Savannah gave her farewell talk today in church.  She spoke on faith in Christ and did a fabulous job.  Many friends and family came to hear her speak and to wish her well.  After all the meetings, we had an open house here at our home so anyone could come and tell Savannah good-bye.  There was a touching show of support and we all felt loved!  Our out-of-town guests included Grandpa and Grandma Skinner from Rexburg, Matt and Lynsey's family from Rexburg including Grandma Mary, and Savannah's newlywed cousin Samantha and her husband, also from Rexburg!  You gotta love the people in that Rexburg town!

Sarah competed in the State Tennis Tournament in Liberty Park on Thursday of this week.  She and Allyson won their first match easily, but they lost in their second.  It was a great day, though, and they played a lot of great tennis.  She has had a super season.  She even thanked me profusely for getting her started in tennis because she has loved it so much!  She went to Sadie Hawkins on Saturday with Hunter Rogers.  They dressed for a 50s theme and she went in a group with all her friends.  She had a super time!  She also played a lovely piano solo "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go," for Savannah's farewell.

Megan finished the puzzle we put up for General Conference even after the rest of us gave up on it because it was too hard!  She is pretty stalwart.  Megan ran in the Cross Country Regional Meet on Friday and she got to run Varsity!  She did super awesome, too, coming in fourth for the team with a time of 20:24.  They only score the top five runners to rank teams in Cross Country, so to have TWO Skinners in the top five of our high school team . . . that is pretty major contributing.  She also went to Sadie Hawkins on Saturday.  She went with a large group from the Cross Country team and had a great time.  (I made her poodle skirt!)

Mariah also ran in the Regional Cross Country Meet on Friday.  She did great, too, coming in second for the team with a time of 19:24.  She improved her time from pre-regions by 1:35!  Wow!  Savannah came to watch, too, and reminisced about running the same course.  It was fun.

Cheyenne and Calianne had a great week going to school, reading books, playing with friends, going to robotics and having piano lessons.  They are sweet girls and I love them to pieces!

Bethany also had a great week going to school, playing with friends and going to piano and dance lessons.  This morning, while I stressed about having people over this afternoon, Beth wandered through the house singing a song they taught her in 1st grade, "No need to worry!  You're doing fine.  Life is for learning one step at a time."  She soothed me.  I love her.

Benjamin this Friday morning came to me and said, "What should we do now, Mom?"  Um.  Well, I didn't really need to be anywhere or do anything.  My life has this weird new component where I'm not running from one thing to another anymore.  So . . . Ben and I went to the pumpkin patch!  It was a beautiful day and we had a great time.

We started the week with a birthday party for Sarah's 18th birthday at Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik's house.  Sarah told me that now that she's 18, she can be married without my consent!  Way to celebrate the thought of being 18, Sarah!  Thanks for reminding me how very grown-up you now are.  We had a fun party and are glad she hasn't decided to go get her own apartment, yet!  After getting some cowgirl duds for a present, we finished the night with some country dancing with Dad and Grandpa.  Ben even gave it a whirl with Bethany!

She really liked her unexpected cowgirl hat and shirt!

She liked all her presents!

Savannah and Grandpa

Thanks for another great party, Grandma and Grandpa!

Savannah's departure date is growing ever closer.  Unfortunately, my denial bubble has burst and I don't know what to do with all these feelings!  Hopefully, we will at least be physically ready when October 14th comes?  She worked all week again.  On Saturday, she watched the afternoon session of conference with her friends (who are also anticipating leaving soon on their missions!).  Afterwards, they went to Ladies Night at the Sister Missionary Mall and Savannah won a $50 gift certificate and a grab bag with four skirts!

Missionary picture!

Sarah played in the Varsity Regional Tennis Tournament on Thursday and Friday this week.  Out of the eight schools in out region, Sarah and Allyson came into the tournament as the first seed for Varsity second doubles.  After being granted a bye in the first round, they had to play two of their toughest rivals.  They were tough matches, but in some really great tennis, Sarah and Allyson came out victorious in both!  They are now regional champs!  Because of rain on Friday, they played on the indoor courts, and us parents had some seriously great seats.  I took a lot of pictures

They made their dads so happy!

Megan now goes to cross country practices after school instead of to tennis as well as keeping up with her very impressive load of classes!  On Friday morning, she and Mariah left for an overnight cross country trip to attend a meet in Cedar City.  Both girls ran varsity and both PRed.  They are seriously so cool!

Both Megan and Sarah had boys over doing homework with them this week.
This happens often, just not usually at the same time!
You can see how they felt about their dad taking a picture of this momentous
event in our family history.

Mariah has been doing great in cross country, as I mentioned.  She got Sarah and Megan both to coordinate schedules and watch Castle with her!  Important sister bonding going on there!  She also does an impressive amount of homework and is dedicating herself to keeping up with her piano!

Cali and Cheyenne have been bringing their basketballs to school in anticipation of the upcoming basketball season with their dad as their new head coach!  They got to babysit on Saturday night and did a great job.  While watching conference, they've been making friendship bracelets!

Bethany's reading seems to be taking off.  Today she spent about 20 minutes reading library books to her dolls.  Wow!  I think she is just figuring out that she can read without me.  Pretty cool.  She still finds plenty of playmates after school in between piano and dance.

I got to walk Ben to school all week with his friend, Mia.  I love watching their two very different backpacks side by side!  He's very busy with playmates after school, but before school he is a pretty good pal to me -- going shopping with me and sometimes helping with the vacuuming!

Savannah and I went shopping for missionary clothes this Saturday!  We got six cute tops and two skirts.  It was a very successful trip!  Her friends came over Friday night to watch Star Wars and again Saturday night to watch Women's Conference and then Cinderella.  They need their "Savannah Time" before she leaves!

Sarah enjoyed her senior homecoming activities this week!  She got a poster on her house for being on a varsity team.  She attended the paint fight and the light parade where she and Megan rode on the float for FCCLA.  Friday night, (her 18th birthday!) she went on a date with Allyson and their homecoming dates and then to the football game.  Saturday she went to the Homecoming Dance with Aaron Bird.  They had a great time and it was super fun for her and Allyson to do a formal dance together.  Let's hear it for the boys!

After the pain fight!

Mariah and Megan decorated the kitchen
 to surprise Sarah the morning of her birthday!

Friday night pizza before the game.

After church Sunday with a yellow lollipop.

Megan finished her tennis season this week with her last regular match on Thursday and the JV tournament all day Friday!  We got to watch her both days and it was some great tennis!  She is a great player! On Thursday, she and Sarah got to play together against some extra players from the opposing team.  That was great fun!  She was late for the match Thursday because she ran in a cross country meet first, and then came over to play tennis!  She is just dedicated like that.  What an awesome girl!

Aren't our courts in a beautiful setting?

Goofballs!

Megan and her partner, Elizabeth, after four matches
in the JV tournament!  Go SHS!

Mariah also ran in the cross country meet on Thursday.  Kevin watched the girls run and said they both did great!  Megan had to run earlier in the afternoon in the heat, so Mariah had it a bit easier as the day started cooling off and PRed at 19:50!

Calianne and Cheyenne started an afterschool robotics class this week.  There are only eight girls and over twenty boys!  In spite of that, they are excited and think it will be great fun.  They watched Women's Conference with us Saturday night and even invited a friend.  Cheyenne even took notes.  They are great girls.

Bethany found her lunchbox!!  Yay!  She is practicing her Chinese every morning and getting Chinese songs stuck in her sisters' heads, much to their frustration.  She wore a bow I took off Sarah's dress but that Sarah wouldn't let me put in her hair.  Bethany was happy to wear it, though!

Benjamin broke his glasses for the gazillioneth time and lost the lens so I had to finally order new ones.  He was grounded this week because we had a disagreement on how he should treat his sister and then we disagreed over whether or not he should be able to take off on his bike in the dark because he was mad at me over said disagreement.  He got to watch a lot more tennis this week because he couldn't play with friends!  He took to climbing the trees around the courts instead!

He also got his hair cut with his Dad!