Weekend Adventures

Our weekend began with the drill team's yard sale. It was an "indoor" yard sale. We held it in the cafeteria at the school. All of the girls bring their own stuff to sell. It was pretty busy most of the time. Some of the girls did really well and made some good money. Here are some of them chillin' at the bake sale table.


These girls were working at the cashier's table.


Here the girls model a few of the items that were for sale at the yard sale:

Scott and I hanging out at the cashier's table:

This lovely wall hanging was one of the items I had for sale at the yard sale. Sorry, Amy, remember when you made this for me for my birthday?

After the yard sale, we went to my nephew Ryan's birthday party. He turned one on March 2. Here he is opening a present. I couldn't ever get him to look at me for a picture!

Scott and Zach having a great time at the party.

Taking time out from the party to text.

My brother Charlie and his son, Max.

On Sunday evening, Jason and Kaycee stopped by on their way back to Cedar City. They are expecting their first child in late August. Yes, Scott is going to be a GRANDPA! Which also means I am going to be a GRANDMA! How weird is that? I feel really old now.

Busy Week of Basketball Games

This week was the girls state basketball playoffs. Payson girls played their first game against Dixie on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. The games are played at Salt Lake Community College--Redwood Road campus. We drove suburbans instead of a bus, so that was different. I guess that is a benefit of having a small drill team and cheer squad. The drill team performs at halftime of the game. The Paysetters performed their hip hop "Shawty Get Loose". Payson girls ended up winning--so that meant another game on Wednesday against Sky View.

We took a bus to the next game. About 24 students bought tickets and rode the bus up with the cheerleaders and drill team. It was a full bus. Here are the drill team girls before the game started:


The girls basketball team ended up losing, so girls basketball is now over.

Thursday night was the last home boys basketball game. That means "Senior Night". There are 4 seniors on the drill team this year. Here they are standing by the posters that the cheerleaders made and hung up in the gym:

Here they are in their performing costumes. They performed a lyrical dance that was choreographed by their assistant coach, Marci Hite. They were also recognized at halftime with their parents. It is always a special night.

It was also my "last home basketball game" at Payson. I am going to the new school in Mapleton next year, so it was my last game as the drill team coach at Payson. My principal gave me this bouquet of flowers at halftime. It was the first time that a principal had done anything like that for me. I felt very appreciated and also sad that I am leaving.

Then on Saturday, we worked BYU concessions at the BYU/Utah game. I only had to be there for the end of it because I had a drill team coaches meeting that morning. But, the team made pretty good money--it was busy!

BYU concessions calls their hot dogs, "cougar dogs". Anyway, some of the Utah fans would ask if they could get "Ute dogs" instead of a cougar dog. You always get all kinds of fun comments when BYU plays Utah. They ask for beer, and you look at them and say, right--we don't even sell caffeine in our soft drinks! But it always makes for a fun time while working concessions!

I'm looking forward to this week--it will be pretty calm. The drill team is now getting ready for our Florida Tour. We leave on March 19th. Saturday, March 7th is our indoor yard sale. It is always entertaining--you never know who is going to show up!

Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day this year, Scott and I kept it pretty low key since I had been sick and he was leaving on Sunday for a business trip. We went out to dinner at Ottavio's and then to a movie. We saw "He's Just Not That into You". It was pretty good--I have to admit that I know some girls that act the way some of the girls do in the movie.

Here we are at dinner:

Our server took this one for us:

Long time, no post

It has been a while since my last post. I have been sick with a cold/flu virus. Literally the entire month of February. I started getting sick on the day of State Drill (January 30th). It then kicked into gear on Monday. Luckily that first week of February is UBST testing at school. Only the sophomores come to school at regular time for testing, the juniors and seniors don't come until 10 a.m. Those days I called in late--almost didn't go to school. I didn't have a testing group, so I just arrived at school in time to teach my classes and then I came home and slept. That first weekend of February, I stayed in bed the whole weekend. Then it turned into a head cold and cough. Right now, the cold/cough is almost gone. I had to leave church early on Sunday because I had this cough attack and could not stop coughing!

Well, besides being sick, here are a few of the things that have been going on.

On Friday, February 13th, the Paysetters performed at halftime of the boys basketball game. It was the last performance at home for the 2008-09 Paysetters. They performed a hip hop routine that we had performed for homecoming during football season. Here they are folding their bandannas so they would all look the same.
They had a lot of fun performing that night. It is always nice just to perform and not have the pressure of competition. All of the girls performed that night, (except one that went out of town with her family) and it was fun to see them all perform together. I did get told that they shouldn't have been wearing bandannas--you know, they are "gang" paraphernalia. I knew that, but they talked me into it. Oh well--we won't wear them any more.

Payson does have one more home game on February 26th, but that is senior night, so only my seniors will be performing.

Another Broken Bench Story

I forgot to mention what happened at the State Competition, just before we were to go on the floor to perform our prop routine. Seriously, the team just before us was out on the floor, their music had just started, when one of the girls on my team exclaims, "My bench is broke!" I walk over to her bench, thinking, no way, this can't be happening. But, it was! The left hinge was coming out of the bottom of the bench! We needed a screw driver. So, I knew I had one in our bag--always keep one--you never know. So, I had to run up two flights of stairs, run down a long stretch behind the top bleachers at UVU, get to our bag, find the screw driver and I thought--grab the duct tape. Men say that duct tape fixes anything. We had some black colored duct tape so I grabbed it and was off.

I thought I was going to pass out before I got back down to the arena floor. It felt as if I were running in slow motion and everyone was in my way! I get down to the bench, we try to put the screws back in and they were striped--so I grabbed the duct tape, wrapped it around the hinge a few times. The music ended of the team that had been performing, I looked at the girl who would be using the bench and told her, "You will be fine--the duct tape will hold and you have the hinge on the other side to keep it together." I wasn't sure if that was the case, but decided that I needed to tell her that so she wouldn't freak out. She actually did a really good job with the bench and they trade benches during the routine and she and the other girl had already worked out what to do and how to hold the bench.

Well, we pulled the routine off--no benches breaking or hinges popping off. I still can't believe that it happened and when it happened! What can I say--never a dull moment in drill team!

STATE DRILL

The State 4A/5A Drill Team Competition was on Friday, January 30 at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. We were very excited for the competition, especially since we were going in as a first place team. Our placement in each of the three categories was near the end. They start out with the 4th, 3rd, places and then move on down to the first place teams.

The Daily Herald, a local newspaper, had called me a few days before and interviewed me over the telephone. They were also going to come and interview team members and take some pictures at State. They were highlighting local Utah valley teams that were competing. We felt very honored to be chosen as one of the teams they were highlighting.

This is one of the pictures they took as we were waiting to compete in the dance category. Scott says that I look like I am asleep or else praying!

This is a picture during the dance routine.
This picture was on the front page of the sports section of the Daily Herald on Saturday.

You can view the article and the pictures online at http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/298142/140/

There is also a video clip of all of the local teams and it shows my team during their prop routine.

http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/298142/140/

The Paysetters did their best with each routine, but unfortunately, we didn't place in the top 5. Our best placing was 7th in the Prop category. The team worked hard and we were excited just to be there among the top drill teams in the state. It is not always about who wins the battle, but who puts up the best fight!

Pre-State Dinner Party

The team had a "Pre-State Dinner Party" on Thursday, January 29. The moms of the month for January organize it all. It was fun just to get together and celebrate one more time and get pumped up for State. The is the center of the cake that we had. The picture is of the team at Paysetter Night in their formals. It was very cute and also very good cake!

After eating, the officers made some presentations to the girls. Some read motivational quotes, some wrote letters to the team, others just gave their thoughts on the year. They were then presented with their region shirts--which I forgot to take a picture of. But, the team was very excited to receive them. We wore them with pride to state the next day.

REGION CHAMPS!

The Region VII Drill Team Competition was held on Thursday, January 22 at Springville High. Four teams competed for the coveted Region title. The Paysetters were the defending champions. Payson has won region two times before. The first time, we actually didn't receive the region trophy until after the fact, when they determined that the results had been tabulated wrong! So, we missed out on the big "moment". You know, jumping up and down, hugging your teammates, and just celebrating, etc. Instead, we received the region trophy three weeks later at halftime of a basketball game. We received it from the team who had been announced as the winner! I still remember that night of region when they announced the region winner--we had received a 1st in military, a 1st in prop and then 2nd in dance, so we thought for sure we were in the top spot. Then they announce Region overall winner is American Fork. What? They had taken 1st in dance only? How in the world does that happen? A glitch in the tabulation program, that's how.

Anyway, here is the team before the results are announced--

Here we are with all of the 1st place plaques and the region trophy! Also, one of my girls won the drill down and another won 2nd in the drill down. Three girls were also named to the All-Region Team.

Here I am with my Assistant Coach, Marci. She is great to work with!

The plaques and trophy.

The team really did well! I was so impressed with their performances. No one expected this small little team to do anything this year. We had lost five members to Salem Hills, and we basically kept everyone who had tried out. Some of the girls had had zero dance training. There were times during the year that Marci and I had our doubts. But, we didn't give up!

It was so much fun celebrating! We played "We are the Champions!" in our dressing room as we were cleaning up. Then, on the way home, one of the girls called a relative that is on the Utah County Sheriff and we arranged for a police escort into Payson. It was so much fun! You can go to my assistant coach Marci's blog for more pictures and details. One thing this team found out for sure, "Nothing's out of reach!"

Region Countdown

Every year, I do a "countdown to Region" with my team. This year, when the word "Paysetters" was complete--then it was time for the Region Competition. Here is my team posing under the "count down" letters that I hung up in the dance studio. This was on Thursday, January 22--the morning of Region.

Paysetter Night 2009

On January 15th, was the 19th annual "Paysetter Night". This is where my team showcases all of their competition routines and we invite other performing groups from the school and local dance studios to come and perform. I started this tradition 19 years ago. Back then it was a short program of 9 numbers, I think. Now it has grown to a big event and we had 32 numbers on the program this year. It was a fun night and a big success! Not only were the performances amazing--we made some good money too!

This is the cute table display that the "moms of the month" put out for the team in their dressing room. Each girl received a cute magnet board with frogs on it.

Here are most of the girls in their formals just before the introductions.

Here is the entire team along with my assistant coach, Marci and I.



At the end of the show, we always take a team picture. Here is this year's:

Paysetter Night was a great night! The team really performed well. It was great preparation for our Region competition which is on Thursday, January 22nd.

UVU Competition - January 9th

On January 5th it was back to the grind. School resumed and so did drill team competitions. My team competed in the UVU Drill Team competition on January 9th. It was held on a Friday afternoon this year. Usually it is held all day on a Saturday. It was different to be at an invitational competition after being at school. Anyway, this is a picture of the cute table decorations the "moms of the month" of my team put together for the team's dinner. It looked so cute and they brought us some delicious soup and bread bowls.

The team ended up doing pretty good. We were 5th in dance, 4th in military, 3rd in kick and 2nd in prop. Here is the team with their 2nd place trophy in prop.

Christmas 2008

Here are a bunch of pictures from Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we all went down to my parent's house in Levan for dinner. Afterwards, we had the girls open their presents.

Here is Amanda opening one:

Jason opening one.

Here's Kaycee opening a gift:

Hollie showing her excitement over receiving a "Chi" hair straightener.
We received a new toaster from Kaycee and Jason. Thanks--we needed a new one!


The whole family - Christmas Eve 2008

Scott showing his Christmas spirit in his Santa shirt.

Kaycee & Jason's first Christmas being married.

Scott and I with Grandma J.

Scott and I stayed over that night, so we spent Christmas morning there. Jim, Annie, and Ryan also stayed over and we got to see Ryan "open" his presents. It was fun.

Here he is opening the gift from us:

After opening presents, we enjoyed a big breakfast and then just relaxed all day. We watched a couple movies too.

Here is Scott holding Ryan:

We had a great Christmas! It was fun to just relax and visit with family. I know I enjoyed the time off from school. This was one of the longest breaks I have had--a full two weeks. I am actually ready to go back--at least to get back on a schedule. January will be a busy one for me. My team has a competition this Friday and we also have Paysetter Night, Region, and State competitions all this month. It will be fun and exciting!