Spanish Competition at BYU

JJ and Emma have been working their little behinds off the past couple of months getting ready for their competition at BYU.  

They have studied,

They have memeriozed

They have helped each other because Jeron and I can't.

They have missed out on fun.

They have cried a little.

They have been Nervous.

all for TODAY!

We woke up at 5:30 (5:10 for me)

They ate a good breakfast.

They strESSED.

They boarded the bus at 6:25

We all arrived at BYU at 8:30.

If you look closely at this group they are all very nervous.

The pressure was on because their school has taken 1st place the last 3 years.

These kids knew this and didn't want to be the reason for anything less.

Can we say PRESSURE.

Well, shucks that is one handsome boy.

Beautiful but tired little lady

After running all over the campus we finally saw JJ do his 4 page power point presentation on Thomas Jefferson.  He ROCKED it.  I know I don't speak Spanish but my brother David does and he was there.  He was rather impressed with all of our kids.
He had confiendce, took charge of the room, ran his own presentation, and spoke loud and clear.
He did AWESOME!!

So I was surprised to see his face when we walked out.  He was clearly disappointed.  He had only received an Excellent on his presentation instead of a Superior.  He was superior, but he was timed and was not told he would be.  So he had to end his presentation early.  This really disappointed him.  The funny part was he had me entertained enough that even though it was in Spanish he still captivated me. 

In my book he was SUPERIOR!

Next up was Miss Emma.  After running back to her building the seven of us Mama, Grandma, Uncle David, Ellie, Elsie, Jeron and I barley made it for her play.  She had EVERY single part in the play memorized.  Not surprising really, since she had a good portion of JJ's presentation memorized.  Now, you are wondering how I know she had it all memorized.  Because she mouthed everybody's parts  while they did theirs.  Hehehe

Their play was darling and if you looked over at the judges they thought so as well.  they couldn't help but smile and giggle on the funny parts.  It was fun to see the awe in their eyes.  These kids know their Spanish. Emma played a Gato (Cat) was very convincing.  Her Nana would be so proud. 

See her in character.  Darling little kitty.  She did great at speaking out loud, and convincing me that she was a cat. 

All I know is even though both of the kids only got Excellent (which, who says "only" and excellent in the same sentence) We think they did superior.  

At the end of the day it was time for the closing ceremony where they handed out the awards.  I was extremely nervous for all of the kids from our school.  I knew they were all feeling the pressure.  They made the 3rd place announcement and it wasn't us...phew

2nd place announcement was US!  I was a little bummed for our kids but so proud of 2nd.

Then when I saw the kids that were the 1st place team I about died.  They were all Latino.  

Our kids got beaten by a group of Latino children where Spanish is probably spoken in their homes. 

Needless to say I didn't feel to bad about our 2nd place anymore.  

Jeron and I are both so proud of JJ and Emma.  They really worked hard, and applied themselves.  No matter what place they got they were able to really focus on their Spanish this year and gained a better understanding of the language.  So in our book, they won. 

Thank you Mama, Grandma, and David for making the trek down south.

On a side note, JJ made the statement I really like the BYU campus (questioning look over at his mother). Followed by an explanation.  I just liked that there was prophets on each building and a lot of scriptures on the the walls... that's all.  Funny, that he was so nervous to say that to me.  I could see Jeron swell with pride.