Kailea Playing in Montana State Volleyball Tournament

The second weekend in November, we flew up to Montana to watch Chelsea's younger sister, Kailea, play in the Montana State Volleyball Tournament.  Kailea, a senior at Glacier High School in Kalispell, was the starting Libero (plays backrow only as a defensive specialist) for her team.

Chelsea found a really good deal on tickets ($270 round trip!) to Montana and convinced Jon that they should go.  Chelsea had never seen Kailea play in a varsity volleyball match in her high school career because Chelsea has always been busy with volleyball herself either at Concordia or at Raymond Central.

We didn't tell anyone we were coming up to Montana except Chelsea's parents, so it was extra special to not only surprise Kailea, but also to surprise Grandma and Grandpa Reiner and Heidea.  G&G Reiner were down in Nebraska visiting 5 weeks before so it was great to see them again.  Heidea, who had just been down in Nebraska at our house four days before, was especially overwhelmed when she saw Chelsea again.  :)  She had been pretty emotional when they had to leave to go back to Montana and it was really hard for us to NOT tell her, "It will be okay, we'll see you on Thursday!"

We flew into Billings and Amy, Jon's brother's wife and our closest sister-in-law in age who is married to Jason and mother of Jaden and Cody, (IS THAT ENOUGH CLARIFICATION??? :) haha  

Anyway, Amy picked us up from the Billings airport and it was nice to go over to their house for lunch.  All four of us commented that it would be awesome to be able to have lunch together whenever we wanted during the week!

After playing with the nephews and catching up with Jason and Amy, we borrowed their smaller car to drive 2 hours to Bozeman where the tournament was being held at Montana State University.

The ground looked a little different than Nebraska's.... :)

Some of the gang before the first match began.
Front Row (L to R): Grandpa and Grandma Reiner, Chelsea
Back Row: Reggie Blunk, Mom and Dad Vaudt

Jon and Heidea.  She was so excited!

Ready to cheer on the Wolfpack.

Kailea warming up.  She is in the back row, closest to the rail.

Kailea with the ace!

The other team called a timeout after Kailea's ace.

Back to serve.

Kailea is in the white jersey.

Reggie and Grandpa after the game.

Heidea was so happy to spend more time with Chelsea.

Playing Wizard with the group at our hotel.

Kailea was so happy to have her oldest sister
there to support her at state.

Sister Shot.

Our trip to Bozeman was really fun and it was great to watch Kailea play in three games.  Glacier won their first match, and then lost the next two in the double elimination tourney.  Kailea earned 1st Team All-Conference and Honorable Mention All-State.  In the State Tournament, Kailea led Glacier in digs in all three matches with 9 against Bozeman, 19 against Flathead and 16 against Helena Capital.  Thanks for some great memories and great job Kailea!  We love you all and can't wait to see you again soon!