We just got back from our weekend in St. George! This is our fourth year going down to St. George to watch the twins play in a beginning of the season tennis tournament. It was such fun! It's also, sadly, our last year! Those adorable twins are seniors and will be leaving high school. It's all so hard to take in! They played first varsity doubles this year and played some tough competition.

Beth, Ben, Kevin, and I drove down Thursday night. (Cali and Chey travelled, slept, and dined with the team.) We stayed at our favorite place, Sports Village. We had a nice condo that was close to the pool but also looked out over the desert valley. The first night Ben and I watched a movie. 

Friday we enjoyed relaxing at the condo until the first match at 10:30. They played at Tonaquint park. It was close and a lovely park! Beth and Ben explored dino land, played on the playground, walked, and rollerbladed. They watched a little tennis, too. Kevin and I watched some great tennis! They played again at 12:30. They lost their first match and won their second. We went back to the condo to swim and came back at 5:30 for their last match which they lost but was fun to watch! We went out to eat at Black Bear Diner afterwards then back to the condo for miniature golf before bed.

Beth tried the Papa Bear hot sauce!

Saturday we were up early for an 8am match. Grandma and Grandpa were up even earlier (4am!) to drive up from Las Vegas. It was so fun to see them! After the match, which the twins won, we took G&G back to our condo for some visiting in the air conditioning. We were back at the park by noon for the twins last match and we were joined by a great group of Gillespies: Maggie, Dylan, Nic, Emily, and Liz! So fun! The twins played crazy good in their last match! It was so fun to watch! It was close and they barely lost 8-6.

Afterwards, we said goodbye to the twins but went out to eat at Chuckarama with all the family that had stopped by! We even saw Becca for a minute. It was really fun.

Then we drove home! It was the twins birthday but we will celebrate for real on Sunday. I can't believe they are 17. I still feel such a rush of gratitude when I think of them. They continue to bring me so much joy.

So! Earlier in the week, Cali and Chey played at Wasatch on Tuesday (lost) and against Provo at home on Wednesday (won). They also went to the senior "throw colored chalk at each other" activity on Wednesday evening and topped it off by jumping into the reservoir!

Chey began her CNA training in earnest and will be wearing scrubs twice a week!

Bethany started cross country and is having much fun with her friends! She reports the team is much smaller this year since it's only 8th and 9th graders, and most of the 9th graders run with the high school team. She also is enjoying karate still and our YW activities where she has a fun group of friends.

Benjamin scared me to pieces Monday after school when he went to a friend's house and I couldn't find him! It's a long story, but let's just say, I'm so glad that when my children have disappear, they always have reappeared. So scary!! Sometimes you don't realize how deep those connections to your children go, until something like that pulls at it and threatens to rip at those roots! Love, love, love my kids!!

School started again this week! Yay! We continue to be grateful to be in an area that lets us have in-person school while still being careful about COVID. Last year all the schools had shortened the school day by about an hour. This year, everyone is back to a full day. No one had to wear masks. (That might change but hasn't yet.)

Cheyenne is a senior this year and is taking a CNA course at the technical college. That takes up two periods. She is really excited about it. She also has an internship at the hospital, financial literacy, CE English, CE math, Chinese, and seminary.

Calianne is a senior this year and is taking Chinese, AP English, CE Math, drawing, seminary, astronomy, financial literacy, and ProStart. ProStart is the upper level foods class. They have to get their food-handlers permit for the class and will do some catering. Fun times!

Bethany started 8th grade. It is her second year at the junior high even though they just changed the load of the junior high to only 8-9th grades, so it is a little different. She is taking Chinese, English, health, band, math, science, and U.S. history. She claimed to not want to go back to school, but I think seeing her friends is making it a bit easier.

Benjamin started 6th grade. All my other kids did 6th grade in elementary school but starting this year, Springville has a middle school that houses the 6th and 7th graders. We are all pretty excited about it. Ben will get a bit more of a challenge in every area and he is ready for it! Plus, he gets to take a bus. He is my first to do that! Ben is taking science, two classes of Chinese, STEM, English, math, and language arts. 

In Ben's STEM class, the teacher taught the engineering process. Ben was super excited because he and I had taken that online class from Mark Rober this summer. But, guess what? This teacher had a different process. Ben was mad! He had all the right answers and his teacher obviously didn't know what he was talking about. Ha ha! I guess he will learn that there is more than one right way to do things.

So, Savannah and I were feeling left out. Or, at least, I was feeling left out and decided to involve Savannah in plans! So, we went to Education Week at BYU--just the morning classes. It was such fun. We are now inspired, energized, and "in a Celestial state!" (This is what one of our teachers encouraged us to say each morning). I'm so glad we did it.

Speaking of BYU, we had more college excitement when Amy and Paul brought Mandy up to move into her dorm for her freshman year! They came Friday night and we had a good dinner and talking. On Saturday they did some shopping for Mandy, and then, since they couldn't check-in until six, we took them to Bridal Veil falls (beautiful!) and then out to eat at Brick Oven (BYU tradition!) before helping her tote in her supplies for making herself a new home. We are excited for her and it was super fun to see Amy and Paul and have a family visit!

You may have noticed that Megan is in these pictures! She survived her two-weeks of outdoor adventuring and came home to us! She had a great time and wants to bring us all next summer! They did get rained on for the last three days and had to combine two days of hiking into one when their sleeping bags were wet and they needed to get off the mountain or risk hypothermia, but otherwise . . . it was fantastic! We are glad to have her safe back home and are so glad she had a good time.

Monday I dropped Megan off at BYU for her expedition. We haven't heard from her since! But, we think she is backpacking and canoeing and having a great adventure up in "God's country" --which is what Kevin calls the Tetons and Yellowstone. It is very beautiful up there and we hope she is safe and happy!

The twins finished ladder play and have their coaches very excited about the skill and prospects of their Varsity first doubles team! Yay! They will play together! We are all very excited. They have worked very hard and we can't wait to see how that translates into their season!

Beth and Ben got invited to lots of things this week! 

On Wednesday, Ben's carpool group (Eden and Max) went to a ninja gym that just opened in SLC. They jumped and climbed and did crazy stuff together and finished by visiting a nearby Asian market. As soon as he got back, he went to Activity Days where they played Frisbee golf.

On Thursday, Beth and Ben both got invited to go with the Francoms to Splash Summit again! They spent the day there and went to karate when they got home. Then Ben had an outdoor movie party at his friend's Kyler's house. Busy, busy! But they weren't done yet . . .

On Friday, Beth and Ben went to a "neighborhood friends" party organized by Max's mom. They went to the Provo rec center for swimming and slides from noon to five. At five, Eden's parents had a party for Eden's friends in the park next to the rec center with food and games until nine. Beth asked if when they were done they could come to our house? So, they laughed at YouTube videos from 9:30 to 10:30. What a full day!!

Saturday, Ben finally had time for a guitar lesson. Otherwise, he asked if he could have more screen time since he hadn't had much all week. I thought that would be alright. Beth invited her friend, Olivia over. Max was over, and they all played Minecraft. Sigh. Is that a relaxing end to a busy week? I guess it is.

Savannah worked most days this week. Chey got to see Jens a couple of times. Cali got to see Richmond a few times. Kevin and I went to a business dinner in Provo canyon and hobnobbed with the super rich.

It was a good week!

Monday was the first day of tennis tryouts! Ladder competitions have continued all week. Cali has finished in the ladder at #2 and Chey at #6. That would put both on Varsity! If Cali plays singles, then just Chey will need to worry about doubles ladder next week. Overall, they did great! It's great to see their hard work pay off.

Tuesday Beth and Ben had karate. Savannah worked every day this week so she was at Funfinity again. Cali and Chey had tennis tryouts. Dad went to the parent meeting. That night I went to Circles.

Wednesday we picked up Megan from the airport! She is here getting ready for her outdoor expedition that marks the end of her summer BYU class. Ben, Beth, Cali, Chey, and I picked Meg up from the airport and then, since we were already in SLC, we went to the Egypt exhibit at UofU's museum. It was great! Chey even got to spend some time with Jens since he met us there. We had a picnic and then learned about Egyptians and then Dinosaurs.

Thursday was a big day because Sarah and McKay found out the gender of their baby coming in January! Unfortunately, we had to wait until that night to find out! Meanwhile, Meg and I took Chey and Beth with us while she shopped for things she knew she'd need while backpacking and canoeing. Then we had dinner and Cali and Chey had tennis tryouts. Beth and Ben had karate. After tryouts, we rushed over for their end-of-summer duet piano recital. I had to pick up B&B from karate and missed it, but everybody (Grandma, Grandpa, McKay, Sarah, Kevin, Megan) all said that they did great!

Afterwards, we went back to our house and as soon as Savannah got home, McKay and Sarah started their gender reveal. They had a game of memory planned! They had matches of girl names and matches of boys names. After we made all the matches we had to count to see if there were more girl names or more boy names. Guess what? It's a girl!!

Friday Cheyenne and Calianne and Bethany went to our ward's youth conference. They had team Olympics and also inspirational speakers and time for personal study. Beth came back that night but the twins stayed until Saturday about 1:00. They all had a great time!

Friday Megan had to meet with her class for more prep for most of the day, so Ben and I hung out. We went to Walmart and got school supplies. Then we went to the middle school and opened his locker five times and walked through his schedule twice. He is ready! He loves to show everyone how his backpack is organized. That night Kevin and I brought him with us when we went out for dinner although he had a hard time coming and not spending that time on his computer! Silly boy!

Saturday afternoon when the twins were back, we all went bowling! Savannah didn't have to work so she came and Sarah and McKay came! I don't think anyone bowled as well as they wanted! This caused crazy antics in some and crying in others. Maybe we need more bowling in this family! Ha ha. How to deal with failure 101? Afterwards, we got some ice cream at the BYU Creamery and then came back to our house for hamburgers. Some of us finished the night with a movie. It was a fun day to finish a fun week!

Cali and Chey played in two USTA tournaments this week! It was a bit crazy and a whole lot of hours of tennis but I think they had fun and I know they became stronger players. They each played one singles match and two doubles matches on Monday. On Tuesday they each played two singles matches and one doubles match. On Wednesday they played one singles match each to finish the first tournament. Whew! They came out with second-place trophies in doubles and Cali got a third place trophy in singles. On Thursday they played one singles match each and then two doubles matches. On Friday they finished the tournament with two more singles matches each. By that time, Kevin and I were on our trip. They said they were at the courts for seven hours that day! It was an exhausting week for them!

Cali did manage to spend some hours at Funfinity and she finished three books--none of which were the book she was supposed to read for English summer reading. Ha ha! She needed down time!

Cheyenne will be taking care of the neighbor's dog for the next couple of weeks. Also, on Saturday she took the train to SLC to see Jens. First solo train ride! Great life skill. She had a good time, too. She is really enjoying this new friend of hers.

Beth and Ben were on their own a lot while I was at the tennis courts with Chey and Cali but they seemed to do well. They have their scheduled goals for the morning and Max was back from vacation so he was over some. I think they enjoyed a lot of computer time, too!

Bethany has been wanting to have a "Friday the 13th party." We're not sure if that date will work for a party so she had it early! And on a Saturday! It was still spooky, though. She planned an entire scavenger hunt hike complete with scary story, burned paper, and tiny bottles holding clues. I was impressed! She is so creative! Her friends are undeserving of her but I think for the most part they all had fun!

Savannah had a very busy week at Funfinity as they are trying to move back to the old store. She even had Beth and Ben come help with stocking shelves one day. It's a lot of work but she seems to really enjoy it! She went on a lunch date with a guy named Kirk this week and they had a good time and had a lot in common so that was fun, too.

Kevin and I celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary this week! I love him and he loves me and its not always easy but in the end, we are so glad that we have each other! We stayed at Zermatt in Midway for two nights. We went out to eat and had delicious food, we watched the Olympics, we learned to play MahJong, we tried to learn to windsurf but were foiled by NO WIND, we went to the Hale theatre and saw Always Patsy Cline, and on our way home we stopped at Bridal Veil Falls. It was a really fun getaway and so good to spend time together!