Melissa Volleyball

The Club Canyon volleyball team that Melissa was on has come to another end. This year was a bit of a different experience than the previous year. The coach was new and some of the girls were pretty sassy and made the experience frustrating at times. (Melissa wasn't one of them - she just wanted to play ball!)
Melissa has really improved her play at the net this year. Her dad wants her to work on developing her upper body strength this summer and improve her vertical jump so she will even be a stronger contender this fall.
We enjoyed watching Melissa at her tournaments. She really is a good all-around player - she can play any position. Her favorite position is outside hitter. The verdict is out whether or not she plays for them next year. She also wants to run track and it is hard to do both. Here are a few pictures and a video. Enjoy.

Hannah Volleyball

(Rachel Cook was not a member of the team just visiting that day.)


Down and ready!


Hannah is the one hitting the ball.


Hannah's serve starts out good in the beginning just gets all weird in the end.

Hannah did volleyball this spring. She and 8 other 6th graders competed across the magic valley. She has some great skills that will only improve as she gets older. Her serve is wild and wacky and she looks like a worm when she does it. Her body moves in all sorts of directions when she try's to hit the ball. She is excited to try out for the 7th grade team this fall.

Easter

Easter this year was pretty relaxed. The Easter bunny usually comes on Saturday but were all going in different directions the day before so he came on Sunday and it was o.k. since our church was later. The kids have to go a treasure hunt every year to find their baskets and Alan came up with an awesome idea. He first started everyone out in the living room where he had asked each person to share something about Easter that had been assigned out earlier. It was very good. The girls then went all over the house and outside before finding their baskets in the van. Zach joined us a little later, he didn't care that he missed out on the treasure hunt. After church we met my family at a Twin Falls park and had an egg hunt and barbecue. It was fun. We were also celebrating my mom's 60th birthday.

Prom Night

Zach had a great time at his 1st prom in April. His date was Sydney Suitter. She is a good friend of Zach's and also a sister to one of his best friends. Zach did not like all the fuss of trying to get ready for the prom. He wouldn't even try on his tux when he picked it up the day before. He later found that it was pretty important to try things on before you take them from the store. A 1/2 hour before he was to pick up his date he was storming around the house because his vest and jacket were too big. Also his tie was very dorky and his shirt had ruffles! I knew that he would be completely miserable the whole night if things didn't feel good so at my encouragement he raced over to Twin to get the right sizes. I called the lady ahead of time so she would be ready for him and she told me that she begged him to try it on but he said that it was fine. He was a bit late picking up his date but he made it in time for the grand march. He looked so handsome and I was so glad the lady at the rental place helped dress him complete with cuff links and fancy buttons.
We had 10 kids over at our house for dinner. It was fun to decorate the table and cook a nice meal. It was also a little bit easier on the boy's pocket books! I made prime rib and twice baked potatoes. Noelle Suitter made a green salad and brought rolls and a very rich chocolate cake. She supplied the china and I did the tablecloth and napkins. It was great food and the kids were very relaxed and said that they would do it again. Alan had promised Zach to clear the house with the girls and after the kids had left for the prom Noelle and I sat a visited and ate leftovers all alone for about a 1/2 hour. It was really nice to have some quiet time for us moms!
Zach doesn't understand why he has to wear a tux to the prom and questions whether or not he will go next year because of it. It was just a little bit too much prep work for him. But, he looked stunning! I wish he would wear a suit to church. I told him he better get used to wearing them because he will more than likely wear a suit on his mission. He is hoping to go somewhere tropical where he won't be required to wear one.

The Boy's Birthdays

Since we were in California for Alan's 40th birthday. I decided to plan a surprise for him the next week. I secretly emailed people that know him and asked for them to type a short well wish or memory they have of Alan. The response was outstanding. Most everybody responded. It was fun to read about what people thought about Alan and memories that they had of him. A running thread through people that know him is that he is very easy going and rarely gets upset about things. His family remembers how much he teased them but ironically he was also the peacemaker of the family. (Except for the time he hit Glen with a bat.) I also put together a DVD of the last 40 years of Alan's life. I gathered a bunch of slides from the Leavitt's basement and transferred them to a CD. The kids commented about how different Grandma and Grandpa looked when Alan was a baby. It was very touching. I will try and get Bill to upload the DVD onto the FTP site for Jane and Leon to watch.







Zach's birthday was the next day on the 28th and was pretty low key this year. Hannah and I were at a volleyball tournament in Wendell for 1/2 the day and while we were gone Alan let Zach open all his presents and took no pictures, but he has it all on video! (Zach hates pictures anyway.) Zach later told me that he was disappointed that he didn't get breakfast in bed. I didn't think that he really cared about that tradition but apparently he does! Later that day Alan and I took Zach out to eat at Johnny Carino's. It is hard to believe that my first born will be a senior next year. He loves football and he runs his guts out on the track. He will be fun to watch in sports this next year. He is a great kid.