Cheyenne and Calianne attended a tennis camp this week in Lehi. (That's about a half hour north of us.) The camp was Monday thru Thursday for three hours a day and they focused on doubles play. I rode there and back with them on Monday and then had them drive themselves the rest of the week. They did fabulous! Although they hated the idea (driving is scary!), by the end of the week they felt their tennis skills AND their driving skills improved this week. Cool! Way to go girls! 

Bethany and Benjamin were both invited to go to Splash Summit (the waterpark) this week with the Francom's! This was Beth's third time this summer, but Ben's first. He thought it was absolutely awesome! Beth is still a huge fan, as well. So, that was really fun for them. On Wednesday, we were feeling bored while the twins were at tennis camp. so we went down to Main Street to have ice cream at SOS Drug. (They have a soda counter! Very atmospheric!) Then we walked over to the splash pad. We walked through it, but I think their splash pad days have passed.

On Thursday, I was determined to not feel bored again, so after the twins left for camp, Beth, Ben, and I put the bikes in the back of the van. We drove to Spanish Fork's paved trail system and took a short bike ride to weeping rock in the creek next to the trail. Beautiful spot! Then we went to Wendy's for lunch and to Ross for new shoes for the school year.

That evening, McKay provided live music for our library who was hosting an evening picnic. We were enjoying our food and the GREAT music, when it started to rain! So, the library moved us inside and McKay kept up the great music. It was a ton of fun!

 

Saturday was Pioneer Day!! Kevin played tennis with the twins in the morning, but in the afternoon we visited the Pioneer Park in Provo and the museum next door. Afterwards, we went to Leatherby's for sit-down, menued ice cream. Then, as an extra treat, Kevin bought each of the kids a book at Barnes and Noble. Lucky kids! Sarah joined us for hamburgers for dinner. It was a fun day!

Ben and I went to tour the new middle school this week! This is new for Springville. Now all the 6th and 7th graders in Springville will be together in a great, big, new school. The junior high will only have 8th and 9th. It is a NICE school! Ben is excited and I'm excited for him! I think he will love it there. He was pumped to get ready for school so we got him some workbooks to practice his handwriting (something he was worried about) and also got him a book on CD to listen to while he practiced (since books are good for your brain, too, of course). Unfortunately, the book on CD was too good and he mostly sat entranced, staring at the wall all week! That Brandon Sanderson (Skyward). What are you going to do?

At the library picking up the book.

Back at the library to get the next book!

This week Bethany was invited to go with Olivia to Splash Summit again! Lucky girl! She loves that place and made it on every single one of the slides this time. Later in the week I took her to the doctor for her sports physical and also got her second HPV and her first COVID shot. She's been taking it easy since then but we are both glad to be getting those things done! We had our first ward party since COVID on Wednesday. It was so fun to visit with people but especially to see our kids all hanging out with other kids in the ward and see all the friends they've made!

Water was low in the creek because of the drought, but still there!

Cheyenne worked a night umping for baseball and Cali worked a bit at Funfinity. They played tennis EVERYDAY for 3 hours a day. On Friday night they planned a group date with a lot of their friends. They did swing dancing at a church and then came to our house to make homemade pizza and play games. Chey's new friend from HEFY, Jens, drove all the way from SLC to be her date and he got along with everyone and they all had a great time! On Saturday afternoon, I drove them to SLC to compete in a couple of UTR matches. Calianne won both matches and Cheyenne almost won both matches. It was good practice and they are playing great! They are most definitely working hard!

Savannah had a hard day of work on Monday with her bees. They have filled three boxes and so, she and Brother Berger had to add a fourth box. Bro. B says that if they continue at this rate, she might need to add a fifth! It was hot work in their bee costumes and Savannah got her first sting. Still, she came in very excited about all her honey! She has been rereading the Stormlight Archive, so she spent a good part of her week in Brandon Sanderson's worlds kind of like Ben! She is doing well, though, and even started up some conversations with a few boys on Mutual this week.

Kevin taught for IITAP this weekend so we saw him just in the evenings. These are still remote and I love that he doesn't have to leave town. Still, he sure misses his weekends. He played some tennis this week, too, and also has been working on clearing out the dead underbrush from our back wilderness. Hopefully that will help in case a fire comes our way.

It's been two weeks since I last wrote, so I will cover both in today's blog! Two weeks ago was Bethany's birthday! She turned thirteen and is officially a teenager. How can that be??? She is also zooming up in height and is almost as tall as me! In true teenager fashion, she spent the day of her birthday with friends. For her present, she wanted to be able to take them with her to the water slide park, Splash Summit. They spent all day going down the slides and enjoying the wave pool. When it closed, I drove them back to our house and they had pizza and watched a movie. Fun times!

It's a good thing that we celebrated as a family on Sunday night! Grandma Gazdik invited us over to her house for dinner. Then we opened presents and ate strawberry shortcake. We love that sweet girl!

The other big happening of that week is that Calianne and Cheyenne got home!! We picked up Cali from the airport at 5:00. We hugged and cried happy tears! Then we went out to eat and walked around a nearby mall while listening to stories of her trip. At 9:00, we went back to the airport and picked up Cheyenne. We hugged and cried happy tears! Again! I helped Chey get out to the car and that's when Cali and Chey ran to each other and hugged and cried even more happy tears! Twin reunions are very intense!

I am hoping that they will each make a blog post of their trip complete with pictures and memories! In the meantime, just know that they had incredible experiences and learned a lot about the world and about themselves and they are both so, so glad that they went!

I am, too. But I am also so, so glad that they are home! :)

So then, Saturday around dinnertime, my mom, Amy, and her daughters Kayla, Emma, and Hannah arrived for a quick visit on their way to Montana! Yay! They stayed all Sunday and left early Monday morning. It was so fun to see them and to visit! 

Sunday night, while everyone was still here, (Sarah and McKay came for dinner as well as Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik), Megan and Ammon arrived from Colorado!! It was a full house and I had a full, full heart! That was when Sarah made her big announcement!

The big news is that Sarah is pregnant!! We are so excited for her (and for ourselves)!! She is due on January 7th and we cannot WAIT to have a little baby in our lives again! It was so fun to have my mom and sister and some of Sarah's cousins here for the announcement as well as all her own family. I am sad to have to tell you that Mariah could not come home to be there for the announcement, but Sarah told her a whole week early to make up for it!

On Monday, after my mom and Amy's family left, we packed up our own car and headed for our yearly trip to Palisades!! (That was the real reason that Megan and Ammon flew into town!)

It was super fun! The Francom's couldn't come this year, but the Griggs stayed all three days! They even provided dinner twice! Such fun times! Hannah, Dakota, and Alysa all came, too! The water was pretty low this year but it was cool and clear and that was a good thing because the air was HOT. So, no rock jumping, but lots of paddle boarding and swimming and dock jumping and laying in rafts playing games while they got burnt, burnt, burnt! We love our days at Palisades!

Our group on the last day.

Ben helping out.

Roasting marshmellows over the camp stove.
No fires allowed this year!

Ain't he cute?

Face masks help cool you off!

Sleepy McKay and Sarah!

Miranda came the first day and Savannah
got to hold her baby!

They tried to launch Ben into the water!

Swim dock parties!

Raft train!

Games and talking back at the tent.

Bocce ball!

Our happy place. <3