Dana Burland

We’re back from a weekend in Traverse City, for Cam’s first BIG soccer tournament. I’m reliving it all with a box of Kleenex. Cam’s team played four games throughout the weekend–three regular matches and a finals match. They played against an incredibly tough team, a questionably aggressive team, a match with a grumpy ref, and a shortened game in cold rain on a slippery field. Through it all the whole team played with heart and hustle. Cam gave every game his all–never shying away from getting a touch on the ball, trusting when his teammates had it, moving the ball up the field to pass to open team members, and taking gutsy shots when he had to. Coach gives out “man of the match” awards after games, two for these tournament games. After game 2, a teammate who won it immediately turned and awarded it to Cam–an extra meaningful award coming selflessly from a teammate. When Coach gave Cam the award after game 3, he passed it on to another team member of his he felt deserved it. Se...

I just finished week four of an eight week sprint triathlon training plan. We’re halfway, baby! This training plan is broken into four, two week chunks. Each chunk asks more of me than before—increased mileage and speed work. Here’s what my workouts looked like in the last two weeks: Monday : 3 mile run, with 4 sets of 2 min fast/2 min slow Tuesday : 45 minute bike ride, with 4 sets of 3 min fast Wednesday : strength training Thursday : rest day Friday : 30 minute swim, moderate pace Saturday : 30 minute bike ride + 15 minute run Sunday : 55 minutes easy endurance (walk or easy bike ride) I’m finding the first week of each new chunk totally wipes me out. The step up from the week before is so tough. I’m sore and exhausted. The second week though, while still plenty of effort, is much more manageable. Most days I can easily find a time to get my training in, but one day this past week was comical. I needed to be home for an afternoon service appointment. With work and kid stu...

Please join me in giving a warm welcome to the newest member of our household: a 3D printer! The boys wanted this, and worked hard to earn it over the last few months. C specifically picked weeds, washed windows, cleaned bathrooms, vacuumed the house, did the laundry–over several weeks. So far we’ve printed an obligatory little test boat, and 80% of a chip clip (before we ran out of filament). I’ll tell you what, though, that clip is solid. I imagine we’ll be printing LOTS of little knick knacks and do-dads. Pretty cool for the boys to get into this next level of creativity and tech. I’ll report back after we get some more creations under our belt.