April is the month of band contests. Aubrey's honor band performed at Andress High School and received all 1s. We were even able to go into the sight-reading room which was different than how they used to do it. Aubrey is second chair and was one of only a couple flute players who got to play a soli section in one of their songs. She worked really hard to learn the part and was one of the few picked to play. That made it her favorite song. I was glad I got to hear them perform.
The following week, all of the Hornedo bands played their final concert. We got to hear their songs again and they took pictures for the yearbook, so I was able to get this picture of the honor band all looking up at the same time. Aubrey has had a fun time in band this year and looks forward to playing next year.
The hardest part for me is getting pictures because you can barely see her in the way back and it's hard to pick her out. The good part is she's usually one of the few girls in the percussion section, and her long blond hair helps her to stand out. Mr. Candela is their director and it was fun listening to their performance. They also received all 1s from the judges. This performance was just a practice contest and as soon as they were finished performing, Tessa and her friend Andrew went straight to one of their track meets.
I was able to save some pictures from the band's social media accounts from their actual contest that was the following week. I wasn't able to attend this performance since it was in the middle of the day on the east side at Pebble Hills High School. They received top honors again and Tessa was one of the girls who got to help hold their plaque for the picture. I was also happy to see a picture of their entire band. She had a fun time playing.
Taryn loves hanging out with her closest friends, Teagan and Malerie. They are a fun trio of friends. I love that their parents take and share pictures that they get when I'm not around. Malerie's mom sent me this picture and I love it! During General Conference this year, the Saturday evening session was for the women, 12 years old and up. After we went to the church to watch the session, we went out for dessert and met some friends at Freddy's. Abby was working so it was just Tessa and Aubrey for our family, but they were happy to go since their friends were going too. I got this picture of them with Audrey and Milea afterwards even though they wouldn't take a serious picture. It had to be a funny one. There were some other moms and daughters that came as well, but these were the ones who stayed the longest with us. It was fun to visit and go out again after a conference session.
I mentioned Abby having to work during Conference weekend. She got a job at Formula Drinks and Bobas. Her friend's parents own it and after stopping by to shadow her friend for the night, they hired her on the spot. She trained a couple of days and then was on her own and she even gets to close and be in charge during some of her shifts. She loves it! Ever since she played computer games like Paparia's, she's wanted to work in a smoothie shop; so she tells everyone that her dreams have come true. She's a hard worker and loves what she does. Whenever I stop by, the owners come out and rave to me about how much they love Abby. It makes me so happy and proud to hear how much other people love and appreciate my girl because I already know how amazing she is.
Here's a picture of my dad when he visited his mom in Utah. He sent the picture to everyone and I love it even though I wasn't there with them. My dad went to visit my Grandma Willes in Utah and he got this picture of him with his mom and sisters. It's my Aunt Chris, Aunt Linda, and Aunt Jaime with their mom, Barbara Willes. I love my family! In April, Tyler went with the youth to the Juarez temple. I stayed behind with Tessa who had a track meet, but I was glad to see the picture of all of the youth who were able to attend. Abby and Aubrey both went and had a great experience. I love that the youth are able to go to the temple and serve in the House of the Lord.
The rest of this post is about Tessa's final track meet. It was a two day affair with the prelims on Friday night. Tessa only runs the 400M on Friday and I was so proud of her for getting another PR at the prelims. She finished first in her heat and overall with a time of 1:04:44. I love watching her run and doing her best. She is so dedicated to beat her time each week and she usually does!
On Saturday, we headed back to Eastwood High School for her final meet. It was the district qualifiers, but only for varsity. Everyone else just had a final meet. Tessa ran the 800M first and got first place. I was sad that I did not get a picture of the scoreboard with her time, but she had another PR. Franklin took the top three spots and they had a podium for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place this week which was cool. Tessa got first and her teammates, Isa and Olivia, took 2nd and 3rd. This was the best picture I could get from where I was sitting in the stands, but that's Tessa in the center.
Tessa ran the 400M next and she and Isa were close as they came around the last turn to run the final straightaway. Tessa was in the lead for the entire time and ended up first with a time of 1:05:10. Not a PR, but for running in the heat of the day, it's still a great time. And she finished first which was her only goal.
Finally, Tessa and her teammates ran the 4x400 relay. Tessa is still the 2nd leg, which she likes because she gets to cut in on her leg. She starts in the lane they're assigned to and then 100 meters into her leg, she gets to cut into lane 1 and stay there. Here she is getting the baton from Isa, the first leg and then the second picture is of Tessa handing off the baton to Izaiddi, their 3rd leg runner. They got 1st place with a PR time of 4:38. They have fun running together and Tessa loves that she gets to be in a relay.
Tessa was so excited because her percussion teacher, Mr. Perez, made it to the track meet. Andrew, another percussionist, is also on the track team, so I took a picture of the three of them together. He helped me cheer on all the Franklin students and it was fun having more people in the stands to cheer for Tessa. We found out the next day that Tessa was featured in the El Paso Times with a picture! It talks about how she placed 1st in District for the freshmen girls 800M. Tessa was a little embarrassed by the picture because it's right at the end of her race, so her face is a little funny looking, but everyone who saw it just said it's a face of determination. I love that they took a close up picture and that they mention her as the 1-6A district freshmen girls champion for the 800M. So proud of her!
A lot of our varsity track and field members qualified and moved on to the regional and area meets. Hopefully that'll be Tessa in the future. Here's a picture that the coach got of the majority of the Franklin Girls track and field team, 2021-2022. I love that Tessa gets to be a part of a great group of athletes and friends.
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