LATE in NOVEMBER


I started early last month in sharing news, now at the end of the month I don't know where to begin! November was filled with activities, travel, excitement, illness and so many other things!
We started out the month a little rough, David came down with Pharyngitis and it soon moved to Dallen and I. It lasted almost 3 weeks! With meds and lots of sleep, we couldn't kick it. It was strange and a bit annoying to say the least. The week before Thanksgiving was full of cleaning and preparing to leave for California. With much anticipation all year, it was finally time for the Oireachtas and a Holiday vacation with my Mom.
I left early Friday morning on the 19th. Marshall and I flew on one of the most unsettling flights ever! Full of turbulence, and a hard landing which left me bracing myself on the seat in front of me. From Oakland, we then had a two hour drive to Sacramento where we checked into our nice hotel and got ready for our final dance rehearsal. It took everything in me, to push myself that last time before the big day.

After eating pizza and heading back to the hotel room for a "good night sleep", I awoke early nervous for our big competition. It was 3am and I couldn't sleep! Mostly due to the loud boys sleeping in my room, hehe but also because of my nerves! Around 5 I finally got to sleep again, but was definitely groggy when it really was time to get up. When we got over to the convention center with our group I was surprised to have a lot of my nerves wash away. My group was so confident and excited, then all my worries seemed small. We had practiced hard for these next few moments on stage, and we deserved them. We got all dolled up and warmed up in the hall, then before we knew it we were lined up to compete. We took that stage and we rocked it! I am sure there were things we didn't notice were wrong at the time, but in our minds we felt perfect. We danced well, and when we bowed to our 5 judges we knew as a team we had accomplished more than just a dance. From May to November, the 8 of us turned from individuals to a team. A team who through the rough and fun times of practice and activities grew to love each other and depend on each other. There were times that we saw glimpses of success and others where we were all tired and agitated at each other. But we had succeeded our own expectations of one another and walked off that stage proud and beaming with confidence. We hugged and laughed, it was an amazing moment, one that I will remember forever.As if that wasn't enough fun! We still had an entire week long vacation ahead of us! David and Dallen flew in Monday morning, and it was off to the Winchester Mystery House. We walked through that creepy place over a mile! Dallen was a fidget but man it was interesting. We also toured Alcatraz, Pier 39, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Asilomar Beach, Golden Gate Park's Japanese Tea Garden's, China Town, and the Mission of San Jose.

The infamous fire hose that kicked Sophie's butt! er head...


Alcatraz and Pier 39 made for a long and fun day!



The aquarium and beach were exciting for Dallen.

All in all the vacation was amazing! Mom and Marc's house was welcoming, and we had a lot of fun. Thanks for the memories!