Thursday, September 17, 2009
Your Favorite Book
Well, since I just finished a fabulous book group meeting, I'm on a book kick. So, I thought it would fun if we all shared our favorite book or author and why.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Daisy Picking
Well, like most Dorff children, I was expected to participate in a sporting activity of my choosing. The problem - I had a difficult time choosing! I can remember taking dance as a little kid, but I'm not sure why that stopped. My next memory is of soccer - sadly, especially considering I married a soccer player, I was a better daisy picker than soccer player - I just didn't like getting in other people's faces and getting aggressive. I can remember also trying gymnastics as a kid. Other stints at sporting activities included one year on a basketball team, two years running cross country, and two more years of jazz dance. I actually enjoyed all three of those activities, but basketball had the same problem for me as soccer - I just wouldn't get in people's faces. Cross country ended during 8th grade when I had to quit mid-season due to an injury that led to physical therapy. Jazz dance was by far my favorite, but I stopped after we moved to Florida (the only available class for my age was on Monday nights). Also, during Jr. High I gained a lot of weight, and I was feeling very uncomfortable about myself in a leotard - yikes!
Don't fear, all is not lost for me. I would say there are two success stories for me in sports: swimming and tennis. Swimming began as a necessity - you can't live in California and not know how to swim as soon as you can walk - so we all learned at neighbor's homes. Then I can remember YMCA swim classes. When we moved to Cincinnati Mom, in an effort to keep her kids from wasting away their summers, told us that we needed to either do Tennis Camp or Swim Team. I chose tennis camp the first year, but didn't really like it. So I then switched over to Swim Team, where I swam summer after summer through 7th grade. Although I was not the best, nor did I bring home tons of ribbons or trophies, I did enjoy myself. Still to this day I love swimming. I love being in the water and just enjoying the pool. I do not enjoy the chlorine though - yuck! Success number two was tennis. My first experience with tennis was that one summer of tennis camp. Although I was okay at it, I just didn't enjoy the camp itself. I think I wanted to take that camp because I wanted to be able to play tennis like my mom - she always amazed me with her abilities on the court. I look forward to the day when I can see my mom strong enough to lift a racket again - hooray for the resurrection! After moving to Florida, Erika and I began taking lessons together on Saturday mornings from the neighborhood tennis pro. We took these lessons for a few years. I actually really enjoy playing tennis. I can't serve to save my life, but I feel pretty confident in the rest of my tennis abilities. Sometimes I wish that I still had the opportunity to take tennis right now, but, this is obviously not the plan for me right now!
So, long story short... Am I good at sports? Yeah, not so much. Do I enjoy them? Yes, as long as it's not competitive. Do I want my children involved in them? Of course - there's so much to be learned about yourself and others through sports, plus it's just plain good for you! Do I wish I had better sporting experiences from my youth? Sometimes. I really don't think I would have become as involved in music as I did had I stuck to sporting more - and I'm so grateful for the experiences that I had in music. However, I do envy some people who have those great memories of sporting teams, etc..... In general, I'm glad for the experiences that I did have.
Don't fear, all is not lost for me. I would say there are two success stories for me in sports: swimming and tennis. Swimming began as a necessity - you can't live in California and not know how to swim as soon as you can walk - so we all learned at neighbor's homes. Then I can remember YMCA swim classes. When we moved to Cincinnati Mom, in an effort to keep her kids from wasting away their summers, told us that we needed to either do Tennis Camp or Swim Team. I chose tennis camp the first year, but didn't really like it. So I then switched over to Swim Team, where I swam summer after summer through 7th grade. Although I was not the best, nor did I bring home tons of ribbons or trophies, I did enjoy myself. Still to this day I love swimming. I love being in the water and just enjoying the pool. I do not enjoy the chlorine though - yuck! Success number two was tennis. My first experience with tennis was that one summer of tennis camp. Although I was okay at it, I just didn't enjoy the camp itself. I think I wanted to take that camp because I wanted to be able to play tennis like my mom - she always amazed me with her abilities on the court. I look forward to the day when I can see my mom strong enough to lift a racket again - hooray for the resurrection! After moving to Florida, Erika and I began taking lessons together on Saturday mornings from the neighborhood tennis pro. We took these lessons for a few years. I actually really enjoy playing tennis. I can't serve to save my life, but I feel pretty confident in the rest of my tennis abilities. Sometimes I wish that I still had the opportunity to take tennis right now, but, this is obviously not the plan for me right now!
So, long story short... Am I good at sports? Yeah, not so much. Do I enjoy them? Yes, as long as it's not competitive. Do I want my children involved in them? Of course - there's so much to be learned about yourself and others through sports, plus it's just plain good for you! Do I wish I had better sporting experiences from my youth? Sometimes. I really don't think I would have become as involved in music as I did had I stuck to sporting more - and I'm so grateful for the experiences that I had in music. However, I do envy some people who have those great memories of sporting teams, etc..... In general, I'm glad for the experiences that I did have.
Monday, March 30, 2009
I Love Sports
I've never been a big t.v. spectator of sports, but I love to be a live spectator of most sports and to participate in them as well.
My earliest memories are of t-ball and swimming at Harper's Point. I remember being picked as an all-star my first year in t-ball and was totally confused as to why because I was terrible. Yet, my second year, in which I was amazingly good (at least that's how my memory remembers it) I was not picked to be an all-star. I was oftentimes on the Car Wash Plus team (the company that Ashley Austin's dad owned).
As for swimming, I think I had a love/hate relationship with it. Sometimes I really enjoyed it and other times I wished I didn't have to do it. I was never a star, but was good enough that I oftentimes placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. My most vivid memory from swimming is the one time I was put in a race for the butterfly. It was my first and last time. I was soooo far behind in the race that the officials were getting ready to start the next race and the lane judges for me had to frantically get his attention to let him know that I was still going.
Soccer - probably my favorite sport. One thing I remember from soccer is that I was always a goof-off at practices. I remember this in elementary school and in middle school. But I don't think I was too much of a goof-off to ever really upset coaches. I always begged to play goalie and for a long time no one would let me. Then someone did let me and then from there on out, that's usually what I played. My other position was usually left forward wing (I think that's what it's called). I was and still am terrible at defense. In middle school, when my hypoglycemia was pretty bad, I remember trying to explain to a coach of mine that if we were playing a really bad team, I could not be left in goal because I would get really light headed if all I did was stand there. He didn't get the message at all and laughed at me. That made me cry. As I tried to participate in school soccer, I was always good enough to make the team, but never good enough to really have any playing time. So school soccer was not for me, I much preferred community soccer.
Lacrosse became a love of mine in middle school. St. Andrew's had a big lacrosse program and since I was a bench-warmer on the soccer team, I decided to try lacrosse. I first started out as a D-Wing, but I ended high school as first home. When we moved to Indiana, Dad started a lacrosse team there and I was able to play varsity all four years of high school. It was cool two summers ago to watch Carmel's 4th of July parade and to see the girls' lacrosse team marching in it. My freshman year at BYU I started to practice with the lacrosse team, but then I broke my finger in an intramural soccer game and after it was all healed I never went back to lacrosse. I still have all three of my sticks though.
In college, I loved intramurals and I'm so glad BYU has such a great intramural program. I've played both girls' and coed soccer and intertube waterpolo. I loved them all, but intertube waterpolo was probably my favorite. Once I started having kids it became a lot harder to participate and work out schedules, also I started to go to school just part-time and so we had to pay extra money for me to play and it wasn't always worth it. But I love that others get to play and that the team is usually named after one of my kids (For Pete's Sake is the name again this year). Tim and DJ have a game tomorrow night and if they win that they have another game on Thursday night!
I love sports and I'm so glad that they were able to be a part of my life growing up. I'm excited for Peter and Benjamin to have a chance to play them as well and I'm glad that they already love so many sports.
My earliest memories are of t-ball and swimming at Harper's Point. I remember being picked as an all-star my first year in t-ball and was totally confused as to why because I was terrible. Yet, my second year, in which I was amazingly good (at least that's how my memory remembers it) I was not picked to be an all-star. I was oftentimes on the Car Wash Plus team (the company that Ashley Austin's dad owned).
As for swimming, I think I had a love/hate relationship with it. Sometimes I really enjoyed it and other times I wished I didn't have to do it. I was never a star, but was good enough that I oftentimes placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. My most vivid memory from swimming is the one time I was put in a race for the butterfly. It was my first and last time. I was soooo far behind in the race that the officials were getting ready to start the next race and the lane judges for me had to frantically get his attention to let him know that I was still going.
Soccer - probably my favorite sport. One thing I remember from soccer is that I was always a goof-off at practices. I remember this in elementary school and in middle school. But I don't think I was too much of a goof-off to ever really upset coaches. I always begged to play goalie and for a long time no one would let me. Then someone did let me and then from there on out, that's usually what I played. My other position was usually left forward wing (I think that's what it's called). I was and still am terrible at defense. In middle school, when my hypoglycemia was pretty bad, I remember trying to explain to a coach of mine that if we were playing a really bad team, I could not be left in goal because I would get really light headed if all I did was stand there. He didn't get the message at all and laughed at me. That made me cry. As I tried to participate in school soccer, I was always good enough to make the team, but never good enough to really have any playing time. So school soccer was not for me, I much preferred community soccer.
Lacrosse became a love of mine in middle school. St. Andrew's had a big lacrosse program and since I was a bench-warmer on the soccer team, I decided to try lacrosse. I first started out as a D-Wing, but I ended high school as first home. When we moved to Indiana, Dad started a lacrosse team there and I was able to play varsity all four years of high school. It was cool two summers ago to watch Carmel's 4th of July parade and to see the girls' lacrosse team marching in it. My freshman year at BYU I started to practice with the lacrosse team, but then I broke my finger in an intramural soccer game and after it was all healed I never went back to lacrosse. I still have all three of my sticks though.
In college, I loved intramurals and I'm so glad BYU has such a great intramural program. I've played both girls' and coed soccer and intertube waterpolo. I loved them all, but intertube waterpolo was probably my favorite. Once I started having kids it became a lot harder to participate and work out schedules, also I started to go to school just part-time and so we had to pay extra money for me to play and it wasn't always worth it. But I love that others get to play and that the team is usually named after one of my kids (For Pete's Sake is the name again this year). Tim and DJ have a game tomorrow night and if they win that they have another game on Thursday night!
I love sports and I'm so glad that they were able to be a part of my life growing up. I'm excited for Peter and Benjamin to have a chance to play them as well and I'm glad that they already love so many sports.
Friday, March 20, 2009
It was mostly tennis and baseball for me.
I was born into a family of tennis players. My mother was the coach, and my three older sisters all played on teams, so when I was about 4, a friend of the family chopped several inches off the handle of a regular size (wooden) tennis racquet, wrapped the remaining stub with a new grip, and thus was created my first tennis racquet. I loved the sport and became pretty good at it, so that by age 8 or 9, I was entering 12-and-under tournaments and usually winning. I also played on our town's team every summer which traveled to other towns in Massachusetts for competitions, a couple of days every week. At age 11 I went to summer camp in Maine for several weeks, and I won the Maine State Campers Tournament for 12-and-unders. When I went away to boarding school in New York starting in 9th grade, I played varsity for all 4 years, and also entered a few mid-Atlantic tournaments. However, by the time I graduated and was ready for college, tennis had become less of a priority for me, and I realized I would probably not care whether I played in college or not. (I didn't play tennis, but was recruited to play varsity squash instead.)
Another sport in which I participated as a young child was competitive swimming. We belonged to a club that had both tennis courts and a swimming pool, and I swam on the club swim team. I'm not sure I was ever the fastest in any stroke, but it was still a lot of fun.
At a very young age - probably 5 or 6, because that's when we got our first t.v. - I discovered the sport of baseball, and I was fascinated. Nobody in my family played or was involved in any way with baseball or softball, but I loved it. I watched all the Red Sox games on t.v., and figured out the rules and strategies on my own, and then I found a local little league team to practice with. (I was the only girl and was never an official part of the team, but they let me pitch batting practice because I could throw really hard.... for a girl.) As you all know, my love of baseball has remained with me all my life, but only as a spectator.
In elementary school I played varsity field hockey in the fall, varsity basketball in the winter, and varsity softball in the spring. Tennis was not a school sport, so I did that separately. When I got to boarding school I was excited to discover that the girls played real baseball competitively, and that it was possible for me to play both tennis and baseball in the same season, with only occasional conflicts! I was a catcher and/or 1st baseman on the varsity baseball team for a couple of years. I played varsity badminton (haha) in the winter - required by the tennis coach!
As you have guessed from reading this, my life was filled with sports throughout my childhood, and I was extremely healthy and carefree. My love of sports, and more particularly my competitive spirit, remain with me today. Being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and giving up such an active lifestyle has been one of my life's disappointments and challenges, but I still love to be an enthusiastic spectator!
Another sport in which I participated as a young child was competitive swimming. We belonged to a club that had both tennis courts and a swimming pool, and I swam on the club swim team. I'm not sure I was ever the fastest in any stroke, but it was still a lot of fun.
At a very young age - probably 5 or 6, because that's when we got our first t.v. - I discovered the sport of baseball, and I was fascinated. Nobody in my family played or was involved in any way with baseball or softball, but I loved it. I watched all the Red Sox games on t.v., and figured out the rules and strategies on my own, and then I found a local little league team to practice with. (I was the only girl and was never an official part of the team, but they let me pitch batting practice because I could throw really hard.... for a girl.) As you all know, my love of baseball has remained with me all my life, but only as a spectator.
In elementary school I played varsity field hockey in the fall, varsity basketball in the winter, and varsity softball in the spring. Tennis was not a school sport, so I did that separately. When I got to boarding school I was excited to discover that the girls played real baseball competitively, and that it was possible for me to play both tennis and baseball in the same season, with only occasional conflicts! I was a catcher and/or 1st baseman on the varsity baseball team for a couple of years. I played varsity badminton (haha) in the winter - required by the tennis coach!
As you have guessed from reading this, my life was filled with sports throughout my childhood, and I was extremely healthy and carefree. My love of sports, and more particularly my competitive spirit, remain with me today. Being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and giving up such an active lifestyle has been one of my life's disappointments and challenges, but I still love to be an enthusiastic spectator!
Favorite Sports Memories
In honor of March Madness, I propose that we each post something about playing sports as a child. What sport(s) did you like best? Did you play on community and/or school teams? Any great successes or funny experiences you would like to share? You can take this subject in whatever direction you would like....
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Better late than never...
I'm just now getting on board with this blog - I haven't even read it in over a month, so I just realized that I'm supposed to say something..... sorry. First of all, I agree with Tiffany that it seems awkward to make such a list, especially since I do feel like "pond scum" if I don't list all the obvious things. So, in no particular order:
I am thankful for:
Modern medicine and surgical techniques - I think you all understand this one
Well-trained transplant surgeons and other personnel - ditto
Children and sons-in-law - you all rock!
Grandchildren - the brightest and best in the world, of course
Blogs!! - I check all of yours daily just to feel connected
The Internet in general - Google in specific
My abilities and talents and a reasonable amount of intelligence (no rebuttals allowed)
Airplanes and the ability to visit despite the distance
MLB and the Red Sox - intense but wonderful
College football and the NFL - lots of fun and enjoyment
My calling to teach - what I love doing more than anything else
Romance novels (haha - thought you'd like this one - Christian romance novels, that is)
WeightWatchers - yes! 29 pounds and counting!
Christmas trees and lights, but not Christmas cookies... (see above)
Steroid shots (couldn't do what I do without them)
Arthritis meds (ditto)
Comfort and safety in today's troubled world
My personal knowledge of the restored gospel
God's love for us
Christ's atonement
A wonderful husband who constantly tries to be and do better
Repentance - for all of us
I could go on and on, but I guess that will do it for today!
Love you all!
I am thankful for:
Modern medicine and surgical techniques - I think you all understand this one
Well-trained transplant surgeons and other personnel - ditto
Children and sons-in-law - you all rock!
Grandchildren - the brightest and best in the world, of course
Blogs!! - I check all of yours daily just to feel connected
The Internet in general - Google in specific
My abilities and talents and a reasonable amount of intelligence (no rebuttals allowed)
Airplanes and the ability to visit despite the distance
MLB and the Red Sox - intense but wonderful
College football and the NFL - lots of fun and enjoyment
My calling to teach - what I love doing more than anything else
Romance novels (haha - thought you'd like this one - Christian romance novels, that is)
WeightWatchers - yes! 29 pounds and counting!
Christmas trees and lights, but not Christmas cookies... (see above)
Steroid shots (couldn't do what I do without them)
Arthritis meds (ditto)
Comfort and safety in today's troubled world
My personal knowledge of the restored gospel
God's love for us
Christ's atonement
A wonderful husband who constantly tries to be and do better
Repentance - for all of us
I could go on and on, but I guess that will do it for today!
Love you all!
Thursday, November 27, 2008
So many things
There are, of course, obvious things for which I am grateful:
· The restoration of the Gospel
· Heavenly Father and his son, my brother
· That I was taught about the gospel and was baptized
· That I met, and fell in love, with one of Heavenly Father’s choices daughters; a women of great faith, patience, compassion, love and is blessed with eternal vision
· For parents who taught me many important lessons (even when they did not know it)
· For children who are wise and are aspiritual reflections of their mother
· Grandchildren
· A brother and a sister (and their families)
· My health; eyes to see, ears to hear, arms to hug, hands to feel, legs to walk and a heart to love
Other things for which I have been and continue to be blessed:
· Friends
· Earthly comforts
· Christmas and Easter
· Education
· Ability to use my mind
· Forests and mountains
· Love and laughter (numerous connections)
· Diversity
· COLOR
· Music
· Pain
· Bright morning sun
· Hot tubs scuba gear and snow skis
· Sports
· Modern medicine
· The restoration of the Gospel
· Heavenly Father and his son, my brother
· That I was taught about the gospel and was baptized
· That I met, and fell in love, with one of Heavenly Father’s choices daughters; a women of great faith, patience, compassion, love and is blessed with eternal vision
· For parents who taught me many important lessons (even when they did not know it)
· For children who are wise and are aspiritual reflections of their mother
· Grandchildren
· A brother and a sister (and their families)
· My health; eyes to see, ears to hear, arms to hug, hands to feel, legs to walk and a heart to love
Other things for which I have been and continue to be blessed:
· Friends
· Earthly comforts
· Christmas and Easter
· Education
· Ability to use my mind
· Forests and mountains
· Love and laughter (numerous connections)
· Diversity
· COLOR
· Music
· Pain
· Bright morning sun
· Hot tubs scuba gear and snow skis
· Sports
· Modern medicine
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