National Champions!!!

I apologize that I haven't posted anything for awhile! I can't believe that I am no longer in Slovenia! It truly was the best experience that I have ever had and I am going to miss the Slovene people so much!! They made a lasting impact on my life and I will never forget them and all that they did for me! The last week was an incredible week! We ended up taking 1st place in Slovenia!!! The team that I played for had never been to the Finals, let alone winning a National Championship, so it was a week full of emotions!! It was the greatest way to finish my 9 months in Slovenia! I hope that I stay in contact with all of them for the rest of my life!

Here are a few pictures of our Championship game!

Now onto the next step. I am not sure why I am doing this, but I decided to go to Canada and tryout for their National Team here because of the Dual Citizenship that I have. I am officially not eligible to play for Canada until I go through a lot of

paperwork with the USA, so right now I am just training with the B Team until then. I hope to be able to be cleared and training with the A Team soo

n, we will see. So right now I plan on being here for another month or two until I know if I am cleared or not. It has been an amazing experience so far, and

I have been so blessed to have the teammates and coaches that I have had, they are such amazing people and I get along with them so well! I can't be more thankful for how blessed I have been through all of this!

Another huge blessing through all of this has been the church! The church is truly my family everywhere I go, and I can't thank the members enough in S

lovenia, and now in Canada! They help me to have the balance that I need, as well as help me to keep the right perspective of what the most important things are in life. I could not do it without the members and the church!

Adventures!!

The last month or so I have been able to go on a few adventures either in the mornings before practice, or on our days that we get off every once and awhile. The first adventure that my roommate and I had was visiting the castles and caves nearby in a place called, Postojna. They wouldn't let us take pictures in the cave, so here are just a few from the castle, it was incredible! How in the world did they build something like this back in the day? It boggles my mind!

We then went on a fun little trip to Venice, Italy with my coach's family. It was so much fun! It was near the big Valentine's Holiday here, which they don't celebrate Valentine's like we do back in the states. Their Valentine's is like our Halloween, they basically wear costumes to scare away the winter. So in Venice, that is why they have all of the masks and costumes that you might hear about, because that is the main costume for the Holiday. So there were a lot of people in Venice because of the Holiday, and their were masks everywhere! It was a lot of fun! It was also fun to go with my coach's family! The people here have been so good to my roommate and I, we have been so blessed!

MARIBOR!!!

So I am back in Slovenia loving every second of this experience! Seeing my family was amazing, and I already miss them so much! This time coming to Slovenia was so much easier knowing what I was getting myself into! The second weekend being back in Slovenia, we had the big Slovenian Cup Championships! We had made it to the top 4 before Christmas break, and so they had the Semi-Finals and Finals when we all got back. It was a really exciting weekend! We got to host the tournament, and my goodness, I think everyone in Kamnik came to the games. It was great! We beat Nova Gorice in the Semi's and then we played Maribor in the Finals. Maribor is #1 and we are #2. It was the most intense game I have ever played in. They showed it on TV all over Slovenia, so it was quite a big deal for Slovenia. We ended up losing in 4 super close games, but it was such an amazing game and atmosphere! We are now entering the second half of our Season, my goodness, I am not used to a 9 month Season! I am glad they gave us Christmas Break off because my body would have fallen apart if not! We now play only teams from Slovenia, and so we will get to play Maribor a few more times, which I am very excited about! Here are some pictures from the Slovenian Cup Championships.

Lights in Ljubljana

So right before I was able to go home for the Holidays, which pictures from the Holidays will come soon, I was able to go to Ljubljana with some of my team and see the lights in the main center. The lights are not even close to the lights at Temple Square, but it was still fun to see how each city in Slovenia decorates their city for Christmas time!