We had to send Rykers Christmas package early so that he would receive it in time for Christmas, I told everyone to write Ryker a letter to add to the package and I love that Rylee made this card. She is so good at art and I think it is so cute and I love the message she put inside for Ryker. I love that Rylee is recognizing the blessings we receive from Ryker serving a mission and that his experiences are a good example for her in thinking about wanting to serve a mission.
Today is Avynlea's last first cheer competition of the season. Usually the comps start early in the morning but this comp started in the afternoon which will make for a long afternoon and night. I took a picture of Avynlea before she left, she was planning on getting ready at the competition.
A little bit after Avynlea left Amy came over so we could make some posters for our girls. Natalie decided to only do sideline this year and not competition but she has been coaching at Heritage so we made a poster for her as well. Amy and I drove to the competition together and we made sure to bring our girls fatheads as well as the posters.
At the competition w3e got a picture of Paige and Avynlea, they held Natalie's fathead so she could be a part of the picture as well.
I love watching Avynlea compete! She has improved so much over the past 4 years and her facial expressions are the best to watch, she shines when she is on the mat!
Diana came to watch our girls cheer and her girl coach, it was fun to be together at the comp.
Our girls sat on the sideline to watch Heritage cheer because Coach Christinas daughter cheers for Heritage and we were supporting her but mostly we were supporting Natalie and their other coaches Chris and Carlee who cheered for Meridian. Paige got a picture of me holding up our We Love Coach Natalie sign and I love how cute and happy we look.
This competition had an extra award which was the parent participation award. Basically whoever had the best cheering section. This was something we could excel at and so us Meridian parents whooped and collared and cheered our little hearts out the entire competition, and it was long. The MC did an awesome job of entertaining and keeping the hope up. He really liked our group because we were so engaged and interacted with us a lot. Somehow at some point it was mentioned that the Meridian parents were going to come on the mat during a break and do Cotton Eye Joe. I was not up for that, I do not like being the center of any attention and being in front of all the other cheer parents was intimidating. Avynlea really wanted me to do it and gave me her puppy eyes and somehow I caved and ended up on the floor with other meridian moms and cheerleaders doing Cotton Eye Joe. I will admit it was fun and I am glad I did it but that was it, fun and done. He had parents come down later for another dance but I was out and happy to sit on the side and cheer on those who got out there. Us Meridian parents did end up winning grand champion for best cheering section, no surprise there, we were pretty awesome, so we were excited about that.
After the competition I got a picture with my cheerleader and then Amy and I wanted a picture with the MC, he really was all heart and did such a great job keeping everyone hyped up during this long competition. I didn't get home until about 11 so you can imagine how tired everyone was after this long da and he helped keep us all entertained.
Avynlea got a picture of the rats nest her hair was when she took it out after the comp, yikes.
The next morning we headed to Nyssa for Leah's baby blessing. Avynlea made the decision to sleep in a little more and do her makeup in the car which I thought was pretty funny.
