Tennis

The tennis season for Erik didn't come to an end with a state tournament in May. We sent him to a tennis camp at Utah State last week in hopes of making him an Aggie yet.

Tyler and I dropped him off and then celebrated 19 years of marriage by exploring a new nursery in Logan. Actually it's been there quite a long time, but it was new to us and so darling. It instantly became a favorite as we loaded our van with new plants to incorporate into our yard.

(Kiersten tagged along with me later in the week to pick Erik up. We both made a stop at the Logan Temple and then had to indulge in Aggie ice cream after.)

When Erik couldn't get any friends to buy into the hefty price tag, he chose to go it alone. Our family policy with any big ticket items like this or EFY, is we will pay half. As a kid I would have loved to go to EFY but knew my parents couldn't afford it. They might have been more on board if I had proposed paying half (ya, that never even crossed my mind). So I didn't want my kids to miss out on some good experiences simply because of expense. If it was worth it to them, they would save their pennies and we would help.

Tennis is worth it to Erik and he had saved his pennies. Although he now needs to earn a few more of those pennies to put back in his piggy bank.

"Was the camp worth it, Erik?" Definitely. He made some friends and had some younger tennis campers wrapped around his finger. That is an Erik trait at its best. He is so good with younger kids.

The state tennis tournament was in St. George this year and I thought it would be a good excuse for a weekend getaway. I booked a room in March knowing how that town fills up so quickly. Tyler and I hopped a plane early Thursday morning for Vegas and got there in time for breakfast. Ty then hit the casino for some gaming (he has a favorite he likes to play on certain machines) and I discovered the Vegas Temple.
We bummed around in Las Vegas for the day, exploring the wax museum and Bellagio's flower gardens.

This one's for Kiersten:

This one's for Erik:

The next day we left early for St. George to catch Erik's first and only tennis match. Unfortunately, he was seeded against a player who was supposed to win it all. Erik maintained his cool like he does which got under this player's skin. Erik actually won 3 games on him which this player wasn't used to. It bothered him so much that he even reported it wrongly to the official, and Erik had to track down a coach to get it fixed.

As I sat watching the match, an older gentleman was kind enough to stop and talk to me about Erik and his potential to be good at tennis. Just the few minutes he watched him play, he was impressed with Erik's ability to keep his head in the game.

It might seem silly to spend the time and money to travel to watch a game that was only going to last an hour tops. But I'm glad we did. To Erik it meant the world that we came (even though he may not admit that).

Later Ty and I visited a conservation garden where he fell in love with cacti and this amazing bush that simply won't do well in our yard.

Overall, it was sad to see the tennis season come to an end. I love watching my kids compete. It also meant back home to several end-of-school crazy weeks.


Good things
trek
water
ice