Savannah's bird is finally old enough to pick up! She and Kevin left Friday night to drive to Montana. They stopped the night at Grandpa Skinner's house. The next morning they drove to Missoula, spent a couple hours with "the bird lady," then drove back to Rexburg. They had a great visit with Grandpa, Maria, Matt, and his family. We will see them again later today. What an adventure!

Cheyenne's adventure for the weekend was to get her wisdom teeth removed. Ouch! Earlier in the week, she was able to play in her first match for spring league. Each player plays a singles match and a doubles match. She won both! She also had her first track meet on Tuesday. She's struggling with pain in her quadricep so she only ran one event, the 400, but she did great! Thursday afternoon she got her wisdom teeth out. Savannah took her for good lunch food before the event, Megan watched a movie with her that night and on Friday, Sarah came and played Tetris with her.  What sweet sisters! Cheyenne is still swollen but getting better and dealing with less pain.

Kimball brought her these flowers Saturday night.

Calianne's adventure this weekend was going to Preference, the girl's choice formal school dance. Earlier in the week, she also played in the tennis match on Tuesday and won both matches. She also had an interview for Student Council. She worked on Thursday and Friday at Funfinity. Saturday morning she played in another tennis match and won those, too.  Saturday afternoon, her Preference group had a day date with a cooking competition. Then they went home, got fancied up, and joined together again for pictures, dinner, the dance, and a campfire with games. She looked lovely and they had a great time!

Bethany's adventure this weekend was the performing of her play. Seussical opened on Thursday and Kevin, Savannah, and Cali attended. She has performed since on Friday and twice on Saturday. She will perform once more on Monday and will be so sad for it to be over. She's been having so much fun! The rest of us went to her performance Saturday night and she did great! She is a great dancer and smiler and her onstage presence was fabulous.

After Bethany's performance Saturday night, Beth asked her married siblings to come to her house for a party. So they did! They came and played two of her favorite games: One Night Ulimate Werewolf and Betrayal in House on the Hill. Yay (again!) for those good sisters (and their spouses).

Benjamin's adventure this weekend was to have a parent-teacher conference on Thursday where we learned that he is working hard and is a good student. Then he had no school on Friday! Yay! He continues to excel at Minecraft and organizing whatever room he has claimed as his own for the moment.

I am seven chapters into my ninth book. This one focuses on Christ's resurrection and I am finding it just thrilling to be writing it especially as Easter approaches! How beautiful is the depth and the application of the truths spotlighted by religion. I'm so grateful for my knowledge of it and the opportunities to rejoice in it! Here's hoping your Easter week is full of love and full of adventures!

Savannah made soup and grilled tuna sandwiches this week for dinner. Yum! She worked at Funfinity for a few days this week, but yesterday, she got sick with the stomach flu and had to stay home. She was pretty miserable. By night time, Ben was throwing up, too! I hope it doesn't go through the rest of us. Blah!

Cheyenne and Calianne took the ACT on Tuesday!! Yay!! They are done! They both were able to finish every section. Calianne felt groggy through the last two sections, though, and is already talking about taking it again. We will see!

They were done with the ACT at noon and the rest of their friends had a party day, but not the twins! They had a tennis lesson at 12:30 and a piano lesson at 2:00. After that, Cheyenne had track and Calianne met wtih McKay to make her student council video. Those two schedule their lives so hard core! There's just not anything they're willing to give up! Calianne's video is pretty awesome, though! Here it is:

Bethany had play practice all week and has been having great fun with that. Next week is performance week!! She and I watched the church's Youth Music Festival together with some of the other young women in our ward on Wednesday. It was fabulous! Here's the link:  youtube.com/strivetobe  Also, in Bethany's news, she had a belt test for karate on Saturday and she retired her blue belt and became a purple belt! She is pretty excited and she worked hard for it. Here are some videos:

Benjamin didn't belt test Saturday, but he did pretest and he passed! So, he might become a purple belt as early as next month. Ben, Beth, Kevin, and I played a game of Harry Potter Clue on Friday night and Ben beat us all! On Tuesday, when he had a half day (because of the ACT!), Max's mom took Ben and Max to all five BYU museums. They got a sticker from each museum and earned a BYU waterbottle. They had a great time!

Savannah made burritos for us on Monday night. They were yummy! She also went to UVU yesterday and attended a day-long class on beekeeping! She learned a lot about skunks and mites and government regulations. We have our boxes ordered and a package of bees, as well! If things go well, we should have fresh honey in the fall. Savannah is really doing it!

Cheyenne had track practice all week. She got to practice with the team since she attended the COVID testing on Monday. She's been working hard, but may have pulled her quadricep. Ow! She has a new calling with the young women in our ward as the missionary specialist. On Saturday she went with the sister missionaries to visit three of the young women in our ward and their families. She was "terrified" to go, but ended up having a good time, saying that the sister missionaries reminded her of Mariah.

Chey and Cali both started spring league tennis this week. They said there are some pretty great players on their team so playing with them will be good for them. They have two practices a week and games on Saturdays. No games this Saturday because the twins had one more class of ACT prep. They are studying really hard for that test and are pretty stressed out! Test day is Tuesday next week. We will pray that they can be calm and remember all the things they've studied! Otherwise, we will just be happy it is over for them!

Calianne worked at Funfinity a couple of days this week. One of those days, she had to work alone. She did not like that! She also made a resume and wrote an essay to apply for Student Council. She still needs to get through elections and we will know next month, but I think it's super fun that she is trying!

Bethany has had play practices all week. She says they don't sit around as much anymore and they're getting faster getting through the whole play. She sings the songs around the house now and then, too. It's fun. She also had karate this week and went to the art museum with the young women and went to friend's houses Friday and Saturday night!

Benjamin had his friend, Mia, over Friday night and played with Max Saturday night. Sarah came over on Saturday and Ben, Chey, Sarah, and Kevin played a game of Ticket to Ride! He's still playing with Max a lot and also playing on the computer and also listening to Harry Potter. He is a great kid and we love him!

Kevin came home early on Wednesday to do stuff with Ben. The weather wasn't great, but they went to a park and walked around. On Saturday, Kevin played tennis with some men in the morning, and after his game of Ticket to Ride, used the help of his sons-in-law to move his mom's wood-burning-oven from her house to a new home in our house! It's nice to have it there if we ever need it!

I finished Book 8! It's got a scary scene with snakes in it! I know you all can't wait to read it. I also ran three times this week and went walking with my neighbors on Tuesday. I went to the young womens activity on Wednesday and a Circles meeting on Tuesday. I made dinners and did dishes and did other odds and ends around here.

Love you all!

Ben has discovered Kevin's desktop computer set up in his office. This is a much fancier way to play Minecraft and Roblox! He spends time in Kevin's office everyday now. Max uses Ben's laptop and Ben often connects with three other boys from school, too on Google meets. This counts as social time, right? The days have been warmer this week and I also fixed his bike so I've been able to get him outside some, too. He also had karate and guitar. He is a good kid and we love him.

Bethany had play practice 4 out of 5 days this week. She is having fun singing and being with friends. When she's home, she leads "imagination games" for Ben and Max and the Milas (when they're free). She remembered a play-place in Provo that she wanted me to drive her and Ben and Max to on Saturday. I did and they had a great time!

Cheyenne had a break from tennis this week and from work. She has decided to do track this season but couldn't practice with the team this week because she missed the COVID testing last week. Still, she tried to run on her own. She also did some tennis with friends and also with her dad. She can still be found practicing piano and getting frustrated with math and physics homework.

Calianne had a break from tennis but still worked two days this week for Funfinity. She's been craving some time to "just read a book," and finally eked out some time to do it this week. Yay! She also found some time to play tennis with her dad and is practicing piano and doing plenty of homework. Cali and Chey both went to part one of a two-part ACT prep class this Saturday offered by the high school. Fun times!

Springville high school's girls basketball team went to State again this year. Their final games were in Salt Lake City on Friday and Saturday. The school provided a bus. Cheyenne went up with a friend on Friday and Cali and Cheyenne and more friends also went on Saturday. Springville won! The twins had a great time watching and celebrating and being part of the hysteria!

Savannah has continued to make plans to get her new bird. She's also been talking to a man in our ward who keeps bees. There's a lot to do, especially at first! She started to feel a little anxious about it, so we will see how it goes. She also worked at Funfinity all week.

Kevin watched the games from home. He is still a big SHS girl's basketball fan. He also played tennis a few times this week and not just with his daughters. He's also found some men that he has been playing with regularly. He taught in an online conference again this weekend but only for a couple of hours, so he did have some free time. Nice! Unfortunately he's been suffering from massive head congestion. He thinks it is allergies.

I started book 8 of my 10 book series. It's going well! I also went to the dentist twice. I ran three times. I went to Deseret Book looking for inspiration on how to bring the spirit more into my home. It's Sunday morning now and Ben remembers! He turned primary songs on Spotify instead of his usual YouTube as soon as he got up. He is filling our home with the spirit. Bravo. Good job, son.