Cross Country

This is my first year as the Assistant Cross Country coach at China Spring High School. I will be the first to admit that I have NO experience in cross country, or long distance running for that matter. Besides that fact, it has been a learning experience.

The best part about cross country are the kids. They (so far) have been drama free. It has been so neat getting to know each of them individually and really forming a relationship with many of them. I was able to spend this Saturday in Fairfield at a cross country meet and I was able to talk with many of them one on one. There are some really special kids that run cross country!!

While I haven't taken any pictures at the meets, some of the kids and their parents have taken some and I was able to get a hold of a few (thanks to Facebook). Here are a couple of shots from last weekend and as I take (or get a hold of more) I will post those too.

Summer Accomplishments

Every summer I set goals for myself, an informal "bucket list" so to speak. It usually consists of a few books I want to read, a TV show I want to watch through all seasons, and of course movies... ones I missed over the year and the summer blockbusters.

Here is a brief recap of my summer...

BOOKS:

I had not planned to read these books at all, but I got hooked! I picked Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief to read along with a little boy I was tutoring in reading. I finished book one and read through the rest in less than a month. They are so good and I would say a great follow up to Harry Potter! I am officially in love with Percy Jackson.

TV SHOWS:

This tradition started a few summers ago when my friend Crystal and I rented How I Met Your Mother and watched seasons 1-3 until we were hooked on the show. This summer I couldn't decide on a show to go back and watch, partly because there wasn't anything I was really interested in that I hadn't seen from the beginning and partly because the shows I were interested in kept me entertained Tuesday through Thursday nights. I have always enjoyed the USA Network with their shows like Monk and Psych, but now they keep me laughing with White Collar, Royal Pains, and Covert Affairs also. I highly recommend all of these shows!

MOVIES:
There were a lot of summer blockbusters this year, movies that I just had see in the theaters. I also talked my mom into Netflix while I was at home so I was able to rent a few other movies that I have been wanting to see for a while. Some of the titles include: The Sorcerer's Apprentice, When in Rome, Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief, and many many more.

Here were my favorites:

Ramona and Beezus was by far my favorite of them all. I laughed, I cried, I giggled, I smiled. It was perfect casting and such a sweet, heart-warming story. You can't help but love Ramona!

Now, I did A LOT more over my summer (which I will have to post more pictures soon) but I wanted to share with you what I have accomplished on my list over the last 2 months. And, by the way, I am NOT ready to go back to school on Friday!

10 Years...WOW!

Paloma Valley High School, Class of 2000. 10 Year Reunion

We celebrated our reunion at the Pala Casino in Pala, California.

(Just north of San Diego)

We had a catered dinner where about 40 of us were reunited. This was the table I chose to sit at.

They gave out awards for those who "changed the least", "most kids", "longest married", etc.

I won the award for the person who "traveled the furthest".

I saw friends that I have known since middle school...

Friends that were high school sweethearts and are now married...

Twin brothers that never seem to grow up...

And, just all around great guys that somehow you lost touch with over the years!

One benefit of having our reunion at the Pala Casino is we were privy to a free concert.

Bret Michaels (Every rose has its thorns) and Rick Springfield (Jessie's girl) were performing.

After the dinner was served, they started letting people who didn't buy tickets in. The 40 that were there, increased by 10 or 20. Around 11:00 or so everyone left the reunion and went down the hall to Club Pala where at least 10 to 20 more joined in!

It would have been nice to see more people there and the food and prices could have been more reasonable, but overall it was a good night.

Blessings around every corner...

It will be interesting to see our 20 year reunion. I am not gonna lie, kinda looking forward to it! :)

As Promised...

...Mr. David Hasslehoff!

I am not in this picture, because someone had to take it. But trust me...I was there!

The Beltramos Visit

The Beltramos are some friends of mine that live in Arizona. Brian works for FCA and has an amazing family! They are such a blessing!! They were vacationing in Southern Cal last week and I was able to hang out with him and his family. Another very good friend of mine (ours) from Arizona was visiting in town too which made it twice the fun! We spent one day down in Coronado. We had a ton of fun and enjoyed some amazing weather!!

Brian, wife Cheri, our friend Emily, and kids Bennett and Brynley.

These are the cutest, and some of the sweetest kids ever!

I met Emily at FCA camp this year and I swear she is a long, lost sister of mine.

I am so blessed to have her as a friend!

While walking the streets of Coronado, we saw David Hasslehoff! I took a picture of Cheri and Emily with him but it was on Cheri's camera. If I get a hold of that picture, I'll post it too!

FCA Camp

Every summer I work an FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) camp put together by the crew of the Phoenix FCA. We drive "up the hill" to Flagstaff where we enjoy beautiful weather and a week of sports, fellowship, and fun as we serve the Lord on the campus of Northern Arizona University (NAU).

I first attended this camp in 2003. Since that time, I have been 5 out of the last 8 years! There are some things that change each year, but there are many things that never change:

• I have yet to leave Flagstaff without making at least one new, life-long friend. Several times I have made many new friends!


• The weather is always nice! This year it was a high of 80, in Arizona, in July! Amazing.


• I laugh. I laugh at campers, at other huddle leaders, during practice, at evening services, all the time. I laugh, a lot!


• I am surrounded by wonderful people. New friends, friends from years past, and just all-around good Christian people!


• I am stretched to new limits. Whether it's giving my testimony for the first time, sharing God's love to a stranger, or preaching about the sacrifice of Jesus (like I did this year), I always seem to grow in my walk with Jesus.


• I am changed. I can go on and on about my experiences, but this camp changes me. There is something to be said about giving a week of your time to be completely wrapped into serving the Lord that can leave you both exhausted and refreshed at the same time. It brings a revival like nothing else.

These are all of the softball huddle leaders. This year's camp theme was Unleash the Power. It focused around the verse, Colossians 1:11.

There is well over 400 campers ages 13-18 that attend. Along with the campers, there are hundreds of coaches and college athletes that volunteer their time and talents to help coach these kids.

Like I mentioned before...I meet new friends. These are most of the girl huddle leaders from this year's camp. We range in ages, grades, and school but all serve one purpose!

Look at this beautiful weather in Flagstaff and the pure joy on the faces of these girls!

This year we had 259 kids that rededicated their lived to the Lord, and 61 first commitments to Christ. Lives are changed!!

Thank you to all of you who prayed for me and for everyone else involved in this camp. God was present, moving and working in Flagstaff. It was evident. Lives were changed, touched, moved, loved on, and fulfilled. Including mine!

Colossians 1:11

May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy.

The Team

Here is my team. The 10 (12 here, a couple of JV kids) girls that I have been spending ALL of my time with. What a great bunch of girls they are!!

This weekend we had a tournament in Dallas. We played some tough teams, and we played really well. We were 4 and 2 on the weekend, and which makes us 15 and 7 on the season, overall. We've got a lot of softball left to be played, including district that starts this Friday!

Come watch us play. Hopefully, we will be playing in the State Tournament in June--that's our goal. We have the talent. We have the experience, 6 seniors, 3 juniors, and a pretty darn good freshman. That's our team. We are getting better by the day!

Go Cougs!

SNOW!

It has been rumored that we would receive anywhere from 2-6 inches of snow in Waco today. I can't tell you the number of times that I heard it was supposed to snow and we got some hail and some sleet. Today, we actually got snow! It snowed all day and collected quite a few inches on the ground. Being the cool PE teacher I am, I took the kids outside to play in the snow. They had a blast!

All of the kids threw snowballs, and after a while of getting bored with throwing them at each other, they decided to chuck them at me! So I took some revenge. It was the best "dodgeball" we played in a while. This was the beginning of my revenge...

We had an early release and all the kids left at 1:30. Once the kids left for the day, our music teacher and myself took some Xerox boxes and tried to sled down the kills in back of our school. That didn't work out so well, so we decided to make this guy!

With all the snow it was hard to find anything to make the face with, so I had to get creative. A quick trip into the art room got us some erasers for eyes, a pencil for a nose, and some crayons for a mouth. After rummaging through the Lost and Found for a while, I found a hat to complete my first ever snowman!

On the way home, I decided to stop off at Jennifer's to hang out for a little while. We decided to make a trip to Target. I think the best part was the drive over. It was amazing to see all of the white blanketed over everything! There were so many beautiful lawns and creative snowmen along the way.

While at Target, Jen and I were enjoying looking at all of the baby clothes. We decided that Crystal needed something for her new little one she is expecting in October. (We did this with Caleb, so why not keep the tradition, right?!) We found the perfect onesie! Keeping with tradition, we tied the outfit up in a Target bag, left it on her doorstep, knocked and ran like the wind! This time, we bought a second onesie, came back 5 minutes later and did the same thing again! The second time around we waited to see her face.

How perfect are these shirts??? (One says, "I *heart* my Aunt" and the other says, "My Aunt Rocks") We hung out and talked for a little while. I saw the Robinson's trampoline and just had to jump!

It was really hard, and really fun! The kids watched in awe, and then we had our own fun throwing snowballs, making snow angels, and playing around! How cute are these kids???

I have the best friends in the world!! I am such a lucky girl! This snow day is exactly what I needed. Whether I get anything else done today, I am so glad I got to have the fun I did this afternoon. The time I spent with 'my family' this afternoon was the best thing ever!

Softball Season

We officially started softball practice on January 22nd. We've had some great days of practice with great weather. Unfortunately, God reminded us the past week that it is still February and like the groundhog predicted it's not quite spring yet. While we can't be on the field practicing and playing as much as we would all like, that doesn't mean that I can't start to eat like it's spring. So...here is what has re-entered my diet as of late:

Gosh, I love a good bag of sunflower seeds and a handful of double bubble bubble gum! Nothing says baseball like this combo. Now...bring on spring training, baseball, sunburns, and let's play ball! But for now...hand me my umbrella and winter coat.

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