Senior Orchestra Concert

This has been a wild couple of months emotionally for me as Cambrie is wrapping up with school. Way back when, I didn't think I'd cry when she graduated because I'm just not the crying type. However I'm beginning to wonder if that assumption is wrong. I find that in tearing up with all of the "lasts." Her last orchestra concert was no exception. 

I saw her before the performance, which normally doesn't happen. She said in a panic that she was going to perform a senior solo. This was the first I'd heard about this and wasn't sure I'd heard correctly. As a freshman this would have been her worst nightmare; performing alone where everyone would be watching. She dashed behind stage before I really understood what was going on. I didn't know when she had decided to do this. I didn't know if she had a solo piece prepared. I didn't know if her nerves would handle it. So as she walked onto the stage all my herself I was excited and curious. I recognized the piece she chose to play. It's a piece she's been working on for her Purdue orchestra audition. She didn't play it perfectly, but she covered up her mistakes with confidence and no one could even tell. I was bawling the entire performance. I was so proud of her. The growth she's had these last few years is incredible. She walked off stage with her head held high and a smile on her face.

My tears returned though as I listened to her playing with her orchestra. This was it. This was the last time I'll probably be able to see her perform. All those years of concerts, and now they're over. It hit me a lot harder than I thought it would. She gave hugs to her fellow orchestra members and Mr. Tafoya, who reminded her of how nervous she had been at her first chair audition. 

It was also senior night, so they took a moment to recognize all of the graduating seniors. Seeing her up on that stage, so happy to begin the next phase of her life, but still loving and appreciating this one, was pretty awesome. 

After it was all over, we met her out in the hall per usual.  Kelton and Jacob were both there to watch with me, and it's fabulous that she has support from these guys.

Cow Town

Even though the weekend was packed with sessions for all of the girls, we still managed to find one morning to go explore Wichita.  We found Cow Town.  The best way I can describe it is that it's a western expansion town museum, with a saloon, blacksmith, train depot, general store, boarding houses, and others.  It is a completely hands-on museum which meant that the girls could go into each of the buildings and explore the artifacts inside.  It was actually pretty cool.  We didn't count on the rain, which meant that any time we could go inside and explore was a great option.  If I had taken McKenzie here by myself, I would have been a lame parent, and she would have pouted the entire visit.  However, because she was there with all of her friends it was the best experience ever.  They joked, goofed off, and roll played their way through the town.  It ended up being a great excursion, even if we were completely soaked by the time we were done.

Practicing roping.  Hayden's mom actually does know how to rope and helped teach the girls.

Do you think their teachers back home will count this as makeup work?

They had a carriage for every occasion.

They choreographed an entire line dance to show us.

Drinking sarsaparilla at the local saloon.

Visiting with the sheriff.  There were no gun fights that day because of the rain, but maybe he was just running a tight ship.

Watching the blacksmith make an iron rose.

Troublemakers, all of them!

"We're Going to Wichita!"

When McKenzie learned that she would need to repeat level 7 because of her accident during the summer, she was obviously devastated.  But the silver lining that kept her motivated was telling herself that if she was going to repeat level 7, then she might as well make a splash.  She wanted to go back to regionals and dominate.  One medal last year was not enough, she wanted to do even better this year.  The season didn't go as smoothly as she would have liked, and even qualifying at the state meet was an absolute roller coaster of emotions, but she made it back.  At regionals they divide up all of the qualifying girls by age, and it meant that McKenzie was in the very first session of the weekend.  It was early and the pill wouldn't smile for me!  

March in.  Lots of girls, lots of gyms.

Last year she had to compete alone, but this year Izzy was also in her rotation. 

 The girls started on beam, which is stressful for me, but they seem to like it because then it's out of the way.  McKenzie had a solid routine and scored an 8.9.  It was a fabulous way to start the meet.  

They rotated to floor next.  McKenzie has completely changed her tumbling passes since state and I haven't seen them yet.  She was excited about the changes and I was excited to see them.  They looked so good!  She simply looked like she was having a blast out there.  Even better, she scored a 9.3.  This was going very well so far.  

She was nervous about vault because it hadn't felt very solid this past week, but even feeling a little weak she pulled off a 9.275.  All that was left was bars.  Unlike state, this went off without a hitch and she scored 8.925.  That all-around score is 36.4!  She has never scored that high in her entire gymnastics career!  She was on cloud nine as she realized that she just had the meet of her life.  We watched and waited to see if she'd come home with any medals for that amazing performance.  She came home with five!  She took 6th on vault, 6th on bars, 7th on beam, 9th on floor, and 7th all-around.  I would say that her dream of coming back to regionals and dominating was just fulfilled.  

Look at all that bling!  

She was on a high the rest of the weekend, which was great because the gymnastics was just getting started.  We stayed to watch every one of her friend's sessions, that was five gymnastics meets in all, 21 hours in the gym.  We watched everyone have moments of amazement and everyone have moments that were tough.  But these girls are always there for each other.  I think that was one of my favorite parts of the weekend, watching these girls support each other through it all.  Being alone out there is hard, and they made sure no one felt alone.

A little bit of fun mixed in.  The girls did a 360 picture which was hilarious to watch but turned out great.

Lots of giant Uno at the hotel between sessions.

An escape room the final night.  They failed miserably but had a blast doing it.

We are hoping to ride this incredible momentum into next season.  I can't wait to see what these girls can do. 

Bits of April

I love it when I get pictures from teachers.  Here are Daxton and Luke working on their flip books as part of their Thunderbolts group.

Elle and Daxton checking out their international goodies from the multi-cultural festival.

Daxton on our March madness bracket this year (seriously, he got all four final four picks and the national champion).  His request was Menchies for the family. That was another great pick.

Cambrie can finally wrestle again!  She's been waiting patiently for nearly five months.  Highschool season is over, but she is training for freestyle season that just started up.  She's so happy to be back.

Daxton was preparing to sneak attack all of us at family prayer by jumping from the laundry hamper.  That's hard to do when your sister knocks you over.

Graduation announcements have started arriving.  It hits differently when they're your kid's friends.  They are all scattering and starting their own lives.  This is going to be a tough month emotionally for me.  I thought I was going to be ready but I keep receiving reminders that I definitely am not ready for her to go.

Easter

We crammed all of our Easter fun into one day.  We started with church.  There were some beautiful musical performances, as well as a great testimony from one of our return missionaries.  While I was loving just feeling the spirit, Daxton got ahold of my phone.  I think he's paying attention...right? .

 Family Easter picture.  

With early morning church the kids didn't have time to find their baskets beforehand, so it was the first thing they did after getting home.  The annual scavenger hunt for their baskets.  

Wait?  Are those integrals?

Success!

After they came down a little from the sugar high from their baskets, we set about dying eggs.  We kept it pretty simple this year, but I love the chance to be creative.

Baskets, check. Eggs, check.  Easter egg hunt...begin!

She may or may not have eaten a spicy Cheeto covered with ants...

The egg hunt was a little different this year.  Each kid could find twelve eggs, but couldn't open any of them until the hunt was over.  They were shocked to find what was in their eggs.  Some of them contained candy.  Some of them contained money.  And some of them contained spicy Cheetos, jerky, bag tags, Cambrie's car key, or a few golden tickets that could be exchanged for a free tank of gas, or a free pass on chore day.  There were definitely a lot of laughs as they opened their eggs to see what was inside.

We finished off our day with an Easter feast and watched an episode of The Chosen.  I'm grateful for my testimony of the Risen Savior, knowing that he is alive, that he loves me, and will always be there for me and my family.