RidgeValley Volleyball Season

When the high school season of volleyball ended back in November the big question became whether Abigail would play club volleyball during the off season.  We knew that likely half of the games during the season would be on Sundays and that many teams held practices on Sunday as well. I looked at several teams in the area and all of them were holding their tryouts on Sunday.  I knew there are other girls that play on clubs teams that don’t participate in Sunday sports, but how do we even get on the team if all the tryouts are on Sundays?  We emailed a few coaches regarding alternative tryout dates and not a one responded back.  It looked like our decision would be easy, no club volleyball, but then just a week or so before tryouts RidgeValley, the local Snoqualmie Valley club, changed their tryout date to a Monday and we went for it. 

The RidgeValley director is actually our head high school volleyball coach so she knew Abigail’s commitment to not playing on Sundays and when they offered her a spot on the team they told us they would support our decision and would take an additional player on the team since Abigail would miss many of the tournaments.

Being a local team, RidgeValley doesn’t attract top players like the clubs more centrally located (Bellevue, Kent, Seattle, etc…)  Coming into this season the team was ranked near the bottom of the pack – by the end of the season they worked there way up closer to the middle.

Practices started in late November and Abigail’s last game was on Saturday, May 6 – the rest of the team played in the final games the following day.  They had practices 2-3 times a week during those 5 months – one of those practices was always on Sunday.  Even without getting to fully participate in the season Abigail’s contribution to the team was noticeable.  It was a great opportunity for her to improve her skills and prepare for the next season at the high school.

Not sure what up with this picture from the beginning of the season – pretty sure Abigail missed the “look up” memo and instead pulled the “make a silly face” pose.  I think it’s pretty awesome.

A little better team pictures from the beginning of the season.

In March they played at the Domino’s Pizza tournament and were given shirts for staying positive when their spirited Polish coach was causing some contention throughout the day.

Team picture following Abigail’s final game

Abigail and her bestie Megan bought sweatshirts after the last tournament.  Love these girls!

Other April

Carly had an early morning LAX game downtown on April 1.  After the game we popped over to Pike Place to enjoy some freshly made donuts and pick up some fresh flowers.  

I’ve been wanting to try Café Yum so we stayed downtown for lunch – though I was not impressed.

Jason has been participating in choir this year with practices Friday mornings before school.  His final concert was on April 6th and I was surprised to see he had a solo part on percussion. Way to keep the beat buddy!

My Mom sends us e-cards on occasion.  The one she sent for Katie’s birthday had a fun puzzle activity on it.  Being the competitive people we are we had a little competition of who could put it together the fastest.

When my friend Laura moved to Texas she gave us some of her daughters old clothes.  Katie found this fun owl jacket and was excited to wear it to school.  It was actually a Halloween costume for Laura’s daughter but we’ll put just about anything into normal everyday use.

(Katie is also using a backpack they gave us)

Jason is nearing the end of his fourth grade school year and has had a poster his third grade teacher made on his bedroom for nearly a year.  Not sure how or why Jason ended up bringing it home last year, but it was time to take that off!  Do we really need to know that Mr. Scourey’s brother is/was 22 and that Mr. Scourey has fished in 34 rivers?  We took a picture so Jason could remember the prominent place it has had in our home and then promptly put in the recycle bin.

Our entry way has a weird shape to it since there’s an angled wall near the coat closet.  We bought a rug when we moved in six years ago that was meant to be temporary until we found something that fit better.  I finally got around to ordering a new rug a few months ago and was excited that delivery day was finally here.  When they brought it in the house it was still rolled up tight but looked really big.  The guys kept unrolling it and all three of us had this baffled look of “this can’t be right” – it was huge!  This rug was 95” x 140” and my rug was supposed to be 56” x 80”.  At first they asked if I still wanted to keep it and I even went so far as to measure my family room to see if it could fit in there, but it was a no go.  After a few phone calls it was determined they’d take it back and with fingers-crossed hope that there had just been a mix up and that my rug was somewhere in the warehouse. 

I sent this picture to Justin with the caption “New entry rug was delivered today!”

Justin: “Why is it folded? Looks big”

Me: “You think??”

Justin: “Send me a pic with it laid out” {guess he didn’t catch the sarcasm of my “you think??”}

Thankfully, two rugs had just been switched and they delivered my perfectly sized rug the next day.

Jason also had his 4th Grade concert this month.  No video, just a poor-quality pre-concert pic.

The kids can trash the bonus room in minutes.  There are also many, many times that the messes just continue to build and escalate until I can’t even walk into the room.  This picture was taken on one of those days.  I took a picture cause it really is unbelievable how disastrous the scene was, then I closed the door and just walked away.  Jason and Katie whipped it back into shape and then the cycle just continues – week after week, day after day.

April was a quite the shopping/returning month around here.  I’ve followed Becky Higgins since college when I was deep into scrapbooking.  She shares some of her favorite things on social media on occasion and posted that she’d found a “ridiculously comfortable” dress and everyone on her team had purchased them.  So, I ordered multiple colors in multiple sizes from Amazon.  I told the girls I would buy them a dress under the condition that we’d wear them to church on the same day.  I’ve never been into the matchy matchy thing, but I thought it would be fun and part of me also wanted to make them squirm a bit.  It wasn’t easy to narrow it down to one dress each but we managed and we’re finally able to wear them on Sunday, May 7.  When someone made a comment to Abigail that she was wearing the same dress as me she said, “my Mom made me or I’d have to pay her $25!”  Ha!

I was also in need a few pairs of shoes and winter boots – which ended up looking like this.  Yes, I know I have issues.  I like options.

So far this stack of 18 pairs of shoes has been dwindled down to 5 with likely another pair or two to return.  Love stores that have a healthy return window so I can stew over it for months :S

Justin & Mike Arizona

Justin went to Arizona for a Conference at the end of the April.  His Dad tagged along and they extended the trip a few days to explore Sedona.  Here’s his recap and pictures.

Day 1

My dad and I were lucky enough to be moved to open emergency row seats where we could stretch out our legs and be reasonably comfortable on the flight. 

Upon arrival, we caught a bus to the car rental location where we waited in a long line to get our vehicle.  My dad is all about the food on these trips and always has a list of restaurants he has identified as worth visiting.  We ultimately decided on Chino Bandido, a place just north of our hotel.

Day 2

The red rock scenery of Sedona is quite unique and stunning as the landscapes come into view driving into the area.  

I went to 10am sacrament.  The first speaker shared her testimony about how she was going to jump from a bridge, prayed, and decided not to jump but fell anyways as she was trying to climb over the railing to safety.  She felt as if she was lifted up in the water below.  Part way through the meeting an old lady's phone navigation kept going off and she couldn't figure out how to silence it.  After a few occurrences, I helped her just turn the darn thing off.  I am sure she was flustered and a bit embarrassed.

Devil's Bridge - My dad and I decided on this hike as we felt it was doable.  It was quite easy as we took a slow pace, for me that is.  My dad ended up making it about two thirds of the way but tired out from the heat and distance.  He waited while I climbed up to the bridge.  The views were amazing.   The bridge looked quite narrow from a distance but not as intimidating as I expected once I walked across.

We had some nachos then drove up the canyon, arriving just minutes after the viewpoint closed.  Who closes something like that at 5pm?

Day 3

Awoke early to beat the heat.  Camelback 42 minutes to the top.

We checked Matt's Big Breakfast off my dad's list.  A nice old brick place downtown.  I tried the pork chop and scrambled eggs while my dad ordered eggs and bacon.

Joe's Real BBQ is one of my dad's favorites.  We went together with Uncle Dave and Aunt Vanita the last time we were here back in 2013.  

We headed from Joe's to the ballpark downtown.  Chase Field is a large air conditioned stadium with a retractable roof.  My dad bought tickets just a few sections down from the first base dugout 7 rows from the field.  Great view close to the action.

Day 4

Conference 8-5

I worked out after my conference and then we enjoyed Rudy's BBQ, followed by a stop at Walmart and nostalgic shake from Whataburger.  The summer I was 16 I worked a landscape job and I remember regularly getting a good sized shake at Whataburger.  Good times.

Day 5

A nice 2.8 mile run along the desert trail.  Temps were warm but not overbearing.  Felt good to get some physical activity in to work off all this food I have been eating.  

Conference 8-5

Rudy's for dinner again.  My dad ended up paying the consequences of eating too much BBQ as he had a bout with gout back in WA.

Sunset view from the resort

Day 6

I ran the trail again this morning with some folks from the conference, this time to the end, about 3 miles.  We ended up scoring exit row seats on the way home too.

Back to Holly:  Katie received silly string for her birthday from my Mom and was so excited to use it on Justin when he arrived back home from his trip.  Welcome Home!

Easter Festivities

As mentioned in our spring break post, this is the third year our neighborhood has held it’s own Easter Egg Hunt, but the first year it hasn’t been on Sunday.  Justin and I took the three youngest thinking there wouldn’t be anything for Abigail and Carly. Turns out it should have been a whole family affair.  Lots of yummy food and fun activities and plenty of eggs for the egg hunters to gather.  We have a realtor in the neighborhood that puts it together and she hired a face painter and balloon creator as well. 

When all the eggs had been collected in Drew’s little area he popped over to Jason’s age group and found a lone sparkly egg hidden under a slide.  

Turns out that sparkly egg was worth a special giant egg with extra goodies and a gift certificate to a children’s indoor play area.  Score!

We stuck around for a while visiting with neighbors and letting the kids run around a play before heading home.

That is Drew there smashed in the mosh pit with the gummy bears on his back 

   

The kids woke us up at 7:30am on Sunday morning anxious to get downstairs and gather Easter Eggs.  Even with teens in the house the excitement is still there.

After church we went down to Justin’s parents to get together with the Fletcher family. Abigail and Hallie hid eggs around the front yard after dinner for the younger kids to find.

Grandma had some extra goody bags for the kids full of fun little treats and goodies.