We started this week with Bethany turning 7!  Her birthday was Monday and we left to go camping that morning, so we had her open presents on Sunday night.  She was so excited!  She loved all her presents and we love her.  What a sweet girl she is!

Monday we packed up and left sometime after lunch for Palisade!  Have I mentioned that I love that place?  Kevin and Savannah had to work but they came up later that night and stayed all day Tuesday.  Then we had some friends come up Tuesday night and the rest of us stayed until Thursday.  It was hot this year so it was perfect for all the cooling off in the lake that we wanted to do!  We had a camping spot that was 13 steps from the water (Sarah and Cheyenne counted for us) and was also bordered by two giant cottonwood trees that were dreamy for climbing!  We read, we swam, we jumped off the swim dock over and over.  The girls inflated all the rafts and made a giant floating island with their arms entwined as they floated away the hot afternoons.  The last evening, some of the older girls got the adventure itch to jump off the tall rocks at the side of the lake.  Our last morning, we all went and yelled "Geronimo!" as we jumped.  The cool water refreshed us one last time!  I so love that place.  This year, it had the extra advantage of reminding me of my family who came last year.  I wish it had been warmer when they came because it can be so. much. fun.

Saturday was 4th of July.  This year, a friend in our neighborhood posted on Facebook an invitation to pool our money and our fireworks and meet in the church parking lot at 9pm with ice cream to share.  She had an overwhelming response!  I'd say at least 100 were there!  We saw more fireworks than we had ever before and didn't have to do any of the lighting!  The kids ran in the park behind us with glow necklaces and I think a fun time was had by all!  What a celebration!  Happy Independence Day, America!

Last Sunday was Father's Day!  We love our dad!  Who else could keep up with all these kids?

I forgot to mention last week that Savannah worked two 12 hour days in order to go camping with us the last part of the week!  I was impressed and so glad she did the extra work to be with us.  Also, while we were camping, when a grandpa passed us with his grandchildren and saw my daughters reading their books, he told his grandchildren, "This is also where the literary society holds their meetings."  Ha, ha!  It's true.  My daughters see camping as the perfect time to read books!  They camp like I do!

The big news of the week is that my sister, Diane, came to visit!  She came on Tuesday afternoon and stayed until Thursday morning while her husband did some work in Salt Lake.  It was so fun!  She brought her two little boys, Liam and Ezra, and we visited and let the kids play with their cousins and even braved a trip to the splash pad.  I'm so glad she came!

Savannah got to go back to eight-hour days this week and continues to help BYU program their computer systems.  She had her interview with the Stake President last Sunday and her mission papers are now "processing" in Salt Lake City!  We could have her call as early as the end of this week!

Sarah continued to work at Funfinity this week.  She also practiced tennis every morning on her own and practiced tennis with the high schoolers at night when she could.  She also did score keeping one night this week.  She did squeeze some fun in there, too, with a couple of trips to the reservoir with her friends.

Megan ran cross country every morning again this week!  Their trail run this week was up to Stewart Falls above Sundance ski resort.  She said it was beautiful (but tough on the ankles)!  She also played tennis every evening with the high schoolers and had a private tennis lesson and played tennis with her friend once this week, too.  She wonders why she is so tired!  On Friday, I stole her away and we went to the DMV where she became an official licensed driver.

Mariah went to a basketball camp at the University of Utah this week with the high school team.  They stayed in a hotel close to campus and played eight games Monday thru Thursday!  Mariah had a great time although she thought the campus had way too much red and not enough blue.  On Thursday, she got home around noon and then about an hour later, her dad took her back up to Salt Lake for a tournament with her Schapers team.  She played four more games there and her team placed third in the tournament. Holy Cow!  That girl loves her basketball!

Leaving me on Monday

Schapers game

Schapers team

Calianne and Cheyenne had Shadow Mountain this week!  They left Thursday morning on a bus that took them and a whole bunch of their fifth-grade girlfriends up Hobble Creek Canyon for two nights and three days of fun!  They went on a seven-mile hike and took the "polar plunge" and played on a gigantic slip-and-slide and heard scary stories and made crafts and lots of other stuff.  They had a great time and were super exhausted when they got home!  I'm so glad they got the chance to go.

They also had their last softball game this week the night before they left.  They won 16 to 3 and were so elated to be winning their final game!  They loved playing softball this season and made great memories with their Dad!

Bethany will be turning seven next week so we had her friend birthday party this week!  We had everyone come in fancy dresses and then Megan and I did their hair fancy and Sarah painted all their nails while those who waited made their own princess crowns where Cali and Cheyenne were helping and streaming Disney princess songs from YouTube.  We also played Princesses and Dragons, What time is it Princess?, and Musical Thrones.  It was such a fun party.  Bethany was in heaven and all these sisters helping so willingly made it heaven for me, too!  I love my family.

Benjamin loved playing with Liam this week.  It was fun to have him even for just a day!  Benjamin also had his last kickball game this week.  He says it's hot and it makes him tired, but when he talks with his sisters, he's super proud that he has a sport, too.  He even tells us he needs to go practice (even though he doesn't)!  So, he had a good time doing it and he even has another medal now to hang on his wall.

What a week!  I love summer.

It was a great summer week including driving up three different canyons and swimming in two different lakes and going on the first camping trip of 2015!  I love summer.

On Monday, the SHS cross country team did a trail run up Hobble Creek Canyon.  The family of one of the girls on the team owns a place at the end of the left fork behind a lavish, intimidating gate. The family invited the team to run up to their ranch for breakfast.  What fun!  I volunteered to drive kids back down after the run.  It was a beautiful morning and I got to see what was behind the gate!  I had to laugh when I saw it because it was so normal!  Megan and Mariah got in a good five-mile, uphill run and had breakfast in a beautiful spot with lots of friends.  I was glad  I got to watch!

I promised the younger kids that I would take them to the new Springville resevoir on Monday, too, so after lunch I took Megan (and her friend, Rebekah), Chey, Cali, Beth, and Ben to the ultra crowded, brand spanking new Springville attraction.  We got ourselves a beach!  It even has sand and a little snack bar!  We are excited!  As is every family in Springville and possibly all its surrounding areas.  We did manage to find ourselves a spot on the sand and the kids had a great time playing in the water and the sand and playing with the kids around them.  We'll be back.

Tuesday evening, the YM/YW went up Mapleton's canyon for foil dinners.  Sarah had to work, but Meg and Mariah had fun.  It's a beautiful place, too!

Thursday afternoon we left for a camping trip with Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik at Payson Lakes Campground!  That is such a beautiful place and we have so many fun memories there.  It was fun to be back!  We brought the canoe and Kevin gave everyone the chance to fish.  That first night we got nine fish!  We had them for breakfast and they were sooo good!  They were a lot of work to clean and cook, though, so on Friday, Kevin and the girls just caught and released.  They had lots of fun fishing!  When the others weren't fishing, they were swimming!  On our first night, Cali and Chey and Beth and Ben even found a log to play on which is exactly the memory I have of my four oldest when we came to the lake when they were younger!  Grandma and Grandpa also had a birthday party for Beth while we were there since they will be off adventuring on the 29th.  They always treat us so well!  We had a great time.

We had Art City Days this week!  That meant that on Wednesday night we went to the carnival on opening night when every ride is just one ticket.  Everyone came this year except Savannah who had to work late.  We let each of the kids pick five rides!  Beth and Ben's lines went the fastest and they got the least amount of headaches from their rides, but everybody had a great time!

The giant yellow slide you see in the background of this last picture was actually Beth and Ben's favorite ride.  Ben said that next time he would use all five of his tickets on the slide because it was so fun!

Thursday night Funfinity hosted a Teen Game Night as part of Art City Days where they provided all their demo games and employee know-how to have several game tournaments with prizes!  So, Savannah and Sarah both went to help and Sarah invited lots of her friends, including, Tate, a friend she met at EFY.  Sarah and her friends ended the night by heading over to Sonic.  They all had a great time!

Friday morning Savannah woke up the younglings to show them the hot air balloons as they floated over our neighborhood.

Friday morning was the Craft Fair at the art museum.  I took Cali, Chey, Beth, and Ben and we made harmonicas, hats, pictures, necklaces, and sunglasses and got balloon swords!  They had tons of fun!

After that, I took them and Megan to the Spanish Fork pool for the first time this summer.  Ah, sparkling water, happy kids, and a large water slide!  Ben took me down the slide twenty times. Beth preceded us each time!

Saturday morning was the parade!  Yay!  We all got to go to the parade this year together and even watched with Grandma and Grandpa!  Ben's favorite thing was the marching bands and Bethany's was the princesses.

The week finished off with our back-yard, front-seat fireworks show!  Ben sat on my lap and narrated throughout the entire show.  It went something like this, "Oh no!  Our ship!  It's going to explode! *crashing sound effects as the firework explodes.*"  It was a whole new way for me to experience fireworks.

In other news, Sarah worked 29 hours this week.  Wow!  She also did scorekeeping for Springville rec on Tuesday and practiced tennis every morning.  On Tuesday morning, Sarah and Megan went with the aforementioned Tate and one of his friends to do baptisms at the newly opened Payson temple.  As the wait time was FIVE HOURS, they decided to go to Provo instead.  She also spoke in church on Sunday!  We didn't see Sarah much this week, but are impressed with how many good things she can fit into her life!

Megan and Mariah did cross country practice every morning this week.  On Monday mornings, their team will be providing transportation to do trail runs!  This past Monday they ran to the hot springs that we hiked to as a family a few months ago.  They said it was much quicker of an undertaking when you run it--and when there's not multiple icy hills, heh, heh.  Anyway, I thought that was tons of fun.

In addition, Mariah had a basketball camp Monday thru Thursday.  She attended in the morning with the older group and then stayed to help with the younger groups.  She had a busy week, too!  Then on Friday and Saturday she participated in a basketball tournament with the high school teams--three games on Friday and four games on Saturday.  That is a lot of basketball.

Cali and Cheyenne participated in the younger groups of Mariah's basketball camp so they had tons of fun doing that every afternoon Monday thru Thursday.  They also played softball Tuesday night and Thursday night.  Kevin said that Tuesday was their best game ever with both the girls getting hits and scoring runs.  They even won!

C and C's basketball camp

So, we did a LOT this week.  I love summer.  I also love celebrating summer with fireworks.  Art City Days totally rocks.