It was the last week of school for Beth and Ben! 

Bethany went to Lagoon with all the other junior high schoolers on Wednesday and had a great time! She loves the roller coasters. The junior high goes the last week of school every year but Beth's first year of junior high, COVID shut everything down, and the second year we took the kids out of school early to go to New York. So we are really glad she got to go this year! She was really glad, too!

Ben's middle school had a field day, but Ben had a bad cold all week, so I don't think he enjoyed it too much! They both got year books, though, and are both thrilled to be done with school for the next few months. These pictures are from today so they are in their Sunday clothes, but for posterity, this is how they looked at the end of 9th grade for Beth and the end of 7th grade for Benjamin.

To celebrate the end of the school year and the beginning of summer, Ben read two books to earn a campout on the trampoline for him and his friends. This included Beth, Claire, Annaliese, Max, and Kyler. They had all been planning it for awhile and they had a great time. The boys slept on the tramp and the girls on the balcony. They played games, watched a movie, and did a lot of talking. Since almost all of that group live practically next door, some didn't go home until the next night when it was time for bed. Crazy kids! Fun times!

Ben, Max, Kyler enjoying some pizza.

My older kids are pretty cute, too, and one of the super cute things they did this week was go out for ice cream together! Avery went, too, and reportedly walked along the table stooping down at each sister for bites of ice cream. She is a queen in her own kingdom that one is! But I love that my daughters love to be together and do stuff together!

Mariah started working at Earth Harbor this week and likes being with her sisters. She also has been working on her online classes. That she doesn't like quite so much! Ha ha! She went to the South Jordan temple last night to be there when one of her friends took out her endowment and she was in awe about how big and beautiful it is!

Cali is busy with her classes. She also got together with her FHE sisters from her freshman year early in the week, and later in the week she hiked Khev Peak (previously Squaw Peak) with Jordan, Matthew, and Abby.

Cheye is still working at Heritage and bouncing back between Orem and Springville. She went on a couple of fun dates this week and is still enjoying the social life at Wolverine Crossing while still doing fun things with her sisters!

Savannah is working and trying to keep her energy up enough to be able to help in both places. She's had some low energy days this week. We will hope for more energy this coming week!

I went to the LDS Home Educators conference this week as a vendor selling my books. I was just there on Wednesday, but I had a lot of positive response and it was a fun place to be. I sold five full sets of children books and four copies of my YA, Make the Journey. I also went on some lovely walks on our mountain path this week. Look how gorgeous the world is right now!

These are Sego Lillies. Remember the stories of pioneers eating the roots to survive? They are in bloom right now.

Last Sunday was Mother's Day! Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik came over and we had a nice dinner. It happened to be Grandpa's 81st birthday, too! So, we had a poke and pour cake and we all had cards and presents. Mariah was on her way home from St. George (she flew into Las Vegas that day on her way back from her last track meet) so we played games while we waited for her. She made it home and it was so great to see her!! We waited to take a picture until she got there, but by then Sarah had already gone home to put Avery to bed so we never got one!

On Monday morning, Kevin, Cali, Chey, and Ben woke up early to do baptisms at the temple.

I watched Avery later that day and the dandelions made such a beautiful backdrop for a picture!

Kevin and I got the baseboards in on our remodeling project this week which meant that I could move furniture back! That's a huge deal! There are some little things that still need to happen, but it feels done!

On Wednesday night, Bethany had a band concert. They played The Bridge Over the River Kwai which we all loved and lots of other fun songs. For the last song, the director came out in a Chewbaca costume and danced and marched around the stage for the duration. It was a lot of fun.

Also on Wednesday, Beth went to the end-of-season track party and she got three awards! Way to go, kid!

It's been super fun to have Mariah back home! She is taking summer classes online and she is super resentful of the time they take. She says she's burned out! We're hoping she can pull through because these will make it possible for her to graduate this time next spring! She's also running, reconnecting with her sisters and with friends, and trying to find time to get all the boxes put away that she brought back from college. She is a very hard-working girl and we love her!

We've seen Chey more this week, too, as she has resumed shifts at Heritage, the assisted living center where she worked her senior year. Those shifts bring her back to Springville. She is still finding time to be with her friends at her apartment complex, too. She is trying to manage the stress of wanting to be two places at once now that Mariah and Cali are home!

Cali is busy working on her summer classes. They take her back to campus Monday through Thursday and have her on her computer at home. Most of the friends she met during the college year have gone home. She misses them but she is free to do things with sisters, do homework, and visit with her sweet boyfriend, Jordan.

Benjamin was sick on Friday of this week and so he stayed home from school. He read almost an entire book! I don't think I've ever seen him do so much reading in one stretch ever. I loved it! He seemed to like the book, even though he was feeling miserable. He seemed to be doing better on Saturday when he helped his dad with some errands and did some volunteer organizing jobs around our house. What a kid!

Saturday night we got a treat as my sister, Maggie, and her family stopped by! They were picking up Emily from the Provo airport so we had them over for dinner. It was fun to see them! Megan and Ammon and Sarah came over, too. We had hamburgers and a great visit!

Chey and Cali got their mission calls this week! They submitted their papers on Sunday of last week and then excitedly fretted about whether they would get the anticipated email on Tuesday of this coming week or if they'd have to wait another entire week to the Tuesday after! Joyous day when the email arrived Tuesday morning! They invited all their friends over to watch them read their calls that night. We read them in the yard because they were afraid we wouldn't all fit in the house! They also couldn't decide who would read first so they decided they would read them aloud to the critical point, then read it to themselves. Our YW president was the lucky gal who got to read their destinations prior to the event and make posters to reveal the destinations at the same time once they both had borne their testimonies and knew for themselves. My kids know how to do high drama!

Did I mention that McKay sang "Preaching the Gospel" first?

Kevin recorded the whole thing.

It was hard to see her reaction and not know ourselves!

Friends listening to testimonies.

Now she knows and won't tell us, either!

So, then they pulled off the front posters to show us where they were going and all their pent-up emotion exploded! They are both going to Taiwan! One will go to the north of Taiwan, to Taipei, and the other to the south, to Taichung. It is a dream come true for Kevin because he also served his mission in Taiwan. He couldn't resist rushing in to hug both! In all the commotion, high emotion, and exuberance, Chey even got injured with blood and everything! These things can be dangerous! But even that didn't dull the excitement of the evening. I'm so proud of the both of them, for their love of the Lord and their desire to give 18 months of their lives to teach anyone about Him, no matter where in the world they were called to go. It's just a special, lovely bonus that they get to go to Taiwan--kind of together.

These are Chey's friends from college. Most of Cali's aren't in Utah anymore!

The whole crowd!

So, then we went on living our lives. I got a colonoscopy the next day. What an ordeal that is! I was glad to have the other happy events to think on! The good news is that I'm all clear and I can wait 10 years before having another one!

Bethany had her last track meet of the year on Thursday morning. She had a great time being at the track with all her friends! She ran 100m hurdles and did the long jump. She did great in both!

That afternoon, Cali got her wisdom teeth out. Ouch! She was pretty miserable the first couple of days and is still very swollen, but she is feeling more like herself again. We had pizza together right before as her "last meal!"

On Friday, Kevin and I went to see Hello Dolly! We went with some friends from Kevin's work and we were on the second row! The dancing was amazing and so was the singing and we just really enjoyed it.

On Saturday, Kevin and I worked on the basement and a garden bed. The basement is getting very close. We really just need to get those baseboards up. They're all cut now! So that sounds like one more step but its really at least three steps: attach to the walls, fill nail holes, repaint. Ugh. But then I'd get to put everything back and that would be awesome!!

I also watched Avery a couple times this week. She is so cute!

This is how Avery does weeding.

What a great helper!

And a video of the mission call reveal: