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.

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.