April 2021, Part 1 - Abby’s Volleyball in Lubbock, Andersen Goodbye

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.

 

March 2021 - Spring Break & Tessa’s 14th Birthday

Over Spring Break, Abby and I donated blood. It was Abby’s first time to donate. She was nervous, but determined to do it because she had been wanting to donate blood ever since turning 16. She did great. She got a little lightheaded towards the end of the donation, which they said is pretty common for first time donors. They were glad she told them so they were able to elevate her feet, and give her ice packs to cool her down before she passed out or had other complications. She found out she is A+ and she’s excited to do it again as soon as she’s able. Also during the Spring Break week, I was able to get my first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. They had a registration for all EPISD employees who wanted the vaccine, so I was able to register and go. I went to one of the hospitals downtown and waited in a line, but it moved quickly and I was home after only one hour. My arm hurt that day and was very tender to the touch, but I luckily did not have any other reactions to the first shot, and it was totally fine by the next morning.

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit for the end of the spring break week. They wanted to see the girls and some of their sporting events and then they headed up to Arizona and Utah to see their mothers. We were happy to have them for a couple of days on their long trek to visit everyone.

They got to come see Taryn’s last basketball game of that season. Because it was spring break, we didn’t have all of our players and the other team only had one. Luckily, a couple girls from the previous game were still there so they played again, and one of our players also played on the other team so they had enough players to play a regular game. Taryn did awesome as usual and had fun showing grandma and grandpa that she can play. It was a fun game to watch and see how much they had improved since the beginning of the season.

 

Tessa joined a running club for the month of March. She went with some girls from her cross country and track teams. She really enjoyed going. They met three times a week either at a park or at the coach’s house where they would run through the neighborhoods. After getting their cross country sweatshirts and wearing them at the same time, the girls got this picture together one day after a practice.

Tessa wanted a fancy hairstyle for church one Sunday, so she let me do my “Barbie” hairstyle that I learned when they were little. I took a picture before leaving for church, and besides the fact that it’s called a “Barbie” hairstyle, she really liked it. Taryn got to dress up for Culture day at school. She dressed up like a Mormon pioneer. We were able to borrow the bonnet from Audrey and I thought her outfit turned out super cute for the day. She was able to tell some of her teachers about her pioneer ancestors.

Unfortunately, we had some bad news in March as well. Our three bunnies had been moved out to the front porch once the weather warmed up and there they stayed for the last month of so. The girls would take them out to play when they cleaned the cages weekly and since they would try to fight or mate when they were together, they were each in a separate cage. Well, one night some neighborhood dogs got into our front patio area and ended up getting into Panda’s cage and killing her. The owners were friends of ours and were very apologetic for not getting to their dogs in time, but there was nothing they could do for Panda. We ended up burying her in our old garden. Aubrey was very distraught and would get sad or cry for the next couple days. Panda was our only female bunny and she was the fattest, cutest bunny. She was the biggest of her litter from the very beginning which was why Aubrey loved her. She was named Panda for her black and white fur, but also because of her size and we’ll miss her. The kids marked the stone above her grave so we’ll always remember. I also included this cool picture of the full moon in March as we were outside one night as the sun set and the moon rose over the mountains. I thought it was really pretty and I love the bright orange colors that indicated the beautiful sunset behind us.

 

While Grandma and Grandpa were in town, we ate out at Five Guys. It was yummy. Aubrey and Abby shared a shake and tried to recreate a picture from when they were littler. It was cute and I love their beautiful eyes. They’re nice to each other when they want to be and this was a good day when they got along just fine. Grandma and Grandpa Black were able to go to one of Abby’s tournaments while they were in town. It was supposed to be the big El Paso Bid tournament that’s normally played in the convention center, but since the convention center has been turned into a vaccine center, the tournament was played at the club locations around town. Abby’s games were played at Stars.

They did not do very well in their games, only winning a couple of sets all day. The issue was that they were missing a lot of their regular players. They had a lot of girls who had stopped paying their monthly fees, so they ended up quitting the team. So Abby’s team had to bring up three girls from the 16s team to play with them for this tournament. They only had about a week to practice and get used to each other, so they did good considering all the changes, but they did not play as well as they had in the past with their original players. While playing this green team, the green team had a professional photographer taking pictures during the game. We found some cool shots of our team once he posted his pictures on Facebook. I liked this one of Abby as she got to hit the ball, and we laugh every time we see this second picture because it was taken as the green team cheered after making a point. That point was after a good hit that Abby dove for to try and return, so in between their cheering team, you can see Abby laying on the floor after her dive.

 

On March 24th, Tessa turned 14. I took a picture of her on her way to school that morning. She wanted her hair curly so we spent the morning getting her hair just right. As I posted pictures on Facebook, this picture of when she turned two came up on my memories. I had to post them together because her hair used to be naturally curly and I thought they were adorable pictures side by side. My blonde, blue-eyed beauty!

 

Tyler got up and made Tessa a birthday breakfast of waffles and fruit. He also made Tessa’s birthday cake that turned out beautifully. She asked for a white cake with strawberry filling and frosting and chocolate ganache. Tyler made it all from scratch and was very impressed with himself for even making a strawberry reduction that he used in the filling. It was a delicious cake and so pretty. 

 

Since her 13th birthday was right when the quarantine started last year, Tessa was able to have a real birthday party this year. We did our usual family party with the cake and presents, but the weekend after her birthday, she and 10 of her friends got to go to Bob-Os to play. Their awesome group of friends from church and school get together almost every weekend. So for her birthday, Tessa wanted all of them to come to her party. It was her first boy/girl party and they had a blast on the rides and doing go-carts and laser tag. I don’t have any pictures because Tyler took her to the party and was the chaperone who basically sat with all of their belongings. I thought he’d have more fun hanging out with the teenagers, but he said he didn’t get to do very much besides sit at the tables. But Tessa said she had fun and she loved all of the gifts that her friends had gotten her.

For our Kasibbons dinner, we were able to celebrate not only Tessa but also Grandma V and Tony who share a birthday the day before Tessa’s. Audrey made three separate desserts so they each had something to hold when they blew out the candle. There was a strawberry cheesecake dessert, a banana cream pie, and a lemon blueberry dessert. They were all super yummy and it was fun to celebrate all of the birthdays together.

I took this picture from a post my mom was tagged in on Facebook. When my parents left El Paso after visiting with us, they headed to Arizona to see my Grandma. They also got to see some of my aunts, and while they were together, they took this picture and I loved it. My Aunt Karen took the picture and it has my mom, my Aunt Denise, my Aunt Bonnie, and my Grandma Jeanne. I love all of these ladies. My final picture for the month of March was just a fun decoration we did at work. Our Assistant Principal is about to become a grandma, so for her birthday (which she shares with Tessa), we decorated her office door in a Stars Wars theme because she loves Star Wars, and one of my coworkers found these adorable baby onesies. I added the saying, “Age matters not, celebrate you must” on the door and we decorated a little inside the office too. Mrs. Clay was very surprised and happy when she saw it. She kept it up for a couple of weeks and everyone who came into the office admired the awesome decorations. I really like working in the office and I love the ladies that I work with.