We had a busy day Saturday. The YM/YW were asked to pick up the food donations that ward members were asked to leave on their porches Saturday morning. So, Beth, Ben, and I grabbed the Mila's and we gathered food! It didn't take too long which was good because I needed to make a breakfast casserole for the ward Christmas brunch at 10am. Kevin was done playing tennis by then and we all went to the party! By "all," I mean the four of us: Kevin, me, Beth, and Ben. We are still trying to get used to being a small family. It was a nice party with good food and a couple of good songs from the primary. Later that afternoon we took Beth and Ben (and Max) to do some Christmas shopping. I made them do chores first. :) Ben wasn't feeling well, so we didn't go to more than one shop but it was fun and they got a lot done. The rest of the day, Beth and Ben hung out with the Mila's and Max. I watched "While You Were Sleeping," and did some online shopping. Kevin joined me toward the end.

The rest of the week was pretty routine! Ben had guitar lessons. Beth and Ben had karate on Tuesday and Thursday. On Wednesday, Ben played games at the church for YM and twisted his ankle. Beth made ornaments!

I worked this week and got more trainings done. I also finished my BYU independent study class. Kevin is getting closer to finishing his big project for work. We are all looking forward to when our college kids come home next week!

Since I don't have as many pictures this week, I'm going to include this clip of my mom doing a Christmas lipsync a couple of years ago. We don't want to lose it! It's pretty fabulous. :) I'm going to try including a link. Hopefully that will work!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/cEeefENBZQdde3Ak8

We had a pretty uneventful week. Beth and Ben went back to school and back to karate. Savannah went back to work at Funifinity. Kevin and I went back to work, too. Cali, Chey, and Mariah all went back to college.

Beth and I had a YW activity on Wednesday night. We went to Heritage (the care center where Cheyenne worked!) and played Bingo with the residents. Ben had a YM activity that night, too. They decorated baseball hats.

On Friday, Bethany went with Calianne's friends to do baptisms at the temple. She had a great time. Kevin and I went out to eat and then bought two new chairs for Christmas presents for each other. We had a great time, too.

On Saturday, Ben's friend Kyler came over and later Max. Beth played with them all, too. Good times!

Saturday night I covered someone else's shift at work and watched a messed-up movie with the girls and the other staff. (It was called LOL and starred Miley Cyrus) The girls watching it said, "This is just normal teenage life, so how come these kids get to keep going to high school and we're in a residential treatment center?" I suppose there's lots of answers for that, but I think it highlights a huge problem with media nowadays -- portraying social vices as so prevalent that kids think they are "normal" -- and without consequences. That's another big problem. It's so unfair and cruel, really. Just because adults wish there were no consequences doesn't mean they aren't very, very real. Movie makers know that too. It's unconscionable. 

That's my two cents. I hope you enjoyed it! Ha ha!

On Saturday night, Kevin worked on his first podcast for our church ward. It's his new calling! He's going to really rock it. He's hoping to get interviews from people in our ward and highlight missionaries and do so many fun things. He's going to do great! 

So, because I don't have pictures from this week, here's some more pictures from last Sunday when we decorated the Christmas tree!

 It was Thanksgiving week!

Cali and Chey didn't have school on Tuesday and we didn't leave for our trip until Wednesday, so they planned an adventure. Well, Cali did and Cheyenne and seven other friends were invited. They went to five different temples (starting at Brigham City and working their way south) and did baptisms at every one! They had appointments every two hours. What cool kids to do that for fun! They had a really fun day and were pretty exhausted by the end, but they assured me it was so worth it.

On Wednesday, we loaded up the car, piled in Ben, Beth, Cali, Chey, and Savannah and even picked up Sarah, McKay, and Avery. Megan and Ammon couldn't come with us this year and we missed them! We drove to St. George and picked up Mariah, too! While in St. George, we went to a tour of a replica of the Old Testament tabernacle and that was super cool

Avery doesn't want to sleep?

Picnic in St. George

By late that afternoon, we arrived in Las Vegas to my sister, Amy's house. She fed us and half of us slept at Amy's and the other half at my mom's.

The next day was Thanksgiving! We all gathered back at Amy's house and prepared our separate contributions. Everything tasted great! We had everyone write down three things for which they were grateful. We put them in a bag, drew them out randomly, and had everyone guess whose list was whose! We played games. McKay got out his guitar and we sang songs. It was just really fun being together.

On Friday, we hung out some more and played more games and sang more songs. My cousin Elliot was in town and he came by with his wife to say hi. I hadn't seen him in 30 years! Crazy! That night, after rehearsing, we went to the Summerlin mall to sing at the Giving Machines. We sounded really great with the Rich family all singing harmony and McKay on his guitar. Amy had signed us up to sing and it was all her idea. What a great idea it was! It was super fun. Also, my friend, Kim drove there to say hi and we talked as long as we could before it was time to go! She and I really need like four days! Ha ha!

On Saturday, we had another special event planned. My niece, Mandy, went to the temple for the first time! All of us who could went through the session with her. It was so great!

Then it was time for us to drive home! We got one more special treat because Kevin's dad and Maria were headed south while we were headed north. Our paths crossed in Mesquite so we stopped for some hugs before heading on our way!

We took Mariah home with us because we had another Thanksgiving dinner to share with Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik! Plus, we wanted to have a birthday celebration with her AND decorate the Christmas tree. That's a lot to demand out of one day, but we made it happen and it was so fun to all be together since Megan and Ammon were now able to join our group and make it complete!

On Monday, Beth and I went to the high school play, "You Can't Take it With You." Our neighbor, Claire, was in charge of the set and lights. She did great! Beth and I ate Twizzlers and had a lot of fun.

On Tuesday, Beth and Ben had karate. I attended Circles in the evening.

On Wednesday, Beth went early to do baptisms with the older YM/YW. She got to do family names and had a good experience. Kevin went early to the temple as well! I got to babysit for Avery in the afternoon. In the evening, Ben helped rake leaves with the younger YM.

On Thursday, Beth and Ben had karate again. I got to go to bookclub and my friend, Gwen, who moved away in the spring surprised us with a visit. So fun!

On Friday, Kevin and I went to the Hale Centre Theatre to see The Little Mermaid. I was not expecting to enjoy it as much as I did, but let me tell you, it was amazing! Beth and Ben went to Max's house with neighbor friends and they had a great evening. I'm told they imagined that they were in concentration camps during WWII, then flew to America and had to restart school. Imagination is not dead!

On Saturday, Kevin played tennis in the morning. Beth got caught up on her math homework. Ben went to Boston's house. I worked on a paper for my class and finished a good book. We got to see Cali and Chey for a little while, too! So fun!

I worked all week and am still enjoying it. Savannah worked all week. Funfinity is open for holiday hours and is keeping her very busy. Kevin worked all week, as well! He is very busy with a new multi-million dollar project for work and saving the world.

It was very cold this week, but the sun came out and shone through those yellow leaves against that blue sky and it was beautiful. I experienced many breathtaking moments. I went on a couple of walks myself up through the mountains and Robin and I went along the trail by our house this week. It's always fun to talk with her. I worked every morning this week. I went to a training on crisis intervention, too. One of the girls at work went through crisis this week, too and got very violent. She had to change houses as a result. It was sad.

Bethany and I went to young women's together this week. It was held at Springville's new family history center. We found out that Beth looks 53% like her dad and only 33% like her mom! Good thing her dad is so cute. 

Ben couldn't come because he was sick. He missed a couple of days of school this week because his stomach was hurting. He didn't get to go to any karate this week. But, he did get to come to the temple on Friday with Kevin, Beth, Cali, Cheyenne, and I. We had a special time doing baptisms together. On Saturday, he had his friend Kyler come over. Max came over, too. Beth and the Mila girls hung out for awhile, too! They did outdoor games and sardines in addition to their video games.

On Friday after the temple, Cheyenne and Calianne went to the BYU vs. UVU soccer game. They were sitting on opposite sides of the field and wearing different colors but they did both go! They visited with each other, too, of course, and both had fun.

Speaking of college sports, Mariah, Chey, and Cali all went to basketball games this week, too--all for their respective colleges. So many collegiate happenings being enjoyed!

Saturday, Megan invited all her siblings who live close by to come over for waffles! What fun!

I also got to babysit for Avery twice this week. What an amazing miracle she is.

I need to take more pictures. That will be a goal I work on this week.

Love you all! I'm grateful for this big, beautiful life!

 Halloween was on Monday this week! On Sunday after dinner we carved pumpkins! Ben didn't dress up this year. Beth and her friends dressed all in black with black beanies. They looked like jewelry thieves! Beth went to her friends' houses to do Halloween stuff and Ben did the same. He went to Kyler's. That left Kevin and I all alone in the house! That was a little too spooky for us so we went out to eat and left the jack-o-lanterns in charge.

On Tuesday night, Cali and Chey came back to their old beds to spend the night so that they could go to an early temple appointment with Beth and Ben and dad on Wednesday morning! I had to work, but I made them some pancakes before they left. They all had a great time and I think its so neat they wanted to do that together!

On Thursday evening we got a great surprise! Mariah came home to visit for the weekend! On Friday, she and Megan and Sarah went to the Pinners conference in Sandy and they had a really fun time together! On Saturday morning, Mariah ran in the Angels and Devils 5K which is a fundraiser put on by her high school's cross country team. She got some prizes! And had fun reconnecting with some teammates and her coach! Her dad ran too. He's so supoortive!

Also on Saturday morning, Bethany and Benjamin had a karate tournament. Bethany hurt her back during kumite and didn't have the best tournment experience this time around. Benjamin, though, won second place in forms and first in kumite! Pretty cool. All those kids work so hard. It's fun to watch them!

Saturday evening, one of our friends from our old Brookside ward organized a "friendsgiving" reunion for people who moved out of the ward but all still love each other! It was such fun. We had to put names to kids who are now two feet taller than when we saw them last! We talked and talked and got caught up on people's lives. It was really special. I'm so glad we could be part of it and that it happened!