"I'm an evil tumbling ninja!"

This upcoming week myself and eight other members of my gymnastics team are going to be participating in the Just Claim It prayer conference in Dallas.

We are going to be performing various acrobatic, tumbling and trampoline stunts for the dramas.
Last night we finally (its a long story) got our outfits that we are going to be wearing. Full ninja outfits. so there's nine of us running around on the stage in totally black outfits being scary demons.

During a break in our rehearsal last night, Nirva, the lone female in our troup, piped up in this hilarious tone that you'd have to hear to understand and said "I'm an evil tumbling ninja!" we just about died laughing at her.

I do have to admit that its a heck of a lot of fun running around in those outfits. We even contemplated going to Wal-Mart and seeing how long it would take to get thrown out. Better judgment, lack of interest in an arrest record and the call of the bed at 0100 pervaded and we didn't go.

I'll have to get some pics of us in the outfits and post them up

Corteo

Corteo means cortege in Italian which in turn is a funeral procession. It also just happens to be the name of the most recent Cirque Du Soleil production to grace Dallas.

If you’ve never seen Cirque, your are missing out my friend.
A literal translation give Cirque Du Soleil to mean Circus of the Sun. So you might get the idea that its a circus. It is, but its so much more then just a circus. Comparing Cirque to Barnum & Bailey isn’t even close to fair for B&B. Well I guess I should say that if your not a gymnast or interested in gymnastics type things, then you may enjoy B&B just as well.

Cirque is essentially a gymnastics extravaganza coupled with great live music, an intriguing story, brilliant costumes. All combined to make a very interesting and awe inspiring production.

My family and I went to the show Tuesday evening, had a great time, and enjoyed the show. Got some crazy ideas to try for the gymnastics team and I’m sure we annoyed the folks in front of us by continually commenting on what they were doing form more then the typical “ooh, ahh” perspective.

As Cirque show’s go, it rocked, but didn’t quite stack up to the level of Vareki (which I saw live last year) and Quidom. Still 100% worth every penny.

Mountain Biking

Mom, on a whim the other day, decided that for her birth day she wanted to spend more time as a family. and that to do this we were going to go mountain biking.
so she bought us all mountain bikes. Now, let me remind you that we aren't exactly a small family. Mom, Dad, myself and three younger brothers. Thats SIX bikes.

Got them all loaded into the truck and we headed out to the state park for their first ride. well, the brothers had taken theirs onto the land and messed around on them for awhile. the rest of us hadn't had ours out yet. something about work, school and kiddos.

Hit the trails around 1130 on Saturday. Got everybody on their steeds and away we went. the first trail we took wasn't all that complex. involved a few tight spots between trees, but nothing horrible.
Pulling back onto the road, mom's chain broke. now this is the first time that bikes been ridden and, no offense, but mom isn't exactly a powerhouse. Nor was she changing gears while really cranking on the pedals. it just snapped. To say the least she was frustrated. But decided to call it (not like there was any other option). She had to leave in a few minutes anyway for a prior appointment.
Getting back I discovered that I'd run over a nice 1" thorn with the front tire. reach down to pull it out and the tire starts going flat. the thorn was holding air. so I stick it back in and continue on riding. Its still holding air this morning (Monday)

The rest of us took a longer trail after mom left. took a couple spills but nothing that damaged (seriously) the rider or bike.

Took a tiny break after that one then hit the trail again. This time dad's chain broke on a down hill. please note that mom's and dad's bikes are the same brand and model of bikes. Oddly enough, my brothers and mine are all the same brand, but different models.
Anyway, we kept riding while dad walked back to the truck.

Had a great time, but man am I outta shape for that stuff! and I'm not entirely convinced that clip on pedals are such a great idea on a MTB...

Whats with all the Birthdays?

not that its a bad thing, but there's been a whole heck of a lot of BD's lately.

Becca's was earlier this week.
Shayla's was Thursday
Bekah's was yesterday
Mom's is today, as well as Hunkin's
Brothers and cousin's are in 10days and my roommates is the day after that!

Happy Birth Day to the whole mess of you!

Flippin' Awesome!

Had a good weekend.

Friday the gymnastics team, myself included, headed off to a small academy and performed our show for them. Its the first show of the semester and our routines need some, ok a LOT, of polish. but the kids really enjoyed the show and were happy to have us there. I spent a bit of time performing, read: showing off, on the trampoline during the show. I believe it was captured on film so I"ll have to track that down and stick it online for y'all to see.

Friday evening our team held vespers for them. Did a great job and the kids came away saying they were blessed.

The coach, the bus driver and myself got to stay in a school sponsors guest house. Much to the chagrin of the team who stayed on the over-full dorm's lobby floor. The bus driver is my old coach and also coached the current coach when he was in college. We wound up acting like a trio of girls and sitting up till 1AM and swapping stories and eating ice cream. The tales we were telling were quite a bit different then I would expect from a similar gathering of females. Politics, guns, gymnastics, family, food were just a few of the subjects that were covered.

Saturday morning we got up around 0830 and headed to Sabbath School that the team (it was all my brother in this instance) lead out. Again the kids enjoyed it and came away blessed. Many gave us hugs and thanked us for coming.
The bus had to be back in town for another school function so we skipped church, ate lunch and headed home.

To shorten the trip home, I called my friends in GA. it helped but I was quite sick of the bus after 3.5hrs.

Landed back here about 1545. Got the equipment all unloaded and I landed at the apt around 1630.

Sat around not doing a whole lot till about 1800 when I met a friend and another couple for a trip to the FTW Stock Show and Rodeo. I didn't think far enough in advance and the Rodeo was sold out so we wandered the stock buildings looking at a bunch of horses.

Hit On The Border for some grub, stuffed ourselves silly, got a free brownie ice cream thingy (which is huge, but mighty tasty) for an upcoming birth day, (which reminds me, I still need to find a costume for that party...)
then headed home.
I normally hate waiting for a train, but it makes for some nice talking time!

had a great weekend and the weather is looking wonderful for the rest of the week!

Cirque

If you've never seen Cirque Du Soleil, your missing out.

Cirque is bringing their Corteo show to Dallas Feb 9 - Mar 11.

Those of you in Houston get the pleasure of seeing it as well. but you'll have to look up your own dates.

Their shows aren't cheap, but they are worth every penny.