Memorial Day Basketball

We have gone from a family of Memorial Day campers to a family of Memorial Day ball players.  For the past few years instead of hooking on to the trailer and heading to the mountains, we have grabbed the gym bags and headed to the basketball courts.

Olivia and Shaylee participated in a tournament in West Jordan over Memorial Day weekend this year.  It gets kind of crazy when we have both girls playing in the same tournaments, but seperate gyms.  We had to bounce back and forth between where they were playing, but in the end we ended up in side-by-side gyms playing for the championship for both girls' teams.

As Dave and I slipped from gym to gym watching our hearts were torn.  We are so excited for the success Shaylee has found with this particular team, but it has been hard to see the let-down Olivia has felt with it.   Shaylee has been able to make so many friends through this team both her age and 1-2 years older.  She has gained valuable skills that will help her as she keeps playing, and she gets along great with the coach.  Liv on the other hand just hasn't seen the positive from it.  She has tried a couple of times now to make the situation work for her, but after watching her sit on the bench this weekend with tears in her eyes I am sure she will not return.

Both teams did end up winning ~ again a little bittersweet for us.  It was so great seeing the excitement the girls felt in winning, but heartbreaking to see the rejection Olivia felt as she left the gym crying.  Certainly one of the hardest parenting moments I have dealt with to this date.

On the bright side...Taite was fortunate enough to spend the weekend at the farm (his true love!) with cousins and didn't have to sit through a single basketball game.  Thanks family, we appreciate you letting him hang out, and he appreciates it too!