Much More than Volleyball

This weekend I went away for to the annual Palm Desert Volleyball Tournament.  Although we didn't play quite as well as I had hoped, this year was the best trip.  We went out to lunch and dinner, went shopping at the outlet malls, went in the jacuzzi, and spent 11 hours at the volleyball tournament.  We laughed and joked and chatted and just had the best time being gals and doing the things we love!  I can't wait to go again next year!

Snow in California

Yes, from time to time and in place to place, you can find snow in California during the winter.  Certainly not where I live, but it is possible.  That is a good thing since one of the scout requirements is to camp in the snow.  So this weekend, despite having a cold, we sent Jeff and Gabe off to camp in the snow.  There was still some snow on the ground at Mt Pinos.  The boys spent a frosty night, yet claimed they were fairly warm in their sleeping bags.  The next day was spent on the "slopes" sledding down the hill and having a great time.

The A Team

Gabe is playing volleyball at the middle school.  He played last year as well, but as a 6th grader that was an alternate on the team, he was on the B team.  This year, he was put on the A team.  He is enjoying the practices and had his first two matches this week.  The matches were both nail biters!  The first match, our team lost the first game, and so were fighting to play another game during the second.  They caught up late in the game to bring it to 24-24.  But after several sideouts by both teams, they lost the game 28-30.  Thursday's match was almost an exact repeat of the previous match.  After losing the first game, they rallied for 5 points catch up at the end of the second game.  Then after each team had a few sideouts, they won the game 29-27.  The third game was no contest, we easily had the momentum and won the match.  It was very fun to watch these boys play.  They had good rallies, and were very quick around the court.  Gabe is a sub on this team and didn't see too much court time, but when in the game, he was a solid player and even served one ace.

Wedding Pictures

Maddie's wedding was so nice.  It was a nice day, everyone looked so wonderful at the wedding, and the bride and groom were so happy.  Here are a few pictures of our special day.

Lights, Camera, Mouse

This week we went on a very special tour of the Disney Studios in Glendale California.  We were given a tour by a friend of our that works there.  It was very fun.  We saw the buildings where the different divisions were house.  We didn't realize just how big Disney is!  There were several different divisions.  The building just to house all of the lawyers was huge!  Our friends was fantastic.  He pointed out several areas of interest, Disney Lore, and history lessons about the rise of Disney.  We learned a lot and really enjoyed our tour.

Reunited

My family is together once again!  Maddie and Jayd came home from Utah today to spend the Christmas Holiday with us.  The house was full, and boisterous as we quickly caught up on all the news.  Gabe was thrilled that Jayd was able to bring home 3D print of a companion cube.  It was made at Jayd's school library.  We didn't think that it would be done until January.  Maddie and Patrick were given the tour of the wedding preparations, and briefed on what still needs to be done.  We had a great time at family home evening.  We couldn't seem to stay on topic for more than 2 minutes.  It was just like old times.  We are excited to have them home for the next two weeks.

Radioactive

Once again, Gabe played volleyball at the Rec Center this year.  It was a little strange to go there without Jayd, but many of his friends were still there, so we felt right at home.  Gabe's team was named Radioactive to go along with their neon green t-shirts.  Gabe was quite the player this year.  His serving has become much more consistent, and he even hit a few of his jump serves over the net.  In addition to passing and setting, he is becoming a force at the net, jumping and tipping the ball back to the other side before it even came over.  Prior to this year, that wasn't allowed, but a local rule adaptation allowed him to have a few plays where he tipped it back over the net multiple times.  He was tickled to be on the same team as one of his best friends, Cayden.  They had a great time goofing off at the practices, but eventually noticed that they were never placed next to each other during a game.....I wonder why.....