Busy

June was super fun and busy, and I can't believe it's already July. I was gone for most of June and now I'm not going anywhere for the rest of summer. I know I said I probably wouldn't post anything after school got out, but this is exactly why I said PROBABLY haha. I have decided that I'll just post some shorter updates here and there to keep up with what I've been up to or to share a cool idea or recipe.

I went to Lake Powell again the Monday after school got out. A couple of friends and family members  are leaving on missions this summer (my cousin Braeden leaving this week, friend Ashley left June 19, and ward member CJ leaving in August) and wanted one last trip before they have to go. We did a lot of tubing, boating, swimming, cliff jumping, playing volley ball and horse shoes, and doing other random fun things.

Two days after I got home from Powell, I left for Girls Camp. This was my fourth year, so I got to go on an overnight backpacking trip (it was really easy but also really fun). Then I was at camp for a couple days doing the usual things such as crafts and attending fireside devotionals.

I left early to pack for my next adventure; St. Kitts with the Waugh family!!! We went to the beach every day, toured St. Kitts and Nevis, tried new things, went jet skiing, went snorkeling, and of course got sunburned! It was a blast and I really enjoyed being with my friends. Oh and my camera broke so I won't be able to take as many pictures. :( I will just have to find a new one or another way to do what I love.

June was super fun and the only downer was that I missed a lot of soccer and workouts. I'll just have to work extra hard to get back where I was and keep improving. Now I'm in town for the rest of summer so I will have plenty of time to do that. :)

Until the next time I find myself bored enough to reflect on what I've been doing,

Sophie

Success

When looking back on this school year, I can think of so many things I can call a success. For starters, I have managed to maintain good grades which is very important to me. I played on the PCHS girls soccer team as well as a club team, and I increased my fitness level by attending CrossFit Club each week. I took the ACT for the first time and survived AP Geography and blogging every week! I have also made so many friends and grown closer to many others, and none of this would have been possible without them! This year has been a blast, but I am definitely ready for summer. 

My amazing soccer team after our game today

A recent success was my soccer season that just ended. When it first started, things didn't look very good for our team; we didn't have a goalie and we had never played together before. Each game the score got better and better until we finally started winning! Our last game was today and we ended the season with another win, meaning we had five wins and five losses. This is a lot better than we were expecting. I consider this a major success because we had a lot of fun and definitely improved over the course of the season. 

Believe it or not, I consider my blogging experience to be a success as well. I have enjoyed writing about anything and everything, as well as reading what my friends post. Without blogging, I would never have found my favorite food blog, spent hours reading about the funny experiences my friends have, or taken pictures of almost everything incase I decided to blog about it. I think blogging has helped me include more voice in my writing and has been a positive experience overall. I'd like to say that I will keep doing it after this school year, but, let's face it, I probably won't. 

Summer isn't quite here yet, so we all need to stay focussed and finish the school year strong!

Pancake Puffs

One thing that some people do on Mother's Day (and everyone should do more often) is make breakfast for their moms and help out with other meals as well. This year my mom found a breakfast recipe she wanted to try in Our Best Bites cookbook, so I decided to make it for her. It was a recipe for pancake puffs and it was actually really simple and easy to prepare alone.

Ingredients:
-1/2 cup flour
-3/4 cup milk
-2 large eggs
-1/8 teaspoon salt

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and place a mini muffin pan inside.
2. While oven is heating, blend flour, milk, eggs, and salt in a blender until it is smooth.
3. Take the muffin pan out of the oven (use hot pads because it's hot!) and spray it with nonstick spray.
4. Fill muffin wells 3/4 full with batter.
5. Bake for 12-18 minutes, or until batter is puffed and slightly golden.
6. Remove from oven and enjoy with syrup, jam, or any other sauce you like!

*This recipe makes about 24 mini pancake puffs.

They should look like this in the oven

They kind of collapse on themselves when you take them out

Homemade jam was delicious

My mom and family LOVED this recipe and we will probably make it again and try others like it. Dipping the puffs in syrup or eating them with homemade raspberry jam was really good. I would also like to try them with other sauces, powdered sugar, or whipped cream. We especially liked it because it reminded us of yorkshire pudding, one of our favorite foods that we usually eat around Christmas time. This was delicious and I hope some of you try it!

The Season is Here

I'm sure some of you may have noticed that I almost completely stopped talking about soccer, and you're probably wondering why. We thought that the season would start in the middle of March, but our coach kept telling us the wrong dates since the schedule wasn't finalized at that point. Then, in early April, the season was supposed to start, but our first three games were cancelled and rescheduled due to bad weather. We finally got to a really late start at the end of April.

The season didn't start out the way we would have liked, but there are many contributing factors. The fact that we don't have a goalie or enough girls on our team is our biggest problem. To make up for our lack of players, a couple girls from the U13 team are playing up. They are pretty good and help a lot, but they are a lot smaller than fifteen year-olds and they have to play their own games in addition to ours.

Our last game was particularly hard because we played with only ten players half the time (there are usually 11 on the field, plus multiple subs). The U13 girls had a game at the same time as us, so they couldn't help us out and our coach had to coach them. Our old coach, Bob, coached us instead. Everyone was super excited for him to coach us again. We started the game without subs and then a girl twisted her ankle in the middle of the game. As expected, we didn't win that game, but we played well and had a lot of fun with Bob coaching us.

So far we haven't won any of our games, but we are getting better at playing as a unit and I am excited to see how we get better throughout the season. Considering all the disadvantages our team faces, we are doing pretty well and have improved a lot.

Gracie's soccer ball with mine.
Gracie has had a headache for about 6 weeks, pray for her to get better!

Spring Break!

This year over spring break, I gave my mind a huge rest, but barely let my body rest at all. I did the very minimum amount of homework I had to (I have yet to see if I will regret this), and just about everything else I did had to do with physical activity. In other words, my break was AWESOME.

I spent Monday and Tuesday in the San Rafael Swell in Southern Utah with a family I go to church with. The temperature was in the seventies and I couldn't think of a place I would rather be. We went running and hiking on Monday, and we hiked Little Wild Horse Canyon on Tuesday. It was beautiful and super fun!

Part of the slot canyon we hiked

On Wednesday, my mom, brother, sister, and I drove down to Lake Powell to meet up with some  friends (pretty much the CrossFit Club; Brea, Chandler, Josh, Calen, my siblings, and me (plus a few adults)) and go backpacking. We spent Wednesday night on the houseboat and left Thursday morning for Lake Canyon to backpack. The original plan was to spend two nights at the campsite we found so we could hike around on the second day. However, when we got there, our water filters weren't working properly so we cut the backpacking portion of our trip short and only spent one night. The scenery was beautiful both during the day and at night. I go to Lake Powell every year, but I have never backpacked there so I got to see a lot of new scenery.

Our packs were a little big on us

Our whole group (minus my mom) at a ruin we hiked to

We spent Friday and Saturday just hanging out and relaxing. We were all happy about that because there wasn't nearly as much water at our destination as we expected there to be. We went on a really fun hike in a slot canyon just off the road to Lake Powell. There was a lot of climbing and it was super nice not to wear our packs.

This tunnel went under the road and was part
of the slot canyon we hiked

A view of the sky from the slot canyon

As always, spring break went by way too fast, but I had a blast! That break is in the past, but we only have a few more weeks before school is out and then we will have the whole summer to have more fun.

Have Courage, Arise, & Stand Strong

Last Sunday the LDS youth of the Park City Stake had the opportunity to hear Al Fox speak at a fireside. Many of you, most likely those who are not LDS, are probably thinking: "Who in the world is Al Fox?" Well I'll tell you. Al Fox is a recent convert to the LDS faith whose arms are almost covered with tattoos. "What do tattoos have to do with anything?" She doesn't look like the kind of girl who would be a convert, but she has an amazing personality and a fascinating story. I encourage you to read it on her blog. Anyways, the fact that she has tattoos is significant because she is judged a lot and endures a lot of criticism, but she knows that God loves her, and everyone else, no matter what they look like.

Al's story impacted me greatly because you could see that she firmly believed in what she was talking about, even though she is quite new to the church. Each year, there is a new scripture theme for the youth of the church. In the fireside, Al pointed out that the themes for the past couple of years are related. Two years ago the theme was, "Be strong and of a good courage," (Joshua 1:9). Last year's theme was, "Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations," (D&C 115:5). This year's theme is, "Stand ye in holy places, and be not moved," (D&C 87:8). She pointed out that they go in order. First have courage, then arise, then stand. I think this is powerful and, like Al said, "It is not a coincidence."

I have been to many firesides, but this one has definitely been my favorite so far. Not just because of Al's amazing personality and story, but because what she talked about was very applicable to our lives. She was constantly making jokes and she always said what was on her mind. Everyone laughed a lot and felt the spirit; it was the perfect environment to remain interested and be uplifted and taught. Many more principles could have been pulled out of what she said, but I just wanted to share that thought with you all. If you get the chance you should definitely check out Al Fox's blog and learn more about her!

Al Fox (white shirt & orange skirt)
 with a few of my friends and me

Al with my sister and me

Disappointment & Frustration

Spring in most places is an exciting time because the weather gradually gets warmer and summer is approaching quickly. However, spring in Park City is frustrating and disappointing. I say this because the weather just can't seem to make up its mind about what season it is. One week the temperature will reach the sixties and then it will plummet to the thirties two days later. The snow melts when it's warm and then starts dumping again when it's cold.

This year has been especially messed up (I can't think of any other way to put it). Park City had an awful snow year, so everyone was excited when temperatures started rising and snow started melting. Then, out of nowhere, a giant snowstorm came and destroyed all hope of warm weather. We would be grateful for the snow at any other time, but it's a little harsh when the weather taunts us. The past week was a perfect example of this.

Here are some pictures I took on four consecutive white days on my way back from seminary:

Last Tuesday
4/2/13

Last Thursday
4/4/13

Monday
4/8/13

Wednesday
4/10/13

The delay of spring isn't the only thing making me disappointed and frustrated. My first soccer game was supposed to be on Monday, but it was rescheduled due to an unexpected snowstorm. Also, in my last post, I talked about my elbow hurting and making it hard to workout. It has been a few weeks since it has bothered me, but for some reason the pain came back on Tuesday at CrossFit Club. I still don't know what I did to hurt it, but it feels very unstable. Hopefully I'll be able to see a doctor and get it figured out soon!

Fighting For Strength

As I have said before, CrossFit Club is a Mental Game. I say this because most of the time, despite the pain you may be feeling, your body is very capable of doing the workout, you just need to convince your mind that you can do it. There are two reasons why I decided to bring this up again, the first is that the post that I titled “Workout Club: A Mental Game” was about the deck of cards workout, which we did again today with some variations. The second is that I need to do a better job convincing my mind that my body can do it.

For the past couple months I have had knee and elbow pains that have made working out difficult. I was forced to go easy for a while and stop whenever I thought I would injure myself more. It may not be true, but I think it may have set me back a little. Meaning that I lost some muscle. Practicing good form and gradually increasing the amount that I do has helped me to build enough muscle to compensate for what I lost and the weakness in my joints. The times that I have to stop due to pain are growing farther and farther apart. 

Now that my body actually is capable of completing the workouts, I need to convince my mind that it is. I have been trying to do this, and have found two strategies so far. The first is to do everything with the end in mind. Meaning that you say to yourself, “the sooner I do this, the sooner I am done.” The second is thinking about the difference each lift or rep will make; thinking about how much stronger each rep will make you. I definitely haven’t mastered this yet and still struggle, but I will keep trying to find effective ways to make me work harder each day. Through CrossFit, you not only make your body stronger, but your mind too. Doing CrossFit with friends is great because you can help each other go harder and reach a higher level of fitness.

All we do is win, win, win,
no matter what what what
We got fitness on out minds
can never get enough
(lyrics thanks to josh) 

The BEST Solution to Stress

School has been very stressful the past couple of weeks. Third quarter just ended and starting off on a good foot is almost as important as ending well. Unfortunately, I haven't started off exactly where I'd like to because of a few misunderstandings with teachers, but I think everything will work out. Stress like this can be hard to bear and sometimes you just need a break so you can refuel and keep going. Working out and playing soccer is how I relieve my stress because it takes my mind off of school and gives me a break. I have been looking forward to every opportunity I get to knock down the wall of stress that builds up so easily.

Even if my day is awful, I can count on soccer practice or CrossFit Club to help me forget. I have found that even my school work becomes easier to do and I am more productive on days that I have physical activity.

As you know, CrossFit Club is ran and organized by students at Park City High School, and I have been going to it fairly consistently since the end of October. The kids that started it are currently juniors, but they want the club to go on longer than just the next two years. Obviously this means they need to find someone to take over for them after they graduate, and they need to go consistently. My friend and I just happen to be the two people that come most frequently, so there's a high chance that we will become the new leaders in a couple of years (unless there's someone else who knows what to do). Anyways, If CrossFit Club seems like it's a big part of my life right now, it will only become more and more prevalent.

Here is a team photo from Team Night last Saturday.
Photo credit: India Watson

The Joys of "A-Squared"

While talking with my very hilarious dad earlier today, he made a very nice and rather funny comment about me: "Sophie, I think you've got a very fun life. All those double-A's; academics and athletics..." He concluded that "A-Squared" was the best way to say the acronym that he made up on the spot (hence the title of this post). I congratulated him on his creativity and asked what I should blog about this week. As you might have guessed, he told me to blog about "The Joys of A-Squared." After a little thought, I realized that this was exactly what I wanted to talk about this week. I might include some insight from my dad here and there.

Let's start with the first A, academics. Quarter three ended this week and, as we all know, that means lots of tests and grades are finalized. As always, this week was stressful but it ended well. Every quarter for as long as I can remember, I have gotten a 4.0, and it has happened once again. I'm not trying to boast, but I don't really understand how that has happened. I am a MAJOR procrastinator, and I rarely ever check my work on anything. Apparently, as my dad would say, that's just one of the Joys of A-Squared.

Athletics are extremely important to both my dad and myself, so it makes sense why it is the other A. As I'm sure you know, my primary sources of exercise are soccer and Crossfit Club (Workout Club changed its name to Crossfit Club). Both my siblings have also been participating in a lot of athletic activity recently, including track and basketball. My dad is simply overjoyed with all the sports in my family right now. The soccer season is just a couple of weeks away and I can't wait!

This was just a quick update on A-Squared (I really like that name, so I think I'll start using it more often) and I'll hopefully have more about soccer in the next two weeks as the season grows ever closer.

Here's a picture of my dad and me :)

Sunsets

I recently realized that when I first started my blog I said that I wanted to blog mainly about soccer, cooking, AND photography. My posts are frequently about food and soccer, and I have hardly done anything about photography whatsoever. So here is my first photography post (hopefully there will be more to come).

I love taking pictures of just about anything, but what I do definitely isn't planned. I really enjoy capturing random moments with friends and family or scenic views in nature. Registration was this week and I kind of wanted to take a photography class so I could improve my capability of taking clear, high quality pictures. The problem is that I don't have room in my schedule for anything other than orchestra, seminary, and Spanish. I guess I'll just have to wait until next year.

Over the past year, I have been taking pictures from a specific spot at my house. Whenever there is a pretty sunset, I jump up and sprint to our back porch that has a beautiful view of the pond in our backyard. Each sunset is different, so I take the picture where I can capture the best parts and it's not always the exact same spot. However they are close enough that when I put the pictures side-by-side you can see the similarities and differences. It is amazing to see how beautiful each one is. It has now been a full year, so you can see what my backyard looks like in each season.

This is my pond sometime last spring

This was taken last summer

This was also last summer

This was last fall

This was just last week

In my opinion, all of these scenes are beautiful in different ways. Some of them are beautiful because of the vibrant colors. Others for their exquisite cloud formations. Some simply because they are peaceful. I think it's amazing how much nature changes.

I have really liked taking pictures of my pond, and I plan on continuing whenever I see something amazing. I've thought for a while that it would be really cool and interesting to take a picture from the same spot at the same time of day for a few weeks. Or even taking one every hour of just one day. You could really see how the clouds move and how quickly the scene changes. I would like to try doing one of these things sometime this summer when I don't have to worry about homework.

Orchestra Tour in California!

Before telling you about the orchestra trip to California, I would like to say that my coach gave us some false information about the upcoming season. He told us that the season would start in March, but it turns out that our first game isn't until April. Just thought I would clear that up.

Anyway, back to orchestra business. Thursday was our day of driving. It took us over thirteen hours to get from Park City to Anaheim because we were in a bus with over forty people, which meant that every stop we made took a really long time. I was originally planning on using this time to do homework, but I should have known that it would be nearly impossible to get anything done while in the presence of my energetic class. The ride was smooth, except when the air conditioning broke and the bus overheated. Resulting in an unexpected stop at Target and an even longer bus ride.

Martina, Caitlin, and me on the way to California!

We spent the day on Friday in Disneyland! Our workshop wasn't until five o'clock pm, so we got before and after to do whatever we wanted to in Disneyland and California Adventure. I hadn't been there for about seven years, so it was fun for me to ride the rides I was too afraid to back then. My favorite part though was the workshop. We got to go in the recording studios to learn how the music in movies is recorded and record some ourselves! It was super fun and challenging because we were sight-reading everything. We were all thoroughly exhausted by the end of the day.

We all really liked the pictures from the rides we rode so we started planning them.

Thankfully Saturday had a little bit more time to relax. We started the day off with the workshop at University of San Diego. I liked this one a lot too because I got to listen to the chamber orchestra perform and improve with the help of the conductor at the university. Symphony also got to perform with them, but I didn't think we played nearly as well as chamber.

Afterwards, we went to Mission Beach and Balboa Park. I really enjoyed this time because I got to relax in the warm California weather with my friends.

Me doing a handstand on the beach

Right before leaving, we saw Academy of St. Martin in the Fields perform. They were amazing. Everyone was perfectly together and they didn't even have a conductor. We were all really tired during the concert because of our long weekend, so many people fell asleep. I somehow managed to stay awake the whole time and I'm really glad I did.

We drove home through the night to arrive back in Park City in the early afternoon. The weekend was very long and tiring, but it was definitely worth it.

Upcoming Season

I can't believe that the spring club soccer season is almost starting. It seems crazy that the season would start when there's still snow on the ground. I have so many questions about where we will play and how it will workout with the snow, but those questions are just going to have to wait until the schedule is out.

My old team

I am super excited for the season, but I am also a little worried. What worries me is that we have very few players, girls from the U13 team are playing up with us, and I have never seen our keeper play. At tryouts last June, we lost three players, including our keeper, to Black Diamond. I am happy for them because they are my friends and will probably be very successful this season, but I am also sad that they left because it resulted in Park City Soccer Club not having enough girls for a full GU15 team. To accommodate for losing those players, a few U13 and U14 players have been added to our roster. I feel like they set us back a little, and we are now approaching where we were before they joined. This means that they have improved, which is good. Our keeper just recently started playing soccer, which worries me a lot. However I have never seen her play and she has been attending goalie training for the past couple of months, so she could be much better than I anticipate. We'll just have to wait and see how it turns out.

I'm excited for the season because our team is made up of a really fun group of girls. Each girl has a very unique personality and they're super fun to play with. Seasons in the past have been really fun, so I assume this one will be the same. Even if our team isn't very successful, I think it will still be fun. That is the real reason for doing sports, right? The reason for playing sports should be to have fun, instead of just to win. After all, we will never know the true joy of victory until you know the sorrows of defeat.

The Perfect Snack

Who doesn't reach for a granola bar when they're hungry before a sports practice? I know I do, and that's why I had wanted to try making my own granola bars for weeks. I finally got around to it a couple of weeks ago. I was rather surprised with how well they turned out and I had a blast making them. My favorite thing about making my own granola bars was that I could choose the ingredients.

The original recipe I used was found on For the Love of Cooking. 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups old fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 1/3 cup of honey
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp salted butter, plus more for pan
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 cup cut pecans
• 1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Ingredients

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter a 9x9 glass baking dish. Set aside.
2. Spread oats, almonds, and pecans in a baking sheet pan. Toast in oven for 10 minutes, stir occasionally.
3. While that is in the oven, combine honey, brown sugar, butter, and vanilla in a saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until brown sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.
4. When the oat mixture is done, remove from oven and reduce heat to 300 degrees.
5. Immediately add oat mixture to honey mixture. Then stir in the chocolate chips.
6. Spread into the prepared glass baking dish evenly, and place in the oven for 25 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
8. Cut into squares or bars and wrap individually with saran wrap. Store for up to a week.

Finished product :)

These were extremely delicious and they were the perfect snack whenever I got hungry. The beauty of this recipe is that you can substitute almost any of the ingredients with ones you like better.

Let me know if you try this out with different ingredients!

Outdoor Practice

My friend wore ski goggles to make fun of the fact that we had practice outside and there's snow on the ground!

This week we had our first outdoor practice since the fall season. Up until this point, we have been training indoors at the Basin Recreation Field House. Our time there has been helpful, but space is limited and the season is approaching so we need to start practicing where there is more space. Lucky for us, one of the fields at Quinn's Junction is cleared every winter for our use. Practicing outside in February is almost as crazy as it sounds. It's usually below freezing and you find your muscles sufficiently frozen by the time practice is over. As you probably know, running outside when it's cold sucks. I don't think there is any other way to put it. Breathing becomes nearly impossible, your nose won't stop running, and your muscles are about ten times harder to move. In short, running is the last thing you want to be doing.

I had been dreading outdoor practices for about two weeks because of the experiences I had last year with them. When the day finally came and we were forced to play outside, I was pleasantly surprised that it was almost forty degrees! It was still cold, but it was sunny and much warmer than I anticipated so I was happy. However there are a few things that I completely forgot about since last year and I will need to prepare my bag accordingly. It completely slipped my mind that tissues, gloves, and hats are essential for practicing in February weather. I learned my lesson and I am going to keep those things in my bag from now on. Luckily it was a warmish day, so it wasn't a bad day to forget these things on.

Although our first practice was warm, I have convinced myself that we just got lucky and we won't be seeing warm weather for a while. Future practices are bound to be much colder, but I am excited for the upcoming season and I know that enduring the cold will be worth it!

Team Night!

What happens when a girls soccer team gets together outside of soccer? You start to see the real colors of each girl. Who's energetic and outgoing, and who's timid and shy. As my coach says, "It's team building." My coach is a firm believer in getting to know each other outside of soccer, so we have team night once a month.

My crazy team

Last weekend, we had our second team night. We had dinner and watched She's the Man at my house. I have known most of the girls on my team for quite a while now, but I still find it rather amusing to see how they react to certain things. Plus, just about everything anyone says is hilarious to someone on the team because teenage girls are fluent in the language of Sarcasm. There were three very funny instances throughout the night.

The first noteworthy thing that happened was when my team discovered that I have a pet bird and he flies around the house. It's funny enough when one of my friends witnesses him flying for the first time, but when an entire team of clueless girls finds out, it's priceless. Many people screamed, ducked, and were on edge for the next few minutes. Surprisingly, my coach seemed more afraid of him than almost anyone on my team. When this happened, I was laughing so hard I couldn't stand.

My bird, Ollie.
Photo courtesy of Caroline Wagner.

The second was when I pulled out my popcorn maker. My family doesn't make popcorn in the microwave, we have have a different kind of machine that eliminates the risk of burning it. A few girls on my team had never seen one before and they quickly became entranced with how it worked.

I love how easily entertained they all are :)

The last thing was watching the movie as a team. Specifically my team's reaction to the movie. Almost every girl on my team was obsessed with Channing Tatem and it was hilarious to hear their comments throughout the movie. Another funny thing about watching the movie was how everyone reacted to a kissing scene. Again, my coach's reaction was the best. Every time someone kissed, he would single me out and say, "Sophie! Close your eyes! Don't worry it's almost over!" I couldn't stop laughing every time this happened.

I love spending time with my team and I can't wait for our next team night!

The U Camp

Sunset at the U Camp during the summer

Last summer, a few of my soccer friends and I went to a soccer camp at the University of Utah for four days. While there, our routine was eat, play soccer, sleep, repeat. It was tiring, but we also had a lot of fun. Now, during the offseason, our team doesn't get much time on the field so some of my friends, Marta and Gracie, and I decided to do another camp at the U. This one is every Friday afternoon and focusses on technical skills.

I have enjoyed every session I have gone to, but I also find it somewhat embarrassing when I'm there because most of the girls are older than me and way better. Playing around people I don't know that are way better than I am sort of makes me fall apart; I look like I've never touched a soccer ball in my life. That is obviously not true, but I can comfort myself by saying that I've been playing soccer for a little under two years and everyone around me has been playing for at least five. Anyways, this small, embarrassing factor has prevented me from looking forward to attending the camp on Friday afternoons. It seems like it sucks up the rest of my night even though it's only an hour and a half to two hours long. Against all odds, this week was different.

As usual, I found myself dreading the usual embarrassment I feel every Friday afternoon. Plus, Workout Club was doing a form workout that I would be missing. Of course, I have soccer the one time I really want to do a specific workout. Let's just say that for multiple reasons I did not want to go to the camp this week. Somehow I managed to change my mindset and convince myself that I was just going to hang out with my good friend, Gracie. Our focus this week was passing and receiving, or just possession, and, because of my more positive attitude, I was able to perform much better and have a lot more fun.

Afterwards, we went out to dinner at Noodles & Co. and had a blast remembering experiences we had at the U Camp over the summer. I learned more than just useful tips for passing and receiving from this week's training session. I learned, or rather was reminded, that your mindset and attitude really make a difference in how much you enjoy something and how much you will learn from it.

The Comforts of Home

Before leaving on my cruise to South America, everyone always told me how great the food on cruise ships is.  They were right, the food was phenomenal, but no matter how good the food is, it's possible to get tired of buffet food and four-course meals.  Near the end of the cruise, I found myself craving simple things that I eat at home.  (Such as fruit, bread, crackers, and other simple yet delicious snacks!) This week I was happy to finally get to make and eat whatever food I wanted.  Trying new, gourmet food is great, but eating familiar foods can be even better.

One comfort food I had multiple times throughout the week was hot chocolate.  I was craving hot chocolate multiple times over break but never had any.  Plus, the climate differences between Buenos Aires and Park City are extreme, so the transition took me a while to get used to.

Thursday night, for once, I didn't have very much homework.  I decided to make a treat for my seminary class since the semester ended Friday and many people would be switching into a different class.  I made Rice Crispy Treats with Captain Crunch Berries in them.  Something my cousin often makes when we have family get-togethers.  My seminary class loved them and my family was very pleased when I had extras to bring home.

Rice Crispy Treats!

On Friday night, my mom and I were trying to think of creative dinner ideas involving chicken.  I know it's random, but it's true.  I found a recipe on For the Love of Cooking that looked fun and delicious so we decided to try it out.  We made chicken taco cups by putting tortillas in a muffin tin and putting the chicken inside.  It was delicious and is something I would like to try again in the future.

1. Butter the muffin tin and place small flour tortillas (cut in half) inside.

2. Put whatever kind of meat and cheese you want inside
3. Place in oven for about 15-20 minutes

4. Enjoy! (We ate them with salsa, guacamole, and tortilla chips)

We also had a beautiful fruit salad on the side

Eating any food I wanted whenever I wanted to was something that made my chaotic finals week just a little bit better.

Visit For the Love of Cooking for a more detailed recipe.