Las Vegas Gymnastics Meet

 Tessa had a meet in Las Vegas on President's Day. We drove to Vegas on Sunday, found the hotel the meet would be at, and then checked in at South Point. We had seen some people who we're pretty sure were high and a man being arrested while we were on The Strip. I could see Tessa was very concerned about the people we were seeing out our windows, and asked if she was okay. She said she was fine, but as soon as we got into our room she took the notepad and pen from the desk and started writing about how much she does not like this city! Damon was searching around the room and said he found a Holy Bible in the drawers by the beds. Tessa asked if she could have it and read for a bit. I snuck a picture of her reading. After about 10 minutes she put the book away and said she felt better now. We were able to have a good little discussion about what we felt on The Strip and what we feel when we read the scriptures. We all agree we prefer the feelings we get from the scriptures. 

We got some dinner at The Shake Shack in our hotel and then went to bed early since the meet started at 7:45 the next morning.

It's been interesting to see how differently judges score things at different meets. These judges were very stingy! You could see the girls were frustrated each time their scores were posted. I don't think they watch other team's scores, or even their teammates scores, so they didn't realize that all the gymnasts received very low scores on every event. Morgan came over at the end and I told her she looked great (which she did!), and she was like, "Thanks. But I mostly got 8's and a 7, so I didn't do very good." I told her all the scores for everyone were in the 7's and 8's, so she shouldn't take her scores to heart. There was a mom standing nearby who must have heard us because she said, "These judges took away every single point they could from these girls!" I'm not sure why they took so many deductions, but I think the girls felt much better at the medals ceremony when they realized everyone's scores were much lower than they were used to. So comparatively, they were still placing pretty good.

Tessa did so great on her beam routine. She was the closest to sticking her cartwheel as she's ever been at a meet. We all really thought she had it, but fell off at the last second. That was a lot of improvement though!

She did great on bars and actually scored in the low 9's on that!

She tried a new vault routine for her first pass. She did a half-on, and then did her front handspring the second pass.

And she looked great on her floor routine.

They didn't hand out score cards at the end of this meet, so we don't remember what her scores were. Beam, vault, and floor were somewhere in the 8's and bars was in the low 9's. I don't know which event she took which place on either. We usually get that info to take home, but we didn't this time. Oh well. She took two 6th places, a 4th place, and a 3rd place.

Her score totals had her tied for 3rd place in the all-around. She and the girl she tied with are standing in the 4th place slot in the pic below. She was moved to the next grouping up, so she went away really happy with her bronze medal for the all-around after feeling like she didn't do her best based on the scores she kept getting.

And Arete finished in 1st place for the teams. It was a good way to end a frustrating morning.

We're proud of you Tess!

Life Lately

The kids had the day after Rockwell's birthday off school for a teacher work day. It was actually sunny and relatively warm outside so we spent the whole afternoon outside. It was just what we all needed! It has been such a wet and cold winter, and we're all missing the sun and fresh air. Rockwell went on a bike ride and found a bunch of friends from the neighborhood to play basketball with. Damon and Tessa played with every bike and sports equipment that we have in the garage. Damon creamed me at soccer. :)

Tessa and I rollerbladed together.

And Damon was so excited to climb a tree again.

Gary & Julie and their kids came into town late that night. Lindy is on the Contemporary Dance Team at BYU and had a performance on Saturday. The whole family went and supported her, then went to dinner, and hung out at Al's house for the evening. Lindy did so good, and it was really fun to get to see her dance.

Paul had to leave early to go show a house. Damon went with him, and loved going to Macey's after to get an ice cream cone with Dad!

Rockwell was so happy to see Ammon again. These boys had a blast together all day. I loved getting to visit with Julie and even see Gary for a little bit. He flew out Saturday evening, but I sure love seeing him any chance I get!

Damon had his last basketball game. He was sad it's over. 

Paul and I took Tessa and Morgan to a BYU gymnastics meet. It was so fun! They are incredible athletes, and we all really enjoyed watching it.

The girls loved when Cosmo came by!

They painted Y's on their faces in the car and I found a selfie on my phone that night. :)

We had the Ham Fam party for January & February birthdays.

Rockwell loved the money, riddle book, and popcorn that he got!

Tessa and Hallee wore their matching Love shirts to the party. :)

Rockwell Is A Teenager!!!

 

Rockwell turned 13!! I can't believe one of our babies is a teenager! Rockwell loves to play video games on his laptop, especially with his friends and cousins. They talk through the games or on the phone while they play, and it's his favorite thing to do. He still loves popcorn, and his new favorite candy is SweetTart Ropes. He enjoys school well enough, and even said "Math is fun" the other day. He'll deny this, but I caught it on video. Haha! 

He loves being a Deacon, and is really enjoying being president of the quorum. He likes the responsibility, even though he doesn't love the early morning meetings on Sundays. He's grumpy when he leaves, but always comes home happy. He's made good friends in the quorum and really likes his leaders too. He likes planning activities and hanging out with they boys, and girls, on Wednesday nights. And he always says his favorite part of being a Deacon is passing the sacrament.

Rockwell is proud of his mustache, he feels like it's coming in very nicely. ;) He cannot wait to be taller than me, and measures about 5 times a day. He is such a great older brother and is willing to babysit Tessa and Damon any time we need it. He loves to play computer games with Damon, and loves to wrestle and laugh with Tessa. 

He wanted to start off his birthday with some crepes, and Paul even went the extra mile and made him bacon too!

He said he had a great day at school, and even got to dissect a frog which he thought was so cool. He opened presents as soon as everyone was home.

He was hard to shop for this year, but I think he was happy with his scriptures, SweetTart Ropes, Magic Loop, Milky Ways, and Minecraft book.

His friends came over for his party and gave him nice presents.

Then we went to Top Golf. The twins were the only ones who have golfed before, and Ashton was so nice to teach them all how to swing the club.

They all got it figured out...and had a lot of good laughs when they didn't. ;) We got dinner and donut holes and had a really fun night! 

I'm glad Rockwell has good friends. It was fun to sit back and listen to them, they're funny kids! And I appreciated that each of them came and told me thank you at some point through the night. 

Happy birthday Rockwell! We're so glad you're in our family. Thank you for being such a nice, helpful, grateful teenager with a mustache!!

Valentine's Day

 Paul and I went out for Valentine's Day the weekend before to beat the crowds. :) We got dinner at Dona Mary's and then went to the Gem Studio to make more rings. Paul gave me this for Christmas, but said he didn't want another ring and would make me one instead. So sweet!

It's really fun to pick a gem, design the silver, and then make it yourself. It's a fun atmosphere and fun to be creative.

I made the heart ring, and Paul made the blue stone. I love them!!

Paul helped Tessa make her Valentine's box this year. She was so happy with her wolf box!!

I was able to help in Tessa's class party. It was fun to play Bingo with her and her friends in her class.

Damon's class party was at the same time so I wasn't able to help in his this time. Rome's mom sent me a picture though, which I appreciated!