Abby’s last couple out of town volleyball tournaments were held in Lubbock, TX this year. They are usually in Albuquerque, but due to the pandemic, most of New Mexico was still shut down for activities like huge volleyball tournaments. I was excited for a new adventure even though Lubbock is a longer drive than Albuquerque. The first tournament was over Easter and Conference weekend. Abby and I went on our own and drove out the Friday before. We took the scenic route and stopped for lunch in the Guadalupe Mountains. It was really pretty and we enjoyed taking pictures at the picnic area where we ate our lunch. As we got into Lubbock that night, we drove straight to the Lubbock temple so we could take pictures there.
It was the perfect time of day because the sun was setting behind the temple, and it was shining right through the stained glass windows. It made for some gorgeous pictures and we couldn’t stop taking them. We walked around the grounds and loved how close you could get to the temple and how close the angel Moroni looks since this is one of the smaller temples. It was still so beautiful and we were happy we got to see it. The temples were still closed to visitors and patrons unless doing your own work, so we didn’t get to go inside this time, but we were happy we got to be on the temple grounds and to take pictures as the sun set.
We were very happy to find out that Lubbock has some of our favorite food spots that we don’t have in El Paso. They have a Fazoli’s which Abby and I both love. Whenever we go to Midland/Odessa, we always make a stop there for dinner. We were super excited to see that Lubbock had one too. Braum’s is also a favorite from my home town of Wichita Falls, so we had to make a stop there for some ice cream after dinner. Abby was so excited to get her ice cream and share it with the world.
This was a different tournament because Abby was playing with a new team. Abby had started playing with the 16s team again since the older girls season was already over. But because Abby was coming in late to that team, she was just a fill in player. She did play every set, but she didn’t go in until someone else messed up. Sometimes she went in as a hitter and sometimes as the setter. She even played only back row for a set. It was a little frustrating not really having a spot on the court, but she was just happy to continue the season and be able to play some more games. These are the girls she played with last year and she knows them all from school, so it wasn’t too hard of a transition for her at least socially.
She was excited to be able to hit and play back row, but not having a set position for the tournament was starting to take a toll by the end of the day. I was just happy to get pictures of her while she played and to watch her play.
They lost most of their games, but they had fun playing and we got to eat together as a team afterwards. Abby and I then spent some time touring Texas Tech University and we even got to visit the museum on the campus, so that was fun.
The Sol team had team pictures at the end of the season so here are a some of our favorites.
The team mom enlarged this picture to give to Coach Martin. We were happy that Abby was able to play some of the season with these girls. They are her age and all of her friends from school and the team that she played with last year, so we were very blessed to continue her season after the older team finished.
The main reason that only Abby and I traveled to Lubbock instead of the whole family was because we were incubating chicken eggs. Tyler found out that it takes three weeks for chicken eggs to hatch, so three weeks before Easter, we started saving our chicken eggs and placing them in the incubator that he bought. We pulled 10 eggs and waited three long weeks to see if they would hatch. We hoped that they would hatch on Easter Sunday, but the first couple decided to come early and out they came on Saturday while they were all watching General Conference. It was so fun for the kids to see; and luckily they thought to take a lot of pictures and even some videos so they could send them to me and Abby while we were away. Eight of our 10 eggs hatched over the next three days and watching the little baby chicks struggle to come out of their shells is something we’ll never forget. They started chirping right away and they turned fluffy and cute pretty quickly. The girls were in heaven as they took turns holding and naming all the new baby chicks.
We have awesome neighbors and recently, the moms in the neighborhood started a group text where we plan activities and block parties. One of the moms hosted an Easter egg hunt while Abby and I were out of town, but they were nice enough to let my other three girls participate even though I wasn’t there to supervise or help out. The kids did some crafts and then got to hunt for eggs all around the neighborhood. They said it was a lot of fun. I’m so thankful that we have such amazing people who live on our street and in our neighborhood. The kids can always find someone to play with and they throw the most fun block parties with yummy food and good company.
The middle school young women’s class planned an activity to have a daddy/daughter party and dance. The girls organized it themselves and they said it turned out a success. Lots of dads were in attendance and they did hair and then had a dance. I’m glad that the leaders took some pictures and shared them with the rest of us. It’s a great group of girls.
The Andersen family has been in our ward for many years. They were here when we moved to El Paso in 2012. They left for schooling for a couple of years, but then they came back. This year they found out that they got a job in Idaho and were moving closer to family. We were so sad to see them go. Their three older kids are the exact same age as our three younger kids. We get along with them really well. Tessa and their son Reve have been good friends and they have an awesome group of friends from church. They’d get together almost every weekend at someone’s house and just hang out. That group threw a huge going away party for Reve where they met at a park, played night games, and then ended up at someone’s house for swimming. Reve was Tessa’s first crush and they liked each other on and off throughout all of middle school. She was really sad to see him leave. I was so happy that Tessa has been a part of such a great group of kids. Jessica and Marshall are some of our closest friends and whenever we went on group dates, they were always there. We did a final group date to celebrate Kristina’s birthday and to say our farewell to them by eating dinner at Koze. The Andersens had never eaten there and they had a fun experience. We will miss them a lot!
Audrey and our ward put on an open house farewell for the Andersen family on their final Sunday. It was a huge gathering and we were happy that so many people stopped by to say their goodbyes and wish them well. Here’s Tessa with Taryn, Reve, and Rianne. Lexi, who’s Aubrey’s age, was one of her closest friends. This group of girls always liked to hang out together and they’ll miss Lexi so much. It’s Rianne, Lexi, Lydia, Aubrey, and Ashleigh in this second picture.
Even though Reve is their oldest kid, it didn’t keep the teenagers from using the party as an excuse to get together and hang out. They were fun to take pictures of and they were happy to be together no matter the occasion.
Astrid is one of Abby’s good friends who lives on the East side. She and AJ had started dating, so they took a cute picture in their unplanned matching outfits. Here’s another closer up picture of all the 8th graders (and a few others) who are in the group of kids I mentioned that Tessa is always hanging out with. From left to right it’s: Logan, Caleb, Tessa, Blair, Taryn, Ryan, Jacob, Ethan, Jake, Reve, and Danen. It’s a great group of kids.
We had to take some pictures of the adults too. Jessica’s peeking up in the middle of this picture, but here she is with a lot of her friends from church. It’s Jennifer, me, Tristin, Jessica, Holly, Brittany, Audrey, and Niki.
We stayed pretty late into the evening because no one wanted the farewell party to end because we didn’t want to say goodbye. Verna, Audrey’s mom, wanted a picture so she got one with Jessica and some of us still there and we did get one of Marshall with the teenagers in the house. They will be greatly missed, but they are happy to be moving closer to family and closer to where they grew up.
I had to include this picture in the blog because the ladies that I work with at the school are so creative and fun. We had a week of administrative assistant appreciation, but due to COVID, there have been some pretty strict rules about bringing and sharing food. The compromise was that pre-packaged food and treats were ok, so Julie brought these treats to celebrate us as an office staff. I really like my job and I love the ladies that I work with. We have fun together and we get stuff done. It’s nice to be appreciated and the teachers and other staff members were great about showing their gratitude for us. It was a great week.
Finally, for the month of April, Abby and Astrid took a shopping day to search for prom dresses. The schools were not having official proms this year because of the pandemic, but a group of kids from church and school decided to plan their own prom with a day of dance lessons, dinner, and the dance. Abby was so excited for her first prom and so we went shopping at our first opportunity to look for dresses even before she was asked by a boy. She knew she’d be going to the dance whether she had a date or not, so she was excited to shop with her friend and try on pretty dresses. It was a fun day while Astrid’s mom and I followed along as the girls tried on dress after dress. Luckily, before we had even gone to all the stores we planned to visit, both girls found dresses at Dillards. They were on sale and they were just what the girls were looking for. Abby tried hers on and I knew it was “the one” before she did. It was the color she was looking for, it was beautifully modest and covered all the right areas, and it was in our price range. She looked beautiful in it. Astrid loved her dress too and she really loved that it had pockets. We took pictures of them in the dressing rom and then they wanted one as they left the dressing rooms to go pay for their purchases. It was a fun day that we ended with a lunch together and the girls were so happy to have found their prom dresses.
A week or so after the dress purchase, we found out that Cline Lee was planning on asking Abby to the prom. They do promposals here, so the boys make a big deal about asking their dates to the prom. Cline texted Tyler to work out the details of being at our house and ready for when Abby would get home from a practice one night. Cline has a younger sister who’s in Tessa’s group of friends, so the word spread and there were a ton of people there to watch the action unfold. They hid on our balcony because it was supposed to be a surprise to Abby even though I think with that many people, it’s hard to keep it secret.
Cline had a bunch of star balloons that led the way from Abby’s car to the front door of the house. He was inside the house on our stairs waiting for her with a poster that asked her to the prom. He had two balloons near him with the answers of “yes” and “no” so Abby could answer his question. There were people videoing from outside the house and I was videoing from inside the house. I think Abby knew the ask was coming but she didn’t know how he was going to do it, so there was a little element of surprise. I think she was most surprised to see how many people came rushing down the stairs after she said yes. They just kept coming. I thought this picture of her holding the yes balloon and him holding the question poster was my favorite. Cline had taken Abby out on a couple of dates before this, so she was expecting him to ask and she was super excited to have a date to the prom.
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