The end of my career

My last track meet was yesterday. I did not make it to Nationals. It was a bittersweet ending to all the years I put into jumping. I cleared 5'8.5'' but my knee buckled on me twice while jumping 5'10''. I guess it wasn't meant to be. It's good for my body to be done, but it's going to be hard adjusting to a life without high jumping. I think it's going to be harder than I ever imagined to say goodbye to something that has been such an enormous part of my life. I have learned so much and have had so many great experiences that I would not ever take back. Life moves on, and so that means I must try to move on too.

Jumping and crafts

This last weekend I was in Albuquerque, New Mexico competing in the 2010 Outdoor Track and Field Mountain West Conference Championships. I performed really well. I was a little nervous, but I have learned to love nerves; they make me jump higher. I came in jumping at 5'4.5''. I cleared that and 5'6'' on my first attempt. 5'8'' I have noticed has been a transition height for me. In practice and in a meet I seem to have trouble clearing it on my first try. I did clear the height, but on my second attempt. Next was 5'9.5'' then 5'10.5'', which I cleared both on my first attempt. At 5'11.5'' I cleared it, but my calves hit it off. Because I was already in second place with my teammate in first and no other girls were in, my coach told me to pass the 5'11.5'' and try to go for the win at 6'1'' because my teammate already cleared the 5'11.5''. I was semi-close at 6'1'', but my bottom needs to be just a hair higher. I am excited though because I made it over 5'11.5''... if it weren't for my dang calves. So I like to consider that I basically cleared 6'0''!

About a week to two weeks ago I started on a project. I was blog hopping...my favorite past time, and came across a lady's blog where she created baby name collages. I instantly fell in love with the idea. She used her cricut machine to help her out which I now know how to work mine. Because Jodi (my sister-in-law) was having a baby I decided that I would give it a try and it turned out great! It has the baby's name and a spot to put her picture. The pictures I took aren't great, but everything is in 3-D and put in a shadow box. So now I know what I can do for all the little babies that are on their way.

The New Baby

I had a track meet Wednesday. I was at Weber College in freezing cold weather with a full blown head wind. I lost circulation in my fingers to the point where they turned white and the trainer was checking my capillary refill. Needless to say I didn't jump well, but oh well you have those days. It was 7:00 when the team loaded the bus. I called Jordan and he informed me Jodi (his sister) had been having contractions. According to Jodi they felt like really bad period cramps.

After the team went out for dinner I called back to find out that her contractions went from 10 minutes apart to a range from 1 to 6 minutes apart. I got back to campus at 11pm and Jordan was there to pick me up. We drove home and as soon as we pulled up Drew sprinted out the door with a towel in hand running to the car. He said, "Jodi's water just broke!" We get out of car and I go to the steps and find Jodi crying trying to put on her shoes. She waddles down the stairs and all I could say is good luck. I ran up the stairs to stop Caesar (their dog) from sprinting after her. About 20 minutes later we get a phone call saying that's she's dilated to a 3 and is getting an epidural.

An hour later Jordan and I drive to the hospital and she is dilated to a 5. Within the hour she gets checked again and is at a 10 and is ready to push. I fell asleep in a chair during the hour she pushed because it was 3:00am. When the time came I stood off to the side and got pictures of the baby when she came out. All of this was really good for me because I kind of know what to expect when having a baby.

They named the baby girl Braelyn Olivia. 7 lbs 2 oz, 19.5 in long. Jordan and I finally left to go home at 5:30. We were pretty exhausted and slept till 2 the next morning.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

The original plan for Jordan and I was to spend our one year anniversary where we had our honeymoon in Park City. We wanted to eat at the same fancy restaurant - Chez Betty's - which is a restaurant with spectacular tasting food and you have to dress up for it too. Slowly, but surely plans began to change.

#1: I found out I had a track meet the same weekend. Jordan then stopped planning spending the entire weekend together and thought that we could just go to Chez Betty's.

#2: My track meet got cancelled due to the weather, but I found out I was working both Friday and Saturday morning so we couldn't have gone anyway.

Things still turned out great. While at Wal-Mart Jordan surprised me with a gift. It might seem lame to everyone, but it was really cute and funny to me. He got me a copy of our house key, which I already owned, but the key is decorated. It couldn't have been more perfect, purple and a butterfly. :)



Now that wasn't my anniversary gift. Instead we got each other laptops. We both desperately needed them. Our other ones went straight to the grave.



Technically our anniversary is on Sunday, but because of church and church meetings we decided to celebrate Saturday night. Jordan cooked me a fancy dinner - Fillet Mignon, asparagus, and new potatoes. We ended with our cake and gram canyon ice cream. The evening is not what we originally planned, but we both make the best with whatever comes our way. YEAH.....one year!!!

Graduation

I am officially a college graduate!! This last Thursday I went to the big graduation (everyone that's graduating from BYU) and Friday I went to my college graduation (Life Sciences). It was a very fun couple of days.



However, like every important day (such as my wedding) it rains when I want pictures. It's okay though because having my family there was more important.



On Saturday I had a track meet with my own cheering section. It was because of them that I did so well :) At practice the next day a lot of girls knew about how well I did because they literally heard the cheering after I cleared the bar.




5'10'' and counting!

PR-----YEAH!!!

For the past few days I have been in Irvine California soaking up the sun which means sunburn for my white skin. I went to the beach one day and then just spent the rest of the time relaxing like it was spring break.

My first track meet of the year was yesterday. I was nervous because I have been out of action for several months with my knee being injured. I’ve been slowly building back up, but my knee is only letting me do about ¼ of the normal workouts. It’s okay though, I focus on quality versus quantity.

I had an awesome day in practice Monday which led me to believe I could come in at start at an opening height of 5’2 ½’’. I cleared it, then 5’ 4 ½’’, 5’6’’, then 5’ 8''! PR stands for Personal Record in track and that just what I did; I set a new personal best for myself. I had one decent attempt at 5’10’’, but the other 2 weren’t as pretty. My first attempt, however, led me to believe that the height is not out of my reach.

I placed 2nd overall and received a nice complement from one of the officials. She said, “You are by far my favorite jumper out here today. It didn’t matter what happened here [she pointed to the mat], you always kept a beautiful smile.” I thought that was really nice of her to say. I simply was smiling because I got my first opportunity to attempt 5’10’’.

What is happening

Christmas break is only 2 weeks away and I could not be more ready. For the Christmas holiday Jordan and I did our best at decorating with the little space we have. Mom sent out a package with a few things which was really helpful. In the end we have a tiny tiny tree that sits on our living room table, two stuffed snowmen (one on a window seal and the other in front of the TV), 3 advent calendars on our bookshelf, and a Christmas blanket that sits on our couch. It's not much, but it sure makes a difference. We'll be spending the Holidays at Jordan's parents house in Colorado Springs where I plan on carrying out the tradition I grew up in of making ginger bread houses, watching the clay animation films, and looking at Christmas lights on Christmas eve. It's our first Christmas together so I making sure we start it off right.

Others things that have been going on:

Jordan is starting to look at internships in Washington DC for this coming summer. He gave a tour to a guy that works for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (located in Washington DC), and the guy liked him so much that he said that he would hook him up with any department that he wanted to intern for. So Jordan is looking into to it.

I had an MRI the day before Thanksgiving on my left knee. I saw the doctor a week ago to become informed that I partially tore my patella tendon where it attaches to the bone below my knee. Tomorrow they are doing a PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) injection. It's a fairly new procedure where the draw my blood, centrifuge it, remove the platelets and inject them right into my tendon to stimulate growth and healing. In other words it is suppose to speed up the healing process. I'm a little nervous because it is suppose to hurt quite a bit. I will take a pain killer 1 hour before and the only other numbing I will receive is ice on my knee before they inject my tendon. I'll be out for a month, but should be fine by the time I start to compete in March.

The Bearer of Good News!!!!!!!!!!

A LOT has been going on in the Dziendziel household. There's simply so much to tell so it'll be easier to just put it in list form.

We are counting our blessings:

1. I got a wedding band for my ring.



The place where we bought my engagement ring was having a huge sale where they were liquidating all of their inventory so they can have room for the new jewelery. We decided if I were to ever get a wedding band now would be the time because the price of gold is increasing. So lucky us, we were able to get $400 off the ring. We basically bought it for the same price the store bought it for.

2. I got a track scholarship.

My coach approached me recently while I was on campus to congratulate me. I looked at him and said, "What for?" He told me I would be getting half tuition paid for. I jumped up and down and gave him a huge hug thanking him so much. It was nice to hear from him that I've earned it.

3. Jordan got a job!!

We have been praying for this opportunity for Jordan. He was one of many who applied for 2 spots with the public relations department. His interview went really well and come to find out now, the whole board interviewing him was ready to offer him the job on the spot. I guess he knows how to impress :) Anyway, when he got the call several days later to go talk to his soon to be boss, he was in for a little surprise. It through us for a loop. He got a job, but not the original job he was applying for. They had to go through a lot of people (all the way up to the vice president of BYU) to create a new position for Jordan. Apparently he was the answer to their prayers. He works for public affairs/guest relations coupled with external affairs. He will be the "Know it all" that will deal with all of public and external affairs. He will be able to go between the two departments and fulfill any need required. He will become the expert of the Hinckley Alumni Building, escorting alumni and general authorities around campus, and fill in as a tour guide when needed. There's a lot to his job description because he basically has to know everything, but it's a lot of fun for him.

4. We got grants.

Saturday morning while I was at work I checked online to see if we by chance had gotten any grant money. We both have been looking consistently, but nothing has every come. To my wonderful surprise we got money, and way more than we were expecting. Jordan got a full grant $4400 and I was close behind at $4300. The excitement comes in where I found out that I got another grant. I was awarded an extra $4000 in what is called a SMART grant. It's for Science/Math majors in there junior/senior year who have higher than a 3.0 GPA. There are other qualifications, but apparently I met them all. It's really nice not to worry about paying for school this year - we definitely needed that.

5. I cut Jordan's hair

While some may think this isn't a big deal....it is in our house. I decided that $20.00 for a hair cut every 3 months for Jordan was not worth the money when I knew I could develop the talent. The problem with developing a talent is you actually have to practice it..aka convince Jordan to let me cut his hair. It's been an on going battle for over a 2 months. We finally bought clippers, but Jordan still stayed at a distance. It didn't help that I didn't have any experience in my favor. I figure how hard could it be? I watched mom cut hair all growing up and I paid extra close attention at the last hair cut he got. Still Jordan was not having it. After a little disagreement ;), Jordan put his confidence in me (which by the way was smaller than that speck of dust you sometime see floating in the air - or rather don't see). We took it real slow and had 3 mirrors set up all around so he could see everything. (He's REALLY REALLY picky about his hair) I was ordered several times of what to do and how to do it, then got totally different instructions one minute later. (I think he was a little nervous.) The hardest part was "Blending" his hair. He likes clippers only on the sides and scissors on the top....but everything has to Blend!!! Two and a half hours later he stood up with a smile on his face and apologized for not having confidence in me. I might add that I did a wonderful job for no experience what so ever. Next time though, we wont be spending 2.5 hours cutting hair

A back view....The front view will come tomorrow.



6. Our Grades

I officially got an A- in my chemistry lab which took a lot more time than I was expecting this summer. Jordan will be getting A's in his English and News Writing Class, and if I get higher than an 85% on my final, I'll be getting an A- in my other Chemistry class. We are both excited.

7. Jordan's Benchmark

For those who don't know. In a news writing class you have to take a benchmark. It's where you listen to a press conference and news release and write an article on it. It's graded upon AP style format, organization, and content. The score goes in increments of 10 up to 50 being the best. It's really hard to get a 50 and Jordan was one of 2 students to receive a 50. This means a lot because his benchmark ways heavily in applying for his program, (public relations) which he'll do this fall. I have full confidence with his grades, benchmark, projects, and having the main professor on the board really liking him, that he'll get in with no problem. But we'll save that good news for later...I've already have written too much. All I have to say is that we have been blessed.

It's All Here Now

Okay, I'm determined to get everything down in this one entry. To start off I wanted to say a little about our wedding. In my opinion, things went very very well. It was pretty windy that day, but we were blessed to have the rain stop while we took pictures. I've recently started reading about how Granddad Leithead courted Grandma Leithead and in there I never realized how it was only the two of them at their wedding because no family members, not even their parents could attend. In response to that thought, I am really appreciative and grateful for how much family I had that could come. I'm so happy that people could be there. The reception for me was even better than I had pictured in my mind. I loved how laid back it was and that Jordan and I had time to talk with everyone, eat dinner, walk around, etc. without having an agenda. That's my kind of reception.

Our honeymoon was a lot of fun. We went to Park City and stayed in the Marriott there on Main Street. We had basically a condo for a hotel room. It had a kitchen, dinning room, living room, washer dryer, a jet tub etc. So we were able to bring food and cook it there. We did, however, go out one night to a fancy dinner. Earlier that day Jordan had bought me a wedding gift of a complete set of pearls. So I wore the earrings, necklace, and bracelet with my nicest black dress. He wore his suit and tie and we headed to a place called Ches Betty. We had so much fun we wanted to do that every night! But obviously there's moderation in all things because if there weren't, we would be broke. The food was something words can't describe. It really was an explosion of taste in every bit. I have never had such flavor in my food before. This was the type of restaurant where they would scrap off the table after each course and bring out little specialty things made by the chef just to taste. Other things we did in Park City was take a tour at Olympic park. Due to the fact that we went in between seasons nobody was there which was nice, but also a lot of things were closed. We still though, had the most enjoyable time of our newly began life together.











To update on a things a little more recent....I placed third at the conference meet in Wyoming this last weekend. I came so terribly close to going to regionals. My last attempt at 5'9'' nobody including myself knew what hit it off. As I watch the film I just can't seem to see what hit it. I'm all the way over and on my way down the bar out of no where decides to drop - it's weird! But such is life. So I know I can clear 5'9'' and I consider it my new Personal Record because my old PR of 5'7'' I have been clearing consistently in practice every time we jumped. What I failed to mention though is the whole week before the meet I was basically injured. I didn't work out all week cause I was getting these pains in my hip when I walked and my SI joint was consistently tight or jammed out of place. After going to all the student trainers and finally to the chiropractor twice they nailed what it was. I strained my tensor fasciae latae. To those who don't know where that is it's basically my front/lateral hip muscle. I hurt it pretty bad cause I could barely walk. It got a little better each day, but when it came time to jump I just practiced mind over body. I was sore afterwards, but maybe it's a blessing in desguise that I didn't make it to regionals so it could heal.


I went in to see my coach today because he wanted to talk about my summer training. We talked for a while about how far I've come. He has been so nice to work so closely with me - a walk on. But he told me he is so proud of me and it's so enjoyable to him to see my progress. He really thinks I'm going to nail it next year because for some reason everything fell into place this year. My physical, mental, emotional, etc. Then without me saying anything he told me that he can't promise me anything yet, but once all the money is distributed to the certain athletes on scholarship, whatever is left over is going to me. He says no one deserves it better than I do and I've earned it. So there is no guarantee that there will be money, but I felt like it was such an honor. Jordan and I know are going to be praying and hoping for some money because we definitely could use the help. I feel looking back through all my struggles with this event, through all the tough hard times not understanding why I couldn't do what I wanted when I wanted, that every minute of the journey was worth it. I truly believe it's not the end result that your happy with, but the journey you took to get there.