Hi everyone! 

I didn't realize it had been such a long time since I last wrote. I hope you liked the training video and I will try to get another one up very soon. Things have been very busy with school and gym. I did great this semester in school and the only B I got was in Biology. That class has been hard because of all of the labs.

I miss from being at camps and competitions. I really love high school though, especially the dances. I went to a Lakers basketball game with my dad and it was so much fun! I think my dad was a little embarrassed though. Even though I LOVE the Lakers, I felt really bad when Utah was getting booed so I started cheering for both teams. I guess this is not a good thing and Laker fans were giving us dirty looks. I saw my dad sink down in his chair and after the game we didn't get to hang out and get autographs.

I was supposed to go skiing this winter, but there wasn't very much snow so I went surfing instead. I got a new surfboard for Christmas and was excited to ride it. It was so much fun, but the water was so cold that my hands and lips turned blue. I think I will wait to go again until summer!

My 15th birthday is coming up soon. Wow, it feels weird to say that. I start driver 's Ed in a month. Right now I am not very excited to drive because the people in California are crazy drivers. What I really want for my birthday is to compete in the Pac Alliance. My dad just got back from being in Iraq for the last year and I really want him and all of my family in Hawaii to see me compete. I go to training camp on Wednesday and it is important that I do well so I can get invited back for the Pac Alliance camp! 

Every week at the gym I am changing passes and skills around. It 's been a little crazy but I feel very good where I am right now and my routines are almost where I want them. I think the hardest thing for me has been to increase my stamina so I can do all of the new tumbling passes. I was hoping to get a new floor routine, but I don 't know if there will be time. My old routine now has 4 tumbling passes and almost all of the same dance as before so I have no time to breathe. That was kind of my fault because when my coach told me he wanted all these passes, I said as long as I still have dance in my routine. To help with my stamina I started running at 5:00 in the morning during Christmas break. This lasted about two days after school started again :) Now I just do back to back routines at the gym. 

My tucked full is now on the high beam and I hope to have it in my routine by April. I can 't wait because then I can take out my side somi!! Bars are going well and I am still working my new dismount, but it will not be ready this year. I am almost to the next step of training it now so I am happy because I was getting a little impatient. Vault will be the only thing that I am not upgrading this year. I am working a new vault but like the Ma, it will take a while. I don 't want to say what it is, just incase it never becomes anything

I was allowed to design my leotards from scratch this year, not just the colors but the style too! I am so excited and I think Dreamlight ships them at the end of the month. That is the one good thing about being the only Elite at my gym, I get to pick out my own leos. I will put pictures up when I get them.

A new magazine called Back flip magazine asked me to do an interview and it will be coming out in their second issue in a month or so. It was really exciting because I have never been interviewed by a magazine or newspaper (besides my school) before. Thank you so much for all of the letters and e-mails!! I know sometimes it takes me a while to write back and I am sorry. I love to read them and I promise I do write everyone back :)

Aloha,
Tessa

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