My Talented Brother

My brother is extremely talented...  He has found a passion for photography and mostly all types of art.  Here's just a sample of what he's been doing lately:

Synchronized Skating World Championships (picture overload)

I went to Synchronized Skating World Championships, April 8-11, 2010, with 7 girls that I skated with in high school and it was an awesome time!  It was great to see where synchro has come since I left the sport in 2007 and its fun to try to predict the trends for the next few years.  We'd been talking about starting an adult team here in Utah before we went to Worlds, but after it was almost a certainty!  We started planning music and getting choreography together, it's going to be an awesome team...  Here are some highlights of the weekend:

Haydenettes Short Program

Crystallettes Short Program

We LOVED Japan's dresses

This team skated to music from the Disney movie Jungle Book it was so cute!

Of course there was a MJ short program :)

We made USA Shirts for the second day of the competition...  They had rhinestones OBVIOUSLY!

Crystallettes Long Program

Half the team was cops and the other half were robbers, it was amazingly choreographed...

Haydenettes Long 

Final podium: Finland 1, Finland 2, USA 1

The last day in Colorado Springs we went to Garden of the Gods here are some of the pictures from that trip

Three Graces

Then we decided to take yoga pose pictures, here are a few of those:

 

Then we made the mom's take a picture:

We climbed in the rocks for a cute shot

Our Engagement Shot

Awesome frame of balanced rock with our fingers as a star...

Vote for Bryce!

Vote for Bryce, he's very talented, and always considers others before himself:

http://www.graduationcontest.com/vote.asp?story=03d6e13a58481b3b3f0aa603e0809f264ae290dc

Friends

I went to Synchronized Skating World Championships this weekend with my friends (another post on that coming soon), we all had a great time and I realized something this weekend and I thought I'd share!

I have been friends with these girls since high school, when we all skated together on a synchro team.  I never realized when I met them 10 years ago that we would be traveling, growing up, and sticking with each other throughout our lives, but now I cannot imagine my life without them!  We all had quite the 2009 (and 2010 so far): Angie and Alyssa got married, Amy moved in with her bf, Emily had her second baby (Lydia so cute!) and got an awesome new job that she loves, Meg is kicking butt as an athletic trainer and grad student and she got a puppy, and I am working my way through law school and one of my good friends won an Olympic gold medal!  We had several "grown up" conversations about jobs and husbands and everything in between during this trip and it made me realize that these girls are the people I lean on for help in all facets of my life and I know that they will be there for me, no matter what, for the rest of my life.  I am really grateful to have such great friends, love you girls!  I couldn't complete this post without talking about the moms we had on our trip...

I love how they still call us the kids/girls even though we are all in our mid-20s, half are married, and one has two kids!  Thanks for being there for all your "kids"! [and putting up with us posing you in pictures]

I am famous!

I was looking through pictures from the games and I found this one:

It's a skeleton slider, going into MY IDEA for skeleton stopping that I came up with during World Cup in Park City!  Being used in the OLYMPICS!   It's my claim to fame :)

OLYMPICS!

My Olympic addiction started when I was a junior in high school and the Winter Olympic Games came to Salt Lake City in 2002. I had the great opportunity to skate in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and experience the greatness that was the Olympic experience.

After I graduated from high school I went on to the University of Michigan and managed in Sports Management. During the summers I worked at one of the venues that was created for the 2002 games, the Utah Olympic Park. I have worked for the Utah Athletic Foundation since I was 19 years old, or 6 years! I worked in various capacities at the Utah Olympic Park, and now teach Learn to Skate at the Utah Olympic Oval. The legacy foundation (UAF) has been very good to me and I cannot explain the amazing experiences that working for the 2002 Legacy venues has brought me.

I started law school during the Fall of 2008, and subsequently started the second best job I've ever had, a the Office of Athletics Compliance for the University of Utah Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. It has combined my love of sports and love of interpreting and implementing rules, and helping people.

Growing up and working in Park City, UT and at the UOP and UOO means that you get to know people with amazing stories and fantastic dreams. Here are a few stories of people that I know, who are achieving their dreams in Vancouver at the 2010 Winter Olympics:

Steve Holcomb: I don't think I need to say any more about this man, other than I am so proud of him for standing up in his Olympic moment and really showing those Germans! He couldn't have done it alone of course, he needed his push men, Steve Mesler and Justin Olsen and his trusty brakeman Curt Tomasevicz. SO proud of the Night Train team!

Brett Camerota: I went to high school with Brett and his twin brother Eric. They were both sorta shy at school but super smart. Brett has also trained at the Park for a very long time (forever maybe). Brett was a member of the US Nordic Combined team that won the historic silver medal this week! Nordic and Nordic Combined skiers don't benefit from the sponsorship of the US Ski Team, like "regular skiers" (think Lindsay Vonn and Bode Miller). Their dedication in the face of adversity is one of the great stories of the Games!

Jeret "Speedy" Peterson: Speedy has trained at the Park for as long as I can remember. He is such a great guy and totally deserving of his success. Speedy is good friends with one my best friends Tia. After all he has been through I am so happy for Speedy and his success. Tell me you all saw him throw the HURRICANE?!? (Tia and I talked this week about how we were stress eating for our friends! Getting so nervous for them in their Olympic opportunity, it was a funny moment!)

Scotty Bahrke: Scotty has been one of my friends for a few years. He was an alternate to the US Freestyle Aerials Team this year for the 2010 games. When Dylan Furgeson had appendecitis and got a subsequent infection from the surgery, Scotty stepped in. Scotty didn't make the finals in a very talented Men's Aerials Field, but he did his job, he threw his biggest tricks and went for it all. Scotty has so much heart and I am so proud to know him. He is really shooting for the 2014 Sochi games. His last name might sound familiar, his sister is Shannon Bahrke, Bronze Medallist, Women's moguls. Olympic excellence runs in the family! Great work Shannon and Scotty!

I love the Olympics and I am so sad that they are going to be over so soon!

Nimblee

My childhood best friend Sara Beth Parks has the cutest stationary designs and announcements and things like that on her website! Check her out ---> http://thenimblee.com/