Mariah is still home!! It's been so fun to have her around again. Imagine this--we get to see her everyday!! She told me, "Mom, you look so good in that sweater!" and I said, "Mariah, you look so good in my kitchen!" She has kept busy visiting friends this week. She has a goal to get her mileage back up in running but with all the friends she visited this week, she had a hard time finding time even for that! She did, though. It is a tough transition, but she is doing well!

Savannah is helping Mariah get the room organized. She also worked at Funfinity this week and continued to work on her substitute training. She's watching a high school chemistry class on DVD for fun! She's actually really enjoying it!

Sarah brought Avery over on Thursday night and I got to hold her. I love holding that tiny baby.

Megan had Mariah over to make Rolo cookies this week. They were yummy!

Cheyenne, Calianne, and Mariah worked city rec games every night of the week! Well, just Monday through Thursday but that's close enough.

One of those days Cheyenne was working at the care center instead. She also is still practicing with the indoor track team. This week they had a workout where they did lunges around the entire 400 of the track! She was pretty sore. She and Mariah and a friend went to the school play Friday night and had a fun time!

Calianne worked at Funfinity twice this week in addition to city rec. She went to the school play Thursday night with Richmond and had a gazillion people over on Saturday night for games and a movie.

Bethany is still enjoying rehearsing for her upcoming school play. She also had karate this week and on Friday rode electric scooters with friends again!

Benjamin had karate this week. He's also been trying to run everyday and read everyday. His friend, Kyler, came over on Saturday and brought his Occulus VR. Guess what Ben now wants for his birthday??

On Saturday, Mariah, Cheyenne, Calianne, Beth, Ben, Kevin, and I went to a BYU women's basketball game! They scored almost 100 points in the game! The game was super, but the band? TOP NOTCH!!!  Mandy plays trombone in the band and it was super fun to see her doing her thing! We really had a fun time!

Look! It's us with Cosmo's back!

Go Mandy and the ROC band!!

 MARIAH IS HOME!!!!

Grandma and Grandpa Elton came on Tuesday. They got settled and met Avery.

Four generations!

First thing Wednesday morning, none of the kids went to school, we got in the van instead, and drove with much excitement to the airport! Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik met us there and Megan and Ammon, too! When we saw her, we screamed and ran and hugged her in a big mass hug!! And then we screamed and hugged her some more!! We are so glad she is home!

We came to our house for lunch. Sarah and McKay and Avery met us here and Sarah got her Mariah hug! After Mariah was released, she got a chance to hold little Avery. Megan made a Kahoot game that had questions about Mariah's mission and Mariah told us a story with each question. It was super fun!

That evening we had a turkey dinner. Mandy came, too! There were seventeen of us! Mariah had been up since 2:30am our time, but she was willing to party with us all day long! She was tired, but happy. And we are all so happy, too!!!

On Thursday, Mariah started working for Springville rec again! Her boss was so excited to see her! She is the "commissioner" for the women's volleyball games on Thursday nights. She has also finished off her week by reuniting with friends and going on some runs with her sisters or dad. She's had great conversations with her mom, too! :)

On Saturday, we got to go to the temple! Mariah, Savannah, Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik, Grandma and Grandpa Elton, and Kevin and I went to an afternoon session. It was super special!

When we got home, we had more family waiting for us! Grandma and Grandpa Skinner were here from Idaho! And my sister, Maggie, had arrived with Emily and Liz. We made lots and lots of hamburgers and had almost twenty for dinner, again!

All the grandparents in a row!

The next morning was Sunday and Mariah gave her homecoming talk in our 9am sacrament meeting! Boy was it wonderful! She took the whole meeting except for the youth speaker which was . . . Ben's first talk! (He did great and insisted on writing it all himself! Mariah loved having him speak with her!) Mariah had us all say, "Amen!" to all her important points and told us stories of miracles on her mission. It was fabulous. Afterward, we had everyone who wanted to talk to Mariah come to our house for some food and visiting! We had a lot of people in our house and it was wonderful!

After all the friends left, Sarah and McKay came over with Avery and we visited with my family a little longer. After a couple hours, they needed to head back to Cedar City and Grandma and Grandpa headed down with them. It was so great to have them!

During the open house, when everything was crazy at our house, Grandma and Grandpa Skinner slipped away to visit with Avery before they drove home.

Also, on Saturday night, Cali and Chey went to MORP (which is prom backward). So, the girls ask the boys and they don't dress fancy. This year the theme was "dynamic duos." Chey and her date, Ryan, dressed as salt and pepper. Cali and her date, Richmond, dressed as Lucy and Charlie Brown.

Sarah's baby was born this week!! Avery Kim Hatch was born at 4:30am on Friday, January 14. 7lbs 11oz and 20 inches long. I am a grandma. I am overpowered with feelings of love and gratitude and joy at the goodness of life! Just look at this miracle:

AND my daughter, Sarah, is a mom! She already looks so natural. She is going to rock this "mama thing." I'm so proud of her for wanting to take this all on!

Sarah's water broke on Thursday around 1:30pm. She and McKay went into the hospital around 7pm. They worked hard and got Avery out into the world at 4:30am! They called us around noon on Friday. The kids didn't have school on Friday because it was the end of the term so we were all at home and ready for the announcement! No visitors were allowed in the hospital (due to COVID) and they stayed another night. But on Saturday, we all went to their house and held that sweet baby!

So, let's see...what else did we do this week?

On Friday night, Kevin and I went to the Hale Theatre and saw One for the Pot which was really funny! We had some good laughs! I'm glad we're scheduled to go see all their plays again this year.

Ben was sick at the beginning of the week but was back to school after only missing a day. He doesn't like missing school. He's got responsibilities, you know. He made it back to karate on Thursday and had a great time playing WII sports with his friend, Ryen, on Friday. On Saturday, he and Kevin took the drone flying for a bit.

Bethany continued rehearsals for the play, learning more songs and dances everyday after school! She also made it to karate on Thursday. On Friday, she took her scooter down to her friend's house and rode it home again, too!

Calianne worked at Funfinity and clocking basketball games, sometimes both in the same day. She found time to be with her friends too, though, and they have MORP all planned for next week!

Cheyenne worked refereeing basketball games and one day at the care center. The end of the term marks the end of her "internship" at the Payson hospital. She learned about all the different kinds of jobs that are found in the hospital and really enjoyed it. I don't know if she and her friend, Logan, will miss driving to Payson in the early mornings though!

Savannah worked at Funfinity this week. She made us fish balls and sweet rice for dinner Monday. That was yummy! She is working on becoming a substitute in the school district so she can work on her days off from Funfinity.

We're all just really counting the minutes until we can hold baby Avery again...

 Back to school! It's crazy how quickly we get used to having no responsibility. Ha ha! 

Ben didn't have guitar on Monday because Sarah and McKay were getting over Covid, but he did have karate on Tuesday and Thursday. He set a goal to read at least 50 pages a day and was reading a lot at the beginning of the week. The last few days of the week he told me he got his reading done at school! But, he's been playing with Max, and on Friday night he and Max invited the two other boys from their church class over to Max's house for tag and laser tag. Fun times!

Ben also passed the sacrament for the first time this week. He did great!

Beth also went to karate this week, but she also started rehearsals for the school play! The play is Matilda Jr. and she has been paired with a very tall boy to be the parents of one of her friends. She's been learning songs and choreography and having a great time. She and Ben and their neighborhood gang took their electric scooters the mile and a half to downtown Springville on Saturday. They had ice cream and went to the park and had a grand time.

Calianne worked this week at Funfinity and at city rec basketball games. She and Cheyenne orchestrated our class activity for YW this week--making sunshine boxes (care packages) for missionaries. They really had to work hard to squeeze that into their schedule, too! Cali did get to do something with Richmond Friday night and with her friends Saturday night. Her legs are feeling much better!

Cheyenne passed her exam this week and is officially a CNA!! Great job, Chey! She had track practices this week and managed to go to three of them, which is pretty good! She worked basketball games four days this week. She would have worked at the care center as well, but they changed the day she worked and she inadvertently got the week off! She went on a date with Parker on Friday night and Jens came to hang out on Saturday night. She has a busy social calendar as well as professional life!

Savannah worked at Funfinity this week and played Dungeons and Dragons on Friday night. She also cleaned the garage for us! She made us eggrolls on Tuesday night. She's gotten really pro at those!

Kevin and I went to the temple on Saturday afternoon in the Payson temple. We had forgotten how beautiful it is! We were glad we got to go.

This week we welcomed in the new year! On Friday, the Groslands and the Griggs came for our traditional game night to celebrate New Year's Eve! We had Robin, Jess, Sam, and Hannah Grosland. We also had Jen, Stuart, Bekah, and her roommate Grigg. Cali and Chey had their own party at their friend's house, but Megan and Ammon came! That left Kevin, Savannah, Beth, Ben, and I participating, too. Fun times! We split into a couple of different games but came together to count down the new year and toast each other with sparkling apple cider. Yay for good friends and traditions! Yay for a new year and 2022!

Saturday was my birthday! I slept in and then went on a hike through the winter wonderland of new fallen snow. Then Kevin made me an omelet and we went to the movie theatre to see Spiderman. Afterwards we went to our favorite Indian restaurant for dinner. Yum! When we got home, the kids had cleaned the house and wished me a happy birthday. That evening Grandma and Grandpa came over so we could have smoothies and sing Happy Birthday to Me. It was a fun day!

On Wednesday, Sarah had us all come to her place and we helped get her dresser/changing table moved in and put together her bookcase. McKay got the carseat in the car and we got the clothes in the dresser. We even packed her diaper bag (which is super cute and she got from my sister, Maggie)! The room is ready for little miss Avery Kim whenever she decides to make her appearance.

It's a good thing it's not yet, though, because the very next day Sarah and McKay felt very sick. They got tested on Friday and they have COVID! They are starting to feel better today, though, and they don't have fevers anymore so Sarah is hopeful she can see the doctor this coming week and get out of her house again!

Another fun thing we did this week is we took the kids to Barnes and Noble to pick out books with gift money from Christmas! It's harder to find time when we have so many different work schedules, but Kevin and I, Savannah, Chey, Cali, Beth, and Ben went Thursday morning. We had great fun browsing books and afterwards went to In and Out Burger. Fun times!

Cheyenne has started as a CNA working at an assisted living center here in Springville. She is only working a couple of days a week and it is HARD work! She comes home exhausted and "questioning her life choices." That's a quote! But, she thinks it will get easier as she gets more used to it. She did manage to see Jens once this week and also spend more time with her high school friends. She even hiked the Y on Saturday in the snow.

Calianne worked at Funfinity just a bit this week. Chey convinced Cali (and Beth) to do her hurdler's workout on Tuesday. Chey and Cali did 200 squats (Beth "only" did 80), all of them were sore the next day but Calianne followed up with three hours of basketball with her friends (Chey was at work). Thursday she could hardly walk but still went to Barnes and Noble and then to work. She was in so much pain by that night we were afraid she had injured herself. So, she didn't go ice skating with her friends that night (thank goodness!) and sat out on some of their more rambunctious games New Year's Eve. She is feeling better now, though, and can walk without limping. We are so glad!

The twins' New Year's Eve party they helped plan with their friend Larissa. They held part at the church and played basketball and set up our gaga ball pit. They played Dare and Socks and mostly had a great time! I'm so glad they make things happen with their friends and do such fun things.

Beth and Ben had friends over this week and went sledding with some friends one of the days, too. Ben ran into a rock, though, and I'm not sure he thinks sledding is very fun anymore. It can be kind of painful!

Today, Sunday, Ben was ordained to the office of a deacon in the Aaronic priesthood! Wow! Such an honor and he will do well with it, I do believe. Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik came and Megan and Ammon and Savannah and all the rest of us who were already there for church. Kevin did the blessing and did a grand job.