Nationals

In November Madison ran at Nationals with her team.  Jaxon, Wil and I went to watch her and we had to do some fancy scheduling to make it happen.  Paul and I went and watched the Transiberian Orchestra on Thursday night, which was wonderful!  Something we have always wanted to do.  After the concert we went and picked up a rental car from the Boise Airport.  At 5am on Friday the boys and I left for Vancouver Washington to watch NIAI Cross Country Nationals.  We arrived in time to watch the boys and girls races.  Before we left I felt invited again by the Holy Ghost to fast for Madison and I pondered exactly what to say in my prayer to open my fast on Thursday night.  I prayed that Madison's team would do their best and that Madison would be happy with her race.  It was crazy that day, I couldn't believe how crowded and tough the race was.  The race bottle necked a lot and it was rough because of how packed the girls and boys were in their races.  The girls worked really hard and won 2nd place, I think they were ranked 6th coming into Nationals.  The boys were ranked in the top 3, 1st I think, and received 4th place.  Madison was crying after the race, she was so happy her team had won 2nd place but she wasn't happy with her race.  One of her coaches made a great comment to her, something to the effect that it was okay that this race wasn't what she had expected from herself, she deserved to be there because of her conference race and she had earned the National title she received with her team.  That is the other thing, the College of Idaho won the Team NIAI National Cross Country Title.  They add up all the points from all the teams and one team wins the Team National Title and because both of their teams had placed and performed so well they won it.  We were so proud of Madison and so happy we were able to be there with her.  She has worked hard and earned to be at Conference and Nationals, she works so hard at all her training.  The boys and I drove to Portland Oregon after the awards ceremony and checked out a few places.  We went to Powell's City of Books, literally the largest bookstore I have ever seen.  Then we went to the Portland Airport and returned our rental car and checked in for our flights to fly back to Boise.  Jaxon needed to work the next day, Ava had a basketball game and Wil, Greta, Ava and I had decided to drive to Pocatello, Id to watch the KHS Football team play for the 4A State Championship.  Which they won!!  Super fun!!

At the Airport a few things happened, 1. Jaxon was supposed to take a flight an hour earlier than Wil and I but he missed his flight and they ended up putting him on mine and Wil's nonstop flight.  2.  Jaxon was mistaken for a tv actor.  There were a few ladies that were sure he had played on NCIS.  When he smiled at them to assure them he hadn't it just made them true believers that he had.  The boy has a killer smile.  3. Wil was super happy to find out that the airport had a MO's Seafood and he and I had grilled shrimp.  Which Jaxon thought was crazy to eat shrimp in an airport.

I can't express my gratitude that I can do these things with my kids, that they are healthy and strong and following their dreams, and that we can make all these memories together.  Paul wasn't able to make any of these trips with us because of work and we did miss him!