How I've Grown this Year

Regarding my blog, I think I've gotten much better on planning out what I'm going to write. On the night of the very first blog assignment, I turned it it at exactly 10:30, not because I wanted it to be perfect but because I had invited my friend over after volleyball to write our blogs together. Bad idea. We ended up by saying we had "writers block" and need to go to the park. This was all at about 6:30. So we went to the park, attempted to play some more volleyball then saw my other friend, Sophia. She goes to the Winter Sports School but played volleyball with me on the high school team this year and in 7th grade. We ended up by talking to her for way too long and didn't get home until about 9:30ish. This little excursion did not cure our writers block, instead stressed us out even more because we didn't have topics for our blogs.

I've also gotten way more comfortable writing blogs and thinking of topics is easier for me. I don't know if getting more comfortable is a good thing or not! I changed my background to fit the blogs theme more and the pictures fit in better too. They are bigger now.

Regarding my life outside of school, a.k.a, volleyball. As you may know, in high school, volleyball is a fall sport but it doesn't last for only one season. Club starts a week or two after high school ends and goes on for about 7 months, starting at the end of fall and going until the middle of May. 

During high school volleyball, we had practice every weekday and games about once a week. Getting in the reps was nice but you would think I would get a lot better but I didn't. I might have even gotten worse. My coach wasn't every strict and never paid that much attention to detail. She wouldn't tell us what we were doing wrong so I was kinda just on my own. I developed some "lazy" habits because she wouldn't discipline us. After high school, we went straight into club, and practiced less times per week but it was much more intense and the coaches were stricter. We had a dress code that everyone had to follow at practice which consisted of, a grey, red or black Club V t-shirt, depending on what day it was (Friday-grey, Wednesday- black, Monday- red), black spandex and black socks. They said if you didn't follow the uniform you wren't allowed to practice but that never happened to anyone on my team. As far as real volleyball goes, I think that I've really improved.

This is not me or anyone else on my club but it is a really good hit and she is playing my position. AND the lady who is hitting, plays for the school my sister goes too :)
Photo courtesy of Kansan

The Last Hurrah

Yesterday was our final tournament. It was Friday/ Saturday tournament at Club V but since we haven't talked about volleyball in a while I'll catch you up. We had a tournament at the LA Convention Center right in downtown Los Angeles. Going into the first game, I thought we weren't going to do very well because a lot of the teams their were local which means they were really good. We ended up by taking 15th out of around 150 which is good, especially for our team. But volleyball is pretty boring to listen to if you don't play so I'll tell you something actually interesting about our tournament. The convention center was right next to the Staples center so walking to our car we got to see all the fun things happening every night. Most of the time it was basketball games or something like that but one of the nights was the MTV Moive awards. After a game, me and three other teammates walked to a restaurant. On the way, we were right next to a HUGE line of people and a bunch of security guards. It was really cool!

Photo courtesy of: VolleyballMag

Our next tournament, the Triple Crown Sports Salt Lake one, we took second. It was a pretty small tournament at the Salt Palace but I was fun to win-ish. Not a lot of teams traveled to this tournament especially not in my division but there was some really good teams who came from California and Texas. When my team wasn't playing, some girls and I watched this really good club, T-Street, play. Their 18s one team had a 6'6 setter who was amazing! She's on the USA youth national volleyball team and she's only a junior. Back to my team, we were the runner ups and got a really cool trophy. They even wrote an article about my team! Read it here.

This past tournament, the AAU power league championship, wasn't a great one but we did okay. We took first in our pool the first day then second the second day. During single elimination play, we took third over all.

I'll miss my team and it will be really weird not driving down to Club V three or more times a week. However for some of my team, we will be together by doing Project V. Project V is a three hour session everyday starting this Monday and going until the end of summer. I would do it too but that would mean I'd have to leave right when I got home and wouldn't get back home at about 8:00.

It was a good season and I''l miss playing with my teammates.

Happy Earth Day Everybody!

Happy Earth Day to my fellow bloggers!

Photo courtesy of 7-Themes

Since my blog is about Park City (or supposed to be....) I thought, why don't we appreciate this beautiful small town we get to live in. Lately I've been feeling very grateful for this little place we call home.

This week there has been a bear spotted in numerous neighborhoods around here. Now this was a big deal in our small town. We even went into lowdown at school. I think there is more than one bear because it would be hard for a huge bear to cross a highway and get from one end of town to the other.

Another earthy thing that has been on my mind lately is "glamping". If you are unfamiliar with the term glamping, it means glam-camping. I really like nature but i'm not a huge fan of roughing it in the woods so this would be a perfect balance for me.

This is "glamping"!
Photo courtesy of Your Fancy Fox

It's a wednesday so you know what that means, the (almost) daily trip down to Woods Cross. Now if you've ever driven though the canyon, it's not too bad. It, in my opinion, is a pretty drive up until you pass downtown. At that point, you're in North Salt Lake and you are surrounded by very unattractive, boring land and a huge oil refinery. I think that this small part of Utah is possibly the ugliest town in the whole state. It makes me sad to see all this going on, especially on Earth Day when the flame was on and they were burring all the excess oil. Not to mention but it always smells AWFUL!

One of the oil refineries in Salt Lake.
Photo courtesy of Utah Sierran

On a happier, more cheerful note, in the town right next to this, which usually, as you would guess, not to be very pretty, it was this time of year. The rain had made the grass grow and be green.

The rain is working wonders all around Utah because, first of all, we're in a drought and second of all, it's making everything pretty. And there's a bonus.... we're getting bears!

SPRANG BREAK!

As you already know, last week was spring break and disappointingly, I did almost nothing that I had said I wanted to do in my Springing into Spring post but that didn't mean I didn't have fun!

I missed Friday at school so we could get there as soon as possible. On Saturday, we went shopping and Sunday was Easter! We were staying at my grandparents on Balboa Island so we just walked to church. My grandparents had left earlier so they could get us spots and my brother and I were right behind them. When we got there, all the seats were taken and there was no room to even stand in the church. We had to stand outside. It was windy, we could barely hear the priest and it was a long service but when we got home, it was fun. All my cousins came over and we looked for Easter eggs and opened our Easter baskets. We have a tradition of getting a couple lottery tickets and I won the most money in my family! A whopping 10 dollars!

After that, my cousin, Colleen, stayed with us for the next couple of days. I was really fun because without her I get kinda lonely and we do more fun things together. We went out to dinner almost every night (and we went to really good places too!). Colleen is in 7th grade but we will be the same age for a little over a month during the summer. Together we went kayaking around the whole island, walked up and down Marine Ave (the main street with all the shops), went to the beach, and made some stops at Balboa Candy.

Balboa Candy Store!
Photo courtesy of OC Mom Blog

My favorite part of break was going to Malibu or "the Bu" as me and Taylor, who I went with called it! We went to dinner at Malibu Farm, right on the pier, and it was super good! We had this stuff called "Broccoli Mash". I looked up the recipe and it's very simple. All you have to do is, make mashed potatoes, as usual, and put your cooked broccoli in a food processor. After, just mix it all together and you've got some broccoli mash.

"The Bu"
Photo courtesy of Community Table

A burger from Malibu Farm
Photo courtesy of Vavawoom

After all that, I had one last travel tournament in Los Angeles at the convention center. Stay tuned for a more detailed post about that one!

Springing into Spring!

Happy Spring Everybody!

Usually spring is one of the worst seasons. The snow hasn't all melted yet, it's kinda cold but also kinda warm, and everyone is waiting for summer. But this year, all the snow is gone, and has been gone for a while, it's practically warm everyday. It rained a couple of days ago and has been pretty gloomy which is good because of our lack of snow this year.

Spring came pretty quick this year and the school year has been going by extra fast. But I feel like it's starting to slow down a lot. Since I've realized how little we have of school less, all I've been wanting is summer to come faster  and thinking that we still have over a quarter of school left hurts my head.

As you may have noticed, I'm really excited for summer, a.k.a going to California. I'm not sure of all my set plans for spring break so far but I do know a couple of things. To start out, Easter is the first sunday of break so we will probably do an easter egg hunt (or not... I'm one of the youngest cousins so everyone might be over it by now). My friend, Hayden, is visiting her grandparents in Ojai, California so we've been planing a "play-date" together. Our itinerary is pretty full! We planned on meeting in Santa Monica, going to the pier then eating lunch on Third Street promenade. We also want to go to Las Angeles and visit the pink wall on Melrose Ave. After we will be on our way to Balboa Island, maybe go to the beach, have dinner, then finish the day off with a Balboa Bar. I also really want to visit my friend Lija (I talk briefly about her in my Craving California Pt. 2 post) but her spring break is a week before mine so it might be hard. Another fun thing I want to do is go to 1000 Steps beach in Laguna. My cousin posted a picture of her in one of the pools there and my brother and I were talking about how cool it looked. We told my dad about it and he knew exactly where we waned to go. That's about as far as I have planned, other than my volleyball tournament in L.A at the end of the week!

Someone taking pictures at the "pink wall"
Photo Courtesy of: GPVS

Photo Courtesy of: Fly.com

A Balboa Bar is basically just a square of ice cream, dipped into chocolate then dipped into a topping of your choice. My favorite is half rainbow sprinkles and   half crushed Oreos.

In the spirit of spring, I thought I should share with you some of the prettiest spring themed cupcake decorations you've probably ever seen! This isn't a recipe but more of decorating ideas.

I know, SO CUTE!
Photo Courtesy of: Taste of Home

Sorry for the randomness of this blogpost but stay tuned for more random posts! :))

1000 Steps Beach, Laguna California.
Photo Courtesy of: Orange County Register

My Volleyball Schedule.

So right after practice I was walking up the stairs at Club V brainstorming what I would write my next blog about. As I saw the big Club V logo upstairs, I thought to myself, why don't I write about my volleyball schedule. I've already told you all about some of my tournaments and games, tryouts, and the teams I've had so it's only normal to say what I do at/ after practice!

Photo Courtesy of: Club V Volleyball

I don't do a lot of super exciting and different things at practice so this is going to be very detailed.

2:25-The last bell rings at school and I go pick up my volleyball bag and sometimes my friend, Audrey's too because she's a lot slower than I am! ;)

2:30- Usually the time when either one of my or Audrey's parents picks us up, usually behind the school so we don't run into too much traffic and it's easer to get on the highway from there.

2:30- (about) 3:10- Wait in the car for a really long time driving through "the land of semi trucks" as we like to call it because there are SO many of them.

3:11-Waiting in a long line behind all the other girls who need to change. There are only two bathrooms and at least, AT LEAST, ten girls who need to get changed.

3:13- Still waiting....

3:14- Waiting, Waiting Waiting...

3:15- I'm usually in the bathroom right now changing for practice!

3:20- All of my team is on our court, warming up. Usually just serving and passing.

3:30- PRACTICE STARTS!!!

5:30- When practice is supposed to end...

5:45- When practice actually ends

5:50- My team waits in the workout room for Whitney, the coach, to start our workouts and re-hydrating.

5: 51- Doing the workouts!

6:15- Our workouts are only after-practice ones to we don't typically go for very long. Done by around this time.

6:16- Goes upstairs and I take off my knee pads and volleyball shoes and changes into sweats and jesus sandals :)

6:20- Finally leaving Club V!

After all that, I get home pretty late, shower, eat dinner, finish homework, then (my favorite part) going to sleep!

Repeat every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday! Actually, Mondays and Fridays are a different story. On Monday, we usually get there really earlier because of early release. This means I don't have to wait in line and I do a little homework before practice actually starts. Now friday is really different. Practice isn't really practice but more of a big scrimmage. All of the select teams play each other for a couple of hours. Before that starts, I like to go to position training. That is just getting reps on your specific position for about two hours. On Fridays I get home later than usual which is totally fine because it's FRIDAY!!! and all I really need to do is catch up on my Pretty Little Liars episodes.

Luck O' the Irish Brownie

HAPPY  ST.  PATRICK'S  DAY!!!!

My family, especially my mom, is really in to keeping traditions but we don't having any fun ones for this holiday.
I'm not a big fan of St. Patricks Day but I do love brownies. St. Patricks Day isn't my favorite because (one) I don't understand why we celebrate it, (two) I don't have a lot of green, I wore an army green colored jacket today and I was barely green... (three) I don't like to be pinched, and (four) I also don't like corned beef and cabbage.
This specific recipe reminds me of the mint brownies from kneaders and that reminds me going to lunch with my friends which reminds me having fun, and these brownies now remind me of St. Patricks day so I guess I do like St. Patricks Day!

if looking at this doesn't make your mouth water, something is wrong with your taste buds!
Photo Courtesy of: Your Homebased Mom

Luck O' the Irish Brownie Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 (1 ounce) squaresunsweetened chocolate
  1 cup margarine, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
  2 tablespoons milk, or as needed
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons peppermint extract
  • 6 drops green food coloring
  • 1 1/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
  • 6 tablespoons butter
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. Melt the unsweetened chocolate in a cup or small bowl in the microwave. Stir at 15 second intervals until chocolate is smooth. Allow to cool slightly. Transfer to a large bowl, and stir in the margarine and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Stir in the flour just until blended. Pour the batter into the prepared dish and spread evenly.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until the surface appears dry and the sides are beginning to pull away from the edges of the pan, 20 to 25 minutes. The brownies may look more like cake and may jiggle slightly in the center- this is normal. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan set over a wire rack.
4. To make the middle layer, beat 1/2 cup of butter with confectioners' sugar in a large bowl using an electric mixer. Add milk as needed to get a spreadable consistency. Stir in the peppermint extract and green food coloring. Spread this over the cooled pan of brownies. Refrigerate for 30 minutes
5. In a microwave-safe bowl, microwave chocolate chips with the butter until melted. Stir every 20 seconds until chocolate is smooth. Stir in vanilla and then pour over the chilled brownies and quickly spread to cover the surface. Cool again until firm, about 10 minutes, then cut into squares and serve.

The actual recipe.

If you need a St. Patricks Day dinner recipe: I think this is the actual recipe my family uses to make corned beef and cabbage.