So, this week started off with Tennis Tryouts for Sarah and Megan!  The school hired a new tennis coach for this season and he only wanted to keep 14 players with 2 alternates.  Over 30 girls tried out!  Both our girls did great at tryouts and we are super happy to announce that Sarah and Megan both made the team!  They love playing tennis and we love watching them play so we are all really happy to get to enjoy another season.  They had four-hour practices for the rest of the week.  They were happy to get Friday off since they were both pretty tired!

Savannah went to the orthodontist this week and got a new retainer to take on her mission.  Unfortunately, it has put her in a lot of pain!  She's hoping to get used to it soon!  Grandma Gazdik and I took her to get clothes for the temple.  She is so excited to go next week.

Mariah has been running with the cross country team twice a day and at time trials on Thursday night, she came in second on her team -- as a freshman!  Wow!

Cheyenne and Calianne got to babysit for three little boys on Monday of this week.  They are quite the babysitting duo and they love to do it!  It's fun to watch them go and know they are so capable.  They got to go to a bowling/late-night birthday party this week and also got to go to a late-night at Seven Peaks waterpark with one of their friends on another night this week.  They are partying up their last days of summer!

I finally picked up Beth's dance pictures from last spring!  Didn't they turn out cute?  They're a little bit appropriate even because I just signed Beth up for a new dance class starting next month.  She really likes dancing and is excited about her new class!  She's been playing with friends all week and loving it.

I took Ben to a trial Karate class this week.  It was just a free trial class!  He has asked me everyday since when we are going back!  It looks like Ben might be starting Karate in the fall.  I did tell him that if he hits anywhere outside of Karate class, that he can't go.  Since that is increasingly his "go to" option for dealing with his sisters, we'll see if it happens or not!

My sister, Maggie, and her family came to visit on Thursday night!  They went to a wedding and reception all day Friday and didn't get back until late, but we spent all day Saturday together.  We took them on the Mt. Timpanogos hike but just the first mile which ends at a really pretty waterfall.  Then back to the parking lot for a picnic lunch and then we drove to Cascade Springs and took a dirt road into Heber.  That night we had a barbecue in the backyard and played some card games.  The cousins even put together a skit because what would a Gillespie visit be without a skit by the kids??  It was super fun!  I'm so glad we got to be together!

We started this week with Ben back at the dentist to fill the last few of his cavities.  He didn't do as well this time and fought them most of the way!  They sure earned their money.  They may have even questioned their decision to go into the dental profession.  Still, the job finally got done.  We're hoping for no more of those in the future!

Wednesday was Kevin's and my 21st wedding anniversary!  You may remember that last year we were planning on hiking Timpanogos and then were foiled by bad weather.  Well, about a week ago, Kevin told me he was planning on taking the day off for our anniversary and we could do whatever I wanted--even hike Timp if I wanted.  I hadn't been planning on it at all so I hadn't been training for it at all, but it's been so hard to find a day that works for us, that I decided we should jump on that chance!  So, we woke up at 4:30 on the day of our anniversary and were on the trail by 6:15.  We spent the next four hours hiking UP.  It's a beautiful hike through pines and shrubbery and red and blue and yellow wildflowers.  You pass a waterfall at the first mile and several small streams trickle down the mountain and cross the path as you continue to climb.  Eventually though, the tops of the pine trees are at your feet and even the peaks next to you begin to dip below your eye level and you realize how truly epic this hike you've undertaken truly is!  This was also about the time that the continual hike up and the continual hard breathing and continual heightened heart rate and the continual burning in my legs caused me to start seeing black spots in my vision and contemplate, as I looked down the sheer face of the mountain I'd been climbing, what an awful place this would be to faint!  Gratefully, I made it to Emerald Lake which is a beautiful destination 5.3 miles from the trailhead.  Gorgeous!  I sat gingerly on a rock and ate some of my sandwich hoping it could refuel my legs as quickly as refueling a car.  Funny how legs aren't like that.  It was 2 more miles to the summit.  Two more miles UP and then I'd still need to use those same legs to get back down.  Instead, Kevin and I decided to try again another time.  I'll need to do some training before the next attempt!  The hike back down was HARD, using my legs now to stop me from tumbling downward with each step. Constantly stepping downward.  For two and a half hours!  Ow. ow. ow. ow.  My legs were shot for the next three days.  It sure was beautiful, though!  And we sure will remember this anniversary!  And Kevin was the perfect hiking partner, supportive and thrilled to be there, too--and he carried both the backpacks from about mile 2.  It was a great adventure and great to do together!  We are already trying to find a day to go back!

The next day we packed up the car and left for the Skinner reunion at Heise Hot Springs in Idaho!  Sarah spent the first few days of the week with her friend, Allyson, and her family at Lava Hot Springs in Idaho.  That was on our way, so we just stopped by and picked her up.  She had a great time, though, going down the river in tubes, playing in the pool, and jumping from the high dives.

When we arrived at Heise, Michael and Aftyn and their family were already there, as were Grandpa and Maria.  We got to hang out with them at the campground that day and at the pool the next.  We haven't seen them for three years so it was great fun to be together again!  Matt and Lynsey and their family showed up that night and we had a great dinner together before heading back to the pool for a couple of hours and then some s'mores around the campfire before bed.  We had great fun seeing them, too, and passing around their baby girl!  Saturday, Todd and Brady arrived and we had as many as we were going to get.  It's always fun to talk with Todd and Brady so we did a lot of that while Kevin, Matt, and Michael tackled the golf course.  When they got back, the boys were finally able to give their dad the rifle they'd all pitched in to get for him.  We left later that afternoon for home.  It was a great visit!

Grandpa helped Beth pull her last front tooth
the first night we were there!

Our kids with Michael's Braxon and Eizak.

Michael's Linkon giving us his "I don't trust you, yet!" look.

The boy cousins climbed and dug and explored on this mountain
at our campground.

The "arm bands" Sarah made for her boy cousins!

Megan with Matt and his Quincy.

Cheyenne with Matt's gun because, "This is Idaho!"

The whole crew this year!

On Monday of this week, I took Ben to the dentist to get cavities filled.  Poor kid.  It took about an hour and when we left his mouth was all numbed up.  After a couple of hours feeling came back into his mouth and we discovered that in spite of our best efforts, he had sucked on his lip.  By the end of the day, it was three times its normal size! 

That night Cali, Chey, Beth, and Ben went to Grandm and Grandpa Gazdik’s house for a fun visit and a sleepover.  The next morning, Sarah, Megan, Mariah, and I left for Stake Youth Conference:  two nights at Camp Kohowolo on Mount Nebo.  It was so fun!  The kids played games, listened to guest speakers, helped stack wood for a service project, had a dance, ate great food, and even had a testimony meeting.  There were a lot of great kids there and it was a super experience.  Sarah was one of the youth leaders and it was great to see her be in charge and take ownership for the experience.  I counted myself blessed to have been able to go and participate with my own teenage daughters!

 

Kyle Collinsworth from the BYU basketball team
 and his wife, Shay, from the BYU track team.

 

 

Sarah taught the "Bunny Bunny" Game

 

These are the kids and leaders from our ward who attended.

We got home Thursday around lunchtime.  That gave us time to unpack and repack before we left around 2:30 for a trip to Las Vegas!  This time Sarah stayed home.  She had work and her friend Allyson’s surprise birthday party which she was planning.  She had been excited for days to have the house to herself, but when we left, she wasn’t so sure about it!  It’s a good thing that she prefers the house full of people since that's the way it is most of the time!

We dropped off Megan in Cedar City so she could hang out with her cousins Rebecca and Emily.  She got to go see them in a parade, go to their pool/waterpark, go to a dance, go hiking, and go to their cabin up in the mountains for campfires and card games.  She had a great time!

We picked up cousin Elizabeth the same time we dropped off Megan so she could have some cousin time with Mariah!  The reason we went to Las Vegas was that Mariah’s schaper team had a tournament.  She got to hang out with us between games still, though.  She played in three games and only lost two.  She averaged 10 points a game and Kevin said she played great!

 

The rest of us did a lot of visiting!   On Friday, we went to my friend, Kim’s house where she fed us a fabulous lunch and we swam in her pool and the kids played and we visited.  It was tons of fun!  I love that girlfriend of mine!

 

 

 

 

Friday afternoon we hung out with Grandma and Grandpa Elton.  Grandma made us a great dinner; the kids played with toys; we all visited.  It was great fun.  Uncle John sent a box of ties to the family and Grandpa gave an impromptu tie-tying lesson to all the granddaughters.  They love their new skill!

 

Saturday we went to my brother Pete and Monica’s house for a barbecue lunch and swimming, the works!  Most of their kids were there and Samantha, his oldest, even came by for a little bit with her fiancé and we got to meet him!  We had a great time catching up with Pete and Monica and talking with their cute kids and watching the cousins play together.  Good memories were created right there!

My brother.  Racing his "bike."

After Pete and Monica’s, we went over to Diane’s for dinner!  I really scored on rounding up the invitations this time, didn’t I?  Diane made us a terrific meal and we got to see her cute little house and the room she has all set up for her new baby girl who will arrive late next month!  The kids had fun playing with her little boys and enjoyed the swings and trampoline in the backyard, too!

 

Sunday we went to Sacrament meeting and then got on the road.  We were going to stop at my brother, Dave’s, but Elizabeth was sick and we felt like we’d better get her home!  We also didn’t see my sister, Amy and her family this week, but she was in Florida, so that sounds fun, too!  What a week!