sophomore year college update :)

HEY! I know it's been awhile but i'm back. and i'm a sophomore in college.

This year has been nothing but crazy, as always, that's what makes life fun right? Yeah. So, basketball started about the second day that I arrived in Moorhead for school. Super awesome right, not. Preseason is always the worst with the crazy intense workouts, conditioning lifting and scrimmaging, every single day. But when the season comes around its worth all those hard days. Well without two weeks left in the preseason workouts I was conditioning and my knee decided to mess itself up, so I had to have surgery. I tore my meniscus so it was only a minor surgery and i'm a little over four weeks out today.
Bad luck huh? Stress fractures last year, torn meniscus this year. I feel as if I can't get a break, and its really frustrating at times. But I just keep praying that i'm in the right place, and making the right decisions with my life, and so far I think God knows what he's doing.
I did my first full speed practice today, a tad bit exciting but also pretty nerve-wrecking. I didn't want to mess anything up, and I didn't which was good. But I still feel a bit behind which is unfortunate, hopefully I can catch myself back up and see the court a bit this year.. that'd be SUPER exciting :)

Okay, enough about basketball, it's definitely not the best part of my life. The best part of my life is my awesome friends, so i'll do my best to update you on them.

Annie is going to school and SDSU and she just decided to double major in bio pre-med and athletic training. I think she's going insane, but she's one of the most driven people I know so I don't doubt that she'll stick with both and do them well. She's also got this pretty big crush on this football boy, so maybe someday later if they happen to work out I can look back at this and giggle a bit :) We play SDSU in our first exhibition game this sunday and she'll be there, and I cannot wait. It's tough to be away from your friends, especially when they are so important.

On that note, I have two pretty awesome friends that are or will soon be pretty far away.

First, Miss Ashley in Provo. I know I should be used to it by now, because I know how awesome she has it out there.. but somedays I just miss having her around. Like when I hurt my knee, or when practice stinks, and she's the person who has the best kind of advice. It's tough when you have someone so close for awhile and then they just aren't anymore. College seems to do that to you. But I know Ash is living her life in the best most wonderful way she can at BYU and I really admire everything that she does and accomplishes, I'll always be so proud to have her in my life and to call her my best friend.

Next is my friend Abby. I met Abby last year on the basketball team in Moorhead, and since then she's pretty much been a constant in my life. Abby's the person who really knows how to make lame situations and bad days better. She's done nothing but give good advice and make me a better person since our friendships started. She graduated last year and just got a job in Williston, ND. Which is about six hours from Moorhead. So, once again, life happens. You have someone around who you have so much in common with and you love to spend time with and then things change. It's a great opportunity for her though, she got a job as a dispatcher there and will make good income for a single person. I'm so proud of the decision she made, being that far away from her friends and family is going to be tough but she's one of the strongest people I've ever met and I know that she'll make the best or every situation she's put in. I'll miss having her around, but I'll be so excited to hear about where her life journey is taking her.

Okay so this one isn't a friend, but he's been so beyond great that I can't not mention him :) Jack, my now boyfriend, has been so great. He's so caring, and I think the most important part of a relationship especially a long distance one, are those little things you do. Things like letters in the mail, just small notes or flowers or a bag of cookies. The texts when you wake up in the morning, and the calls goodnight. All the little things in a relationship that you do to let the other person know how important they are to you. He's been so so good to me, and I hope that I keep up with him. I do my best! He makes me feel like the most important girl in the world, and that's something that I've really missed out on in my past relationships. He's so driven, so focused on what he wants in life, and so passionate about what he does. I couldn't ask for a better man in my life. I thank God for him everyday.

Just one more thing, my "little" brother Hayden is a senior in high school this year. Which totally blows my mind by the way. But he ran cross country this year and he won both the Union County Meet, The Big Sioux Conference Meet, and the Region Meet, oh and he just ran in the state cross country meet in Sioux Falls, SD last weekend and he got 19th, and the team from Beresford got 4th! I thought this was really awesome and I was so so proud of him :) So I thought I should mention how great he was    oh and p.s. he got on royalty this year too.. he's such a great boy and I can't wait to see the man he grows up to be

I hope that this sums up the important parts of my life at least somewhat.. I know I probably didn't cover everything, but hey.. this is getting really long, so its probably good that i'm finishing up

FOR THE ROAD:
The Cab - Symphony Soldier
Scotty McCreery- Clear As Day
Kelly Clarkson - Stronger

--hit them up

where did the summer go????

sometimes you don't realize how fast time flies until you realize that you have to go back to school in two weeks and your still in chill mode, not even thinking about class or practices.. it's crazy how fast this summer has gone by for me, but there have been so many great things that've happened that i won't complain, not even once :)
my summer schedule basically consisted of work, workouts, teaching swimming lessons and basketball, and whatever free time i had left after that would usually be spent with friends, a super sweet boy, or listening to some great tunes!
summer is of course my favorite season. not just because class doesn't exist, for most people, but because of the weather and the time spent with people you don't get to see much all year.
ashley came home this last weekend, and i hadn't seen her since christmas time. so it was great to finally spend some time with her even if it was short.. she's just one of those friends that no matter what your doing or who your with your just comfortable hanging out. she's one of the most down to earth people i've ever met, and i missed her a ton. but i know she'll have a great year at school, and she'll get to be around people with similar interests and hobbies and that will make her a better person :) if she could get much better
also this summer i met this pretty sweet guy. his names jack. he goes to school in vermillion, sd. which is a long ways from where i go to school but right now we're not really worried about that. we're just enjoying our time together, and he's so great. we have a lot in common and everything is so easy with him. it's crazy how God works his magic and his plans for us. never ever did i think i'd meet a boy this summer, especially not one like jack. so i guess i'm just looking forward to what this year brings, and where he leads me. i have so much confidence in what he's doing for me and i feel so good about it.
my best friend abby got to come down last weekend as well to visit, which was so fantastic. she's one of those friends that makes you smile the minute she walks into the room. she just knows how to make someone happy, and i'm so lucky to have her. i can't thank her enough for everything she's helped me through this past year. it's unbelieveable. it was so good to see her and we got to do some pretty fun south dakota things like see the falls and falls park, and go to the wild water west waterpark, and spend some quality time at the beresford pool. it can't get much better.
God is so great.
i haven't had a lot of extra time to spend with people. but i am so grateful for the time i get.

so, in conclusion, i'm SUPER excited for all that this school year brings, i'll hopefully be playing basketball again :) which would be great! i'll make sure i keep updating occassionally on what's happening in this crazy, beautiful life.

p.s. just a tip, listen to colbie caillat's new cd, she rocks :)  peaceeee

too much free time..

During all this crappy south dakota weather, even though its supposed to be summer, i've had a lot of free time so i decided to tell you all what i love right now, and things i'm not real fond of.

things that ROCK:
-the new all time low and paradise fears CD's
-spending time in the sun, getting tan :)
-time with best friends and family 
-working out
-froyoooo

things that DON'T
-rain, rain, rain
-best friends that are too far away   :(
-making zero money with this weather
-the twins, gosh they stink this year
-eating healthier, sometimes all i want is just a big chocolate bar


wellll that's about all i know for now. hope your all having a great start to summer loveeeeee youuuuu

ups & downs

Life is crazy. That's just how it works sometimes. There's things you can't control but there's also things you can. The hardest thing for me to deal with in life is change. Change is inevitable, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse, but it's always something we have to deal with.

Over the past few weeks my life's had a lot of big changes. Some really tough ones, and some that have made life happier. I dated a boy for about three and a half years sincem y sophomore year of high school, and I basically let the amount of time we'd been together dictate how I was living my life, which isn't how I wanted it to be. So I decided to end things, and it's been a tough couple weeks, but I know that it's what God wanted for me. And I believe that it's for the better, no matter how hard things are right now. My best friends have been so great through all of it, and i'm so blessed by that.

One of my best friends, Annie, has been my rock through all of this hard times. She's the person I call as soon as I feel hurt or sad about something. She always has the perfect most encouraging words to say, and she always has. I'm so so so lucky to have someone like her to rely on when I need someone there for me. During my first year of college, we were both really struggling with long distance relationships as well as time away from our families, and just the change of being thrown into a new life so much different than high school. But we made it through it together, and we've made it through all the hardships this past year together, and i've been so blessed by her because through all the bad times our friendship has just grown stronger.

At the beginning of my freshmen year of college my best friend Ashley was talking to me about how I needed to go into my freshmen year and not be held back by my relationship, and of course I chose to ignore her because i'm too stubborn to take her advice. But, I should've listened. When all this change of life was thrown at me I just wanted the comfort of my old relationship, when I just should've been excited about a new life. Well, Ashley was right, it's hard to be held to a relationship when your not in the same place as that person, especially when your trying to go out and meet people and you feel yourself saying no just because you don't think you should.

Ashley was right, and i'm so excited about the next few years of my life without restriction. I'm ready to live life to the fullest and make the best out of everything that's thrown my way.

This past weekend my friend Abby came down to visit me for a few days. I really needed some time to forget about the hard parts of life and just have fun with her. I met Abby at school this past year, she played basketball with me. Well she actually played, while I sat on the bench and cheered. But I really struggled to find my place at college, knowing nobody I was really lonely. And Abby really helped shape the person I am, and she gave me the friendship I needed to make all the chaos of my life a lot easier. This last year wouldn't have gone near as well without her around, and I owe a lot of my happiness to her. She's one of the most genuinely kind and caring people i've met in my entire life, and I hope she finds happiness wherever she chooses to go in these next few years of her life after college. 

As you can see, I've really been blessed by all the wonderful people God has put in my life, and I just wanted to give him a big shoutout, because without him all of the things that are hard in life would tear me down. But with him, he raises me up and makes every moment happier.

p.s. you may say where are the good things that have happened in the past few weeks, because all I talked about were the bad ones, but that's just the thing. The bad things were the good things because of the people in my life that I love and that love me, and make me see all the positive sides of the hard situations.

:)

YAYYYY!!!

When I was in Utah last summer I become slightly obsessed with something called frozen yogurt (froyo if your cool).. and when I was forced to come home from Utah I went through extreme withdrawals from it
What you do is pick what size you want, then pick what flavor of the frozen yogurt you want. After you pick your flavor you get to pick what kind of candy and fruits and stuff you want to put in it :) so basically you make the whole thing yourself and it tastes FANTASTIC, and it tastes better and is healthier for you than regular ice cream is..

Well all of my excitment behind this post is due to the fact that Sioux Falls now has TWO frozen yogurt places, yes I said two. And i'm sooooo stoked about it. Cherry Berry is my favorite of the two

and it's right next to panera bread, which is just as superb and they didn't have one where I went to college so it's like a two-for-one afternoon of tastiness and i'm so so so excited about it, just a little reminder of a week in Utah i'll never forget :)

good tunes

So, music rocks. It pretty much dictates my mood, but just because something sounds cool doesn't mean i'm gonna be a big fan of it, it's got to have good lyrics.

My current obsession, as seen above, is PARACHUTE.. their new album just came out this week and it's basically all I listen to, it's fantastic. They are one of the few bands that actually put feelings into their lyrics instead of singing about nonsense like the stuff on the radio half the time.

They pretty much ROCK my world.

So if you're looking for something to put you in a good mood, or just something to listen to in your free time, give these guys a shot :) I hope you enjoy!

p.s. if you happen to be an oth fan, kate voegele's new album is also pretty super :) just an fyi

the inspiration behind this whole thing..

Well, since this is my first blog post I thougth I should explain myself a little. This (above) is my best friend ashley, she's pretty super, and facebook brought us together.. or maybe it was fate, but i like the facebook story better. She's going to school all the way out in basically the sweetest place ever, Utah. So because we dont' get to talk much and never see each other basically the only way I keep up on her crazy chaotic life is through her blog.

Today she texted me and told me that I needed to have one, not that my life is anywhere near as cool as hers, but hopefully I can find something to talk about occassionally. I'm not promising anything super exciting or cool, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

So, here you go ash.. missssss youuuuu :)