Another Cheer Season Comensces

 This year Peyton finally got her chance to be on the mat like her big sister. Peyton was a Tiny cheerleader at Raglan. She got to compete at two competitions and many half-time performances. Bailey's team competed in 6 competitions this year with many half-time performances as well. Needless to say it's a little relief for their 2012-2013 cheer season to be completed. 

 This year was a first for Raglan to have a tiny team and they were pretty darn cute. 

 Bailey's team rocked every competition taking first at 4 out of 6.  They've been an amazing team but had some injuries late in the year that didn't help. They ended their comp season with a great performance at their second national comp and we all were proud. 

 This upcoming year will be a little different.  Bailey is competing on two teams instead of one and might not end up flying on the lower level by her own choice.  We've never seen her base so it will be interesting. She still wants to fly on her higher level team because the girls are stronger and she's not feeling like she will be dropped. 

This will be Bailey's last year at Raglan (knock on wood).  Next year she will be old enough to tryout for high school cheer and although she struggles with the thought of leaving her Raglan family she is excited for the new adventures high school cheer will bring. 

Easter 2013

 When the kids were younger I planned out their Easter outfits so each would coordinate with the other and figured out each egg hunt we could attend as to maximize the cute egg hunt pics I could get. Now I can barely get the older kids to make even one hunt (Bailey didn't even go to it) so I'm left with one solitary child I get to play Easter dress up with. 

 We had beautiful weather all week and Easter weekend was no exception.  Mat had been working out of town all week and wasn't supposed to be back until late Saturday night.  Friday morning at 5:00 my cell phone was ringing and when I saw Mat was calling of course dread took over because why would he be calling me at such an odd hour?  He was surpassing us by finishing up work at 1:00 am and then driving home to spend Easter Saturday with us.  It was a great surprise.

 We went to the Vernon Worthen egg hunt and it lasted it's usual 30 seconds but Peyton loved every 30 seconds of it. Peyton loves everything about life.  She is such a happy kid.

 We had our own backyard hunt Sunday morning.  The Easter Bunny came that night so the kids were up at 7:00 am looking for their baskets. Mat and I made them wait until 9:00 to hunt eggs. What's the benefit of 1:00 pm church if the kids aren't going to sleep in?

 The older three kids were very sweet encouraging Peyton to go after all the eggs. They had a lot of fun trying to get her to pick up eggs by them.  Peyton definitely had the most. The older kids didn't mind until they realized we put money in the eggs.  They sat around watching Peyton who just laughed etched time she opened more dollar bills and more dollar bills. They managed to "sell" her items from around the house to get a little bit of the cash after all.

 I love Easter. I love the weather, that grass is green, leaves are budding on the trees, and the flowers making their appearances. I love it most for what it means to my sweet family. For the chance to live with them forever. Easter is a chance to begin again and I'm very ready a fresh start.

Disney Surprise

 Peyton has been talking about going to Disneyland and going on the Tower of Terror for months.  She had never been tall enough before now but decided it was her favorite ride.  Bailey had a cheer competition in Anaheim so we decided to combine the trip and surprise the boys and Peyton by spending a few days at Disneyland.  We picked Bailey up from her cheer practice at 9:00 on a Wednesday night and already had the van packed and headed down the freeway.  The boys kept asking where we were going. We were playing the theme song from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and they still didn't have a clue.  We finally told them we were on our way to California.  They had a quick burst of excitement and fell asleep shortly there after.  It was the smoothest ride to California ever.  We didn't have to stop once. 

 We bought a single day pass for Disneyland and a single day for California adventures because it saved us $30 a person.  We went to Disneyland on Thursday and stayed until fireworks. It was gorgeous weather and the wait wasn't terrible for rides. Peyton did keep asking to go on Tower of Terror.  She didn't like the Pirates of the Caribbean at all so we didn't know if she'd even make it on Tower of Terror.  She did love It's a Small World of course.

 Friday we spent our day at California Adventures. We weren't quick enough to get a fast pass for the new Cars ride but kept checking the wait thinking it would go down. It just kept getting longer and longer.  So the first time we actually saw the wait reduce we got into line. An hour and 45 minutes later we were able to go on it. Worth it the first time but I would never wait that long again. It was tough on little Peyton.

 She did get to go on Tower of Terrors that day and was fine up until the ride took off.  After she said that she liked it but didn't want to go again that day. She went on every ride she was tall enough for and had a blast.

 Bailey spent the day at California Adventures with her friends so we didn't get to see much of her. The following two days were competition days for her so the kids and Mat went to the beach while Bailey attended practices and prepped for the comp.  By the second day of competition I decided to heck with sticking around the hotel and went with Mat and the kids to the Science Discovery center. 

It was a fun trip.  Always too short but filled with memories.  Bailey's team took fourth and did great!

Retribution...

ret·ri·bu·tion  

/ˌretrəˈbyo͞oSHən/

Noun Punishment that is considered to be morally right and fully deserved.

Synonyms requital - retaliation - punishment - reward - penalty

We are more than halfway through the cheer competition season for 2012-2013 and after the competition this weekend I think it's high time I posted about the season thus far. At the beginning of the season i have to admit not only was I surprised at the precision of Bailey's team early into the season but I was impressed.  Not only was I impressed from what I saw from Bailey's team but more so I was impressed with Bailey.  I have watched her cheer for years and have loved every minute of it.  There have certainly been proud moments when I've watched her overcome obstacles in her path but I haven't felt anything comparable to what I felt the first time I watched her run through her routine this year.  My baby girl was certainly no longer a baby, nor was she even a little girl anymore.  What I saw was a confident, capable, and strong young woman.  It was something different from pride. I was surprised with how happy she looked doing what she loves.  I was surprised by the strength I saw in my oldest daughter. Indescribable. 

 The first competition that we attended was great.  Bailey looked amazing (including the rest of the team).  She brought tears to my eyes to see the confidence she clearly had in herself. I was blown away.  Her team took a well deserved first place.

 The next competition we attended was also fun and while they only had one other team they were competing against they were not only able to win their division but they were the grand champions of the competition beating out the other teams on their perfection score and also having the highest overall score there.

 Their third competition was a a little frustrating. Two of the girls on the team would be competing with broken bones and the day just felt off. Watching the team perform they did good. Not great but good.  They didn't drop a stunt and they didn't fall on tumbling. Unfortunately they were deducted for what the judges called a bauble on Bailey and another bauble from another girl. I'm not one to sugar coat things and I will admit that the incident concerning Bailey didn't look great but it certainly wasn't a bauble.  They ended up taking second place.

This past weekend there was time for redemption.  Okay I felt the need for a little bit of retribution because the team they lost to at the previous competition would be in Vegas for this past weekends.  I think the girls wanted to feel a little bit of vindication as well as the coaches.  Unfortunately

 the team struggled all week.  Bailey's backspot injured her wrist and would not be able to backspot Bailey for the competition which meant a lot of shuffling so there were be someone to catch Bailey on every stunt. When this happens I get very nervous.  When Bailey's bases get switched injuries have been known to happen. Also, the coaches added a few higher scoring elements (aka harder) to the routine which meant the girls would need to step up their game as well.  All week it seemed things just weren't going well and the coaches held a quick emergency practice Friday before we left town.  I caught the end of it and I admit I was worried the girls would even place knowing what teams they were up against.  Luckily the team I watched in practice the previous day (and apparently even in warmups before they performed) wasn't the same one that took the mat.  They completed their routine flawlessly and in that 2 minutes gained a huge amount of their confidence back! They got back to where they were and took another first place!  

Whether they took first or not that day I was thrilled. They performed like everyone knew they were capable of performing.  They've been together for so long and worked so hard to get to where they are it was such a pleasure to see the smiles after the routine was completed. 

Memorial Day 2012

 With lack of time and money for a big memorial day vacation we opted to load up the four wheeler and take the kids rappelling for their first time out to our favorite Gunlock spot.  Years ago when Gunlock was flooding our favorite spot was unaccessible and the swing we loved was no longer on the tree.  Luckily someone has replaced the swing with an even better tire swing and it just so happens to be a great learning spot to rapell.  We've never taken the kids before because we've been too cheap to buy youth harnesses and after we did the math of how old Mat's ropes were I realized youth harnesses were the least of our worries.  They say replace your ropes every five years...ours are seventeen years old...Well, they worked. Go figure.

 Honestly these are my favorite outings we take.  Spur of the moment and always a blast.  The kids get along great and seem to really like their red neck get aways.  

 Bonus, that they LOVED rappelling!

 Memorial Day was bittersweet as we read about a plane crash at the new airport. The news hadn't released names but said that a 172 had been found just off the runway early that morning and that the four passengers in the plane had not survived.  The fact that the plane was a 172 caught my eye as the plane Mat had logged a lot of his hours for his license on was a 172 but that plane belongs to Mat's uncle who had since sold it so I thought nothing more of it.  My dad came over and asked if we knew who was on the plane and I said no that I had no idea.  Then we got a very sad phone call.  The plane was in fact the same plane Mat logged many hours on and although it no longer belonged to Mat's uncle it was indeed piloted by one of Mat's dearest cousins.  His buddy (and Easton's namesake) Tanner and his friends were the four passengers.  One of the passengers was our sweet neighbor's only son and the other two were also Santa Clara boys. All very young with so much of life ahead of them.  We feel very fortunate to have known a kid like Tanner.  He was someone always surrounded by smiles and will be greatly missed.

The Dreaded Call

 On April 19, 2012 I was prepping dinner when I got the call.  I looked at my phone and knew I recognized the number but couldn't figure out who it was so I decided to answer it anyhow.  It was Bailey's coach on the other line saying that Bailey had fell at practice. The coach explained that she didn't see the fall but saw how Bailey had landed and it didn't look good.  She also said that Bailey was crying which surprised her coach knowing Bailey is tough and wouldn't cry unless something was seriously wrong.  I felt a tad relieved from my initial reaction to hear that she had hurt her arm and still wanted to stay at practice.  I was worried but figured it couldn't be too bad if she wanted to stay.  Ten minutes later I got a call saying she wanted to go home.  I told Mat that I would go pick her up and we could decide then if she would need to see a Dr. that evening.  I received another call from one of her teammates a few minutes later saying I needed to pick Bailey up.  She didn't know that I was already on my way but her teammate sounded very shaken up and had clearly been crying.  I didn't take it as a good sign.  When I arrived at the gym my heart broke to see my baby girl sitting outside the door waiting for me in tears holding her arm. I gave her a big hug and helped her in the car.  When I called Mat he said we could probably just wait until the next day and see if it was still hurting.  He hadn't seen her.  I told him that he should at least call our neighbor that is a sports Dr. and have her arm looked at.  Our neighbor was actually waiting curbside in from of his house for us and took a quick look and said it needed x-rays.  We headed to the instacare where luckily Dr. Dan was the Dr. on shift.  Bailey's arm was broken as well as her shoulder bone.  Both Dr.'s made sure to tell Bailey that cheerleading was the most dangerous sport for girls but Bailey was more frustrated that she'd not be able to participate until after summer. 

 Luckily her arm didn't need to be casted  based on where the breaks were and THANKFULLY she wouldn't need surgery (which was a big concern for us).  Bailey was worried that she caused us unexpected medical bills.  I told her thanks to Dr. Dan giving us a discount that having her break her arm was actually cheaper because we would miss a few months of cheer payments so we pretty much came out ahead. ;)  Of course we would have paid double for her to have kept her bones in tact and be pain free.  We allowed her to stay home from school the following day since she was still in quite a bit of pain.  She had many friends and her brothers spoiling her with treats and well wishes and felt rather special.  When she did return to school the next week she faced a lot of criticism from other girls who was sure that she was faking (even posted on Facebook about it) and thought she was just looking for attention.  Clearly none of those girls know Bailey. Three weeks after breaking her arm and shoulder blade she was hating missing cheer and decided that if she could do a backhandspring that we would allow her to go back so she went outside on the trampoline and practiced one handed backhandsprings!  Four weeks after she injured her arm and should she was showing us on her gym floor how she could do a backhandspring and was begging to go back to cheer.  Yes, it hurt her.  The pain clearly wasn't as bad as not being able to do her favorite thing ever.  We allowed her to go back to cheer after 5 weeks if she promised to take it easy.  Thankfully she has been back for months now and only faces mild tenderness from her injury now and then.  We always knew we would get a call like that and just hoped if we did that it wouldn't be devastating.  Honestly, as far as a cheer injury goes we were super grateful.  She was injured at the beginning of the year so she wouldn't be out of any competitions and would have plenty of time to heal before competitions, and her injury was really something that was able to heal on its own.  Other girls on her team have not been near as lucky.  

The first wee she was back she ended up falling while tumbling and her coaches actually dialed 911 and then realized it was a false alarm. She really makes it look so easy you forget how dangerous all of the things she does really are.  Bailey is back at cheer in full force and truly looks stronger and more capable than we've ever seen.  Truly grateful!

First Day of School 2012

 Bailey began her first year of middle school on August 15, 2012.  Officially an 8th grader! Wasn't it just yesterday that I was so anxious for her to begin kindergarten?  I'm trying not to recall life as a middle schooler as to avoid stressing about my baby girl surrounded by a bunch of boys...

 Easton and Caleb also started school.  Caleb in fifth grade (his last year of elementary) and Easton in fourth grade.  I can't believe my boys have grown so big.  Peyton began her second year of preschool at Ms. Debbie's a few days after the boys school began and was thrilled to be back.  Next year SHE'LL be the kindergartner!