YMCA Sports and Classes

Our summer was filled with camps, YMCA sports and classes, fun activities, and exciting vacations. The camps were mostly Abby's and Tyler's. I already posted about Abby's volleyball camps and church camp. Tyler was gone for two weeks in June: one week for Scout Camp, and another week for High Adventure. He had a great time camping, swimming, mountain biking, and hiking; basically doing all the fun, outdoorsy, stuff he loves to do with all the boys from church. He's not very good about taking pictures though, so I'm sad that I don't have any pictures to show. It was hard having him gone so long, but we kept busy finding things to entertain the girls. To start, we had joined the YMCA again, so for the summer session, every girl played a sport, and Abby played two! Taryn chose indoor soccer and she was counting down the days until her first practice. She was so excited to play. She had a great coach and really had fun learning the basics. She liked to play and was good at chasing around the ball, but we kept working with her to be more aggressive and go for the ball instead of just dancing around the group of kids who were all competing to touch the ball. She really did have a fun time and loved to stop and give us thumbs up during her games. She even made two goals during the season! We were so proud of her. Here she was at her first practice.

And here are some pictures from her first game. 

Finally, here's a team picture at the end of the season. One serious picture, and of course one funny picture.

Taryn also took gymnastics and ballet classes. Here are a few pictures from those classes. She had a lot of fun doing gymnastics and getting better at cartwheels, the beam, the vault, and doing back-bends. Her last month in ballet, Taryn was the only girl in her class. She had fun learning ballet steps and having that one-on-one time with her teacher. 

This was also the first summer that we used the YMCA pools. The older girls would swim while Taryn had soccer practice, but we'd go early some days too so that Taryn could also swim. They had a fun time playing their own games and entertaining themselves in the swimming pools. Aubrey and Tessa had to take tests each week to show that they could swim in the deep end and swim without me in the room. They were awesome of course and loved having the independent bracelet that allowed them full reign of the pools. 

Tessa and Aubrey advanced to Rollers 2 in gymnastics for the entire summer. They love doing the tumbling and especially the vault. I took the majority of my pictures at their last practice. It's so hard to get good pictures of their tumbling, but I found on my camera, I could take action shots that basically show them doing the move in slow motion. And then I picked and saved the best shot from each action. First, here are a few of them together; one from stretching and one from the balance beam. 

Tessa loved the vault and mastered the front handspring over the vault early on. However, one time she over rotated and fell hard and it took her weeks to work up the courage to try again. By that time, Aubrey had mastered it as well and moved on to doing it with a twist. Both were awesome at it by the end of the summer. Here are few still shots of Aubrey on the vault. 

 I've also included a still picture of Aubrey as she did a one-handed cartwheel. I really love watching them learn and perform these hard skills. They're so talented!

Tessa still amazes me with her power, strength, and grace. She was so close to doing a back handspring without any help. She can do it by herself with the cheese mat that gives her an easier angle. And I loved how I was able to get this perfect handstand of hers on the beam.

Tessa and Aubrey both picked soccer for their summer sport. Tyler ended up being their coach since no other parent signed up. He had fun working with them and we made new friends with other lds families because two boys from another ward in our stake ended up signing on our team. The majority of the team were beginners, but they won a lot of their games still. Tessa scored multiple times throughout the season and Aubrey had some awesome blocks when she played goalie. I took a few pictures throughout the season, but we forgot to take an official team picture at the end of the season. Here's a picture from one of their first practices. They were trying to score on Tyler. Most practices ended with the kids scrimmaging Tyler. That was their favorite part - one against seven. Tyler loved it too! 

Here are some pictures from one of their games. Tessa was fast and very good on offense. With a little more ball-handling practice, she'd make a really great soccer player. She was debating if all the running was for her though because when I asked if she wanted to continue playing soccer, she was just like, "eh. I guess not." Aubrey preferred playing goalie or defense because it was less running. We just tried to keep telling her she still had to pay attention to the game and not just visit with her fellow-defense players. :) 

Here's Aubrey and Tessa after their first game. And I also took a picture of them with their teammate, Haydn, who was the only other girl on their team. They all had fun playing together.

Abby had decided at the end of the last school year that she may want to try out for the school basketball team this coming year. The coaches at school suggested that they play on some team before trying out, so Abby signed up for basketball through the YMCA. Besides shooting hoops in the street with friends, she's never played before, so it was definitely a learning experience. Her coach, Kenny, was very gracious and worked with her a lot. She played on a team with two of her friends, Bella and Anahi, who we met when they played on our volleyball team. 

They lost the majority of their games, but Abby had definitely improved. By the end of the season, she was more confident on the court, and wasn't as nervous when she got the ball, and she even attempted a couple shots. She had a good learning experience and now can decide if she really liked it enough to actually try out for the school team come spring. 

We coached two volleyball teams again this summer, but didn't get any pictures until the final games since I'm actually coaching instead of just watching. Most of our girls were with us for at least a year and a lot of them were finishing their final season with the Y because they'll be two old to play once school starts. A lot of our girls were trying out for their school teams and we've just been hearing that they've made it, so we are so excited for them. It'll be fun to watch them play each other for school now, but already have so many friends at other schools because they knew each from YMCA volleyball.  

 We had a great time coaching, but we told them we couldn't coach anymore since Abby was trying out for her school team. We found out just last week that Abby made her school team, and the A team at that! She'll most likely be the starting setter. We're so excited for her and to see her play. Her school games will be the same time as the YMCA games which was the main reason we stopped coaching. It was fun while we did it, and it was awesome to have something that Tyler and I could do together and with Abby too. Now it's time to sit back and just be a cheerleader and spectator as Abby continues to play, but we'll miss all these fun girls and the fun times we had.

Aubrey Finishes 2nd Grade

Aubrey had a fun year during 2nd grade. She knew practically everyone in her grade and made sure to say to every person she ran into during the day. She makes friends easily and tries to include everyone all the time. Her teacher would occasionally send notes home telling me that Aubrey had helped out another classmate that day. Here are a couple pictures of projects that Aubrey did at school during the second semester. The house was a group project made by Aubrey and Riley. She brought it home one day, but then had to take it back so that Riley could take it home the next day. She was so proud of all the work she did on it. I made sure we had a picture before she took it back to school, so she'll always remember it. The second picture is from Fine Ars Night. Aubrey decided to display her flower picture from all the art pieces she had created in her art class this year.

Aubrey is still our girly-girl and she loves that I call her that. After getting this flower lei from a birthday party, she wore it many days after. Sometimes she wore it in her hair like this, sometimes like a regular necklace, and sometimes around her ankle or wrist like a bracelet. She loves having her picture taken. She loves to accessorize her outfits; and when shopping for clothes, Aubrey's first choice will always be the top or dress that has a necklace included. 

I had the privilege of going to Aubrey's class once a week to teach the students about music. Sometimes we would learn the instruments and what they sound like. Sometimes we'd talk about notes and rhythms. Other times, we'd just sing songs with actions and play games like bingo. Occasionally, I'd take my French horn and play them some songs. My dad would even take in some of his drums and play for the kids as well. The kids really enjoyed it and I had a lot of fun too. On the last day that I did music, I made sure to take a picture of Aubrey's class. They were a great group of kids. 

On the last day of school, I spent the majority of the party time with Tessa's class, but I made sure to make a stop in Aubrey's class to see how her party was going, and to take pictures. The room moms from Aubrey's class put together a basket of baby goodies for Aubrey's teacher, Mrs. Bass, who's due to have a baby in September. I crocheted a blanket for her, and Aubrey even helped by crocheting the beginning chain. Mrs. Bass said that was very impressive when she read about it in her card. Aubrey really liked Mrs. Bass and it was fun getting to know her more since I was always in the classroom to do music. 

And here's Aubrey's final picture taken on the last day of 2nd grade. She had a great year, making all As and always being helpful to her teacher and having fun with her friends. She will do great in her upcoming years of school because she enjoys meeting new people and trying new things. Good job Aubrey! 

Tessa Finishes 4th Grade

Tessa finished off the 4th grade with a bang. She loved anything from her Science class, especially the labs. She came home one day excited to recreate something her teacher had done in class. She was learning about caves and stalagmites and stalactites, and she wanted to create her own cave experiment at home. After multiple explanations from her teacher and looking up information online, we finally made a successful cave, complete with stalactites, stalagmites, and columns. It hung out in our kitchen area for weeks. I finally took a picture of it with Tessa so we could clean it up. She loved it! Our first attempt didn't work correctly, so we tired again and the second try was much more successful.

We had an entire post about our trip to the Carlsbad Caverns over Spring Break, but Tessa was the one who pushed us to go because she wanted to see it so much. The cool part was that we used the 4th grade pass to get in free because when you are in the 4th grade in the Unites States, you can get a free pass to get into any national park. Carlsbad Caverns was our first adventure using her free pass. We used it more after school was out as well, but we were so proud of Tessa taking an interest in the things she was learning about in school. 

On Tessa's birthday, I took her class donuts and her teacher was nice enough to let me take a picture of their entire class. Mrs. Adkins was Tessa's math and science teacher. She loved her and learned so much from her. She had a fun class and they were all so happy to celebrate her birthday with her since they got a fun treat! 

We went to the Fine Arts Night at school and this was the picture that Tessa had displayed in the Art hallway. It was her pop-art picture of a turtle. 

The 4th grade field trip is a day at the ballpark to watch the triple A baseball team, the Chihuahua's play. They were very limited on how many chaperones can go and I was not picked. Tessa was pretty sad that I didn't get to go with them, but I had my dentist appointment that same day, so it's probably better that I didn't have to reschedule. Luckily, some of my friends who are 4th grade moms went and took pictures for me. Here are some of the 4th graders having their picture taken. Tessa's class chose the bright pink color for their class shirts. 

And here are a few other pictures of Tessa during the game. The second picture is Tessa with her friends Victoria, Ainsleigh, and Juliet.

At the beginning of June, the school held their talent show. The week leading up to that night, Tessa and her friend Adrianna, decided to enter the talent show and sing a song together.They sang a song that they had made up together. They planned out their outfits and practiced a ton at school. It was a cute song about being friends and always being together. I was so proud of Tessa because she's usually shy about stuff like that, but she did really well and had a fun time. I took a picture before the talent show started, and I also took one during their performance. They had a few actions during their song too, so it was choreographed and everything. 

On the last day of school, I helped plan Tessa's class party. Her teacher, Mr. Martinez had trivia questions that the kids answered and the other moms and I brought in fixings for ice cream sundaes. The kids had a lot of fun and it was great to see them interact with each other and enjoy their last day. Tessa is right in the middle of her class sitting on the special chairs between the row of desks. 

Here is the final picture of Tessa on the last day of school. She had a great time in 4th grade once her teacher situation got settled. I'm glad that she really liked Mr. Martinez as her GT teacher because she will have him in 5th grade as well. She was happy about that too. She made all high As on her report card and continues to excel on all tests and work. She's excited for the next year to come since she'll be the oldest grade at the school next year. She had a very successful 4th grade year. Congratulations Tessa! 

Abby Finishes 6th Grade

Before the summer ends, I'm trying to get caught up by finishing posts about the girls' previous school year. Here is a rundown of Abby's second semester of 6th grade at Hornedo Middle School. Most of my pictures are from Band functions since that's the main extra school activity she's involved in. This first picture is from their contest. Abby played with the Symphonic Band and she walked in first for her row and that's how we knew that she was first chair. She had kept it a secret from us until that concert. They played really well and I was so proud of her.

Their final school concert was played at Hornedo. The beginner band was conducted by a student teacher who had been helping out that semester. Abby performed with both the beginner and symphonic bands. 

The symphonic band had another contest during the school day at Coronado High School that Taryn and I were able to attend. My parents met us there too. There were not very many people in the audience since it was during the day, so we cheered loudly for them. They played the same contest songs that they had been working on all semester and they did great. They were awarded the highest score. 

Abby has an iPod that she uses at school for the internet and also to text me and a few friends. Here are some of her pictures that she used for her profile. Definitely your typical tween, serious-face, selfies, but I love them and made her send them to me too. 

Abby took this picture after a young women's activity where the girls got their hair and makeup done. She looks so grown up and beautiful.  

At the end of the school year, the beginner band plays a final concert at Western Playland. I chaperoned so I was able to be with Abby all day. Here's a picture of the beginner band horn section before they performed. 

And here's a picture of the entire band as they performed with a closeup of Abby as first chair. Because Abby was playing in two bands this semester, she had to learn twice as many songs, but she was very dedicated in practicing after school and also on the weekends with me. She is so talented and has picked it up very quickly. I'm excited to see how well she does in upcoming years. 

After the concert, they were able to just enjoy the park and all the rides. I followed Abby and her friends around and met a lot of her new friends from this year. Here she is with three of her band friends - Lexi, Carrie, and Braelinn. 

The final band concert was a huge combined effort with another middle school, Brown, and with Franklin High School where both Brown and Hornedo feed into. Mr. Beach, the Franklin band director, is also the director I work with when I play with the wind symphony, so that was fun. The group was huge and they played some numbers separately and then one final number all together. It was so fun to hear such a large group play together and to know it consisted of 6th-12th graders. 

After that concert, it took forever to find Abby, but we were able to grab her with a few of her friends for one last band picture. Her she is with Mary, Carrie, and Braelinn. 

I had to have a last day of school photo, so here's Abby on the last day of school. They have uniforms at their school with the occasional free dress day, so luckily the last day of school was free dress. She survived 6th grade and her first year in middle school! Academically, she ended the year with all As as well. We're so proud of all of her hard work, determination, courage, and good attitude she had during this year at school. 

Even though that was all the school pictures, I've decided to add just a few more pictures from her summer camps. Abby was able to attend three volleyball camps this summer in preparation for trying out for the school team next fall. Her first camp was right after school was let out and it was at UTEP. She played from 8 to 5 for three days straight. She really enjoyed working with the UTEP volleyball team and meeting new friends. Here they all are with the UTEP mascot, Pete the miner.

Abby also attended camps at Franklin High School and Coronado High School. I didn't get any pictures at Franklin, but I took a few of her warming up on the final day at Coronado. She's really excited to try out for the school team and has been working hard all summer to keep up her skills.

Two weeks after school was let out, Abby was able to attend a different kind of camp - Girls Camp for church. She's been in Young Womens since December, and every summer there is a Girls Camp held in Cloudcroft, NM. Abby was a first year and was so excited to go. I took pictures as they waited for everyone the morning they left.

Here's Abby with a few other first years from our ward: Abby, Braelinn, Carrie, and Devry. She had such a great time and came home telling us of all the fun and spiritual adventures that she had. She learned all the Girls Camp songs that she ended up teaching her sisters and she was even asked to bare her testimony at the fireside where we saw a slideshow of camp.  

Her favorite story to share was about how they were trying to do an activity, but were not able to start because of the rain. One of the leaders said a prayer and told the girls to also pray for the rain to stop so they could continue with their planned activities. Abby said as soon as they finished the prayer, the rain stopped. She will always remember how through faith, prayers can be answered. She met a lot of new friends and really loved being with them. I'm so happy that she had such a great time. She's just growing up too fast! In just a few short months, she'll be a teenager! I can't quite believe it, but we really are just so proud of the beautiful young lady that she is. We love you Abby!