Utah Bound!

***Yes, this post is VERY late and overdue!  I made a few iMovies on my new iPhone and can't seem to get them off my phone and onto my computer to include them in this post.  For now, here's what I have, I'll update this post with some cute videos when I can figure it out!

We left the day after Christmas to visit Kevin and Cara in Utah.  We also got the chance to visit other friends while were there.  It was a fabulous but VERY (even by Utah standards) cold trip!

Our trip there was adventurous to say the least.  First of all we ran into our friends the Beadles from Utah in the Jax airport!  They were in town visiting their son Zane who now plays for the Jags!  It was so great to catch up with Jill and see Ra and Kayden fall back into step with each other.  They had fun talking about football and their trip to Florida.

Secondly, we were supposed to get to SLC at 9:15pm MST but we didn't land until 12:30am MST.  Once we landed and were on our way to Kev and Cara's house, Ra says to Sis, "Look at all that snow on the mountains!" Sis's response was in total Kendallism fashion: "I know!  I can't wait to eat it!"  Ha ha!  It was a very long day for these two.  Ra didn't sleep much but thankfully Sis slept the whole way from Atlanta to SLC.

Here they are on our first day in Utah - taking in the snow!  They couldn't wait to get outside and make snow angels.  All that was missing was Penton!  ;(

We were lucky to get in a fresh POW day at Brighton.  The kids each took a full day lesson while the three musketeers hit the slopes together like the good old days!

Sis did a great job in her lesson.  I was very impressed how much she remembered and how quickly she picked it back up!  She earned all but the last sticker on her button...After one day, she was considered an advanced level 4 skier!

We couldn't visit Utah without making a stop at our favorite restaurants! Everyone who knows me understands that I have a small (maybe a large) obsession with the pork salads from Cafe Rio.  I had to get a few of them while I was there...and when they look like this, who wouldn't want them?  Just thinking about it makes my mouth water!

We also made a much needed stop at The Red Iguana.  This is all ALL TIME favorite Mexican restaurant and is the reason that the Mexican restaurants here will never measure up!  If you have a party of 6 or more they will take a reservation so it's always a win-win when we go with Kevin and Cara!

Kevin and Cara got some sleds for the kids to use while they were in Utah.  We took them over to a huge hill in Sandy - at a park where we use to roll down the giant hill in the summer time.  They had so much fun!

Can't help but miss this view.  A bluebird day with sugar coated mountains.  It was cold though...16 degrees in the valley.  We were thankful for the sun!

The kids were so excited for a sleepover with Tristam!  He and Ra were like cousins while we lived in Utah.  They did a lot together, holidays, camping, skiing, sleepovers, birthdays, etc.  

You know we couldn't go to Utah without skiing The "Bird!  We had a blast!  Kevin and his nephew Tristam were with us too.  It was like the old days!  

We also got a chance to see friends on NYE.  Kev & Cara were gracious enough to open their home up to some of our friends.  It was awesome to see everyone!

Sissy also got to see some of her buddies while we were there. Here she is at dinner with Faith and Paige. 

We also spent an afternoon with my wine club girls and their kids at Airborne. The kids got to play and jump while us moms all caught up. It was awesome to see Sis and her buddy Nat Nat together again. They got to see each other twice over our trip. 

We also spent a day on the tubing hill in Park City. It was cold and crowded but we still had fun. 

Ra got a chance to ride a snowmobile for the first time. He liked it but said it didn't go fast enough!

My Facebook post from January 5th:

As our Christmas vacation is drawing to a close today, I think back over the 17 days off with my kids and realize just how blessed we truly are. We got to spend time with my parents and celebrate Christmas together here in our new house for the first time. We also spent over 7 days in Utah with my best friend, his incredible wife and catching up with lots of our friends, doing all the things we love to do during winter in Utah! And to top it off, Penn State won the Pin Stripe Bowl! Who knew you could cram that much fun into 2 1/2 weeks!

 — feeling grateful.

First Gymnastics Meet

Sis was extremely nervous for months prior to her first ever gymnastics meet.  We've been prepping for weeks in hopes of easing her fears.  We've been watching Florida, Georgia, Auburn, Penn State and Nebraska women's meets on TV in hopes of giving her a glimpse of what to expect.  I bought her a cute necklace as good luck.  It has a K charm, a gymnast charm, one that says Gymnastics and one with her birthstone.  She was wearing it the days prior to her meet to remind her that she is loved and her momma supports her 100%.

She likes watching the Gators because each floor routine contains a "gator chomp" and that's pretty cool even for a gator hater like me.  The Gator girls are also one of the best teams in the country so it's okay for us to cheer for them.  Alex McMurtry is her favorite Gator.  The SEC channel airs a lot of women's gymnastics because they don't have mens, ice hockey or wrestling to air as well as women's gymnastics.  We did catch at PSU/Nebraska meet and record it.  

She's in love with the PSU less!  Gotta see if I can find her one somewhere!

We headed to Orlando on Friday night because her meet warm up started at 8am Saturday morning.  She wanted to eat at Panera of all places, so that's where we went.  

After dinner I wanted to let her burn off some of her anxiety so we headed to an outlet mall to walk around.  She had so much fun shopping.  There was a Justice store which she begged me to go into...what?!?  Since when does she know about Justice and what happened to my little baby girl?  We also hit up the Disney outlet where she bought herself a Perry the platypus stuffed animal from Phineas and Ferb.  She loves that show these days!

After our shopping spree, we headed back to our hotel to get a good night's sleep.  In the morning we had breakfast in the hotel.  They made her pancakes which is her favorite and she was thrilled!

She also ate a whole plate of fruit and bacon!

She was still a bit nervous about her meet, but hiding it well.  We got to the hotel that was hosting the meet and her nerves started to get the best of her.

Hanging out with her friend Summer helped her to settle down a bit.

They warmed up then were introduced as a team.  There are a lot of level 2's at North Florida.  Half of them competed as level 2's last year and Sissy's T/Th practice group are all newbies to competition.  

Once she got over her nerves, she did a great job for her first meet.  She started on vault which is one of her best and favorite events.  

She earned a 9.150 on vault!  Whew!  A great way to start her meet.

She moved onto bars next.  She struggles with her mill circle and sometimes with her back hip circle. Those things considered, she did well.

Sadly, this is true...

Here they are with Coach Katie meeting the bars judges before they performed.

8.775 on bars - not too bad, but room for improvement!

Next they rotated to beam.  They warmed up beforehand with Coach Erin and Coach Cailyn.

Her beam routine

She scored an 8.675 - room for improvement on beam too but she likes beam the least so I was just glad she didn't go over time or fall off!

Her last event was floor.  She does well with floor but got a bit ahead of her music.  Nerves did that to a few of our girls.  

She pulled off a 9.0 on floor.  If she'd have stayed with her music better, her score would have been better.  Hoping her next meet she can score higher because she's done it before under meet conditions.  I was still proud of her regardless.  She did really well and I wasn't sure what to expect.  She exceeded my expectations for sure!

Afterwards the team went next door to the awards room to see how everyone did.  

They had a 6 and under division within the Level 2's.  Sissy is the youngest on her team - some teammates are in 3rd and 4th grade!  To my complete surprise, Sissy earned a 3rd place in vault, bars, beam, floor and the 3rd place All Around!  She was as surprised as I was.  She was OVER THE MOON excited to come home with 5 medals!

She came running back to me afterwards grinning ear to ear!  She has decided meets aren't so scary now - and they are actually FUN!!!

Her team at North Florida was able to pull off a first place win!  How exciting!

Sis with all her teammates and Coach Katie

Sissy and Coach Katie - she really loves Katie!  The girls also each received a stuffed dolphin from the meet.  She is now convinced that meets are a lot of fun and can't wait for the next one!

Sis and her buddy Darryelle.  These two are the youngest on their team.  They are both 6 and don't turn 7 until summer.

Since we were in Orlando - near Sea World, I had promised Sis that I would take her over to Disney to ride her new favorite, the Rockin' Rollercoaster.  It gave her something fun to look forward to when she was so nervous about her meet.  Having passes gives us that flexibility!  One the way home she insisted on wearing her medals and ended up falling asleep while wearing them!

What great memories we created!  Her next meet is over Valentine's weekend at Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports.  Nanny is going to come with us so she can see Sissy compete.  She's super excited for this next one!

Since she now has all these medals, I had to make some place for her to display them in her room.  This is what I created using a verse that she chose.

She also suffered her first bar rip last week.  Poor baby!  We got it healed up pretty quickly but it freaked her out to have Coach Erin rip off the extra flap of skin on her palm!  Thankfully there was a sweet older girl nearby who held her hand and distracted her.  We used a combination of Preparation H, vitamin E and lavender essential oil.  

She slept with a sock on her hand at night with ointment on her hand.  Great advice for friends who are former gymnasts and other gym moms!

First day back on the bars - I wrapped it so she wouldn't fuss over it at practice.