Last night Kendrie had the opportunity to be a Courtside Kid for the Utah Jazz. A few weeks ago Jim had taken Kortlan in to get his hair cut at Supercuts and entered both their names in a drawing. We got a call last Friday letting us know that Kendrie's name had been drawn. I had let the phone go to voicemail because I didn't recognize the number. Kendrie started screaming and ran in to me bounding off the ground like it was a trampoline. "MOMMY, MOMMY, MOMMY!!" It took her almost 2 minutes to calm down enough to tell me what was going on. She then proceeded to camp out at the garage door waiting for Jim to come home from work. When I walked by her, she would throw out her warning "Don't say anything to Dad, I want to tell him" I think I was told this 5 times before he finally came through the door.
Yesterday morning she was up at 6:30 wanting me to do her hair for the game :
We took care of it when she got home from school...
They took us to the floor when they finally remembered that we were there waiting....her excitement was uncontainable. :) I really enjoyed seeing her have this experience. It was definitely a mix of being overly hyper excited and scared to death at the same time.
After a short wait on the floor they took us back to the locker room where she got her picture taken with Mehmet Okur...or Memo, you know, 'cause we're tight like that now. LOL!
On our way back to the floor we also were able to get a quick shot with Kosta Koufos. Man, he's tall! Well, they all are....she looks so tiny next to them. 
Kendrie and the 2 other Courtside Kids recorded a 30 second blip that was to be on the big screen during the game. All three of them just stood there and the "director" behind the camera was having to tell them to "look excited to be here" "cheer for the Jazz" "Go Jazz". It was easier for me to help tell her what to do, with me being behind the camera...but....
I soon learned that when the camera's on...the mind goes blank. Lucky me. They asked me to "model" the "Item of the Week" for a 20 sec. appearance on the big screen during the game. A hat. That I didn't get to keep, mind you. Nor did they let me have my picture taken with Korver...I just don't understand that. Models don't work for free. Seriously. ;) 
After the team came out to do their warm ups, the kids stood under the basket and rebounded the balls that came their way. Kendrie was pretty quick at this and passed the ball back to the players about 10 times. She was loving it! 
Getting ready for the announcing of the team. All the players, except the starting 5, came out on the floor and made a "tunnel". Kendrie got to shake hands with Deron Williams. I was a little slow on the camera draw...so I missed the hand shake :( and it's a bit blurry. I should have just glued the thing to my face. 
The music is loud. Bear raises the flag and crowd goes wild! The sound is amazing from the floor. You can actually "feel" the excitement and anticipation. 
Kendrie's favorite player has always been Boozer...this moment was huge for her.
Can you just imagine what was going through her head in this picture? "Wow, you are really tall" or "Wow, you are really tall" :) 
After the team introduction and the national anthem was sung, we were shooed off the floor and banned to our upper bowl seats. This is the view we had from our seats. Can't complain though, they were free :D And after the view we got prior to this one, we were pretty dang lucky.
Look, mom, I'm on the big screen!
Not that I can do this, mind you, but there are a few girls down there that could use some flexibility training. Except the blond on the end of middle row. Ouch! She's got Barbie legs.
We were really hoping Bear didn't slip.....
oh. um. well, look mom, I'm on the big screen, too. (yikes!)
Right before half time we decided that we needed to get going....it being a school night and all. So we headed down stairs and walked around a bit waiting for our ride to come pick us up. (Thank you Kourtney for your help!) We walked by the news set up for the Channel 14 KJZZ and I stopped to point out Thurl Bailey to Kendrie. I had met him at a Breast Cancer function in October. He saw me "pointing" to him ( I know, it's rude to point) but this time it was good that I did. He waved us onto the set and shook our hands and talked to Kendrie about being the Courtside Kid and then signed her shirt and let me take pictures. Very cool! 
We both came home very happy, tired, exhausted and couldn't wait for me to get the pictures off the camera and edited. :)
Our half time entertainment...The Russian Bar
She proceeded to land back on this bar without so much as a wobble. Very impressive. 
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