Austin was celebrated in many ways over the last week, including his 17th birthday.
First, two days before he went to compete in the track and field State competition, he learned that he made it into the Symphony orchestra. He worked really hard to record the piece on the cello he was required to play. I was glad his hard work paid off.
His experience at States was awesome. He went up the day before with the 3 other guys who were to compete in the long jump, the high jump, and the pole vault. They rode a fancy limo bus with the girls' team. They had a nice dinner and bonding time with their coach and each other.
When Jason, Victoria, and I arrived the next morning around 11, Austin was the only one in the breakfast area, enjoying his huge breakfast, his pre-meet meal. His teammates were already preparing to compete in their events, but his event is always the 2nd to last.
King Austin!
State Shirt for the 4 Salem guys. It was so fun to watch his teammates in their jumping competitions.
He didn't compete as well as he was hoping. I was worried that maybe he didn't sleep well enough at the hotel, or maybe his breakfast was a little too late. His coach ended up saying that since he was injured half the season, his body wasn't prepared enough for the competition, even though he did so well at Regionals. That was the only time he ran the 3200 all season. He just didn't get enough training time. Not like getting 33rd in the State in the 3200 is a bad thing, on the contrary!! We're super proud and happy for all the effort he put into it.
We celebrated him for his birthday on Monday with a dinner at Big Moe's Kitchen. They serve Afrikanse/Mediterranean food. It's very delicious! He opened gifts, and we enjoyed vanilla cake with cream cheese frosting later on. The best part about his birthday, I'm sure, was that a lot of the school year pressure was off his shoulders. At least that's what I enjoyed the most!
Big Moe's Kitchen.
New ear buds.
BYU tie.
Favorite candy from Erik.
Clothes from Kade and Victoria.
Star Wars cake. I made it this time since Kade wasn't feeling well. Looks like I missed a spot for frosting...
I recorded him playing his piano recital song at home on his birthday, too. Benny and the Jets is a fun song, so it worked well to have him play it for us. His recital was the night before States, so since he was already at the school where the competition was going to be for pre-meet things, he couldn't make the recital. I felt bad and wished he could have gone. He accompanied the music at the seminary graduation on Sunday, so his teacher counted that as his performance.
His track banquet was Thursday, and unsurprisingly, he got the event leader for the 1600 and 3200 for the Juniors and the Rockstar award for those for all the grades. He has the 9th-fastest 1600 in school history with a 4:27 and the 3rd-fastest 3200 in school history with a 9:28. The school was established in 1971. He will be on the school's leaderboard now.
Receiving his award.
The Juniors.
Besties
Fancy shirt friends
Our team manager, Silas, who is also in our ward and graduating.
Coach JG, who just reached out to Erik, excited to coach him as well this next year.
Austin sent me this that Silas got of Coach with Austin after his race at Regionals. Love this!!
He also sent me this. Tuff! (that's the hip way to spell tough, now, btw)
His awards.
Phew- what a birthday week! Happy 17th Birthday, Austin!
