Both kids have had the chance to compete in their first meets of the season. We're off to a pretty good start and hope for great things to come!
Landon, Eliza, and Hallie flew out to Colorado and then to Texas for meets for Landon and then for both Landon and Eliza. Hallie, Alicia (our neighbor), and Landon drove to Stanford for a meet as well.
Here the trio is on their flight to Dallas.
After seeing The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part the trio headed to the nearest Lego store which was located in Dallas, TX. The whole mall had some cool sculptures. Here is one Hallie liked.
One of our favorite ice cream shops in Utah is Howdy Homemade Ice Cream. When we first started eating there we found out the original location was in Dallas, TX. So, when the trio was in Texas they had to go and get ice cream and lucky for them it was close to the Lego store. It didn't quite have the fun atmosphere of our Salt Lake store. A bit of a bummer.
Diamond and Caleb drove 4 hours to come and see us. Hallie had secretly been counting down the days! Our first day together we went to the Legoland Discovery Center in Grapevine, TX. We stayed for several hours and the kids had a lot of fun.When we go to the "bigger" meets it is always good to find some fun to take the pressure off of the kids. It was also Eliza's birthday and what a great way to celebrate.
In the evening we attended the Elite meet at The Ford Center at the Star in Frisco, TX. Hallie likes going to the nighttime meets. The kids says they like going but they don't last very long, unfortunately.
We were able to meet Jonathan Horton who is a two time Olympic gymnast. For Christmas Landon received his book and since then Landon has read it 3 times. Landon was excited to meet Jonathan and when he sees someone he admires all talking stops. Which is funny from a boy who talks a lot. Mr. Horton is a really nice guy and we are glad to have met him.
Here is Coach Sarah (Lily's mom) and our other girl teammates getting to meet Jonathan Horton. Sarah, Olivia, Azariah, Eliza, and Adi. It was fun having these girls with us in Texas. Eliza was the only level 3 to compete from our gym and these girls cheered her on. That is what a team should be like.
The facility where the WOGA/Liukin Invitational was held is gigantic. Over 500,000 sq/ft and 16 nations represented. Caleb and Landon took a minute to soak it all in before Landon had to compete at 8:00 a.m.
Landon has had a tough season competing as a level 7 but keeps pushing on, and we are proud of all of his hard work. It is hard to see in this picture but Landon tied for 7th place on the floor exercise. Landon is a great tumbler and it is fun to see him demonstrate his skills. Coach Sam said Landon was the most relaxed he has been all season at this meet. Sam asked what I did to make it happen, and I really have no clue, except for that Caleb gave Landon a blessing before hand. The blessing was in response to Landon being sick, but if it helped him in his meet then we will take it.
Here is Eliza in all of her cuteness before she competed Sunday afternoon. It made for a very long day, but it was super nice to have both kids compete on the same day.
Eliza in her first meet of the season went out and killed it. Eliza scored a 9.7 on vault and took first place. Hallie sat by the most amazing parents from another gym from Virginia who cheered with Hallie every time they called Eliza's name.
Adi Whiting a fellow gymnast at AirTime does the best hair. The next day Eliza was sporting her fancy hair and all 4 medals on the way to the airport.
Eliza has kept up her ukulele practice and is learning quite a bit.
On February 2, Eliza celebrated her birthday at her second home, AirTime! We had lots of friends over, and everyone enjoyed some cake-burning time at the gym.
Our stake reorganized last week, and we got put into a new ward, Grasslands 6th. All of our townhouses are now part of this new ward along with several nearby homes. Mike and his co-teacher in Primary had a good thing going with our students. He'll miss them, as all of them except for Eliza have stayed in Grasslands 1st.
Last Friday, Mike got to accompany Landon and the other 5th Graders to the state capitol and the Leonardo Museum. They successfully found all the items in the capitol on a scavenger hunt there and learned about making art from recycled material via an exhibit of Jackie Chan's art. Landon wanted to see Jackie Chan's martial arts moves, so we ended up finding a funny Chinese film that did have martial arts but very little actual Chan.
Some of Landon's art from school.
Eliza had a meet at the university on Saturday. The night before, the university women's gymnastics team competed against Boise State, so we went to watch.
Eliza did pretty well in her meet, getting 2nd place overall. Her team got 1st place overall. It was fun having Grandpa and Grandma Maygren come to watch. Cosmo helped hand out the awards. We enjoyed the meet. Great seats and a good vantage point from anywhere in the Smith Fieldhouse.
We watched the girls next door while their parents went out. They gave Eliza the game Fantastic Gymnastics Vault Challenge for her birthday. Everyone had a lot of fun playing the game and keeping score.
We attended church in our new ward today. Our new ward is located in the oldest meetinghouse in our stake, built some 67 years ago. Sadly, it's far enough away that walking/biking there is not as quick an option as it was before or even in Camarillo. It's kind of interesting to see different people's reactions to combining/changing units. We've ended up doing this ward-changing thing a few times now, and it doesn't really get easier. Here's hoping for new friends and a positive experience for all.
After her braids come out from her meet, Eliza's hair is full of body!
This last week Hallie and Mike help do Eliza's school class party. Hallie has been trying work extra to make up for all the days off she is taking do to traveling for meets. Hallie has still been babysitting Lily at least two days a week, and Hallie has just finished a small fundraiser for gymnastics. The next big one starts in March which is coming right up on our heels. After the kids are done competing and most of the fundraising is done, Hallie may need a bit of a break. It has been a busy several months. We are grateful for our neighbor Alicia who has come to give Hallie a hand to get things in order around the house the last couple of days.
