And the first place trophy goes to....

Richfield Preview

November 18th and 19th marked the first games of the season at the Richfield preview.  The girls rode the bus with dad and I drove (which was so nice cause it gave me a chance to listen to some talks from the Mormon Channel) and we spent the night at Grandpa and Grandma Parsons new house in Monroe.  The girls had a blast though I think they kept waiting for Sarah and Melissa and Cady (seniors from last year who have all gone to college) to show up and be their buddies.  We really miss those girls.  I sent the girls on the bus with dad in style-wearing camouflage tutu's from Grandma Parsons.  They were a huge hit!!



Region Coach of the Year

On March 26th we went up to SLC so that Greg could recieve an award for "Region 19 Coach of the Year."  It is voted on by all the other coaches so it is quite and honor.  He has recieved it 5 times.  He also got a trophy for winning the consolation championship at the state tournament.  It is the first trophy the Girls team has brought home since he has been coaching.  Two of his girls Cady Mecham and Sarah Swalberg were also chosen to play on the 1A allstar team.  It was fun to actually watch a game with Lady Pirates in it with the actual Lady Pirates coach.  Here are the highlights.

Girls State Basketball in Review

It has come to an end-I can't believe it.  I still feel like it might be a dream.  I am no longer a basketball widow.  And, probably much to the shock of my husband and family-I am going to miss it a bit.  The girls on the varsity team were so outstanding this year.  They have really restored my faith in the American Teenager that is for sure. 

Well here are the highlights from the tournament (yep and not an actual picture of any basketball stuff-who had time when I was chasing my two munchins around).  Greg's team took 6th.  They could have gone all the way and deserved too but a terrible injury to one player 45seconds into the first game really hurt them.  Still they played so well and won on the last day which is a first for Greg's team.  We are very proud of them.  And now to the other important stuff: what did my girls wear?  I made them these outfits:

I found this shirt at DI and just added the words on the back.

This is pretty much how Allie spent all 4 days at the tournament-cleaning the floor with her own clothing.  She spent most of the time rolling on the floor and walking around barefoot.  I didn't even worry about it-it was not worth my energy to try and make her do differently.

I think Brailie was in a daze the entire time.  Poor thing was so sleep deprived and exhausted.  She did great though.

 Here are a couple of other highlights:
-Allie fell out of the hotel bed twice on the first night.  She has never done that before.  The first time was during a power outage.  I was in the bathroom and heard the thud and the screaming and told Greg he had to get her because I couldn't see to make my way back quickly.  He comforted her and eventually put her back to bed.  The second time the power had come back on so when I picked her up off the floor I noticed that there were two dark spots on her bed and so I took her to the bathroom by the light and saw that her whole mouth was covered in dry blood.  She had cut her lip open the first time but we didn't know because we couldn't see. 
-Brailie found her voice every night and entertained us with all sorts of mouth noises for at least an hour every time we put her to bed.
-Brailie found everything she could reach within minutes of us arriving in the hotel and had the phone buttons pressed, the tv on, the Kleenex box emptied and the buttons on the safe all pressed.  The phonebook was taken to unknown places and my purse was emptied.  It was really fun being in the hotel with a 16 month old.
-Allie pretty much disowned me as a mother and told me she would be going everywhere with the basketball team on the bus and I couldn't come.  She did decide I was cool when we went swimming.

 She even got brave and got out of her floaty ring and just played in the water without any floaties. 

I just think this picture of Brai is cute.

 Then the cousins came on Friday.  That was so fun for Allie.  She had a blast with them.  Here are some pictures I tried to take of them.  It was next to impossible to get one of them all holding still.  These are my favs.

 I love how they are all looking at Nathan in this picture.



Nathan, Rylee, Kinsey and Allie.



Some other girls we love

So those of you who know me really well probably know that I kind of have a love/hate relationship with basketball.  My husband on the other hand has a TRUE LOVE relationship with basketball.  The basketball season to me seems longer than anything else: school year, summer break, baseball.  My husband is Dedicated with a capital D to being a coach.  I have to admit that there are times with I feel a bit green with envy towards these girls who get to spend what seems to be more time with my husband than me or my girls during the season.  However this year I have particularly grown to love this group of basketball girls more than any others.  Maybe it is because I taught almost all of them when I taught for one year in Green River and also because they are just great girls.  They love my family, they are friendly and kind, they say "thank you", they listen to their coach more than to anyone in the stands and they work so hard.  This year, the team feels more like family.   That made today (Feb 5th) a bit of a bitter sweet day.  It was the last home game of the season but also the last home game of some wonderful Senior basketball players.

This is the whole Varsity team this year.

The Senior girls with their moms.  Kelsee #24 on the end only played basketball this year so she was not on the varsity team, but Greg had her dress for this game so she could also be recognized as a Senior. 

The girls gave us these pans of cinnamon rolls as a thank you.  I will be posting about them momentarily.

Hugging his girls.  I think Greg and I would both agree that we would be happy to call any of these seniors our daughter.

Greg with his "other girls"

Greg with all of his girls.

  

Greg with Melissa, Sarah and Cady.  He has mentored them since they were freshmen.  I remember that because we were just newly married at that time.  We love these girls.

Now I am not going to lie and say I won't be glad when the season is done for the year but it will be sad to not get to spend time with wonderful teenagers.  This world needs more of them.

Valley Basketball Tournament

On December 3rd and 4th we went to Orderville for the Valley Buffalo Shoot out (a basketball tournament). I decided to go since it is my old stomping grounds and I didn't think that staying home for 2 solid days alone with the girls sounded like any more fun.  And i am glad we went.  Allie did really well on the bus.  Both girls endured way more basketball then they could ever wish to see in 2 days.  Allie survived falling and cutting her lip on the bleachers.  Brailie whacked her head twice really good.  All in all it was worth the trip and Gregs Varsity team took 1st place which is totally awesome.  Here are some of the highlights.

Allie running and playing with Sarah.  She had a blast playing with all the girls on the team and the team is so sweet to her.

I know this one is blurry but I had to add it because Allie loves Sarah.  When I put her socks on in the morning if I don't pull them up to her knees I get in trouble because they are not like Sarah.

Playing peekaboo with the team

Brailie must have been worried someone was going to take her stuff because she insisted on walking around carrying all of this.

Thank heavens for a few little friends.  Allie was so happy to play with some other kids and they loved watching Dora on her portable DVD player.

Someone has her eye on the trophy.  A future all star perhaps??

"It's mine-all mine."

And so it begins

Basketball season is officially underway.  We went to our first game on November 19th in Richfield.  Allie was so excited to ride the bus.  We practiced our cheers and packed the millions of things that are needed to keep two girls occupied during 1 or more basketball games and headed out.

 Here's Brailie snug as a bug in her carseat on the bus.  Don't worry I don't own anything zebra print.  I forgot to grab an extra blanket so one of the girls let me borrow this to cover her.

 Daddy had to sit by Allie on her seat the whole way.  Poor guy-those seats aren't big enough for her carseat and him but she wouldn't let him leave (not like she has anyone wrapped around her finger or anything).

 A few minutes with daddy before the game begins.

 I love this picture.  It is as if Allie is saying, "okay now Brai this is what is going to happen."

 She loved watching through the railing.

And she loved the fact that she could walk all over the place.  Love this action shot.

 Allie had been begging for this toy all week but I told her she had to wait until the first basketball game.  Here she is playing so delicately with it.

 A little pic of Brailie eating with a fork.  Something we totally overlooked when teaching Allie to eat and she is still a very primitive eater.  We are hoping to avoid that with Brailie.

 Allie got to sit at the back of the bus with Sarah and the other girls.  She loved it.  She was sure that was where she needed to sit the whole way home.  She didn't get her way I am afraid.  Oh and Greg's team won.  They haven't won the first game at the Richfield preview in like 4 years.  It was a good game.