Arden's First Gymnastics Meet!

Arden finally had her very first official gymnastics meet a couple of weekends ago.  She was so excited to wear her competition leo!  

(She better be!  That leotard is more expensive than any piece of clothing I have ever owned.  She looks great though, doesn't she?)

I was also in charge of hair.  There are lots of hair rules, apparently.  They can even get deductions if their hair gets in the way of their gymnastic-ing.  So, I felt a little pressure!  Arden doesn't usually like to have elaborate hairstyles, but she was willing to hold still today.  I used tons of gel and hairspray and the official team scrunchie-thing.  See?

We drove down to Lehi and found ourselves a seat.  First, all of the different teams warmed up.  All of the other teams had about 20 Level 3 girls, while Arden's gym has only 5.  I didn't know we were such a small gym!  Oh well, more individual attention, right?  We'll see I guess.

Arden's first even was the bars.  I could tell from clear across the gym that she was really nervous. She had a mistake right off the bat.  She didn't fall off though, and held it together and finished strong.  I was worried after that, especially since....next was beam!  

Beam is the most nerve wracking for Arden (and for me!).  Arden had told me she was going to fall off the beam four times.  I told her I didn't mind if she did and I would still cheer.  However, she did not fall off four times!  She did awesome, and didn't fall off once!  See?

After that was her floor routine.  Every girl does the same routine at this level..and they all use the same horrible...um...beautiful song (you can hear some of it in the video above).  There were about 100 girls there, sooo...yup, we got to hear the song a LOT.

Arden did super great, but unfortunately most of her routine was kind of obscured by a bunch of girls (and their super tall coach) who were warming up for vault.  So, I'll spare you the video.

After floor, it was Arden's team's turn for vault...after some sitting and waiting.  At least I got Arden to smile for me while she waited:

The vault went pretty good too for Arden and her team.  I had been watching her scores, but I didn't really know if they were good or not, since this was our very first rodeo.

After all the teams had finished all four events, it was time to hand out the awards.  They divided the girls up into age groups and then gave out awards for each event.  Bars were first:  Arden placed 4th on bars for her age group!  I was pretty surprised since she had a mistake in her routine.  We clapped and cheered as she accepted her 4th place ribbon.

Next, they announced the winners for beam.  They started at the bottom (8th place, then 7th, etc.), and Arden's name wasn't being called.  Oh well, I thought, it is only her first meet.  But then, when they announced first place for beam...it was Arden!  She got to stand on top of the podium!  We clapped and cheered even louder as she accepted her first place medal.

Next, awards for floor.  Guess what!?  Arden placed FIRST in that too!  Another medal and lots more cheers and claps!

Vault - Arden got second!  More cheers and claps and another ribbon for Arden.

Finally, they announced the all-around winner.  Guess who?

Yup, that's my baby up there!  Three medals around her neck!  And I helped!  I did the hair, don't forget.  :)  She was so excited, and was walking on air the rest of the week.

Congratulations Arden!  I can't wait until the next meet!