June, Part 2 - 2018 Volleyball Festival, Phoenix, AZ

Since Abby started club volleyball, her team began fundraising for a national tournament. By the end of the club season, they decided to go to a national volleyball festival tournament in Phoenix and had everything paid for before we went. The girls were so excited. They had about six weeks to practice with a new team since only four members of the original club team decided to continue playing for this tournament. The new Stars Nova team loved practicing and playing together and we had a great time in Phoenix.

We caravaned to Phoenix on a Wednesday and got to our hotel in time to get ready for the kick-off party. All the teams dressed up according to the theme which was Under the Sea. Our girls had headbands and grass skirts so we could find them. Some of the teams went all out with costumes and accessories. Here's Abby with Allie and then the whole team once they were all dressed up and ready for the party.

The siblings had fun partying too, especially with all the accessories and glow sticks they got to wear. They made a ton of necklaces and loved following the team around on the dance floor. Taryn used Tyler's shoulders to get a better view of the stage where they were letting people dance and doing announcements.

They threw balls, t-shirts and glow sticks into the audience; and one of the parents caught this foam glow stick that he gave to the girls. They were so excited. 

The festival staff announced all the states and countries that had teams participating in the tournament. There were teams from over half of the states and from three countries besides the US - Mexico, Canada, and Italy. It was pretty cool to see all the teams from around the world dancing and having fun together before getting down to business the next day.

On Thursday, our team wore their blue jerseys and won most of their games. The first two they played were pretty easy wins, but then they played a team that was ranked a little higher than them, and they lost. They made a comeback in the second set, but they weren't able to pull it out. That team was from California and they had some amazing hitters. It was a good game even though they lost. Overall for the day, they played well and had fun. 

Here are some of my best pictures of Abby that first day. I like them all because they each show a different skill. The first is Abby spiking, the second is her serving, 

and this is one that Jenn took of Abby setting. I love the good quality and the fact that she's in the air setting the ball. This first day they played teams from Arizona, New Mexico, and California.

After the games of day one, the team took this picture which we all loved. Here is team Nova starting with Coach and going clockwise - Coach Dawson, Diane, McKenzie, Emily, Allie, Suzette, Abby, Andrea, Annette, and Kayla.

The siblings played well together and kept themselves entertained considering they were spectators for four days straight. There was a mall near by that we visited frequently so adding a few new plush toys helped with their playtime. Aubrey loved the fancy dress store in the mall and just kept walking around it saying, "when I grow up, I want this to be my house." She's definitely still my fancy girly-girl. 

Grandma and Grandpa Gibbons drove down to Phoenix to see Abby play. They hadn't seen her play volleyball since she played on a YMCA team. One time when Abby invited them to Phoenix, Grandma said they had already seen her play, but Abby told them, "That was YMCA volleyball grandma. This is the real thing!" We loved that they came down to support her and watch her play. And they were very impressed with how much she had improved and with how advanced their entire team was. We love watching them play! 

On Friday, they played in a new, harder pool against teams from California and Arizona. This was their best day because they won every game, but they were hard games. The competition was definitely getting tougher. The fun part of the day was that they played a team from southern California which we learned had the twin girls of Steve Nash on it. My dad took this picture of Abby serving with Steve Nash sitting right behind her. They played so well this day. It was nerve-wracking to watch because the competition was so fierce, but they stayed with it and came out on top. 

Their ranking out of 74 teams in their age division was 14 and during these first two days of tournament play, when they were ranked above a team, they won and when they were ranked below a team, they lost; but they were such good games all around. Here's Abby serving and then the team as they prepared to play.

At the end of their final game on Friday, we had a picture taken with the team they played. It was a LiveWire team from Arizona that was really good, but we were able to take the win. It was such a good game that we wanted a picture with both teams together. We left that night on a high after all of our wins. We got to swim in the hotel pool that night and the girls had fun celebrating their awesome day. The parents just kept saying, "however this weekend ends up, at least we can say we beat Steve Nash's daughters' team." 

Because we played so well the first two days, we were in the championship bracket for the final two days. Only the top 16 teams made it to that bracket. We were super excited that our girls made it into this top bracket. They went into the bracket play ranked 14 out of the 16 teams. But with being in the bracket with the top teams, the competition was the toughest yet. We played hard and had close games, but didn't win any games. 

These were some pictures I took on Saturday when they played in their white jerseys. They played teams from California and Hawaii on this day and the teams they played were good. They were at our girls' level, but they just played better enough to beat us in every game. 

I took a picture of Abby with both sets of her grandparents who were there to watch and support her. We love Abby and we love our family! Every game that Abby's team had to ref, Abby was the R2 ref which is the one at the net across from the official ref. Abby took her responsibility very seriously and was a very good ref. I had just as much fun watching her ref as I did watching her play. She's just such an amazing young lady! 

After the games on Saturday, we took another trip to the mall. Since Abby was done with playing actual games until school started, she decided she wanted to get her ears pierced. We allow the girls to get them pierced when they turn 12, but Abby didn't really push for it right after she had turned 12. By the time she was ready to get them pierced, she was playing volleyball regularly and wasn't able to get them pierced since she couldn't have earrings in while playing volleyball and she couldn't take earrings out for 3-4 weeks after first getting them pierced. So she decided after the tournament, she'd have enough time to wear the new earrings before she started school and the next volleyball season. She was very nervous, but the girl who did the piercing was very nice and helped her feel comfortable. When we told her we were in Phoenix for volleyball, she was even more excited because she said she was a volleyball player too and liked Abby even more. So here's Abby with her newly pierced ears and the other girls were excited that they also got to pick out some jewelry at Claire's while we were there. We took this cute picture of Taryn as a unicorn at the front of their store.

On Sunday, the final games of the bracket were played. Our team was basically playing for 13-16 place in the entire tournament. Because it was Sunday, Abby did not play, but we did go to support the team. She wore her jersey but wore regular pants. We actually got a lot of comments from the other parents how proud they were of us and of Abby especially for her religious beliefs and for sticking with her decision to not play on Sunday. It was making me tear up to hear the nice things they said. I know it was a hard decision for Abby to make, but to see all the support and love she received by being that example was very humbling and faith-building. We love Abby and we love this team! The team ended up 14th overall out of 74 teams and we were so proud of them and how they played. It was an awesome volleyball weekend.  

After we left the team, we found a church on the way out of Phoenix to go to a sacrament meeting, and then we headed on our way north to Utah for the rest of our vacation which will be my next post. It was a fun start to our 2018 summer vacation.

June, Part 1 - Beginning of Summer, Father's Day, Girls Camp

We'll start off our first summer post by showing some pictures from a dance recital.  We went with our friends, the Andersons, who we call Kandersons because there are multiple Anderson families in our ward right now. So to tell them apart, we add the first initial of the mom's name to 'Anderson' so Kristina Anderson's family we call Kandersons and Jessica Andersen's family we call the Jandersens. Abby's BFF, Braelinn, is in the Kanderson family and her dance recital was the beginning of June. Abby was going to just go with their family, but since Tyler was gone to Scout Camp, we decided to all go. The youngest Kanderson daughter, Presley, who's one of Taryn's good friends was also dancing in the recital, so we went to show support for their entire family. It was a very long recital and we had to go pretty early to get seats, so my girls got a little antsy, but once the performances started, they were happy to watch and cheer. Abby's good friend, Alexis, is also in the dance company so I grabbed a picture of the three girls during intermission. Presley performed first and then got to sit in the audience for the rest of the dance numbers, so Taryn was happy to have a friend to sit with during the show.

Abby's friend Sofia from the Hornedo volleyball team moved this summer, so Abby and Braelinn planned a surprise party for her with some friends. They decorated this photo spot and used the props to take pictures. They swam, listened to music, ate food, and just visited. They had a great time. We'll miss Sofia! 

The kids finally talked me into helping them do a lemonade stand this summer. They set up at the end of our cul-de-sac at the busier intersection and ended up making almost 100 dollars. I love how friendly everyone is who stops to support kids who are selling stuff. A police man even stopped and talked to them for awhile after buying lemonade and candy. He asked what they were saving their money for and was very friendly. The girls told me afterwards that when he left, the boys were so excited to whisper that "he had a gun right there on his waist."

We continued with volleyball this summer as Abby and her new team, Nova, prepared for their National Tournament in Phoenix. Half of their club team decided to take a break for the summer while the other half wanted to go to Phoenix, so they found some extra players to join their team and they started practicing together. Abby was moved from middle hitter to outside hitter, which she preferred. They had games on Fridays and usually won those games easily.

Here's their new Nova team from Abby going clockwise: Abby, Suzette, Emily, Kayla, McKenzie, Diane, and Allison with two of the girls missing. From winning one of their games so easily, coach promised them a movie, so here's a better picture of all the girls. Top row left to right: Annette, Suzette, Allison, Emily, Kayla, and Coach Dawson. Bottom row: Diane, McKenzie, Abby, and Andrea. We really loved this team. They all got along so well and loved to play. My next post will be all about their trip to Phoenix and their National tournament.

Aubrey and Tessa both played on the team that Tyler and I were coaching, the Can Do team. I had Abby take some pictures at one of our games. We only had 6 players on our team for this season, but with the summer, we always played our games with only 5 players because someone was always out of town. The girls didn't mind because that meant they didn't ever have to rotate out. 

We lost most of our games because we were still the youngest and most inexperienced team. However, the girls learned how to serve more consistently and get the ball over the net more regularly, so we did see them progress a lot throughout the season. 

We spent one day at the country club pool. Abby's teammate, McKenzie, had her birthday part there; and they let us all come. Abby's team had fun swimming and hanging out together. I loved this picture that Emily's dad, Eric, took. And I grabbed this picture of Tessa and Taryn as they swam together and got used to the pool water. So cute!

All the girls were super excited to be able to go swim and use the diving board and large slide. I took pictures of each of the younger three girls as they used the slide and diving board. Here are Taryn's pictures. She was so happy that she was big enough to go down the slide by herself. And she finally got the courage to jump off the front of the diving board instead of off the side which was closer to the ladder. 

Tessa did the best pose for me as she came down the slide. I thought it was hilarious. And she chose to dive off the diving board for her picture.

Aubrey loved the diving board the most, but I was able to catch her one of the times she came down the slide. I took multiple pictures trying to catch her in the air doing the star pose and this was the best one even though she was looking down. She did get some serious air though! 

Abby and I have been continuing our tradition of playing French horn duets on Sundays. This particular day we were using the video and figuring out how to use the timer for the pictures and we caught this awesome picture of us by using the hand gesture to start the timer. We thought it was hilarious that the camera caught us with such cute facial expressions. 

On Father's Day, we made sure to take family pictures outside of church like we always do. Abby had an idea for a gift and needed a picture of just the girls, so we took that one first. Here's a picture of the project that Abby made for Tyler for Father's Day. She found the quote and decided on the technique herself and it turned out really cute.

We also took a family picture after church and then I wanted a picture with just me and my dad since we were all at church together. It was stake conference on Father's Day and my dad and I sang together in the stake choir. It was fun and I love having them live so close to us.

I went to Girls Camp with Abby this year. At the end of May, I was released from my Relief Society calling and was given a new calling as the Beehive Adviser, so I'm with Abby on Sundays and Wednesdays now. She says she likes having me there with her and I love being in Young Womens. For Girls Camp, I was asked to help with the 3rd years and Abby was a 2nd year so we usually just saw each other in passing at camp. Although our campsites were right next to each other, so we didn't have to go far to find one another. I took a picture of Abby with her friends as they did the flag ceremony one morning and then I took a picture of me and Abby in our year level shirts. 

I loved the colors they used for the different years this year. We all wore our shirts on the same day so we could take group pictures. I took some of my own while we waited. 

Abby spent most of her time with Braelinn and Amelia. They had a lot of fun at camp. Another leader took this second picture with a group of their 2nd year girls. From left to right it's Alaina, Alex, Carrie, Braelinn, and Abby. 

We took a hike and I followed Abby and her group. Here are the three girls on the trail. We also stopped at a waterfall that was along the way and took some pictures there. Here's Abby with Braelinn, Carrie, and Natalie who was a YCL that everyone loves. 

We took this big group picture at the waterfall as well. Abby says she knows everyone so from left to right, we have: Paige, Alexie, Summer, Alex, Brooke, Carrie, Braelinn, Val, Sis. Esplin, Kelsey, Abby, Evelyn, and Malia. 

The girls made sock puppets as a service project to give to a children's hospital and they had free time every day as well. There was rock climbing, a zip line, archery, and shooting, among other activities. I loved this picture of Abby as she got ready to shoot the bow and arrow. 

Kate from our ward had her birthday while we were at Girls Camp, so the beehives in our ward wanted to decorate her tent for a birthday surprise. She was very surprised and happy when she saw all the signs and balloons and decorations. She even got presents including one from Abby which was a chicken game because Kate loves chickens.  

The last night at camp is Bishop's night and a member of the bishopric comes up for dinner and then we do a devotional and testimony meeting with just our wards. It was probably my favorite activity because I got to hear the girls' testimonies about camp and about the gospel. They are such great girls and I love seeing them grow and become stronger, more independent, and more righteous young women. Here are all the young women and leaders that were at camp from the Mesa Ward.

On the final day, we took a group picture of all the 3rd year girls outside our campsite. I really enjoyed working with these girls and getting to know them better. It was fun spending time with them and seeing them learn and grow and gain stronger testimonies. 

I took one more selfie with Abby on the last morning of camp. We had a great time. The theme for this year's camp was Look Up and we talked each day about a different way we can look up to receive help. 

On that final morning, we had balloons for each girl that said Always Look Up on them that we were able to release into the air with a promise to ourselves that we will always look up to Jesus Christ instead of looking around when we need answers and help. It was a great week and a great first month of our summer.