Really? October 15th? The last time I blogged was October 15th? So yeah, I'm feeling a little guilty. Guilty that all of these precious memories are passing by and someday they will be all but a piece of sand. A memory forgotten. Guilty that I have family that I KNOW would like to have more of a glimpse in to our lives than a silly one liner Facebook status update. So I'm here. I've been here along, really, I have. I blog in my head regularly, but this time it's real, I'm taking the initiative to just DO IT! So much is going on in our lives, so many wonderful things and I long to recount them all. Here is my attempt.
Volleyball, Baseball, Dogs, Pudge, jobs, job possibilities, photography, friends, high school, teenage stress, working from home, not working from home, excercise, home improvement, visiting family....and the list goes on. This is what happens when you fail to document your many precious days and all that your decisions entail.
So today. All I can do is start with the now. But before the now, I have to mention Alex's last baseball game. He hit two home runs on Thursday and coach gave him the game ball, which is a huge deal in an 8 year olds world. HUGE. Unfortunately, I wasn't there to see it. I was home getting our house in order for Andy's family to come stay. And that's ok, it happens.
Yesterday we got home from the big kahuna of volleyball tournaments. The last tournament of the season for Ashley. This is the tournament that we've been getting ready for since December. We (Ashley, Alex and I) left town Friday morning for Dallas. Both kiddos missed school with the excuse that we finally had the opportunity to visit David, Cara and Cousin Keller for the first time in WAY TO LONG. It was a very long exciting, exhausting weekend. A tournament that we will never forget. Over three days, Ashley's team played a total of 27 games. Far more than our entire club volleyball season games combined. It was incredible. The Dallas Convention Center was amazing. I have never seen so many volleyball courts in one place in all of my life. There were around 100 courts all on one floor of the convention center. It's hard to even imagine.
It was a rough first 2 days. We lost several games, won a several games, but could never really get ahead. By Sunday, we had no high hopes...until coach informed the girls that even though we'd lost several games, our combined winnings had us sitting pretty. The first match on Sunday would either send us to the semifinals, or send us home. That's all the girls needed to hear. They kicked it in to over drive and proceeded to knock the tiny shorts off of that team, AND the next team. Which put us in the Championship game. Here we were after feeling so defeated the past 2 days, despite our hard work, and we find out we're in THE championship game. We were all in shock, really. They kept up their high energy game won the first game (best 2 out of 3). The next game was almost identical to the first, we were neck and neck, point for point the entire game, but the other team ended up pulling it off and winning. We were down to the third and final game. Winner takes all. It was a repeat of games one and two. We were rarely ever more than a point or two away from the other team. When we switched sides we were down by three. Unlike most times when they were behind, they pulled together and found the energy to kick some serious bootay and in the end they did it. They played like animals! It was the best game I've ever seen them play. They won first place and there wasn't a dry eye on our side of the court. It was amazing. I took over 300 pictures this weekend and at some point I'll find the energy to actually edit and post them. I'm still trying to recover from such a full weekend. And that's me...the one who was on the side lines. I can't even imagine what Ashley feels like. 27 games! REALLY! Youth is amazing, it really is.
So there you have it, my first update since October. I have so much more to say, but I will have to save it all for another post. Life is good. These are the days to hold on to.
