The Bees knees.

 My brother Matt invited us to join him in his company suite for a Bees game on May 28.

We were super lucky to all get hats, tons of snacks, and the perfect ballfield dinner.

(L's smolder tho)

I reminisced about my dating days attending SL Trappers games at this field. It was much more of an old school baseball field in those days.

After the game, anyone who wanted could snap a pic with Bumble. The kids were all over it.

I love that CalB is a brave soul who's not afraid of a giant bee haha.

He's ready and willing to share his beloved binkie with Bumble.

There's something about a summer night at a baseball game. Since I missed hitting a Rockies game this year, this filled that baseball-game-attending void perfectly.

THANK YOU, Matt!

Nuggets.

On Tuesday (3.26.19), Mar's choir, Versailles, sang the National Anthem at a Nuggets game. This was a fun (albeit expensive) opportunity for all of us to attend our first NBA game in CO. We've only lived here how long? Oh yes, 17 years haha.

Bill and I had attended quite a few Jazz games back in our Utah days, and we watched many more on the telly (especially when my Grandma G. was alive -- she was a huge Jazz fan).

Taylor had two straight years of Jazz-themed birthday parties when the Jazz were tearing it up at the playoffs. Tay also had a Jazz-themed bedroom during much of our Kearns years.

Since living in Denver, it's been a little hard to get behind the Nuggets. Some of that probably due to our fierce Jazz loyalty (which has dwindled over the years btw), and some due to the fact that the Nuggets just haven't been that... interesting. Not to mention, we are cheap, and those tickets are 'spensive, Weezy. BUT, when your child is singing the National Anthem, and you get "discounted tickets" ($60/ea haha), you bite the bullet and GO.

It was a lovely evening.

My second time EVER at the Pepsi Center 

(the first was to watch my nephew wrestle at State last month).

The choir had taken the light rail downtown, so they got to watch warm-ups and peruse the Pepsi Center for a bit. We met up with Mar when we arrived, made a potty stop, spent too much for a drink (for Mar) and some cinnamon roasted nuts (for me -- seriously, they're like popcorn at a movie theater -- the smell pulls me in and I just can't resist), then parted so she could go get in her spot... which happened to be right above our seats.

She was, unfortunately, in the second row of singers, which made it tricky to get a shot of her.
I recorded the jumbo-tron, Bill recorded the girls. I've included both video clips for your listening and viewing pleasure.

The game was super fun.
(And the $60 seats were pretty darn good.)
The Nuggets won, but just barely, which was a little shocking for us since we headed out after the 3rd quarter and the Nuggets had maintained a healthy lead (20+) for most of the game while we were there. But it was a school/seminary night, and Bill had a lesson to prepare.
Obviously we were there for the best part anyway... the National Anthem.

We snagged a couple of fun pictures on our way out.

The city at night is so pretty... this picture doesn't do it justice.

Now for a few true nuggets:

(I've needed this reminder the past couple of weeks)

And finally.... I saw this on FB and thought it was super cute
(and will probably share with my Seminary class next week as we gear up for General Conference) :

(make sure you turn the sound on! 
The little speaker on the bottom right ;-)

Volleying

I love middle school sports.

Around here, anyone can participate.

Taylor played football; Lex did cross country, basketball, and track; Shi ran cross country.

(I didn't forget Britt - she was more of a choir and poms girl in middle school)

Mar decided to try volleyball this year.

I was a little nervous for her, since she's never really played before (except at our family reunion this summer), and I personally never had great experiences in all my years of church volleyball as a youth (I recall jammed fingers and balls-in-the-face more than actual play time - although I had a mean underhand serve). Even Lex - I would say the most adventurous athletically of my children - mentioned how awful she was at volleyball.

The Monday night before tryout week we headed to the church for FHE to practice up a bit.

I talked up the benefits of the C team.

(equal playing time, the girls are distributed on the 4 C teams evenly so each team has some girls with more skills and some with less, the opportunity to make new friends, etc.)

(This is the entire C team - the girls are divided up into 4 smaller teams for playing)
Note: Upon further study of these photos, I have concluded that the A/B team is probably pictured as well. All three coaches are in the pic, so my guess is that this is everybody.

So far, Mar has loved it.

I've tried to figure out the scoring and rotation (so far it's been different at every game).

Three opponents down, it's been fun to see the improvement the girls have made.

At Monday's game, there was actually more volleying going on vs. the which-team-can-get-the-most-serves-over-the-net scoring of the first games.

Mar's team played 4 games (many of the schools they play have 6 C teams, so our 4 teams have the opportunity to play more - bonus!), and they were all good, close, fun-to-watch games.

(It's also kind of fun to note how much smaller Mar is than most the girls her age... reminds me of when Shi was younger... I had to include a couple pics to illustrate my point):

Shilo's VB commentary lately: "If I would have known I would be this tall, I would have played volleyball... maybe then I'd be more coordinated!"  I think swimming takes coordination, too, don't you think? She played one Rec season of VB back in 5th grade, along with the girl on the left in the CC photo with Shi at the top of this post. Kennedy continued playing on club teams after that season and is now a varsity player for LHS.

I'm looking forward to the rest of Mar's season (with a nice long Fall Break in the middle of it).
Keep up the good work, girl!

Boulder Ball

Just a quick post about the Final Four game.

After our 1-1/2 hour drive in crazy-bad traffic, we finally arrived in Boulder, only to miss exits, make multiple u-turns, and become disenchanted with the whole town (actually, only the semi-hormonal did-I-remember-to-change-my-patch anxious shotgun passenger was.  Disenchanted, that is).  We finally oriented ourselves a bit, cursed our not-so-trusty phone GPS, and found a nearby Tokyo Joe's to grab a bite before heading to the game down the street.

We had purchased our reserved seat tickets online per a suggestion from a presumed reliable source.  We would get better seats that way, he said.  I forgot to think it through (the story of my life), and neglected to realize that, when purchasing the price-inflated-with-a-service-charge online tickets, we were never asked what team we would be there for.  Upon arrival to our average seats on the opposite side of the arena from the LHS student section, we decided to switch sides, eventually maneuvering ourselves to a prime spot.  Duh.  Those reserved tickets were good for the entire tournament that day (4 games), and it would be natural to suppose that not every person who had purchased a ticket would be staying the entire time.  As teams finished play, prime seats naturally opened up for the next game.  I'm sharing only so I will remember next time.  If there is one.  General admission tickets = prime seating if you're willing to shuffle around SHOULD someone actually have the reserved seats you have acquired by stratagem and stealth.

On to the game.

Legend had the best student section.  EVER.  Here's a little clip:

That sea of blue?  All students.  Students that made their way in crazy-bad traffic to a college town over an hour away to support their team.

This was the opposing team's student section:

Fittingly, LHS was positioned under this:

Mauri and Lauren dug up some old cheer stuff to wear to the game.

Here's the scoreboard story:

Legend was in the game the first half, fizzled a bit the second.  But it was a great run.

Denver East, seeded #1, did not win the State Championship the following day.  One of their starters was injured in our game (knocked a tooth out and injured his shooting hand, due to a trip-and-fall face-plant), and since their starters pretty much played the entire game (we think they subbed 2 other guys for short stints vs Legend), it probably had a big impact on the final game.  Eaglecrest pulled it out and handily won the Championship despite the fact that Denver East had won them by 20 points earlier in the season.

I know.

More than you ever wanted to know.

Basketball Euphoria

Back on February 22nd, Bill and I drove the 5 minutes to the high school to watch the boys basketball game.  It was Senior night, Legend was playing a super-intense cross-town rival team (Chap), and three of the starters/Seniors on our team are LDS: two from our ward, and the other from our ward before the split.

I've talked about my love for high school athletics (here, here and here - I'm sure there's more, but you get the idea), and even though I have attended my share of swim meets this year, it was good to be back in the Titan Coliseum with a good old-fashioned electric crowd.

Despite the fact that we had some darn awesome senior players that had graduated the year before, LHS still has a strong team this year.  I don't think, however, that anyone (other than LHS) expected them to beat Chaparral.

They did.  Here are a couple of snippets:

The crowd was great.  I was bummed that I missed recording the Harlem Shake - it was awesome.  They held a "black out" (why most of them are wearing black), and did fun, encouraging cheers, a relief from the negative chants that are so typical at these intense games.  As a spectator, it was one of my favorite games, not only because of the win (which was a key factor, I suppose), but because of the crowd.  Fun, energetic, and mostly respectful.  Can you see Shi in the crowd?  It took me a while to locate her from across the court AT the game, so probably not.  She is at the bottom of the top third of the bottom center section, smack dab in the middle of the row.  

That helps, right? (Just call me The Locator.)

After the intense down-to-the-final-seconds, won-by-free-throws-by-the-only-player-making-them-all-night win, the crowd cleared the bleachers in record time.

Thank goodness no one was trampled.

Fast forward to last night.  Bill had committed the Bishopric to do a "church tour" with our full-time missionaries at 7, Shilo was working at the Rec Center until 7, and Mar had a late-night scheduled.  Legend had made it to the Elite Eight in the State play-offs, and Shi had lamented how she wouldn't be able to attend the game, while also mentioning that LHS would be one of the final teams playing that evening, and the game wouldn't even start until 8:30pm.  At around 6, Bill asked me if I wanted to head downtown to the Denver Coliseum to see the game after our tour.  I texted Shi at work to see if she wanted to make the trip to catch the game.  If Shi would have said no, we wouldn't have gone.  

She texted back, Sure!

When we arrived at the Coliseum, the previous play-off game was still going.  It eventually went into a double overtime, delaying the Legend v Fairview game for over an hour.  I think the game got underway around 9:40pm.  Although Legend scored the first points (3), they were quickly down by 8.  The team gradually made up the difference, and by the final quarter, it was anybody's game as the lead volleyed from one team to the other.

(I think this was during half-time, thus the lack-luster expressions.  Or maybe it was during the first-quarter 10-minute delay when the scorekeepers had to rearrange the entire scoreboard - after play had already begun - because they had posted the team names on the wrong sides of the board and were delegating points incorrectly because of this {oversight}...  I wish I would have walked to the other side of the coliseum to snap a few pictures, since the crowds for both teams in this game were seated on the same side.  It would have given a much more accurate portrayal of the packed and enthusiastic student sections from both teams.)

At 11:04pm I texted Rebecca, 1.6 seconds legend lead by 1.

{INTENSE}

A Fairview player did one of those more-than-half-court shots at the buzzer, and the ball bounced off the rim.  Scary.  But Legend won the game.  Despite the fact that their lead scorer didn't score a single point.  Despite the fact that one of their starters (from our ward) had injured his ankle in practice two days prior and didn't even dress down for the game.

During the game, Bill said repeatedly (very loudly, may I add),
"Legend's going to win this game because they have heart!"

It was an awesome game, and I am so glad we decided to go.

Final Four.  Next Thursday.  At CU.

Legend will be playing the #1 seeded team, Denver East.
I hope Bill can arrange to skip out of his Stake meetings.
I'm sorry to miss our RS Birthday dinner.
I'm going.

I texted Lex on our way home.  She has a lot of friends still at LHS and had already heard the news.
Then she sent me this:

with a text that said,

That's so exciting! :) oh and look at what I was still able to do!

And here's one more!  In jeans too! Haha

Nice!

And on a little side-note... we are aware of the amazing success of the Lone Peak boys BB team in UT.  We wish we could have seen them play.  If we would have stayed in our Cedar Hills home, that would be our school right now - can't help feeling a little long-distance euphoria for them, too!

Keep Calm and Swim On.

The high school season is quickly coming to an end.  It's been a good year.  The A-League meet is tomorrow, and I'm excited to see how Shi will do.  She's still chasing a 50 Free qualifying time, and this could be the meet to do it.

A couple weeks ago LHS had their final dual meet v Ponderosa.  Here's the cheer that started them off:

Some things to note about this meet.  Since it was at our local Rec Center AND it was listed as a home meet, I didn't think I would need to pay to attend.  Upon arrival, I was told that it {mysteriously} changed to a Pondo home meet, and that yes, I needed $5 to get in.  I didn't have any cash, so made a deal to time for the meet in exchange for entrance.

As luck would have it, I was handed the "pickle" for lane 4.  A Legend lane.  Most likely the one Shilo would be swimming most events in.  I thought it was different, since at most meets everyone is very careful to control the margin of error in the cheating arena, if you know what I mean.  Usually, in a non-touch-pad-timed meet there would be 3 timers per lane, with at least one parent from EACH team in every lane.  This particular meet I was the only Legend timer, timing a Legend lane. I wondered if the times from this meet would even "qualify" for leagues and state, but was assured they would.

I felt that this situation put a weight of responsibility on me to be as exact as possible in clicking the pickle the moment the swimmer touched the wall.  I did not want to click it a nano-second too soon, but, of course, wanted the best end-result possible.  I took my job VERY seriously.

Why, you ask, am I expounding these details?  I was next to a Ponderosa parent, timing a Ponderosa lane.  The fast lane (like mine).  The mother in the lane was friendly, and we chatted a little before the meet.  She pointed out her daughter to me, a tall VERY blonde girl, and I pointed out Shi.  Just a little pre-meet chit chat amongst friendly rivals.

When the 50 Free rolled around, I noticed that her daughter was in her lane, and Shilo was in mine.  The starter went off and the girls shot off the blocks.  I could tell this was going to be a darn close race. My eyes were on Shi's fingers and the wall.  I didn't notice the exact location of the other swimmer's hand, but knew that Shilo would need to hit the wall hard if she had a chance of winning.

I clicked the pickle as soon as I knew she had touched.  26.6.  Her best HS meet time of the season, but still .6 seconds away from the 5A State qualifying time.  I didn't hear the exact time of the other swimmer, but knew that according to the pickle, she had won.  There were cheers of excitement as she qualified for her 4A time.  "Bummer," I thought.  I was still happy for Shilo.  That she got such a great time.  That she finished hard and fast.

I felt a little uneasy, though.  I kind of felt that Shilo had out-touched the other girl, but couldn't be confident because my complete focus was on Shilo's fingers and the wall.  I congratulated the mom, and let it go (I'm really trying to do more of that these days).  Later, as I talked to Shilo, she also felt that she had out-touched the other girl.  She said, "I feel like I clearly saw both of our hands, and I totally thought that I had touched first."

On to another race.  The 200 Free relay.  Shilo wasn't in it, but was standing beside the block, cheering the girls on.  It was another close race (lanes 3 and 4 again), with lots of cheering going on.  I was taking my timing job very seriously as the final swimmers headed for the wall.  The pickle was clicked, and the race went to Ponderosa.  I could overhear the girls from the other team asking what their time was.  A whole second faster than our time.  NO. WAY.  Both Shilo and I, again, believed that we had out-touched and won. At this point I felt very sure that there was some time-fudging going on.  That mom was just a little too quick on the clicker, and surely everyone could see that even if they HAD out-touched (hardly even debatable), it was certainly not by an entire second.  At this point I told Shilo that the times couldn't possibly be "official."  She checked with her coach and it was again confirmed.

Shilo prepared for her 100 Back.  She would be in my lane.  I could tell throughout the race that she was swimming fast, since towards the end she had nearly a half-lap lead.  I figured that Pondo just didn't have a good back-stroker, and carefully waited to click the pickle until her fingers had clearly touched the wall.

"What was my time," she asked.

I looked down at the timer and said, "102.6."

"102?" She looked shocked.  It took me a minute (I was totally in timer mode and hadn't even thought much about what time Shilo was looking to make), and then the realization swept over me.  She had taken 1.5 seconds off of her State-qualifying time.  She had swam it faster than she had ever swam it in her life.

"You're sure these times are official?" I asked (for the millionth time).  Suddenly I WANTED them to be.  Funny how things can change.

SO, even with the drama going on in my head, the meet was a great success.  Legend handily won, despite little-miss-cheater-pants next to me.  Shilo did awesome, and I feel completely confident that her times were honest and accurate.  I can't wait to see how things go this weekend (with touch-pads and immediately posted visible results).  Regardless, I am so proud of her!

Good luck, Shi!

The BEST of Times

It's almost the weekend.  AGAIN.  I thought I would post quickly about the past week before I have a boatload of other happenings to share.  I swear, this time of year is the best of times AND the worst of times.  Good things happening left and right, limited time and energy to squeeze them all in.  This all tends to leave me feeling overwhelmed (when am I not?), running late, and unprepared.  But things should settle down in a week or two.
(Obviously, I am a perpetual optimist where that not-so-distant "week or two away" is concerned.  Somehow it always seems to stay... a week or two away.)

Friday and Saturday Shilo had another long course swim meet.

(Shi is in the middle in the white cap)

She had her BEST of times in all three events she participated in (200 IM, 200 Back, 100 Free), and even won her heat in the 100 Free.  In lane 1, seeded second-to-last in the heat.  NICE.

This is her last Aces meet of the season, and I gave her the sound advice to give it all she had on that final event.  Knocking 2 seconds off a sprint is a most excellent way to finish up.

On Thursday and Saturday Lex had her League Track Meet.  Luckily, it was held not too far from home, making it fairly easy for Bill and I to catch Lex's events throughout our other hectic schedules.

On Thursday, Lex ran in the 800 Sprint Medley.  They matched their seed time, and placed 3rd. 

On our way out to the swim meet on Saturday, Shi and I stopped by to watch Lex's 4x100 relay.  It was the BEST of times, as her relay team set a new school record, and placed 8th, which isn't too shabby considering they were seeded last (11th).

NICE.

(We didn't want to fork over the $10 to be inside the fence, so we watched from the outskirts.)

In between church meetings (three - on a non-Conference Saturday, even) and dog training graduation, Bill was able to catch Lex's 4x400 relay.  If you remember, Lex detests running a 400, and only ran this particular relay once the entire season.  Again, we gave her the advice, on this, her last track meet EVER, to give it everything she had.  Even if it hurt.  Even if it made her sick.  Just do it.

She took 3 seconds off of her leg, the team took a total of 10 seconds off of their seed time.  It was their BEST of times.  There was a chance that they had qualified for State, but they would need to wait until all League meet results were in.  For the time being, they were in 16th place, and the top 18 qualify to run the State Meet.  At the end of the day, they placed 22nd in the state, 6th in their league, handily beating out the two in-town rival schools.  NICE.

(I was secretly celebrating not having to attend the State Meet this weekend.  I know.  Bad Mom.)

Sunday, of course, was all about me.

My sweet family made a yummy breakfast and set a lovely table, then summonsed me to join them.

Mar made this flower arrangement just for my enjoyment.  A big thank you to the neighbors who grew these sweet-smelling beauties.  I hope she asked before picking.

Monday was the Track Awards Dessert Banquet - keeping cost and effort low, which I'm all for.

Lex's sprint coach mentioned her amazing effort at the 4x400 on Saturday, and the aftermath.  The puking.  It was good for a chuckle on Monday.  Even Lex could smile about it.  She was awarded her Letter for Track & Field, and an Academic All-State Award.  NICE.

For Activity Days on Tuesday night, Mar invited me to a "T" Time activity.  Temples, Testimonies, and Treats.  The girls were all asked to bring a picture of their favorite temple to share.  Mar perused our large book of temples thoroughly before deciding on the Portland, Oregon temple. 

She's never been there, but loves the beautiful and ornate spires.   She's a visual person, like her momma.  I remember when I was her age, my parents had a book/lesson manual/magazine (not sure) that had pictures of rooms in various temples.  I fell in love with a sealing room in the Manti Temple, and decided that was where I would be married.  I wasn't (surprise), but have had the opportunity to attend a sealing there and see the beautiful handiwork first-hand.

The girls each brought a box wrapped in white paper on which they could write their testimony, then they built a temple out of their boxes. The evening culminated in treats.  It was lovely.

And finally, last night was Mar's dance recital.

 Mar's class danced to All That Jazz with live musicians.  {Tricky.}  They did an amazing job.

This was our cute carpool group.

(I flailed a bit on the flowers... I had told Bill I would cover it, since LAST recital I totally bombed in that area, and, once again, time got away from me and it was either purchase flowers and miss the performance, or see the performance and feel like a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad mom afterwards.  I chose the latter.  Lucky for me, one of the other dance moms was willing to give me a few flowers from her very large bouquet.  Mauri, being the amazingly sweet daughter that she is, didn't act disappointed at all, even though she had to be.  I have made a mental note to purchase a very large bouquet of flowers for her 5th grade "Continuation" ceremony - what will they come up with next - to redeem myself.)

Phew.  No wonder the week has flown by.

Upcoming:

Saturday - Temple Flower Planting Primary Activity

Britt and Austin HERE.  YAY!

Sunday - Seminary Graduation
Tay and Lynnea HERE.  YAY!

Monday - Senior Honors Convocation

Tuesday - Lexee's Graduation

Wednesday - Air Force Academy Graduation for Tay's bud Dakota

Thursday - Dakota's Graduation party (I'm assisting a little with food, decor, and set-up)

After that, things will settle down.  Right?