Coaches

I found a quote similar to this and put it with a picture I took. After our tournament experience, I've been thinking a lot about coaches. I've seen some great coaches and some bad coaches. 

Winter Cup

I was spoiled going to St. George for a second weekend. Kade, Tag and Sienna went with me for Kade's tournament, Winter Cup. The weather was really great again so it was so awesome! We left a snowy rainy Thursday morning. There was a scary accident near Santaquin where a car was rolled over in the median. It rained most of the drive but thankfully we made it safely. We got to St. George right after lunch. We had some time before Kade's game so we went to Dragon's Tail staircase. It is 333 steps. We didn't officially time going up the first time but we went a second time and it took around 2:15. There were signs at 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, and the finish. It was easy to spring the first 100 steps but then after that the muscles were burning, lungs were out of breath and it was slow and steady to the top.

Kade played at Pine View High School. I played here in high school so that was cool. It was a beautiful afternoon. His team played really hard and it was a close game through the first half. Then his coach yelled, screamed and chewed them out so badly at half, you could hear it through the whole arena. I really wish I would have filmed it to show everyone how bad it really was. I was in complete shock the whole time and so embarrassed that I didn't think to record it. Second half was terrible and the other team scored more and we didn't score at all. It was rough. It's one thing to be critical and help a team improve, it's another thing to tear them down and be degrading. This spring will be Kade's last season with Brad for his coach.

We cheered ourselves up at Chuck-A-Rama. The kids were in heaven going there. They were so surprised when they suggested going there and I said yes. We all love the sticky buns. Kade got a plate full. Then we were making jokes about sticky buns. Kade said, "The sticky buns are going to stick out my bun!" Haha!

That night we played mini golf at the hotel, the kids swam in the pool and played in the hot tub. It was so fun.

Friday morning I ran circles around the temple and watched the sunrise and the sky turn to cotton candy. This is how it looked when I first got to it. It was about a mile from our hotel.

This is how it looked when I was heading back to the hotel. It was breath taking!

The kids ate breakfast at the hotel. We stayed at Red Lion. They have a pretty decent breakfast. Then we rushed to Kade' game. His coach didn't even show up and so the assistant took over and did warm ups and coached first half. He didn't even have the soccer balls so you could tell it wasn't a planned thing for the coach not to be there. Brad seemed like a little kid having a tantrum.

Tag and Sienna loved playing together. We were at Sandtown Park and there were the perfect climbing trees all around. They found one and played in it the whole game and even a little bit after.

That afternoon we went to Fiesta Fun Center. That was also a fun surprise to the kids. They were so happy that we got to go. They played mini golf, did the bumper boats and played some arcade games. 

Kade had his last game that night at Sullivan Virgin River Soccer Park. I think it is such a pretty soccer complex with the red rock to the North, a pond and a river to the south. His team played the best they've played all tournament but unfortunately it wasn't enough and they lost. No team picture or anything because the coaches we not happy. Ugh, usually there is a  team picture taken no matter what the outcome.

That night we went to the Rinq because it is on the Getoutpass. It is a fun roller rink off of Dixie Dr. We stayed for an hour.

After the rink we went to Zeppe's. Mmmm! We got back to the hotel too late to swim or play mini golf. Since Kade didn't have games the next day, I let the kids watch Disney channel until midnight. They were pretty happy about that.

Saturday morning I ran north to Red Cliffs Blvd. There is a trail that runs along side so I took that until I was 4 miles out and then I ran back. I love running in St. George!

We had breakfast when I got back. We had about an hour before check out to play pickleball. 

We had to make a stop at Pinkbox so Sienna could experience it. We got a dozen to take home. 

So the other team Kade plays for is Al's team. Both teams were playing in the tournament so Kade couldn't play for both. He chose Brad's team because he was committed to Brad's first. We really wish he would have played for Al's at the tournament. It would have been a much better experience. We went Saturday morning and watched their last game. They team played hard and looked good. Kade got to sit on the bench with them. The team was coached in a positive way. Kids need to be told what they are doing wrong and how they can improve but there are different ways of doing that. Some ways are good and some ways are bad.

We headed back home after we got lunch. The weather was perfect and we made it home by dinner time. It was another great weekend in St. George!

Gluten Free Club

Well, Celiac Disease runs in my family so it is no surprise that I would eventually join the gluten free club. I think I've had problems for years but haven't wanted to confront them. Instead I just ignored them. They weren't affecting my life in a large enough way so want to change anything. I started losing clumps of hair a few years ago when I had Covid. I gave it a few months to go back to normal but nothing changed. Then I tried a bunch of other treatments for my hair loss.....various hair products, hair oils, hormones, vitamins, etc. Nothing helped and I continued to lose lots of hair.  I jokingly made these posts.

So no relief from my hair problems. Then the digestion issues really increased over the last few months. It started taking over my daily life and really affecting my health and every day living. Thought the holidays I kept trying to figure out what I needed to change. It came to me right around New Years....I needed to eat gluten free. I did a blood test right after New Years to see if that showed Celiac. It didn't but I decided to eat gluten free anyways after that. It my symptoms resolved then it didn't matter what the test results were. I just needed relief! 

My family welcome me in and it definitely makes it all easier. I've watched them make gluten free meals for years and so it is less overwhelming. There are more gluten free products available now days, more restaurants cook gluten free and put on their menus when something is gluten free. It has come a long ways!

So it's been more than 6 weeks and I feel so much better! My hair stopped falling out in clumps. Now it falls out like it normally does. Other things that have changed that I wasn't expecting is my running and swimming. I've gotten a lot faster and my hamstring injury that has been plagueing me for years is not going away. I feel in shape when I work out. Before I always felt like I was sucking wind and felt like I had never worked out before. It was the craziest thing to run and swim 6 days a week but yet feel like a couch potato. I think my body was inflamed and now it is healing. I'm actually absorbing the nutrients and vitamins that I take. A year and a half ago I donated blood and had the hardest time recovering. I honestly think my body wasn't absorbing nutrients enough. I just feel so much better all around.

This is my gluten free fluffer-nutter sandwich. Hahaha. I have found some good gluten free bread so next time I will have to try it with that.

These are pictures of the Saratoga Springs Temple. It is five miles to this corner of Redwood Road where I can see the temple. If I cross and run to the temple then it is six miles. Now that I'm feeling better I have enjoyed running here on Saturdays and it is so fun that it's so much faster! Maybe I can qualify for Boston after all.

Uptown Jungle

On President's Day I took Kade, Tag and Sienna to Uptown Jungle. It was a fun indoor play ground with a little of everything. Trampolines, slides, jungle gym, ramps, rock climbing, etc. It was very crowded so when we first got there they all said they didn't stay very long. Then after that they took turns wanting to be done but they couldn't all agree to go home at the same time. We ended up staying two hours, haha! I took my textbook and read all about the genitourinary system. Haha, so fun.

Sweethearts for James

 A girl from James's ceramics class asked him to Sweethearts. Her name is Avea. The theme was the 50s. They went to a movie and then played games for their day date. 

They went out to dinner and then took pictures on main street. 

She was in charge of the dance so they stayed til the end of the dance and then helped clean up. They didn't do anything after that since they had helped after. James was happy to go but it was a unique experience being in a group with people he didn't know, and a date he didn't really know as well. She was easy to talk to at least so that helped.

Cupid's Crazy Cafe

We had Cupid's Crazy Cafe on Sunday night. Drew joined us. There was no school the next day so he came over to have a sleep over. It was a fun and silly dinner! We had chicken Alfredo, green beans, corn, rolls, peaches, soda, and ice cream Sundays. 

Meanwhile during Galentines...

James went to Sweethearts, Lynnlee was hosting Galentines and the rest of us had to make ourselves scarce. It was hard knowing what to do. I threw together a plan to go to the rock wall at the rec center, ride the ferris wheel at Scheels and then get dessert and come home. Well, turns out the rock wall hours I looked up were not the most recent and so the rock wall was closed. Then we got to Scheels and the ferris wheel was broken. Marshall had the great idea to do a photo challenge around Scheels.

We were very entertained. Then we got treats and headed home and watched the Super Mario movie. It all worked out in the end.

Lynnlee's Galentine

Lynnlee planned a Galentine's Party for Hannah and Bailey. She had a table to refreshments, presents and games. 

The dress was comfy. They played games and watched Ever After.