Latest Gymnastics Happenings

An update on all things gymnastics ... 

• Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastic Champions

I've been so busy lately that I never did a blog about the Kellogg's Tour and meeting my amazing gymnasts :) The whole time in Minnesota was really fun! In addition to going to the show, we also went to the Mall of America -- which is seriously just FABULOUS. I'm fairly certain that I could spend an entire week inside that mall. Legit. 

I got Platinum VIP tickets so we got to attend Chalk Talk before the show, which was a Q&A with some of the gymnasts. Aly and Alicia were both there and they are seriously both so hilarious, I loved their answers for everything. They asked Aly what her favorite country was that she's ever traveled to and she said London, then corrected herself after the other gymnasts started laughing. It was so cute. We had front row, right in front of beam, and I've known from attending other gymnastic meets that in gymnastics, pretty much any seat in the lower level is good. Our seats were AMAZING though. We got to see the gymnasts like walking in for their performances when they were up next and have little conversations with each other while they were waiting. It was so cute.

Aly answering questions during Chalk Talk.

Aly and Alicia! Alicia and her facial expressions, LOL.

The show itself was AWESOME. I loved all of the music they used and they did water down the routines a BIT but it was still lots of skills and also the artistic dances and stuff (especially with Nastia) were totally beautiful!!

They first did a group dance in which introductions were done for all of the cast. Each of the cast was on a different apparatus or on the floor dancing.

Nastia during introductions.

Chellsie Memmel is introduced.

After the opening number, the girls performed to Run the World (Girls) and after that the guys performed to Sexy and I Know It. I loved both the performances!

At different points during the show Jordyn, Aly, and Gabby all did modified versions of their London floor exercise routines.

Party Rockin' ;)

Becca, Jordyn, Aly, and Julie waiting to go.

Jordyn :)

Jordyn and Gabby

Okay so sorry for the absolute madness of pictures that is going to occur here, but the beam routine was hands down my favorite part of the entire show!!!! It was GORGEOUS, and I can't remember what music they performed to now, but it was perfect.

The whole show was great and I'm so glad that I decided to go. Afterwards, we attended the meet and greet and I had all the girls sign my program. We weren't allowed to take pictures with them, so Donaldo took pictures of me talking to each of them. We did get to talk to them though, so that was so fun!! McKayla was actually my favorite that I got to talk to! She was so so nice and she talked to me the longest and was asking me questions about myself. She was the first one I met and I seriously love that girl, and I wish her so much success with everything. I also got to talk to Nastia and she is just SO SWEET in person and she is so gorgeous!! Jordyn was fun, I told her that Donaldo (my husband) only wanted her autograph and no one else's and she was laughing with us about it. She also signed these gold medals that we got for getting the Platinum tickets. Then we also got to talk to Aly and with Gabby we were kind of rushed because she was the last person. But I had the most amazing time and I'm so happy that I decided to get the tickets!

• Elise Ray and Shawn Johnson autographs

At the end of the summer, a gymnastics blog and Twitter that I follow Triple Twist/@TripleTwistBlog said that they were having a contest for their one year anniversary (which was in November). To enter, you answered I believe it was 5 questions and then in November they said they were going to pick a winner and the prize was an Elise Ray autograph!! Elise Ray means SO MUCH TO ME, like I think you all know that by now. She is seriously the reason that I fell in love with gymnastics 12 years ago, one of my favorite gymnasts, and she has personally emailed me about a blog I did about her. So I entered and I was just praying that I'd win and on November 17th the girls who run the blog tweeted that I was the winner! I am so so grateful to them, it came in the mail the other day and I absolutely love it! THANK YOU AGAIN GIRLS<3

In June, I renewed my subscription to Inside Gymnastics most especially because they said with a 3 year renewal, you would get an autographed Shawn Johnson poster. This also just arrived within the last couple of weeks and I totally love it!!! I'm looking for frames for both of these autographs and I will most likely put them in my study.

• Dancing with the Stars All-Stars

I was so psyched that Shawn was invited to join the cast of DWTS-AS. Obviously she is my favorite winner of the show, considering that I don't watch the show regularly. I only watched Season 8, which is the year she was on and she and Mark Ballas won the show. 

The difference in Shawn between Season 8 and this season to me was like night and day. It made me SO PROUD to watch her this time around, I remember in Season 8 in the beginning it was all about her trying to find her place and learn how to do everything and this time around she was truly a veteran, giving some of the most stunning as well as the most beautiful performances I've ever seen! Her partner was Derek Hough, and I honestly love him just as much as I loved her with Mark. They were so adorable and both learned so much from each other, its so incredible to see. 

Jordyn, Aly, Gabby, McKayla, and Kyla performed with Shawn and Derek during the finale and I totally was dying. I didn't even know what to do. I love that they were there to help Shawn and to see them all together!!! It was the most amazing thing. I thought that they really deserved the win, but it was so amazing how even though they were runners-up they showed so much sportsmanship at the end and I'm so proud of them and know they really did deserve to win! 

I don't know where Shawn will go from here, but she is going to keep on doing amazing things, that is for sure! 

• Elizabeth Price wins the All-Around at the Stuttgart World Cup

The Stuttgart World Cup was held on Saturday, December 1. Elizabeth Price won the Individual AA with a score of 58.098. Elizabeth was an alternate on this summer's Olympic team after having a wonderful meet during Olympic Trials.

Elizabeth scored a 15.733 on Vault, 14.933 on Uneven Bars, 13.166 on Balance Beam, and 14.266 on Floor Exercise.

I was so happy to hear that she won her first international competition. I think she will definitely be one to watch in the new quad.