoor night games with eight other girls from the junior high. She says she didn't like it when they were gossiping but had a good time when they started playing games.

Ben had karate on Tuesday and Thursday. He watched a movie with Chey and I on Friday night and Kevin joined us for a movie Saturday night--The Kid Who Would Be King. Ben and Chey declared it the best movie ever! Wow! Ben organized a game of Settlers of Catan on Saturday afternoon and got Kevin, Chey, Cali, and I all to play. It was fun. He also had a guitar lesson this week and McKay had him come to his studio so he could start recording the Potato song.

My sister and her family came this weekend and we've been having such grand adventures! On Friday, Amy and Paul and Kevin and I went out to eat at Olive Garden. When we got back, Bethany, Benjamin, Emma, and Hannah were having a great time together playing imagination games and the older girls, Cheyenne, Calianne, Mandy, and Kayla had started the epic group date they had planned. The daters first had a contest to see which couple could make the best cupcakes without a recipe--much hilarity could be heard from the kitchen. Then they had some "minute-to-win-it" games including racing Box Elder bugs and blowing plastic spiders with a straw. They finished up the night outside playing Ghost in the Graveyard. Fun times!

Saturday morning, Amy, Paul, Mandy, Savannah, and I drove to BYU to show Mandy the campus. She's considering BYU for school next year.

While we were gone, the other kids colored Halloween pictures and displayed them around the house. They also learned some dances to Halloween songs from YouTube! When we got back, we carved pumpkins!

Sarah and McKay came over and hung out with us for a little bit. They watched us carve pumpkins and later pull some taffy!

Hannah and Amy made dinner for us! We had mummy dogs and green macaroni and cheese. Don't worry, we had some veggies, too. It was yummy!

Afterwards, we did some trick or treating. Ben had already left to go with friends from school, so Amy and I drove Beth, Emma, and Hannah to the flat part of our ward where they knocked on doors that had their porch lights on and decorations up. Even with less people participating this year, they still got quite the haul!

Lemon and Lime

We finished the night with a scary movie for some of us and football for others. Fun times! We're so glad they can be here!

In our week before they arrived, Savannah continued to work at Funfinity and Calianne has joined her! Savannah loves teaching Cali all about her beloved store and Cali is adjusting quickly to working a couple days a week. Good things to be involved with, I say.

Chey and Cali also found time to practice tennis this week and do some service with Hope Squad and YCC. On Thursday, they dressed up with a couple of their friends with wide-brimmed straw hats and sunglasses. They looked pretty adorable, but then they always do!

Bethany spent a lot of time this week cleaning her room in preparation for our family coming to visit. She did a great job. She also had to spend a little more time on schoolwork to complete some missing assignments before the end of term on Thursday. For fun, she was the only YW in our family able to go on the Halloween Cruise Wednesday on the Provo River. She bought herself some press-on nails this week. Ben created his own version. I thought it was pretty funny.

Benjamin dressed up for school on Wednesday. Sunglasses were definitely a thing for our family this year. When he forgot his sunglasses for school, he told his friends that he had dressed as "Ben 2.0 which is Ben, just new and improved." Love the way his mind works!

 Last Sunday we had dinner outside of Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik's house in their pavilion. The weather was lovely and we were glad we could be COVID safe by being outside. Megan came, too, and we all had a great visit.

Savannah has started working at Funfinity as a manager. She is working from 3 to 8 usually except on Tuesdays and Sundays. I think she is starting to get into the flow of working again. The first week she had a terrible headache each day before she got home! Poor girl.

Cali had tennis on Monday and Wednesday. Cheyenne had basketball on Monday and Wednesday. They both had piano lessons and lots of stress from their physics class. On Friday, I took them out of school early and drove them to Price (about an hour and a half away) for a USTA tournament I found. They both played three matches that day! They won their first two singles matches and then when they played together for doubles, they lost! They were exhausted, though since they'd been playing for about five hours straight. Kevin took them to the second day of the tournament on Saturday. They had to play against each other in the Semifinals. Cali won. Though Kevin said they both played great! Cali played in the final match and ended up with second place. Go Cali! She got a $5 gift certificate. I know. Hold the train! Anyway, they both got in a lot of match play so it was all time well spent.

Bethany and Ben had karate on Tuesday and Thursday. They had friends over Friday and Saturday night for night games on the trampoline! Ben got to go kayaking and paddle boarding with his friend, Max on Wednesday. On Saturday, I took them both on a hike with me to the Escalante Cross in Spanish Fork. We got lost and went up a huge mountain and enjoyed the fall colors and had a marvelous time!