I really tried...

to be good at blogging. It's just a little hard sometimes with all that's been going on the last little while. So this post will be a brief overview of what's happened in the last 6 weeks or so of my life.

My last post was done the day before we left for the Final 4 in California. We took a big charter bus out there and got all settled on Thursday at the Longhurst's. My mom, dad and sister flew out from Texas to cheer me on (they even made shirts with my face on them). It was a very exciting time. Our game came Friday afternoon and we played in what some people described as the best game of collegiate women's rugby they'd seen. It was a back and forth battle with Army, they were a very talented team and everything seemed to be clicking for them. We had some struggles in the backline, but we were putting together good phases and capitalizing on most opportunities. With 4 minutes left we were down by 4, but it just wasn't our year. Our run ended losing, once again, to the eventual national champions. Army went on to beat Penn State in the championship while we watched from the stands. It was a hard end to an amazing season, but the fact remains that our team did what's never been done, our team made history. I'll never forget this team or the experiences I had with them. WCR forever.

After playoffs, I headed back to Provo for my last week there. Saying goodbye is never easy, especially when you don't know when you'll be seeing those people next. It was a pretty crammed week, but I got a lot of people in and had quite a bit of fun while I was at it. My Dad flew out Friday morning and we got ourselves on the road that afternoon to make the long drive home. I loved my time in Provo, I loved BYU, but I was ready to be home in Texas. I missed home.

I only had two weeks at home before I was on the road again. On June 5th I flew out to Pittsburgh, PA for a week of rugby joy. O I had missed rugby. The first part of the week was a 3 day Women's High Performance academy camp. It was amazing to be with such high level coaches and a smaller group of players working on real technical detail and skill. I loved every second of it. The best part was being with so many players that I know and love. 4 of my teammates were there (Bex, Ela, Kara, and Curly) and there were 4 or 5 of my All-American teammates. It was awesome to be with everyone again. I don't know where I'd be without my rugby family, I love them all so much. The second part of the week I got to add more love to my rugby family by playing with the Pacific Coast Collegiate All-Stars. It was an amazing experience to get to play with those girls. You'd think it would be hard to form a cohesive team in one day, but we came together quick. There was so much hard work out on that pitch and I couldn't have picked a better team to be with. We started the weekend with a scrimmage against MARFU that went really well for us. Our first game was Friday and, after a lovely rain delay, we got our start against SoCal. The game was a beautiful one for us, we were flowing, we were meshing, things were looking awesome. We closed out a great game with a solid 48-0 win. It was amazing to see this team come together like that after being together for like 36 hours. Friday night was spent with more bonding and a trip out to the city for an arts festival. Saturday we went bowling, had a short practice, did our rookie skit, just had a nice day with the team. Sunday We were set to meet South for the Tier 2 championship. This game would determine if we got to move up to Tier 1 next year or if we would be waiting another year for the shot at a championship. Last year Pac Coast was in the same place and lost to the USA u20's in overtime. We wanted to avenge that game. It was hard for me as I sat on the side and watched my team battle with all of their heart. It was a back and forth game, both teams wanted it so bad, both teams were skilled. We went into overtime. After 100 long, hard minutes of rugby, we came up just short. 20-15. I was happy for South, I know a couple girls on their team and they worked hard. Next year we'll be there again, next year we'll get our win. It was an amazing weekend with an amazing team. I was so happy to get more rugby family in my life.

After a week of hard rugby, my body was ready for a break. I got home and got to just relax, swim, tan, work on homework a little. It was nice, but I'm missing rugby. It's hard not having a team to play with around here, not even a buddy to pass the ball around with. I'm looking into finding something, but Texas isn't known for it's women's rugby. So for now I'm happy just being home with the family, relaxing and finishing up my last few classes online.

In other exciting news, we are going to Canada in ONE WEEK!!! I'm so excited to see Mac, Mel, Cami, Dean, Marci, Christian, Eden, Ella, and Maya!!! It will be the first time having the whole family together again since Christmas in Mexico, 2009. I get a whole 10 days of family fun. Best late birthday present EVER. Other than that, not much going on in my life. Hoping to be getting a job after Canada, I definitely need one.

this might be a long one

Well, it was going to happen at some point. I've never been terribly consistent at this whole blogging thing, but I'm making the effort! I guess it's time for another update as many things have happened since I last wrote. To start, I finished exams, walked the stage (nbd), and got most of my stuff all packed. The best part was the rugby, but we'll get to that.

So graduation was awesome, my fam came out and we had a blast, not unusual for our family. They helped me clean and pack (I wouldn't have been able to do it without them), Friday we went out to lunch to a graduation/birthday celebration. Tucanos was PACKED, but Stef was smart and made a reservation. Then I got to walk across the stage and get my diploma cover and feel all cool. It was way sweet. I got to sit with a bunch of my friends and we had a blast talking about the people giving speeches and how it was taking so long, my cynical psych friends do make things like that much more entertaining. After graduation I got to spend the weekend out at Marci's to celebrate Eden's birthday. I can't believe she's 4! My nieces and nephew are all getting so big! Dean is literally exploding he's so huge! I miss him a lot, but at least we have video chat :]

So once graduation ended I was all prepared for a nice relaxing couple of weeks where I could read books on my new graduation Nook (thanks Mom and Dad!) and just chill. But I really fail at that. I picked up a few shifts at work and then spent a ton of time just seeing people because I felt like I had so much time. It became much more busy than I was expecting. It was all good though, because Thursday (the 28th) we hopped on a plane to Minnesota for the Sweet 16! It was finally here, our chance to go on farther than we ever had. We got to Blaine and met our host families (our was SO the best, thanks Moses's!) and everyone was just giddy with anticipation. Fridays game came and we played UCLA, winning 31-10. It wasn't our best game, but we played pretty well. The wind did not help our game plan, you could watch passes sail 5 yards farther forward than you had placed them. It was crazy how bad the wind was, but we adjusted and made it work. Now we were to the point where we'd never won. We'd never made it past that fateful top 8, never punched our tickets to the final 4. I was so ready. We were to be matched up with Navy, a physical squad that we knew weren't going to go down easy. It rained all of Friday night and the field we played on had huge puddles and swampy patches, but luckily the rain stopped just long enough to let us play without it. The wind was still going, but not as bad as on Friday. The game started and we knew this was going to be a tough, defensive battle. Both teams were in it to win it and both teams wanted to prove something. The forwards dominated all game, stealing almost every scrum (there were A LOT) and neutralizing their strength of attack. The backs struggled getting phases put together because of the wet conditions and wind, but about 25 minutes in, Kristi did what she does best. She sliced through practically half their team and touched down dead center to put us up 7-0. From there it turned into a battle of possession and defense. The score didn't show how much we dominated in possession and field position, but we struggled finishing. The last 10 minutes were the hardest as we were down a player (thanks Ela), but we held out. We knew time was out and as they tried to swing it wide we had two girls who made a very picturesque tackle into a puddle to send water splashing and Navy home. The game was over. We'd finally done it. We're going to the final 4. We knew the teams we were going to face were going to be hard, we knew the next two games would be the hardest we would ever see, but we knew it was where we belonged. This is our year to show the world what WCR means. This is our year where the only things in our way are the teams we have to face. We leave Wednesday night for California. It's time.

there are no words

to describe the feelings I had this weekend.

Let's go back, I feel the need to end on that happy note so we'll start from where we ended last post. So this week was my last week of classes. Like ever. Kinda weird to think about. I had an infinitely harder time focusing because we left for California on Thursday for regional playoffs. It was a miracle I accomplished anything this week. But accomplish I did! All I have now standing between me and rugby bliss is 3 finals (1 is a take home so it really shouldn't even count). Then I graduate on Friday. Then I get to play in Utah until rugby is over. YAY!

Now onto the exciting stuff. Thursday we drove to California for the Pacific Coast tournament. We went in with the #3 seed and would be facing UC Davis in the first round. I've been looking forward to this trip pretty much all semester. We made great time on the drive and got to Cali with no problems (kind of a big deal for us, we almost always have something happen). Friday we got to go to the Oakland temple in the morning since our game wasn't until like 5 and do baptisms. Very cool experience when we get to do that with the team. So game time comes around and was not quite what we expected. UC Davis came out hard and kind of took us off guard. We played maybe the worst game of our season, but came out on top 45-22. It was a little bit of a shocker for us since we hadn't had a game like that yet, but we knew we couldn't do it again. Nevertheless, the win gave us a guaranteed spot in the sweet 16 and we were happy about that. Saturday we would be facing up Stanford, an opponent we have never beat. The winner would take the top seed from the Pac Coast and the #2 seed overall in the tournament. The loser would have the Pac Coast #2 seed, the #8 seed overall, and would be in Penn State's bracket. This game was everything for us. Saturday we got to relax all morning, do homework, take some time to ourselves, it was nice. We had a devotional before we left and then it was game time. We got to see UC Davis beat Chico St. for the #3 seed and that made me happy since I've got a friend on their team and I really wanted them to make playoffs. We hit warm-up focused and ready. The funny thing was we were down two starters for this game. Keilani hurt her knee 2 weeks ago and Sam sprained her AC joint in Friday's game. But somehow it didn't feel like we were missing anyone. Everyone was clicking, we were ready for this game. In 4 years, we had never beat Stanford. This was our time. I can't really even describe how I felt before the game, it was a feeling of calm, and preparedness. I don't know how to say it, but I knew this was our game. Game starts, 2 1/2 minutes in and we score. This was Cougar Rugby. This was how we played. We played as one on that field, we played like we've never played before. Every player complimented one another, we knew where we needed to be, to made good decisions. It was beautiful. Not long after our first score, Kristi hit a beautiful gap and, as is usual for her, would not go down. 12-0 for the Cougars. It turned into a defensive battle from here on out, each team giving everything. Big hits on both sides, both teams getting close while the defense held strong. Just before half we got an overload on the outside and sent Bex running up the side. Halftime score 19-0. We knew this wasn't the end. Almost every game we've played against Stanford has seen us leading at halftime. This was our game for the taking if we wanted it. While Stanford was focused so much on our backs, our forwards were playing an incredible game. We contested well, stole lineouts and scrums, gave our backs good balls. It was the kind of game we needed. Second half got going and it was another defensive battle. Stanford earned a hard earned try to put the score at 19-7. We knew this was the time we needed to make our statement. Hard play continued, every possession was a fight. With some beautiful ball movement, we got the ball into good position. We were close to the line with a lot of moment. 3 meters out and we had a solid ruck. It was the forwards turn to say how we played. It was my turn to make a statement. I took the ball, hit bodies, rolled and saw the line. What a blessing that I have long arms. I stretched and made sure that ball made it in. The utter joy of hearing that whistle signaling I had scored was unlike anything. Everyone was yelling and jumping, I think we knew this was now our game to win or lose. 20 minutes left and it was 24-7. Now was the time to play the best defense we could. And defend we did. The ball barely stayed in our half, we weren't going to give them anything. The clock kept running and Stanford fought hard, but as time got shorter our hopes got higher. The clock was out and Bex had a ball rolling her way, one kick out of bounds and that was the game. The final whistle blew. We'd finally done it. I remember running to the sideline and being so full of relief, it was finally our time to show who we are. We hugged and cheered and I dropped to my knees, I had waited for this for so long. As we started lining up to shake hands, Curly came up to me and told me that "it was about damn time." For so long had been so close. We shook their hands, thanked the ref and headed to the sidelines to hear from Tom. I was so overcome with emotion, so full of happiness that is was finally happening. Tom was so proud, so happy that we had learned and adjusted as necessary. It was an incredible feeling. We thanked our fans, got pictures, celebrated. Sweet 16's here we come. These are the moments I'll never forget.

better late than never... right?

K well I WAS doing really well, but 4 times in one month is still good for me. This week was a good one for me, full of school, work and rugby, same as usual. This was my last full week of classes. Ever. Well for undergrad. But still, kinda weird. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty much the same as usual, I'm sad I'm almost done with Badminton because that's been pretty bomb. Thursday I got to go to my friends Trumpet recital, which was really cool. He played some awesome songs, I loved it. I finally watched Hot Rod with some friends, made me miss good times at home with the crew. Friday I slept in and puttered around for a bit before basketball. Got my contract all taken care of with Bryn, went to practice in the snow (that was a blast). After that we went out for Sushi since it was my friend, Chris's, last night before he left for Naval Training. Definitely ate myself silly. Then it was my last Divine Comedy show :[ very sad I'll be leaving that, I love the laughter I get from them. After the show Keilani, Megan and I went to get frozen yogurt. Always a good decision. Saturday was the Champion Submission Challenge where I got to see all my friends do so great! I was sad I couldn't compete, but playoffs next week are more important than a grappling tournament. After the tournament we made Doughnut Bacon Cheeseburgers (weirdly delicious) and partied like usual. I got to go to Britt's bachelorette party after that, so fun. Today has been nice and relaxing so far, I do love Sundays. So, pretty typical week for me. This week we leave for Cali (FINALLY) and have our regional tournament for Sweet 16 seeding. I CAN'T WAIT.

In other news, I graduate in 12 days. Totally weird. I also only have, at most, 35 days left in Provo. Also weird. This semester has flown by, but been very slow at the same time. It's a strange sensation.

In closing, let me share with you this really cool project I found online. There's a photographer from Canada who's been posting his pictures with different quotes once a day for a year (I think he's like halfway through) and they're way sweet. So check out www.365q.ca for some inspirational thoughts and photos :]

fulfillment

3 times in one week? Man, I'm getting good at this. We'll see if it stays up, here's to hoping. This weekend, I've decided, has been one of accomplishment and fulfillment. It started by finishing my 15-page literature review for my writing class. It's been my only real difficult work of the semester and I'm SO glad it's done. I hope I never have to write a 15-page paper again. Thursday night, me and the team got together to prep for our playoff games this weekend. We may have had a little too much fun with our floor of mattresses. Friday was our first official game of playoffs against Cal Berkeley, we were super excited for the game and it was so good to finally get some good competition. We won 67-21 (it might have been 63) and secured our spot in the Pacific Coast Territorial playoff in 2 weeks. After the game I got to spend some time with the fam; I love having my beautiful nieces come out to my my games, their little cheers are so precious. Me and some of the other girls got to go to temple later in the afternoon and that was lovely, as always. Then I got paid to watch the boys rugby game, my job really rocks sometimes. Saturday we got to start the morning as a team watching general conference before our game with Chico State (they beat Oregon the day before). This game determined the seed we get going into the Pac Coast. We won 41-10 so it is now official, we are playing UC-Davis in 2 weeks in California. O man, I can not wait. Saturday ended with a Priesthood session party with the BJJ crew. Jalepeno poppers, Poutine, cookies, Mojitos. It was a lovely night that ended in Curses and Tangled. Sunday got a beautiful start by actually getting to sleep in, followed by an incredible conference session. I can't wait for this afternoon's session, this conference has been an amazing spiritual feast.

Cool experience of the weekend: remaining undefeated, we're now 11-0 on the season [not including Stanford 10's].

Realization of the weekend: I graduate in 19 days. That's weird. Nationals are in 40 days. This year has flown by.

this may be a record

Here I am, writing another blog post. It's a miracle. Well since Monday not too much has happened. I got to play with my mom and Eden all day yesterday after a delicious lunch of Papusas with Bryson and Christie. Tuesday was a good day. Today I had a presentation on my 15-page lit review that is due tonight so I've been spending all my spare time on that.

Cool experience of the day: I got an email from a BYUtv reporter that wants to come do a story on the team and our experience last year. So we get to be on BYU Weekly soon :] I think it's pretty amazing how our story has gotten out to such a wide audience.

Realization of the day: This weekend will be the last time I play rugby in Utah. I'm still not sure how I feel about this. I'm so excited for our games and playoffs, etc. But every game is one step closer to the end of my time with these girls, that hurts my heart. My team means the world to me, life without them is going to be very sad, but we're sure gonna make the most of the time we do have.

surprise!

I'm becoming a blogger! Since I'm graduating from college soon and being all adult-like, I guess I should maybe start an actual blog about my life and what I'm doing with it. Which is still very up in the air at this point.

Life has been crazy lately, to put it mildly. Between graduation, rugby, work, and coaching high school basketball I've been a little all over the place. And I have loved every minute of it. Coaching was an incredible highlight of my year that was a little unexpected. Dealing with 14/15-year olds every day was definitely a test of patience, but I love those girls so much. They reminded me every day that life is meant to be lived and enjoyed. I'll write more about them later, they deserve their own post. Rugby has been equally as amazing. Playoffs start Friday and I'm giddy with excitement. I have know the potential this team has, the talent we have, I know we can win a National Championship. It's happening this year.

That's all I'm pretty much doing right now; school, work, rugby. Story of my life. I'm hoping I will remember to start writing down the random occurrences of my days so my life doesn't seem so boring, but we'll see how well I do. We'll start with a very odd experience I had today. I was driving home from class (in the snow) and saw a good friend of mine that I haven't seen in FOREVER. I pulled over and offered to drive her to her car so she could avoid the snow and we got to have a nice little chat and agreed that a lunch date needed to happen. As she got out of my car, this other car pulled kind of beside/in front of me and rolled their window down. I pulled up next to them and rolled my window down to see what was up and these two guys were like, "hey, we really like your car, are you selling it?" I was super confused by this because my car is a 28-year old mass of sheet metal with a dented hood. Don't get me wrong, I love my car with all of my being, but I don't really consider it a hot commodity. We chatted for a few minutes about what condition the car was in, how many miles it has, etc. before I could finally convince the guys I wasn't selling. My baby's gotta take me home to Texas this summer (they even offered a trade at that point, they were very persistent). Turns out one of the guys used to have a car just like mine and he's been looking for another. They thanked me for talking to them and as they're about to drive off, the driver leans over and says, "By the way, you're gorgeous." And then they drove away. I couldn't help but just smile and think that there are still good people out there. I came home to tell my roommate the story and she told me I needed to put that in my journal. I then decided I needed to start a real blog. And here we are. I apologize for the rambling nature of today's post, hopefully I'll get a little more organized as I become (cross your fingers!) a consistent poster.

peace and blessings