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!

November!!!

So I apologize that I have not kept up to date on this blog, but I promise that I am going to be better! This past month has been crazy and there have been so many amazing experiences that would take me days to write about, so I will just share a few. The first pictures are of my first Thanksgiving Dinner with all of the American volleyball players over here in Slovenia. We all got together and had a feast! We were even able to have pumpkin pie, it was amazing!

I then had another Thanksgiving Dinner with all of the missionaries over here in Slovenia! What better way to spend Thanksgiving away from family, then with the missionaries! Pictures were taken, but I have not received them yet, so I apologize that there are no pictures with the missionaries.

The team is doing pretty good right now. We are doing really well in Slovenia, but in our league, which is with Croatia, Austria, and Slovakia, we are in the middle of the pack right now, so not too bad considering the level of teams that we are playing, but we could definitely be doing better. It has been such a blast to play such high level teams, I truly am learning so much each time that I play! Our club here in Kamnik had a pretty big thing happen about a week ago! It was the first time in Slovenia's history where both the guys and the girls club team for the same club, both reached the Semi-Finals for the Slovenian Cup Tournament!! So, there were cameras and news reporters everywhere, and the whole city was going crazy! It was really fun to be a part of! The Semi-Finals and the Finals for the Slovenian Cup will be on January 9th and 10th, and so I am excited that the guys and us girls are both going to be there!

This past weekend my team went to Greece for a tournament. It was the first time some of these girls have been on a plane, let alone in a hotel. It was really fun to be with them for their first experience and it truly made me feel so grateful for the experiences that I have had! So here are a few pictures to catch up on the past month!

Oh yes one more thing, here in Slovenia they do not know what pancakes are. They make crepes and put Nutella in them, but they do not know what American pancakes are, they have just heard about them. So I was able to make pancakes for my team and I was pretty impressed with how they turned out, especially since I had no idea what I was buying. They do not have syrup here and so we had to make due with Nutella, strawberries and bananas, so they were just as good!

Weekend with Erin and Richie

This past weekend Erin and Richie came all the way to Slovenia to visit me for a few days! They were so sweet to take a few days from their adventures around Europe to come and visit me! We had a blast! I don't think that I have ever eaten that much Netella in one weekend in my life, but it was completely worth it!

One of the days we went on a hike right outside Kamnik, which is where I live. The Alps are right behind my apartment, and so we enjoyed the gorgeous fall colors and the beautiful mountains all around us. My dad told Erin to give me a huge hug when she got here, so here you go dad!!
I was able to have my first real experiences of cooking something other than pasta. So, I learned how to make crepes and they turned out phenomenal! In fact, Erin and I are starting our own business once we both get settled! Here in Europe there are little coffee shops everywhere, and so we are going to open up a crepe business in the States, where you can just come and relax and enjoy the great taste of Netella!

One of the days we were all able to go to Bled, which is a gorgeous little city in Slovenia with a castle and a gorgeous lake, with an island on the middle of it.
Erin and I thought that we should pose a little different for a few shots. I think they add a lot to the picture!!

One of the nights we played "Shuk-e-darn," or "Mormon Bridge" for all you Californians. I ended up winning, after 5 bonus rounds!! Richie, as you can tell, was not happy!

Erin and Richie were able to make it to one of my games and Richie was able to take some pictures of the game! It was such a great game and so much fun to have them there for it! Thanks so much for coming Erin and Richie!! I already miss you! Sure love you guys!

AUSTRIA!!

While I have been here, I have been pretty lucky with the events that I have been able to go to with the Young Single Adults here in Slovenia. After going to Croatia with them a few weeks ago, the Young Single Adults in Slovenia were invited to a Conference in Austria with about 60 other Young Single Adults from other countries around Austria. The weekend was full of workshops, firesides, dancing, food, hikes, church and more.

One of the mornings we had a little extra time and so a bunch of us drove to Vienna for a few hours to see the gorgeous city! I was in awe how amazing it was! It is definitely a city that someone could spend days in and still not get to see everything!

One of our activities was to hike up to the waterfall in Wien Neustadt. It was absolutely gorgeous! These two girls are amazing! They are both in the Branch that I go to and the one in the middle is the Relief Society President here in Slovenia!! Talk about a huge job for someone that age!

These two girls are from Hungary and they are the sweetest people that I have ever met! They are sisters and they are so sweet to each other! They reminded me of the amazing sisters that I have!

Saturday night there was a big dance and I was not expecting the kind of dancing that I saw! All I can say is that everyone in America needs to come over here and see what real, clean dancing is like! I honestly did not know how to dance to their music because of how slow the beat was. It was not the hip hop kind of music that are at dances in the States. They were all pros at "The Waltz!!" It reminded me of Sound of Music and the dancing that is in that movie! It was such a neat experience to see what dances are like in other countries. I definitely learned a lot, and I feel bad for the guys that are still in pain for how many times I stepped on their feet. I for sure need to practice "The Waltz!"