September 2019 - Fall Sports and Vice President

Tessa continued her Cross Country season through the month of September with a meet every week. Her second official meet was at a park on the Northeast. They marked off a path that went around some soccer and baseball fields, up and over a dirt hill, and then out and around a small pond area. It was definitely the most "cross-country" of any of her meets. The first picture is when she first started the race as they left the area where the crowds were cheering. The second picture is on her way back from going out and around the pond. You can see the dirt hill behind her that they had to race up and over twice. Tessa ended up 7th place in this race with a time of 17 minutes, 23 seconds. 

The following week, her meet was held at the park on High Ridge that we go to all the time. They raced around the park and up a path that took them on a hill path far from where they started. Here's the team of 7th grade girls as they prepared to start while talking to their coaches. The second picture is right after the gun shot that started the race. 

This is the dirt path that took their race up and along a ridge. I liked the picture because you can see all the tiny racers so far away with the beautiful sky and pretty landscape. Tessa's up there somewhere. The second picture was near the end of the trail as Tessa passed us and we cheered her on for the last half mile or so of the race. 

This was the finish line of the race as Tessa reached it. She ended up 8th place overall with a time of something around 17 minutes and 44 seconds. They didn't send out results for this meet, so I don't have the exact time, but only what my friends recorded on their stopwatch. They give medals to the top 10 every meet, so this is Tessa's third medal in three meets. 

The next week was the final meet of the season, the district meet. It was held at the park on the Northeast again, the same race path as two weeks ago. I took this picture at that final meet. Here's Tessa with Mireyda, Sofia, Elise, Ayla, and Isabella, some of her teammates.

Tessa was ready and raced with the same intensity that she always does, but it was against all the big schools in our district this time, instead of just a few of them. She stayed in the front of the pack but was still around 10-12th place as we watched her pass by us half way through the course. Counting as the 7th grade girls crossed the finish line, Tessa was 11th place. They only give 10 medals out, so Tessa finished the race a little heart broken and even started crying that she didn’t make the top 10. She was in the 17 minute time range again like all of her races. However, after some time passed, we found out that the top two girls who crossed the finish line in under 10 minutes had actually cut across the course, probably unintentionally; but in doing that, they were disqualified since they shortened the distance by quite a bit. So with their disqualification, Tessa actually finished 9th and was awarded one of the coveted medals. And with it being the district meet, the results were in and Tessa’s 7th grade girls team got 1st place overall in district, which is the trophy that Tessa is holding in the second picture. That is a team/school trophy, but the girls were able to hold it and take pictures with it before they headed home from the meet. 

Here is a final picture with the entire Hornedo Cross Country team after the district meet. Both 7th grade teams and the 8th grade girls team got 1st place in district. The 8th grade boys team placed 2nd.  We really liked the coaches and the experience that Tessa had with her first school sport. She’s very excited to do track in the spring and to do cross country next year.

Abby’s volleyball team continued their season through the month of September. They had games every week and sometimes twice a week. Abby really liked her teammates on the JV team. She was one of four freshman on the team and they played well together. Abby really liked her coach, but their first couple weeks of games and tournaments, their coach was with the Varsity team out of town, so they had fill in coaches that made it hard for them to really bond as a team. Here are a couple pictures of Abby on the court, setting.

At one of the out of town games, Abby’s JV team and the freshman team sat in the stands and cheered on the varsity team as they played. Abby was even leading some of the cheers. It was fun to see them enjoy their time together. Some of their team bonding included preparing a float for the high school homecoming parade. The volleyball teams decided to do a float from the 70s so they got together to tye-dye shirts. We laughed at how messy Abby was when she came home from that. She had dyed hands and legs because the girls didn’t think about using gloves when using the tye-dye ink. 

Their posters and shirts turned out and they had a fun time during the parade throwing out candy and being cheered on by the crowds. Tyler, the girls, and I watched the parade with a lot of families from our ward, so when the volleyball float passed by, there were a ton of people cheering for Abby. Her coach even asked unbelievably if we were all her family because there was such a large group cheering for her, but Abby had to explain that it was her church group and her family.

 

I recorded a lot of videos of Abby’s games, plays that she was involved in, so I didn’t take very many pictures this season. But I loved going to her games and watching her play. They had to stay after their games every time to help with the Varsity games, so I usually stayed as well and either watched the game or helped in the concession stand. Abby ended up as #4 this year on her team since as a freshman, she was one of the last girls to choose her jersey. But she was happy with her number and we knew the number didn’t really matter. Whether she’s number 6 or number 4 on the court, she’s always number one in our hearts.

Aubrey, now in 5th grade, started orchestra this year and plays the cello. She loves to play and to learn new things. Their orchestra teacher, Mrs. Cedillos, is amazing at her job teaching over 100 kids how to play instruments from scratch. Aubrey has picked it up pretty quickly, and she loves to show everyone at home the new song or tune she is learning on the cello. Our school has a family picnic at the beginning of the school year, and this year it overlapped with other activities so I wasn’t able to go. However, Aubrey and Taryn were able to go with the Kasallis boys and Grandma V, so she sent me this picture with Aubrey and two of her good friends from this year - Emma and Hattie. 

 

Another big event for Aubrey this year at school was running for student body government. As a fifth grader, Aubrey had the opportunity to run and she chose to run for Vice President. She made posters and designed and colored them herself. We took this cute picture so we could include it on her posters.

She also created this Descendants 3 inspired poster, which people loved because this movie had just come out this summer and all the kids her age had been talking about it. We even took Aubrey’s face and photoshopped it onto the min character’s body, so Aubrey was one of the characters from the movie on the poster. She wrote and practiced her own speech and had to stand up and deliver it in front of the entire 5th grade and she was voted in as Vice President. She was very excited and has taken her job very seriously as she helps the school counselor, goes to meetings, makes announcements, and helps out as a member of the Safety Patrol, and as a leader of their anti-bullying group, the PAW Pals. We’re so proud of Aubrey and all of her hard work as she completes her final year of elementary school.

Another experience for Tessa this fall has been her involvement in the Hornedo drum line. My dad helped again this year, and Tessa, who’s a member of the Honor band, was placed in the drum line as the top base drum. She loves it. They practiced for a couple of weeks during school, and their first big performance was during the HS band night. The high school marching band hosts the two feeder middle school bands and allows them to sit with them in the stands, and they play a song together on the field during half time. They practiced once before the game started and Tessa is straight back off the 40 yard line in the first picture. I took the second picture during the actual half time performance, from the back which was closer to where the drum line was playing. Tessa was right between the top two high school base drummers, and she was so happy to meet them and get treated so kindly by other girls in the high school drum line.

I was helping with waters after the practice and performance, so I got to be on the field with the band members. I took this picture of the Hornedo drum line while they waited their turns to go sit up in the stands with the high school band.

We got these pictures while they played in the stands. Tessa got to play along with some of the cadences and she said the girls who played the top two bass drums in the high school band were really nice to her, and she had a fun time. My dad, who was there to help Tessa’s drum line, took the second picture since he was able to get a little closer to where the band was sitting in the stands.

Tessa went to Hornedo on a Saturday in September to play during one of the 8th grade football games. It was really fun to hear them play and to hear the crowd cheer for them when they played during the timeouts. Tessa is the only girl in the percussion section again this year, so she’s the only girl in the drum line, but she doesn’t mind. She says all the boys are still really nice to her.

I recorded videos of their songs, but was able to grab these pictures as they played. Tessa has a solo in one of their songs and after missing it the first time, she didn’t ever miss it again; and it became my favorite one to hear because I loved hearing her play.

Since Logan Kasallis was on the 8th grade football team, I even had friends to sit with when I wasn’t taking pictures of Tessa. Grandma V took this picture of me and Audrey and her as we tried to stay in the shade while cheering on the football team. They walked over to where Tessa was playing on the side of the stands and cheered her on as well. It was a fun day.

Finally for one last picture in September. Abby went to her first high school homecoming dance. She went with this group of friends, mostly girls from church. She was so excited to go. She borrowed a dress from a volleyball teammate and then she met together with these girls the night of the dance to get ready together before heading to the dance. She said she had a lot of fun. I just wish that I had more pictures, but I’ll take what I can get, and I was happy to get this one of all the beautiful girls. I love that Abby is having such a great high school experience so far. 

August 2019 - Start of School, Volleyball, & Cross Country

Abby made the JV team at Franklin High School. They had their tryouts on the first day of August, about a week and a half before school even started. They even had a couple games and tournaments before school started. Here are some pictures from her first game/scrimmage as they warmed up and played.

Abby's goal was to make the JV team as a Freshman so she was very excited to accomplish her goal. We are so proud of her. She was used as the second setter and she was one of four freshmen who made the JV team. 

One of the final summer activities for church was going to a Chihuahua's baseball game. Tyler, as Young Men's President, organized the activity with Kristina, the Young Women's President. They had some extra tickets, so the younger girls and I went a little late and got to watch the game too. Here's Abby with her church friends. Abby, Braelinn, Kirsten, Celeste, and Aubrey.

We had a final summer get together for Taryn and her school friends at Peter Piper Pizza. These kids have been hanging out since kindergarten even though Taryn hasn't been in the same class with them since kindergarten. They still love playing together and getting together to party. Here's Taryn with Alyssa, Bella, Gabby, Jackson, and Benny. The older siblings didn't mind hanging out at Peter Piper either, so we took a picture of them too. Tessa, Kayla, and Aubrey.

Abby's first tournament was played in Fabens which is about a 45-minute drive from our side of town. They played both Friday night and Saturday. They won all of their games and took first place in the tournament. The first setter, Bella, was hurt, so Abby was the first setter, and they played great!

We wanted a picture with just the Freshmen with the trophy. These girls played so hard and worked really well together being the new players on the court. It was fun to watch them play. Here's Abby with Sophia, Megan, and Niki.

School started on August 12. We took our annual first day of school pictures out front and used our green tree for the background this year. I thought the pictures turned out really pretty. Here's Abby on her first day of high school. She was so excited to be able to wear whatever she wanted after having to wear a uniform for the last three years of school. Tessa was excited to be starting 7th grade and not be the youngest in the school this year. She was also excited about her new elective class besides Honor band - art class.

Aubrey started 5th grade and was happy to be the oldest in the school this year. She was looking forward to doing safety patrol, being a PAW Pal leader, running for student body government, and playing the cello in orchestra. Taryn started 2nd grade and was a little nervous about not being smart enough for it. I kept telling her she's already so smart and that she wouldn't have any trouble with what they would be learning this year. She was excited to see her friends and especially for Teagan to be able to play at the big playground with her now that he wasn't in kindergarten anymore.

I was happy to oblige when Taryn asked if we could have a picture together and I love when the girls take adorable pictures together. Everyone's so happy when they show their love for each other. I love my girls!

First day of school for all four of my beauties.

While taking the girls to their classes that first day, we found Sam and Teagan in the cafeteria, so I took a picture of all four of them. They were ready to rule the school. Down on the blacktop, as we figured out where each class would line up for the new year, we found one of Aubrey's teachers, Mrs. Currey. Tessa had Mrs. Currey too so we already love her, and Aubrey was very excited to get her as a teacher this year.

Abby had another tournament the first weekend after school started. They were down five of their regular players because of sicknesses and injuries, so they were all playing different positions and just trying to fill in where needed. However, they played really hard and ended up placing 2nd in the tournament. We were so proud of them. They only lost to one team which happened to be the same team they beat the week before to win their first tournament. That team, Montwood HS, was where the tournament was held and so they had the home-court advantage and they came to win. They looked like an entirely different team than the one we beat the previous week. But our girls played tough and stuck it out to at least win 2nd place, so we were very proud of them. Both tournaments we had different coaches coaching the team since Abby's regular coach was out of town with the Varsity team.

As school started, Tessa decided she wanted to run cross country. We went to the meeting and found out that practices would be every morning at 5:45 am, but the season was only 9 weeks long, so Tessa said she would make the commitment to do early morning practices and we started carpooling early in the morning with the Andersens. They had their first "fun run" (only a mile run) that was hosted at Hornedo. We took pictures while we waited for all of the schools to get there. Here are Tessa and Reve and just Tessa in their cross country uniforms ready for a run.

We started about an hour late because some of the schools took so long to get to our side of town, but once they did start, the 7th grade girls were the first to race. We were near the beginning of the route so we could see Tessa as she started off and as she crossed the finish line. Reve's parents were in the middle of the route and took Tessa's picture for us as she ran up the hill on her way back to the finish line. She was smiling and feeling good as she ran.

Here's a picture that was taken right at the starting line. I didn't think to count how many racers came in before Tessa and since it was just a fun run, they didn't keep track of the order or time, but I think she was probably around 12th or 13th of all the 7th grade girls who raced. As we waited for the 7th grade boys and all the 8th graders to race, we cheered on all the runners. I took this picture of Tessa with some of her Hornedo teammates as we waited for the final 8th grade boys to pass on their route.

The next week, they had their first official cross country meet and it was held at Franklin High School. They basically had to run around the perimeter of the school twice and that ended up being two miles. We found a spot right by the start/finish line which was the same since they ran in a very large circle. We even got to cheer them on as they ran around the first time, so we saw her half way through the race too. Here are pictures of when she crossed at the half way point and as she crossed the finish line. She ended up 6th place with a time of 17 min 21 sec. 

She did amazing for having only started running a couple weeks before. We were so proud of her and she was so excited to get a medal.

We went to a couple high school football games this season to support AJ on the JV team and to see the varsity team play since Abby wanted to be with her friends. One of the games we went to, the Franklin cougar mascot was there, and all the kids followed him around like little puppies. He was a good sport and played games with them and walked them all around the stands. I took this picture plus a video of them dancing, but they had a fun time as we all cheered on our football team.