We Are The Champions....

of our pool bracket.

"What is she talking about?" the confused reader asks.

Volleyball, of course.

Yes, I went and played again. I had to. I was called to repentance several times and even visited at my door to repentance several times. The volleyball coach is nothing if not persistent. (She also turns out to be the sister-in-law to one of my friend's visiting teachers on the other side of the continental US of A. Never, ever think you can write truly anonymously).

O.K....so it wasn't repentance, but the coach really did make an effort to keep me in the loop and encouraged me to come play. I missed the stake tournament, so wasn't planning on going to the regional tournament at all but she showed up at my door with the rules and address and strongly urged me to come.

I went, sheepishly, and had a surprisingly good time. The good time from playing wasn't surprising, but the camaraderie and sense of team was. We were in true volleyball form with frequent huddles to the middle and lots and lots of high fives.

The best part was we played by official Olympic rules so we had jerseys with numbers, pretty strict refereeing and we even had to line up on the back line after each game. I thought it was a hoot when we'd all forget after the game (because who does this?) and go to our sideline chairs for a drink of water and the ref would remain up on his stand at the net with the whistle in his mouth and his arms up waiting for us to line up.

The worst part was all the prayers. That sounds bad, but there were four during the tournament. We had to pray when the game that preceded ours was over. Then was our opening prayer (ten minutes later). Then we had another opening prayer with a different ref (I think everyone was too embarrassed to explain that we had already prayed) and then another closing prayer. I like prayer. I even like saying the Relief Society Motto in unison with fellow women (which we also did) but it seemed like a lot of "remember who you are"s to me. Perhaps there's been some ugliness in the past.

There were four teams playing and we had to play each team twice. The games were to 25 and you had to win by 2. The top two teams got to move on. Our team was 6-0 at the end of the night. We are moving on!

So, my guilt which lead to a night of volleyball has led to another night of volleyball. Tonight. It's double elimination now and we've got our eyes on the prize. I'm not sure what the prize is, or when it gets awarded (there are supposedly loser brackets and I think this tournament goes on for another week) but my eyes are on it.

Go team!

Physical - Zumba workout (arriba!)

Spiritual - Mosiah 8-10

Nurturing - Reading lesson, stories, puzzle with Sammy, not whooping Henry and even cleaning up his mess lovingly (that might be a stretch) when he put pens down the vents (because he's figured out how to pull them out of the floor) or left wet toilet paper in balls all over the downstairs carpet.

Work - washed all the sheets and made all the beds. Folded and put away another load of laundry. Cleaned Master Bath.