Oh chickens!

Kids say the darndest things, don't they? I was coaching Blue group this morning, the swimmers are all 7 and 8 years old. One of my little girls, Lily, looked up at me with the biggest eyes and said, "Oh chickens! We missed it!" I couldn't do anything except stare at her. She then proceeded to explain to me that she really likes chickens and so she uses that as an expression, instead of saying "Oh darn." I just about lost it; it was too precious. So I've decided that I'm going to start saying it too!

I know this post is really short, but nothing exciting is happening in my life right now. Big shock, I know! I'm exhausted, so I might just go to bed (yes, I am well aware that it's really early!) I will post tomorrow or the next day or maybe the next day... As soon as I have something to say...

Today's Tidbit: I had a slow texting day today... I only sent 46 texts. Although, apparently I didn't get all of the ones that were sent to me, so I'm not sure what that's all about! All I know is that I better get texting :)

Today's blonde moment...

I went to Target this morning to buy some stuff to make home-made invitations. I got everything I needed and then made them while I was at work this evening. I was so proud of my work, I lined the envelopes and made the cards. A few minutes ago, I addressed the envelopes and went to put the cards in them. Well, they don't fit! I bought the wrong size envelopes, they're not big enough! I feel like such a complete moron, but oh well! The girls are just going to get super cute invitations in boring, plain, white envelopes, but life will go on!

In other news... I only have 9 days left as a full-time employee. At least, I think that's right. I am kind of hoping that I still get paid my salary for August, but we'll see what kind of a mood my boss is in.

Today's Tidbit: We get our new puppy in 12 days! I can't believe it. Beth and I are going shopping tomorrow for the supplies. Our vet called today, I love our vet. He takes such good care of us! He's really excited for us and he's been doing all this research for our cats. Last year, after getting his rabies vaccine, Nigel almost died. So good ol' Dr. E called today to talk about our options. That's all I've got folks, I'm out!

TEC 64 - AMAZING!

Oh my goodness! I don’t even know where to start with TEC 64. It was amazing! When I was standing with all the ATLs talking on Saturday night, I realized that this was my 10^th TEC. The thing is, they’re all incredible. They may all be different, but they’re always very moving weekends. I can honestly say that God has revealed something new to me at every single TEC weekend, and they just keep getting better.

I don’t even know if I can summarize the weekend, it was just awesome. I am always amazed at how much the kids rejuvenate me. They are so on fire for Christ and it just makes my passion grow stronger and stronger. Friday was exhausting. I think both Kaidra and I were completely drained, but it was so worth it. Saturday and Sunday were amazing (ok, I’m running out of adjectives!)

I really connected with Kaidra, which was such an answered prayer! I loved getting to know her and being blessed to have her at my table. It was also so much fun to be in the conference room with Greg, Bob, and Jennie. I had so much fun laughing with them. It was also good to have their support throughout the weekend. Oh man, it was just so great! And of course, being there with my best friend is the best! Oh wow did I ever love this weekend! It is so clear to me that I was supposed to be there, supposed to be in that conference room. I learned so much and I’m so glad that I was able to have that experience.

My Highlights from the weekend (in no particular order):
* Jennie’s blog
* Sister Act (Oh man, I had so much fun! It is so unlike me to do something like that, but I’m so glad I did!)
* Hiding out on the 4^th floor with Laura
* Affirmations with my table on Sunday
* All the laughing fits
* Singing “Children Go Where I Send Thee” and having our “favorite music rectora” in our group… That’s right, we raised our hands first!
* Perkins, of course! Yeah for being the only adult there :)
* Talking in code with Nate & Laura at Perkins… And confusing Amanda in the process!
* The ATLs!!! Oh goodness, they were so amazing! I feel so privileged to have worked with them!
* All of the classic songs the Music Team picked for us to sing to Kitchen. Yo mama?
* “You’re THE Janet?!?” Wow, thanks Bauer, Mariah, Kimmy, & Tommy!
* Making it through both team meetings with NO TEARS! Wow, that’s impressive!
* Hanging out with Emmalee and Kaidra, but not knowing them. I loved being in the conference room with these two amazing girls!
* The conference room. It was simply amazing! Enough said!
* The Glowing Eyeballs of Pizza the Hut… Enough said…
* My “parent” letter :) Thanks Laura!

--- And of course ---
* Watching God in that church, fill everyone with the Holy Spirit, and change people’s hearts! Praise Him!

Today's Tidbit: Number of times I cried over the weekend. Oh yeah right, like I actually kept track of that!

I USED to love thunderstorms...

Did everyone get to see the crazy big storm today? If you didn't, or even if you did, I shall now tell you about my experience with it... I woke up at 7 this morning, a normal Wednesday for me. I got ready and headed to the pool. I kept on thinking, where is this thunder storm they were talking about? But I was glad because I hate coaching in the rain.

I made it through most of the first practice. At about 9:30 we started really watching the sky get dark. We started seeing lightning and hearing thunder, but it was still pretty far away so we had the kids keep swimming. At 9:45, the lightning was getting close so we blew the whistle and let the kids leave.

Our next group was set to start at 10:00. Steve took all of the Gold & Silver Groupers into the office and started talking about the meets we have coming up. Beth, Cali, and I all watched the storm and counted to see how far away the lightning was. At 10:25, I went in with the kids because we hadn't seen anything in a while. I told Steve we could get in at 10:40 (our rule is wait 20 minutes from the last thunder/lightning).

At about 10:30 I could hear Beth just cracking up, I turned around to see her and Cali motioning for me to come to the door. The sky was black, the wind was blowing really hard, and the thunder was back. We knew at this point that we wouldn't be getting back in. Steve made the kids watch some DVD about stroke technique and turns. We kept watching the storm. At one point, Beth decided she'd go to her car and listen to the radio. Well, that was not the best idea. As soon as she left, the downpour started, so she got stuck there :)

It seriously looked like a hurricane! I was so cold because we kept going out to shut doors and keep the pool closed. We kept hoping that it would let up because we knew that we still had to clean-up the pool (lane lines, backstroke flags, clocks, etc.)

At 11:15 we knew it was time to start cleaning-up, even though it was still storming. I walked outside and was standing in a puddle of water up past my ankles. At this point, we pretty much did everything that you are NOT suppose to do when there is lightning!

Stand in water - Yep
Stand directly under trees and other tall things - Yep
TOUCH METAL - Yep! (We even carried big, long metal poles)

Our big joke was that we hoped we were getting hazard pay ;) So, Cali, Beth, and I all risked our lives for our job today... It was crazy! But at least it was us and not the kids out there. I prayed the whole time. It was really freaky when we'd see a huge bolt of lightning right over us! Beth and I even talked about who Cali should give CPR to first if we both got hit (cuz we were touching the same metal laneline reel)... Oh, what a day!

Today's Tidbit: TEC #64 starts tomorrow, I probably won't blog again until Monday. Have a great weekend y'all and I hope to see most of you this weekend :)

More Puppy Pictures

Only 20 more days until we get to bring him home! Whoo hoo!

Wicked Awesome!

Oh my goodness, the musical Wicked is incredible! I would highly recommend that EVERYONE go and see it! Too bad it's sold out here in Minnesota. Anyway, it is way different from the book, but I think that's a good thing. The musical is much better.

I knew all the music before we went, so it was really fun to see the songs, instead of just hearing them. I only teared up three times in the first act, but then I cried my eyes out at the end. I was warned by two people who have seen it before that I would do that.

I was really touched by the whole story. I knew a lot of it just from the book and from listening to the music. But the friendship theme is just amazing. I sat there thinking about all of my friends and that was when I started to cry really hard. Anyway, it's awesome and you should see it sometime!

Today's Tidbit: Number of times I fell asleep driving home... Too many! Beth had a migraine, so she was sleeping in the front seat. Tired driver and a sleeping passenger is a bad combination! At least for me...

Oh what a beautiful morning!

My new carpet is finally installed! It has been 7 weeks of living without a basement. Now, for a lot of you, you might think that's not a big deal. Well, let me tell you... For me, it was a HUGE deal! I live almost completely in my basement. My office is down here, my family room/den (where I watch TV and movies and play DDR) is down here, and my games are all down here. Anyway, it's been 7 weeks of not-so-much fun...

Today, my mom, dad, and brother all came over to help Beth and I move furniture back out. We had to rip the trim off a door so that we could get our love seat down here, that was interesting. We are finally all hooked-up though. My computer is up and running, back in my office where it belongs (instead of on the living room floor), my TV is back up and running, and the PS2 is finally plugged in again. Oh the relief :)

The best part of the day, my boss gave us a 27" TV for free! Whoo hoo! Because I got the new one, my brother gets to take my old one to college instead of buying a new one. Matt also got a printer for his troubles today! Oh, it was a glorious day!

Now, I'm off to see Wicked in Minneapolis. I'm super excited! I'm sure I'll be blogging about that one tomorrow, I can't wait!

Today's Tidbit: My cat has been hiding under the stairs since yesterday... I don't think he likes the new carpet!

Childhood Memories

I just got home from lunch with a friend from my childhood. We were best friends, inseparable really, from the time we were about 2 until she moved to Austin when we were 8. For the first couple of years after she moved, we still got together and had sleepovers. She was my age, her sister is the same age as my sister, and then our brothers are about the same age too. We hadn't seen their family in 10 years until my brother's graduation party last month. It was so awesome to see them! We exchanged e-mail addresses and have kept in touch a little over the last month. She was in Rochester today, so we met up for lunch. It was so amazing to catch up a little bit and to reminisce over our childhood memories.

We also talked about college and she was actually friends with several people that I graduated with when she went to college. What a small world! Well, I had fun, and she's totally amazing! She's even letting me shower at her house for the upcoming TEC :) Yeah for having friends in Austin!

Today's Tidbit: I only got 1.5 hours of sleep last night. I kept almost falling asleep at the pool today. At one point, I almost fell right off the diving board. That pretty much would have been hilarious, but I'm glad it didn't happen!

My Friend Nate

Well, I was trying to come up with something to blog about and Nate suggested that I write about him... So I wrote him a poem! (Yes, this is really a kind of poem... It's called an acrostic poem, if you care to know!)

Nice
Authentic
Trustworthy
Entertaining

I love you Nate!

New Puppy

This is the puppy that Beth and I just bought. What do you think? I think he's absolutely adorable! I'm so excited to pick him up around August 7th or so :)

Benjamin Benjamin Benjamin

Happy 4th of July everyone! Yeah for fireworks tonight! Although, I don't think I'm going to watch the Rochester ones... I think we are just going to light off our own. Shhh, don't tell! We bought them in North Dakota ;)

I got up early this morning to work. I tell ya, my boss doesn't believe in holidays. If the pool is open, we work! Although, we did have to change the schedule around because of two things. First, the Rec. Center was closed, so we had to move all our groups to the outdoor pool. Second, the boss man took today off. Whatever...

My first workout was deathly boring! I was the only coach there, so I couldn't even talk to anyone :( However, our second session was 3 groups. We had a total of 34 kids and there were 5 coaches! Yeah, that's way more coaches than we needed, but whatever! Steve got out a frisbee and we threw it back and forth over the pool and the kids. My favorite was when we'd accidentally whack a kid in the head. Or when the frisbee wouldn't get over, so we'd have to stop a kid and have them throw it up to us. Good times!

That's all I have for now. I'm heading to some track meet for little kids tonight to watch some of my swimmers race. It should be a good time! After that, we're heading out for a little party at the rents' house. Enjoy your day!

Today's Tidbit: The country's top fireworks display is in Chicago. Maybe I should go there next year :)

Who the heck is Clopin?

So last night I made $80 bucks babysitting. I had so much fun, I would have done it for free... But of course, the money is a nice added bonus! It was for a family that I have known for maybe 5 or 6 years now. I met them through a mutual friends and then the two oldest girls started swimming. Abbi is 9, Alex is 6, Aric is 2, and then Adam is 3 months. They are adorably cute kids, so it was really pretty easy.

We jumped on their trampoline, played on their swings, played Apples to Apples (the junior version), watched "Robots," and then played two games of Disney Scene It before bed. Adam was the hardest, he's a pretty fussy baby, but still not that bad. I had a blast playing Scene It with the girls! I had never played the Disney version before, so it was great!

I got up and worked this morning, but we got done early. Whoo hoo! Then I came home and napped... I am trying to scrapbook now, but I can't find my TEC 63 pictures. I have no clue what I did with them! I just did my TEC 62 scrapbook this week, yes I'm a bit behind. Tonight we are going to have a game night with YDKMP. Yeah! Have a good weekend everyone!

Today's Tidbit: What 2002 Disney animated feature is set in the future?