I loved having a visit from my parents this week!  My dad left to go do some fishing for a couple of days and my mom stayed and visited.  It was such a pleasant visit.  On Monday night, Savannah's friend, Scott, came over and we all watched Thor.  On Tuesday, Grandma took Beth to Build A Bear for her birthday and we all came along to watch her pick out the most pink animal she could find!  Bethany was at the perfect age for really enjoying the experience.  She soaked everything up.  It was really cute!

Now wherever Bethany roams, Sparkles is not far behind!


My dad came back from fishing Tuesday afternoon and we went out for Thai food that night, just us grown-ups.  Yum!  They left Wednesday morning.  We were so glad that they came!  Now we will just count the days until we get to see them again!

They left right before all the excitement for Art City Days!  Wednesday night was family night at the carnival where you can ride all the rides for one ticket!  Savannah and Sarah weren't too excited for the rides this year, so Savannah stayed home to watch Ben and Sarah babysat for another family in our ward.  The rest of us braved the crowds for our children's annual experience with small-town carnival excitement!

It was great fun.  We went on the ferris wheel first.  I had Cheyenne and Bethany with me.  We got about half way up and Bethany started to shake, "Mommy!  I want to get off NOW!!!"  Poor little gal.  I forgot that ferris wheels can be kind of swingy and even scary!  She managed to hold off from all-out hysteria only barely while the loading was being done.  Gratefully, when the actual rotating around and around started, she relaxed and even managed, I think, to enjoy the ride.  She is a brave soul.  After that, the dragon roller coaster was no problem!  Megan and Mariah braved some of the harder rides.  They had a great time together, though they might have gotten a bit sick!

Friday morning we saw the hot-air balloons!

Sarah took these great pictures.  I actually saw the balloons after I got out of the pool and while I got on my bike.  My triathlon is next week!

Friday was also the children's art festival at the art museum.  Megan opted out this time and Sarah and Mariah took the three little girls!

 Savannah was a volunteer this year and was manning one of the tables!  YCC had her very busy this week.  The art festival wasn't the only thing she did to help with Art City Days.  She also helped with the library's teddy bear picnic, the fireman's breakfast, and the parade.  All that and she worked 20 hours at her regular job.  With YCC, she worked a couple of 12 hour days!  She was wiped out by the end of the week!

Saturday was the parade!

Ben was pretty captivated throughout.  The karate guys must have been his favorite, though, because he stood up then and tried to do some of the moves!

That afternoon, our neighbors reserved some tickets for us at a showing of Madagascar 3.  Kevin stayed home with Ben, we invited some other friends to use up the tickets, and we even gave a ride to two of our neighbor's renters who also had tickets.  The van was completely full.  It was heavy.  Nonetheless, we made it to the theatre safely and a good time was had by all.  We love free tickets!  And we love the Komps!

Saturday night was the fireworks.  Thanks to Sarah, I even have pictures!

Hurray for Springville's Art City Days!!  What a fun week!

We started this week with Memorial Day!  Savannah had to work, but the rest of us spent a little time in the morning with Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik putting flowers on the graves of some pioneer ancestors.  It's kind of neat to realize that Kevin has come back to the place that his ancestors settled in over 100 years ago.

That afternoon, Kevin, Savannah, Sarah, her friend Allyson, Megan, Mariah, and I went hiking!  The little ones went to Grandma and Grandpa Gazdiks to help make a picnic dinner for us when we got back.  We actually got to holler to them all in the middle of our hike, since we hiked the mountain behind their house -- Round Peak.  We called them and we all had a virtual wave at each other.  We couldn't see them but they could see us with their binoculars.  We had a great view of our beautiful city!

On Tuesday, the girls put the tent up in the backyard.  What a great way to camp!  They sleep in the tent, and I sleep in my bed!  They do all the pulling out of storage and all the putting away!  You don't even have to drive to get to your destination!  Camping in the backyard definitely has its perks.

Friday night was our ward's Father and Sons' dinner and campout up the canyon.  It was Ben's first time going.  Kevin got him ready and Ben followed him around the house saying, "Go?"  When we asked Ben if he was going with his dad, Ben hugged Kevin's leg and said, "Yep!"  It was awesome.

They just stayed for the dinner and I think that wore Ben's daddy out plenty.  Maybe next year they will brave the overnight.

This year, though, we had the Nestle Art City Days 5K in the morning and we all ran except for Beth and Ben.  We had to be up early for the 7:30 am start!

Mariah even won a plaque for finishing fourth in her age group.
Way to go, Mariah! 
(She also out raced everyone in our family except for Dad!)

Afterwards we met up with Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik who ran it, too!

 So, who was watching Beth and Ben while we completed this great annual family tradition?  Why Grandma and Grandpa Elton, of course!  They arrived late Friday night for a visit.  Yay!  The official reason for the visit was because Grandpa was delivering a bookcase that he made special for the little girls' room at my request.  I wanted a bookcase that was also a bench.  It turned out beautiful and the twins (and I) are so excited!

It turned out that yesterday (June 2nd) was also the day picked out in 2012 to fish for free (or without a license, anyway) in Utah!  So, we packed a picnic dinner, loaded up the canoe, and headed up to Payson Lake -- which we love because it is so beautiful -- and was even better because we had two sets of grandparents with us!

It was tons of fun and so, so, so beautiful.  Yay for grandparents coming to visit!  Yay for fishing and canoes!  Yay for summer!!!

Last Sunday was the epicly right-where-we-are-living solar eclipse!  . . . which I didn't realize was happening until Savannah mentioned it about four hours pre-event.  I really should watch the news now and then. . . Anyhoo, since we all know that you can't look at the sun during a solar eclipse or risk getting your eyes burned right out of their sockets (!!!), we made an at-home eclipse viewer.  It was pretty cool.  I learned many things about the sun.  For instance, that we really have three . . .

Of course, that may have been due to defects in workmanship.  Otherwise, isn't that kind of cool?  Actually the coolest was when our neighbors walked by with their welding helmet and let us have a look.  Very cool.  Very, very cool!

This was the last week of school for our kids, which meant many activities and great excitement!  For the junior high girls, Sarah and Megan, it meant their whole school went to Lagoon amusent park on Tuesday.

I only have pictures of  Sarah at Lagoon because Megan was with her friends in other places in the park.  I am told, though, that a great time was had by all!

Here's a picture of Megan, anyway, just because she's cute!

My elementary school kids dressed up for different themes all week.  Tuesday was "Dress like your favorite character day!"

Cheyenne dressed as Peter Pan (Peter Pan's sister, actually), Cali dressed as the Green Princess, and Mariah was Catniss from The Hunger Games.  Notice the side french-braid. Megan sent her friend, Rebekah, over to have me braid her hair, too.  I started thinking that I could make money by putting a sign out front:  "Catniss braids 50 cents!"  It was fun.


Savannah, of course, didn't need a reason to dress up. 

Her friend, Miranda, went to India this year and brought her back these stunning clothes.  Pretty, huh?  Savannah went to graduation rehearsal on Tuesday and then sang at graduation on Wednesday and after that, no one went to school anyway even though school wasn't over until Friday afternoon.  Aw, high school!

Bethany actually got in on the end-of-school action with her very own preschool graduation.  They all got certificates and then got to play in the water.  What could be better than that?

What a beautiful graduate!

Other than that, the girls did much signing of yearbooks and autograph books.  There was a kickball championship at the elementary school that also generated much excitement.

The greatest excitement of all, though, was that next week, they don't have to go to school!!

And just like that, summer vacation is here again.

We started this week with Grandpa Jim's 70th birthday!!  His brother and sister were in town for the occasion and Jim took us all out to Chuck a Rama for dinner.  It was great fun!  We left Beth and Ben at a neighbors but brought them over to Grandma and Grandpa's afterward for presents and visiting and more hilarity.  We love our Grandpa Jim and are glad that he is such a young buck for being 70 years old! 

On Tuesday, Savannah sang in her voice recital.  She sang "Reflections," from Mulan.  She thought she did horrible, but the rest of us thought she did great!

On Thursday night we got to go to the Elementary school to watch the 5th grade plays.  Mariah had a starring role as Daisy-headed Maisey.  She did really well.  She talked loudly and clearly and when she exclaimed, "No body loves me!  Nobody! Nobody!"  I was ready to charge up on stage to hug her before she started crying!  (I've kind of seen that outburst before. . .)  It was fun to watch her.  She was really funny in the "commercials" she made up with her friends, too.  It looks like here's another thing she's good at!

Thursday night was also the night of the Fine Arts Program at the high school.  Savannah's choir sang a few songs so we ran over to watch her sing again!

Friday was sports day at the elementary school.  This meant that it was very important for Mariah to be dressed in everything BYU since her fanhood is a very important part of her fifth grade identity.  Thursday I went to DI to see what I could find.  I took Megan out of school and brought her with me as fashion scout.  We had a fun day together.  She takes pride that she can keep a "conversation" going all day completely by herself!  I had fun listening to her.  She also was the one to find, almost immediately a BYU shirt sporting the number 32 which we all know means Jimmer Fredette which we all know is also a major component of Mariah's fifth grade identity.  She screamed for a long while when she saw the shirt.  It was very exciting!

As you can see, Cheyenne settled for wearing her basketball jersey, but Calianne couldn't because it would cover her Cheetah shirt.  Cheetah day trumps sports day.  She did wear her basketball hairclip, though, so all was well.

Friday was also the Author's Party at the elementary school and I got to hear my incredibly clever girls read me the things they have written this year.  They've all made great progress.  I'm so proud of all their hard work!

This cute girl had her choir concert this Wednesday.  She had so much fun!  In eighth grade the girls are in an all-girl choir for a semester.  There were about 60 girls this year and Sarah had fun with all of them!  They were all so animated and sang with super energy.  Sarah's favorite song was when they sang, "Forget about the Boy," from Thoroughly Modern Millie.  If you want to see it, Kevin posted it on Facebook.  Go watch it!  You'll love it!  We did.

Savannah sang again this week, too, although I didn't get to see it.  They did so well at festival that they went back to compete again.  Fun times!  She had to work that afternoon once she got back, and she was pretty tired, but she made it!  I was working in the garden when she breezed back home, changed into her choir dress, then breezed back to school.  Have I mentioned that I love living so close to all the schools?

Benjamin's new thing is not only to play with his toy cars, but also to play with real cars.  He likes to play inside the cars!  Whenever he accidentally hits the car horn, he looks up and waves excitedly -- and I take a picture.  It is very cute.  Way cuter than when we drag him out kicking and screaming and he doesn't stop until we put him in his crib to "calm down."

 On Thursday this week, Ben went and got his dad in order to drag him out to the shed and point meaningfully at the lawn mower.  His dad obediently acquiesced.  Then Ben followed him around while he mowed.  It was very funny (to me!).

It was a beautiful week and we were able to be outside for most of it.  One day I couldn't find Bethany.  That doesn't usually happen since she is a bit like a second shadow.  ("I want to be with you, Mommy!")  I found her in the back yard sitting in the hammock chair blowing bubbles.  What a lovely way to pass the time!  She is a girl after my own heart.

We had Mother's Day today.  Kevin spoke in sacrament meeting!  He did great!  The whole meeting was wonderful.  Afterward, we had barbecue in the backyard with Grandma and Grandpa.  It was way fun!  The day was beautiful.  What a great way to spend mother's day!

Savannah's end-of-year choir concert was on Wednesday this week.  It was wonderful.  I love going to her choir concerts.  They are always so good!  They sang alot of their song from Tour and since they mostly sang at churches on their tour, a lot of their songs were religious.  They were really beautiful songs!  It was wonderful to see her be a part of such a good thing.  She makes us happy.

Megan had orchestra festival on Wednesday during the day at UVU.  We didn't get to see that, but I know she played well!  She would rather have been with the rest of the seventh graders at school, she doesn't much like being the odd one out -- being a seventh grader in an eigth grade orchestra I am told by a very knowledgeable source, is not fun.  I don't know why I did all those lessons. Poor girl!  She looked beautiful, though, and if I had been on the ball, I would have even taken a picture.  I got this one the next day, though, and she's still beautiful!!!

Sarah had choir festival on Friday during the day.  She had great fun! Being with girls her own age seems to be all the difference!  She loved not being at school and singing.  If I had been on the ball, I would have taken her picture, too!  Here's her picture from 2 weeks ago again so you can remember what she looks like in her choir dress.  :)

 

We had a big uproar with Mariah this week.  Her dad and I thought she should be on a club basketball team since she likes playing basketball so much and shows great skill.  We even found a team that practices right down the street and the cost was unbelievably low and the coach was way nice and liked Mariah.  Mariah, however, did not like the idea nor the team, nor . . . the pressure.  She would not be swayed and she screamed and yelled at us alot whenever we tried.  I guess that is that.

You know . . . parenting seems very straightforward when you start out.  But it's really not.

Cheyenne and I spent a little time together this week making no-bake cookies! It must have been Thursday since she is wearing her zebra shirt, and Thursdays are Zebra days!

Calianne and I finally got around to making that Cheetah shirt, too.  Just so you know . . . Fridays are Cheetah days.

This Friday was an especially happy Cheetah Day because we got a visit from my sister, Maggie, and her family!  Yay!!  Cousins galore!!  Megan even made a banner that said, "Welcome Gillespies!" and made a cake and frappe and strung Christmas lights in the backyard.  That girl loves a party!  Here are the Gillespies proudly modeling their banner!

We had a nice visit Friday night.  Saturday morning Elizabeth had her dance competition.  Sarah and Mariah went along to watch.  I am told that she did great!

That afternoon, Sarah, Mariah, Cheyenne, and Calianne had a piano recital!  They played so well!  We are so proud of the work they are doing to gain this skill!  Recordings of their performances can be sent to you by request.

When we got back, Maggie and I escaped the fracas for a brief hour at the pool.  Yes, you read that correctly -- we went to the pool with no kids!!  I learned a lot about swimming and a lot more about Maggie.  It was great to have some advice from an expert.  Some parts of triathlon training are fun.  :)

We had a barbecue in our backyard after that.  Finally, since no visit from the Gillespie clan is quite complete without a short play, we also got to see "Sleeping Beauty in Modern Times," performed in our very own backyard by very familiar-looking actresses!  We love a good play!  This performance also can be sent to you by request.

Bethany and Benjamin are doing well, too. . .

. . . as long as you let Bethany do a dance
and take a picture of her, too!



. . . and as long as you let Ben have the entire bag of chips to himself.

Yes, then all is well.