It's the end of the road!

What an amazing senior year of cheer! I am so glad to have ended on this note. As many of you know, we made it to nationals this year! We got to travel to California and spend three days at Disneyland. It was SO much fun.

State 2011

Stunting in front of the castle

stuck on the Matterhorn. Thank goodness for firefighters!

LJ's!

One of my FAVORITE rides :) Again, LJ's!

National's 2011

My "sisters from another mister". And Travis of course :)

My years of high school cheer have now subsided. It's bittersweet. I love all the great friends I have made in cheer. They are like sisters to me and I will miss them all greatly. I realize that cheer is not a "sport" in which you score more points in order to beat your opponents (even though technically, when we aren't cheering for other people and we are competing, it is the exact same thing as what you people call "a sport"). However, cheer takes SO much time and dedication. Three hours of the day, five days a week, ten months a year. It requires trust and love for one another, teamwork, and unity. Unlike other sports, if we don't have one girl, our family is incomplete. Without ONE girl, our pyramid is missing vital support. Cheer requires patience to deal with the drama of 30 teenage girls, with the same menstrual cycle. It requires strength. Physical strength, because while you all lift weights, we lift people. Mental strength, because even when the world stereotypes us as "dumb", "stuck up" and "skanky" we have to overcome the world, and be good role models to represent our school.

You might play four quarters of a football game, but you forget who is there on the sidelines cheering those four quarters, with the addition of a halftime AND timeouts. You might be playing the most intense basketball game of your life, but you forget who is cheering for BOTH boys and girls basketball that night. We cheer for you, we bake cookies for you, we bring you notes of encouragement on your "big game day", we support you. ALL of you. But if only people realized how much effort we truly put in.

And as I rolled up the blue cheer mats for the last time, I let out a big sigh of relief. I made it. Four years of cheer, all coming to an end. I am so grateful for the amazing people I have been able to meet and become close with. Thank you guys for the best ride of my life :) I love you all

My coaches,

my teammates,

my sisters.