It's not really all about Olivia, it just feels like it. However, I did want to put videos of her routines from this year on so you could all see what she has spent her free time doing. This is her solo. She finished 2nd in the Region (Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico). She is too young to go to Nationals as a solo, so this was her last swim of the season with this routine.
This is Olivia's team routine. She is the youngest on the team by far...most of the girls are 13 and 14. We can't wait for National Competition next month in New York. Good job, girls!
Video of Olivia's duet, which just missed qualifying for Nationals by .050 points (stinking judges :))
Olivia FINALLY reached double digits yesterday. She has been waiting for so long--ten years! We can tell she is growing up by what she wanted for her birthday, not a single toy in sight. We ended up giving her some coupons good for shopping (somehow I don't think she would necessarily like what I would pick). After a hard mornings work at synchro (four hours of practice), Mom and Olivia had a great time at the mall and a few other stores. I think she told every salesperson that it was her birthday, but it paid off in the end--we got a 15% discount at Justice! Happy Birthday Olivia! Everyone loves you and we hope that you will always be the nice sweet girl that you are now.
Sam and Dan in the car.
sam's mad face in Disneyland
sam
everyone dressed, let alone fed and hair brushed). Church wasn't too bad, I had Sam and Julia sitting on me, but they didn't fight over me, so another bonus! Primary was good, too. No disasters and lots of men willing to help fill holes for me--I especially loved that the 2nd Counselor in the Stake Presidency filled in for me in Nursery. After church, the kids mostly got along (remember, no perfection expected). I told them that what I really wanted was to be able to scrapbook, and amazingly, I actually got some scrapbooking done yesterday! I also managed to help Dan with some homework projects, call my mom, make dinner (Brandon offered, I declined), play checkers
with Sam, play "Scrambled States of America" with Olivia, snuggle with Julia, sit outside in the nice weather, and watch a movie after the kids went to bed. All in all, a really nice Mother's Day. And, yes, I really am grateful to be a mother. I love my children, I'm learning to love the challenges that I have because of them, and I know that I'm growing as a person because of those beautiful, talented, rambunctious, energetic and noisy children. I happened upon this post on a friend's blog and I really liked it. It just goes to show that great minds think alike...
http://tkbowmanfamily.blogspot.com/2008/03/justification.html
Dan decided that it would be cool to run for Student Body President of his school for next year. Since we all know it's a popularity contest, I was a little worried. Not that I don't think he's popular, but I wasn't sure I wanted to deal with the fallout when he didn't win. Little did I know! Apparently, he IS pretty popular and he WON! For his skit/speech, he decided to hold a Jedi Council, and tell everyone why he would make a great president. Unfortunately, a few Sith spies made their way into the room and tried to challenge him for the post. The first spy, let's call him "Kevin", ended up being wounded by our fabulous Jedi Master, but then the second spy, let's call her "Olivia", tried to prove her superiority by doing the splits (to many groans in the audience). In the end, the "outgoing, straight A student" saved the day and ended up victorious! Way to go, Dan!
This is a really bad video of Olivia's duet that qualified for Regionals. Her partner is Kaylee and they learned this routine in less than two weeks. They were awesome! Of course, the best part was their really cool swimsuits :) I wonder where they got them???
Dan auditioned for Gilbert School District's Honor Orchestra in March. The Honor Orchestra is made up of the best 5th and 6th grade musicians in the whole district. Dan was one of seven bass players to be chosen, and the only 5th grader. Additionally, he was the only 5th grade strings player from his school to be chosen. We are so proud of him! He has done a great job practicing and really seems to have a natural ability. They had their performance on Saturday, April 5th. I took this video at the dress rehearsal, because I wasn't able to tape the final performance. The song they are playing is called "Fanfare for a Hero" and I think they sound awesome (especially for 10-12 year olds!) They played four songs, but this one was my favorite. Great job Dan!
This last weekend, Olivia competed in the Arizona State Championships in Tucson. She did awesome! She placed second in figures in the 9-10 age group, second in solo in 9-10, second in duet in 11-12 and third in team in the 13-15 age group. All of her routines qualified for Regional competition next month. Hopefully, she will qualify for Nationals after that. We are so proud of her!
This past summer, Olivia participated in Mesa Parks and Rec Synchronized Swimming. Amazingly, she did really well. The first part of the summer was spent learning "figures", or certain movements in the water. In her weekly meets, she took second place twice and first place twice! Then at the Figure Championships, where the entire city competed together, she didn't do her best. She completely messed up one of the four figures, but she still managed to place 6th out of about 25-30 girls in her age group!
After figure championships, she then competed in the trio and team competition. She was in a trio with her friend Paige and another girl named Alexxis. They performed a 2 minute routine to Jump 5's "Spinnin' Around". They did really well, although they weren't quite synchronized, and they took 2nd place in the 9-10 age group (Paige is 9) out of 4 teams. Olivia's team of 5 girls did alright, although they struggled with one girl that didn't seem to want to practice. Overall, they took 8th out of 11. Olivia really liked that routine because she got to be lifted out of the water by the other girls. It was pretty cool.
Overall, it was a fun summer and Olivia did a great job! She can't wait for synchro to start again!
The Ekberg kids got new gerbils on Dec. 26 2005. They are so cute and furry. Their names are Annie and Fuzmo. By Dan
