Senior Night/Last Home Basketball Game

On Wednesday, February 24th, was the last home basketball game for the MMHS boys basketball team--so it was Senior Night. Seniors of the basketball team, cheerleaders, and drill were recognized with their parents.

I only have one senior this year, so instead of performing a "senior dance" we performed the "edge" routine from BDT Camp, so everyone could perform one last time. We did, just before the team performed, recognize our senior, Halie Bingham and her parents. Here are some pictures from the night:

Halie and her parents, Pam & Monte Bingham.

Marci, my assistant coach, made a very cute "scrapbook page in a frame". I love Halie's mom's reaction to the frame!

Receiving hugs and flowers from the officers.

Halie, her parents, and the officers.

The Elleve's last performance at a home basketball game--"I Don't Care" - the Edge routine from BDT Camp.

This was one of their favorite routines from camp. The dance had a lot of attitude and an "angry" feel to it! So, they had a lot of fun performing it. We also performed it with their hair down and straight--which is a big deal, since we usually perform with our hair up and back.

Overnight Visit from The Holloways

On February 21st, Kaycee, Jason, and Emmalee came down for an overnight visit. Grandpa Scott took some pictures of Emmalee the next day. Emmalee sure loves her Grandpa Scott--I wonder why, look what he gives to her! I guess that is what grandparents are for.

Enjoying the sucker that Grandpa Scott have her!
She's a happy baby!

Done with the sucker, now she has a straw?

Here's Kaycee looking on to see what Emmalee and Grandpa Scott are up to.

Thanks for coming for a visiting with us! Next time we need to take some more pictures and do something fun.

Valentine's Day 2010

For Valentine's Day this year, Scott and I went out to eat at P.F. Changs. Scott gave me, or should I say, us, a "couples massage package" from Remedez Salon in the University Mall. It included the couples massage, two pedicures, and a gift card to P.F. Changs.

Well, we couldn't get in for our massages that day, they were already booked, so we booked them for a week later and our pedicures for the Saturday before we would be leaving for Florida. So, that night, we went to P.F. Changs for dinner.

We didn't know that you could make reservations, so we get there around 6ish and there is about a 2 hour wait! Well, we decided that was okay and that we could walk around the mall a bit--which we did. Finally, we were seated and had a delicious meal! I love the lettuce wraps and I had my usual, which is Lemon Chicken.

One drawback to this year's Valentine's Day--we didn't take any pictures! I wasn't feeling the best--I'm always sick in February it seems! So, I totally forgot to take any pictures. Oh well, we had a great Valentines and I am looking forward to the massage and the pedicure!

Pictures from Deseret News and video clips

This is what I read in the sports section of the Daily Herald on Saturday, January 30th:
It made me so happy and proud to see my school's name listed in the top five! So exciting! I sometimes still can't believe it. I've been waiting for this for a long time. I probably sound like a freak to those of you who don't understand my drill team passion! But, just compare it to something you have dedicated a lot of time and effort to and you finally get in the top 5! Wow is all I can say!

These are some pictures of my team that were in the Deseret News photo gallery from the State Drill Team Competition. You can go to their website to see pictures from all of the teams.

The Daily Herald also had a video clip. Go to: http://www.heraldextra.com/, then search for drill team and then scroll down to DHTV 2010 4A/5A Drill Team Championships. I tried to put a link, but I couldn't get it to work.

This first picture was in the Daily Herald on Saturday morning after state. We are doing our team cheer just before performing.

All of these pictures are from our Dance Routine. I wish they would have got some pictures from each of the routines--but I can't complain! I'm just happy to be recognized!

Pre-State Dinner Party and State Drill

On January 28th, we had a pre-state dinner party for the drill team. It was held at one of the team member's house. It was so much fun! I thought I had taken some pictures of the table decorations, but I guess I didn't? I think I have it on video, but no still pictures.

The tables looked awesome--all decked out in maroon and gold! The utensils were gold, gold trimmed glasses, gold trimmed plates--it was so nice! The moms put it all together--we had pasta, salads, streamed veggies, and then yummy cinnamon pull-aparts for dessert.

When the girls arrived, the moms had got the team pillow cases with their names and a crown on them. Then each girl signed each other's pillow cases. Here are some of the girls signing their pillowcases:

We gave the girls "Region Champion" t-shirts to wear to State. Marci's husband, Chaden, designed the artwork and then the place that my friend Cheri works at took care of the screen printing. This is the front:

and then this is the back:


The team loved their shirts!

They also received a cute tile with the saying, "One Love, One Team, One Passion!"

So, the next day was our first State Drill Competition! We had excellent placement, since we were going in as a first place region seed. I actually woke up sick that morning! I had kinda been feeling a little ill all week--I just thought, here I go, the usual, I always get sick when the drill team competition ends. It was just coming a little bit early this year!

I made it through the day--a few trips to the restroom and I was ready to go! I couldn't miss this day--all we had worked for--I had to be there!

Marci made these cute candy bar wrappers that she put around Symphony candy bars. She told the team that every member is important to the orchestra and that the symphony wouldn't be complete without each and every member. They looked so cute! She is so creative!

Well, it was a great day again for the MMHS Elleves! We ended up placing 5th in Military, 4th in Dance, and 4th in Kick! Overall we were 4th in the State in 4A! That is huge--monumental in the drill team world. I have been striving to do that for 20 years and it finally happened the first year with a new team! I could not have been prouder--what a year! Now the fun really begins!

Here we are with our awards:

Also, Halie Bingham, my only senior and the President of the team, won the State 4A Drill Down! It was so cool how it happened! It got down to the top 4--three Bountiful girls and Halie. Well, the caller did some marching commands and one of the Bountiful girls was on the wrong foot, so she got called out. The very next call, the caller did what I call a "cheap" call. She said, "A ten" and didn't finish the word (atten hut). Well, Halie didn't move and the two Bountiful girls flinched! So, Halie was the winner! So cool for her--I was so happy for her.

Halie was also named to the 4A Academic All-State Drill Team for her awesome grades. She has a 4.0 GPA! She was also our school's nominee to the All-State Drill Team. She definitely had a great day!

One of the best compliments I received that day was from one of the girl's grandparents. After the awards were given for Coach of the Year, the grandparent said to me, "I think you should have received the Coach of the Year award for what you have done with this first-year team!" I said thank you, but really, I could not have done it without the talented girls that I have worked with this year! They really are great!

After all the celebrating at the competition, Mr. Penrod, our Principal, took the team out for dinner at Brick Oven. It was so nice--the girls loved it. We are so lucky to have such great administrative support at our school! Here are some pics of dinner:

While at dinner, we were complemented twice by two different servers on how great our team was--behavior-wise. They had served two other drill teams that night and said that our team was so well-mannered! This is actually the second time this has happened. When we were eating at the Olive Garden in Salt Lake City on our over-night competition trip, the servers there also commented on how well behaved our team was!

They really are a great bunch of girls to work with! I only have one senior, so I hope I get the opportunity to work with them all again. They all better try out again--we have so much more to accomplish!

Drill Team's Military Costumes

I really like my drill team's military costumes and I always forgot to take a picture when we were at competition. So, I finally had them pose for a picture when we performed military at a MMHS basketball game. So, here they are--the pictures don't show the gold glitter detail as well. Plus, the back of the costume is really pretty--it has a low back that is lined with rhinestones. The team looks so stunning when performing in them!

Here's an "intense" face pose:

A smiley face pose:
And the military "pucker" fish face pose:

This performance was actually before Region, but I wanted to post the pictures!

Region Drill Competition 2010

On Thursday, January 21, was the annual Region 8 Drill Team Competition. It was my first Region with my new team. Every team in the Region had something new they were dealing with: Maple Mountain - new school; Payson - new coach; Salem Hills - new coach and they are 4A, last year they were 3A; Spanish Fork - was 5A, now 4A; Springville - new coach, and Uintah - was 3A, now 4A. Needless to say, we were all in some sort of "new" situation.

For me, I had been in an "easier" region for the past two years. We only had 4 competing drill teams, so everyone got to go to State. This new region had 6 competing drill teams and only the top 4 get to go to State. Every team was pretty good and we were all very competitive, so it would be a good competition!

The day began with practice and then I got the rest of the day to prepare for the event. Maple Mountain was the host school for Region.

Our team had their practice time at 1:30 p.m. and then we took the girls down to an empty classroom where they watched "Forever Strong". The officers made smoothies for all of the team and brought pop corn, etc. We wanted to stay at the school until the competition began, so we thought watching the movie would help everyone relax a bit and also get pumped up!

After the movie, we went to the cafeteria for our team dinner. The moms had decorated the tables so cute and we had some yummy sandwiches, salad, and treats!

The team and moms presented Marci and I with a corsage and a cool Maple Mountain necklace. Here we are with our gifts:

The team, excited for dinner:
Sharing a moment with Salem Hill's drill team:

The team received cute crocheted head wraps from the moms and Marci made them all a big cupcake with a trophy on it that said "Dream Big". The cupcakes were so yummy! They were filled with cream cheese and frosted with cream cheese frosting! So good!

After dinner, we went to our locker room to prepare for the competition. Here's the team praying before they performed their military routine:

Getting ready to perform!

Before the awards were read, they announced the All-Region Drill Team members. Each team selects 3 members to the All-Region Team. I took this picture of the team members from Maple Mountain, Payson, and Salem Hills. I coached all nine of those girls! The Salem Hills and Payson girls when I was at Payson last year and the year before; and the Maple Mountain girls this year!

Well, when the awards were read--we were very excited! 1st place in Military; 1st place in Dance, and 1st place in Kick--REGION CHAMPIONS!

It was such a great night! I'm so very proud of this team--they are so talented and have worked so hard. Everything was so worth it!

We also had two girls place in the drill down. Halie Bingham, our drill team President, won 4th place in the drill down and Alexus Poulsen won 3rd place in the drill down. Way to go Elleves!