Friday morning Kenna and I loaded up dad's Audi and drove to Vegas for the Las Vegas Premier Tournament. We were excited to have some one-on-one time together for the drive and excited that grandma and grandpa Nichol had decided to fly to Vegas for the weekend to watch her play. Grandma and grandpa Nichol are always up for an adventure and getting to stay with Steve and Many and the grandkids is always an extra bonus for them.
Friday night about half the team and some of us parents shopped the Outlet mall and had dinner. While we were in Claire's, Kenna told me she wanted to find something special for Ash. Then she told me that as she hugged Ashlyn that morning before leaving, Ashlyn handed her fifteen dollars and told her to buy herself something in Vegas. Wow, what a great little sister! I looked at Kenna and smiled....here one sister has given her older sister money to buy herself something and the older sister is wanting to spend that money on something for her little sister. I stood in amazement at the friendship and relationship my girls have...I hope they remain this close forever. Kenna found the cutest zebra striped eye cover for Ash...she knew she would love it! Then in the Nike outlet we found some pink and grey basketball shorts we knew Ashlyn would love. Kenna did buy herself a few slurpees on the trip with the money Ashlyn gave her :)
The girls were pretty chill that night and seemed to be in a good frame of mind to get ready for their Saturday games. Saturday morning was pretty layed back with the first game starting at 12:40 and the second at 4:40. I was sick to my stomach and so nervous for McKenna. She was pretty anxious and nervous, too. More so than usual. I think she feels so much pressure as the keeper, but I also think she was thinking a lot about letting some of her teammates down with not playing on Sunday. This year, one of their scheduled games was planned for Sunday morning with finals that night. Usually only finals are held on Sunday. Saturday as she ate breakfast with her team, a few of the girls kept asking her why she wouldn't play on Sunday or how come her parents won't let her just play. She quickly quieted the girls by telling them, over and over, that it's not her parents' choice, but she is the one who has decided to keep the Sabbath day holy and not play sports on Sunday. She's getting more pressure from her teammates, her coach and we are feeling it from the parents more, too, for her to give in and just play on Sunday. But she has informed me that she is steadfast and immovable in her decision to not play on Sunday and according to her, there is no need for her to ever play on a Sunday because she plans to go to BYU on an academic scholarship and play soccer there and BYU players don't play soccer on Sunday. So that's the plan and I know she will be blessed for her decision. I don't know when that blessing will be realized or in what way it will be given to her, but I know she will be blessed for keeping a commandment of the Lord.
Along with grandma and grandpa Nichol, uncle Steve, aunt Mandy, Jacob, Lily, Kali and baby Isaac came to watch McKenna's games. Their first game was against an Arizona team and they tied them 2-2. The second game was against a California team ranked #2. It was a pretty tough game, but we maintained a lead at 1-0 until the last 10 minutes when one of Kenna's defenders made an own goal. Oh, it was so sad! We ended that game 1-1 and had a good chance of going to finals if the girls won Sunday morning.
After Saturday's games, the team met for dinner at Buca de Beppo and the girls had a great time. After dinner, Kenna and I headed to Steve and Mandy's to spend the night with them and get a good nights rest before driving home Sunday morning. At Steve and Mandy's, we made a bed out of the love seat, an ottoman and an over sized chair and it was the comfiest thing ever. Even at the hotel room where we had two queen beds, Kenna and I still shared a bed and snuggled all night...so this was perfect. Uncle Steve thought we were crazy to sleep so close together.
Sunday, while driving home, we got the news her team had lost 3-1...that was a tough text to see. Kenna and I had been prayerful that her team would do well without her and Amanda, Lauren and Savanna,the other three girls that don't play on Sunday, but without any guest players at this tournament there were no subs and that's always hard. Her team comes down again in February for another tournament and I'm sure Ray will be bringing guest players and probably a guest keeper...if he can find one. If that's the case, Kenna may not even go to the tournament because she would only play one game on Saturday with the other Saturday game going to the guest keeper and that's really not worth it. Kenna's been spoiled, being the only keeper on the team. Next year at try-outs I know Ray will look for another keeper to add to the team and cover Sunday play...Kenna's fine with that and actually welcomes the challenge to prove she's the best! She's got more guts, courage and faith than I ever did at her age...she amazes us!
