February started with Tessa participating in Solo and Ensemble. She actually performed two solos. One on snare drum and one on the steel pan. She's been working with Grandpa since last summer, taking lessons weekly and she's one of the top percussionists in the 6th grade at her school. Grandpa Black thought it would be fun for her to learn a solo on the steel pan, so he ordered the music and they practiced it all fall and winter. She was nervous knowing that she had to perform in front of a room full of students and parents, but she did it. Even the high school students who were helping with the event, came into the room to listen to her steel pan number. Everyone was so complimentary and she did a great job. She earned a I+ which is the highest score you can get. We're so proud of her!
She also played a snare solo and received a I for that too. Learning and practicing two solos took time and commitment, so she definitely earned her high scores. In February, the Young Women also had their New Beginnings program which always features the new incoming Beehives. They show a slideshow of pictures of all the young women and they asked for pictures of each girl showing their hobbies or favorite things. We took this picture of Tessa with her snare drum and pet turtle, Buddy. As they introduced Tessa, they talked about her pets, including Buddy, and how percussion is one of her hobbies. Love this girl!
Aubrey's Golden Birthday was this year. She turned 10 on the 10th of February. Her birthday festivities spanned about two weeks. Her birthday was on a Sunday so she started the celebrations the Friday before by dressing up for school and getting her name announced in the morning. Her new teacher, Mrs. Lujan, also lets the birthday kids pick a day to not have homework for the entire class because it's their birthday. Aubrey loves dressing up and being girly and fancy. One of her friends, Lydia, gave her this teal dress and a necklace that she had made for her birthday and Aubrey loves wearing it.
The Saturday before Aubrey's birthday, Abby had a volleyball tournament, but we did our family dinner that night since we wouldn't be able to eat out on Sunday. Aubrey requested steak so we went to Corralitos, which is like a Mexican steakhouse. The food is really yummy and along with the steak, you get chips and salsa and even enchiladas if you want. They gave her a tiny sombrero and chocolate cake as the waiters sang to her. It was a late night, but well worth it. She loved it.
After she fell asleep that night, I decorated her room with all kinds of gold things, so she'd wake up on her birthday to a golden room. I used streamers, sparkly hanging lanterns, and circle fans. It was a fun surprise that she kept up for a couple weeks until the streamers started getting annoying.
I made her requested birthday breakfast of danishes and she got to eat on the golden plate with the "G" mug, which I decided was not only for "Gibbons," but also for "Golden." She wore her gold dress to church and we took a picture of her with Rianne and Tessa.
We do our Kasibbons dinners with the Kasallis family every Sunday, so we let Aubrey pick the families she wanted to join us for her birthday dinner. Audrey made her birthday cake and followed the exact instructions that Aubrey gave her including sketches of how it should look and be decorated. Aubrey was very thorough in her directions. She wanted a cake with raspberry filling and blue frosting with the words Happy Birthday written on it with blue icing and blue sprinkles. She was very happy with how it turned out and we thanked Audrey tremendously for putting up with the diva's demands and doing such a stellar job on the birthday cake.
The following weekend, we had a party for Aubrey and her friends. The days filled up fast, so it was the first chance we had a free night to celebrate. We thought it would work out well since it ended up being the Friday of a long weekend, but a lot of people were out of town, so only three of her invited friends were able to come. But with Sam and Tessa, she had a full, fun party complete with games to win gold treats, making your own pizza, and decorating golden cupcakes.
Lexi, Rianne, and Milan were able to be there for her party and they had a fun time hanging out together. They made beautiful creations with all of the gold sprinkles, sprays, and candies that they could choose from to decorate their cupcakes. Aubrey said it was great golden birthday. Happy birthday double digit girl!
Riley did not make it to her party, but they are close friends who always get to hang out while their older sisters play volleyball. One of these times, they spent it taking pictures and adding filters and ended up with these gorgeous photo shots. These were Aubrey's favorites.
Aubrey taught me about filters and how they work and how you use them. I love this fire heart picture of Aubrey because she looks like a super model. The one with the headband and glasses is adorable. Aubrey is a friend to everyone and loves to be the middle of the attention. She's doing great in school and loves working in groups. She's good at volleyball and has just mastered her overhand serve. She likes to sing, dance, and Facetime her friends on her iPod. She even Facetimes Grandma Gibbons at night and did it for a long time before I even knew. She's a smart girl and we love her in our family.
Abby had volleyball tournaments every weekend in February, but luckily they were all in town. She and Emily love hanging out even when they're not on the court together. They took these pictures during the sunset one night they were together. So pretty.
They got creative as they took pictures with the valley and sunset as their background.
Emily's mom posted this picture commenting how these girls have known each other for a long time and have been friends the entire time - on and off the court. #10 and #6
These are some of my favorite pictures that Emily took of just Abby. She's such a natural beauty and has an awesome smile. I love these pictures and I love this girl!
The big El Paso tournament was in February where they play in the convention center. We ended up playing Division II which had us playing against 15 and 16 year old teams. We played well but didn't win very many games. The girls still had fun and had some great competition.
Later in the month, the girls had regular in-town tournaments, and they played really well. They had a couple of injured players, but the rest of the team stepped it up and they won a lot of games, always getting into the gold bracket. Here are some pictures of Abby playing and hitting.
She played outside and also right side. Her hits are getting so strong and she gets a lot of kills during the games because she hits line and hits hard. Here's another shot of her hitting and also one of her serving.
They got a medal after this tournament and they loved taking pictures showing off their medals and being goofy. This has been the best team. They all get along so well and just love playing the game.
Here's the full team with Coach Alonso. To get at least one record of all the girls, here they are from left to right, starting at the top: Ally, Kendall, Emily, Diya, Suzette, Gigi, Coach Alonso. Andrea, Khy, Lyla, Diane, and Abby.
Here's a close up of the original Stars team. These are the four girls who played together last year and stayed to play again this year. Andrea, Emily, Abby, and Ally.
After one of the tournaments, the girls quickly showered, changed, and got ready for a stake dance. Abby invited Emily who came along. It was a Neon-themed dance and the girls used glow-in-dark face paint to get ready. It was Abby's first stake dance and they had a blast. I wish I had taken more pictures, but with it being dark, I was lucky I got this one.
And finally, since I've mentioned all the girls except one, I need to include something about Taryn. She lost her first tooth in the month of February. The funny thing was that it was a top tooth, not one of the bottom ones that usually go first. We took this picture of Taryn and Teagan because they both had the same missing tooth together. It was so cute! I posted it on Facebook and commented that when you're best friends, you even lose the same teeth at the same time.
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