Nationals 2009

Sorry...long post...lots of pictures...

We survived!! Remember the 4 babies that were all born within 15 days of each other? Well, those 4 babies just took their first vacation together. Last Tuesday night, Mandy, Briana and I loaded up the 3 babies in Briana's minivan and made the 14 hour trek to Lincoln, Nebraska to watch the Ute gymnastics team compete at the NCAA National Championships. It has become tradition each year for us to attend Nationals, so we couldn't possibly let the babies stop us this year! We chose to drive all night long so that the babies would sleep most of the way. We pulled into Lincoln Wednesday morning around 9:00 am. Luckily our hotel let us check in early so that we could relax and let the babies play. Thank god for Baby Einstein DVD's!! (Pardon my naked daughter...she was very hot. Who would have thought that Nebraska was so humid?)Later that night Wendy, Michelle and Michelle's baby met up with us at the hotel (they chose to fly to Nebraska). We went to an awesome restaurant called "The Steakhouse" (original, eh?) and I had a very amazing steak. I guess that is what is to be expected in Nebraska, right? We wanted to keep track of the comments we would receive over the weekend about our baby brigade, but after 4 comments in the first hour, we lost track. ;) This photo was not at The Steakhouse, but it was at another steakhouse...also fabulous steak!What a whirlwind next 3 days! Thursday was filled with 2 gymnastics meets. The Utes were in the evening session, and boy did they give us a scare. It has been such an awesome season for the Utes, but they almost didn't make it to the final super six competition. Only the top 3 teams from each qualification meet make it into the finals, and the Utes TIED with UCLA for the 3rd spot. We had to wait on pins and needles to find out how they broke a tie. It turns out that the NCAA counts each gymnasts score (instead of dropping one score on each event) and the Utes BARELY made it into the finals. Whew!! Here is one of the only pictures I have of all 9 of us, and Anna is very cranky. Briana hanging out with Anna.Friday's gymnastics meet was not until 6:00 pm, so we had some time to kill. We woke up that morning and took the babies swimming in the hotel pool. Here is Anna in her cute new swimsuit!Then we got ready (a 3 hour process when you have 4 7-month-old babies!!) and headed downtown for the Utes fan party. Oh my goodness...the fans LOVED these 4 babies! Now I know how the stars on the red carpet feel. We had about 35 people taking our picture. We didn't even have the babies' temporary tattoos on yet. I guess we were quite a site. The 4 of us each had a baby in a front carrier and a backpack serving as a diaper bag. We joked about telling people that we were sister wives... we are from Utah, you know. ;) The babies before the super six meet...decked out in red and tattooed with U's!! From left: Evelynn, Brylee, Anna and Zander.Friday night's meet was much better - on the gymnastics end. The scoring was another story. The Utes did an AWESOME job, but ended up placing 3rd. (Apparently you can get a Perfect 10 on a vault with a step...you just have to be a Georgia Gymdog named Courtney. Bitter?? No...) I couldn't be more proud to be a Ute fan. They did fantastic, and possess more class and good sportsmanship than any of the other SEC teams. Side note: All of the teams except Utah in the super six were from the SEC. They were all chanting "SEC...SEC...". So the Utah fans started chiming in with "Sugar Bowl...Sugar Bowl...". It was great!

Saturday we loaded the babies in their strollers and walked around an outdoor mall. Anna needed a harness...she only had a seatbelt and she kept leaning way over to get her toes and look at the ground. I kept thinking she was the next Trauma 1, but she survived unharmed. We then went to the last gymnastics meet and watched the individual event finals. Again, apparently your name has to be Courtney...but that is another story. Two words: She's done. Congratulations to Kristina Baskett, who placed 2nd all around and 3rd on beam, vault and bars! We will miss her!

We let the babies play and get some energy out Saturday night. Brylee is MIA in this picture - Michelle took Brylee and went to bed early since they had to fly out at the crack of dawn. **side note: a friend pointed out to me that Zander is grabbing Anna's chest and Evelynn's thigh. No wonder he has such a big smile on his face! We got some much needed rest Saturday night, but loaded up the van early Sunday morning and headed west. We were all dreading the drive home, as the babies would be more awake this time. I have to say that I was VERY impressed! They actually did great throughout the whole trip. They each had one day when they were a little cranky, but none of those days fell on the same day as another baby. We kept our sanity! Thanks so much to Wendy, who not only braved a trip with 4 moms and 4 babies, but was our extra hands time and time again throughout the weekend. Here she is holding Zander.The moms and babies - Anna and I...
Michelle and Brylee...
Briana and Zander...
and Mandy and Evelynn.
Another "paparazzi" moment as we left the restaurant...
People thought we were nuts to take the babies, but we had a great time! I would definitely do it again (as long as the babies were not mobile...next year I am NOT taking Anna)! Go Utes!!!