Wrestlemania

 Levi has been wanting to wrestle for as long as I can remember.  He has been actively asking when he gets to start wrestling since soccer ended this past fall.  I had been a little hesitant to dive in because I had heard that wrestling involved a big time commitment, and I didn't know if our family was quite ready for that.  Three weeks ago, he went to his first practice.  He was hooked.  He talked about it nonstop.  He wanted to practice the moves.  He wanted to go to more practice.  He wanted to wear a singlet.  The next weekend was his first tournament.

 Lucky for Isaac...and me, our cute friends and neighbors were there too, so he was entertained the whole time, and spoiled with treats.

 Levi was so proud to sport the Juab singlet.  He stripped his warm ups off before we even got into the school.  It was exciting to see all the Juab boys wrestle and cheer each other one.

 I was so scared to send Levi out there for his first match. I felt like I was tossing him to the wolves.  He had NEVER been in a wrestling match before, and I was seeing some of these kids on the mat in a lot of pain.  I told the dad of his first opponent that he didn't need to worry since this was not only Levi's first tournament, but his first match ever.

 Turns out he did need to worry.  Levi was AWESOME out there.  He was explosively aggressive and very confident.  He said, "You know when the match is over mom, and that guy raises my hand, I love that part."  Me too, buddy.

 Earning a First Place "real gold medal" was more than a dream come true.  We all heard about it for days and days.  He showed everyone that walked through our door.  You can imagine how much he wanted to go to wrestling practice after that.  He was an addict.

 The following weekend, we were off to the next tournament.  The officials moved Levi from the Preschool division to the Kindergarten division, so he was wrestling more experienced kids.  The matches were a lot tougher for him and he had to work really hard during all the rounds of each of his matches.  While his first tournament was a great confidence booster, his second one was an ideal learning experience.  He exploded in his first match and ended up pinning his opponent.  His second match was against an older, more experienced wrestler.  During the second round he did a choke hold on Levi and Levi got really scared.  He didn't give up, though.  He wrestled hard and stayed right with the kid.  He lost the match by three points.  Even after taking his first loss, he came back tough in his third match and pinned his opponent again.

 When it was time for awards, he was thrilled to have earned another medal.  He stood in second place proud as punch.

 He was quick to notice that even though it was second place, his new medal was a "real gold medal" too!

 Grandma and Grandpa Jones had to make some big arrangements to be able to join us, but we were so happy they were there.  Grandma kept Isaac entertained with Angry Birds.

 Love this shot of all the Juab boys together.  They are such good sports and really encourage each other.

 Afterward we went to my favorite drive-in to eat.  The boys designated a "Wrestlers Only" table.

 We were lucky that Grandma and Grandpa Dansie were there both cheering Levi on, and celebrating at lunch afterward.

We all agree that Levi is one tough cookie. 

Levi's next tournament is on Saturday...the same Saturday of General Conference.  I was talking to the kids about this potential conflict, and explaining that sometimes we have to make a choice between two good things.  I was shocked, pleasantly surprised, and even inspired by Levi's immediate response.  With as much as he loves wrestling...eating, sleeping, drinking, thinking, and always talking about wrestling, he immediately said, "We should watch Conference mom.  It's ok because I already have two golden medals."  We decided that if we were committed as a family, we could go to the tournament on Saturday, and then exchange story time for the following week for Conference time, and watch Conference as a family on the computer.  Levi decided that was a much better compromise than missing his last tournament.  I decided that his decisive commitment to make the best choice when we have to choose between two good choices is something I want to emulate.