Mr Irish

I just got to witness some of the kids I have coached since they first entered high school come full bloom. Watching them grow has been a huge blessing and it's no understatement when I say they are one of the biggest parts of who I am today. They are my heros. They have pulled me through some incredibly hard times and some amazingly joyous times.

Three of the boys (the three that ran with me in the Turkey Stuffer!) got chosen to participate in the annual senior boys pageant, Mr. Irish. It's a fundraiser for the Children's Miracle Network, so they spend 3 months doing fundraisers and raising money up until today, the pageant, where they stand on stage, do some dances, show off their talent, thank their mothers, and answer some questions. At the end of the night there are ten winners with one crowned Mr. Irish. None of my boys got that title, but holy moly, how many times can you try to make a girl cry. I'm so proud of those boys and the people they've grown up to be.

Justin

Caleb

Todd

Also, there has to be other people who run the whole show, because let's be honest, 10 boys trying to do everything themselves.... That's why they have coordinators and head coordinators, the senior girls. And one of favorite girls that I have coached was the co-head coordinator. She's come a long way and blossomed into something truly incredible. She is a true inspiration.

Taylor

Everything Closes at 5

Saturday, beautiful skies, clouds rolling in, what to do? Adventure to the Oregon Coast! There were 5 of us who wanted to hang out so we met at neutral place and thought long and hard about what to do. I threw out going to the Newport Aquarium thinking it was a long shot, but everyone liked the idea! So we jumped in the car and Kelli, Emily, Winston, Jimmy and I were on our way!!! We left probably around 2:45 pm with no care or worry about time or anything else. So we headed to Florence and up to Newport. Beautiful drive with great company and music! We finally showed up at the aquarium right around 5:05.... turns out as we're walking in there's a big sign saying it closes at 5. Fail.

While we stood together in group pity we heard loud cheering and screaming, so of course we gravitated towards the joyous sounds to see big white tents, police men on horses, and lots of people. We met a drunk guy who filled us in that is was the Annual Wine and Seafood Festival! Alright, next adventure. We go to join the party only to find out they close the party at 5. Fail.

So we move on to go to dinner at Moe's in Florence. We get in the car and pull out of the parking lot and all of a sudden police lights behind us. Fail. The cop was awesome though. Winston was driving and the cop says to him that he pulled him over becasue he failed to completely stop at the stop sign, "actually you failed real good, you didn't even stop at all", so funny! Winston had no idea about the stop sign and Kelli filled the cop in about our trip thus far and Emily and I talked to him about his gun. He left us with a verbal warning and left us to continue on our adventure with another story under the belt.

We're heading back to Florence as the sun is setting, so we pull over and go play on the beach, take jumping pictures and enjoy the very little sunset between the clouds. So fun.

We continue. We make it now to Devil's Churn, the sun is down, and we watch the waves crash into the rocks for a few minutes and take some pictures.

Finally, food. We make it to Moes, eat sooo many crackers and Kelli and I enjoyed the grilled cheese while the others didn't so much enjoy the clam chowder. After a long day of great adventures we headed home and had great conversation that pried into our lives and got to know each other a little bit better. And Kelli fell asleep.

She walks like a chihuahua.

So I have been home from Southern California now for about 5 days, and it feels as if I never even went, or if I did it was months ago. I'm not okay with that. Clearly that just means my trip was not long enough...

I just wanted to give a few highlights of the trip:

1) The sun and sunsets.

2) My cousin, Breianne, and I went to the San Diego Zoo. Best animals: baby panda and sun bear!

3) We went to the Wild Animal Park (we like animals...) Best animal: 10 day old Elephant!!

5) Shopping, eating and watching the Olympics everyday with Brieanne.

6) I don't have a picture of it, but the best fruit pie ever that my Aunt Barbara made as my last sweet until my birthday (June 3rd)!

All together, I love my family, I love Carlsbad as my home, and my Grandma is by far one of the strongest people I know and is continually in my prayers.

My Second Home.

Airport Delay

Well, I'm on my way to visit my Grandmother in Carlsbad but first flight of the day was delayed and so I'm sitting in the airport in Eugene waiting. So why not blog? This one is dedicated to the I guess pretty cool roommates. We've had some pretty great times together lately and I just had to share. I couldn't really ask for 2 better roommates/friends.

We need to workout in the pool - so of course my roommate has a digital waterproof camera and working out turning into an underwater photo shoot.

Julie, Kelli, Me

Long story short, I was not really around for Julie's birthday in October, so I threw her another birthday full of mimosas, a great restaurant, blindfoldedness, and a basketball game. So fun!

Kelli, Julie, Me

The basketball game. A) Oregon woman won by 1 point!! B)Julie was chosen for the timeout basketball shooting (lay-up, free throw, and 3 pointer). Missed the 3 point but still got our whole section a coupon for a great restaurant. Go her!

Julie, Kelli, Me

Okay, so the one in the middle is not my roommate, but still a really great friend and teammate, but Julie was here as well. This was at the Riley's house, some great friends and mentors of ours, during the super bowl. Highlight was playing football during half time. Great friends, food and football - you can never go wrong with those 3!

Kelli, Emily, Me

This was actually on Valentines Day. Right after church we hit the matinee, only 5 dollars!! We went and saw the movie called Valentines Day. Online I had read terrible reviews, but I thought it was soo good, and everyone I have talked to thought the same thing.... so don't believe critics - Great movie and great cast!

Kelli, Me, Julie

This is missing one roommate (well technically 2...) because she was sicky but Julie and I headed to a place called the David Minor Theater. Awesome place! We went and saw The Hurt Locker. It's a small theater with a couple couches and they serve beer and food from a restaurant from across the street. So we each had a drink and shared a plate of spicing hot, but delicious french fries and watch a great (but kind of plotless) movie.

Julie and Me

So those are the adventures of my life within the past two weeks with a couple great people.

2 thumbs up.

Psalm 118

"This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it."

Pslam 118:24

One Day You Will

You feel like you're falling backwards

Like you're slippin' through the cracks

Like no one would even notice

If you left this town and never came back

You walk outside and all you see is rain

You look inside and all you feel is pain

And you can't see it now

But down the road the sun is shining

In every cloud there's a silver lining

Just keep holding on (just keep holding on)

And every heartache makes you stronger

But it won't be much longer

You'll find love, you'll find peace

And the you you're meant to be

I know right now that's not the way you feel

But one day you will

You wake up every morning and ask yourself

What am I dong here anyway

With the weight of disappointments

Whispering in your ear

You're just barely hanging by a thread

You wanna scream but you're down to your last breath

And you don't know it yet

But down the road the sun is shining

In every cloud there's a silver lining

Just keep holding on (just keep holding on)

And every heartache makes you stronger

But it won't be much longer

You'll find love, you'll find peace

And the you you're meant to be

I know right now that's not the way you feel

But one day you will

Find the strength to rise above

You will

Find just what you're made of, you're made of

-Lady Antebellum

This song has hit hard. I got to experience it driving down a back, windy highway with the stars out, windows down and heat on high. That day and yesterday were when I really understood what it was saying and how true it holds in my life - I just got my racing schedule yesterday for track.... I've been stuck in this state where I constantly felt like I was slipping through the cracks and no one would care or notice if I fell and quit everything I loved. And it's been that constant feeling for the past 4 years and put on high during this summer, but I think and pray that my day is coming. It's never felt to so real. To be loving everything I'm doing in life and to maybe have the chance to step on that line, on a track and believe that I can do well and to know that I deserve to do well.... it's been since high school since I raced like that. And 3 years since I've even raced on a track. "But one day you will, find the strength to rise above, you will, find just what you're made of, you're made of" - here's to that day.

Ed & Sue Slide Show

I was able to quickly put together a slide show for my father and Sue before the wedding! It's full of pictures before/growing up and a recent/together photos. It was played on repeat before the wedding for guests as the arrived. What a fun day!! So much more to stories and wedding photos to come!

Hiking.

Tuesday night my roommate Kelli and I took off right after work and headed to Spencer's Butte to get a little exercise before some friends came over for dinner. We made it to the top no problem, and enjoyed the beautiful view of Eugene at night. I have not seen that view for a long time, made me really appreciate where I live. We then of course had a photo shoot and headed down the Butte. There was a point half way down where the path folks and I naturally, with out thinking twice, took the path to the right and Kelli following closely behind stopped me a few steps in and asked if that was the right way. I then realized I had no idea if it was, that I just started going that way. So Kelli read the sign and told me it's the other path we were supposed to take. So I listened to her and head down the new path. About a mile and a half down, we finally realized that we were not on the right path.... The one I choose was the one we were supposed to be on all along. So, embark hike number 2. After we made it to the split we ran down the Butte jumped in the car and made it home in perfect time for our friends to be there and a pizza just being pulled from the oven

Life is Full of Good Ideas

Christmas Cookies.

Just wanted to share some pictures from Christmas Eve at Sue's house. Probably some of my favorite cookies I've ever decorated. Get my father and I together and details become the most important part and each cookie takes about 5 minutes each. At one point Sue had about 15 cookies to my dad and mines 8. Great way to spend Christmas Eve.

The crew

My dad's favorites that he made.

My Favorite! (Sorry it's sideways)

The unpurposeful animals. I don't remember what the bottom left was supposed to be, but turned into a turtle, bottom right was supposed to be a sleigh, turned to a whale, top was supposed to be santa but turned a fish.

The total of the cookies.

What made your day so great?

I started the day on New Year's Eve with no concrete plans. All I wanted was to be in Carlsbad going to dinner with my cousins, taking a walk on the beach and then fast forwarding through Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Eve (with Ryan Seacrest) barely being able to make to midnight - I looked at plane tickets with no money in my pocket with hopes that there would be some sort of miraculous special to San Diego. No such luck. I then considered driving to Florence to at least get the beach part - too wet. What's a girl to do?

She is to live large with the blessings she's got here at home. I spent the early evening bowling with my mother, Jen, and church friends. That group of people have got some life in them. I had an incredible time. Didn't bowl too well, but still worth every minute. The best part however was after bowling, I went to the grocery store to buy some food for the next evening event and while checking out the cashier asked how my day was. I replied with great, a normal, don't think twice about it response. He then shoots back at me:

"Oh ya, what's made your day so great??"

Wait, what? That's not the way this goes. It's supposed to go, "How are you? Good. How are you? Good." And then on with your day. I was so surprised by his questioning that it made me really stop and think, has my day really been great so far? Do I have to tell him my day really hasn't been great and I just said that to avoid any further conversation with him? But to my wonderful luck my day had been great. It took me a few seconds to respond, but then I got to tell him, "I went bowling with my mother!" He was genuinely surprised, happy and I could tell, a little jealous, of what I got to do. It then lead to great discussion after that, I mean for as much time as you get in a grocery check out, but how often do you really ask details beyond the surface level "good"?

Shortly after that encounter, I went home, made some artichoke dip from scratch, shaved my legs, put on a party dress and went to a friends house for some good conversation, drinks, Rockin' New Year's Eve, and a snow ball dance!!

Great way to end the old year and bring in the new one. Who would have thought?

Rocked my World

I have never experienced Christmas lights like this before. Sure I have seen this stuff done on the internet and movies, but never in person, on a street in Eugene. I screamed like a little girl when I first saw and heard it happen. The music you hear is my radio. You set your radio to a certain station, and the lights are qued up for what ever is playing. It's an HOUR loop. I thought it was just going to be one song played over and over, but we stayed for a good 30 minutes and nothing ever repeated. Magic!! Sorry it's not very good quality, it's through my cell phone. I'll try to get a better one with my camera, because yes, I will be going again before Christmas.

And not only did we get to experience this little drop of heaven, but before while driving around looking at other lights, there was a santa walking around the neighborhood, and of course, we yelled with excitement. He came walking to our car and gave us two handfuls of candy canes!! Probably one of the best Christmas light extravaganzas I've ever had.

Lazy Day

This is what my Sunday consisted of:

-The Holiday

-27 Dresses

-Elf

-hour nap

-P.S. I Love You

-The Proposal

I've never been able to accomplished watching 5 movies in one day. Go me!

Help-Portrait

I just spent my morning being involved with this:

It was the most humbling and encouraging experience all in one. A photographer put something together where we went to a mission and set up for family and individual portraits. Then the photographers gift to these woman and children will be those pictures, any size any amount, all for free. My roommate Kelli and I got to man the hair and make-up. All the little girls want their hair curled, they were so cute. I can't even express to you how much of an impacted this made on everyone, including myself. To give you a little taste how huge this movement is and will be, one woman said, "this is an incredible opportunity, I haven't had my picture taken since 1986".

Look Both Ways.

Kelli and I were at the grocery store getting a birthday present for our friend. So excited for what we found, I was even more excited to get to him and present it! With that said, we were leaving the store and my mission was set: car, starbucks (where he works), present, joy; let's make it happen. I'm B-lining to the car with the gift in my head and all focus on that when I hear, "Uhhhhh.... CAR!". I can see in my peripheral a very large object coming around a corner right at me. I spin around as fast as possible and run into Kelli's arms with full knowledge that if she didn't say anything there would have been contact with me and this very large Lay's Potato Chip Truck.

Moral of the story: No matter how exciting the things in your hands are, or no matter how old you are, you should always look both ways!

Thanks Kelli.

Hard Work + Faith

= a lethal combination and incredible rewards.

Who can count the amount of times I have been injured or sick in the past 4 years? Who can count the amount of times that I have watched everything I dreamed of and work for slip away? Who can count the amount of people who have given up on me? I can't. It's too many to count. But I can be thankful for those times and people. Because with out them I wouldn't know the true meaning of working hard, I wouldn't know the true feeling of accomplishment. I still have so far to go, but all I needed was one glimpse of hope, one step forward, one look at what could be.

This Thursday, Thanksgiving morning, I saw that glimpse. My coach gave me the opportunity to run in the 27th Annual Turkey Stuffer 5K (3.1 miles). I am so lucky to have been given that opportunity because the week before I ran 0 miles. I spent my time in the pool aqua jogging due to a very painful shin. But with taking good care of it led to a couple days before the race my coach giving me the go-ahead.

So pumped. Here's my shot. After working and praying so hard, I've been given this chance.

Highlights of the race:

1) Ran 18:51 ... PRed racing in my first 5K back after 3 or so years! Good way to get back into it!

2) Was the 2nd overall girl! Got a ribbon!

3) First race EVER that I have beaten my father. He wasn't far behind though, so I have to stay on my game.

4) I had an incredible crew of a turkey, pilgrim and indian to help push me through the race.

5) Kelli, in her 2nd 5K ever, ran a 22:31 which is 2 minutes faster than the first!

6) It was just a really good day!

Before the race!

After the race, and we're still happy!

My boys that helped so much. Caleb, Todd, and Justin.

He was a good sport after getting beat :)

So, I'm back.

Running is good

God is great.