Last Volleyball Month for High School

This was Jenna's last month of the high school volleyball season. She ended up hitting opposite in every game except senior night, and she did a really great job scoring points for her team. This hitting experience will be great when she moves to club season. The professional volleyball pictures finally came in, and it so cool to see Jenna among these Varsity girls. Friends continued to come to games this month. We are looking forward to club season which will begin in December. Good work Jenna!

Jenna's Month

A large part of Jenna's month has been homework and volleyball. She has been inspired by her art class from Freshman year and continues to experiment with sketching. She doesn't see her talent, but I think it's amazing. As for volleyball, we are sticking with the mindset of being grateful she is on Varsity. She isn't getting the playtime she started out with. In fact this month, she had people come to watch her play, and two of the three times they came, she didn't play.  At all.  We're not sure why except that maybe the coach is getting pressure from the other parents or she's trying to give the older girls some court time. We can't ask. We just have to be patient. Jenna feels like it's a reflection on her which we continually reassure her that it's not. Sometimes you just don't know. She is having great practices setting and hitting. The iron of the month was that near the end when we played Los Al, Jenna was a starter for three of the four games in the match.  She went from not playing to starting. We are not sure why, but she is grateful for the court time when she can get it. It's all good experience in the end, and she is keeping a positive attitude. She really likes the girls on her team, and she loves working out with them.  We'll take that.

College Girl Experiences

Heather is still experiencing weather for the first time. It snowed on her on the way home from church the week it turned cold (pic 9/19/17).  Snow in September??? Ludicrous, right? In other news, Heather's immediate roommate is still a bit of a mystery and gone a lot. The girls in the room next to her are also gone a lot. But the sisters, Madeline and Ozma, who share the first bedroom clicked with Heather right away over cosplay and conventions. Their dad is an illustrator and attends many conventions. The girls were going to Salt Lake Comic Con and invited Heather to go with them and stay in their SLC home over the weekend. Heather bought a shuttle pass and Comic Con badge for Saturday 9/23/17. What a blessing to find fun friends so fast! They had a great weekend. Heather already had a cosplay outfit with her, and she ordered a broom to complete the ensemble. My heart is happy that she has found sweet girls in her apartment that make each day more fun.

Welcoming a New Pup - May

On May 6, 2017 we drove back to San Luis Obispo to pick up our new puppy. Sariah's dad had a new litter with a different momma. The breeder offered to let us choose a pup once other paying customers had chosen. We had our eye on a pup named Nala, but we had to be patient and see what the other owners did. Nala turned out to be one of four pups who had something called "parrot mouth" which is a slight over bite. The breeder could not sell her for top dollar so, she became available. We didn't care that our pup wouldn't be "show" perfect. We wanted one who was smart and sweet like Sariah. It turns out Nala was very much like Sariah and without even knowing which pup she was, we picked her out of the litter the same way we did Sariah. She wanted to cuddle and stay with us, would venture out, but would then come back. When we found out it was Nala, we were set. Kelly was with us this time, and it was nice to have him there to give his opinion. It was a true family decision.

We have named her Scarlet. The name took us several weeks to come up with because we needed to agree, and we couldn't agree. We tried Nala for a while, but we wanted an S name. Scarlet seemed to be a good fit because we didn't know a human Scarlet, it could be a dog's name and it started with an S.

She is a sweet pup. She licks a ton and her little tail wags faster almost as if apart from her body. She want's to snuggle up or sleep at our feet. She has met our friends and even found our bed. She's getting to know the lay of the land, and although she is a little needier and cuddlier than Sariah, we seem to really enjoy that. Our hearts are healing.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! This year was different for Heather in that she and Kenzie took a job working at the Nobel's annual Halloween Party. They were provided costumes and went for a fitting before the party to get their assigned character. Heather got to be Rey! She loves Rey so, this was perfect. Lucy Corey helped her do some rad Rey hair, and then Heather met MacKenzie at the party to finish getting ready. Heather is such a Star Wars expert that she was able to stay in character throughout the party. She made some decent money and had a blast.

Jenna went for a ghoulish costume and did her own make up.  We were impressed! She and Sarah trick-or-treated for a bit and then did their annual candy trade. Traditions are so much fun! Halloween is so much fun!

USA Women's Volleyball

Kelly and Jenna went to Long Beach State to see the US Women's volleyball team play against China. They had a great time, and what a great event for two volleyball players/fans to attend!

New Bed for Heather

Heather hasn't wanted to get rid of her bunk beds. She told us she likes the height and ability to see her whole room at night. Recently I asked her again about switching. She is sixteen now and is 5'7-1/2" which seems so tall for the twin bed. She also wakes up a lot and has frequent headaches. That may be unrelated, but I asked her about getting a bigger bed so she could be more comfortable. She agreed. We made it happen this month. We stripped the beds, photographed them and listed them on our LDS Garage Sale FB page. They sold within a day. Off to Sam's to get the new bed. She is so happy with her new bed and all the roominess. Now we have to reconfigure her room when we have time. Who knows when that will be!

A New Theater Experience

A few people know I have discovered a love for the backstage logistics that go on during a performance. The discovery surprised me because I like dancing, singing and performing. But even then, it's the rehearsals I like best. Tonight I had a new "backstage" experience as a lighting technician for MCO's Spring Concert performance of Elijah. I wasn't performing this semester, and the directors needed someone to call the lighting cues who could also read music and follow the score. It was a little nerve wracking, but once I got through a couple of bumbles during the dress rehearsal and learned the lingo, I kind of liked it. There is a lot of pressure knowing that key lighting changes were up to me to make happen, but I loved doing something that was so integral to the beauty of the performance. I guess I can add this to my resume now!