Last Sunday we had dinner outside of Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik's house in their pavilion. The weather was lovely and we were glad we could be COVID safe by being outside. Megan came, too, and we all had a great visit.

Savannah has started working at Funfinity as a manager. She is working from 3 to 8 usually except on Tuesdays and Sundays. I think she is starting to get into the flow of working again. The first week she had a terrible headache each day before she got home! Poor girl.

Cali had tennis on Monday and Wednesday. Cheyenne had basketball on Monday and Wednesday. They both had piano lessons and lots of stress from their physics class. On Friday, I took them out of school early and drove them to Price (about an hour and a half away) for a USTA tournament I found. They both played three matches that day! They won their first two singles matches and then when they played together for doubles, they lost! They were exhausted, though since they'd been playing for about five hours straight. Kevin took them to the second day of the tournament on Saturday. They had to play against each other in the Semifinals. Cali won. Though Kevin said they both played great! Cali played in the final match and ended up with second place. Go Cali! She got a $5 gift certificate. I know. Hold the train! Anyway, they both got in a lot of match play so it was all time well spent.

Bethany and Ben had karate on Tuesday and Thursday. They had friends over Friday and Saturday night for night games on the trampoline! Ben got to go kayaking and paddle boarding with his friend, Max on Wednesday. On Saturday, I took them both on a hike with me to the Escalante Cross in Spanish Fork. We got lost and went up a huge mountain and enjoyed the fall colors and had a marvelous time!

 On Sunday, Cali received her Patriarchal Blessing. It was a beautiful blessing. She will be an amazing woman and have a beautiful life and I feel priviledged to know her!

Afterwards, she made cookies with Chey, Beth, and Ben. I heard her explaining to Ben the difference between a teaspoon and a tablespoon. She's already a great mom!

Sunday was also a fun day because Sarah and McKay and Megan and Ammon all came over for a big dinner. Afterwards, they all played a zillion games of Among Us and laughed and had a great time together!

On Monday, Bethany dressed up her brother. He will look pretty cool for Halloween! I'm thrilled because she got him to like his jean jacket which was going unused previously!

Tuesday was Ben's last flag football game! He got to run the ball and did great. I don't know if he'll do it again but it was fun watching this year.

Thursday was our first day of Fall Break! Last year we had decided that in 2020 we would take the kids to Disneyland. Unfortunately . . . Covid has closed Disneyland. So, the next closest amusement park is Lagoon, so we went there instead! The good news was that because we were still in the state, Megan and Sarah and McKay were able to come! Savannah had to work and we missed her. The rest of us had a really fun day. The roller coasters made me SICK but I still gave a few of them a try. We tried a few haunted houses, too, and had a great time laughing and screaming together.

These brave participants got so wet and so cold but they had FUN!

Friday we went for a bike ride along the Provo River Walkway trail. It was sooo pretty! We think it may be the first time we have ever been on a family bike ride. Isn't that funny? We decided we should do it more. We went about 6 miles round trip and had a great time!

On Saturday, we drove to Spring City to see my cousin, Christi! She had a whole day planned for us! First, she and her husband, Joe, lent us the use of their side by side which fit all seven of us and we drove up the mountain that borders their town. It was beautiful and a great new experience! We came back and Christi and Joe barbecued some burgers on their patio complete with Joe's special pineapple juice. Delicious! Then Joe drove us through town while Christi told us the history of several spots. We even stopped at the little museum and saw a bunch of heirlooms from our own family! As the sun went down and it got dark, we went to the cemetery and had a scavenger hunt looking for names and dates and got ourselves rewarded with candy! We ended the day back at Christi's house with a campfire and S'mores. What a fun day and what a cute little city and what a lovely thing for my sweet cousin to do for us! She's my new favorite. The rest of you are going to have to step up.

And I just have to tell you that I have really great kids. They thanked me multiple times for each of the activities on our Fall Break and thanked me for planning it and to both of us for taking them. Gratitude and positivity! I'm so happy to see it in my kids. Love them. What a great week.

 The twins joined Hope Squad this year which is a club that tries to reduce teen suicides by increasing connections and positivity. This week was Hope Week! I can't remember what they did on Monday and Tuesday, but on Wednesday they manned the Hope Wall during lunch where people came to write positive messages on the wall. On Thursday, they had a massive Cahoot game in the evening online, and on Friday evening they had outdoor games, fundraising food, and an outdoor movie (and they dressed in costumes). Fun times! I think its neat what they are learning there and the good they are doing!

On Tuesday night, they had their tennis "banquet," which this year had no food except for a packaged Crumbl cookie for each tennis player. Still, each girl got honored by the coach and we clapped and cheered for the team's accomplishments.

Bethany had her final week of cross country this week. They had regular practices on Monday and Tuesday and then on Wednesday, they had "carb loading" with pizza and a movie in their cafeteria! Fun times! Friday was the final meet back at the same course where they started their season. Bethany didn't have her best race of the season, but still finished a minute faster than her first race on that course! Way to go Beth!

Benjamin had a football game on Monday night and then karate on Tuesday and Thursday. He also played with Max and worked on his fort and built more stuff in Minecraft. He's reading The Westing Game for school and is almost done!

Savannah brought home a BUNCH of boxes from Shane's warehouse. Each box is filled with 445 little boxes that need to be folded and you can earn $20 for folding a whole box full. Unfortunately, her siblings don't have as much time to do this as they thought and I think they've made their way through two boxes. Savannah might be bringing several of those unopened boxes back! Especially since she'll start as the morning manager for Funfinity on Monday morning! I'm excited for her and she feels good about it. So, yay!

I've had lots of time to write this week and made it about halfway through the first little chapter book in my series. Yay me! I also went walking with Robin up the canyon on Friday and it was beautiful!

Kevin is in Atlanta this weekend at a small college. He's teaching about addiction to their masters students. He got to teach in person but had to wear a mask! He also had to go running in the pouring rain since the exercise room in his hotel was under construction! He'll be home today and we are excited to have him back!

 Our city has a farmer's market every Monday night in the fall complete with a craft fair and food trucks and I've never been! I decided to fix that this week. Even though Calianne has tennis on Monday nights and Cheyenne has basketball, Savannah, Beth, Ben, Kevin, and I went to Main Street to check out the action. It was really pretty cool! They have lights strung over the booths and we had Terriyaki chicken from the food trucks. Lots of people were there walking about--all with masks on, of course--but still enjoying being out enjoying the doings of fall. I forgot to get a picture until we had split up to go home, but here's what I got:

Benjamin had karate this week on Tuesday and Thursday, football on Wednesday, and Max in between. He tells me he has created another amazing house in Minecraft and this one's yard is full of flowers and bushes.

Bethany had cross country all week and ran a great race on Friday finishing 8th for her team! It was the first time a race caused her pain, though, and she didn't like that much. She also had karate and brought her baritone home once to practice.

Calianne had tennis on Monday and Wednesday and made cookies for quarantined friends on Wednesday. In between she practiced piano and did loads of homework--sometimes with friends in study groups. She's starting to think about maybe getting a job.

Cheyenne had basketball on Monday and Wednesday and Saturday. She helped with the cookie making and also practiced piano and did loads of homework. She's thinking about maybe getting a job, too, but is worried about when basketball season starts.

Savannah and I met Dad and Megan for lunch on Thursday and that was super fun! Meg lives near Kevin's office so he often invites her to join him for lunch. She is very busy with school and work and husband, but is happy and doing well. She loves her experience design classes.

I for real got that hike with Robin this week past Bridal Veil Falls. It was beautiful and it was fun to talk with my friend!

Kevin and I moved forward on our plans to make a patio in the back corner of our yard! Kevin rented a skid steer (why do they call it that? -- Ha! looked it up. Funny because we did do a lot of skidding.) and after some trial and error, levelled the area for us! Yay! Ben really wanted to drive it, too. He was sure he could if only given the chance.

Saturday was the first day of general conference. We loved it! That night was a women's session and Sarah came over to watch with us. She is busy teaching school and also filling requirements for her own schooling. She seems really happy though! They mentioned that Pres. Hinckley read the Proclamation on the Family in women's conference 25 years ago and I remembered sitting by myself in the chapel listening to women's conference, pregnant with my first girl. Now I have oodles of girls watching women's session with me! What a blessed girl am I. Life moves so fast.