Cougarette Concert

On Saturday, February 25, 2012, we went to see the Cougarettes in Concert. I usually go every year, but this year I was especially excited to go see the concert because one of my former drill team girls was a Cougarette!

So, my mom, Annie, Paula, and Sophie came along with me. Before the concert, we went to Gloria's Little Italy restaurant to eat. It was good and we had a good time. Sophie was excited to go see the concert, but when Paula told Sophie where they were going tonight, Sophie said to her mom, "But mom, we don't like BYU!" HA HA, as many of you know, most of my family are big Ute fans.

The show was fantastic as always--but it was really fun to have actually coached one of them! I also knew a couple other Cougarettes--one of them had been my team's technique teacher over the summer and another one had helped teach the team their dance routine, and another one is a daughter of a friend/choreographer that I use a lot for drill. Anyway, one of my favorite routines was their new hip hop that they will be competing with at Nationals this year! Savannah was in front most of the time and was in all of the "hard" parts! I was so proud of her! She really did the routine well!

Afterwards we waited for her to come out so we could talk to her and we took a couple of pics.

Me and Savannah--she is so cute and petite!Me, Savannah, her mom-Tana, and her sister-Chloe.The group of us - Annie, Me, Sophie and Paula, my mom, and Emilee

It was a fun night and I'm already looking forward to next year's show!

Last Home MMHS Basketball Game

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 was the last home boys basketball game for the year for MMHS. Before the game started, we recognized all of the senior basketball players, senior cheerleaders, and senior drill team girls and their parents. This is my first group of three-year seniors, since it is Maple Mountain's third year in existence! All but one of my seniors are third-year members.

Senior drill girls and their parents.

At halftime, just the senior drill girls performed. They performed a routine that Makayla and Kaitlynn put together. They mostly used movement from a dance they had learned at PDC camp but they used the song "Girls" by Beyonce. It turned out great and they performed it really well, especially since they had only worked on it for maybe 3 or 4 practices.

The seniors - Kimber, Hailey, Makayla, Jada--top row

Aubrey, Kaitlynn, Neisha--bottom rowCrazy, fun poseA pic with some of the Elleve alumni--Kalli, Alexus, and Krizia.

Senior night is always a bittersweet night. You are sad to know that you wont be working with the seniors much longer, but you are also excited for them and what their future may hold for them. I wish them all the best of luck and I hope they have enjoyed being on drill as much as I have enjoyed working with them. Plus, they better come back and visit and keep in touch!

Valentine's Day Weekend 2012

We started our Valentines Day celebration on Saturday, because Scott would be working on Valentines Day, so we went out for a late lunch/dinner at Outback.

Here are some pics of us while we are at dinner:

Scott, me and Kendrick

Kendrick--somewhat happy at the moment.

Two seconds later--crying because he wants the phone.

On Monday after school, Kendrick and I frosted the cookies that Scott had made that morning for me to take to the drill team on Valentines Day. Kendrick has a little bit of a cold, so he doesn't look so good. He had a runny nose and his eyes were watering.

Kendrick and the cookies.

Kendrick--not really feeling that great. Poor little boy!

On the morning of Valentines Day, Scott gave Kendrick his Valentines gifts. Here he is opening up his Valentines:

Kendrick got a Valentines shirt, a St. Patrick's Day shirt, a Reeses Heart, an Elmo Valentine book, and the DVD of Lady and the Tramp.

Looking at the Elmo book.Here he is in his new Valentine's shirt. What's not to love?

After school, I came home and made lasagna. Back when I was single, I used to make a lasagna dinner for me and all my single friends and we called it the "Lonely Hearts" dinner. Oh, those were "fun" times. I need to post some pics from all of those years of Valentine dinners. I also made lasagna for Scott on Valentines while we were dating. I guess it is sorta my tradition!

Kendrick was hungry and couldn't wait until Scott got home, so we started the candle light dinner a little bit early.

Kendrick enjoying his lasagna.

But what he really liked was the sugar cookie!
Yep, he has a sweet tooth--he loves candy and all sweets!Licking the frosting off of the cookie!Being silly after dinner!

Kendrick and me.

In this picture, he is doing "cut the pickle", which is what we do during our little "give me 5 game."

Scott came home and opened his Valentine present--a new shirt!Then, Kendrick and Daddy wrestled.

We had a fun Valentines weekend and day! A lot different than my single days, that's for sure!

Jackson's Last Home Basketball Game

On Friday, February 10, 2012, we went up to watch Jackson's last home basketball game at Taylorsville High School. Jackson is a senior this year, so it would be his last home basketball game forever!

We went up and met my mom and dad, Annie and her boys, and Joseph, Emilee, and their kids at Noodles and Co. for dinner. Kendrick loved their mac and cheese! We had to go by ourselves because Scott had to work. Kendrick did really good though. He sat on my lap and watched the game. He also had a good time playing and trying to keep up with his cousins.

Before the game started, they recognized the senior players and their parents. There were only two seniors. We made some posters to hold up while Jackson was playing. Jackson definitely had the largest fan section there for the game!

I texted Amanda and asked her why she wasn't at Taylorsville's last home game and that we were there. So she came over with a friend to watch for a bit.

Amanda and Kendrick

It ended up being quite an exciting game! Taylorsville was playing Hunter and it was a close game. Right at the end, it was tied, and Jackson got the ball and he only had a few seconds to make the shot--and he made it! So Taylorsville ended up winning! It was so cool! I was really glad I was there to witness it in person.

I also thought it was so cool to see the support of the students when Taylorsville won. Jackson was surrounded by the fans coming out on the floor to celebrate the win! It was so fun!

We took some pictures after the game. Here are all of Jackson's fans--quite the crowd! It is fun to go and watch and support family members when I can.

All of Jackson's fans!

It was definitely a very fun night and I'm glad that I was able to go!

Region & State Drill

Region Drill was on Thursday, January 26, 2012. It was at Salem Hills High School. I did a countdown for the team again. We were spelling out the words elevate and passion. Here is a pic of the team on the day I brought sugar cookies in different alphabet letters and the team had to work together to figure out what the letters spelled.On the morning of Region, the moms brought breakfast to the team and they also received a special surprise. They got some cool black sparkly boots!

The team eating breakfast and waiting to open their surprise package!
This was a poster on the bus--it had cute dolls on it dressed in the costume for each of our dances!On the bus on our way to Region!Region DinnerThe team - showing their love to the crowd - just before the awards were announced.

Well, the awards were announced, and it was not what we were expecting! We ended up getting 2nd in each category and Salem Hills won 1st in each category. It was very upsetting, surprising, heart breaking, wow--I was in a state of shock, disbelief, whoa. I thought it was going to be close, but I didn't think Salem should have won every category. Especially military and dance. Maybe even character? I don't know. I think what made it hard, was that we had beaten them all year at each invitational, except for one time they beat us in character.

Needless to say, I don't have a picture of the team with their awards that night. The pic above is all I have as far as a team pic at Region. They didn't want to take a picture. We did have two girls place in the drill down! Hailey Bishop won 1st and Kimber Creer won 4th--which actually should have been 3rd. Another disappointment for our team. The caller said Kimber was out when actually Kimber executed the command correctly. But, what do you do? It is a judgement call--just like when a ref makes a bad call--you have to live with it.

I had always said that I didn't like it when a team takes 2nd and they cry. I would have loved to be 2nd so many times at Payson! But, now I totally understand why that happens! I kept thinking after the awards had been announced, we need to get out of here. Let's just get out of here and go to our locker room. We shouldn't be out here. I felt like everyone was staring at me and I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be doing? Oh, it was not fun! But, I tried to console people and also congratulate the winners. That's all I could do.

It's hard when you feel like your team has done all that it could--and it doesn't go the way you thought. I had someone ask me if I went in the locker room and yelled at my team? I said, "NO!" They did all that I wanted them to do that night. Seriously! Military was so good! Dance was good! Character did have a little bobble, but I still feel we had a better "character" routine! Well, all we could do was re-group and gear up for State!

We had our annual "Pre-State" Dinner party up at the Hiskey's house again. It was very nice! We had a pasta dinner and then yummy red velvet cheesecake for dessert. Here are a few pics:

The officers each prepared a motivational letter/thought for the team. I felt really good about things that night. I felt the team was ready and confident for State! We gave them a new shirt to wear to state. Normally it would have been a Region Champion shirt, but I decided to get them a shirt anyway and plus we could wear it to California!

The team - Pre-State Dinner Party

Well, State was another experience that I hope not to go through again. Well, I want to be at State with my team, but I don't want what happened to happen again!

We didn't hit our headstands in military! We hadn't had a fall in a long time! And we get to State, and bam-a couple bobbles! Well, we regrouped for dance and I told the team they had to come out strong for dance and show the judges that we were over what had happened in military! They performed the dance so good! But, when they walked on, they were too far back and they were out of bounds! I didn't know what to do--? Could I stop them and say move up? Oh dear, what does this mean? These were the thoughts going through my head.

Well, they ended up getting a penalty, for being out of bounds, but not as bad as I guess it could have been. But still, it meant getting 7th place instead of 3rd! Augh! It also meant getting 7th place overall instead of 4th! We did get 4th place in Character--which was good! But, Salem beat us in military. They beat us in Dance too--only because we got a penalty. If we hadn't received that penalty, we would have been 3rd and everyone else would have went down a place and so Salem would have been 6th in Dance. Salem ended up being 5th over all--but again, if we hadn't stepped out of bounds, we would have been 4th place and Mt. Crest would have been 5th and so Salem would have been 6th. I know all of this because I had Scott enter the scores in the tabulation program the next day after state and sure enough, that is how it would have been.

So, another lesson learned--don't start routines close to the back boundary! And, tell the girls to make sure they know to stay in bounds a million times! Augh! If I could go back in time!

This pic was on the Tribune website. It is my team waiting for the awards to be announced. A cool pic, but it also makes me kinda sad too!The team with our 4th place award in Character!Drill Down Winners again - Neisha Martinez 2nd and Hailey Bishop - 3rd in the State!All three of my girls that went to All-State made the team! They are amazing dancers and I am so proud of them. Aubrey, Makayla, and Kaitlynn - 4A All State Team members.

I am still a little heart broken about Region and State--but I have to remember how much my teams have accomplished in the past three years for being a new school! What a foundation they have built. A very high standard and a name for ourselves. I'm sure this all happened for a reason, and it was bound to happen sometime--but when I figure out why--I will post about it. Until then, I'm focusing on the positive and the fact that we would have been in the top five, we are a good team, and the judges placed us in dance before the penalty, so we are still up there. I also know some things have got to change for next year. I can't wait to get going with a new team and new ideas. Of course, I still have a lot of fun things to do with the current team too!