Grateful for Experience

      It being the season of gratitude, I decided I might share a few thoughts. When people ask me what I'm most grateful for, I usually say I am grateful for my experiences. This might kind of be cheating, but I feel it is the best way to sum up all my many blessings. I'm so grateful for each and every person I've had the opportunity to work with and get to know in my athletics, dancing, performing arts, debate, different jobs I've had, church callings and activities, high school, college, family experiences, and many more. I'm so grateful for the talents I've been blessed with, as well as the ones I've not been blessed with but that I've been able to obtain. I'm grateful for the opportunities I've had to share those talents with others. I'm grateful for my parents allowing me to have so many of these experiences. I'm grateful that I've been able to travel and see different parts of the country and the world. I'm grateful for the education I have and am receiving. I'm grateful for Snow Canyon High School. I'm grateful for Southern Virginia University. I'm grateful for America and the founding fathers. I'm grateful for the gospel and for the many people who have suffered in its defense.
      Since it's been a while, here are some recent adventures and experiences I am grateful for:

I voted! For the first time ever. :) 11.06.2012

The USCAA Nationals Cross Country meet was held in Lake Placid, NY.
This is the view of  Mirror Lake from our hotel window.
Lake Placid is an "Olympic Village" where many train for the Winter Olympics.

Some of my teammates eating dinner at the banquet the night before the race.
Ashley, Shelbi, Kera, Elle and Tori.

Amanda dared me to drink the entire container of cream...

I felt this photo was necessary to properly record the banquet - we spent
at least 20 minutes doing the balance-spoon-on-nose trick!

Academic Honors! We've all kept a GPA of 3.5 or above in college.

The ladies team :)
[Me], Elle, Tori, Leah, Jacey, Katelyn, Kera, Shelbi and Ashley.
The twins were MIA.

One of the least snowy parts of our snowy course.
I used to hate hate hate running in the cold. But now I only kind of dislike it
a little bit.

It was a close race, but WE DID IT! We won the USCAA National Championship!

Go Lady Knights! Second National Championship in a row.
11th Women's Cross Country National Championship in 15 years for SVU.
I love this team so much. Katelyn, Ashley, [Me], Leah, Shelbi, Tori, Jacey,
Kelli, Kera, Elle and Nicole.
We laughed together, cried together, ran together, grew together and
WON TOGETHER.

Yeah. It was that cold. Brrrrr.

A few of us (me, Jacey, Amanda [the athletic trainer], and Leah) sneaked away
during our free time to watch the Bobsledding World Cup!

National's took place on November 9, 2012. It was one of those experiences that will always stick out in my memory, one that I will always treasure.

Leader, Leader, Pumpkin-Eater

    Last week I got many a calls to leadership rolls! Which I'm happy about. None of them are HUGE deals, but maybe that's good because if I had three leadership rolls that were a big deal I don't know if I could do it. I am the Activities Secretary for the Lofts Hall Council, Vice-President of Bella Voce, and President of my Institute class! See, just small things, but they should all be fun.

    Guess what happened this morning? I COULD SEE MY BREATH. Gah! I am not okay with this. It is only September! It's not supposed to be cold enough to see my breath yet! I am honestly quite nervous for this winter.

    Guess what happened yesterday? (This is actually a big deal.) My sister Ashley had a baby! Her name is Mckenna Rae Eaton and she is Ashley's second baby. I have to wait clear until December to meet her! But when I do, I'm sure it will be quite exciting. :)

My New Best Frenemies

Hello! Meet my new best frenemies:

Their names are Bob and Amelia Crutch. They have been extremely helpful, however they are also a pain in the...armpit. We're getting to know each other quite well!

Why am I being accompanied by the Crutches, you ask? Well, you see, at cross country practice yesterday we were running up on Mount Pleasant when suddenly I heard a loud noise that sounded like a landslide. Sure enough, just about 40 meters in front of me, a giant boulder was rolling toward one of my cross country teammates! I don't know how I did it, but some super awesome fast-power energy surged through me and I sprinted ahead just in time to push my teammate out of the way of the tumbling boulder. Unfortunately, the boulder rolled right over my ankle and it started swelling up and I went to the school nurse who introduced me to Bob and Amelia and then wrapped my ankle.

Not a bad story, eh? Nah, none of that is true...well except for the swelling up part. And the running on Mount Pleasant. The name is deceiving though, because it wasn't actually very pleasant. I was just running along on a rocky downhill trail, chatting with my friend Leah about Antigone and Socrates when I just stumbled over a rock in the path. I heard a loud 'snap' that sounded like cracking a stick in half, a sharp pain shot through my ankle, and I collapsed face down in the dirt. You know those times when you get hurt and you want to cry, but you don't, even though there is a giant lump of tears in your throat? Well that did not happen. Instead I just cried/moaned/screamed as if it were a natural reflex. I did not even think about it, and after about 40 seconds I realized I should probably stop crying and saying things like "I don't want to be hurt!" My teammates pep talked me and then kind Patrick carried me about halfway back to the beginning of the course where we sat in the van and I elevated my foot while Shelbi (who had stayed at the vans because she forgot her shoes) and Patrick took turns holding a cold water bottle against my ankle that was beginning to swell. When we got back to the school, I went to the trainer, Amanda, and she examined it, iced it, wrapped it, and gave me the Crutches.

Today was fun then, hobbling around campus! I feel truly blessed though because so many people have been so kind and willing to help me and give me rides. Right now we aren't sure of the status of my ankle, but the swelling has gone down and it is feeling a little better today than it did yesterday. I won't be able to run the race this Saturday, but Amanda says we'll try to get me running again in time for next weeks race. I'm counting my many blessings though, because I truly do have many and I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are always there for me.

Oh, and Bob and Amelia say hi. :)

Happy Labor Day!

    I'd like to wish a happy labor day to you all! What did I do to celebrate? Well, first I ran the annual Buena Vista Labor Day 5k with my cross country team, did laundry, ate food, and all that good stuff, then I ended the night by going to a drive-in movie for my first time! It was quite exciting :) especially since it started to rain during the movie. Haha. Oh, and p.s., the movie was The Avengers. So fantastic.

Our healthy snacks for the drive-in movie.