Haley Jane

So my pregnant sister went into the hospital on Christmas Eve because she was having contractions. This is three months early.

Since this happened with her last pregnancy she kind of knew what to expect. It was just the waiting game. Today at about 1:20, she had a caesarian section and this little beauty came out.

Her name is Haley Jane. She is 1 lb 15 oz and 13 in long. (Oddly these are the same measurements that Wyatt had when he was born three months early.)

Elly is doing really good. I'm a little jealous of her hospital bed hair. She still looked good even though she was in there for so long.

Friends, thank you so much for your prayers.

One Week

I keep writing posts but I keep not posting them.

So here's the update without too much detail.

I have one week left till break. And my rescheduled surgery.

I have three finals, one paper, one group final presentation, three journals and one evaluation meeting to go till I can finally say that I am done with this semester.

I can't wait to see my friends.

I can't wait to hang out with my niece and nephew.

I can't wait for my mom's homecookin'

I can't wait for New Year's Resolutions

I can't wait to read books that I don't have to write papers on.

It's going to be fantastic.

have you encouraged someone today?

Today was the last football game of the season. We won and it was an amazing game.

It has been a long 16 or so weeks. I have grown so much and learned so much about everything.

Today, Glory, the head athletic trainer, before the set up and everything, had us write notes to each other to just encourage each other. (It reminded me of the Mexico mission trips and those little papers that we wrote to the people around us.) He also bought us each candy to represent us. He got me sweetarts saying I have the sweetest personality. (I'm still wanting an explanation about the 'tart' part.)

Anyway we didn't get to read the notes till after the game. I'm now sitting at work and reading the notes from my peers and my supervisors and its just so interesting to read what they think about me. And what they are thankful for about. And I wonder how much is genuine and how much is just saying stuff. Like encouragement cards are really only genuine when the person who wrote it, was not asked to write it for the people. But we were all asked to write these notes and we only had a half hour and I tried to be genuine and I never like to lie about that stuff (So if I say something nice about you, I really mean it) but it was still forced. Even though I love these people and have been through so much with all of them.

And it makes me wonder how genuine are they being? Well after reading the notes, I hope they are being somewhat genuine because they said some awfully nice stuff.

And then another thought I have is that I hope I encourage the people around me enough. Friends who read this, I hope you know how much you mean to me. And if I don't tell you, then I'm going to start telling you. Somehow.

Here's the athletic training staff. From right to left: Christine, Mike, Glory, Liz, Brad, Me, Sarah and Amy. And that is the ATR where I spend most of my life. Well, not anymore. That is, not anymore until next semester. Wow, we are all a bit frazzled looking. Don't blame us. It was a long, cold night. But thankfully there were no injuries.

And my mom came to the game, which made me super excited. She got to meet everybody and see whatall her monetary support is doing.

Late nights

I have not been sleeping well. Tonight I'm trying something new. Stay up as late as I can and then try and sleep. Maybe then I will stop thinking. And stop waking up. And stop worrying.

Picture Blog

I haven't been taking that many pictures lately. I think I take more when I'm with my friends.
But here are some recent ones and an old one. Just because I feel like it.

Sunset after walking out of one of my classes. So gorgeous.

I just really miss these two in my life. And good times of serenading Rachel with good ol' Leona Lewis. Wyatt: This is definitely a classic face of his.
Ally: I'm pretty sure the dog had just attacked her with kisses. Her face is pretty priceless.

Life

Life is so incredibly good right now that I feel like I'm living someone else's life. Like there should not be this many good things happening.

This past week has been so surreal. Like I don't even know how to explain it. Things have just been working out. There hasn't been any big fantastic events. Just little things that have made life so good and so awesome.

I'm excited to see my friends again soon. (Chile, Washington, Long Beach and Riverside unite)

I'm excited to be getting surgery soon. (excited in the non-sadistic way)

I'm excited to be almost done with football practices (even though I will miss the guys)

I'm excited that I'm signing up for classes for next semester soon. (I'm such a nerd, its ridiculous)

I'm excited that I'm actually learning things that I will need to know for the future. (Currently my favorite place is in the ATR)

I'm just excited.

Except I'm not excited for Halloween. I really don't like that holiday.

Law of Diminishing Returns

The other day in my psych class we had two guest speakers with a very refreshing discussion about relationships and sex. It was very interesting and my class was super mature through it all. I guess that's the benefit of being in a college class talking about this?


Anyway, one of the speakers talked about how when you first start dating someone, holding hands is what sends the chill up and down your spine. But then that goes away. And then you start kissing. And then the thrill of just kissing goes away. And then more things come from that. And he mumbled, "Its the law of diminishing returns."


Well that caught my attention so then when I finally was able to spare a second today, I looked it up online and saw that its a real economic term: "in a production system with fixed and variable inputs beyond some point, each additional unit of the variable input yields smaller and smaller increases in outputs, also reducing the mean productivity of each worker." Basically the more you do something, the less you get.


In terms of dating and guys I thought that this was very applicable. Imagine this: you meet a guy. You talk. He smiles. You melt. The next time the smile still makes you melt, but then you also make him laugh. So now your goal is to make him laugh. And so you talk to him more so that you can get a laugh. But now he's making you laugh. And you are only seeing him like twice a week. And then gradually you make it so that you see him more. And circumstances happen that you are able to see him more times in the week. And each time you want to just see him smile or laugh. But pretty soon its not enough. And now you want him to just freaking ask you out. But he's not going to because he doesn't like you. Its the self fulfilling prophecy of the reciprocal liking theory. (The more you are nice to someone, the more that person is nice to you because you are facilitating the 'nice' in the relationship.) And that's it. Its not because he likes you. You are being nice so he is being nice.

And you know how you realize this? Because you are getting fewer and fewer butterflies with each smile that he gives you. And you accept this and move on to another distraction.

Tired

I am working myself to the bone right now. We really are our own worst enemy with the pressure that we put on ourselves to be and do better.

I am definitely less bitter now. I am also now having surgery over Thanksgiving break. So I'm that it is sooner. It's been hurting a lot lately just walking around and being on my feet all day because of football practice.

But things are still good and I have to keep telling myself that they are.

P.S. This story made me want to cry
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/a_hostage_to_concussions.html

If the link doesn't work, tell me because its such an interesting story and it is why I want to be an Athletic Trainer so that this doesn't happen and high schoolers are just informed about whatever injury they may get.

Fixed things don't always stay fixed

My acl is torn again.



So is my medial meniscus.



I'm trying really hard to not be bitter about it all.




And you know that window I fixed the other day.
It's not staying fixed.
It falls down.


P.S. Surgery is December 21.

Scrubbing in

Yesterday I got to go into the operating room and watch one of our football players get his should worked on. It was sooo cool.

He had a SLAP lesion and his rotator cuff tendon was frayed like a sea anemone. The doctor was even surprised by how much damage was in there. He said the only thing the athlete had going for him was his youth. (Because younger people have a faster healing curve).

After having had surgery, it was weird to be in the room but not on the table. Like you are out and they just move your body to make it easy to work on. Like its just weird. I don't know if I ever want to have surgery again because I know how incredible out you are. And its a lot of work repairing tendon and labrum through these three tiny holes with only a camera to guide you as you work.

It's crazy how far technology has brought us.

I had to leave like twenty minutes before the surgery was over so I didn't get to talk to the doctor after to ask the million questions but he did talk a little about stuff with me, which was cool.

Update.

Its been a while. My bad.

A lot has been happening. My emotions have been everywhere. Things have changed. Other things have stayed the same. I feel different but I still act and look the same/ I want the future to be here already. But I need to just enjoy the moment. Because pretty soon this will be gone.

First things first. I injured my knee again. I didn't want to post till I knew for sure what was up and what I was going to do but it's been three 1/2 weeks, four different doctors visits, and there are still things I don't know. There is one thing I do know. I hate doctors' offices. Sometimes the nurses are so nice and other times the way they say things just makes me cry. And then the doctors themselves make me feel like I'm inconveniencing them for being hurt. So I do end up crying. And its embarrassing. I had an MRI 11 days ago and I finally have the follow up appointment this Thursday. That is when I will know. But that's what I said the last four times so who really knows anymore?

Next, football is so awesome. I traveled to Wisconsin with them. And this weekend I'm going to Utah. We aren't very good. Well we are good, we just don't stay consistently good throughout the game. Like this past weekend, our guys played so well in the first half and we were winning and then the second half comes and the other team completely shuts us down. And we keep getting more and more injuries of starters. So it sucks but its also been a really good learning experience. Even the head athletic trainer has experienced more then he usually does. There have been some crazy injuries.

On a completely different note, I finally fixed my car window. Well relatively. You see it doesn't roll up all the way. As shown in this picture. That's a good three inches right there.

Instead it makes a hideous rumbling sound that makes you think the car engine is going to blow up. And since I heard that its gong to start raining soon, I knew that I had to be proactive about it. So I took the door relatively off, was able to push the window into the crevice and now when it rains I won't get wet. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. Other wise I would have done it a lot sooner.

I hope the rain comes soon now. So that I will see how amazing it is to not get wet.

Are you ready for some football?

So last night was the first home game of the season. It was intense.

Report time was 1:30. One of the first things that Glory (the athletic trainer I work with) said was to be prepared for anything. There were a lot of factors that could not be controlled like the game not being on our stadium field and it being orientation weekend which increases the amount of people on campus ten fold and causes there to be a lot going on because of all the activities.

During the actual game we are on a rotation and every quarter is when we rotate. During the second quarter I was on the sideline with Glory. The first thing he told me was that if there is an injury on the field, I'm to drop the water bottles and go out there with him.

Well, a player went down. We waited to see if he would get up and when he didn't we went out there. It was so surreal. We have a doctor that comes to the games so he came out too. The doctor immediately took over and started asking the questions. The player was saying that he got a helmet into his back and there was pain in his lower back. The doctor said that he wanted the ambulance to transport him to the hospital so Glory had me run over to get them. We spine boarded him and the paramedics took him off the field. (As a side note, the player is fine. Confidentiality if preventing me from giving you a detailed injury report.)

It was so cool because everybody had to work together to take care of this athlete. It wasn't cool that the player got hurt because that just sucks. And speaking of that iIt makes me question why I want to do this because basically my part comes in when somebody gets hurt. And the only way I can get experience and know what to do when I'm in the field on my own is when there are injuries, like this, now.

Anyway, the game went on and we ended up losing but we did score a touchdown. One of our defense players intercepted the ball, juked a player, and ran about forty yards. It was awesome.

We didn't get done with everything till about 11:00. And by everything I mean treating the players, making ice bags, and cleaning the athletic training room. It was a long day.

Next weekend we have a game in Wisconsin. And I get to travel with them. I'm so stoked.

Sunsets

Ok. So I love sunsets. And it seems that the fires have really been making beautiful sunsets. (They have also been covering my car in ash and making it hard for me to breathe, but you take the good with the bad.) And since I always seem to have my camera here are some pictures from the past week. This would be taken the Thursday after the fires started. And the fires started on Tuesday. I took like a thousand this night.

I want to call this one blood red sun. But the sun isn't red. The sky surrounding it is red. So let's call it blood red sky with the sun in the middle.

This gets everything. The parking lot. The sun. The clouds. And the smoke from Station Fire (I had no idea that they named fires. I guess they have the same status as hurricanes?)

I just love this one. It's like a war between the dark clouds and the lighter clouds and the dark clouds are winning because they are the ones surrounding the sun the most.

I decided I wanted to do one in black and white. I feel like it sets the mood as somber.

Ok, so this isn't the sun setting. This would be the sun rising. This was taken as I was going to church on Sunday. Yes, taking pictures while I'm driving. Pretty soon that will be illegal, too.

I step outside my door and this is the sun that greets me on Monday of this week. It was very apocalyptic feeling.

Yeah, I just like this one too. This is from the same day.

This was taken from our athletic training room. Our football stadium is just beyond that fence behind the vans. See it? Just kidding. I mean, it's really there. You just can't tell from this picture.

This was from tonight. I almost missed it. But got a few that were decent. This was when I wished I could find a roof to just sit on top of and take a million pictures.

If a tree falls in the forest...

Ok so I'm at work just sitting in my boss's (boss'-I'm not sure which one is grammatically correct) office. I sit in here when I don't want to be bothered by the people who walk by. Its kind of situated in a corner and hidden by lockers so people walking by can see the door opened but can't really see inside (if that makes any sense; I hope it does because that is not even the point of my story). Basically the idea is this: I'm hidden from view but people know somebody is in here. Or at least they assume.

Anyway, just now someone walks by and yells out "Good morning Dave." Now Dave is my boss. But he wasn't here. But the door was open. So this fellow just assumed it was Dave. But I couldn't just yell out hello because 1. I'm not Dave and 2. I'm not a boy so I can't even pretend to be Dave and yell hello. It would just confuse the person had I said hello because he probably would have come and talked to me and I would have to explain why I am hiding out in the office.

So now that person probably feels like an idiot for calling out hello and nobody is responding to him. And he's probably thinking that he's at least grateful that nobody was there to see this fail. But I was. And now I feel like the world's biggest jerk taking immense pleasure in making this guy feel awkward for saying hello to an empty office. But it wasn't empty. Because I'm in here. He just didn't know that.

It's like when you try and wave at someone across the room (or quad or hallway) but the person doesn't see you. So if you are being honest with yourself, you just waved at nobody but you try to play it off that somebody waved back at you so you're not a complete fool. Not that this has happened to me or anything. I've just heard that things like that happen.

Almost Three Weeks

I have been at school for almost three weeks and my roommate and I finally get to move into our permanent housing today. But we have to wait till 10:00 to get the key. We were so excited that we willingly woke up before seven to go get breakfast and then pack up. I'm already done, but she is still working on it. But we still have to wait about an hour or so before we can actually move stuff.

However, we are genius individuals and we borrowed this cart thing that facilities uses to move laundry and trash. We found this one in the laundry room, so for the most part its sanitary. But honestly going up and down four flights twenty times to move our stuff to the car just to drive across the street to move it to our apartment doesn't sound fun. So instead we will be making about five trips up and down (there are elevators which also make it nice) to move our stuff to our cars to across the street. I think it would be cool to just roll this thing across campus straight to our apartment but my roommate isn't going for it. And I don't think housing services would be okay seeing their cart being rolled across the way.

This is my beautiful roommate, Amy.

I'm excited for this year.

Loooong days

I am around about 120 boys every day for on average of ten hours. I'm not going to lie. It's a lot of 'guy' to be around.

And sometimes its fun because well, guys are funny. And other times its not fun.

Today was one of those days that made me realize how incredibly stupid boys can be too. Like I know that there are a lot of great guys out there. But there are also just stupid boys and it really just made me doubt the guy population in this world. And I know, I know that I have to take into account that I am dealing with athletes. Athletes that are paid to be here, somewhat. And that can make any guy a little more confident of himself. And therefore a db.

I'm just glad that during the school year I won't be just seeing these guys around campus. And there will only be one practice a day. Not two. And I will know more stuff so that I can answer the players' questions about such and such things.

But I really don't want school work to start. I want to learn and go to class but not have assignments and tests. If there is such a school, can you please sign me up? That'd be great.

P.S. I need to practice taping and myofascial trigger point release. Any takers?

Orientation is for weenies

So the past two days I have been in a classroom hearing about policy, rules, dress code, hours, and so on. Honestly I swear that it could be things people talk about in two hours but instead it was stretched to two days of eight hours each, with breaks thrown in. And then speakers from PT clinics and other colleges came and talked about their site and how they got to where they were.

We played this desert survival challenge though the first day and that was pretty cool. Basically, you are given a list of 15 items and you rank them from 1-15 in order of importance when you are stranded. First you order them individually and then with a team and then you compare both those rankings to the survival expert's ranking. You take the difference of your rankings compared to the survival expert and add it up. I did not get a good score. In fact I think I got the highest. So when you're stranded in the desert, don't take me.

But now I know the answers. So maybe now I would be able to survive. And therefore help you survive. So I might be helpful if you ever decide to get stranded in a desert.

X Games

So the night before last night I could not fall asleep. I was seriously laying in bed for an hour. I was kind of just thinking and I didn't really mind it so much but I was ready to be asleep and away from my overactive imagination.

Anyway, I did what any normal person does, I went and watched t.v. And somehow I made it to ESPN where they were showing the X games and I realized just how squeamish I can get about things like that. Seriously they were jumping SO high. And then they showed Jake Brown and his thousand foot drop (ok, that's a little exaggeration in how much he dropped but it was insane how far he fell) back in 2007 or whenever that was. And then they kept showing that clip over and over at different angles. And he walked off the ramp after he fell! I didn't know that. And he's back to skating and winning medals and all that good stuff.

Well, last night (or this morning depending on how you look at it) there was a guy that fell after some jump and three people rushed out and I realized that they could have been athletic trainers or they were paramedics (but they weren't dressed as paramedics so for some reason I don't think they were these guys.) And its so true that athletic trainers could be hired for things like this. But as I was watching these jumps and cringing every time I think one of the skaters was going to fall (even though they don't end up falling) I realize I would need to get used to this kind of thing before I did that.

And I also realize that I am going to cringe every time there is a hard tackle when I'm out at football practice or games. Yeah, that's going to be hard for me to watch. Maybe by the end of the season I'll be numb to that kind of thing though.

But watching the X games was pretty cool. It makes me wish that I had skill to just ride a skateboard without falling.

Maybe one day.

Temporary Housing

So instead of moving into my apartment this weekend I'm moving into temporary housing on campus, which means I'm moving back into the dorms. Now this really won't be that bad because I'll get a meal card and I won't have to deal with cooking and baking anything. (Even though I like to cook and bake.)

There will be four other girls from athletic training that I will be living with in the dorms.

Oh and the entire football team will be on another floor. Well, the majority of the team. Some won't need on housing campus.

It just sucks because I was really looking forward to actually moving into my apartment and start all that decorating. But this will be fun. I hope.

Well, we'll see.

Here is my home for the next few weeks.

August 2

I have an official move-in date. Its like I can't wait to move in and be doing things but the email came to officially tell me when I can move in and its a day earlier and it hit me that it's in a week and a half.

Good bye summer. You've been good to me. A little slow at times but it was a welcome change compared to the school year. And in 11 days I will be in the state of busy again.

But in this society and especially in southern California we are consistently busy and waiting and working for the next thing. So thank you summer for boring me at times. And oddly I don't mean that too sarcastically.

Sister Love

I just really wanted to showcase how cute my sisters are with their babies. I love them.

Happy Birthday Rachel Weinstein.

I'm glad you are my friend. But I'm sad that you are on the opposite side of the country. I hope you still have an awesome birthday. Because well you deserve it. And maybe next time I'll throw you a surprise party. And this is just to remind you how totally awesome your last birthday was. Because really who wouldn't want to be hanging out in New Orleans with the greatest people ever.

P.S. It bothers me that the one group picture from this night wasn't in focus. That waiter was ridiculous.

Clouds

These clouds made me incredibly happy the other day. They were just so vibrant. Even at the beach they were cool to look at.

Monster-sitting. Not babysitting

So this week has been super busy and ridiculous. Everyday this week I have babysat from seven to three for two boys. It has been quite interesting to hang with these boys. It was a six year old and a nine year old. Now you would think that because I got there at seven they would be somewhat still asleep.

That would be a negative.

They were just always awake and active. And total boys. Today one of them cut a worm in half and put its guts on me. And the other had a magnifying glass and was trying to make a fire on various pieces of wood. It has been interesting. I have one more day left.

And then also the youngest I think has a crush on me. He keeps tring to kiss me. And always wants to hug me. And keeps telling me he loves me. Oh and today he looked down my shirt. Perfect.

Everyday after babysitting I have been meeting people or helping planning stuff for camp and then youth group. I have just been busy.

But its been fun. I like being busy. But I miss my friends. I haven't hung out with some of them in a while. Like really hung out with them. But that's what Friday night is for. Holler.

Just a random post.

So I have this tendency to write blogs, but then I actually never post them. And for some reason I think that I do post. So I was looking at my actual blog and I realized I haven't actually pressed post for a long time. So here is an update on my ever so interesting life.

Summer is here. And its been here. And I really haven't done a lot. But its okay because I knew this was going to be like this. I have gotten a lot of reading done though. And when I say a lot. I mean a lot. For example I have read all the Harry Potter books. (Okay not all of them. I couldn't find the third one and I was too excited to start reading the rest that I just skipped it.) And other books. I'm currently reading 1984. And I kind of started Sense and Sensibility. And I might also be reading this other series that's actually from my mother's library collection.

I went rock climbing today. It is really funny to watch people at the climbing gym. Because some take it really serious. And others love helping people by giving them hints even if they don't kow the person. And then there are those random people and you just want to ask them "Why are you here?" And then when I think that I realize I could just look in the mirror and ask the same question. Don't get me wrong, I like rock climbing, I'm just not that good. And when I'm not particularly good at something I usually fake it but when you are climbing a 15 foot wall you can't really fake being good at actually getting to the top. And now my hands hurt and my forearms are probably going to be sore. And I bet if there were no people around I would enjoy it more. However, when there are a lot of people around I have the tendency to just watch them (in a non creepy way, I promise) and would rather just blend into the surroundings rather than climb the surroundings. But it was fun. I like going with my actual friends.

On Sunday we had a birthday party for my nephew.

This is him diving into his cake. Is it me or does he resemble a deer caught in the headlights?

One year ago and two days

So I am still somewhat unpacking and going through things and I found this as I was picking papers up and rearranging things: It's a movie stub from a year ago and two days. Well almost one day since its just about midnight. It's a ticket for a midnight showing of Indiana Jones for May 22, 2008. About this time I was getting ready to go to Louisiana. I had just finished my first year of college. I was glad to be home and glad to be leaving.

It is so weird to think about who I was and what was important to me then. In some ways I feel like I have learned a lot and other ways I have learned nothing because I continue to do the same things and I hate it.

On another note finding this stub just proves that I can't throw anything away. I hope I don't have or develop this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsive_hoarding

It says that its not really a problem unless it affects your relationships or it causes me stress or I start stealing. So if I start doing that I'll know that I need some help.

Highlights

So I got back from driving down the coast with Alisha and I know that I have been posting the pictures on facebook but there is no commentary and no highlights of some of the really neat things. So here is a list. They aren't in any particular order. I was going to number them but I didn't choose them in that order to upload and its too annoying to change the picture order. So here goes:


1. The redwoods. They are just so amazing. They are so tall and big and strong and just breathtaking looking at them. We didn't see the drive thru tree. But that's okay because we got to see the other trees. And we got to go along Avenue of the Giants. So sweet. Definitely recommend it. Maybe on a tank of gas that you know for a fact is full though.

2. Starbucks was our friend on the trip. I wish I had a 'drink' but I don't I always just change my mind. Leesh has a drink: iced soy hazelnut caffe mocha with whipped cream. I think I got that right. I vary. Sometimes I like the iced coffee. Sometimes the chai tea. Or maybe a caramel macchiato. It just depends.

3. The Oregon Coast. It was so beautiful. It was green and foliage-y and cold. It was very cold. Especially in a tshirt. But it was worth it.

4. Haystack Rock. I think that's the name. It a prop in the goonies. Except it was along the coast of an Oregon Beach. So it was bitter cold. Like we were walking closer but it wasn't even worth it because well we were crying it was so cold. So we took some pictures and made like a banana and split.

5. Stopping along the drive because we see something cool. Yep we were able to just stop. And take some pictures. Just because we felt like it. No time table.

6. Driving down the 1 from Santa Cruz to San Luis Obispo area. So pretty. This picture actually doesn't show the beauty but it has me in it. That's why I think I chose it. This is from a stop at elephant seal beach. They were all washed up on the shore because they were molting. But you can't see them in the picture. Again, I think I chose this picture cause I was in it. Please excuse my farmer's tan. I am working on it this summer.

7. Seeing the Osborne's. Seriously the best part of the trip. They let us stay at their house and eat their food and made us breakfast and talked with us. They still caught up on everything in our lives. We were so blessed to have them while we were in the youth group.

8. Seeing the goonie house. Need I say more?

9. Well I will cause I put a picture of each of us in front of the house. It was just cool.

9. Amazing waterfall. There is so much power in falling water. Who knew? This was such a fun hike down to this place. And a really taxing hike back up to the car.

10. Bonfire at a lake. Okay so this is in here because it was just ridiculous. So we get to the sand area and there were no open pits. So Leesh, me and two others start to just stalk around the pits hoping to find an empty one or one that will soon be opened. And it works. Except another pair of people were doing the same thing. So we decide to share. They are high schoolers. Oh and when we start the fire they break out some beers. We're like whatever, they stay on their side we stay over here. Like an hour later a group of three or four comes and they have vodka! (I think, I don't really know liquor that well) And this group doesn't know either group they were just mooching on the fire. Anyway the best part comes next: the cops show up! And they see the high schoolers with the beer and make them poor out all their cans. And they ask if any of the back packs have beer. One kid steps forward and opens it. There were four cans! And the cops just make them open them up and pour all the beer out. And that was it. No reprimand. They just walk away after that. And they didn't even see the other group with their hard liquor. But after that happened the high school group was pretty much disbanded and we were left to just enjoy the bonfire. It was an interesting night. Ha.

11. The troll. Ever since I saw 10 things I hate about you and found out that this statue thing actually existed I have wanted to see it. So of course we see it the night I get there. Oh by the way I come in at eleven p.m. so by the time we get there it is definitely about midnight. (This picture was not from that night). Anyway I am in a group of four girls (including me) and one guy. So we start climbing around it. Well we have to help each other up it. The other three girls get on and then Leesh goes to help me up, she pulls on my arm, oh and it definitely comes out of the socket. I feel it and I'm in shock. It hurts pretty bad and I am in a strange city and I know that when my friend had his shoulder dislocated he went to the ER to get it back in. No joke my first thought was a t.v. show. In it this woman to put her shoulder back in she bangs it against a pole. Well, I didn't have a pole so I'm leaning against the rock, face forward, and I can't bring myself to just hit it. Even though all I want it to do is go back in. So I just sit down and Leesh is asking what needs to be done and I am freaking out and I feel like an idiot because its the first time I met these people and I'm thinking that maybe I'm overreacting or something. But it hurts really bad. So I'm trying to move it...and it goes back in. And I'm just so relieved. Anyway this makes me think that it was just a minor dislocation, called a subluxation. But then later in the trip when we are driving I feel a minor movement in my shoulder and I press on it and I feel it go back in. So that was when it subluxed. At the troll it definitely dislocated. And there isn't even much I can do for it. Its still gets sore. I just need to work on gaining muscle there. No big deal. I've got the whole summer.

Oh so this picture is when we went back to the troll. I think we went there a few more times on the trip. I'm still glad I went and saw it. I can mark that off on my things to do :)

12. And lastly all the many pictures that were of just me and Leesh. And there were a lot. Like a lot a lot. Because we were with each other for just about seven days straight...

..in the car......when it was cold in Oregon......during our random stops...
...walking around seattle......and being just goofy and taking pictures when we were driving.

So those were the highlights.

Designated Sitter

So of course I don't think I have slept in till noon yet on my summer break. Today I would have except I got to go to my sister's at 6:45 this morning so that I can watch my niece while her parentals went off to their jobs. Of course we took some webcam pictures. She loved them. She just doesn't know it yet.

Crawling on the floor. She knows I'm her favorite.

And I get to do it tomorrow. Its making me glad that I don't have a baby. I don't need one in my life yet. Which is good. I'm only twenty.

They know me so well

My friends are amazing. They just know me so well. They took me to something that I had wanted to do with them but they didn't know that I wanted to and I didn't think that they would want to so I didn't tell them I wanted to and yet they did it for me anyway.

Confused?

Let me start over. Today was/is my birthday. And a week ago I get a text from Rachel Firster basically telling me to not make any plans from mid day to fourish on this day of birth. They planned to surprise me with something. Well, I have somewhat of a reputation for figuring out surprises or say secret santas. I'm just a good deducer. I happened to be with Alisha in Seattle and she knew about the surprise so she asked me to not be Jane and try and figure it out. Let me just say that I tried to not try to figure it out. I really did. My friends won't believe me...but I did.

Anyways what they ended up doing was taking me to a Galaxy game. I love going to these games. Its a side that my friends rarely see. Its not like I talk about going to these games ever. But they are so fun. I have gone to numerous games over the years and I love them. I love the atmosphere. I love the game. It just makes me so happy. And when I found out like in April that there was a game right on my birthday I really wanted to go. But I didn't think my friends would want to go. So I never talked to them about it. At all.

And they just knew me so well that they took me to the game. And they tried to make it a surprise but the circumstances wouldn't allow it. Sorry guys.

Here's a picture of us in front of the field. Not the best quality. And Emma's eyes are closed. And I'm kind of half standing because the security guard came right then to tell us to not sit on the wall and he kind of half pushed me.

They had me blind folded in the car, even though I knew and they kind of knew that I knew. And they made a whole bunch of videos. I'm pretty sure these videos should not ever be shown in public.

I love my friends. I am so grateful for them for making this one of my favorite birthdays. Thank you for knowing me so well and not being too angry with me for figuring it out. Next time I won't ask any questions. I promise.