The Special Olympics Montana Spring Games 2017 took place this past week on the University of Montana campus, in Missoula, MT. This is the first year I was able to go to the event with my team. Even though I have been coaching track and field for a few years I always had a scheduling conflict. This was also my first year coaching the adults (Purple Hornets) track and field team. We had such a great but exhausting time because we went non-stop for four days. Jordyn accompanied me for this trip too which quadrupled my level of tired. Ha! We took a charter bus to Missoula, MT for the games. It was Jordyn’s first time on a bus trip and she loved it. Between seeing the animals outside and movies playing on the bus, she loved every second.
Special Olympics Montana Basketball Tournament 2016
Last week Thursday, November 10th, through Saturday, November 12th, was the annual Special Olympics Montana statewide basketball tournament. All of the Special Olympics basketball teams from all over the state, meet up in one Montana town, to compete against one another. The competition consists of 5-on-5 basketball, 3-on-3 basketball, and individual skills competitions. This year was my first year coaching the adults. As nervous as I was to make the switch, I had the time of my life, and met even more amazing people. This is also the first year I coached a 3-on-3 team and we walked away with the silver medal in our division!
It all started with the fun opening ceremonies where my team and I partied hard and got pumped up for the weekend. We cheered, celebrated, danced, hugged, and showed every other emotion possible to get ready for the days ahead of us. They were ready to compete and it made me happy to see them show up ready and prepared for the upcoming games.
As usual, we had the annual dinner, carnival, and dance, and it seems to be more fun every passing year. I danced until I couldn’t dance anymore with my team and some of my old kiddos from the previous team I coached. We ate plenty of candy at the carnival too, but we drank water with the candy so that counts for something, right? Ha!
I’m looking forward to seeing everyone for Spring games next year. I will be coaching track & field, so watch out world, the Hornets (team purple) will be back in a few months. Until then, we will all rest up and eat plenty of delicious foods for the holidays. Oh, and I guess a few of them will be doing Winter sports in between that time too. 😉
As part of my #ThankfulNovember posts for this month, this is the perfect opportunity to say how thankful I am for the Special Olympics organization, the awesome athletes, coaches, and parents. It’s really easy to get caught up in all the negativity happening around us, that it’s a nice reminder to go somewhere like this tournament, filled with so much happiness and pride. Volunteering with this organization you often hear people compliment you for dedicating your time, but if only you knew how much the people, and organization impact my life. They make me a better person. They make me push myself in all aspects of life. They are my role models. And for that: I’m thankful.
Happy Monday folks! I hope this week started off great for you!
Brie <3
[11.14.16]
#ThankfulNovember!
It may be November 4th, but it’s never too late to say, “Happy November”, right? I didn’t think so. Life has been crazy and hectic since returning from our three-week vacation last week, Saturday. Somehow, no matter how much I do, I still feel like I’m twelve steps behind. I will eventually catch up and be back to my “normal” in the next week or so. My blog post this upcoming Sunday will be an awesome recap of our vacation for those of you who would like details. 🙂
I’ve decided for the month of November, at least 90% of my blog posts, will be around the theme of thankfulness. Sometimes we misunderstand the idea of thankfulness and I want to do my best to fix it within myself and those of you who love to read my posts. We tend to wait for major events to happen to be thankful instead of being thankful for the little everyday things we take for granted. I’m going to do my best to highlight what’s important and to be thankful for all of them.
To all of my Chicago family and friends, I hope those of you who were able to attend the Chicago Cubs victory parade today had an amazing time, and remember this forever. Today’s crowd of 5 million registered as the 7th largest gathering in history. Way to set the bar for everyone else, Chicago! Fly the W and Go Cubs, Go!
I hope everyone has a great weekend, a safe weekend, filled with tons of laughs and love!
Brie <3
[11.04.16]
Super Bowl Sunday-Funday
The day is finally here ladies and gentlemen…Super Bowl Sunday! I don’t know about you guys but this is one of the first Super Bowl match ups I’m excited to watch because I love both of the quarterbacks. I can honestly say whether Superman Cam walks away with his first ring or Peyton walks away with possibly his last ring, I will be a happy lady! However, what is any super bowl without the delicious snacks?! My family and I have our usual favorite get together/party snacks, but some snacks are so super bowl worthy they have to be made for multiple occasions. Here are the snacks I have prepared for today’s festivities 🙂
Chips & Queso:
I found this recipe on Pinterest a few years back and it’s actually quite popular. Most grocery stores even have an entire display dedicated to the popular “chips and dip” during super bowl time. However, for my dip I use Velveeta’s Queso Blanco and add 1 lbs. of seasoned ground beef (or turkey). Guys…it’s SO good. The instructions are easy: brown 1 lbs. of ground beef/turkey in a medium sized pot. Add your block of cheese cut into three pieces to the cooked meat. Constantly stir to prevent the cheese from sticking and burning until it has all melted together. Take your can of Rotel and mix into the cheese and meat. Pour into a bowl and serve!
BBQ Root Beer Chicken Wings:
YES- these wings are as yummy and delicious as they look in the picture. My husband saw this recipe on Tasty’s Facebook page about two months ago and it’s one of our favorites. If you would like to give it a try, head on over to Tasty’s Facebook page, like them, and try out this recipe (along with many of their other delicious recipes)!
The wings were still in the crock pot so I couldn’t get a picture with the sign lol.
Root Beer Floats:
These are pretty self explanatory. When are root beer floats NOT a good idea? Exactly. They’re easy, fun and delicious which are all the right description words for a successful dessert following yummy snacking foods. I am a huge fan of the individual IBC root beer bottles so guests don’t have to share, and wait to use one 2 liter bottle of root beer.
Banana Bread:
This honestly has nothing to do with the Super Bowl. I had overly ripe bananas and didn’t want to throw them away/waste them. Why not make some delicious banana bread to send home with our guests to eat for breakfast throughout the week? We’re already having root beer floats for dessert so the banana bread would be overkill. If you would like to make this delicious banana bread click here for the yummy recipe.
In addition to these delicious snacks for our Super Bowl get together our friends are bringing homemade quesadillas and nachos. It’s going to be a great evening in the Jamieson household and an even better food “cheat day” for me! Haha. What are your go to snack foods for Super Bowl Sunday? Feel free to comment and share below.
Enjoy your Super Bowl Sunday and I hope whoever you’re cheering for wins!
Brie <3
[02.07.16]
Special Olympics Montana State Games 2015
This past Thursday evening to Saturday afternoon was the annual Special Olympics Montana state games. I haven’t been to the games since November of 2014 when I was still pregnant with Jordyn, and oh man did it feel great to be back with the kiddos in that crazy, fun atmosphere. I took last year off to adjust to new mommyhood a.k.a. I was a walking zombie who still learning how to walk around and not fall asleep in the process.
This year my team, the Great Falls Lions (team B) took 4th place in our bracket level and I couldn’t be more proud. Three of my only seven players played every single minute of all FIVE games played on Friday and Saturday. Talk about determination and toughness!
They were so tired and worn out by the end of the tournament on Saturday afternoon, but there were so happy to receive their 4th place green ribbons. My kiddos were the definition of the Special Olympics athletes oath:
In addition to the opening ceremonies for the games the kids got to have multiple team and family dinners, a carnival and dance to keep them going and having fun when they weren’t playing basketball games. They even made some awesome posters during their downtime to cheer each other on. If that’s not teamwork I don’t know what is!
Jordyn even did some “cheering” and made many attempts to run out on the court and “help” the team play basketball LOL. She was also a huge fan of Billy the mascot at the opening ceremonies. She wanted him to pick her up and she followed him everywhere she could. haha. It was adorable. My husband was a major help by taking care of her while I was crazy busy “Coach Brie” for 3 days.
I can’t wait to see their faces again for the spring practices and games next year. Until then, go lions go! #LionPride
Brie <3
[11.15.15]