I Am Graduating From College!!

Although this has been an extremely rough year for me, I have some great news I want to share with everyone!!! I am officially graduating from college in December from Central Michigan University! For those who have been a part of my journey, it has been very difficult to get a college degree AND pursue my dreams snowboarding. I was determined to graduate and finally all my hard work has paid off! Studying during all my travels around the world, at competitions and even when I'm injured was super hard, but I did it!! My biggest challenge to finish school was managing my concussion issues, which SUCKED! I admit, I probably should have taken more time off of school once I hurt my head again, but regardless, IM GRADUATING!!!! Thanks to all who have supported me through ALL my journeys, including this one! fire up chips!!!!

Life AFTER snowboarding

Life is full of journeys, experiences and adventures. As I look back on the last 7 or so years of my life, I had more of that then most people ever have in their entire life. I wish that I could say I have more years left to live those same adventures, but it's time to start making new memories in a new way. Snowboarding has been the biggest part of my life for a long time. I had a dream when I was very young, and did everything in my power to live that dream. I gave up part of high school, my wish to become a pediatric oncologist, friendships, family time and a "normal" teenage/young adult life to spend countless hours on my snowboard training, waking up at the crack of dawn to get multiple gym sessions in, eat like a health freak and rarely have "cheat" days, injuries that will impact my life forever, blood sweat and tears, but was also able to travel the world, live in different parts of the country, meet some of the most amazing people who are now lifelong friends, and do the thing I love most, snowboard! As I think back on all of the injuries I have had, nothing compares to what I am going through now. I would break my hip 1000 more times then get another concussion, which is why I made the decision to end my competitive snowboard journey. Brain injuries SUCK, there is no better word to describe them and I would never wish them upon anyone. With the support and love from so many though, I am slowly recovering and able to get back to my everyday tasks, including recreational (casual) snowboarding come winter!! Seeing my former teammates head to Australia and Argentina was a lot harder then I thought, I only wish I could be there with them too! Though it is absolutely heartbreaking and (I admit) has led to many tears to end such a huge part of my life, I am so thankful I have made wonderful memories and friends that will last a lifetime. Thank you to all of you, my sponsors, my supporters, my friends, and most of all, my family, who have stood by me since day one on this snowboard journey. You are the reason I have been able to live such a great life; I cannot thank you enough. As for now, I am not sure where my life will lead me to. All I know is that I will be okay, and I have many many many more years to make even more (and maybe even better) adventures and memories!! #loveyourbrain 

Although my snowboard career may be over, my blog is not. With inspiration from a class in college I am in, I decided to continue this blog with my life AFTER snowboarding! I cannot wait to bring you all along my journey of creating a new life outside of snowboarding!

Concussed but OKAY!

Unfortunately, the second day I get back from Christmas vacation, I smacked my noggin just a little bit TOO hard, and gave myself a concussion. I won't lie, from what I remember, it was really scary.  Especially the few days after, I couldn't remember ANYTHING! Concussions are definitely something you don't want to mess around with, especially since this one of MANY concussions, so I have been taking it extremely easy the last 15 days.  I've been getting a lot of quality time with my beautiful dog! Thankfully, this is NOT a season ending injury, and I will be back in snow TOMORROW :) I will obviously be easing back into snowboarding, but I plan to be ready to go, full fuel, by my first Nor-Am of the season end of next week!
Thank you to everyone for all the prayers for me to get well soon! They worked!! :) Now its time to go kick a** in Canada!!

Winter is Just About Here!

I spy snow on the mountains, and snow on the ground every morning! Word on the street is A-Basin and Loveland are open! All this means WINTER is just around the corner, and I cannot be more excited! The last month I've been in summit, I've been putting a lot of time in the gym and in my yoga practices, and think I'm ready for the season to begin!! On top of that, I got a teaching job at Summit Hot Yoga, on Tuesdays at 6:00 am! 

BUT, the most exciting thing of all, is in just about 2 weeks, the ISTC is off to Austria for a camp and 2 competitions. I cannot wait to go back to Europe, and get back on a boardercross course!

This is going to be a good season for me, I can feel it!! 

Fall in the Rockies

I'm finally back in Colorado, and it's around my favorite time of year.... fall! The colors are absolutely breathtaking and the weather has been so nice!! On top of that, my home for the next 7 months couldn't be any more perfect.  Its not only a beautiful home, but just has just as nice of a backyard!! I even have an awesome porch to practice my daily yoga!! Nala is loving life too.. though I think she really misses Burton (our family dog back in Michigan), she is having a ball running around, hiking and enjoying the outdoors!!

Monday starts gym training with my team, and I couldn't be more ready for it!! I cannot wait for the snow too fall and start snowboarding... but in the mean time, I'm going to embrace this beautiful weather. You can find me outside :)

                                             

Parents are here with me for the week :)

Trip Down Under

It's been about a week since I've been back in the states, after being in Australia for 2 weeks! I had such an amazing time in Australia. Unfortunately we were only there to snowboard, therefore I wasn't able to do much site seeing, but from what I did see, I can see why there is so much hype about it.  What a beautiful country Australia is!
My coach and teammates Senna, Duncan, Sean and Hyeong Bae (and his translator Jaqusang), along with myself, made the small ISTC crew down under.  I unfortunately had some sort of bug (I think the flu) the first day and a half we were there, so that obviously was no fun.  But I recovered very quick and was able to take full advantage of being on snow.
We had two competitions within the first couple days of us being there, then we did a training camp after.  I placed 7th and 4th in the two competitions.  Bummed I wasn't able to get to the podium, but I still was very content with my riding, especially coming off the flu and it being my first day on snow in months!
The training camp went very well too.  The weather in the mountains of Australia is known to be very windy and foggy, and that is exactly how it was.  With this being said, every training day that we had, had weather like this. One of my goals for this upcoming season is to be able to ride in any conditions, and not to hold back regardless. So personally, I was stoked with the weather.  I felt really confident riding when I couldn't see anything in front of me, which was a HUGE accomplishment for me.  I also feel that I progressed in my turns and my starts.
I wish this trip was a little bit longer, on and off snow.  Note to self, next time I go down under, I have to stay for a couple days to site see!
But overall, this was such an amazing experience, I am so blessed to be able to travel the world and see things that the average person cannot!
One more month and I'm headed west, to Colorado! I cannot wait to move back there! Until then, its serious gym time, and also now that I'm officially a RYT 200 - yoga instructor, I have a lot of classes booked to teach :)

The typical weather day

                  The one nice day that we had! we did a banked slalom, and had some fun with it!

Summer Plans!

Well tomorrow is officially the first day of summer, although Michigan's weather hasn't felt like it! 

I've had an extremely busy summer so far.  I decided I was going to go back to school, so I am taking a full load of classes this summer, in hopes to graduate by the end of next summer! I have also been working for my dad a few days a week.  On top of all that, I just got myself a new puppy! Her name is Nala, and getting her has been the best thing ever!! She is a black Lab, and will be 13 weeks on Wednesday! I keep telling her to stop growing, but she isn't listening!!  

A week from today I'm going to Tahoe, in California, to visit my boyfriend! He's getting ACL surgery too, so I'm also going to be nurse brooke! When I get home from Cali, I am taking a 16 day, RYT 200 class.  This means I'm going to be certified to teach yoga! I am SO excited to be able to learn more about yoga, and then be able to teach it! After this class, I'm off to AUSTRALIA!!! You can say I'm a bit excited for this! We head down under the beginning of August, and there will be competitions and a camp! I cannot wait to see my friend's, teammates, and get back on my snowboard!! I love being able to travel the world, and experience things outside of our country!!

There is NEVER a dull moment in my life, but I wouldn't change it for the world!!