Macie's 7th

Last year we had to miss Macie's birthday because we were in Arkansas house-hunting. This year we had to miss it because we couldn't figure a way to get back to CA. I was dreading it, but it ended up being a great day: it was stake conference so I didn't have to deal with primary from 1-4, and we were all together since Spencer didn't have high council responsibilities.

We knew we couldn't buy her balloons on a Sunday, but we also knew that helium latex balloons only stay up for about 12 hours. So we did those on Saturday. Sadie still doesn't really understand what we are doing, but she loves balloons and was more than happy to send some up.

On Sunday morning the texts started pouring in - some friends who aren't even on Facebook and have never lived by me sent me sweet messages telling me they were thinking of us. We had stake conference, which was a huge blessing. We came home and we took some pictures with the tree we planted for Macie last week. Oh I love it - it is still tiny but the leaves are red and I can't wait to see how this looks on her birthday in the future. Sadie took a nap (!!) and some friends stopped by with cookies, and with flowers and other gifts. It was a great day, and a great way to remember Macie.

I pulled out the scrapbook for that year and Sadie has been glued to it. She always stops on the pages with Macie and asks me where she is and where her (baby blessing) dress is. I don't know if she is getting it yet but at least she is starting to.

Seven! She would be 7 and I can't believe what we are missing out on by not having her here. Tanner is so drawn to 6-7 year old girls and I can see why...I'm sure they would be best friends.

(Dear CA friends who continue to bless us)

the end of volleyball

Our season is over (phew!) Oh it was fun and exciting, and nail biting a few times but it took up 4 days a week and I spent countless hours practicing with Emma. I'm glad for a 2 month break from sports before it all gets crazy again (with THREE kids in basketball).

The Wildcats finished off the season not so great. They peaked mid-season and won a few games, but lost the last several. Saturday was the playoffs. We were seeded to play at noon, 5:00, and 7:30. I knew we were playing at noon, but we were playing a team who had beat us handily twice, and figured we would be out. If we somehow made it to the 5:00 game, that would be our demise. Surely.

Well, our girls played AMAZING. The first match (remember, this team had easily beat us twice) was 25-15. We beat them in the second match as well. I got to that game and lots of Emma's teammates had purple hair. She told me she thought I would be mad so she didn't do it. I love that girl. But I told her to do it.

When I showed up at 5, her hair was purple. :) They played so awesome again and WON! Suddenly I was not going to stake conference that night, because her last game was at 7:30. Somehow they had made the finals! They were against the #1 team and normally I would have said they stood no chance, but stranger things have (had) happened.

We killed them in the first match. They barely beat us in the second. The last was a nail biter. Our girls got nervous and made too many mistakes and it ended 16-11. Most of our girls cried, but we were all so happy they had made it as far as they did.

What a fun season. I love watching volleyball. We have talked about Emma trying out for club, but aren't sure we can commit to something like that. We will keep talking about it for next year.
(Don't ask why the walls look SO BAD in this gym. Gross.)

 (purple hair^^^)