Sophomore Year Catch Up...

Adora, Me, & Kyrie - "a night out on the town"

We wish and we hope and we pray to grow up so fast, and suddenly when we have reached that point of expected exaltation, it's not everything that we previously had imagined. Sometimes, I wish I could crawl back into my little cave of dependency, but it is not to be. I am becoming an independent adult...and it is a long and difficult road. I think the destination will be worth it though, without a doubt.

This semester, this whole year, has flown by me and I have barely felt the tell-tell signs of its passing. I can hardly believe that I only have Little over a month and I will be back home in Idaho again for the summer. In all actuality, this may very well be my last summer that I am at home. I'll summarize the highlights of this semester....
When I came back after Christmas break, I jumped right into softball being my primary focus of physical and emotional commitment. I ran myself down into the ground so much so that my immune system was unable to remain strong. I came down with a very bad cold (which I fought for 1 & 1/2 weeks before I finally went to the doctor and received a z-pack for bronchitis) which lasted for two weeks.
I had a week of recovery before my team headed down to Clairmont, Florida for our week long spring break tournament. It was a good week of softball experiences with the team on and off the field. We ended 3:5 - not as well as we should've, but we learned a lot of things about what we needed to change and improve and keep doing in order to have a strong and successful season when we got back into our conference.

"11 of my softball teammates @ a Tigers' spring training game"

Jeni (who I affectionately refer to as Tigerlily) and I (who she affectionately refers to as Petunia) have become increasingly closer this year, as friends. We choose to spend time with each other rather than having to live with one another as compared to last year. She has pushed me and initiated grown within me and I can only hope that I have done the same for her. For softball we are weight lifting and conditioning partners - we have a membership at Planet Fitness - and we go twice a week. She helps me get through conditioning which I don't enjoy and I help her get through weightlifting which she doesn't much enjoy.
Anyhow, Jeni wanted to give up something for the 40 days of Lent and she asked me if I would join her, which I wholeheartedly agreed to. After consideration, we decided to give up makeup for 40 days. Neither of us felt great about it, but we knew that giving up our comfort of creating our face the way we would like each day, would be a great sacrifice. (This meant, no cover up, no foundation, no mascara, no eyeshadow...the only beauty products we are allowed to use are moisturizer and chapstick/lipgloss) The first two weeks were really difficult. Every morning I walked out of my dorm not feeling quite put together and complete for the day. I wanted to cover my break outs as soon as they happened. But now, we only have one week left of our 40 days, and I don't even give make up a second thought. When I am able to wear make up, I probably will, but not as much and not as often. It's been a good experience, I've grown comfortable with how I look just rolling out of bed. I am who I am and I look just how God created me, no changes necessary.
..... Hmmm, I'm coming home over Easter to be with my family (instead of my parents flying out to MI as we originally planned) which I'm very excited about. I need to come home and be surrounded by the people who mean the most to me in life. I miss my family.
P.S. Sorry this blog was long overdue, not very exciting, and pieced together...but most everything as happened quite a while ago...so I felt redundant writing this blog. More to come soon, updated very recently.

4th semester of college....

Dear friends and family....
If you would like an update on the past 1st month of my 4th semester of college, here is a short little summary....

The day before I flew back to Michigan, I (for a winter change) I dyed my hair dark, weaving my natural blonde into the mix on top so that when it grows out, it won't really need a touch up. So far, I've received a lot of compliments from the Michiganders on my new do. (I've actually had quite a few people tell me that they like dark hair better on me than my natural blonde. I'm happy with it, however I think I'll stick with my blonde when it's all said and done) I haven't really taken any pictures (of my hair) or of anything/anyone actually, but as soon as I do I'll post them up for ya'll to see.

I'm taking a 15 hour credit load (due to the softball season in the spring) instead of the 18 credit hours that I take during the fall. I'm only taking one general education course this semester and it is my last science credit. I'm taking it as an online study. The rest of my classes are all for my family life program, and I'm enjoying them immensely. For my preschool-aged child development class I have to observe 3-4 year old children at a nearby elementary school (it has a full time day care for infants and toddlers - which I observed in last semester - and 4 different preschool programs) The children are adorable. After two visits, there is one particular boy (who has a lot of issues developmentally (emotionally & mentally - he has a rough home life situation) and he has completely stolen my heart and holds it firmly in his hands. He is such a little sweetie and I just want to adopt him and take care of him and give him all the attention he needs and desires.
Softball is also going well, the schedule is starting to pick up and become more intense as we approach February 27th, which is the day we leave for Clairmont, FL for a week long spring break tournament. I have the honor as a sophomore (along with my roommate Jeni from last year) of being 1 of our team's 4 captains. The other two are seniors.

This past weekend, our team held a softball clinic. We had the great opportunity of having Cat Osterman (She played for Texas, and was a phenomenal pitcher for the U.S. Olympic softball team - I had the chance to talk to her which was wonderful, however I chose not to get a picture with her, or her signature - I've never really been that type of fan) along with Samantha Findlay, a first baseman who graduated from UofM (which my coach is also an alumni of) and currently holds the team's homerun record. They were both great to work with, definitely athletes that I would look up to for their skill, dedication, and discipline for their sport. I had a recruit from the clinic stay with me for the night afterwards. I'm not much of an entertainer (especially for strangers who are shy), thankfully I had a couple of my freshman teammates help me out keep the girl occupied so she had a good experience on our college campus.

So far, I don't really have any complaints. I'm approaching everyday with the knowledge that God has blessed my life in many many ways, and instead of worrying about things that are out of my control, I've been focusing on the things that actually matter in the long run. What I've been saying to myself when an issue arises, "Is it really gonna matter when I'm 80 years old?" I've been very exhausted, but I can't really say that I've had an actual 'bad' day since being back in MI. I'm loving life, and thanking God for every breath He gives me.

Until next time, God bless!

Fall Break Fun & Happy Halloween...

Over the fall break, which was about three weeks ago I had the chance to go home with my friend and prior softball teammate, Danielle (she decided to focus only on her main sport this year, which is volleyball).
It was lovely getting away from campus. Eating home cooked suppers and sitting down to dinner with a family (although not my own) was a luxury that I had greatly missed. I was also able to do my laundry without having to pay $2.75 and have it actually come out clean instead of the dirt just being mildly swished and swashed around like the washing machines do on campus. :/

The highlight activities of that weekend were pumpkin carving and a hockey game.

D took me to my 1st hockey game. Hockey is a fast paced and intense game....and I think I enjoy it. :) We watched the Toledo Walleye play; they're a new team this year. They lost the game, but it was fun - there were 2 fights that were pretty legit.

Before this year, I couldn't remember the last time that I had carved pumpkins... I forgot how much fun it is to play in the goo, the squirmy insides sliding through your fingertips. (Unfortunately my Mama wasn't around to clean up the seeds and toast them with seasonings to make a scrumptious snack) I decided to attempt at creativity and depart from the normal Jack 'O Lantern face. Instead, I carved a lil bumblebee (* Did you know that aerodynamically bumblebees aren't supposed to fly, but by some miracle they do anyway.)
I took the pumpkin back to campus and place a candle inside. I lit it up for two evenings, after that I had to throw it way - it was starting to get squishy and fruit flys were making their home in it and laying eggs. (Eewww!)
















The next big event in my schedule (extracurricular activity that is) was Halloween. I'm just not a big fan of Halloween. As a child I never liked going trick -0r- treating because I was too shy to ask strangers for candy, even grown ups that I knew...so it took all the fun out of it for me. I did like dressing up in the costumes that my Mama made for my sisters and I.
Anyhow, my roommates and I ended up making a deal... it was a lil bit of a trap that I walked into unintentionally: I had to dress up for Halloween. I wasn't about to go and spend money on a costume that I would most likely never wear again, so fortunately I was able to borrow one of my teammate's sister's old costumes. Drum roll please.... I was a ladybug! :) (Wings were included with the costume, but they were floppy and just ended up being a hassle, I kept hitting people with them)
Overall, I actually enjoyed dressing up and going out with my friends, even at 19 going on 20 years old.

P.S. I'm going to end this blog abruptly...mainly because it's already belated and old news. I really do apologize for not keeping everybody as well informed via my blog as I did last year. Hope ya'll still enjoy the tid bits that I do get posted though.

Tigers... they aren't so fierce after all...

This fall I was given the chance to go see the Detroit Tigers play at Comerica Park. My friend Mike (Ben's roommate from last year) knew I had never seen them play before but that I wanted to so when his family got extra tickets he offered them to me and his roommate Brad.
Our seats were near the bottom rows down right field side, close behind the foul pole.

Unfortunately the tigers didn't play as fierce as they needed to. I believe it was the first game of their home series against the Chicago White Sox. They left the field that night defeated 8 to 0. (Dave I bet you were so excited when you recieved the game updates on your blackberry :) Although it was a pitiful game to watch (the most exciting part for me was watching Granderson and Ordonez in the outfield - AMAZING players) I still enjoyed my first time experience.
Hopefully next time (and there most definitely will be a next time :) I get to see them on their own field, they'll come away with a win.
The highlight after the game was that every friday night game at Comerica Park, they have a fireworks show afterwards. It was very loud and beautiful... better than any St. Anthony rodeo fireworks I've been to, and almost comparable to our Idaho Falls 4th of July celebration. They do it big out here in Detroit.