LA Roundup and a Championship!

When last I left you in Los Angeles, I had just tended my grandson for the evening. How lovely is it to take a trip far from home and have it be in a place where your married children can come see you?
After Diana, Nick, and Lucas went back to San Diego I spent the next few days at the swim meet with my husband. One afternoon I sat and took splits for him as his distance swimmers raced in the 1650 Freestyle. That's 1,650 yards folks. These kids are hard core! They swam it in an average of 15 minutes. I was in awe.

 One morning I read by the pool some more and sunned my poor white legs. By the week's end they were a rosier shade of white!

 

 We had a lovely lunch one day out on the back patio and watched the golfers go by.

 Coach Dee was naughty and fed the squirrels!

Then it was back to the pool every evening for finals. I was so proud of our BYU kids. The sportsmanship, team spirit, dignity, and modesty shown by them was so good to see! On the last night Diana & Nick came back up to  LA to watch finals. Lucas was a riot! We taught him how to cheer the swimmers on just like his Pa does! Fluttering arms means kick harder!

 Then Lucas wandered down the observation deck and flirted with some 

cute UC Santa Barbara blondes. They let him wear their Gauchos hat!

 

I borrowed this photo from Haley Bertoldo on Facebook.

It shows the many styles of coaching a swimmer on to go faster! From left, John and Yolanda do the flutter your arms (kick harder) move, while Tamber, Sherry, and Dee point and lean forward as if by doing so the athlete will be magically propelled onward. I asked Coach Dee once if the kids can actually see their coaches jerking and undulating on the sidelines

 and he said, having been a former swimmer himself, "Yes!"

There is always a break between the evenings' main events and the final relays so that the relays can warm up. sometimes coaches get a little giddy after a week long meet and let their guard down a bit!

 That's our little Cougar in his Gaucho hat. Good thing Pa was busy coaching and didn't see!

 There's always time for a Gramma/Lucas selfie!

 Here are the final scores before the last relays were added in. The places stayed the same though.
Our Cougars Men won the MPSF Championship!

 Our Lady Cougars took third! (We are not sure if the grandson wearing 

the Santa Barbara hat made a difference here!)

 Here are our Seniors being recognized.

It's always sad each season when we get to the last meet and we have to say goodbye to the Seniors who have worked so hard. The coaches really come to love them.

 

It's tradition for the winning team to leap into the pool after being receiving their trophy, and to pull their coaches in as well! Dee is so superstitious about this. He will not bring the extra clothes into the pool area until all is said and done. They have to stay locked up in the trunk of the car. It's a sad, soggy coach who forgets a change of clothing and has to ride back to the hotel all wet. Someone forgot dry underwear this year. I won't say who, but it wasn't Coach Dee this time!

There's my Sweetie on the far left.

The next morning we were up before the sun to get to the Long Beach Airport. After a 90 minute fight we were back in chilly Utah! At least this year we didn't come home to a fresh foot of new snow! I am looking forward to next year.It should be a good one!