Racquetball armor!

So I am obsessed. It's true. But recently I had a lot of fun planning the first annual ISU Bengal Blast! We had 44 people from Boise State, BYU, UVU, and even BYU-I. It was lots of fun. Here are the main members of our club. It has been such a fun year to play with and get to know all of them.



I also helped design our t-shirts and get our event all sponsored. The final t-shirts turned out awesome!



Also, I made a thank you/birthday present for my coach. She is amazing and has been so awesome to take the time to teach me more about the sport. She is even coming to nationals with me in 2 weeks. I am super excited. So here is the thank you solider I made for her. Now it may take some explaining. She talks to me a lot about the mental aspect of the game. One of her favorite things to talk about is armor. So I made her a little solider complete with armor to say thank you to her. It was a complicated task since the rubber in racquetballs is not very forgiving/pliable. But it was fun (I especially like his "sword" ie racquet). Here are some pictures of the finished product. And remember your armor everyday!

“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

“Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day. …

“Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

“And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

“Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

“And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” (Eph. 6:11–18.)

Old McDonald had a...

This was my fun day on the farm yesterday. My Bishop is a farmer out in Arbon (about 30 min from Pocatello). So I went and spent the day out there because I decided I am a farm girl at heart. It was pretty fun! I am so glad he let me come out and join my friend Jenn in the swather for a while.
It was so peaceful out there. I love being out in nature and Jenn and were making tons of analogies about how farming is like staying on the path or life is like having to call God (the farmer) when the tractor breaks. I really enjoyed it. It was a good way to get out of Pocatello for the day. So these first 3 pictures are on the combine and the last one if the swather (cutter, for those of you non-farmer folk) to cut the alfalfa.
Then my bishop took me out on the driller down a super steep hill. Like I had to hold on to the seat so that I didn't slide off it, that's how crazy steep it was. It was pretty darn cool. So I learned some fun things on the farm. Do I want to be a farmers wife? No. But would I love to spend more time on the farm? Yes.

School is for fools!

I realized that I basically have been in school basically my whole life. Well... since I was 4 and started pre-school. But I am not here to complain. I chose to go to grad school and quite frankly I enjoy gaining new knowledge. It is the stress of having to pass test that I just really do not enjoy. But that will come to an end. But I wanted to count my blessings as well. So these stats include high school but not before that.

Tests taken: 562
Tests failed: ? A few... I try to block those memories out.
Teachers: 145
Pages of notes taken: 3,050 (approximate because there is NO way I am going to count them).
Roommates (college): 31
Essays written: 254
GPA: 3.62
Credits taken: 408
Tuition paid: $49, 281
Textbooks: 189
Schools attended: 5
Intramural championships: 3

And I only have 2 years left right? So I am much more then half way done. Basically, I am trying to pump myself up for school starting again in a week. I can do this. Its nothing I haven't done before. I can do hard things!

30 day challenge - update

So here are some of my pictures so far. They are progressively getting more artistic I think. So this first one was the green things.


The next one is of the clouds.


This was something from a low perspective.


Something I wore that day. I love love love these shorts.




From a high perspective. This was a hike called Coral Creek here in Pocatello. Pokey is actually really pretty in the summer.

30 day challenge

So I have decided to take the 30 day challenge. If I can successfully do it and have fun with my little point and shoot then I am going to look more seriously into buying a nice camera like a Nikon 5100 perhaps or something of the sorts. So here is what I hope to accomplish. I put this up to help motivate me to do it. If YOU think I am doing it then maybe I will actually get out and take pictures like I want to. So here goes...

Birf-day

So my birthday was definitely a good day. It was also a fairly normal day. Got up, went to institute, went to school, came home. But then there was this:

My friend Jen made me this hamburger cake! It was so cool. It was made of funfetti and chocolate cake. I mean how can you go wrong with that? It had fruit rolls ups and a few other fun things to garnish it. It mostly made me feel special that someone cared enough to put time into something cool for me.
Then there is this next gem. So... our Elders Quorum always does cool things for birthdays. They know I am in the PT program so this is the card they came up with, to accentuate all of their (the Elders Quorum Presidency's best features for me. :) LOVE IT!

Other events of note for the day. Got to talk to family members including all siblings and Katie even called. It was nice to talk to everyone. Went to Texas Roadhouse with my girls from the PT program. LOVE THEM. At Texas Roadhouse I had to sit on the saddle and give the loudest YE-Haw that I could so that they'd give me my dessert. I am not bashful when it comes to ice cream and apparently neither is my inner fat kid. :)

Birthdays are a good time to feel loved. Also another friend in my ward brought me brownies and of course Hershey's syrup because he knows how much I love it. Overall, I have nothing to complain about. 26 has now officially begun.

Obsessed

Yup. I have a new obsession. Of course it has to do with sports. Actually, its a sport I have been playing on and off for years. I was never formally taught it, just kinda picked it up. I guess that's what you'd call athleticism. I don't know. But I am obsessed. Someone, a new favorite teacher of mine, got me connected with her friend who took a national collegiate title in this sport not once, but three times! She's a great teacher! Then today in the library, I was carrying to tool used to play this sport and a girl from Ecuador asked me if I was any good at said sport. Now thats a tricky answer because what if she sucks and I don't want to play her? So I said I was learning. She told me she played on the Ecuador national team for a few years. So shes a balla'! Yes. Because not many girls play said sport. Its kinda man dominated. But I can hang with them. So we played this afternoon and shes a champ. I won 1, she won 3! So I got someone to compete with. Yes!
And then theres this really cool lady who is teaching us. She knows exactly how to help me. She says I am too fast. Story of my life right? :) Well so we have been working on different aspects of the game and I LOVE it. Its competitive and there is so much strategy and angles and shots and I don't know why I've never pursed this before. Its becoming my obsession. I watch Youtube videos instead of doing homework. I even had a dream about it. There is a doubles tournie in March here in Pocatello of all places and the Ecuadorian and I might play together. So yes, I am willing to admit I have an obsession. But I can't get enough. Must. Play. Racquetball. Oh wait, I am in school? 20 credits you say? But there is always time for a little R&R. Rest and racquetball.