Abby had three big volleyball tournaments in April. The first one of the month was a local tournament during the weekend of General Conference. So while Tyler and I were watching Abby play, we were listening to conference on our phones. We got a couple of funny looks from other parents, but once we explained what we were listening to, they thought it was cool. I love trying to get action pictures of Abby while she plays, but I usually just go for the spikes. I was pretty proud of myself for getting this dig photo of Abby since she plays the backrow as well.
Abby's team won 2nd place in the tournament, the very next weekend after taking first place. We were proud of them to be in the championship game two weeks in a row. In this game, they went to three sets too, but just came up short on the win. It was a great way to end up the local tournament season. We celebrated by going to the girls' favorite place to eat: Tropical Smoothie Cafe. I love how well the girls on the team get along. They have so much fun together.
The following weekend we headed to Las Vegas for a tournament. We decided late in the season to add this out of town tournament, so Abby and I were the only ones who ended up going from our family. My parents tagged along though, so we weren't alone. We drove to Albuquerque and flew from there to Las Vegas.
We stayed in the Park MGM hotel and after flying in that first night, Abby and I walked along the strip to try and meet up with some of her teammates. However, we didn't make it far before deciding to just head back to the hotel since we weren't sure if we'd be able to find them.
We stopped and took pictures along the way though. This sculpture and colored water wall were in a park and shopping area that was right across the street from our hotel. I had Abby pose just like the sculpture and she edited it on her phone to be all black and white. The colors changed behind the water wall, but pink was our favorite.
There were some cool paintings and wall murals in our hotel lobby, so I took some pictures of Abby and then Abby with some of her teammates when we met up the next morning to walk around. Here's Abby with Diane, Emily, and Diya who we spent the morning with since we didn't have to be to the convention center until after lunch.
We walked along the strip to a tram that took us from the Excalibur to the Mandalay Bay which is where the convention center was located where the girls were playing. We walked through the New York, New York hotel to get to that tram and we hung out in their food court for lunch. The girls loved finding cute picture spots like at this entrance that was covered in lights and in front of this wall mural in the Starbucks.
The food court sitting area was decorated like a New York street, so there were doors and "town homes" all around, so Diya and Abby wanted a picture there. This picture fills me with anxiety when I see it because it was taken right before my bag was stolen. I had left it on a table right in front of me when I took this picture and then I walked off with Abby and Diya to go buy lunch. I had left it to save the table for other parents and my mom was watching it. Well come to find out when she turned her back for two seconds to put on her sweater, someone swiped it and walked off. My mom was freaking out and searching all over for it, while I was stuck in a food line. I had taken out my purse from the bag, so there wasn't much left in the bag except for my iPad, a bag of charging cords, and a bag of toiletries. I also had my new BYU volleyball hoodie sweatshirt in there, which is what I was most concerned about getting stolen. Apparently as my mom walked around the casino, she saw someone about to walk out of the casino with a bag that looked like mine. She confronted the guy, told him to show her the bag, and said, "that's my bag! Give it to me." He gave her the bag, made some excuse about how he thought it was his and must of accidentally grabbed the wrong one, and then rushed off. My mom was the hero of the day. It was a miracle that she happened to see him after all the searching. I kept my bag with me the rest of the weekend, not letting it out of my sight at all. It was crazy, but a story we'll definitely remember forever.
After taking the tram to the Mandalay Bay hotel we had to walk what seemed like forever to get to the convention center inside the hotel. We stopped and took this picture of the entire team during one of our break and rest stops. The girls were ready to be there and to start playing.
They had an afternoon pool that first day and played well against all the teams. They were looking good and playing hard. We were on a court right next to a team that we played last year in Phoenix. The team that has the two daughters of Steve Nash, NBA basketball player. So one of the dads went and asked if he wouldn't mind taking a picture with our team. The girls thought it was pretty cool, especially the ones who were not with us the last time we saw him.
Abby played all around, hitting on the right side and passing really well from the back row. She loves playing all around. Her hits were awesome and she had multiple kills where the other team could not dig her hits. We love watching her play. We have an app that has all the parents on it for communication, so some of the moms would live stream the games so the parents at home could still watch the games. Tyler got to see most of the games that way and keep up with how the girls were doing.
Here's a group picture of the whole team while they waited in between games.
After all of their games Friday night, we walked back to our hotel grabbing dinner on the way. We walked with my parents, and Abby asked for a picture with them in front of the water wall. On Saturday, the girls started their games in the morning. They played well, beating two of the teams in their pool. They lost to one team, but it was a close game. That left them in 2nd place and they had to play one more game after lunch. Unfortunately, the way the pool play was organized, that put us up against the number 1 seeded team to try and get into the gold bracket for Sunday.
During the break between our morning games and our playoff game that night, we walked with the girls over to the Las Vegas sign. It was sunny and hot, but we were able to beat the long line by taking our pictures to the side of the sign. I liked it better anyway because you can see the Mandalay Bay hotel in the background, which is where the tournament was being played. We took a team picture and then did a boomerang picture of the girls jumping.
While waiting in line before deciding to take pictures at the side, we got a group picture of all the parents that had gone to the sign with the girls. We really love all the families from Abby's team. We all get along so well, and enjoy hanging out together and watching our girls play volleyball.
That last game Saturday night was tough. The number 1 seeded team, Beach Cities, was so good. They had some amazing hitters that jumped high and hit hard. I was so impressed with one of our liberos, Lyla, because she was digging a lot of their hits, but they were just a superior team. They were definitely ranked number 1 for a reason. We lost that game which put us out of the running for first place in the tournament. Our final games on Sunday were to determine our final standing of the weekend, so we were playing for a place between 17th and 21st out of 152 teams.
Saturday night the girls went on the roller coaster at the New York New York hotel. It was the one thing they all wanted to do. We took a picture of them while they waited in line. Some of the dads, and even Coach Alonso and his girlfriend, Liz, went on the roller coaster with them. They said it was fun. We ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant afterwards for our final dinner. It was yummy.
I saved these photos that were taken by other parents while in Las Vegas. I love how much the girls get along and like hanging out together. Abby and I flew home Sunday afternoon, so we only watched the first game that the girls played. They kept us updated though and the girls ended up winning all of their games on Sunday, so they ended up 17th out of 152 teams. We were so proud of them and how they played together. They looked amazing and played so hard. It was a very long weekend, but a successful one.
A couple weeks later, the girls had their final tournament in Albuquerque which was their final shot to win a bid to Nationals. It was another double-booked weekend, so only Aubrey and I drove with Abby to Albuquerque while Tessa and Taryn stayed home with Tyler. They had birthday parties and other activities the same weekend, so it made the most sense to split up for the weekend. Aubrey's choice to join me and Abby in Albuquerque had a lot to do with the slide that was in our hotel. As soon as we got there on Friday, she had to give it a try. We had only 15 minutes before the pool closed, so we made a quick stop so Aubrey could ride the slide. She loved it.
Abby played really well and they won all of their games except for one all weekend. Abby played all the games on Saturday and they won all of those games. Abby had great hits, serves, and digs. She really is an awesome all-around player. I was very into watching the games, so I didn't get many action shots during the games, but we took a lot of pictures in between games.
The big ball is always at the big tournaments, so after their games on Saturday, we got some pictures with the ball. Abby and Emily took a picture in front of the ball last year in Albuquerque, so they wanted another picture this year. We also found the Wildfire team which is made up of mostly Hornedo girls, so we took a picture of Abby's middle school team, Emily, Devry, Abby, Yuli, Bailey, and McKensie. We were only missing Andrea and Annette.
It has pretty much become a tradition to eat at least one meal at Tropical Smoothie, so we grabbed more pictures while eating a lunch there. One picture of all the girls and one of all the parents.
On Sunday, we stayed to watch the team play even though Abby does not play. She cheered from the bench and we ended up winning two games to make it to the top four teams. However, then we lost to the number 1 seeded team again. This team was also amazingly good and pretty much beat us easily and quickly. They were just taller, faster, and more powerful. So with that loss, we had to play our last game to determine 3rd and 4th place. We were able to win that game in three sets. The girls played hard, came from behind and pulled out the win. And with getting 3rd place, we won a bid to the Nationals tournament in June. The girls were so excited. I took this picture right after they won and the girls were running around cheering, hugging, and crying because we knew we were going to Nationals. The one team that beat us got first place and beat the second place team with the exact same scores that they beat us. It was pretty crazy, but the girls played hard all weekend and totally earned their spot to Nationals.
We were there so long on Sunday; we were one of the last teams still playing. They were even taking apart the courts while we were playing. We wanted to get a team picture in front of the big ball, but by the time our girls were done playing, the ball had already been deflated. So we took a picture of the girls on top of the ball. It was pretty funny.
They had a stage where the medals were presented, so we took a team picture and then a picture of each girl individually. We are so proud of these girls.
Of course, they had to have a funny picture too.
We stopped by a diner for dinner before heading home. The parking lot had a cool wall of signs, so we took pictures there. Here's Abby and Aubrey. These girls probably fight the most among our girls, so this weekend was good for them to hang out together and have that sister time and learn that they can get along and that they do love each other.
Aubrey was also happy that Riley, Emily's sister, was there because then she had a buddy to hang out with during the games. Abby and Emily took a picture together too. They are best buds. Volleyball besties for life!
Another volleyball weekend was taken with our first team fundraiser. I set up for the team to sell Applebee's breakfast tickets, and the Saturday of our event, the girls did the serving, waitressing, and hosting. I love this picture of Abby and Diane as they learned their jobs.
The girls thought it was so fun to work the restaurant and see the kitchen and serve their friends. They did a great job listening to the actual employees and learning what all they had to do. They were especially happy when they got their key cards that they swiped every time they placed an order.
We earned over $2000 dollars from this fundraiser, and the girls had fun doing the work together. Here's a picture of all of the girls outside Applebee's after they were done. It was a fun weekend.
After earning our bid to Nationals, we've picked up the pace on fundraising to help with the funds of taking that trip. Nationals this year are in Indianapolis Indiana at the end of June. So we started making our summer plans and family vacations around that tournament. We're very excited for the girls and we love seeing all of their hard work and dedication pay off.
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