Mackenzie Adelyn

It's been a little while...

2010-08-02T00:45:00.004-04:00

It's been a while since I've blogged. The truth is, I haven't had too much to blog about.

At the end of May we sold our house in Florida and my parents moved to South Dakota. We still have a condo near the beach so no worries there :). Everybody always asks "Why South Dakota?" Well both of my parents were born here and my grandparents and some of my family are here so when my Dad got a great opportunity to take over a firm in his home town, they took it.

I was so ready to pick up and spend some time in Rapid City. We are 22 miles from historic Mt. Rushmore, 26 from the Crazy Horse Monument, and 32 from Harney Peak, all of which have much significance to my family.

The most wonderful and important blessing that I have received moving here and spending the past 7 weeks with my family has been to get to know and spend time with my grandparents.

My Grampa Bob and Gramma Pat are my dad's parents and have lived in Rapid since they got married. I have spent time with them throughout my life on visits to South Dakota, when they would make their annual trip to Vegas in March, and they actually made it to Florida 3 times, once for my high school graduation. I have always enjoyed them so much but it is not until this year that I think I have really come to appreciate them. My grandmother has Alzheimer's and is really beginning to lose her memory. This is so incredibly frustrating for her especially because she has had such a colorful life full of experiences that she loves to share. She was a nurse, served countless hours in the Catholic Church, served in the state legislature as a Democrat in a state full of gun-carrying Republicans and lobbied for women's rights in South Dakota. She has served on so many committees she can't even remember them all and she still is the head of a number of them and she can't believe they won't let her quit. She did all that, raised 7 passionate, outgoing, and talented children, but most important of all, put up with my stubborn old grandpa. He has softened up a bit since he had grandkids but he is still an ornry old man. My great-grandpa owned the bodyshop downtown and my grandpa soon took it over. He had my dad and his brothers working before and after school as soon as they started middle school. He was ruthless but instilled in them the importance of working hard for what you want.

I have never in my life been blessed with the opportunity to share normal days with my grandparents. Bringing them lunch almost everyday and sharing experiences or just getting hyped up watching Deal-Or-No-Deal with them are memories that I am so thankful that I now have. I know and understand that the way they look at each other is what love looks like. I know that the way their faces light up when I walk in the door is what love looks like. Their love is unconditional and I am so blessed that they will be proud of me no matter what I do.

July 4th weekend we had a family reunion with my dad's 5 remaining siblings and all the families. This picture is probably one that will never happen again and contains every living offspring of my Grampa Bob and Gramma Pat. All 6 of their living children, all of the 7 children's kids, and their kids. This family would not be in existence without the love my grandparents share and I am so thankful for their example to us.

Long Overdue.

2010-02-03T10:31:00.006-05:00

Hello Hello. Nice to see you again. I am skipping class right now because I was just working way too hard and didn't get all my work done before so I just decided to keep working. And I have no voice, no good for participating. Oh well. Anyway. I guess I

should update my few loyal followers. Nothing much here in Snowy Cleveland. Connor and I went snowboarding last week at Brandywine. It was really fun and the snow was actually really nice since it had snowed that day. It was the coolest to be able to

pick up after class and go skiing.

Break was really fun, long but not long enough. It was amazing being home and having more than 5x5 feet of living space, a full fridge and my fam bam around all the tim

e. Just can't get any better than that.

This Picture is from Christmas. We always do Holidays with our neighbors, the Lewis' and at Christmas some of their family comes down. It's a lot of fun and makes Christmas so much better with everyone around. This is a picture of all of the kids.

One of my best friends Charlotte had her debutante ball this break and it was so much fun getting all the girls together again. Char looked amazing!! Her family threw

her a 20's themed Speakeasy a couple days before and we had so much fun dressing up like 20's flapper girls.

I am just beyond thankful for my family. I don't think I would be able to work

through each day without the support of my mom and dad. I just can't say enough how lucky I feel to call them my parents. They set the most amazing examples for me, I just hope that I can be as great of parents and people as they are.

That's All for now. Newport Beach this weekend with the Fam. C. A. N. N. O. T. wait!!!!!

I did it!!!!

2009-11-30T23:09:00.003-05:00

I chopped it, a whole 12 inches (one foot!!!) of hair is gone from my head. I cringed the entire time Markie (my beloved hair dresser of 3 1/2 years) chopped my pony from my head. I have been telling her my past 3 or so appointments to "get ready! this is it!" Well it never was, so she definitely didn't believe me this time. To her surprise, I came equipped to the salon with my ruler, hairties and plastic baggie, ready for "the great chop" as I referred to it. 12 inches later, here I am. The shortest hair I've had since probably my Derfelt Elementary School days. I've never thought myself to be good with short hair nor do I have any idea how to style this thing but I will get used to it. Maybe I'll learn some new tricks! And hopefully a child out there, victim of cancer, will receive a wig with my hair attached to it and for a few moments I will make them feel happy with the way they look, hopefully feel beautiful.

Locks for Love

2009-11-21T13:57:00.002-05:00

In recent days, I have gotten a slew of comments referring to the length of my hair. Those who don't really know me just say "Wow, your hair is so long!" My 'friends' say I look like the girl who never cuts her hair.. As a result, I have decided it is time for me to make a donation. Not just any monetary sum, a donation of my hair. Locks of Love requires ten inches from each longest end of your cut off pony. I am so so nervous to cut off that much. What do you think? Should I go for it or wait longer til I have more to cut off? ahhhh!!

Joys of Dreaming..

2009-09-15T21:54:00.003-04:00

As I sit in the library, procrastinating my Chemistry Lab, I am thinking about this..

With her..

Can't Wait.

2009-09-14T21:55:00.002-04:00

Even though I already went birthday shopping, I still can't wait for my birthday this sunday!!

Sal and Todd Do Cleveland

2009-09-14T21:31:00.006-04:00

This past weekend, my mom and dad came to visit me at my school, John Carroll, in Cleveland. I had a soccer tournament and Connor had a game so it was a great time for them to come!! It was seriously so fun and I wish they could be here every weekend so we can play!

Friday night, we took the Rapid to Downtown Cleveland and had a great dinner and walked around.

Lake Erie!!

Sunday morning, I took them to Cuyahoga National Park to hike around and for my dad to take a long run through the trails. We walked through the trail that I ran in during preseason and that my dad ran in that morning! Then we went to breakfast at a super cute restaurant in the town of Peninsula.

On Sunday afternoon, Connor had a big game against Mt. Union. Who would have thought we'd get sunburnt in Ohio!

2 Years

2009-09-14T21:25:00.003-04:00

Connor and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary just before we came up to school. He took me to the Oyster Catcher in Tampa and I got a BEAUTIFUL Tiffany's Key :)

Summer Nights

2009-09-14T21:15:00.005-04:00

I missed my friends this year. Loved Summer Nights.

Errie Pawta.

2009-09-14T21:11:00.003-04:00

Kaelyn and her friends all went to see Harry Potter on opening night. Since I couldn't join in the fun, I helped them take a premovie photoshoot, complete with wands and scars.

4th of July

2009-09-14T20:42:00.008-04:00

The week of 4th of July was a lot of fun this year. To start, Connor and I went down to Miami to see his sister, Kalyn's, volleyball tournament. They competed in Nationals!

On the way, Connor had an itch to fish so we stopped in the everglades right off of Alligator Alley (the highway connecting the East and West coasts of Florida). There was a HUGE storm coming so we got some gorgeous pictures.

We stayed right on Miami Beach, next to Brooke Hogan's apartment building! We also got to go shopping at Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian's new store, Dash. It was such a beautiful place to be for a couple days!

On the morning of the 4th, my family and our neighbors, the Lewis' went out on their boat on the Gulf. We boated over to the 3 Rooker Islands and had an amazing cookout. It was a great way to spend the day!

The evening of the 4th, I brought my family down to my best friend Kelly's beach house in Redington Shores. It was a lot of fun, MORE food, and people I love, what could be better?

How Romantic...

2009-09-14T20:37:00.002-04:00

Yes, Ladies and Gentleman, behind all the manliness and scruff, Connor is a romantic. His idea of romance, however, is a fishing trip for two under the moonlight. :) It really was romantic only because he is so freakin cute when he's fishing.

Dog Beach.

2009-09-14T20:22:00.003-04:00

My favorite memories from this summer were made with Connor and Kumako (my Japanese Akita) at the dog beach. We have lived in Florida for over 3 years now and this summer was the first time Kuma got to go. Needless to say, she LOVED wading in the warm water, swimming around in the fish and sting ray infested water, and always made sure she wasn't too far from Connor, the fisherman. My girl is so sweet, I so

miss her.

Summer Boat Days

2009-09-14T20:06:00.005-04:00

This summer Connor and I and our friends Charlotte and Patrick made kind of a tradition to go out either on my boat or Patrick's boat every Wednesday. It was a lot of fun and we made some great memories! Either at Carlouel for lunch, fishing, or tubing, it was great! Connor and Pat think it's cool to jump off the pipe behind my house. Good thing they can swim fast!

SYTYCD......

2009-06-04T16:16:00.002-04:00

As the new season of So You Think You Can Dance begins, I cannot help but to feel sadness and excitement all at the same time.. I just loved last season and Twitch, Chelsea, Kadee, Joshua, etc. just stole my heart!! I'm not sure that the dancers we've been seeing have the potential to steal my heart from them this year... Prove me wrong PLEASE!!!!!

No Air with Kadee and Joshua

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj_B0aBrZ4Y

Forever with Comfort and Twitch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efZGlsmI2Qg

And I balled in this dance...

A New Day with Kherington and Twitch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57k-0swffQ4

Love It.

My Apologies...

2009-06-02T22:24:00.003-04:00

I would like to add that I LOVED spending time with my friends, especially my BFF Collin Stephen Llewellyn!

End Of Spring to Summer Update!

2009-06-02T14:51:00.010-04:00

Well..... This is my first blog update in about 2 months, inspired by my best friend, Lauren, of course. It will be a long one so get prepared!!

Since I last blogged...

I visited Connor at John Carroll!

The weather was beautiful and we were able to catch the tail end of Snowboarding season! He and I drove to Peak 'N Peek, NY which is about 2 hours east of Cleveland (Weird name, I know!). The conditions were crappy since the snow was melting but we had a great time and it was cheap! :)

They made this school bus into a ramp!! So cool!

Since I last Blogged...

My Family and I created a new Easter Tradition!

Easter weekend was especially wonderful this year because I wasn't home for Easter last year! We started off the weekend by boating to the Tarpon Turtle across the lake with my neighbors. Good Friday is the Anniversary of my Mom and Dad's first date so we celebrated their 26th Anniversary!

I LOVE this picture of them :)

A tradition in my family started by my Grandma Pat is making Bunny Cakes on Easter. Our neighbors Sarah and Ally helped last year and it was so fun getting to do it with them. It is a big team effort! Connor helped too!

Our new tradition was a big joke!! In the weeks before Easter, our neighbors Danny and Debbie, started getting fleas in their house and their dog, Dolly, kept scratching at spots in their walls. They decided to see what Dolly was scratching at in the wall and found baby possums, some already dead and some still alive, in the walls! It turns out that a large mother possum had made a nest in their attic and had babies!! The babies were falling into the walls of the house from the attic! They had no idea how many babies their were but they called in the guy from Crazy Critters that cares for the animals once they're caught (only in Florida!!). My Dad and Danny are constantly playing practical jokes on each other so this was perfect material. This is the Momma Possum and her surviving babies when they finally caught her!

And so of course, in the spirit of Easter, we had to make Danny and Debbie a POSSUM CAKE.

We were very proud of our creation! Can you see the resemblance?...

Danny and Deb had no idea! Although it was delicious, I don't think they were all that excited about bringing another possum into their home... :)

Since I Last Blogged......

I have been shadowing my Pediatrician, Dr. Amy Harbage Zitiello.

Dr. Amy and I got to know each other really well when we moved to Florida because my mom misplaced my shot records during our move! I had to get ALL of my shots since I was born all over again!! It turned out to be a blessing in disguise because I loved seeing Dr. Amy and got to experience her office a lot more than a normal person. This past year I have been thinking a lot about pursuing a profession in medicine and Dr. Amy has really inspired my interest in Pediatrics. When I contacted her about majors, grad school, etc., she suggested that I come shadow her in her office! It has been an amazing experience and I am so thankful for her faith in me. I have been going to her office about once every two weeks since the middle of spring and I get to go into exam rooms with her and interact with patients. I have gotten to see every type of ear infection imaginable and seen and learned about many common conditions I have never heard of! It never ceases to amaze me the amazing relationship she has with even her littlest patients and their families, she is such and inspiration to me and I can only hope I live up to her example. The funniest thing is that she is about 5'3 and I am 5'9. When we walk into rooms she tends to say, "And this is my little shadow, Mackenzie.." It's funny :)

Being in her office has made me realize that I have one chance to study something that interests me and to put my knowledge and experience to work. Sometimes I am discouraged because I realize any graduate work in the Medical field will be extremely challenging and will take a lot of focus and hard work. Now that I really think about it, I want to be able to go home from work at the end of the day in 15 years and be satisfied and know that I am impacting people's lives. I want to know that I can keep their family's healthy and be able to give them peace. I don't want to end up falling into a career because it is less difficult and then regret not doing my best.

Since I Last Blogged....

I have transfered schools yet AGAIN!!

I began my Freshmen year in college as a Seminole at Florida State University. I was very fun but I realized that a big school just wasn't for me and I wasn't really a fan of Tallahassee.

So rather than trying to do yet another college search while in Tally, I decided to come back to Tampa for the Spring and go to the University of Tampa. Overall, I loved UT. All of my professors were awesome and I had SMALL classes which was a great change from FSU. I loved UT but I didn't see myself staying there all 4 years because I decided that I want to play soccer in college.

At the beginning of Spring I decided to send in a recruitment form to Connor's school, John Carroll University, in Cleveland Ohio. Since I haven't played club soccer since my sophomore year and since I don't have a highlight tape or a way for a coach to see me play, I wasn't sure I would even get looked at. If I got a response from the coach at JCU, I hoped that was a good sign that I could find somewhere to play.

The coach ended up emailing me back saying that they actually NEEDED a goalkeeper for the upcoming school year! It seemed almost too good to be true! I started communicating with Coach Blasius and started realizing that JCU might be a really good fit for me. When I visited Connor this spring, I met with her and was like 99% convinced that I couldn't pass up this opportunity to play soccer and to attend such a great school. Of course it helps that Connor is there but I have a lot going for me there, too!

A fun part about it is that Connor's Football season and my Soccer season are both in the Fall. His family and my family will be able to visit for the weekend and catch one of both of our games! We even play in the same stadium!

It has been great thinking about how different and crazy next year will be but now reality is hitting me! It is really coming and now I have to prepare! I just started my Summer workouts yesterday and it is going to be a tough program but it will get me in the condition I need to be in to be able to be an asset to my team. Wish me luck!

Since I Last Blogged...

Summer has begun!!

Oh sweet summer... This summer has been especially sweet because I have missed my friends so much this year! It is so great to have them back at least for a little while.

Last week, our friend Eric was home for a week from New York so in celebration of his birthday and him being home, I had a get together at my house so that we could all hang out at least once while he was home! It was so fun being together and almost like old times!

Last week, we rented a beach condo on Sanibel Island, a couple hours south of Tampa, and it was wonderful!! It was such a relaxing couple days and Connor got to come too!

My mom loved these little Sandpipers :)

The beach on Captiva Island, the island next to Sanibel.

My mom is so cute :)

Connor fishing on the beach at sunset.

So... I am pretty sure you're probably way tired about reading about my life so I'll stop there. Happy Tuesday! :)

Wow.

2009-03-25T21:36:00.002-04:00

My inspiration to blog tonight comes from one of my best friends. I am in tears right now after reading Lauren's most recent blog. As hard as it is for me sometimes to admit how I feel about The Church, I can honestly say that I undoubtedly felt The Spirit so incredibly strongly through her thoughts. She reminded me of the amazing experience that she and I both had as nonmembers on the CHT and how we were introduced to some amazing truth in the Sacred Grove. The trouble is that I could never even to begin to be as strong or as honest as Lauren. She is one of the most trustworthy and hardworking people I know. Anything she sets her mind to is completed to the best of her ability.

I am so incredibly blessed to have her in my life. Thank you for being my best friend, Laur.

Leaving...

2009-03-23T13:42:00.002-04:00

I'm leaving John Carroll today and I have the icky "Leaving Connor" feeling... I so hate it but I know that as soon as I get home, it will be that much closer to him coming home again. I've had a wonderful weekend up here. Connor took me skiing in New York, we saw a couple amazing movies, and I had a very successful meeting with the soccer coach up here. Slum Dog Millionnaire was amazing and completely lived up to the hype. We also saw I Love You, Man which was the first "funny" movie that I've actually enjoyed in a long time! It was just a great weekend and reminded me of how much I love him and I love spending time with him.. (It is easy to forget those things with the constant distance.)

I will put pictures up later... Happy Monday :)

Soccer

2009-03-20T15:15:00.002-04:00

As I type, I am up at John Carroll visiting Connor. He is at workouts right now, hence, I am blogging. :) I had a meeting this morning with the John Carroll Women's Soccer coach. We had communicated before about meeting up and me possibly playing for them next year. I was surprised at her interest in me because she has never seen me play.
My meeting went so so well. She was way nice and I learned a lot about the program and college soccer that I didn't know before.. I think JCU is definitely a place I would like to be. I have no doubt in my mind that I would love playing soccer and going to school here. However, it is very expensive and quite far away from home.
Another big thing to consider is that Connor is here. I would love to be living in the same place as him again, the long distance thing has been tough on me, but it would also be a really big decision to make. I can't deny that I'm not choosing this particular school because of him, but I definitely would not have considered it without him being here. The thing is, if it doesn't work out between him and I, how wierd would it be for us to both be here.. Also, he is unsure of whether or not he will be staying up here for 4 years. That would also be wierd for me to come up and then him go back to Florida, whether or not I was coming here for him.
Just a lot a lot of decisions to make and questions to ask.

Happy Blogging

2009-03-18T09:24:00.001-04:00

So I'm pretty sure the only person that is going to be reading this is Lauren. However, I love reading other people's blogs (creepy? yes.) and finding out what makes them tic. Maybe someone will enjoy reading mine.. (don't worry, I won't think you're a creeper)

Happy Blogging Laur!