DAY 515... Senior Shenanigans

Last night was Senior night! I cannot believe that I have almost lived in Rexburg and coached at Madison for an entire year!!! Seriously, where does the stinking time go?

Look at those cute senior girls!!! They are seriously so much fun and such hard workers! I love that we pretty much just spend most of our time at practice or games just laughing! They are the BEST! Can we just talk about how we didn't even realize that the boys photo bombed our picture. They came up to me to ask to see the picture just to make sure that they were actually in it. Super cool kids!

The game last night was a little more exciting then I think anyone thought it would be. Besides actually beating a team that we have not beaten yet this year, we had a little senior prank action in the Madison High School gym. As soon as the flag had been raised up into it's little holder thing, another flag fell in it's place...

My favorite things about this prank were:

1. They drew a picture of a donkey to make it more of a play on words.
2. They could have died getting that flag up there in the first place. Seriously look at those beams!

Seriously these kids have no fear! The beams that they had to climb up and walk on to even get this flag up there in the first place are insanely small and super dangerous! But let's be honest... they obviously didn't think things through because this school has camera's everywhere!!!! As far as senior pranks go I think it was a pretty decent one. No one got hurt, which is a major plus side, and even though the language wasn't awesome, they did draw a donkey to lessen the blow. They did succeed in delaying the game about 20 minutes and that gave us time to take some pictures to capture the moment!

 One with the seniors...

And one with the juniors... Do you like how you can see the guy in the background taking it down??? Haha!

It was a fun night!!! Thanks girls for making me laugh and making my first year at Madison such a good one!!!

PS - Can we also talk about how much the judges at our last competition loved our uniforms!!! They actually wrote it on our score sheets so that we would know! So many people gave us compliments on them! So sharp looking! Love those uniforms!!!!

DAY 513... 7 Months Old!!!

I cannot believe that my little Aniston Kate is 7 months old already... Okay okay so she's not technically 7 months old until 10:33pm, but still...

She is AMAZING! Everything about her just makes me smile! This past month she has grown so much! She sits up all by herself, she eats 3 meals plus snack and bottles a day, she would probably eat more if I would let her. She has enough hair for a tiny ponytail!!! Cutest thing ever! She is starting to push herself up on her knees a little... She's almost mobile! Which let's be honest, I'm excited for the milestone, but I am dreading the day when she starts getting into anything and everything! And she is actually speaking words that sound like Mama and Dada (of course she has no idea what she's saying, but I think that deep down she really does know).

I just feel so blessed to have her in my life! We just took her to the doctor (double ear infection... so sad) so I know she is now 26 3/4 inches long and 18lbs 12ozs!!! She is finally starting to thin out in her cheeks and thighs! I love me some chubby baby, but she looks so much more like a little person a little thinner and a little taller.

I cannot wait for the future and to see who Aniston will become! I love you so much Ani Kate!!!!

DAY 513.... A Day In The Life of a High School Cheer Coach... Competition Style

I LOVE coaching cheerleading! I love the relationships that you make with the girls, the feeling you get when they hit a stunt that you worked so hard to teach them, watching them perform a routine you helped put together. Basically it's a very fulfilling, but busy hobby. Just to give you an idea of exactly how busy it can be, especially during competition season, here's a summary of my day Saturday (Day 510).

We knew from the beginning of the day that it was gonna be a long one. Our girls basketball team had a district game at 7pm at the same school that our competition was at in Pocatello. But there wasn't going to be enough time in between our competition and the game to go back to Rexburg, so we would be leaving the high school at 5am, compete with 4 different routines, hang out for a few hours and then cheer at a basketball game, arriving home around 10pm. Can you say longest day ever?

Sleeping on the bus wasn't just due to boredom, it was done out of necessity. Quietest bus ride with cheerleaders ever! When we got to Pocatello it was still dark outside... thank goodness it was freezing. Definitely helped to wake us all up a bit. We got all registered and then started scoping out  our competition. Probably not the healthiest thing to do, but you can't help it. This is Madison's first year competing 5A. This means that the schools we are now competing against are bigger, which means they are more talented and harder to compete against. Last year Madison was the 4A state champs. With a title like that comes a lot of pressure, especially as a coach. I am blessed to be coaching with probably one of the most talented and easy to work with coaches on the planet! She makes coaching a whole lot easier. Our competition for this particular weekend was at Highland High School. The home to last years, and the year before, and several before that, 5A state cheerleading champions. There was a lot of pressure riding on this competition. It was our first time competing against them and we wanted to make sure that we gave them a run for their money.

We compete 4 different routines. This is completely different from Utah where we just competed with 1 routine. These girls in Rexburg have to work so much harder in order to perfect and learn these routines. It's harder as a coach also because we create our own routines instead of hiring someone else to do it for us. It keeps us on our toes.

We started the day off with our Show routine. This routine is 2 1/2 minutes long and consists of 1 1/2 minutes of music, 1 minute cheer, tumbling, stunting, and dancing. It's exhausting!!!

Our next routine was our Sideline. This is a 1 minute long cheer that incorporates different props and encourages the crowd to yell along. This was our most iffy routine of the weekend, due to the fact that we had just learned it 5 days prior. Normally squads learn their routines at the end of the summer, but Kelli and I are both new Mom's (our baby girls are exactly 6 months apart) and we are adjusting so it threw us off our game a bit. But for only knowing this for 5 days, they performed pretty decently.

Next was Pom. This is a 1 minute long routine done with poms. Our routine is very active and quite tiring! But it's a pretty fun routine.

The last routine was our Stunt. It's a 1 minute long stunting routine which only includes 5 girls. But these girls came up with the routine all by themselves and they rocked the socks off it!

This is what happens when you leave your camera with the stunt group for a quick bathroom break...

There was also a jump off at this particular competition, and while other schools entering 3-7 girls, we only entered one and turns out she won!!!! She was AMAZING! A jump off consists of doing different jump sequences for judges and them narrowing down the contestants until you have a winner. There were 24 schools at this competition and probably about 50 girls in the jump off. We could not be more proud of our winner!!!

After the jump off came the awards. As a coach, it may be the most nerve wracking thing of all! You never know what the judges are going to say or how it's all going to play out. The first award was for Show. This was the one that we anticipated the most, because it was the one we needed to win! And when it came down to it. We beat the previous 5A champs by 6 points!!! It was the best feeling and such an amazing moment in my coaching career! Sideline we placed second, which we anticipated  Pom, we tied for 1st but due to an accidental stepping off the mat we got a 1 point deduction so we got 2nd. And for Stunt we won 1st, beating the other teams by 9 points!!! I have only competed for USA and never at state level, but according to our scores, if this would have been the state competition, we would have won! Best feeling in the world!

Then since we had to wait around for a few hours, we crashed over at Kelli's sister's house. And when I say crashed, I mean crashed! Look at this cute sign she had to welcome us.

The game that night was exhausting! We were all so tired, but we had a blast and made the most of it!!!!

 Don't judge Kelli and I!!! This was like 14 hours in to our crazy long day! We were tired and we missed our babies!!!

Pulling stunts like this after a long day??? No problem!

And don't worry... You will see videos soon.... I just don't have them right now.... Sad huh?

DAY 508... 27 Things All About Me

In honor of my 27th birthday... Can you believe that I am already 27?!?! So old! One of my cheerleaders turned 16 yesterday and I realized that I was 11 years older than her! At least I don't feel that old. Anyway, since I just got totally distracted, in honor of my 27th birthday, I am going to share 27 things with you all about me that you may or may not know. Are you ready for this action???

1. I LOVE Les Miserables!!! But you already knew that one right? I never had the opportunity to read that book in high school or in college, but after being introduced to the music, I fell in love with this story. I fell in love with the book (phenomenal writing), the musical, and now the movie!!! LOVE IT ALL!!!

2. I LOVE the smell of skunks. Okay I know this is really weird, but it's 110% true. It's one of my favorite things about road trips! I seriously slow the car down when I start to smell that lovely skunky smell!!! I would love to have one of those cute critters as a pet someday! Such a sassy little creature.

3. My favorite food is nachos! Growing up, every Friday night we would try a different Mexican restaurant in the Spokane area, just to try out their chips and salsa and their nachos. Every time I get Mexican food I get nachos! They are delicious and amazing and the BEST food ever!!!

4. I graduated from BYU-Idaho with a degree in English/History and a minor in Marriage and Family Studies. Please don't judge me on my writing skills or my marriage now. I have a problem applying the things I have learned to everyday life. I also got to graduate with my Mom and my sister and my Dad got to give us our diplomas! Best thing ever!

5. My favorite part of my body is my toes. They are PERFECT! I love that my pointer toe is shorter than my big toe... Unfortunately Aniston Kate did not inherit my toes. Her pointer toe is already much longer than her big toe. She is still insanely ADORABLE though!!!

6. I LOVE Taco Bell! Didn't need to tell you this one either huh??? My obsession started the summer before my junior year in high school. The Taco Bell in Redmond, OR started having this deal during cheer camp where you could get a burrito, and taco and a drink for $1.99. Thus Taco Bell Tuesdays were born, where we would go to Taco Bell every Tuesday for my junior and senior year and ever since, I have been hooked!

7. When I was 14 I was diagnosed with severe depression. I'm still learning to conquer depression, and it is probably the hardest thing I have ever dealt with in my life! I have been on and off medication, but none of that seems to work well at all, so I no longer take medication. It's been 13 very long years dealing with depression, but I am hopeful that someday I will no longer have it as a a part of my everyday life!

8. I compare myself to EVERYONE! I know that this is an awful habit, and I do try not to do it, but it's like ingrained in my head. I am learning to love myself for me instead of based off of what others say or think about me, but it's a hard habit to break after 27 years.

9. I own every season of The Hills (guilty pleasure), Laguna Beach (not a joke), Arrested Development (hilarious), Boy Meets World (ALL TIME FAVORITE), One Tree Hill (addiction), Flight of the Conchords (musical genius), The Office (every season available), Grey's Anatomy (every season available), Seinfeld (Spencer's favorite), Duck Dynasty (every season available  and Prince of Malibu, which I bet you have never heard of but I promise you would die laughing!!!! So funny!

10. We discovered the name Aniston on the show Toddlers and Tiara's. I was watching it while on bed rest and told Spencer about it when he got home from work. Right away we both knew that we loved it! However, Aniston still wasn't named until 24 hours after she was born because we had to make sure it was the absolute perfect name. And let's be honest... we did real good!

11. I cannot stand fake people. Those people who pretend to be your friend and then when it's not easy or convenient for them they decide you're not worth the time... yeah those kinds of people suck!

12. My senior year I won the award for Human Development Student of the Year... Between graduating High School in 2004 (YIKES) and having Ani Kate in 2012, I forgot everything I learned!!!

13. The series finale of Gossip Girl was possibly the BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT of my life!!!

14. The first TV show I ever cried at was the series finale of Boy Meets World (still makes me cry to this day). The first movie I cried at was Anne of Green Gables (you knew the part where Matthew dies), and the first book that made me cry was Charly (don't even ask me to watch the movie... huge mess). I'm basically a big bawl baby!

15. I had a period of time during Middle School were I was convinced that I was adopted.

16. I sometimes dream about becoming a singer. Sometimes I listening to recordings of music I have sang and pretend I've never heard it before to try to hear what other people would hear. However, I'm scared out of my mind to sing in front of people. My ultimate dream is to sing the National Anthem in front of a crowd someday.

17. In order to fall asleep at night I have to yawn and then not open my eyes after I have yawned. If I open my eyes I have to yawn all over again... It's a little annoying.

18. I am a little OCD. It drives me crazy when something is out of place! To the point where if it's out of place and I know about it I can't fall asleep or relax until it's fixed.

19. I absolutely LOVE white trash bashes!!! I have been to so many and they are the best parties ever!!!! And I have never tasted alcohol in my life, so that's root beer right there....

20. I do not celebrate Valentine's Day EVER!!! To be honest I'm a little worried about this now that I have a child, but we'll see what happens.

21. I can sing all of the Presidents of the United States in order in the tune to "In Our Lovely Deseret." I'm so awesome!

22. I think that Carrie Underwood and Kate Middleton are two of the most beautiful people in the world!!!

23. Spencer and I were married on 9-10-11.

24. The only makeup I ever wear is mascara and "fake" eye liner. I can't use eye liner so I use eye shadow as eye liner. Haha. I cannot stand to have anything on my face as far as makeup goes! Plus, I'm just too lazy to take it off and put it on!

25. I got my one and only tattoo on the top of my right foot when I was 21 and I have regretted it ever since.

26. Coaching cheerleading is one of the most fulfilling and awesome things that I have ever done in my life! It falls directly below being a Mom.

27. My family is the MOST IMPORTANT thing in my life!

I hope year 27 is better than year 26! I'm pretty sure it will be the best year ever!!!