Christmas in January!

So after waiting over two weeks to receive my package from Dad and brother (that was just sitting in Vienna somewhere), I FINALLY got it tonight! But, not only did I get my Dad and brother's package, I got another package and two letters! You can't even imagine how happy I was. Well, I bet you wanna see what was in them?

Well, it's gonna have to wait :) I'm gonna tell you about the presents I received from my mom first :) I got these on Christmas Eve if I do recall and I got to Skype with her while I opened them. She got me....

The Kindle Fire! Yay! Now I don't have to worry about carrying books around with me everywhere I go! Perfect! And she got me a gift card to get started (and I definitely have already gotten started reading). 

Yummy smelling body wash, lotion, and perfume! MMM!!! 

A sweet fossil watch! Awesome! I've already worn this out for a night and I've fallen in love. And I kept saying that I wasn't a watch girl. Once again, Momma knows best :)

And last but not least...

A super cute key chain! "Home is where your mom is". Ain't that the truth :) So, mommy, THANK YOU for this. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH and you mean EVERYTHING to me. I'm glad I got to spend my Christmas with you (even if it was through a computer screen). I can't wait to be "home" again :) 

Okay, NOW I can tell you about the packages I got today...

The first package I opened was a "mystery package". It was a mystery because the return address said that it was from "Your Friends". Who could that be? Ah the excitement! Well, upon opening it I learned it was from my best friend, Alicia Sieverding and her family! Also, there was a card in there from another good friend of mine, Kali Blocklinger! Alicia, a.k.a. "Goose", sent me: 1) A really cute wintery red headband 2) the book "Water For Elephants, which I'm sorry Goose, I've already read it but I can't wait to read it again :) and I would highly recommend it 3) taco bell taco seasoning (if you love Mexican food and you live in Europe, you'll understand) and lastly 4) Dove chocolate! Ah, she knows me too well :)

EDIT: The adorable red headband is actually from Kali, as well! Thanks Block! :)

Also in this package, I got the Sieverding family Christmas card, which I LOVED! So to Goose, Kali, and the Sieverdings, THANK YOU SO MUCH! These gifts are absolutely amazing and I am truly truly blessed to have such wonderful people in my life. I LOVE YOU all very much and I can't wait to see you again! 

I opened the letters second! One was from Donna Mueller (my Husker teammate, Tara Mueller's mom) and enclosed was their family Christmas letter. How amazing that she sent it all the way to me in Vienna! Awesome! The second letter was from my aunt Becky wishing me a Merry Christmas! She also sent me a few photos she had taken of me and some of my family members. Needless to say, the pictures and the cards are hanging in my kitchen for me to look at every day :)

Last, but certainly not least, I opened the package from my Dad and my brother! First thing I saw upon opening it was this...

Now, for those of you who can't quite see what the bottom present says (partly because it's upside down) here's a close up...

Oh my brother always knows how to make me smile. Also, he knows the way straight to my heart! He sent me three things. The first two being: 

Like I said, he knows the way straight to my heart :) Yeah we have a weird obsession with animated movies, I ain't ashamed to admit it. The last thing he sent me was....exactly what I asked Santa for! Good work brother! 

I've been doing my very best lately to become addicted to working out...so far, it's going pretty well. Anyways...BROTHER! THANK YOU SO MUCH! I honestly don't have enough words to describe how much I love you and how much you mean to me! You are seriously the best brother I could've ever asked for! Can't wait to see you again! I LOVE YOU! :)

Next up was the gifts from my Dad.

I opened the biggest present first (I'm still a kid at heart) and inside I find a sweet Under Armour sweatshirt! 

Awesome! AND it fits perfectly! Yay! Okay, so the next present was small...under the wrapping was a little box. I knew this was going to be awesome because I fell in love with the box before I even knew what was inside! 

Ahh! What's inside? Only the best present a girl could ever ask for from her dad...

I immediately felt tears running down my cheeks. Tears of joy because this made me feel so happy and special and because I love my dad so much. And, tears of sadness because I miss him every day. So Dad, obviously you're reading this, I love you so much. You are so special to me and I'm very lucky to have the best dad a girl could ever want. I miss you every day, and I can't wait to come home and see you again. 

What else did Dad and Eric send me? You guessed it....chocolate :) 

Yeah, it says "party bag" on it...oh boy...funny but, just today at practice, my teammate, Jenna Hagglund, and I agreed to stop eating so much chocolate. So much for that idea :)

To sum up...I have the best friends and the most amazing family I could ever dream of. I wish there were enough words in the English language to describe how much you mean to me and how much I love you. You are keeping the fire in my heart going strong. Sending all my love to you from Vienna. I am counting the days til I get to be with you again. I LOVE YOU!

Kayla

P.S. In the spirit of Christmas (in January) here is your "The Office" clip!

HOME

Yes, I've decided to split this up into several blogs because I've been doing a lot in the past two months. And there are three different time periods I could split it into: Guadalajara, Home, and Vienna.

So, here comes Part 2! HOME!

Team USA flew from Guadalajara to LAX on October 21st (I'm pretty sure). From there, I booked a flight that night to Lincoln. So, I collected my bags from the first flight and turned right around and checked into my next flight. OF COURSE, my first flight was delayed, causing me to miss my next flight. I seriously have the worst travel luck ever. So, because of these delays, I was stuck in Denver for the night and would catch a morning flight to Omaha. This is not the first time I've been stuck in Denver trying to get to NE (yeah I told you I have bad travel luck). So, I got to Lincoln on a Saturday, I believe. First thing on the list of things to do: a much-needed pedicure! Thanks to Mama B! I got one of the best pedicures of my life. I forget who it was but if you want to know ask her. I'm sure she remembers. Anyways, since my one of my suitcases got lost on the way to Omaha (again, worst travel luck ever), I didn't have any flip flops to put on so my toes got ruined right away. Haha, figures. After my pedicure I went and showered and headed to the Husker vb game with my mom and brother. They played Illinois and won in 4! They played great. I stayed and trained with the team on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (which might have made my year...like I seriously look forward to when I can get back and play with the Huskers in the Coliseum). And Wednesday after practice, I made the 6 hour drive home to Dubuque! I hadn't been home since April, and even then it was only for like a week or maybe less than that. I wanted to get home early during this break because I didn't know yet when I would be leaving for Vienna. I honestly thought I would have to be flying out the very next weekend. So, I wanted to make sure I got to spend half of my time off at home with the family. Well, it turns out that Austrians (particularly my club) might be the most unorganized people on Earth. Even after I told them I was ready to come out (I had gotten all the documents I needed) they didn't book my flight to Vienna til almost a month since I got back from Guadalajara. Which meant I could've spent more time in Lincoln training. Oh well, I wasn't complaining. I got to spend almost three weeks at home! And an amazing three weeks it was! I told myself I wasn't going to workout or do anything. I was just gonna relax because I'd been running myself into the ground for the past nine months. Literally, the last two or three months of my time in Cali I was working out at night on top of practicing and lifting during the day. Yeah, I kinda went crazy I guess. Anyways, I didn't workout at all when I was home. I hung out with my brother, my dad, and my mom... A LOT! And it was perfect. Most of the time it was just us relaxing. We went and got steaks at Kalmes' one night, mom and I went to Carlos O'Kelly's a lot (its my favorite)! Eric and I went and played vb a few times. Turns out he's pretty good (who would've thunk it). And, yes, he may or may not have, but definitely did, six pack me pretty hard. He had some heat behind it, too. I tried to play it off like it barely hurt and I'd had worse, but damn! He smoked me pretty good.

Speaking of volleyball, I had the chance to go to some of my high school games, something I'd never gotten to do before because I was always in the middle of my college season. I watched them qualify for state and went to one of their practices to give them a little pep talk. A great group of girls who had a great season!

I got to see all my relatives, too! Brunch with my aunts (my dad's sisters) and Grandma Banwarth was fun! We got to go twice and if you get them together it's always worth a good laugh or two...three :) I got to see my aunts and uncles on my mom's side, as well! Spent a lot of time at Mary's (you know Mary, she's in one of my earlier blogs) house in front of the fire! I got to meet Lauren's boyfriend Ian! He's definitely a keeper, Lauren :) Basically, I got to see everyone that I missed during the past 9 months of my life. INCLUDING....drumroll please.....ALICIA SIEVERDING AND KALI BLOCKLINGER! Two of my very best friends! I got to see them twice and catch up on everything with them and of course, all the drama :)

Basically, my time at home was the best I've had in a very long time. It felt good to be around love and family again. It was the perfect way for me to regain my sanity before I started my season in Vienna. 

Kayla

P.S. Eric got a pretty good kick out of this clip, hope you do too! 

P.P.S. I crossed off some of my 101 in 1001! 

27.               Make a wish at 11:11 on November 11^th, 2011.

84.               Go to Olive Garden.

Daddy's Little Girl!

So I know that this blog post is about a week overdue (as they all seem to be), but I had a paper due this past Friday. Needless to say, I was a little preoccupied. Excuses, excuses...I know.


Anyways! The week BEFORE last week was an AMAZING WEEK!!! Why do you ask? Well, I'll tell ya. MY DAD WAS IN TOWN! Okay, I think everyone reading this knows who my dad is, but in case you don't, this is him...

Dad and I got to spend almost an entire week together hanging out and relaxing! And it was perfect! We didn't really have anything planned, but we didn't need to. Just having him here to spend some time with (whatever we did) was awesome. He came to my practices and watched and got to meet the coaches and some of my teammates. We went down to Laguna Beach one night and ate at BJ's. He liked Laguna and saw it as an opportunity to bust out his brand new camera!

Experimenting with zoom. It actually turned out to be a really cool picture.

The houses we can only dream of living in.

And I couldn't leave there without asking someone to take a picture of us!

The one thing that we did have planned for that weekend was a trip into LA for an American Idol concert! We headed to LA kind of early so we could avoid traffic. So we got to the theater around 4. The theater was in a really cool area so we just hung out there for awhile and checked everything out. 

We ate dinner at a place there called the Yard House and I showed off my new found salad-eating skills while he enjoyed a burger. After dinner we headed into the theater.

The Nokia Theater is absolutely huge! But, thanks to eBay, we found some pretty good seat for really cheap!

And we got to see our favorite idols perform! Dad's favorite is Casey and my favorite is Haley! They even did a duet together! It was awesome! 

It was a great night! American Idol is kind of our thing. We watch it every season no matter if we are together or apart and by the time it gets down to the top 5, we have to pick someone who we think will win. Loser owes the winner a steak supper. Can you guess who owed who a steak supper? Probably because I already told you who our favorites were! Well, you guessed right! I win! So, the last night of dad's vacation, we went to Outback Steakhouse! It was delicious! Afterwards we went to Yogurtland for the second night in a row :) It was the absolute perfect ending to a great week! 

So Dad, I know you're reading this. I want to say "thank you" for coming and visiting me! It was the happiest I've been all summer! I love you! 

Kayla

P.S. Dad got me hooked on the show "Swamp People" while he was here. It is pure entertainment and I'm addicted :)

P.P.S. I know how much Dad loves "The Office" (insert sarcasm here), so here is your clip of the week! This is an episode in which Michael decides to go through the complaints folder. There is an entire box dedicated to Dwight's complaints about Jim. Enjoy!

Chocolate=Love

So, I'm still here in Anaheim training hard for USA. Things are going okay for me, I guess. I'm playing pretty well. The team has been gone the past week and a half. They are currently in Mexico competing in the Pan Am Cup. Well, I guess I should say they just finished competing in the Pan Am Cup. They placed third today, securing a spot in the World Grand Prix in 2012. Good job ladies! They get back tomorrow and its back to having everybody in the gym on Monday. We then have three full weeks of practice before the team leaves for the next tournament: World Grand Prix. They'll be gone for the entire month of August. Summer has been flying by, which might be a good thing, because it's been a tough summer (as I'm sure everyone's first summer with the team is). But, hopefully once I get this first one under my belt, it will only get easier.

Like I've said before, I'm SUPER bummed I didn't get to spend this summer in Lincoln (again, don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for being blessed with this opportunity). But, a summer relaxing, working out, and hanging out with my friends would've been amazing! So, needless to say, I've been a little homesick here this summer. However, this past week I received a few smiles in the mail! The first came on Thursday from my best friend, Jess Yanz! You all know about Jess. She is amazing! The best friend anyone could ask for! Aaaaand, she has recently been named Director of Operations at the University of Dayton! Read about it here. And to learn more about my bestest friend in the world, you could also read her blog Expected Serendipity. Anyways, she read a recent status update of mine asking if anyone had any suggestions of good books that I could read. And about a week later, I received this gift in the mail. Let's start with the card. Actually, let's begin with the envelope. This is why I love her.

You laughed right? So did I. :)

And here is the card...she added her own special illustrations to it. The inside says, "This is a card to say that number 3 sucks." That is does, Jess. That is does. Anyways, like I was saying, Jess, being the bestest friend that she is, came to the rescue and sent me a beautiful, brand new book!

I'm only a few chapters in, and already I'm finding it hard to put down. But, that is not all she sent me!

Oh Jess, you know me so well :) Okay, you caught me, they're opened....but at least they're not already gone! THANK YOU JESS!!

So, after an already pleasant surprise this week, the VERY NEXT DAY I received another package in the mail. This one was from my former teammate and good friend of mine, Jordan Wilburger (I guess I should say Jordan Sauer as she was recently married to the man of her dreams). It wasn't another book, but it did include a thank you card for her wedding gift. And guess what else it had inside?

Wow. Do my friends know me or what? Gosh dang it...YES OKAY YES! THE HERSEY'S BLISS BAG IS OPEN! Geez...get off my back will ya? :)

So, thanks to my amazing friends, I received two huge smiles in the mail this week! And I feel your love from Dayton and Lincoln. THANK YOU! I LOVE YOU BOTH VERY MUCH!!

On a different note, today is July 9th, which means it is my dad's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! I'm super bummed I wasn't at home for it, but I am so excited to see you in a few days! I love you!

That's all I have for tonight. Sorry, Eric, but the clip you requested was block on YouTube. But, I hope you like this clip instead because I literally just laughed out loud when I saw it (I will preface it by telling you that they are trying to figure out which one of the employees was smoking).

Enjoy!

Kayla