The final storm

The first thought of this project was unheard of.

There was nothing there to build the house upon.

This beautiful building no one thought,

would be able to ever surpass the many storms.

The walls started coming up one by one.

Still no one thought it would last.

Then the windows, doors and lights went up,

it finally started looking like it might work.

The beautiful yellow paint covered the outside,

the grass was a beautiful green,

and the flowers were all beautiful bright colors.

It finally looked like a house.

As the storms started coming no one still believed,

it was going to be able to stand forever.

Everyone sat and watched as the storms came,

and pieces were lost.

But as the pieces were lost,

new ones arived and it became stronger,

and stronger, and stronger,

until no storm that came damaged it.

Then one day a storm came out of no where.

This storm unlike anyother.

Large, strong, and dangerous.

The final test was really here.

The wind tore the windows and doors from the walls,

The walls were taken from the foundation it was built upon.

The rain destroyed the beautiful grass,

and the flowers were ripped from the ground.

Finally what everyone wanted to happen, happened.

It was destroyed, ruined, and demolished forever.

The beautiful master piece that took years to build

was now scattered across different lands.

For now the lot is empty and all is lost,maybe one day it will return,

but for now it is done,

nothing is left but the memories of the past.

And it all happened because that one storm that came out of now where.

-Kenzie Hower 10-27-09

This is a poem i wrote one night. Me and my friends were having alot of problems and I used this as a different look at it. Im really happy with how it turned out. =D Hope you enjoy it also.

Decisions

So lately powerlifting hasn't been going so well for me. The last few weeks I have came home in tears because I was in such frustration with myself. Being sick for so long messed me up and I became really weak and it was really hard for me to realize. Working out just wasn't going how it was supposed to be.
I was supposed to lift in a competion this november and many people were expecting alot out of me. They were putting alot of pressure on me and it was really stressing me out. Everyone was wanting me to squat my 500 pounds and it just wasn't going to happen. My body was still trying to recover from being sick for so long and it was just no good.
At practice this last week it was really bothering me and I came to a decision that I didn't want to lift at this meet. Me and my coach had kind of talked about me not doing it but I really did want to do it. When he came over to help me get ready for my next set I asked him if I had to lift. He told me that I didn't have to and that it would probably be the best thing for be at that moment in time. It helped alot that he was so supportive of me, and I know he always will be in these situations. With me not being able to train like I usually do it was hard for me to think about even lifting at a meet and doing what people wanted me to do.
Over all Im happy with the decision I made. Even though there are still going to be people who are upset with me this is the best thing for be to do for myself. Hopefully everyone will actually realize what is going on with my body and understand. =/

it been a while...

Life has been so busy these past few weeks. But it has been a good busy so it is ok. =D
School has been moving really, really fast now that I have been able to go, and I am actually starting to enjoy it alot. Im hoping it stays like this to. Then my best friend told me that she is coming back to school next semester so im really excited about that! It will be nice to have her there again.
Then i got a awesome new job working at A&R case management. I get to work with kids with disabilities and im really excited. I hope im good at it. I have had to go to CPR training so far and i learned alot. Its a really scary situation, and i don't know how well i would do under pressure. Im sure i would do fine with all the adrinaline and stuff, but as of rite now it just freaks me out. I officially start tomorrow though and im really nervous but excited. I think im more nervous to meet my kid and get to know him. Hopefully i can help him with everything that he needs to be helped with and be a awesome worker. =D
Powerlifting has been going ok. With me being really sick the last month it really hurt me lifting wise. Im defiantly not as strong as i used to be and it is really frustrating cause i had some big goals for our next meet in november. But i guess i will just have to wait tell the meet after that to hit the things i want to hit. I guess im just having a really hard time realizing that I was sick for a long time and this is going to happen to me. These past few weeks i have been doing really heavy stuff and it is just really hard. It was stuff i was doing easily for sets of 5 and i can barely do it for 3. Im just ready to get back into a good training schedule and get back to where i was when i went to worlds. All i got to say is being sick sucks and i hate it. It really ruins everything.

Powerlifting

So i really didnt know what I wanted to talk about in this blog, but Kyrsten just gave me a great idea, so here we go! =D
Alright so I haven't exactly explained to you guys what powerlifting is yet and its one of the main focuses of my blog. Powerliftin is a three even sport. Squat, Bench and deadlift. Squat is well a squat haha. But in this squat you have to go past parrelel(?), so for a better image your hips are below your knees. Squat is my best lift out of all three. Its the one I hold every record possible in. =D Bench is the simple bench everyone knows. Then dead lift is just when you pick the bar off the ground.
In each lift we were special equipment. For squats we were a squat suit, wrist wraps, knee wraps, and specialized squat shoes. For bench a bench shirt, a singlet and wrist wraps. Then for deadlift we can either were are squat suits backwords or a deadlift suit, then also very flat bottomed shoes, I wear converse. Now you ask what the suits are good for? Just imagine a spring. The suits are like a spring. They are very tight and when we go down they help push us back up. They are very nice and even though they are very painful they help alot. Oh I almost forgot the most important part of equipment, the belt! haha We were belts on everylift to keep our back safe. =D
Now how to you get to compete in a world competition? There are different levels in powerlifting just as in every other sport. First you compete in a qualifing meet. This is were you go and try and qualify for a national meet. All you must do is make a certian total and you get on the team. Its pretty simple. Then nationals is were it gets fun. Nationals meets are huge and there are tons of kids. This is were you go to try and get on the worlds team. The way you do this is by having the best total out of you weight class, so pretty much you have to win. And the way the total works is you add up your best lifts of all three lifts. If you do end up winning you get the spot on the team then it is your choice on whether you want to go or not.
Powerlifting isn't the funnest sport to watch but it is really exilirating. I love the rush i get when I am competing in compititions. It is my favortite feeling. The crowd cheering for you as you fight you get the weight up. Not only is your team cheering for you but you also have everyone else. In powerliftin we all cheer for each other and help each other out. =D
Hopefully this helps you out a little bit on what powerlifting is about. =D

random =D

Im kind of tired of writing about how frustrating my life is so im going to try and make this one happy. =D
So im pretty much stoked for these next couple weeks! hopefully they will go alot better than this week has gone. I get to go support my high school marching band at like three competitions. I love these kids and im so excited for them this year! They went to reno last weekend and took first in their division and 3rd overall, which is amazing cause this competition is really hard! They have been working so hard they deserve it. I do miss marching band though and when I go and watch their practices to help them I want to be out on the field marching with them. Is that weird? haha. I guess I can say I really miss highschool, well more the activities I did in high school. I hated the enviroment.
Im pretty stoked to go to Haunted World next week too. Me and my friends haven't been since our sophmore year. We tell each other every year that we are going to go but it just never happens. Now we are actually going and im super excited! Hopefully it goes well. Im the biggest fraidy cat though.=P One year we went and they had a snake pit and I started crying I was so afraid to go in there. It was no good. Everyone just laughed at me.
School is finally going good to. Its still kind of stressful, but its getting better. Im finally getting caught up on all my homework which is really nice. I only have to do 3 make up labs and I will be caught up. A huge stress reliever lifted off my back. Then my friend just told me she was going to come back to school next semester. I haven't really enjoyed this semester cause im not the best with making new friends. I pretty much just go to school then go straight home. So im really happy she is coming back. Plus my drives will be alot better having her there to talk to. =D

The past week.

This past week has officially been the worst so far. I finally was starting to feel better and I actually wanted to go to school. On Monday I wasn't feeling so well so I didn't go to class. Then Tuesday I only had spanish so I went and learned nothing. That class is frustrating some times cause it is so simple. Then that night me and my best friends went to Columbia to go watch the marching bands practice. At the very end we were walking out to my car and they just started yelling at me, I literally felt like I was getting attacked. Apparently I haven't been doing anything rite these past two months and they had alot of things to say to me, but I had alot to say to them to. It was the worst fight we had ever gotten in. I live with one of them and I didn't even want to stay in the same room as her so I left and went to my other friends house for the night, but boy did them put up a fight. They stayed in my car and when I got back in yelled at me some more. It was one of the most frustrating things ever. =/
That night I got only 3 hours of sleep cause I was so upset and was just tossing and turning so i didn't make it to history. As the day went on I started feeling worse and worse. I had a feeling something was up, so I just stayed in bed.
Thursday I was really ready to go back to school so I set my alarm so could get up in the morning, but i slept through it and woke up with there only being 30 minutes to get to class. There was no way I was going to make it. I live in nampa so it just takes me 30 minutes to get to boise, then by the time i find a parking spot and get across campus its another 20 minutes. I was so frustrated. I had a lab that day so I just planned on going to that since I missed class. I got ready and headed to school. When I got to the lab they were gone. It was a field trip that day and I guess I was a couple minutes late and they had left. I was really frustrated now, I just turned rite back around and went home. Then during spanish I checked what I had gotten on my test and I didn't do so well cause I had been gone for so long. I sat and talked with my teacher and he told me that he would help me get my stuff done that I had missed. This day just wasn't getting any better.
Friday my alarm didn't even go off. I was officially sick of this. I had a test to take so I had to go over to the campus either way so I got up and got ready and headed to school. I went and took my test and bombed it. I just didn't care anymore, I knew I wasn't going to do good on it just cause I had been gone so long.
This week just sucked. Im getting sick again, and I feel like im never going to get caught back up with school. Hopefully next week will be alot better, cause I dont' know if I could take another week like this again.

Life at its low points

Rite now I feel like I am at one of my lowest points that I can get in life, and its frustrating to me. I think the major part of this is being sick. I don't feel like im getting any better or getting worse anymore, im at a stand still and it sucks. Im still always tired, and ever time I even attempt to eat something I feel like im going to be sick. Yes, my fevers are gone and I dont' sleep as much but this almost sucks just as bad.
School is getting really hard for me to keep up with. I try my best to get to class, but some mornings I just wake up and feel cruddy so I just go back to bed. I called and talked to the finiancel aid office today to talk to them about me with drawling and if i could keep my finaincel aid and they said I would have to pay it back. So there is no way that I can even think about with drawling rite now. I just don't know what to do anymore with school. I guess Im just going to have to try my best and get what I can done and hope that it will be enough to at least get me a C. I was hoping to get all A's this semester but it doesn't look like that is going to happen with everything that is going on rite now.
Then I have no idea what I want to be anymore. I want to be a teacher, but my real passion is being a doctor and helping kids. I would LOVE to be a pediatricion or something in the dental field. I just hope I can figure it out soon.
I know everything will work out in the big picture but rite now I just don't feel like it is going to. I just want to feel better and get back to my usual schedule. I hate not being able to go and workout like I should be doing. I hate not being able to go to school and get my education. It would be one thing if I was back in highschool but im in college now, and I have to pay for this education. I want to go back to work and see all my friends from there. I want to make money so I can pay for my bills that are coming up next week. I need money so I can go and get a new cell phone and provider and get a new car so I don't have to worry about mine breaking down on the way to school.
Being a adult is complicated and Im not sure how much I am enjoying it rite now. Hopefully it will get better.

H1N1

The biggest thing in the news rite now is H1N1 or also known as swine flu. I never thought Iwould get it, then I got sick. At first I just felt like I had a normal head cold or sinus infection while in Brazil. As we started our adventure home I started feeling worse. My eye was watering and I looked like I was crying non-stop. I started getting a nasty cough and I was just tired. When I first got home I figured it was just from the travel and the week I had just had. I took some medicine and fell asleep hoping I would feel better in the morning. When I woke up the next morning I felt like crap. I had NO energy at all. I slept the whole day. Then I finally called my mom and asked her to take me to the doctors, something was wrong with me and I just didn't feel rite.
When I finally got into see the doctors we told them that I had just got back from being out of the country. They told me that they probably know what it is that is making me feel so sick. After doing the whole doctor examination they sat down and told me that I had H1N1. I didn't know what to think. The first thing that popped in my head was that I was dying. Its what I felt like and thats all I heard about it. I was upset and just wanted to go home and go back to bed. The doctor told me that I wasn't contagious anymore and that I could go back to school, but that I most likely wouldn't have the energy to. He told me it was best to stay home and rest. Then when my mom asked what kind of medications there was for it, he said none. All that would help would be IB profen. I just shook my head and thought "Great". I only had level 1 to. I couldn't even imagine what it would be like to have the full deal. Who knows maybe I did increase in levels, I sure did feel like it.
As the week went on I fell farther and farther behind in school. I was getting stressed and didn't know what to do. This is was the last thing that was supposed to happen. English was getting hard to do and it was my easiest. I went from doing everything from only being able to do a few assignments. Everytime I even attempted doing homework I fell asleep. I just didn't know what do to. I e-mailed my teachers and none responded to my e-mails, All i could think about was dropping out. Thanks to my coach I didn't though. He told me to keep going and get what I could done and start working on the stuff that is due now. So I did. I didn't get all caught up but as caught up as I was probably going to get.
Its Tuesday now and I finally made my way back to school. It took every ounce of energy but I did it. Hopefully I can keep it up and get back into a usual schedule again and finish up this semester as good as I can.

Home

The last 26 hours have been the longest hours of my life! Getting home was a number one on my list of thing yesterday when we were loading our plane to Sao Paolo. But it didn't come easy. First the plane was hotter than hot so it was so uncomfortable. Then as we were taking off we looked back at the airport for the last time and noticed that our luggage was still on the ground and not with us. That brought panic to all of us.
We arrive in Sao Paolo and go to collect what baggage did happen to land on the plane then headed over to baggage claim. We all had to fill out the information they asked us. They told us that our luggage should be sent to miami then shipped to our houses. So we all liked that plan. Then we get over to check in and the people at the desk told us that our luggage would not be sent to our houses, and that we would have to pick it up at the closest airport. For everyone that was ok because they were flying with the same carrier but us. The Idaho part of the team has to now hope that our luggage makes it to us.
When we finally get on the plane to Houston all I wanted to do was sleep. I didn't feel good and really just wanted to be home in my own bed. But the plane ride didn't go as well as I liked. I couldn't sleep at all and it was a very long 10 hours. Finally we touched down and headed over to collect our baggage and say goodbye to the team. It was so hard to do. Hugs, hand shakes, and tears were coming from all of us. It is hard to say goodbye to people you have become to close to, and when you know you may never see them again its even harder.
As Jesse, Rayborn and I went down stairs to the train it was quite and you could tell we were ready to be home. Jesse wasn't on the same plane as us so we put him on standbye. Luckily he got on the same plane and we flew to Denver. Same thing in Denver but our plane was booked so he didn't get on and had to wait for his actual flight. The flight from Denver to Boise felt like forever. I just wanted to be home and see my mom and dad. I was definiantly ready to be there. When we finally arrived we got off the plane and headed towards the doors. My mom was waiting their for me and I just gave her a huge hug. I was so happy to see her. Soon after my dad, brother, grandpa and cousins showed up. My grandpa just looked at me and started crying it made me realize how proud everyone was of me.
When we finally made it home I went and looked threw my luggage and seen what had made it home. None of my clothes and bathroom stuff. All my suvinears, and the video and pictures of my lifts. I got upset and then jsut kind of shook it off.
Im really happy to be home in my own bed. This trip was something I am never going to forget, and I can't wait tell next year. Thank you everyone who helped me get to where I am at!
Night!
-Kenzie Hower

Brazil

The land is beautiful here! Its so green and tropical, something I have never experienced before. The weather has been kind of moody you can say. One day it will be really nice and sunny, then the next it will be storming. But the storms are alot different than they are in Idaho. When it lightning the skies light up and turn almost pink, its beautiful. The thunder is alot louder too. One night I was laying in bed and it sounded as if a bomb had hit the ground. It was louder than i had ever heard before.
One thing I didn't enjoy to much here though was the humidity. It made me sick. Im difianlty not used to all the water getting in my lungs.
The food was pretty good for the most part. I tried really hard to have stuff I had never ate before, and that I knew we didn't have at home. We went to a Brazillian BBQ place that was AMAZING! They went around with all types of meat on scewers and gave you little pieces. I tried a chicken heart, and all different types of meats i had never tried before. Then they had a huge salad bar that had all types of different things. They had squid and I had never tried it before so I thought I would give it a try. It wasn't to bad. Just very rubbery, but that was kind of expected. Then they brought us this plate of what looked like really thin slices of fish covered in this brown sauce. Me and on of the coaches tried it, and it was raw salmon. It was delicious! No on else liked it so we ate the rest of it. It was really fun trying out different foods I had never had before.
Over all I loved Brazil. It was something that Im never going to forget. I made lots of new friends and met people from all around the world that are alot of fun and amazing. Im so happy that I got the expierence to come on this trip. Hopefully next year I will be in the Czec and doing the same thing.
=D
-Kenzie

Airport fun on the way to Brazil =D

I woke up this morning at 4:30 and finished getting my stuff ready for my trip to Brazil. When me and my mom got in the car I felt sick because of my nerves. I couldn't believe it was already time to go, but i was ready. When we got to the airport and met my coach and my other team mate, Jesse and our adventure began. We left to denver at 7:01 and arrived at about 8:30. Me and Jesse went to go get breakfast and we couldn't find what we wanted. We were looking for parfiats and no where seemed to have them. Finally we found a little shop and got some breakfast and made our way back to our gate. As we were walking back we say what we didn't know was a guy or a girl. We both looked at each other and just burst into laughter, and said did you see that.
Then we finally get to load our plane to Houston where we would meet the rest of the team. When we finally arived we got off and we were kinda lost. If you haven't been to the Houston airport before it is broke into different sections. We were located at A wing at the time and we needed to get to E. My coach wanted to avoid having to check in at all cost but it looked like we had to. We finally get out and go get on the train/trolly. This thing was crazy! It was really slow but then as soon as it would get to the corners it would speed up and almost give you wiplash. Me and Jesse were joking around saying how we would get wip lash and then have to tell the head coach, Joe, that we wouldn't beable to lift because of the train. Our coach just looked at us like we were crazy and shook his head. We finally get over to our gate at about 2.
Since then we have been sitting here for about 5 hours and we still have another 3 tell we load to Brazil. But the team finally showed up and we are having alot of fun talking and getting to know each other.
Im so excited to get to Brazil and get settled, Im defiantly ready for a shower and a bed though. And Im really tired of sitting in this airport!! =/

Stress...

Im starting to feel the stress of college already and its only the second week of school. But then its probably because I'm leaving for a ten day trip on friday and im trying to get all my work done so I won't have to worry about alot of it while I am gone. Then the worst part about this week is that it is going by so FAST!!! I don't even feel like I have enough time to even do all of my work. Im up tell 12 or 1 working on it, then i have to get up at six and go to school. I honestly feel like I'm getting nothing done and it is so frustrating. I probably just need to relax and calm down and sit down and just do it. This has always been a problem of mine. When I know I have alot of work to do I stress really bad. Ah...
Everything else is going pretty great though. My last workouts have been going pretty good, and I'm happy with where I am at with my training. I can't wait to leave for Brazil! Three days and I'm out of here. Im starting to realize that this plane ride isn't going to be fun though. haha. Friday is defiantly going to be a long day. Boise Airport at six to catch our seven o'clock plane to Houston, four hours for that one. Then we have a wonderful five hour lay over, then nine p.m we are off to Brazil for a good 10 hour flight. Thats already 14 hours and we still will have another flight to catch when we get there. I think that flight is only like a hour though so that won't be to bad. But goodness thats alot of flying! haha... =D I really am excited though. Finally my countdown is in the single digits and soon enough it will be going into hours and minutes. =D
School is going pretty good so far other than the homework. I really am enjoying my geology class rite now. I love studying the earth and everthing that it does. It intrigues me how the earth has hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanoes, earthquakes, and even how the continents move. Im defianlty excited to learn more about everything the earth does. Im really excited for the lab. I am defiantly a hands on learner. History is going ok. We are still going threw what we are going to be doing in class and we still haven't gone over what our assignments are, so I have no idea what i am supposed to do and i am supposed to turn it in before i leave! (big part of stress level right now. =/) I really like this english class. I enjoy being able to do assignments when I have time do to them, instead of being stressed that it is due the next day. Spanish is kind of boring rite now just cause its a spanish 1 class and I took 2 years in high school. But its a good review for me. Hopefully it will help me alot with speaking it better.
Alright I better get started on my other homework. =P
-Kenzie Hower

3rd day of school, 9 days tell worlds!

Today was my third day of school and so far I love it. All my classes of being going great also. It is really weird not going back to highschool though, but im loving getting out of class at 10:30 and 11:30 everyday so that is a plus. It defiantly was weird coming onto the campus and not being there for a band event though. Everytime i have been on the campus before was for a Marching band competition so i defianlty brought back memories.
None of you probley know but Im a powerlifter. Im apart of the Team Idaho and Team USA powerlifting teams. Im a two time state and national champion and I made it onto the Sub-Junior USA team this year so Im pretty excited to accomplish a goal I had set for myself. This September 4th I will be traveling to Rebiero Preto-SP, Brazil to compete at the Sub-Junior world competition and I can't wait. Im ranked number one rite now and I have a great change of coming home with four gold medals and a world record. I will be keeping all my updates on here I guess now.=)
But there are some downs with mixing these two things in my life at the moment together that has been stressful. Both school and powerlifting are both very expensive. For both I have paid at least $3000 and it is stressful trying to come up with the money at times. Thankfully I have sponsers that love helping me out for worlds, or I probley wouldn't be going. On to the second down is I am going to have to miss 6 days of school. Now back in highschool i really didn't have to worry about it cause my teachers understood what was going on. Going into college I was scared out of my mind to go talk to my teacher about it. They have all been very resonable though. They are letting me turn in stuff early and letting me make it up when I get back. So I am very thankful for my teachers for helping me out with this.
Im super excited to get going in school and can't wait to see how everything turns out this year for powerlifting. So overall i think it is going to be a awesome year, but Im sure it will have its ups and downs. =D
-Kenzie Hower