The End of Lia's Track Season

Lia wrapped up her sophomore track season today after attending her last track practice.  Although there is still one more meet left this week on Thursday that she could have competed in, Lia had to quit a few days early due to a scheduling conflict with the high school play that she is also participating in.  After having so much fun in Bye Bye Birdie this winter, Lia decided to audition for her school's spring play called Dramafest where five different seniors direct One-Act plays that are performed in mid May.  Originally, Lia was not planning on auditioning for Dramafest due to being in track, but after finishing off the musical on such a positive note, Lia reached out to one of the senior directors and asked if she could audition even though track would overlap with rehearsals by 2.5 weeks.  The director told her to go ahead and try out as long as she included this track conflict on her audition form.  So, right before Spring break, Lia auditioned for Dramafest and found out that she got a lead, female role in one of the five plays.  Her director kindly allowed her to miss the first two weeks of practice with the exception of Fridays when Lia had to skip track practice to attend a rehearsal in the school's theater.  

Since Lia's last track meet was originally scheduled for today, she told her director that she could start attending daily rehearsals on May 1st, which would allow Lia to finish off her track season after her last meet.  However, a few days ago, the track coaches decided to postpone this track meet from April 30th to May 2nd due to a variety of reasons.  Since Lia had already made this commitment to her director, she had to sadly end her track season two days early and miss the last meet.  So, although today was her last official day of track practice, last Wednesday, April 24th was her second and last meet.  Since it was a home meet, all five of us were able to come to her high school after school and work to cheer her on in running the 800 meter race.  Like last week, several of her long-distance running friends ran this event with her.  Lia came in 6th place and ran the race in 2:58 which is six seconds faster than last week's meet.  

Alhtough I am a bit disappointed that her coaches changed the date of the last meet which prevented Lia from having the chance to race one more time, I am so grateful that Lia was able to juggle this spring sport while finishing off Bye Bye Birdie and starting her one-act play (while also rehearsing for Mean Girls three times a week at NWTL).  Juggling theater and running the past two school years along with going to seminary and school and completing homework has been a massive undertaking for Lia, and I am so proud of how hard she has worked to make this all happen.  It has been amazing to watch her juggle all of these obligations her 9th and 10th grade year and I have loved being able to cheer her on while she runs past me on the track or performs in front of me on a stage.  Well done, Lia!  You are truly amazing.

Lia starting off the 800 meter race.

Running past me with Emma at her side.

Lia and a bunch of her friends rounding the first corner of their race.

Lia running past us on her second lap.

Lia giving it her all has she approaches the finish line.

Crossing the finish line.

Lia congratulating her teammates right after the race was over.

A cute group picture of Lia with her close, long-distance running friends from XC and track.  These girls are some of her bestest friends in high school and I am so happy that she met all of them through this wonderful sport.  

From left to right:

Esley, Julie, Erika, Lia, and Hope

Mommy-Son and Daddy Daughter Dance weekend

In keeping up with their annual tradition, our Stake Primary presidency hosted the mother-son and daddy-daughter dances this weekend.  Although Logan is now one year too old to go to this dance, I convinced him to join us since he just turned twelve a few months ago and could still pass for an 11-year old.  Since it is now our tradition, the two boys and me went out for dinner at Trackside Pizza Friday evening before heading to the stake center for the dance.  Logan was a good sport and played games with Emmett and kept me company in the gym while we watched Emmett dance like a madman and run around the cultural hall for over an hour.  I enjoyed spending this special evening out with just my boys in the midst of a very busy weekend.

Ron took Ella out Saturday evening for their date night.  Since it was the first night of the "Cruise Puyallup" season, Ron really wanted to go driving with Ella to see all of the old cars out in full force.  Luckily, since Ella really enjoys doing this with her dad, she agreed to get her Chick-fil-A dinner "to go" so that they could cruise around town while they ate dinner.  After they were done driving, Ron and Ella went to the church to spend the rest of the evening at the dance.  Ella had a great time dancing with her dad on the dance floor, doing cartwheels during the Soul Train dance line, and winning the limbo contest.

April 26th:

Emmett and I posing for a picture in the living room before heading out for the evening.  He was so excited to go on this date together!

The boys and I enjoying some Trackside pizza.

Since the dance was hula themed, they had a few fun backdrops that we could pose in front of for pictures.

Emmett and Logan enjoying their cupcake treat after first arriving at the dance.

Emmett bowling in the primary room.

Another Hawaiian picture!

Emmett waiting to start the hula hoop contest.

April 27th:

Ella and Ron all dressed up and ready to go.

Ella enjoying her dinner in the car while cruising with dad.

A picture of Ella after they first arrived at the dance.

Enjoying her  cupcake.

Daddy-daughter selfie.

Ella dominating the hula hoop contest.

Emmett's Last Soccer Game of the Spring Season

Emmett wrapped up his short, spring season of soccer today after two practices and four games.  Since the park and rec league did not organize the teams by age this season, Emmett was always one of the oldest, biggest, and strongest players out of the 3 to 5 year olds who he played with and against each game.  As a result, he absolutely dominated in all four games this season scoring four goals in each of the first two games, 11 goals in the third game, and 8 goals in the fourth game.  To put it simply, Emmett is a natural at soccer.  He is so fast, coordinated, agressive, and has amazing footwork.  I have no idea where these natural skills came from, but it is very obvious that he has a future in soccer as long as he enjoys playing it.  Regardless, it has been so fun to watch this athletic boy of mine play soccer this spring and I can't wait to cheer him on from the sidelines this fall as he transitions to playing outdoor soccer with the RSA league.

Emmett chasing the ball out of bounds.

Emmett kicking the ball away from some opponents.

Dribbling the ball towards the goal.

Stopping the ball.

Running down the court while screaming.  I just love this picture as it perfectly sums up Emmett's enthusiasm while playing soccer!

Emmett's coach was kind enough to purchase everyone soccer medals to pass out with the certificates after the last game today.  As the coach placed the medal around his neck, he said to the entire group that Emmett was the player that never ran out of gas.

The entire Galaxy team with Coach Davon.

Emmett proudly showing off his medal and certificate .

Lia's 1st Track Meet of the Season

Lia finally ran in her first track meet this spring after a very nontraditional start to her track season this school year.  Since her high school musical overlapped with the beginning of the track season by four weeks, Lia was able to arrange with her coach to miss the first two weeks of practice and then to attend a short practice the third and fourth week when her musical rehearsals and performances moved to the evenings.  It was a crazy two weeks as Lia ran after school every day and then raced home for about half an hour to eat dinner before dashing back to school from 5 to 10 pm for Bye Bye Birdie.  We arranged for Lia to skip early morning seminary during this two week period, and she caught up with her homework on the weekends since she did not have the time to work on it each night after getting home around 10:15.  I am so proud of Lia for getting through these exhausting two weeks.  

Starting on March 25th, Lia was able to start going to her daily track practices while "only" juggling Mean Girls rehearsals on Tuesday and Thursdays evenings and Matilda and Mean Girls rehearsals on Saturdays.  After reaching ten practices, Lia was finally able to compete in her first track meet.  Unfortunately, the next two meets on the calendar were invitationals that Lia had to qualify for by running in a previous meet.  As a result, Lia was not able to race in these two meets.  So, she had to wait until today to finally race against Graham Kapowsin High School in Spanaway.  Luckily, the day turned out to be a chilly, but sunny, day, so Lia did not have to run in the rain like so many of her other track meets in the past.  Not feeling quite ready to run the mile, Lia opted to run the 800 with several of her other long-distance running friends and Emmett and I enjoyed being able to cheer her on from the side of the track.  She did a great job and ran it in 3:04 which I think is a great start to her track season.  Good job, Lia!

Lia and the rest of the girls taking off from the starting line.

Lia rounding the corner at the beginning of the 800.

Lia running past Emmett and me.

Lia racing past us with a bunch of other girls from high school.

Lia passing us on her second lap.

Lia racing to the finish line.

Lia giving her long-distance coach a high 5 after completing her race.

Of all of the wonderful friends that Lia has made these past three years running XC and track, Hope is the closest friend that she has met.  We all absolutely adore her and I am so grateful that Lia had the chance to meet her during the 2022 XC season.  Here are these two buddies posing for me after their race was over.

A Spring Break Ski Day

I asked my parents if they would be available to watch Emmett one last time this ski season during our spring break IF there was enough snow at White Pass.  Luckily, the snow lasted until the second week of April and a big storm even came through last weekend, giving us a glorious, powdered-covered mountain to play in all day long.  Sadly, Ella came down with some sort of flu bug two days ago.  As a result, we decided not to risk it and asked if she could also spend the night at my parents' house so that she didn't end up hijacking our family ski day.  So, as sad as I was to have Ella finish off her 23-24 ski season with only one day under her belt instead of the four days I had planned, I was grateful that my parents agreed to watch her.  As a result, just Logan and Lia joined Ron and me for our long day up at White Pass.  Since we were able to go skoarding together on a Monday during the second week of April, we were blown away by how empty the mountain was all day long.  We never had to wait in line at a single chair lift and loved all of the fresh snow.  Ron and I were able to convince the two kids to follow us into the powder off in the trees several times and it was so fun watching them navigate this unfamiliar and fluffy snow.  Overall, it was a wonderful day and I am so grateful for one last chance to get up to the mountain before the snow melts away until next season!

Logan, Lia, and Ron at the top of the Couloir run.

Ron snowboarding with no one around him and beautiful, snow-covered trees in the background.

Lia following Ron down the run.

The kids and me at the top of the mountain with trees completely covered in snow behind us.

Logan cruising down the hill.

Lia and Logan.

The kids and me.

A stunning picture I was able to catch of Logan snowboarding through some powder in the trees.

The kids following Ron through the trees.

A Belated Easter 2024

For the first time in ten years, Ella's birthday fell on the same day as Easter.  Since I knew that my "mom brain" could not handle hosting a birthday party on the same weekend as a holiday, I quickly decided that the two events needed to be split up.  As a result, I decided that Ella's birthday needed to take priority and be celebrated on her actual birthday weekend.  After asking my mom and sister-in-laws if they were okay with celebrating Easter as a family a week late, I moved all Easter celebrating until the first weekend in April.  

Sadly, Ella came down with some sort of flu bug during gymnastics yesterday.  When I picked her up after her 4-hour practice, she looked so pale and sick.  After spending all afternoon in her bedroom and even taking a nap, I convinced her to come out for a few minutes to help us dye Easter eggs last night.  This morning, she felt a little better and was able to participate in all our Easter activities of going through her basket, finding the eggs hidden around the house, and eating a little bit of our Easter breakfast.  After church and a slow afternoon, all six of us drove to Issaquah to spend the evening at my parent's house for dinner and an outdoor egg hunt.  In addition, we celebrated both of my parent's April birthdays and watched them open gifts after enjoying two different kinds of birthday cakes.  It was a perfect way to finish celebrating our belated Easter this year!

April 6th:

Ella decorated an egg before dyeing it.

Logan sticking out his tongue at me while choosing another egg to dye.

Lia coloring away.

Emmett getting ready to dip an egg in some dye.

Mother daughter decorating.

April 7th:

The four kids walking down the stairs to find their baskets waiting for them in the living room.

Emmett examining his new basketball.

Ella showing off her pack of root beer.

Logan happily hugging his 6-pack of Sprite.

Lia holding up her new fanny pack from JTF.

Lia hunting for eggs around the house and finding one hidden on the children play kitchen.

Emmy happily showing off an egg he just found.

Logan reaching for one on top of a picture frame.

Lia reaching for an egg hidden in the blinds above the kitchen sink.

Emmett smiling for me as he hunts for candy in grandma's yard.

Logan reaching for a goodie hidden in a tree in the backyard.

Ella searching for treats in the front yard.

Lia looking around her flower bed at the top of the yard.

All four siblings together after the hunt was over.

As the older cousins have headed off to college these past few years, our cousin picture has shrunk in size.  Here are the six remaining cousins posing together in front of one of grandma's beautiful pink rhodies.

Grandma and grandpa waiting for us to sing "Happy Birthday" to them.