A Wonderful Christmas Season!

I started a job last Monday. I'm only working until this coming Saturday. Perfect. This is the exact position I was looking for. Valet=hardly any work. Also enough money to get me through the holidays. And I only have to work six days out of my five week break. I'm going to be in and out of employment with the restaurant before they even give me my first paycheck! Unfortunately, I did have to work Christmas Eve instead of enjoying a relaxing evening at my grandma's. It was really cool though, I wore a Santa hat to work and then I saw a homeless man who was dressed as Santa. Naturally, I ran over to him and told him that I liked his hat. We got to talking and he let me take a picture with him. He had a real Santa beard! He told me that I had some work to do. But his took five years to grow, so I've still got some catching up to do. I also have to work both New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. I'll get over it. Besides, there will be a firework show about two blocks away from the restaurant, so I should be able to watch while I "work."

In the meantime, I went skiing with David Wallisch at Eldora Ski Resort, just outside of Boulder, CO. I get my fix there. I get out to the slopes once or twice a year, and I enjoy going, but with how expensive it is once or twice is plenty for me. Although, this time around, my mom paid for my rentals, and David, bless his heart, got me a free lift ticket. How lucky am I?

Christmas Day came and went. I cannot believe 2010 is almost over. A saying that I picked up about life, can't remember where, "Life is like a roll of toilet paper: the more you go through, the faster it gets." There's a second half of the saying; if you're curious, you can ask me about it. I really didn't ask for much this year, but my parents decided to spoil us this year. Among other things, all of us kids (there are six) got an IPod Touch. I have so much. Apart from everything that I got for Christmas. God has given me so much - friends, family, food, shelter, I could go on. I had to part myself from the crowd on Christmas Day because I was so overwhelmed by it all.

On top of everything else, my parents decided that this year we are going on a family vacation...to JAMAICA! We have never been on a vacation like this before. Our family vacations have usually been to visit my mom's family in Canada (which is awesome) or we go camping over the summer for a week (which is also awesome) but this will be so much fun. A brand new experience. I'm sure I will be telling you about the trip after we get back home in mid-January.

Blessings upon Blessings

In my first week back in Arvada, well, it was yet another terrific week. I looked back on my writings over the course of the semester and realized that there was literally not one week that went by without something really awesome happening in my life. This week, that theme remained the same. The weekend started off early on Thursday night with a family dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory in downtown Denver. It was here that we came across the most entertaining balloon guy ever. I want to enjoy and have as much fun with my job when I get older as this guy does his. He makes even the seemingly worthless task of making balloon figures an awesome experience for everybody. After dinner, we made our way to the Miner's Alley Playhouse in Golden, CO. The play we saw was...alright. The acting and singing was really great, but the story line was just, a lot of the time, there was something happening on the stage and I wasn't really sure what was happening or why. An enjoyable time nonetheless.

On Friday, I had plans to drop off a friend, Ryan Klobossa, who is a seminarian, at St. Dominic's in Denver because he has a friend from college there who is a Dominican novitiate. My plan was to drop him off and then go about my day, getting some Christmas shopping done. Well, everyone knows what can happen when we make plans; they can be completely flipped turned upside down by what God's plan is, and in the end, God's idea is a lot better. The Dominican novitiate, Nathaniel Gee, whom I had met once before, invited me to join them for the day. Nathaniel is just a joy to be around. Full of energy, kind heart, wise, a million other affirmations. I spent the entire day with them, we even went out to lunch together, another novitiate joining us. Nathaniel commented multiple times on how the Holy Spirit had worked in order to make this day possible - mainly, he said that it was once in a blue moon that he and the other novitiates had a free day and so everything just worked out perfectly. In a short overview of my time with these men, it was so awesome to witness men who have such great conviction for the same faith that I do; the difference between us right now, is that they are better at articulating that faith, while I am just at a stage of life where I am just beginning to realize that I need to share my faith with others, so I am learning how to do that.

Saturday was the experience of a lifetime. I have been trying to make this trip happen for the past three years, and something has always come up that interferes. Well, this year, I did everything I could to make sure that didn't happen again. I won't keep you guessing...I went ice fishing this weekend! Up and out the door by 4 o'clock in the morning, and out on the ice before 7. When we got on the ice, it was 9 degrees. As the day drew on, it got a little warmer temperature wise, but the wind decided to pick up so it remained very cold. That is until we set up the pop-up hut (I don't know why we didn't do that from the very beginning, but I wasn't the expert there). The coolest thing about when we put the hut up was that the water was so clear, I could see all the way to the bottom. We watched as fish swam around our lures and struck the bait. I reeled in two decently sized fish that day. Not bad. I came back home and made a tutorial video about how to gut a fish. If you have a strong stomach, you can check it out on Youtube. The day was not over. My dad got tickets to the Denver Nuggets basketball game. I'm not a huge basketball fan, especially the NBA, but it was a fun opportunity to go out with my two brothers and one of my brother's friends. Nuggets win!

Sunday, I went on a men's retreat at the Denver Seminary. Now, at this point, I do not know what God's plans are for me. The main thing for me is that I would like to give my heart to him. I want to do his will. Whether my call is to the priesthood or married life, or single life for that matter, I do not know. All I know is that I do find true happiness when I listen to God's call. I met a really awesome guy there too. He went to a rival high school and we talked about how once we graduated and looked back on all of the trash talk, none of it mattered anymore. We both went to Catholic high schools and one of the things that he talked about was that he wanted to see our schools form a bond and work together. We both still want the competitive spirit when it comes to athletics, but we agreed that we would both want to foster respect and brotherhood between Holy Family and Bishop Machebeuf High School. Love it!

Final Weekend Before Break...

I got a great mix of fun and relaxation in this final weekend. Starting Thursday night (didn't have any finals on Friday) we had a few people over to the house. It was really awesome. We sat down at our dining room table with a couple of girls who, well I had met them both and spent some time with one on a service trip, but outside of that hadn't had much contact with either of them. We all talked for four hours! It was such an enjoyable evening. The whole group, the entire time was just so lively and fun.

Friday evening began with an E-Board meeting for my fraternity. Probably the last thing any of us wanted to do on the day that finals ended, but we did what we had to do. Afterwards, I went over to a new friend's house who I met at the Wednesday night FOCUS Mass. They had put on a guys' night, which I had missed a pretty powerful activity during which they prayed for the respect of women in outside a high-dollar strip club...pretty serious stuff. Awesome group of guys. Anyway, after that, they said that I was still welcome to come hang out at the house for some burgers and poker. What an awesome time. I stayed over there for a few hours, was welcomed with open arms (and a bun). I'm really excited to see a lot of them when we all come together for the FOCUS Conference in Denver in January. After I got back to the house, we had people over again, and had a slumber party! First time we've utilized the pull-out couch. We housed five extra people in our house on Friday night. One on the futon in the living room, two on the pull-out couch, and two more on the futon in the dining room. It was so awesome.

On Saturday, I stayed in my pajamas most of the day. I did change briefly because Nate, Josh, and I all went to Walgreen's to develop our Christmas card. That's right. 5120 Christmas card. You are lucky enough to be entitled to access to the top three pictures from the night. You can never have too much whipped cream!

Well, Sunday rolled around, and David Wallisch and I headed out for home. We broke up the drive into two days. We stopped and stayed with one of his roommates in Hays, Kansas; crashed on their furniture for the night and then finished the drive on Monday. Hard to believe I'm already home again. I feel like I just graduated high school yesterday, and all of a sudden, in the blink of an eye, I'm a second semester junior, president of a fraternity, with tremendous life experiences racking up faster than I could have ever imagined, and with so much more to come. Life has so much in store. People say that "these are the best years of your life." I sure hope not, obviously not because I am dissatisfied with my experiences thus far, but I know that I will continue to grow and learn life lessons all the way to my death bed. That's what's important in life; youthful years are certainly meant to be enjoyed and there are a lot of lessons to be learned, but they never stop, and that is what makes life such a joy!

Squeezing out the Fun

First of all, one of the greatest memories of spontaneity of all time. There were a bunch of Christmas decorations sitting in the Fishbowl for a few days that hadn't been put up yet. I was talking with a friend and we both had that tone of, "It would be awesome if...but we're not actually going to do it" but WE DID! We took the initiative and got a group of people together right then and there and decorated the Fishbowl with Christmas music blaring the entire time. Really got me and everyone in attendance into the spirit of the season.

Yet another fantastic weekend full of great memories. Thursday was one of the most exciting basketball games I have ever been to. I arrived at the beginning of the second half to find our Hawks down 23-20. Not a very active first half. The second half enthusiasm picked up quick as I joined a small group in the Hawks Nest. I inspired some excitement in the small crowd, and we brought the noise! The last few minutes looked bleak, as the Hawks fell behind by 10, but they came back and forced the game into overtime. It took two overtimes to decide the victor - unfortunately, Rockhurst was not quite able to pull it off, but played a great game.

On Saturday morning, I went to Hobby Lobby and bought some body paint...one thing led to another and...six of us lathered ourselves up, spelling out H-A-W-K-S-! We ran over to the Field House from my house about two blocks away. It was freezing! Once again, the Hawks were handed a disappointing loss, but it was so much fun being there with friends to support the guys.

Sunday. Football. David Wallisch and I scored some sweet tickets to the Chiefs v. Broncos game. Twenty six rows up from the field. Thank you, Chris Clark, O-lineman for the Broncos. Again, a disappointing loss, but I had a ton of fun with my friend David at the game. Happy Birthday, David!

Monday. (Side note, I have been blessed with such abundance). I woke up at 11 o'clock with every intention of studying for finals; however, I rolled over in my sheets and slept until noon. That pretty much set the tone for the remainder of the day. After I woke up for the second time, I watched a couple of hours of television. I shut off the TV, got my sorry behind off of the couch, having it in my mind that now I should study...three steps later the futon started calling my name. Quite irresistible. I may have fallen asleep, to be honest I can't really remember for sure. Well, I came to again and decided again that it was time that I should probably buckle down...or go for a mind-clearing bike ride to Loose Park. I weighed my options and the bike ride won out. Just what the doctor ordered. I sat underneath what has become my favorite tree at the park. After a while of thinking, I did something that I hadn't done in a while...I started climbing. I climbed pretty high. It was really cool to see the rest of the park from a whole new level. I climbed out onto limbs a little ways too, which was really uncomfortable, but so exhilarating. It was the perfect summit to my unplanned personal day off.

Whew! Tuesday. On Tuesday, in addition to finally getting some studying done, I went over to David's house. I got the honor of joining David for a very special occasion. David has served at St. James Food Pantry and Community Kitchen, which serves over 250 meals every night, every Wednesday for the past 2 1/2 years. For his 21st birthday, David started a fundraiser for St. James in which he was looking for 100 people to donate $21 each for $2,100. Also, he spent almost the whole day baking over 250 cupcakes for the less fortunate who find themselves at St. James on Wednesday. Shout out to you, David! Inspiring. By the way, if you feel moved to donate at all, you can find more information on his website, davidwallisch.com.

I cannot thank God enough for all of the blessings in my life. Prayers for all of those who are less fortunate during this Christmas season, especially all of those who count on and run St. James Place.

Thanksgiving Break

Supposed to be relaxing. Not really the case. Life at home certainly does not stop upon my arrival - not that I expect it to. It is a bit overwhelming when I come home for a break and quite frankly do not get the rest I needed to come back ready to go. For the record, I enjoy being home. I'm just at a point where it is not a place that I can handle for a long period of time. That's life. Anyway, on top of the chaos that is the Langfield household, I had tons of work to do in regards to school and my fraternity. I won't spend a lot of time with details, the fact of the matter is that break was not as stress-relieving as I would have hoped for.

On a positive note, Thanksgiving dinner was as good as ever. We went to my aunt's house and the Italian side shown through like never before. We started with an "appetizer" of pasta, meatballs and sausage (2 servings). Then we had the traditional Thanksgiving meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, etc. (2 servings). I had just sat down on the couch to stretch out when a noise carried from the outside. I'll get straight to it. Five accordions came into the house blaring a mix of Italian music and Christmas music. It was incredible! Everyone got up out of their seats to witness the awesome entertainment. I even went up and danced with my godmother for a song.

Saturday rolled around, and my family stayed true to a 20-year-old tradition of the annual Christmas tree hunt. Up at 6:30am, we drove up to Fraser, CO which is just outside of Winter Park and began the search. This was one of our most time-efficient hunts that I can remember. We got there at 10:30am and had two trees loaded on the tops of the cars before 1 o'clock. My dad was really pleased because us boys did a lot of the work cutting the trees down and dragging them back down the mountain to the parking lot. It was a really great last day at home. So many memories from years past. I pray that one day I can either carry on a tradition from my childhood or develop new traditions for my kids to look back on and cherish.

Overall, not a bad break. Like I said, quite stressful with all of the work that I had to do, but I was still able to make a lot of great memories, spend quality time with old friends and family, and I started learning a new song on the piano. Two more weeks back at school and then I'll be right back at home - hopefully with a lot less on my plate.

Home Never Changes

Ah! I am home again for Thanksgiving Break. A whole ten days. It's interesting how my perspective has changed over the past couple of years. I wanted to be out on my own; I still want and enjoy that, but I so look forward to being home. I have such a different life here. My friends are different. I try to be the same person that I have developed into at school because I like that "me" better than what I was before I got into college. Anyway, as my family all grows older, everyone is going about doing their own thing more and more, but one thing has always been the same: CHAOS!!!

I laugh at it because it's nostalgic. I cannot remember a time growing up when things weren't crazy at my house. There were numerous times that my parents had to get together on a Friday night because they had six kids all playing on different athletic teams, in all corners of the state of Colorado, and so they had to plan out rides for all of us the night before so that everybody was covered. God bless them! This weekend, we celebrated both my younger brother, Zach's birthday (18), as well as my younger brother, David (11). I got home Friday night, and it was party central on Saturday evening and then Monday afternoon. The most involvement I had between the two parties was the honor of being the referee for the championship basketball game between my brother and his friend and my sister and her friend. What an honor it was! I have to say though, by 3 o'clock, I was toast. I stepped away from all of the insanely energetic 11-year-olds and took a nap on the couch. Once again, God bless my Mom, she stuck it out for the entire party.

One thing that I am coming to realize, and really having a difficult time with, is what is going to happen after I graduate from college? Will I end up back in Colorado? I want to for a wide array of reasons: my family, my memories are all here, the mountains my favorite place in the entire world (which includes many more memories), I could go on. Having said that, what if there's more out there for me? I want to travel. I want to see other parts of this great world while I'm young. I don't want to wait until I'm an old retired person (no offense, I have great respect for my elders). I love my home in Colorado, and it will always and forever be my one true home; but I don't want to restrict myself to such limited exposure. I want to see what the rest of the world has to offer to Justin Langfield; and what Justin Langfield has to offer to the rest of the world. I only used third person for affect, I'm not really one of those big-headed, narcissitic "bros" who always refers to themselves as if they are talking about a really awesome friend of theirs, whose sheer awesomeness is far beyond being described by such unworthy pronouns as "I."

Beside the point. I really love being home. So it will always be to me. But the world is a big place, and I'm not about to sit around and have my experiences be limited to a 50-mile radius...yet. I want to experience the world as much as I can before I settle down with a wife and kids (God-willing). And if I end up in the same area in which I was raised, fantastic; but if that's not the case, I will follow wherever it is that God wants me to go. He will never ask me to do anything or go anywhere, that He, himself, did not do or go. Also, a good time for a reference to the "Footprints" prayer. If you don't know it, look it up. Good stuff.

Side note: Downloaded a new song to learn on the piano. I've had a ton of time to practice this week and it has been fantastic. Also, schooled some of my 11-year-old brother's friends in a round of billiards. Nothing like a self-esteem boost!!!

5120 Brunch, Swing Dancing

My housemates and I had our first official brunch on Saturday. Yes, it was at 1:15 in the afternoon, but that's why they call it brunch, right? It reminded me of home. Every Sunday growing up, my dad would cook up a big breakfast for my whole family. I have helped him a couple of times and cooking for eight people is not easy. Three people is a little more reasonable. I will consider it training for when, God-willing, I have to provide meals for my family.

Now, as cool as it was to get a taste of home (yea, pun intended) the true highlight of the weekend was this. At 2:30 in the morning on Saturday, Nate and I were up together watching the last 45 minutes of Pretty Woman, eating spoonfuls of cookie dough when the idea hit me. I said to Nate that we should both get dates and take them to a dance hall. We both had someone in mind. Unfortunately, I did not have any way of contacting mine outside of sending a message over Facebook. So, at 2:30 in the morning, I sent my offer and then went on to be quite restless throughout the rest of the night.

Pleasantly surprised, I received a text message later that afternoon with a positive response. I'll give you a picture: my face, I smiled, nothing outrageous; on the inside...I wish I was better with words so that I could think of a worthy analogy to describe how excited I was that she wanted to come. Although I hadn't spent very much time with her before last night, Kelsey Carver is a really awesome girl. It was certainly an honor for me to have her come.

Disappointing because I would have like to dance more with Kelsey, but it makes for a funny story from the evening, during the swing dance lessons we had rotating partners, so we only got to dance with our dates one out of every 15 or so ladies. In addition to that, we brought the average age of this place down to about 60. We all took it well and had a blast though.

I look forward to doing more stuff like I did this weekend. Over the past couple of years, I have developed more appreciation for the company of other people, and more of a distaste for retreating to television or movies as a source of entertainment. Game night in the near future? I hope so.

Habitat Event, Man Date, Initiation

Last Thursday, my fraternity put on its annual event to raise money for Habitat for Humanity. Thanks to all of the businesses in the Kansas City area for your generous donations to help make this a successful event. We raised over $500 for Habitat. The poker tournament was not as big of a hit as usual, but there was lots of participation in the Rootbeer Pong Tournament. We got two kegs of rootbeer donated from Fitz's and students could get unlimited rootbeer throughout the night for attending. There were tons of awesome prizes including but not limited to: a professional massage, gift cards to the plaza, and a date with one of the active members of the fraternity.

Saturday night, after I got off of work, my roommate Nate Olson and I went on a long overdue man date. A night filled with video games, good conversation is just what we both needed. Carefree.

Finally, on Sunday, the candidates that have been going through their education process for the past 8 weeks were initiated into my fraternity. It is always really exciting when new brothers fully become a member of this organization. I am a proud member of my fraternity, and the growing relationships with guys that are already in combined with the excitement of meeting and getting to know more and more people every year is really awesome for me.

Love (and Smores) Will Hold Us Together

I don't know why God chooses to bless me with such abundance, but I guess that's for Him to know and me to most likely never fully understand. I can live with that.

Friday, I got to do one of my favorite things in the world. I got to make use of the fire pit in my backyard again. We had a really good crowd come over, just enough chairs and stumps to accommodate for everyone. Once again, great company, some solid background music to set the mood, and a gorgeous fall evening. Oh! and SMORES!!! Here's one aspect of the night I was not expecting: I bought four bundles of wood that I thought, maybe we'll go through it all maybe we won't. We burned all of it! Six hour campfire!

Saturday presented another opportunity for a great memory. I went to a concert with a group of friends. Matt Maher, Addison Road, and Tenth Avenue North. The really awesome thing about a Christian rock concert in my mind (besides the fact that it was 1/3 of the price of any other concert I've ever been to) is that it was so much more personal. There is a message in their music that I can really connect with, regardless of faith. My faith certainly strengthens my belief in that message, but getting through the trials of life together with love and forgiveness, I believe, is something rooted into human nature regardless of what your religious beliefs are. I was also moved that night to begin sponsoring a child in Indonesia. I'm really excited to start this overseas relationship in which I am contributing to a change in this world. Ari Putra Dwi Ramadhan is 12 years old and lives in an area of the world that is subject to many injustices, especially for children. I'll certainly be updating on the progression of the sponsorship.

After the concert, we went to Winstead's. I have...had a bucket list item that I needed to take care of. Over the summer, I had tag-teamed the Skyscraper challenge. Tonight, I was ready to face it on my own. A little encouragement from the people around me, and I was able to pound home the tall shake. Most importantly, I didn't throw up afterwards!

Again, another incredible weekend. My blessings are countless like the stars.

Non-Stop Fun!

What a weekend! To kick it off, I was invited to the Theta Phi Alpha "Theta Phi in Disguise" dance. I was asked by someone and the idea behind it is that neither myself nor the girl whom I was asked for knew that we were going with each other. There was a part of me that really wanted to know who it was because I didn't want it to end up being someone who I didn't know very well, making for a very awkward evening; but it turned out fine. My very fine date was a good friend, Julia Krolikowski. The fun wasn't over when the music stopped either. A group of us went back to Julia's house and we all had chocolate chip pancakes. Yum!

The next morning started early as a small group of us returned to St. Francis Xavier School to do some more manual labor. Not as intense as last week as we only worked for three hours, but we still got a lot of work done. Afterward, I went to a four hour retreat for my fraternity that me and my Brother, Brian Golka put together. Attendance was less than we would have liked, but those who did come gave us a lot of positive comments on the day; so that felt really good that our plans came together and were appreciated by everyone that came.

To cap off the weekend, I went and got bricks with a couple of friends that we found on Craig's List. Fifty bricks, fifteen dollars. Why did we buy fifty bricks? Well, my backyard was lacking a fire pit. No longer is that a problem. I completely ignored any of my responsibilities, and we christened it with its first use on Sunday night. A couple hours underneath the beautiful night sky, a raging fire, good music, and good company - not a care in the world. Just what the doctor ordered. I plan on making good use of that fire pit in the future with numerous nights of hanging out with friends and eating smores!

Service at SFX Merits Relaxation

This past weekend, I went to do service across the street at the old St. Francis Xavier School. The building is old and run-down. The playground area wasn't much better. It seemed that it had missed its appointment for routine maintenance by a couple of years. The foliage made it look like a jungle out there. Unfortunately, there were only eight guys that showed up to take on the task, so it took a lot longer than we should have been there, but it was a really a great time to go out there and work with the guys that did show up. I'm going to work there again this coming Saturday for a few hours in the morning. I'm a fan of the physical labor. I don't know why, but it does make me feel a lot more productive doing physical labor. I can feel it through my entire body. Having said that, the rest of my day was planned out for me.

After the long day out in the sun, my roommate and I came home, cooked lunch (pasta and meatballs, YUM!) and then we started watching a football game together...then I woke up. We had both fallen asleep on our respective couches for two and a half hours. We watched the end of the game and then got ready for the evening.

We went out with a large group to Spin! Pizza down near the Plaza. That was a really great time. Reasonably priced food, great service, great company with friends. After Spin! I came back and watched a movie with another group of people. Jurassic Park. Classic.

A Langfield Weekend

I got to go home for fall break. Fall break is a great opportunity for students to take a breather in the middle of the semester, catch up on sleep, kick their feet up...not so when I go back home to the life of the Langfields. To start, my mom had a family emergency and had to go to Canada for three days; in result, I had to play soccer mom for the week, taking my younger siblings to school, picking them up, taking them to practices and games. And I thought I would get to catch up on sleep.

I got to spend some quality time with every one of my family members though. Some racquetball with my oldest brother, Buffalo Wild Wings and the Avalanche game with both of my older brothers (Avs won 4-3 in OT), bowling with four of the five of my siblings. I got to see my youngest brother's volleyball games, my younger sister's soccer game (she scored the one and only goal), and my brother, who is the senior QB, I got to see his football game. As far as time with my parents, I got to sit back and have some great conversations with both of them. I love all of my family so much.

Highlight of the weekend. My family was invited to a wedding. It was on Saturday night and that was the only night that I was going to be able to hang out with a couple of friends from high school. At first I wasn't going to go - in fact I missed the wedding itself. My dad called later in the evening and told us to come down to the reception. We came from Buffalo Wild Wings (twice in one week, awesome) so I was dressed in jeans, t-shirt, tennis shoes, and my infamous, extremely faded Justin Boots hat. At first it was a little uncomfortable, but once the music started playing and we got to dancing, it didn't matter. I burned up the dance floor once again, and got to dance with some very pretty girls in the process.

I can't wait to go back home again. Six more weeks until I get a whole week off for Thanksgiving. Hopefully, I'll actually get some sleep this time...

Speedway and Homecoming

This weekend was...full, to say the least. It all began with making fifteen breakfast burritos at 12:30am on Saturday. A group of guys went out to the Kansas Speedway, meeting in the parking lot at 6:00am and I thought that it would be a good use of some of the 60 eggs that my mom bought for me at Costco over family weekend. We clocked into work at 7:00am. The real work didn't start until about 11:00am, but who's keeping track right? Until then, there was some napping and studying for midterm exams that were coming up. We spent the rest of the day running up and down the stairs of the grandstand in the midst of tens of thousands of NASCAR fans. Side note, great atmosphere out at those events. I'm not a particular fan of NASCAR, but the fans are great and it was really cool that they had someone lead a prayer before the National Anthem. I have never seen that at any other sporting event, and honestly, that ought to be the way everyone does it. Sunday was rinse, dry, repeat as far as the speedway goes.

Back track to Saturday after we got back from the fundraiser. As if the day hadn't already been long enough, I decided to go to the homecoming dance. Great idea, right? You're only young once, and even though it was a long, hard day at the fundraiser, I could not pass up the opportunity to show off my white boy moves. It was a great way to get my mind off of my recent break-up. No need to delve into that though. I had a terrific time at homecoming (although the DJ could have played at least one other genre of music besides hip hop). I don't mind hip hop, I'll dance to it all night long; and I did, but for goodness sake switch it up a little bit please. Besides, I'm into my country music, and all I asked for was one country song and I would have been satisfied, but she never gave it to me. It wasn't until a group broke out into Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places" that I got my fix for the evening. The next day was long and tiring, running food and drinks to the fans at the speedway, but I wouldn't have changed a thing.

Family Weekend

I have been looking forward to this weekend for a long long time. My little sister and brother have never been out to Kansas City, and neither of my parents have seen my new house. My dad was not able to come out for the weekend because my other younger brother had a big football game. (It's his senior year, and I can't wait to go home in 10 days and see him play!) There was so many things that I wanted to share with the three that did come that I was just overwhelmed with who I should introduce them to, what I should show them, where I should take them...and with so little time!

First things first. Once my family got all of their stuff into my house, we went to Costco. I never thought I would get so excited about grocery shopping! I think we may have gone a little overboard though because now there is limited space in the fridge and the freezer - five dozen eggs gives you an idea. My roommates and I will be making omelets this week. We attended the Rockhurst soccer game on Friday night and after many other activities from the evening, we returned to my house for the night. Oh, but the day was not over. The furniture in the house was not "feng shui." So, at 12:30am my mom and I rearranged the furniture. I had to text my roommates to make sure they didn't come home and call the cops! "Don't be alarmed, nothing is stolen guys; it's just in a different place." Jokes about the eggs and the rearranged furniture flew around all weekend long.

The weekend came to an end too quickly, as time with loved ones often tends to do. My mom and my two youngest siblings began their 9-hour drive back to Denver at about 2pm CST. If I hadn't known it before, that was the moment that I knew that when it comes time for me to finally settle down and have a family of my own (God-willing) there's no way that I could ever be this far away from my true home. I watched them drive away, out of sight after one quick turn down the block. I have plenty of things I want to do before I settle down; plenty of growing, and finding out who I really am and that might take some time away from home, but when all is said and done I will remember where I came from. I don't know what God has in store for me in the next couple of years, but I definitely know in my heart that something big is coming in my life. Something is brewing that is going to change my life forever...I'll keep you updated.