My Nephew the Superstar

A couple weeks ago my parents and I went up to Calgary to watch my nephew, Hunter, play soccer and celebrate his 9th birthday. He mainly plays goalie and, from what I can tell, is really good at it! It was fun to watch the little boys play. It actually reminded me a lot of teaching first grade. Every few minutes (that may be an exaggeration), a boy would get hurt, fall down, and cry. Then the whole team had to sit and wait. They always clapped for the little boys when they stood back up. I’m not going to lie, it was really funny. Luckily, Hunter was one of the tougher ones. He fell, scraped his knee, and got back up with no tears.

After the game we went back to my brother’s house to do the birthday celebration! I don’t remember the last birthday of his I was able to go to, so I was happy to be there. Hunter is really into sports – street hockey especially. So all of his gifts were related to that. He got a sports bag to carry his equipment, a really legit hockey net, and some goal pads for his legs (I’m not sure what the official name is). Although, it looks like he will be able to fit them for a long time. They are so big!

Apparently it takes three people to put on goal pads!

Nicole (my sister-in-law) asked Hunter what kind of cake he wanted. He told her he would like a white cake with chocolate frosting and strawberries, but if she can only do a chocolate cake, that would be okay. He is such a sweet boy! Luckily Nicole could manage a white cake, and it was delicious!

Long Overdue...

Whenever I think of my dear old dad,
There are many things that make me glad.

He is always the one I know when I ask,
Will grant me permission for any task.

My dad is the smartest person I know,
To find any answer, he’s where I go.

He endlessly tries to teach me what’s right,
In finances, dieting, or winning a fight.

I can go to him for advice on many a matter.
And he still loves me - even though his nerves do I shatter!

I can honestly say that there never could be,
Anyone who loves their dad more than me!

(Even though I put off writing this poem…)

Speechless

Camping

Family camping trip number one,
Turned out to be slightly fun.
We lucked out with one dry day,
Some sun, but mostly clouds of gray.
Children rode bikes, drove quads, and played.
While plenty of food and hot chocolate was made!
When I listened to the sound of pouring rain,
I thought to myself, “These people are insane!”

Goals

This summer I have two simple goals:

1. Graduate School
-I need to complete my online course with an A, naturally.
-I would like to get my 50 hours of practicum completed, and write the required one page paper. -I hope to write at least 10 pages of research for my master’s paper.

2. Mental/Physical Health
-I need to take this summer break to work on myself. I need to go through the emotional processes necessary, in order to be a sane person when I get back to Idaho.
-I hope to lose my “marriage weight” by doing the Wellness Pro diet. My dad has been on it for a while, and has lost about 25 pounds. I am hoping by following the strict diet and exercising daily, I can lose my first goal of 35 pounds by the time I go back to school at the end of August. After that I can continue losing the weight I need to in order to feel comfortable putting myself back on the market.

Wish me luck!

(I put a weight loss tracker on the side bar, so the whole world can see my progress. After week one I have already lost 5 pounds!)

Summer

No creativity or inspiration on this one…just a quick update.

May was a crazy month with school ending, emptying out a storage unit (Thanks again Georgia! And I have a few choice words for the two men who watched us haul 20+ boxes up to my 3rd floor apartment in the 85 degree weather…), and driving up to Canada. I am so glad it’s over, and extremely grateful I didn’t have to move schools, classrooms, or apartments! Now I can enjoy a somewhat stress free summer.

Or so I thought…

This summer is shaping up to be almost as busy!

-Yesterday was my Grandma’s birthday and we took her to her favorite restaurant…A&W. I forgot how delightfully delicious those burgers are!

-Saturday is my dad’s birthday, and we are going camping to celebrate. (Not the way I would choose to celebrate my birthday, but whatever.) Although, my parents did buy a super nice trailer with beds, a kitchen, a toilet, and a shower...everything I need to feel good about camping.

-My nephew, Hunter’s birthday is on the 19th, and we’ll be driving up to Calgary to celebrate with him.

-In July I am going up to Red Deer to help my brother watch these sweet little girls, while my sister-in-law goes to girls camp.

-In August we will have one more camping trip before I go back home.

-And in between all of these fun and exciting events, I have an online class to work on, 50 practicum hours to do, and a Master’s paper to start writing.

Here’s to a summer of work, relaxing, parties, camping…repeated as needed.

Fearless

To make a very long story short, I ended up going to the Taylor Swift concert with my friend, Jessica. It was a very bittersweet occasion. I will start with the sweet, because that’s better.

This was absolutely, hands down, the BEST concert I have ever been to (not that I have been to many). First of all, the tickets were SO cheap! For a mere $50 we got front row seats on the floor. We were literally about 10 feet from the stage. The opening acts were Gloriana and Kellie Pickler. I had never heard of Gloriana, but they were really good. They are an up-and-coming country band. Of course I LOVE Kellie Pickler! She is so cute, funny, and naturally, a great singer. I tried to get some pictures, but my camera just isn’t the best. So you’ll have to make do with my mediocre pictures.


Now, to the headlining act – Taylor Swift! I absolutely love her right now. She is so impressive because she writes her own songs (lyrics and music), sings them, and is just plain beautiful! She also puts on one great show! She had about 6 costume changes, my favorite being when she performed “Love Story” and started in a renaissance dress, then a dramatic change into a white dress while dancers danced around her. (Hard to explain, but I’m going to try anyway.) During her performance (which lasted about 2 ½ hours, by the way), she walked through the audience and hugged fans while walking to sing in different locations. She was very dramatic and acted out her songs as she sang them. There were dancers and other actors who also helped make it seem more like a music video than a concert. For the encore, she came back with Gloriana and Kellie Pickler and they all sang a song together. Then, Taylor Swift sang two more songs, the last being “Should’ve Said No” where she ends by singing in the rain. It was very cool. All in all, it was a great night, and my ears are still ringing…just slightly.




We met Taylor Swift’s mom!
(That's Jessica...she looked better in the picture than me.)





Now to the bitter. As some of you know, but most of you don’t, Tyler and I are in the process of getting a divorce. That’s about all I’m going to say about it on here. This is making for a very emotional time. We were supposed to go to the concert together, which made me pretty sad that he wasn’t there. Then, throughout the concert, I kept hearing lyrics like:

Didn’t you know how much I loved you
Didn’t you know how much I loved you baby
I gave you everything, every part of me

Sometimes I think about you
Wonder if you're out there somewhere thinking bout me

People are people and sometimes we change our minds
But it’s killing me to see you go after all this time
And we know it’s never simple, never easy
Never a clean break, no on here to save me
You’re the only thing I know like the back of my hand
And I can’t breathe without you, but I have to
Breathe without you, but I have to

I had so many dreams about you and me
Happy endings, well now I know
I’m not a princess, this ain’t a fairytale

But then I felt a lot better when I heard ones like:

Cause I’ll be there in the back of your mind
From the day we met to you making me cry
And it’s just too bad you’ve already had the best days
The best days of your life

Oh, so true...