Regional Swim Meet

Had to take a picture of the Hawkeye on the pillar.
Starting blocks
Girls were in one pool and boys in the other. Check out how packed the bleachers were.

Jordan is in the middle.

Jordan is in the middle again.

Hi all. We are back from Jordan's regional swim meet (actually got back yesterday) and I am happy to report that Jordan did excellent. He improved all of his times and coach even put him in an event that he hasn't swam all year and he even exceded the coaches expectations on that swim.

Here are his events and the times he swam them in:

50M freestyle - 30.78 sec and bettered his time by 1 sec (awesome for a sprint race)

50 M butterfly - 33.7 sec and bettered his time by 1.3 sec

100 M IM - 121.09 sec and bettered his time by 4 sec (another awesome)

100 freestyle - 106.17 and bettered the coach's expectation by over 2 seconds

So proud of him. He even got better times than some of the people in the heats after him, and not only that, most of the kids in his age group were 12 years old. I couldn't have asked for a better performance out of him, he came to do well and he did. And on top of it all, he had a blast and is already planning his strategy for next year. :)

Heading Out

Hi all. We are about 2 hours or so away from heading out to Minneapolis for Jordan's Regional Swim Meet. I just wanted to leave you with this picture of Riley and Gavin. Gavin cracks me up in this picture so I had to share it with you.

Hopefully all goes well this weekend. Jordan will be swimming against 8 other states besides our own at the University of Minnesota. Their aquatic center there is amazing, we are excited just to see that. I will try to take some pictures of everything but sometimes it is hard to get a great picture with the lighting and all. Don't have one of those special cameras to work with all of that. Would love to have one someday though (hint, hint hubby!!!). I think Jordan will do great and it is just a great honor to be able to compete at this level, and as you hear over and over again, we are just happy to be able to be here.

New Pictures of Noah

Hi all. I used to post some pictures of Noah, my nephew, on here and I thought why not post a few more. He is such a cutie that he needs a post all to his own. I snapped these pictures on Friday. And as you can see, he is just as happy as can be. He is fun to have around and Riley and Gavin sure take a liking to him, sometimes too much though. Noah lets them know when he has had enough of their closeness though. I am like you dude, I have to have my space as well. :) Thanks for letting me snap some pictures of you, Noah. I'm sure those won't be the last.

Father-Daughter Dance

How sweet, my only daughter got to go to her first dance last night. Her date was her Daddy, and I am sure he is hoping that it stays that way until she is 30 years old. I was so excited to get her ready for the dance. We got on the panty hose, the pretty shoes, the beautiful dress and of course we did her hair all nice and pretty. She was shining and grinning from ear to ear. I have never seen someone so happy in all their life. Riley has been counting down to this day since I told her about it two and a half weeks ago. It makes my heart happy to see her so happy. Curt didn't say too much about the night, but I know in his little looks and little smiles that he was looking forward to this night as well. How could you not be excited when your daughter is counting down the days until she gets to dance with you and spend an evening with you. We could all only hope to have a bond so tight as theirs, I hope it always stays that way.

State Swim Meet

After warm-ups
Parade of Athletes (Lee thought Fort Dodge needed to stand out)

Before Jordan's first event

Jordan's 50M butterfly

11-12 boys relay team

The day has come and gone, and we are very happy at how Jordan did at the State Swim Meet. He went as hard as he could and bested all his times. Nerves always seem to play a big factor in these kind of competitions, but Jordan handled it well and was calm and collected.

For his first event he did the 50M butterfly and was the 16th fastest in the state of Iowa, he improved his time by a half a second. In the 200M medley relay the team was the 7th fastest in the state, the team improved their time by 5 seconds and he improved his fly time again by another half a second. A total of 1 second improvement at state for the fly. In his third event he was the 24th fastest kid in the state and he improved his 50M freestyle by .6 of a second. And then in his final event, the 200M freestyle relay, his group was the 5th fastest in the state, the team improved their time by 11 seconds (wow) and he improved his freestyle again and shaved a whopping two seconds off his previous time. In all he took off 2.6 seconds on his freestyle. Curt and I were speechless and very proud of him.

Way to go Jordan and I have a feeling we will see both the boys there next year. :)

Jordan's High Hoops BB Tournament

Jordan's basketball season has officially come to an end. Rockwell City always closes their season with their home tournament. It was a bit of a rocky start for Jordan and his team, but in the end they grew as a team and bettered themselves. Instead of getting last place every other tournament, we got a second place finish in our tournament. I was so proud of all the boys, they played incredible, I just wish the season didn't have to end now. I would have loved to see what more they could do.

As for Jordan individually, he has slowly learned that you need to have confidence in yourself to be a better ball player. When he would get up against someone who in his mind is better than him, he would pass the ball right away when he would get it and he would never go to the hole. He would have it stuck in his head that he couldn't compete against another player quicker or taller than him. But, slowly that changed and after tons of preaching from Curt and I to have confidence in himself, he didn't care who he was up against and gave it is all. And you should have seen him defensively, he would body up anyone he was against and let the offensive player know he wasn't going anywhere. He usually caused them to pass the ball off instead of going to the basket. All in all, it was fun watching Jordan grow as a player and as a good sport. Very proud of him.