Sports

Sooooo, long time no see blog, very nice.

Favorite sport, I think I will have to agree with mom on the baseball part. I love football and I love basketball, but everything about baseball is my favorite. I love the summer and sitting outside at a professional game in a big stadium or down the street at a crappy field with a couple of friends just makes me feel good. Most of the people out here dont like baseball, its with BYU football or Utah Jazz (and Jimmer) basketball, not a lot of baseball phenomena out here, sadly, and everyone thinks it's boring. Because it kind of is tho, I will say. I think what I like is that its' totally 1-on-1. the skill of one hitter up against the skill of one pitcher, not the rest of the team there, it's just you. And it's America's past time.

I love sports because I think there are so many applications and lessons you can learn about real life. Coaching, winning, losing, trying your best, being a team player, putting in the practice hours, so many things that you can learn in a sport and use in real life. And then there's the Olympics. The whole world coming together (most of the time) and sports just seem to bring us together (aside from stupid rivalries and yelling at referees and beer haha) I think they are really cool. :)

Favorite SPORT

Greetings Sumner-ites. Today is supposed to be the opening day of Nascar with the Daytona 500 which, unfortunately, got rained out. NOW WHAT WILL BENET DO?? So I thought I would put out a goal of writing about your favorite sport. Mine happens to be baseball. Specifically the Phillies. My father, Dunnie, took me to my first baseball game when I was about 7 or so - the Oakland A's with their championship team consisting of Catfish Hunter as Pitcher and Reggie Jackson as star slugger. When I spent time away from New Jersey in 2009, the summer in Yuma when I took care of Kimba, I was missing my homies in Jersey and felt connected to them when I watched the Phillies. When the Philies won the World Series in 2008, Keaton and Julia and I (along with ward member Cyndi Holston) went to the PARADE of joy in Philadelphia which was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Now I have Phillies handbags, tshirts and pj's. No matter where I live, I will always be a Phillies girl. After over 25 years of marriage to Benet, I have had a pretty extensive exposure to sports. I can enjoy a hockey game, follow a football game, endure NiceCar and roll my eyes during golf on TV, but will always watch baseball. I even listen to the sports guys on the radio during baseball season. HAHAHA. What is your favorite Sport and/or memory associated with a sport...??? And yes, Marching Band counts as a sport because when I was in high school, Marching Band counted as a phys ed class.

ROAD TRIPS

My favorite thing about the road trips were the small things to pass the time. Making mix-tapes. Remember the one with Pinocchio being interviewed by Kermit the Frog?? a sure fave. And you learning about the Talking Heads, The Cure, Doors, Police, AC/DC, etc etc etc., I also remember stopping for Frosty's when the odometer hit 8888 miles or a combination of 8's. There is even a photograph of the odometer reading 88888. Really fun. Traveling with The Little Yellow Potty Chair was also a life saver too. It wasn't until we got the Living Room on Wheels that we were introduced to the joy of videos, movies and gaming on the road. Up until then it was matching license plates, finding alphabets and the hand held original "YOUR MOVE SQUIRE!!"

Insane Road Trips

Ok everyone, I know this is nothing compared to what Blake and Indira have done. Drive from AZ to NJ. (a trip that blake has made out there back and back twice now)

But Della Keaton and I are about to embark on a most excellent adventure. We will leave from NJ, Thursday Aug. 4th., to take Keaton out to Provo to attend BYU with the "Great One". At this point all we HAVE to do is get to Minneapolis for a Twins game Saturday the 6th. (7 pm start) and then to be back here to go to work Monday morning, the 15th.

I wanted to ask the family the following question: Of all the times we road tripped, what are some of the best memories that you have had, things we were able to do, stops along the way (few there ever were)? Or, what are some things you would have wanted to do that we never got to do?

Be careful, there are a lot of trips to remember, you all were so small that I don't know if you even remember traveling from TN to AZ and then from TN to CA. ( Blake Usilton's wedding) Multiple trips to Florida, to Aunt Claudia's, just to list a few. So is there something that Keaton, Della and I just have to do on this upcoming adventure?

I will look forward to a little blurb from everyone. I / we had such a wonderful time with you all coming home and being able to hang out together. Dorney park was great. The No Hurling challenge is still on the table... I think we all did pretty well right? Nobody hurled right? Ya'll are all the best!

All of my love, Pop.

PS. what are the Grandchildren going to call us? Della and I?

thoughts

I know we will all do reunion posts later. This was recommended to me by Julia and it fits beautifully with my thoughts of late and I wanted to share. I love you all so much. Now I know why Granny would cry when we would show up to visit her at Easter and why she cried when we left. Thank you all for coming - thank you for making the effort. It was wonderful.

My Kindness Shall Not Depart From Thee

Text and Music by Rob Gardner

For a little while
Have I forsaken thee;
But with great mercies will I gather thee.
In a little wrath I hid my face from thee
For a moment.

But with everlasting kindness will I gather thee,
And with mercy will I take thee ‘neath my wings,
For the mountains shall depart,
And the hills shall be removed,
And the valleys shall be lost beneath the sea,
But know, my child,
My kindness shall not depart from thee!

Though thine afflictions seem
At times too great to bear,
I know thine every thought and every care.
And though the very jaws
Of hell gape after thee I am with thee.

And with everlasting mercy will I succor thee,
And with healing will I take thee ‘neath my wings.
Though the mountains shall depart,
And the hills shall be removed,
And the valleys shall be lost beneath the sea,
Know, my child,
My kindness shall not depart from thee!

How long can rolling waters
Remain impure?
What pow'r shall stay the hand of God?
The Son of Man hath descended below all things.
Art thou greater than He?

So hold on thy way,
For I shall be with thee.
And mine angels shall encircle thee.
Doubt not what thou knowest,
Fear not man, for he
Cannot hurt thee.

And with everlasting kindness will I succor thee,
And with mercy will I take thee ‘neath my wings.
For the mountains shall depart,
And the hills shall be removed,
And the valleys shall be lost beneath the sea,
But know, my child,
My kindness shall not depart from thee!

http://youtu.be/dwzMNKAT0p4

Life Choices

Happy pictures make serious posts happier, right? One let's get this started on the right foot then.
Speaking of re-do's and regrets and what ifs, has anyone else seen the Adjustment Bureau? Not only is it a really well-done movie, but those what-ifs are a major theme in the movie. What was meant to be? No matter what? What say do we have in our destiny? How is our fate determined? etc. Pretty thought-provoking, especially in the context of this latest blog prompt.

Like all of us, I don't like dwelling on my regrets. Sometimes I behaved poorly, stupidly, weirdly, etc, but that's what I did and thinking about how retarded that must make me will not help. But I don't have too many official things I'd rather do over, just those 'what-if's. The biggest (and only, at this young point in my life) what-if revolves around moving to Indiana to attend IPFW.

I'm not sure you guys have any idea how much shame and humiliation I felt graduating high school as the Valedictorian without any college plans. I felt like I was letting everybody down, like all those people who expected so much of me would be disappointed and see the 'real' loser Liberty was. ((SIDE BAR- maybe I should follow Pop's line of thinking and keep some things in person, but then again, I'm trying to follow my own advice and be more honest which is a lot easier for me to do here than in person)) What if I had gone to University of Chicago? Or anywhere else? IPFW doesn't have the best reputation locally, although I had no idea of that when I moved out here, and things on campus have changed a lot, making some of those stereotypes outdated and unfounded. Still, it felt like I was crawling away from NJ to go to some school no one had ever heard of, simply because they were still accepting applications without an essay in June. But (and I've written a whole paper on this experience, so I've thought about it a lot) what if I hadn't?!? What if I hadn't moved here and hence had never met Brandon??! I feel like both Brandon and I had to suffer so much prior to meeting each other- being humbled to dangerous levels of self-loathing to get here- leads me to believe it was JUST THAT IMPORTANT that we find each other just then. We needed to meet each other in Fort Wayne at that exact moment, which required me to choose IPFW as an embarrassing last resort and Brandon to flee BYU and head back home. This is where I think of that movie. Is there anything I could have done to keep me from ending up here in FW? Or was it bound to happen no matter what? Believing that relieves some of my guilt and makes me feel better about ending up here. Maybe nothing I could have done would have kept me from ending up in IN that fall. And even if there was something, it wouldn't be worth losing Brandon. ... ... ... But that doesn't mean I don't occasionally have selfish thoughts about how my career might be different had I attended a more prestigious school. Then I see Brandon and remind myself this is the ultimate prize. A fantastic marriage with a wonderfully kind loving honey. We are blessed. It was worth it. And I would do it again.

I love you Brandon.
Anyway, this has been Liberty, shedding a few layers for you. Be kind. :]

PS- I'm writing this in the school library, as I prepare wait for the last final of my undergraduate degree. Wish me luck!!

Reset button?

Yeah yeah, sorry I had finals and everything, that's why I been blog-less. Grades come out monday. I might pull an A in Functional Anatomy (a 4 credit class!!!!) if not that, definitley an A-. And of course, I got a C in religion. freaking BYU, I"m telling you, it's madness. Living with Kim and Steve for the summer, working full time at the library (that's gonna drive me insane real quick) just keepin it realz for the summer. gonna try and work out start running and everything. (we will see how long that lasts haha) Great year, junior year. GLad it's over. we will see whats in store after graduation next april. whooooo
re-do's? regrets? I guess re-do's and regrets go together with me, I regret a decision I made and I would re-do it over differently if I could. I dont regret anthing, except some personal things that I definitley would do-over. I don't regret coming out to BYU. after 3 years, it's finally coming around to me that this is a good place, a good thing to be doing and it's great. I love my ward, my friends, my professors, the whole atmosphere. It finally got to me when me friend got called to serve in Ukraine---and I could share that news, and it was a normal thing. I could say "my friend got called to serve in the Ukraine" and I wouldn't have to explain what a mission is or anything else;they would understand and say "that's great" but I digress. I'm glad I don't resent or regret anything about coming out here. It's been a blast to spend time with all my extended family, I love family, it's the most important thing. I only wish I would spend more time with my immediate family!!!!!
what if????--My main what if is what if I didn't go to byu but I just went straight to massage therapy school for 2 years. how much money would I be making? would I still want to do the things that I'm thinking about now? (masters in athletic training, PA school...) I know that if I stayed in NJ tho, I probably would have made bad decisions (or worse than I have already made) I needed to get away and BYU has really strengthened and taught me a lot. I just think about my career and if I would feel the same (and I wonder if I would be making a lot more moolah) I also think about the missed opportunities and missed blessings that I miss out on when I'm acting stupid. I think "dang it, this is probably what the Lord had in store for me, and now I will never know!!!" but like pop said, all you can do is get up and try harder. Get up and try again. Learn from your mistakes and dont be afraid to believe in yourself to do your best. haha, cheesy, I know, but if you give 110% every time, you will never have any regrets.

Anyway, I love and miss you all so much. All the sumner clans here say hi and send their love. ew, the other day, we had everyone over for easter, and Uncle Wayne called aunt Janet his "main squeeze" LOLOLOL, haha, wow uncle wayne, he is the best tho. Love you al, happy Easter and best wishes! Happy Anniversary to Indira&Blake and Mom&Pop "still crazy after all these years" hahah. Go Miami Heat!!!