Fall College Days

Wow, so I am the worst blogger in the world I've decided, but oh well. here's a quick update since i last wrote! :)

-I have been starting on the University of Utah volleyball team and have played pretty well for my first year

--I love playing and love my teammates even more. They are all really nice and look after me! Being in the PAC-12 definitely threw me for a curve. I t is a lot harder than one would imagine. Out of the 12 teams, 5 are ranked in the top 20 and you can't look past those who aren't because they are good too (that includes us!). We have 3 games left that we should win and we can take 8th in our conference which is extremely good considering we are young and this is our first year in the PAC-12.

-School is a breeze and I am passing all of my classes easily.

--I am not taking hard classes because I am so heavy into volleyball but I enjoy my classes the same. I am doing extremely well and hope my grades will reflect that at the end of the semester. We only have 4 weeks until Christmas break and I am so ready to go home and relax for a while.

-Dates, Boys, And More!
--I have gone on a few dates since I have been here and each one has been a blast. There are a few guys who I am crushing on (as normal). They both play sports are freshman and super cute! One is a swimmer and the other is a quarterback. They both just got their mission calls and will leave in the spring semester. A bummer for me but really cool for them! I am writing my friend Steven who is on a mission and comes home in less than a year. It'll be nice to have him home.

-Dallon has left on his mission and I miss him more than ever.

--I am so not used to having my brother gone and every time I think about him I can't help but cry. Luckily one of the boys i dated this summer has connections with the district leaders in Peru so i can secretly know what's going on and how my big brother is doing. This Christmas is going to be super strange and foreign without him there.

Well that's the big news so far. Nothing exotic unfortunately, but i like to make believe my life is. I am so happy and love being at college. It has definitely proven to be as fun as everyone told me it would. I miss my friends from high school and club ball but couldn't be making better ones here. Life is GOOD!! :)

More pictures of Europe!

Home at Last!

Well I am finally home and am so happy to be! I got in last night around 1 am after my flight had to be delayed due to bad weather in Atlanta. That had to be the longest flight in the entire history! The flight from Venice to Atlanta was 11 hours in itself but it didn't help that I sat next to a lady that complained about the screaming babies the whole time. She was worse then the babies! Needless to say I did not sleep on that flight. When we got to Atlanta I was so relieved to be back in the US and know and understand the language they spoke. It felt like home, even though it was just Atlanta. The flight to Salt Lake got delayed 3 hours and I felt as if I were never coming home. But miraculously the plane finally took off and we were on our way. There was barely anyone on the flight and we each got our own rows to lay down on. Oh boy did I sleep like a rock on that flight. We touched down and I almost ran off the plane to see My family and get out of the airports that I had now been in for 23 hours. Finally I got home!

At home I gave mom, dad, and Dallon thier gifts, I was really excited to show them everything that I got and tell them some stories. I spent the night at mom and dad's then drove up to school this morning. I had class and a presentaiton that was due, which I got 100% on!! Now I get to chill due laundry and put all my things away.

Europe was so much fun and I am so thankful I got to go. It was a true blessing!!

Volleyball Land of Romans

Sorry it has been a while since my last post; the hotel we are at right now does not have Internet unless you pay for it. So I splurged and now have 309 minutes to tell you all about what has happened since we have been in Croatia. Where to begin! First we arrived on Sunday and had opening ceremonies that night on the old roman streets. The buildings were amazing and so interesting to see. We watched some kids dace around in the traditional Croatian dance then they announced each of our teams.

The next day we played the Czech and Slovenia teams. with each team we went 2-1, unfortunately we were the 1 but oh well. The next day we played an Italian team (at least i think they were Italian) and the Romania team. We beat the Italian team 2-1 but lost to Romania 1-2. The next day we played an American team, my college coaches team and teammates. It was a very close and fun game but they pulled out the win 2-1. Today we played another US team and lost in a close battle 2-1.

We ended up taking 8th overall which actually isn't too bad. It was a lot of fun playing and i feel as if i have definitely improved.

On Monday we went to the beach and jumped off the rocks. I had a blast and never knew the water to be so salty!!

Other than that not much has happened. It has been fun getting to bond with the girls and I have enjoyed seeing and meeting new people and new sights. I don't know what we are exactly doing for the rest of the time but I will be sure to update in a few days!

Oh by the way...my name is officially CHARLES now. Love ya!!

The Trip Evolves...

Europe has been a blast so far, but let's start from the beginning of it all!

Our plane ride got delayed by two hours from Atlanta to Munich. that was not all the best but still fun. I got most of my homework done, well 9 out of the 12 hours i had to do. Grrrr maybe college isn't as fun as i thought it would be. Anyway, the 11 hour flight was fun because I sat next to Kaesey Taylor. We watched Soul Surfer, wich was excellent by the way, and did yoga in the back of the plane with one of the flight attendents. Ha ha ha her name was Grace and she was the besst! Our flight touched down in Munich at 9:30 Munich time, that's 1:30 Utah time. So excited we quickly went through the passport lines then was greated by three German guys, don't worry mom, not cute, old and spoke naughty. We drove for 1 hour to Salzburg, Austria and toured for a few hours. We then drove 4 hours to Morabor where we currently reside, in a brand new hotel, like two days old, literally, but actually our celing leaked and we had to move rooms the first night, not so fun. this morning i got up at 6 am here and took my midterm which i feel pretty good about but that usually means i failed it. ha ha oh well. After I finished my test we had practice. This was a funny practice. The balls are super strange, light, float a lot and yellow and blue. The court is really really really really sticky and there is no way you can slide. Good thing i was taught to roll!! ha ha :) after practice we went to the city and toured. i got new shoes because the white ones i brought are about to get a whole in the top. Then we scrimmaged a Solvenia team, no one really won we just played. Now we are about to go see Harry Potter and i am SUPER EXCITED!!!!!! Let's hope it's good. Well thats all for now, sorry this is a lame post but i don't really care. Hope all is going well...I love you all!!!

A Blast of a Time!

What a blast we had! My volleyball team headed over to Disneyworld for the day. We arrived around 10:30 and headed straight for space mountain. The thriller ride got us all excited for the next to come: The rockets, Splash mountain (we splashed each other and were completely soaked!!!)

Buzz lightyear ride where we shoot at targets, i got second! Daniel Jones got first :), next came the tea cups, i did not join in on this one but got good pictures.

We traveled through the park hitting the haunted mansion, thurder railroad, and splash mountain once again. The trip was lots of fun and defintily one we will all remember!!!

A First Arrival turns good!

Today we arrived in Orlando, Florida around 3:30. We very carefully crammed our suitcases in the 10 passenger van and drove off the the hotel. After literally dropping our things off to go out to eat, we made our way over to the Orlando. Florida temple to do baptisms for the dead. What a humbling and awesome experience all thrown in one simple hour. Our arrival and introduction was a little troubling as we realized no one had been assigned to do baptisms for the remainder of the night. Fortunately the workers were very kind and volunteered to stay a few extra hours after their shift the help the 7 of us. Nicole Koehler, Kaitlyn Vanhoff, Kimberly Dahl, Elle Brainard, Samantha Staker, Mckenna Tait, Daniel Jones and I made our way down to the font to be baptised. I couldn't hep but be so excited. It is amazing to me how strong the spirit is when one enters sacred ground and performs a work another could not do. My smile did not disappear from my face the whole time we were in the temple (I think one of the temple workers thought I was very strange, they kept asking if this was my first time in the temple :) ) The experience is one i will never forget.

After we walked and toured the temple grounds. Meanwhile Scott Lee, our coach, caught a corn snake and scared some of the girls with it. I on the other hand, I was brave enough to hold it, and what do you know, it stayed still for me and liked me, i believe!! Well...our adventure for today is coming to a close. Tomorrow we embark to Disneyworld!! WOO HOO!!!!!!

Trip of a Lifetime

This blog is being made in order to tell my freinds and family what i am up to!
This summer i have the wonderful opportuinity to go to Europe with a Utah USA Junior Olympic Volleyball team and I am Freakin excited! Last night Mom and I went shopping for graduation but got things for Europe also. I got three new pairs of shorts, the cutest dress and new shoes to show off in Venice! I can't begin to describe my excitement for the trip! I know it will be the trip of a lifetime and I will never forget it!