We decorated our tree last week on Sunday!  We decorated in the last half hour before the Christmas Devotional came on TV, but with so many hands to help with the “work,” that was plenty of time!

Sarah had her Christmas Choral Concert this week on Wednesday night.  She looked lovely.  I know this because I saw her before and after even though two tall boys stood in front of her during the performance!  That’s alright.  I could see half of her face most of the time and all of her face some of the time.  She sang with confidence!  They even sang in Russian!  They even sang Betelehemu which I first fell in love with when I heard the BYU Men’s Chorus sing when I was in college.  We really enjoyed the whole performance.

Thursday night was Cali and Cheyenne’s Third Grade Christmas Program.  They did awesome singing Christmas songs and teaching us about traditions from all around the world.  Calianne dressed as a Santa Lucia girl from Sweden in a white dress (my baptism dress that my mom made for me!) with construction paper candles on her head.  Cheyenne didn’t have to dress special, but she played the Santa Lucia song on the ukulele with the other kids!  I was so impressed!  It was a fun night!

Cali even wore the apron that goes on top for school.  So cute!

Friday night was our ward Christmas Party.  The decorations were fabulous and the program was full of the spirit of Christmas.  The food was awesome, as usual, as well.  I brought apple turnovers.  That’s the first time I ever made them so I was very impressed with myself.  Cali and Cheyenne were in the primary’s reenactment of the nativity.  They didn’t script the kids very much this year, and when it was over, everyone was crowded around the manger.  All we could see were the backs of a bunch of kids, trying to get a look at the baby.  Which is how I’m sure it really was, afterall.  It was pretty special to me.  We had a good night!

Saturday night, Kevin and I went out for our date night (since we couldn’t on Friday) and we went to Mr. Mac’s to get him a new suit for his birthday present.  He’s going to look great in it!

In between all that, we played a lot of basketball.  Sarah had a game on Monday and practices Tuesday thru Saturday.  Megan had games on Wednesday and Thursday and practices on Monday and Thursday.  Mariah had games on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday and practices on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  Calianne and Cheyenne had practices on Tuesday and Thursday.  Kevin came home from his game Saturday and said, “Hey!  I’ve been thinking of a way we could get Megan on another team.”  Yeah, I think we are suckers for punishment.

Sarah got her "warmups" for the basketball team and she loves them!  She thinks she looks totally cool in them, and . . . she's right!

Savannah worked holiday hours at Funfinity on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  She also went to see Lincoln at the theatres for extra credit for her history class.  She really liked it.

Bethany went to preschool on Monday and Wednesday and ballet on Tuesday and to Grandma’s on Thursday and Saturday.  She and Ben also watched “Sofia the First” 400 times . . . or thereabouts.

Benjamin has had a bad cough all week, but if you think that has made him more willing to nap during the day, you would be mistaken!  He has learned that he can crawl out of his crib, open his door, and rejoin us.  Mostly so far I have just let him.  He has been calling Bethany, “Beffy,” but lately he can say Bethany with only a small lisp.  He follows her everywhere.  On the way back from preschool this week, he walked next to her and kept his hand on the small of her back.  What a gentleman, eh?  He missed her.  Those two are good friends.  I love to see it.

This week was Mariah's birthday!

She turned twelve and has joined the Young Women with her older sisters at church.  Holy Cow!  She is so grown up!

Thursday was Mariah's birthday but it was a crazy, crazy day.  We knew we'd be busy, so we planned to celebrate Friday night over at Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik's house!

Grandma made a lovely dinner.  We had ham and potatoes and corn and rolls and jello.  Mariah got to open her presents (finally!) and we all had cake and ice cream.  It was great!

I made that cute owl bag!  Didn't it turn out awesome???

We are so happy that she came to our family 12 years ago.  She is so full of energy and drive and pushes us all to be better.  Happy Birthday, Mariah!!!

On Monday, Sarah had a junior high basketball game.  Kevin and I and Grandma and Grandpa all watched her together.  It's so fun to watch her in these level games.  She had another game Tuesday and another on Thursday, but we weren't able to go.  They haven't won, yet, and that can be frustrating for Sarah, but she is having a good time!

Also on Monday, Megan went to referee training.  She is going to try to earn some money by reffing for the younger leagues through city recreation.  I hope it all works out.

On Tuesday, the girls had a combined Young Women activity with the Young Men to go rock climbing.  Savannah convinced Mariah to go, too, since she'd be twelve in two more days.  They all had a great time!  They were all oh, so sore the next day, but they loved it!

On Wednesday, I went to parent-teacher conferences at the elementary school for Chey, Cali, and Mariah.  There I found out that my children are about as close to perfect as they come -- a fact I was pretty sure of already!  Megan, Mariah, and Kevin had a basketball game that night and lost their first in that league.  Sarah, Chey, Cali, Beth, Ben, and I had fun watching anyway!

Thursday, our crazy day, Cali and Cheyenne had their first basketball practice (yay!) from 4-5, Mariah and I had our first basketball practice from 4:30 to 5:30, Mariah, Megan, and Kevin had a game at 6, and Kevin and Megan had their first basketball practice for their Springville team from 7:30 to 8:30.  What do you think of THAT!  Also, Savannah was at work from 4 to 9:20, and Sarah had that third basketball game of the week over at the junior high.  That's just about everybody!  Beth and Ben got to go on a lot of car rides!

On Saturday, we decided to get our Christmas tree!  Savannah was at work in the morning, but the rest of us went to the lot, and the girls picked out a beauty!  We even bought some hot sugared almonds as we left.  It was fun!

That afternoon, we dropped Beth and Ben off at a friend's house, picked Savannah up from work and drove into Orem for the matinee performance of the Forgotten Carols!  Our family watches the DVD every year, so it was a real treat to see it live.  The spirit was so strong.  It was such a great event to share as a family!  We will always remember it.

That night Kevin and Mariah had another basketball game.  (You saw that coming, right?)  It was their first with the advanced Bantam league.  They won by a lot!  Kevin's hoping for a bit more of a challenge with future games.  Heh, heh.

I also taught preschool this week.  Bethany would prefer to be going to princess school, but she doesn't complain too much when we learn letters, instead!  :)

Sarah is so FUNNY we love her guts! Even though it gets annoying sometimes we live with her.
                                                  - STIFF!!!!!!!!

(Yes.  Sarah added the last two lines.  We do love her guts, though.)

This week was Thanksgiving!  The girls only had two days of school this week.  Even so, Sarah had her first junior high basketball game Tuesday after school.  It was hard to tell, but I think I may have even had more fun than Sarah just watching her be in the game!  She was a starter and played great.  The score was 26 to 32.  We lost, but Sarah scored 8 points!  Go Sarah!

After Sarah's game, we got everyone piled into the van and drove down to Las Vegas!  We got there around 11pm their time (midnight for us).  It was worth it, though!  Then we had all day Wednesday to visit family and enjoy the beautiful weather!  We went to the park with Grandma and Grandpa and met Diane there with her baby and Amy's.  Savannah and Mariah decided to go see a movie while we were there.  Kevin, Grandpa, Sarah, and Megan all played basketball.  Grandma, Diane, and I visited while the little ones played!  My Uncle John arrived soon after that and back at the house that night, once Amy was done with school, she brought her girls up to Grandma's and while she was there, Maggie arrived with her family!  It was quite loud for a space while the cousins all screamed in their excitement to see each other.  My goodness!  We split the cousins up to different houses this time so that they could spend more time with their "favorites."  It was fun.

 The next day was Thanksgiving!  Mom had done a lot of preparing before we even arrived so there was not much to do that day as far as cooking was concerned.  Dave arrived that morning and it was great to see my little brother again!  Kevin, Jason, and friend went to play basketball as did Megan, Mariah, and Rebecca.  We all met again at the church around two o'clock.  The gym was decorated and the food was ready . . . Actually, I think a lot of work went on in the morning, I just didn't do any of it!  I really did offer . . .  Nonetheless, I was a happy beneficiary!  The gym was lovely, the food was yummy.  After we all ate, the adults talked while the children prepared a show for us.  After much practicing, the curtains were drawn and we were regaled with humor and history and hoopla!  It was terrific.  A little basketball, a little clean-up and we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's house to hang out for the evening!

On Friday we all met again at Grandma's house.  It wasn't as loud as it sounds like it might be!  The kids played in small groups or outside.  Maggie's family had to leave around noon, so we bid them a sad farewell.  Grandpa barbecued some hamburgers and hotdogs for us for lunch!  My friend, Kim, and her little one, Brooke, came to visit for a little while that afternoon and that was fun.  Grandpa, Kevin, Sarah, and Megan went to the courts and played some doubles tennis,  Jason and Paul went to cheer them on.  We said goodbye to the last of the cousins that evening.  Bethany and Emma cried the very most at being parted! 

Did I mention that many sports games were also viewed that week by the men?  But after the sports were through Friday night, Grandma and Grandpa stayed up to support us while we finally finished the puzzle we started that morning.  Victory!

Saturday we packed up and drove home!  Bethany, who slept most of the way on our way to Las Vegas, asked if it was going to be a long drive.  I told her, "Yes.  It will take all day."  This was true since we left around 10, we lose an hour with the time change, and it gets dark in Utah around 5.  Still, it went well with minimal amounts of screaming.  Yay!

We had a great time.  As usual, we missed seeing my brother, Pete, and his family.  It was great though to see my Uncle John who I haven't seen in years and watch him interact with my children.  Yay for my mom's big brother.  He is so fun.  Yay for Thanksgiving and family and tons of food!  Yay for memories that will last for years to come!

So . . . what did we do this week?  My camera is no help.  This is all I have on my camera:

Which tells us a bit of what Benjamin did this week, I guess!


Let's see . . . I'm afraid we did basketball this week and added even more.  In fact, from now until the end of February, you probably only need to skim Skinner Updates.  Let's see, you'll say, basketball, basketball, basketball.  Yep, same as last week!  What can I say?  We think it's great fun!

So, Savannah did nothing related to basketball this week.  We'll start with her.  She worked Th, Fri, and Sat.  She also did all her homework for the week on Thursday.  Why she did not do it on M, T, or W, I do not know.  She was enjoying some downtime.  She got her results back from the ACT and scored a 26.  That's not as high as she was hoping, so she will be taking it again in the spring.  This time she will remember her ID card!  Heh, heh.

Sarah had basketball practice everyday after school for two hours.  She also got a bad head cold.  She was not enjoying running with a pounding head nor having to play defense without being able to breathe!  Poor kid.  We also found out that she needs to sell some coupon cards for fundraising.  Anyone a frequenter of Krispy Kreme or Pier 49, give us a call.

Megan and Mariah both played basketball on Kevin's Mapleton team.  They had practice Monday and played games Tuesday and Wednesday nights.  On Saturday they played in a tournament in which they were the champions!  They were each awarded a new pair of socks.  Because they knocked everyone's socks off!  They have not lost any games.  They are playing really, really well.  It is fun, fun to watch.

Kevin had a meeting on Wednesday night to receive his team roster for his Springville team (Megan's team).  He couldn't attend because of his game in Mapleton, so I went.  He'll start practices for that team after Thanksgiving.

I was back at the city rec office Thursday night to receive the team roster for my Springville team (Mariah's team).  I love coaching, so I am excited.  Since I already spent a season losing every game (except one!), losing no longer holds any fear for me.  This year I just know I will be totally relaxed and happy through every game.  Heh, heh.  Anyway we start practices after Thanksgiving, as well.

Cali and Chey haven't gotten a call from their coach, yet, but they will probably start practices in a couple of weeks, too.  I know that some of you think we are crazy, but I'm telling you -- it's so fun!!

Cali and Chey and Beth and Ben have been coming to watch M&M's basketball games with me.  Actually, I use the term "watch" very loosely.  Mostly they climb up and down the bleachers, go under the bleachers, and get soaking wet in the bathroom.  They have a great time.

Those younger ones and I did have some fun this weekend together!  After the basketball tournament, Kevin drafted Sarah and Megan and Mariah to help him get the snowed-upon, rain-sodden leaves up off the yard.  I had promised Chey that when she got her cast off, I would take her swimming.  I was overdue on my promise so I took Cali, Chey, Beth and Ben to the indoor pool for a couple of hours of swimming.  Do you know what?  We had so much fun.  (Way more fun that leaf-raking!)  Cali and Chey swam races across the narrow part of the pool, Beth splashed around and floated on her back in her life-vest, and Ben . . . well, after his initial terror of the life-vest and the showers (which I didn't even make him do!) and after I carried him back after he ran screaming and crying from the locker room, it took him twenty minutes of sitting on my lap at the top of the stairs to putting his feet into the water.  An hour later, though, he was not only wearing the life vest, but was tootling around in it ON HIS OWN!  He looked like he was riding a unicycle, but he sure could get everywhere!  Isn't he awesome?  I thought he was, as my girls were, too!  They jumped off the side and Beth even could jump off without me catching her -- she went completely under the water each time!  I was so impressed.

While we were gone, they got all the leaves up!  Some of these pictures are before we took Ben away to the pool.

This is Sarah's "before" picture.  I am sure there is grass in there somewhere . . .

Meg's still got her shorts on from basketball!  But check out those cool socks!

Maybe a shovel will work better?  Have I mentioned that we only own two rakes?  (Actually one belongs to some friends who left it here during the days of the annual leaf hotel.  I'm sure we will return it eventually . . .)

How could I take Ben when he was such a good helper?

Aha!!  The grass!!  Doesn't the "after" picture look lovely?  Unfortunately, our tree is still dropping leaves so it does not look like that already!

When I got back from the pool, I dropped off the little kids, changed clothes, and grabbed the older kids because Savannah, Sarah, Megan, and I really wanted to see a certain movie that came out this weekend.  It was so. good.  We had such fun! 

We came home to hot pizza that their awesome dad had cooked up for us.

It was a very fun day at the end of a fun week.

Is that beautiful weather or what?

 We went from gorgeous warm days like that to the below snow-covered picture in 24 hours.  It was crazy!

The storm came in Friday morning and stayed until Saturday morning.  It was of particular importance to us because we needed to finish a project.  Last weekend, when the weather was nice all weekend, Kevin decided to redo the roof over the carport.  The roofing was old, leaking, and causing some of the boards underneath to rot.  Kevin got the old roofing off last weekend, but when he went to get the materials for the new roof, found out that they had to be special ordered and he'd have to wait until next weekend.  That would have been fine, except for the above-mentioned approaching storm.  So, Kevin and several wonderful men from our ward, worked on the carport just about every night this week.  Thursday was the biggest day as that was when the metal roofing came in and the day before the storm.  Those men worked until midnight and got her done!  On the positive side of things, the weather was nice and warm and dry albeit dark.  The next day we woke up to rain, the day after that, Kevin measured the snow on top of the carport -- 10 inches.  Yay!  It got done just in time.

So that was not the only thing Kevin was doing in the evenings this past week.  The basketball season in Mapleton started on Wednesday night.  He had practice Monday night and games Wednesday and Thursday night.  We had a roof to get on, but the basketball distractions were awfully fun!  Megan and Mariah played great both nights.  They won both games.  I watched Meg and Mariah both steal balls and go down the court for layups at the other end.  They played really well.

And speaking of basketball, Sarah made the junior high basketball team.  Yay, Sarah!  She had practice everyday after school this past week and has been very, very sore!  She likes her team and is already having fun.

Savannah has been working on some NaNoWriMo projects.  She's not sure if she'll go the distance this year, but she has been having fun editing some of her old projects.  She also worked Thu, Fri, and Saturday at Funfinity.

Cheyenne did a great job cleaning her room on Saturday.  She told Cali that she wanted to do it herself.  She does this rather often.  She likes to organize and make things neat and she does a good job!  She also started ukulele club at school.  Since she just got her cast off, she is behind on what the others know, but she sure wants to know!

Calianne and Mariah made a maze out of our fallen leaves in the backyard before the storm came.  They had quite a lot of fun.  Cali was very excited about it.  Darn that snow!  She was a little weepy when we had to rake the leaves up in anticipation of the storm.  Not that it helped much.  Kevin needed the trailer for the roof, so we couldn't get our leaves up.  Now they are all under the snow!  We'll have to get them up after it melts.  Mariah did most of the raking Thursday afternoon.  She and Meg had fun with the gigantic pile, at least.

Wow!  That pile is big enough to hide a person!

Look at that!  There is a person in it!

Bethany and Benjamin have really liked the snow.  Bethany went out the first night with her friend next door and they had great fun.  Ben has been out everyday.  He likes to wear his boots and walk through the paths his sisters made in the snow.  He has great fun.

Saturday night Kevin and I had a chance to go out to eat with my Aunt Connie, Uncle Scott, and cousins Heather and Mark and their spouses.  It was so fun!  Connie had some names to take to the temple and asked if we'd like to come help, so afterwards we did that.  It was a super-great experience.  It was so fun to see the Erskines and talk with them again and it was so neat to be a part of Connie's family history work.  Kevin and I are both feeling a bit inspired by Connie.  Who knows?  We might actually do a little ourselves one of these days.  Actually, we already did Saturday night!  Lucky us!

This week was Halloween!!!

Aren't we good at Jack o' Lantern carving??

 

 

We sure do have fun!

 

 

 

 On the day of Halloween, just my elementary school kids dressed up for school.  Don't they look great?  Cheyenne is a pirate, Calianne a ninja, and Mariah a zombie cheerleader.  Of course.

Bethany also dressed up for school -- preschool.  She is a fairy princess ballerina.  Why choose one?  I mean really?  She makes an awfully cute one all mixed together, don't you agree?

 Sarah wore my hat for her nod to the holiday.  I thought, "Holy Cow!  She looks like . . . ME!"  I felt a bit of displacement in time for a minute.

 Mariah, Cheyenne, and Calianne had a group piano lesson afterschool on Wednesday, but when they were done, I took those who were desirious, down to Main Street for the city trick or treat.  Sarah was the official chaperone.  Megan donned her costume and went, too.  (Meg made her own costume -- a long white dress to be a goddess with a gold belt and painted gold leaves in her hair.  It was really cool!  She chickened out when it came to wearing it to school, but she did go trick or treating with friends later that night, so it turned out to get some use after all.)

 Then, after a nutritious dinner, we even dressed up Benjamin, and Kevin and I went out with Mariah, Chey, Cali, Beth, and Ben.  Savannah manned the candy bowl here at the house, Sarah went to Allyson's, and Meg went with another group as mentioned above.  Kevin and I had a great time with the little ones.  The weather was WARM.  It was sooo nice.  We got lots of candy, (but we gave out a LOT back at home, too!  That weather really brings out the trick or treaters!)

 It was Benjamin's first year trick or treating.  He really liked it!  He knocked on doors, he said, "Trick or Treat!"  And then he'd say, "THANK YOU!"  In a deep, growly, monster voice.  He's all boy alright.  He loved getting the candy and he loved eating it even better.  What a great holiday!!  Are you sure it wasn't a kid who thought up Halloween?

Yes, Ben is eating three lollipops at once.

Let's see, what else happened this week?  Kevin is coaching a team for Mapleton basketball (since their season is earlier than Springville and doesn't overlap) and he arranged it so that he has both Megan and Mariah on his team.  Mariah is actually too young to be on the team, but because he is the coach and Megan is her sister, they allowed it.  They started practicing this week.  Kevin is excited about this team!  They will begin games next week.

Savannah has had a bad head cold all week that knocked her out for a couple of days.  She still worked all her scheduled days at Funfinity (three days this week) and stayed on top of her school work.  She is a very responsible gal!

 Which reminds me that we had stomach flu at our house the beginning of this week.  Cali, Bethany, and Benjamin all were struck with it on Sunday and Monday.  Yuck, right??  I'm really glad they are feeling better and it was nice that no one else got sick.

Sarah has been playing basketball after school in the open gym practices at the junior high this week.  They'll have try-outs for the team next week.

Bethany tells me regularly, "Mom, I love you!  I never want to lose you!"  This week she said that she never wants to break up.  Well, that's a relief!  She loves to play with friends still.  When they leave, she tells me, "Mom, my heart is broken!"  Then I put my head down against her chest to listen.  I hear that little heart pumping away and I say, "Yes!  It does sound so sad!"  Also this week she told Ben, "Ben, you are not my type!"  Then she said to me, "Mom . . . I don't want to marry Ben!"  I told her she couldn't marry her brother anyway!  Later that week she told me, "Mom, Ben will be my brother forever and ever!"  They are great friends.  Sometimes when they watch TV, they put their arms around each other.  It is so cute. 

Cali and Cheyenne and Beth spent the night Friday night at Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik's house.  They love doing that and Grandma loves having them.  It's so fun!  Grandma even took them to McDonald's on Saturday for lunch.  What could be better?