"More Bassaball!"

The Friday before Christmas, (December 22) I had the wonderful opportunity of playing in an alumni basketball game at my old high school in Carstairs. They have an alumni game every year (alumni vs. the current senior high basketball team), but I haven't played for quite a few years, as I assumed that they only wanted younger, fresher players who have been out of school less than 5 years or so. My younger sister Kelly let me know the good news - anyone who wants to play can play! I was so excited to hear that, because my youngest sister, Kimberly is still in high school, so we would be playing against her. All of my other sisters played basketball in high school, but only Kristie, Kelly and I ended up playing, as Amanda couldn't make it out that day and Jodie wasn't feeling well. Boy, was that ever a fun game! One of my best friends from high school, Corrie, also played on the team, along with a few younger girls. I am definitely out of shape, but I played a lot harder than I thought I would be able to. I wasn't nearly as sore the next few days as I should have been - judging on how much my body hurt right after the game. Mike and Emma were there watching of course, and they had a great time, too. Especially Emma - she LOVES "bassaball". My Mom and Dad were there too, along with Jodie's husband Aaron and their two kids, and all of Kristie's kids. Kelly's boyfriend Dan Glenn came too, so we had a decent cheering section. I'm pretty sure the alumni won the first game, but then we split the teams into Olsens and Leavitts, and the Leavitts ended up kicking our butts in the second game.

Mike, Emma and I also had the opportunity to watch a boys high school basketball game this past Friday night with Heather, Tyler and Lucy. Tyler's cousin's team was up from Raymond to play in a tournament at St. Francis High School. It was an intense game. The score was pretty close the whole time and Raymond ended up beating Strathcona by 2 points, after being behind nearly the whole second half. I think Emma had the most fun out of all of us though. She was watching the game almost the whole time, and when they stopped for time-outs, she would yell, "More bassaball, more bassaball!" and wave her little hand in the air. Mike and I got a pretty good laugh. After the game we went down onto the court so Emma could run around with a basketball, and naturally she wanted to stay there all night. Maybe someday I'll be playing her in the Carstairs alumni basketball game.