State Swim Send Off (Conference & Regionals)

At the end of October, Natalee went with her high school swim team to the conference swim meet.  She swam very well, was recognized for an academic award with her fellow seniors, and was the one swimmer chosen (voted on by all the coaches) for the North Central conference Athlete of the Year award.  Way to go Natalee!

After the conference meet, we had a final regular season meet at a neighboring town.

And then it was on to state qualifying regionals at the beginning of November!

Natalee swam para 50 and 100 freestyle and punched her ticket in both events to head to the state meet!

The team also had a state qualifying relay group and another individual qualifier.  The beginning of this week has been a whirlwind of celebrating and excitement with the qualifiers, alternates, manager, and coaches.

Monday night....

photos for the yard signs

and dying chunks of hair bright pink!

Tuesday - recognition parades at the middle school, high school, and elementary school!

Wednesday - 

putting out the yard signs & pictures on the square

5 of the 9 girls going are HSAP students!

State Qualifier jackets from a local business!

and then we sent them off!!

The team is settling in the hotel tonight.  The other individual qualifier swims Thursday preliminaries and then finals are Friday, which is when Natalee swims.

It's been a big week, and it isn't over yet - lots of excitement yet to come!!

Zayden Turns 11!

We spent the day celebrating Zayden and had a beautiful fall day to do so.  The day itself was slightly chaotic with some unavoidable appointments and running, but we still managed to make the birthday boy feel special.

We started with monkey bread and sausage.

And then a few presents.

Zayden chose his new baseball glove during fall ball and it was the bulk of his birthday.  He's been working it in and getting it ready for a new season.

We went to the chiropractor and daytime swim, and then after lunch Zayden had some fellow homeschoolers over to play flag football and celebrate his day with him.  The weather was perfect!

Not exactly Pinterest worthy but the boys didn't seem to mind the offerings.

While the boys played football, the girls enjoyed the falling leaves and played on a blanket.

We took friends home, Aunt Kea and the girls dropped by with happy birthday wishes, and then we started working on supper.  The birthday boy requested steak!  Lucky guy!  I slipped out to help Natalee with some state swim fun, but was back in time to eat with by birthday fella.

One last round of candles...

We love you so much, Zayden, and are so pleased with the young man you are maturing into.  You are awesome and unique and such a gift to us and the world.  

We celebrated Grandma and Zayden at Tallman Sunday lunch, too.  What a blessing to be so celebrated!