Kevin and I worked on our new plank floor many evenings this week and for hours and hours on Saturday! We are still not done but only because we ran out of planks. I was thinking we were almost done but now Kevin tells me he thinks we should take the planks out and even out the floor. (!!!) I do not like that idea. We will see what happens. By Saturday evening, my knees hurt so badly that I literally could not kneel on them anymore. I was even using knee pads, but their efficacy clearly had run out. Here's some pictures of our progress:

Also on Saturday, we got to see Mariah race at BYU! She ran the mile and the 800. She did great! We cheered loudly for her and hugged her at the ends. I only wish it were warmer. Brrr! Kevin and I (and Chey for a minute) visited her at her hotel on Friday night, too. We love that girl! Can't wait until she comes home for the summer!

Mission companions!

Old high school teammates running for a different school!

Also this week, Bethany had a track meet! She ran the 100m hurdles and the 800. I also made her jump the long jump because I was the volunteer at the long jump pit. Ha ha! She placed third! She also placed third in hurdles where she had a bunch of competition and really wants to do well! As mentioned, I got to be a volunteer and bonus! I got a free t-shirt and hat. It was pretty great.

Also, this week with Beth, for YW, they learned to make stained glass decorations. After Beth got over her fear of the soldering iron, she said it was actually very satisfying. Nice!

ALSO on Saturday, Benjamin had a belt test! I don't have a picture because I wasn't home but he is now a brown/red belt! He ran 3 miles, did 80 push-ups and sit-ups, and actively moving punching and kicking for an hour. Plus whatever else! Whew! Way to go Ben!

Sarah and McKay had a gender reveal party this week! So fun! They had an ultrasound on Friday and had the technician write the gender on a folded piece of paper. Then they took the paper to Funfinity and gave it to the clerk who picked the appropriate, unmarked popper for them to use at the party. So, not even Sarah or McKay knew the gender beforehand! For the party, Sarah decorated with blue and pink balloons, refreshments, and streamers. They even had pink and blue envelopes so we could "bet" which gender we each thought the baby would be. Then they counted down from ten and pulled the string on the popper!

It's a girl!!

We are all very excited but Grandpa Gazdik might be the most excited. He really wanted a girl. He wrote a poem for the new baby girl and even already has a name picked out: Amberlee. We will see what the parents decide!

We had a lot of nice days this week that were warm and green and blue like spring! I watched Avery a couple of days, so we went outside and it was wonderful! Avery folded her arms at the table and got very good at the slide!

On Wednesday evening this week, we got to go to a reception for an old friend from our Brookside ward. We ended up seeing lots of old friends! It was good for our souls.

On Friday, Kevin was able to pick up the new boards for our downstairs flooring. So we worked on it a little on Friday and a lot on Saturday. We didn't get super far but we are hoping that things will start speeding up. We like the look of it so that is good! Here are some in-progress pictures!

It was Spring Break this week and also Holy Week! We had lots of religious opportunities this week to feel the beauty of the doctrine. It was pretty great! General Conference was on Saturday and Sunday last week so we started with a spritual feast and lots of reminders of Palm Sunday. For the rest of the week, we decided to try to have a devotional every night at 9:30 and everyone who could join us by Zoom. It was so fun to see so many of our kids throughout the week and to hear their insights and testimonies! 

We also had traditional egg-coloring before our devotional on Saturday. We had it at Sarah's this year so she could put Avery down for the night. They are really loving having their own place!

What made Easter even more special was that Mariah was able to come up and spend time with us! She had a meet in Salt Lake City this weekend and she got permission to drive up in her car so she could stay with us. Yay! We watched her run Friday evening and Saturday morning and she did great both times. They had to shovel a foot and a half of snow off the track in order to run but fortunately, the air temperature was above freezing and even a little warmish.

We didn't plan any trips this spring break. We thought we'd keep Beth and Ben busy with a home project. We wanted to install Luxury Vinyl Planking and replace our carpet downstairs. We got carpet taken out of part of the room and the floor scraped but the planking didn't arrive in time for us to do any installation. Good thing then that McKay needed to install insulation in the shed he's building for music lessons. He had Beth and Ben come over 3 or 4 days and help! He also had them spend the night and play games one night for fun. He said they were a great help!

We did a couple of fun things, too! On Thursday night we got to be the tour guides for the Tabernacle Experience. This is a reconstructed life-size replica of the Old Testament tabernacle of the people of Israel. It was two hours out in the snow for Beth and Ben but they had a great time and did a super job! Kevin and I got to be inside and had a great time, too.

On Friday, we saw an early showing of Dungeons and Dragons in the movie theatre! It was a good movie and we had a lot of fun. Beforehand, we went to the sports store and Kevin bought running shoes for both Beth and Ben and we went out for lunch at Chick-fil-A.

Our Easter Sunday was super special and nice, too! Bethany spoke in church and she did fabulous. The music was incredible, too, and we all really loved the meeting. For Easter dinner, Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik came and every member of our family, spouses, and child! My heart was full! We had another devotional after that. It was so great to be together.

Afterwards, we switched gears and celebrated birthdays! Benjamin turned 13! He's been asking us for months (since before Christmas) for a virtual reality headset. A few weeks ago he made a powerpoint presentation for why we should buy him an Occulus and would even contribute his own money for a majority of it. So . . . we thought about it and decided to get him one since he now qualified for the minimum age and it wouldn't increase his screen time--it would just be part of it. He was super excited! Hopefully it will be a fun thing.

Mariah had to leave not long after that. We miss her already! But we are entering the final stretch for all our kids in school. In spite of the snow, summer is speeding our way! Afterall, isn't that the promise of Easter and also of our Savior, Jesus Christ? Absolutely!

I love these kids!!!!

My first week of not working was super nice! I feel more awake and excited about things again. I watched Avery twice this week, cleaned and reorganized the downstairs common room as well as the under-the-stairs toy closet! Kevin and I ordered wood laminate to install ourselves in the common room and hallways. We'll have Beth and Ben help tear out carpet during spring break next week. What fun! Ha ha! I also helped Sarah and Megan install some wallpaper at Sarah's new house. I went to Circles. We had young women at our house on Wednesday. Beth taught the girls to play Ultimate Werewolf. Pretty fun!

Conference is this weekend and my kids love conference which is pretty awesome really. Bethany told us about a month ago that she would love to attend conference in person and that she thought it would be so amazing! So, miracles of miracles, just a couple weeks later, Kevin was given tickets to the Saturday evening session. Not only have they limited the number of tickets they give out now (because of the construction that has closed all of temple square and they need to limit the impact of conference on the city) but they have no stand-by. You can not get in without a ticket. Bethany was over the moon! We had four tickets so Kevin, Bethany, Ben, and I went. It was so fun. There's nothing like seeing a place and people on TV over and over and then to suddenly be actually there and in it. Plus, the spirit. And the choir! Wow! We feel so surprised and blessed that we got to go.