Sunday, February 23, 2025

Pinnacle Peak Gymnastics Meet

 Tessa got to miss school on Friday for the Pinnacle Peak Meet. The Platinum team competed with the Golds this time.

Arete started on beam. Tessa was a little more nervous than usual on beam, but she still did great.
Next was floor and she did awesome. Her routine is seriously so cute!
Vault was next and she nailed it!!! She does two different passes, a front handspring and a half-on. I'm sure the judge took her front handspring pass because she looked so good on that one and totally stuck the landing.
They ended on bars. Tessa worked really hard this past week on her cast. That was the feedback from the judge at the Tooele meet, and so she focused on improving that at practice. Her hard work paid off, it looked so much better!!
She placed 1st on vault with a 9.8!!!
2nd on bars!!!!! She scored a 9.1! That was a 0.55 improvement from last week's meet. So so good!!
2nd on beam with a 9.2
And 1st on floor with a 9.55
And she took 1st All-Around with a score of 37.65
Arete placed 2nd as a team.
Tessa had a great meet and was very happy with how she did. Great job Tessa Girl!!

Rockwell Turns 15!!!

 Rockwell is 15 years old!!!

Rockwell is such a stud. He's nice, easy to talk to, funny, caring, smart, athletic, fast, a hard worker, and a leader. I truly can't count the number of times people have stopped me to tell me how much they like Rockwell. It's adults and kids alike. President Hawks stopped me in Walmart to tell me that he walked home from the Lindon Temple/Oak Canyon with Rockwell and he was so impressed with the conversation they had. He said he truly enjoyed talking with him and hopes he runs into him again so they can walk and talk again. I was talking with Shauntell at a cross country meet and she asked how Rockwell did in his race. Three different people looked over and came up to us and said some version of, "I just heard you're Rockwell's mom? Oh my gosh I love him....." After a stake Young Women training we did, I was visiting with some women and one lady was talking about her daughter Brimley. I told her that my son Rockwell is friends with Brimley and she said that Brimley had just said out of the blue that day, "I just love Rockwell!" Brimley told her that he checks in with her often and sees how she's doing and she appreciates that so much. (Brimley was injured the whole cross country season and has had a hard time feeling connected and included with the team anymore.) Her mom said she sure appreciates Rockwell too. Jolene was on her way out of the meeting, but stopped and came back when she heard we were talking about Rockwell. She said, "He seriously is such a good kid! I love when we have combined activities and we get to hang out with him." I could go on and on with more stories like this. I am so proud to be Rockwell's mom!
Rockwell's favorite things in life right now are running, friends, and running with friends. :) He enjoys his Seminary class and Spanish class, but that's about all he likes about school right now. He likes to play video games if he has the time and likes playing games with the family. Rockwell is excited to get his learner's permit and start driving. Paul and I have taken him driving in parking lots and he's done really well. He still loves popcorn and is known for having an obsession with Sweet Tart Ropes. We're so glad Rockwell is part of our family and we just love love love him!!!

Rockwell requested crepes for lunch on his birthday. We have 9:00 church this year and he didn't want to wake up early to eat breakfast.
He opened presents when everyone was home and finished with all our meetings.
Damon got him some Feastables.
Tessa got him some balls that he could use at his friend party.
We got him some new church pants.
And he wanted more spending cash.
While he was opening presents, someone left Dr Pepper Peeps on our porch, rang the doorbell, and ran. And as soon as we were finished Vincent came over with a Hershey bar for him. They spent the rest of the afternoon playing games together.
Paul made steak tacos for dinner.
Rockwell wanted to play games so we played a couple rounds of Zombie Kittens.
Then we had cake and ice cream.
Rockwell has the best smile and laugh!! I love it!
The day after his birthday was President's Day so they had school off. He had a party at the church.
They played 9-square, gaga ball, and dodgeball for three hours. He thought it was so much fun. Paul and I loved hearing the kids laugh so much. He has awesome friends! (I love that he invited Tessa!)
Happy birthday Rockwell!! You seriously are such a cool man-child. :)

Saturday, February 22, 2025

Candy Land Classic Gymnastics Meet

Tessa had a meet in Tooele and it started at 7:45 Saturday morning. We would have had to wake up in the middle of the night to get her hair done and drive out there, so we decided that she and I would stay in a hotel Friday night. We got some dinner in Tooele and then checked into our hotel.
We went to bed early so she could be rested for the meet. When I woke up in the morning, Tessa was turned completely sideways in her bed. You can see her feet on the left and her head is basically hanging off the side of the bed on the right. This is why we get 2 beds!!! We shared a bed in New Orleans and she kicked and elbowed and punched me all night long. We haven't shared since. :)
There are six girls on the Gold team this year: Anna, Lexi, Morgan, Tessa, Arden, and Ellie.
Arete started on bars.
Tessa didn't have any falls, so she was really happy about that.
She scored an 8.55, which was lower than we thought she would get with no falls. The judge wrote one note on her score card about her cast, so she at least had an idea of why she got a big deduction.
They went to beam next. Tess looked really good on this!
She scored a 9.6. Very solid!!
They went to floor next and she did awesome on this too.
She scored a 9.55!
Her vault looked really good! I thought for sure she'd get a high score on this, but the judge gave her a 9.1. I wasn't sure why, but at the awards I realized the judge was really harsh on everyone. 9.1 was 1st place. :)
She was happy to find out she earned 1st place on vault.
She took 6th place on bars.
2nd place on beam
1st place on floor
And 1st place all-around!!!
Arete took 1st place as a team too!
She was very happy with how her first meet went for the season. She loves competing. It was so cute as we were pulling out of the parking lot, she was just gushing, "Thank you so much for letting me take gymnastics! I just love it!! The meets are my favorite!"