UCA Cheer Camp 2008

One of my childhood/teenage dreams was to be a cheerleader. My preteen best friend was a cheerleader and she taught me all of her cheers; we would practice all day long in the yard. But I was either too involved in other activities or at one school it was something we just couldn't afford at the time or there was no way I could get to and from practices and games. By the time I had my own vehicle, I had to work to keep it full of gas and insurance, not to mention the payment. So my dream was never fulfilled.

The dream never left me, and as soon as I could I signed Shelby and Ch'ree up for cheering on our school's elementary squad. A couple years later I found myself being the sponsor for that squad. And now I'm going on my 5th year in that role. Cheering with the girls in the stands is probably the closest I will get to being a cheerleader without actually having to don those skirts. Which, I'll admit, probably wouldn't look as good on me now as it would have in high school when I was a size 1. LOL!

This year our school's varsity coach cleared it with our principle to allow willing 6th grade cheerleaders be on our junior high squad (which only consisted of 3 members before). The condition is that they only cheer at home games. We did some fundraising and got to go to cheer camp. The varsity squad had so many girls make that squad that it was going to take two coach/sponsors to take them to their camp in Artesia, which happened to be the same days as the UCA cheer camp here in Portales. So I got to go to cheer camp with the junior high squad held at Eastern New Mexico University's Greyhound Arena.

We had so much fun and I think we learned alot. There were 13 squads there, most of them Varsity squads from around New Mexico. Here they were learning some sideline cheers.

The camp lasted three days. We not only learned sidelines and cheers, but alot about stunting, two dances (Extreme Routine and HipHop), jumps, etc. Here was our private coaching lesson with UCA coach Tyrell.

We came so far in our stunting during camp. When we got there a thigh stand was about as difficult as we could do. By the end of the third day we could do a half extension (shown above) and working on a full extension (same as above but the base girls holding the top girl ABOVE their heads). We learned several other stunts in between those, too. Like going from a handstand to a shoulder straddle (I'll have to get some pictures of that one).

Here was UCA coach Kimmie doing a motion class (learning how to really stick those movements and what they are called).

Kimmie also helped us a bit on our stunting.

Shelby was the only girl in our group brave enough to try out for AllStars. Winners would get to participate in parades in Houston (9th grade and younger) or London (10th and older). Shelby, being the youngest at the entire camp, didn't make allstars, but I was so pround of her for trying out (the girls on her right were Clovis Varsity cheerleaders).

"Bring it on in, bring it on in, bring it on in...HEY, BRING. IT. ON. IN!!" This is what they would chat when it was time for the UCA instructors to talk to everyone. Cheer camp is very peppy. LOL!

By the last day we could really stick our half. Oh, and to get the girl down we learned to toss her up a little and catch her in what's called a cradle.

Group cheer last day of camp.

We won most improved squad (the Spirit Stick on the right shows that). I was so proud of these kids. They worked hard for three days from 9-4. They were real troopers, and have bruises to show it. The girl on top of the stunts from the few tumbles she took, the "road rash" girls on the bottom of the stunts from the top girl standing on their shoulders. The boy for putting up with us girls (it's our first year having a boy cheerleader).

4th of July, 2008

Our village hasn't done anything for 4th of July since...well, since I've been around here! Jeff said he remembers when he was little someone used to do something. So this year, the fire department and the Lion's club decided to do something. A community event centered around food, fireworks, and good ol' American country music!

First the food had to be cooked. The fare was simple: hamburgers, hot dogs and chips. Served with iced tea and lemonade.

Followed by some homemade ice cream. This ice cream maker should make enough for this crowd.

Some good ol' family fun and games on the track, too. Drew is ready for the stick horse race, while my niece Gracie is getting some last minute tips from her mother, Amanda.

And their off!! Chance (middle boy in red) was ready to go! My nephew, Brantley, was too (2nd on the left). Unfortunately, Chance went down in the middle of the race, injured with skinned knees. He made a trip with daddy to the waiting ambulance to get cleaned up and said, "Daddy, please no needles. Ok?"

The girls had their turn, too. Ch'ree on the far left, Shelby on the far right.

It didn't end there! Even the big boys got a turn. Jeff, right in the middle. I think the high schoolers were having fun, even if they won't admit it.

Other races like the sack race, a dunking booth, and egg toss, went on until sunset.

Break here. I didn't have a chance to take any pictures of the fireworks because Drew, aka Hodini, kept trying to escape my sights. He loved the fireworks, just felt he needed to find another seat to view them. That seat being away from me. So, I held onto him and not the camera. But the fireworks were awesome. Some said they were better than the one in town the night before (Portales had to do their show a day early due to some problems with the pyrotechnic company being understaffed. We tried to make it to see them on Thursday, but was detained by a vanful of senior citizens that had run out of gas on the highway. Jeff, being the good sam that he is, stopped to help them out. We pulled up to the house we were crashing to watch the fireworks just as the last one was lit. Oh, well). Jeff and I spent all week pouring over all the songs on our iTunes library to pick the perfect ones to dance to. We tried to get just the right amount of songs from several decades. A little Bob Wills and Johnny Cash and a couple other old artists, a bit of 70's, 80's, 90's and the latest to keep everyone happy. Even a bit of the new hip hopped version of Cotton Eyed Joe and the Cha Cha Slide for the teens. There was much Alan Jackson, because you can't go wrong with him. He's traditional enough for the older folk, but new enough for the younger ones. The playlist we narrowed it down to would have took 7 hours to get through, so we didn't get to hear it all. Maybe next time.

There's Jeff working the playlist. Not sure if he was actually working on songs, or playing Spider Solataire. LOL!

Even Drew got in on the dancing! I think he's the cutest thing with his boots and wranglers on, but what happened to his shirt?

40 Years of wedded bliss for Don and Linda (Jeff's parents)

Ch'ree stealing a dance with Granddaddy

I know Jeff's mother took many pictures with her camera, and if I had some of those, I might be in one or two. But I don't, so you won't see me. haha!! Maybe if she sends me one or two, I MAY post them.

If I had to take a guess, about 150 people came for the festivities. I don't think Floyd has that many people, so a few probably came from town that had ties to the community (family or school). It was alot of fun, at least for our family. We didn't come home til 1am. Hopefully next year we can do it again!

Happy 4th of July!!

Today will be a busy day as we enjoy the birthday of our nation.

To celebrate the event, our volunteer fire department and Lion's club (both of which Jeff is a member of) have planned what I hope will be a great annual tradition.

At 5, the fire department will be grilling hot dogs and hamburgers the community. At 6, there will be games and home made ice cream under the big tree behind the school. Also games (I glimpsed a dunking booth last night, heard tales of tug o war and three legged race, not sure what else there will be). 9pm on the football field there will be fireworks. And after that, Jeff has rigged up a playlist on his laptop and is going to hook it all up to some amps or speakers or something and having a dance in the fire station.

It's going to be a fun evening! I hope everyone out there reading this has an equally enjoyable one and remembering what this holiday is all about.