4th of July!

Hey, all. The 4th of July is rapidly approaching... it's tomorrow!!! Ahh!

I have some exciting news to share. It seems that the town council of Frisco, Colorado recognizes my success at the 2015 Deaflympics and they asked me if I would like to be the official Grand Marshal for the 4th of July Parade. Umm, what?! Of course I said yes! I am so excited, humbled, and honored that the town offered me this opportunity.



This is directly from the Town of Frisco's website... it's officially official!!!

This year Deaflympics medalist, Lauren Weibert, will lead off the parade as the official Grand Marshal of the 2015 Frisco 4th of July parade. Ms. Weibert won gold (slopestyle) and silver (boardercross) medals in snowboarding at the 2015 Winter Deaflympics in Khanty-Mansiysk, a city in Siberia. Also, she is often be found slinging coffee at Rocky Mountain Coffee Roasters in Frisco.

I hope to use this to bring more awareness to deaf athletes and the Deaflympics. I am allowed to have posters, so I was thinking about making two... one will say something like, "THANK YOU FOR SENDING ME TO RUSSIA" because I really want the community to know I truly am thankful for their support and putting blind faith in me by donating money to my fundraiser helping me achieve dream of representing my country in the Deaflympics.

2nd - Petrine Olgeirsdottir (NOR) | 1st - Myself (USA) | 3rd - Svetlana Anisimova (RUS)

In case you aren't aware, each Deaflympian has to fundraise upwards to $5,000 out-of-pocket to be able to go compete in the Games. Olympians and Paralympians receive financial support from the United States IOC, Deaflympians do not.

Also, did you know that other countries paid for all their Deaflympics athletes' fees at the last Winter Games? That's pretty cool. That must help to not worry about fundraising, thus allowing them to focus more time on training. I wish I could have spent more time training than focusing on trying to raise the money to go to Russia. Fun fact, the 18th Winter Deaflympics in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, was my first time jumping again since my knee surgery.... oy!! I definitely wish I had the time to practice jumping before I went, but, no matter, I accomplished what I wanted; that was to have an Olympics experience, and to win gold in Slopestyle Snowboarding. :)

The USA Team!
I seriously love Zack and Aaron's faces... haha, they're the two dudes hugging on the left

Anyways, back to the posters. So, one will say "THANK YOU FOR SENDING ME TO RUSSIA" and on the back, I think I want it to say, "I LOVE THIS COMMUNITY" :)

For the other one, which Cobie will hold... yes, Cobie is joining and so is Gypsy!!!! Yay!!!! I was thinking for the other poster, "SUPPORT LOCAL DEAF ATHLETES USDEAFSPORTS.ORG TOGETHER WE WIN."

Short, simple, & sweet. I feel like every deaf athlete deserves to have the opportunity to represent the United States in the Deaflympics and only you can help make that happen.

The USA Deaf Snowboard Team
Jenny Berrigan, Blair Esson, myself, Kyle Emrad (Team Leader), Jeff Pollock, Nixo Lanning, & Sean Esson

Screenshot my dad took when he watched me live :) I'm all smiles despite the challenging course...
I was probably really happy I didn't die!! :)

I have to go work at the greenhouses today (yes, that's my internship this summer... I'm an urban farmer! I will have a blog post all about that later!) then sling some coffee after.... I need to buy some USA leggings for the parade... oh god, so last minute. Luckily, there's a shop just down the road from the coffeeshop and I'm gonna go swoop those leggings... USA, USA, USA!!! Hope to see you at the parade!