Merry Christmas

Or in tagalog (filipino), it would be, "Maligayang Pasko!"  I had a lot of fun spending time with my family and friends this year.  Christmas is ultimately the best time of the year.  I am very lucky with a healthy relationship with my great hubby, family that lives in town, good friends, a roof under my head, continuing college education, and a job that pays pretty well.  God has blessed me with many great things and I cannot describe how grateful I am.

Nor, my brother, got a snuggie and was proud.

This year was a little different, being that Grandma wasn't here for Christmas.  She moved to the Philippines back in September for good.  My family and I gathered and ate yummy filipino food, played catch phrase, and just enjoyed each other.  Being that Grandma wasn't here, which we usually spend Christmas eve at her place, we decided to have everyone come over to our little place.  It was a little crowded, but it was still fun.  Traditionally in our family, we all eat and stay up on Christmas Eve until midnight to open presents.  This year I talked the family into opening the presents at 9pm, so we can all sleep early.  Hopefully we can just keep this tradition up for the rest of the Christmases.  We also did a different thing where the adults did a Chinese Gift Exchange.  I was the only one that stole a gift, and I stole glass tupperware from my Aunt.  Everyone else seemed satisfied with their gift from the exchange.  It was great.  Then we watched all of the kids open up their gifts and they were happy to receive games, clothes, and toys.  Every year the kids get spoiled, mostly because they get so many gifts from the so many family members.  Watching the kids open presents reminded me of when I was a child, with how many gifts I used to get.  Now that I am an adult the only person that spoils me is my husband, which is awesome!  I better be good forever so I can get good gifts, wink wink.

Mom during the Chinese Gift Exchange

My brothers, hubby & I

The Fam that came over

Joy

Everyone probably left at around 10pm.  Cory and I were spent, so we went right to bed.  Hopefully next Christmas, Cory and I will have a nice house to hold my family in.  They don't have a big place either, so at least one of us should.  Although, first I must pray that Cory gets the job on base he has been trying to get.  Anyways, the next day, on Christmas morning, we woke up by his phone going off.  His mom texted us "Merry Christmas" and it was about 7:30AM.  We have been sleeping in all break, so that was a wee bit early for us.  It didn't matter, we were excited to open up our presents that we got for each other.  So, we got up and we ate some Captain Crunch cereal together, then we dove into present opening.  Gotta feed the machine first, ya know.

Hmmm, what can this be?

I am just going to get down to it and share what I got, and what Cory got this year.

Gly:
- snowboard, bindings, and boots
- two pairs of colorful liner gloves
- colorful scarf
- a new hairbrush
- a nice watch
- a Coach swing pack
- a purple silk robe
- the book, The Power by Rhonda Byrnes
- a star necklace
- Victoria Secret perfume: Pure Seduction

Cory:
- An Affliction zip up reversible hoodie
- North Face hoodie
- Head Scratcher
- New wallet
- UnderArmour beanie
- A robot coin collector that counts your coins
- A blue squishy bean bag pillow
- snow board socks
- $100 worth of supplements from our credit card

The Gift Card I made for Cory

The rest of the day we just vegged out.  We later went to Walgreens to pick up some stuff.  I made some baked beans with pineapple to bring to a Christmas Dinner.  Our friends, the Taylors (Ruthie and Justin) invited us to join them for dinner.  The Leopolds (Justine and Rob), their baby boy, Meredith and Bundy also joined us.  There was so much food that Ruthie cooked.  We had some delicious chicken pesto pasta, salad, halibut, brushetta, baked beans, and nacho dip.  Yummy!  The girls ate the table to catch up in life.  I haven't seen them for awhile, so it was really nice to see them.  Life has been way busy as you know.  The boys ate in front of the TV watching an NBA game.  After dinner we tried out their PS3 move playing tennis and volleyball.  It was pretty neat and entertaining.  Then we all did a Chinese Gift Exchange.  Cory and I ended up with a bag of beef jerky and a gift card to Wendys.  We were all getting pretty excited, so we decided to play catch phrase.  Ladies vs Men.  We played for 4 rounds, which took up almost 2 hours.  We took breaks between rounds, of course.  The men were getting pretty competitive and just wanted to keep playing until they at least won one round.  So the final scores were ladies 3 and men 1.  Everyone started leaving at around 11pm.  Not only did get get to come home with gifts, but we got take halibut and chicken pesto pasta leftover with us.  Thanks Ruthie!  We were very glad we went because we had a successful fun night.

Top:  Me, Cory, Leopold, Bundy, Meredith, Taylor
Bottom:  Justine, Ruthie and Jude

That about sums up our Christmas this year.  Yay for family and friends.

Love,

Gly

Tricky, tricky

On the chairlift and pumped!

Last night, I let Cory open up one of his presents.  Only because today we went snowboarding and I wanted him to use what I got him.  He opened up the present I gave him, which were smartwool snowboarding socks.  He has never had a pair and when he opened it, he was excited and glad I got him sweet snowboarding socks.  I loved seeing his smile.

So, today Cory and I went snowboarding for the first time together.  After being together for this long and living in Alaska, we haven't gone once together.  Well for one I never had a board because I used to use one of my girlfriends' extra boards AND two he sold his snowboard when he moved here in 2006.  It was his first time going since he was in high school, which was about 8 years ago.  It was like riding a bicycle for him, because he did great.  He even did some air tricks, which was impressive.  As for me, I haven't snowboarded for 3 years and last time I checked, I was alright.  This time, I was definitely rusty.  I had to get my right turns down again.

Well, we went to Hill Top because, it's cheap, close to home, and we needed to see where our snowboarding skills were.  Hill Top only has one lift and probably three different routes to go down.  One day we will go to Alyeska together, which is 10 times bigger than Hill Top.  Alyeska is our biggest ski resort and it is located in Girdwood, AK.  I believe it has 7 chair lifts and a bajillion trails.  I still have an overnight stay voucher to use one of these days!  Also, the first monday of the month is a free lift ticket for military.  

All in all it was a lot of fun.  I wish we got to stay longer because I was getting pumped.  I was getting better as the runs went on.  I can't wait to go again.  The single digit cold weather didn't stop us.  The cold can't keep you inside living in the AK.  We geared up and layered up for the ride.

When we got home, we had crockpot beef stew awaiting for us.  It was delicious with a little spice kick.  There were carrots, onions, potatoes, celery and beef.  Can't tell you the secret spice mix.  Here is our picture recap!

Together, at the top of Hill Top

aaaallll byyy myyysseelllfff

Cory, posing.

Us at the base

Our beef stew!

Gear up

Well the last time I wrote in here, I was just about to start my Christmas Break.  That inservice day at work was really fun because some of the staff and I played volleyball and ping pong.  It was great and I hope we get to do that again.  I definitely got sore after playing for 2 hours straight.  That Friday night, Cory and I went to the movies with our friends Chelsea and Kevin.  We checked out our new movie theater, called the Tikahtnu theater.  There is an IMAX screen in it and is the first and only IMAX theater here in Anchroage.  We didn't go for the IMAX, too pricey.  We watched The Figther starring Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale.  I thought it was a great movie.  Good plot and action.  It is about boxer, Mickey Ward, and how he got famous in boxing with his older brother training him.  Anyways, go watch it, it is worth the money at the theaters.

On Saturday, Cory and I bought myself some snowpants and snowboots to prepare ourselves for a hike in the cold.  We went out to McHugh Creek and Beluga Point, south of Anchorage, and took pictures.  It was fun.  We stuffed hand warmers in our gloves, which made the cold tolerable.  Here are some pictures of our outdoor adventures.

Turnagin Arm sunset

Giant Icicle

A break from our hike

Camo eskimo

Sunday, we did some house chores and grocery shopping.  I also got a new haircut did something different this time.  I had the hair stylist cut off about 3 inches, frame it, layer the bottom, thin it out, and give me side bangs.  I love it!  I was kind of worried as to what it would turn out to, but I really like it.  Most importantly, Cory really likes it. Yay.  When evening came around, we headed out to Eagle River to Chelsea and Kevin's house.  We took Christmas photos and had dinner together.  We had steak, asparagus, and potatoes.  Next time, dinner is on us.  It was a delicious and filling dinner.  After being at their house, we zipped to Wal Mart to print out Christmas photos to send to friends and family.  Here is are some of the photos we took together.

Happy Couples

The ladies

Kevin, Chelsea, and Drake the dog

Our Official Christmas photo with my new hair cut

Christmas is just around the corner and I can't wait to see my family all together.  This year we are doing a Chinese gift exchange with the adults in the family.  Will be interesting.  I am excited to see the kids and Cory open their presents.  I hope Cory likes what I got him this year.  Anyways, I got my snowboard ready, bought some sweet snow board boots, and now I need to pick up my bindings from REI today.  Hopefully, tomorrow we can go snow boarding.  Should be great!

2 weeks off ahead of me

Today at work is an inservice day and I have decided to use my time right now to write in this wonderful blog!  After this day, I will finally start my two week off from work.  Yay for Winter Break in the school distrcit!  I can't believe how fast time flew.  2011 is just around the corner.  Well since the last time I wrote in here, I dyed my hair back to black.  It had high lights on the bottom layer.  I mean it isn't a huge change, but now I definitely need to get my hair cut this break.  I think it has gotten pretty long and now I don't know what to do with it.  If I only knew how to french braid, which I should learn this break.  I have already tried,  but I will have to keep practicing.

So, I did have an opportunity to take photos of a wedding.  A friend of mine, Stephen Bahner, owns Sweet Action Photography and he is planning on taking me on board for big, long weddings.  Right now it is him and his buddy, but he is looking to recruit one more photographer.  Before I officially get on board, I needed to get more experience in weddings.  This wedding was on December 14th for Stacy and Eli.  I was glad it was a small wedding, 5 people, because it was kind of fast and on the go.  It was held in the Bayshore Clubhouse and it was pretty dark inside, which made it difficult to shoot.  We managed.  It did make me realize how I cannot wait to get a new camera that can take in more light.  The camera I have now, isn't a full frame, which makes it tough for light to get in.  I am still debating which kind of camera I want for my birthday.  I am very excited.  Here is at least a sneak peak of a picture I took.  The rest of the pictures weren't what I wanted, considering the difficulty of the darkness.  All in all, I come to find out the bride and groom graduated from Dimond in 2005 and I am 2006.  We all went to the same high school, what a small world!  Congrats to them both.

Stacy and Eli 12/14/10

Cory has been working on base this week.  He is doing part of his annual tour and plans on doing the other part the week after my two week vacation.  This way we can spend this break together.  I have been getting up an hour earlier to drop him off at work, which hasn't phased me.  One morning he took me inside his shop to check it all out.  It was pretty fun.  He is a hard worker and I hope he can get this job permanently.  Still waiting and hoping.  Here is a picture of him in his shop.  I wasn't supposed to take a picture, but since no one was around, he let me do it.

My Sergeant Larson at work

Lastly, I got to open a Christmas present really early.  I was in bed and Cory set it on top of me.  It was a large, long box shaped present.  I had a good guess of what it was and I was right!  It was a snowboard and it was perfect.  I love the design and everything.  He knows how to pick the perfect things out for me.  He also said my bindings were coming into the mail soon.  I am super excited to use it and shred the slopes.  I haven't snowboarded in a couple years and I know I am not that good.  I am just excited we can snowboard together.  Cory hasn't gone snowboarding since he has lived here.  I definitely plan on going this break too.  Now I need to get myself some boots and snow pants :)

Cool toy

Now I am just excited for break.  Get to hang out with family and friends.  Get to relax and not see students, ha.  I already set up schedules for next semester for where us as sped teacher assistants will go. I am pumped about my schedule.  I get to help in a photography and food science class aside from the math and science classes.  On top of that, I also figured out my plan for UAA.  I have calculated that if I do everything right according to my master scheduling, I will graduate with a Bachelors in Chemistry in Fall 2013.  Right now that seems so far, but it will probably be here before I know it.  I am really excited to get this college ball rolling.  I will be 25 years old and that is the goal!  Then I will obtain my Masters in Teaching in hopefully 10 months after that doing through the UAA fast track.  Then I will officially be a TEACHER!  Can't wait.

2010 Volleyball Officially Over

What a great success this season has been.  Last night, we had our end of the season banquet at Dimond in the auditeria.  It was really nice with all of the decorated tables, decorated stage with our 2010 State Championships Logo, slide show, and catered food.  Dinner was a taco bar and was really delicious.  The coaches all went up individually, starting from the C team to the varsity level.  Which meant, I got to go first.  They even introduced Cory to go up on stage and he shook his head.  But the crowd started chanting his name, so he was forced to come up with me.  I was happy he came up.  Anyways, I had been thinking of what to say for a week before the banquet.  In the end, I wrote some notes on a note card of what I would say. I didn't want to type out a paper of everything I wanted to say because that just stresses me out.  I just wanted to wing it and let it all come out naturally.  Of course, I was nervous and I'm sure it showed.  Although, it was the better that I have done speaking in front of a large group of parents and players.  I started off with thanking the coaches, then talked about how season went and how the girls improved.  I introduced my girls up on stage and when I said their name, I gave them a little fun nickname.  I went on and presented my awards of Most Inspirational, Most Improved, and Most Valuable Player.  Then instead of talking about all of the girls and making my speech boring, I made a poem about the team.  I wrote the poem the day before the banquet and thought it would be a great idea.  Cory helped a little bit.  This is the poem

2010 C2 Volleyball Poem

By Cory and Gly Larson

The pyramid push ups, squats, and push fives are done
After working with the Larsons, you made it to number one

Hard work is what we’re all about,

Your efforts paid off with a successful season, no doubt

My roster is full with twelve talented ladies,

I love them all, but most times they drove me crazy

Alaina the court protector wearing her libero jersey

Kelsey on the right side, slamming away with no mercy

Those two were my captains, the leaders of this pack

Nadia, like a tiger, she’s mean with her attack.

Rehtaeh, she’s tall as a tree, reaching to get that big block

Haley with her beast serves, she’s tough like a rock

Oh Katelyn, she’s always energetic, sometimes hyper

Here comes Dakayla, cover your face, she hits like a sniper

Mackenzie, Mackenzie, sometimes forgets where she’s at,

Emma will confirm, “Hey, we’re in setters stack!”

Heidi out like a mongoose, hungry for that pancake

Brittany our team princess, someone kiss her, so she can finally awake

Lastly there’s the lovely Megan,

Like an explosive, she’s our little secret weapon

I will truly miss these women, they’ve come so far

I will never forget this season, you studly stars

I am very thankful to have been your coach,

Don’t worry I won’t bug you anymore about your approach

Good luck in the rest of your volleyball career

Remember, C-Team, it begins here.

I have to admit, I did forget to say two lines, which meant, I forgot to mention two of my ladies.  Nobody noticed but Heidi and Brittany.  I felt so horrible because I didn't realize it until I was off the stage.  Note to self: Point at every line you read.  I was reading the poem and looked up at the crowd, which made me lose my spot.  Now I think it is funny.  I will need more practice with this public speaking, but I am just happy I didn't do the worse out of the coaches.  The banquet lasted for about 3 hours.  It was the first time doing a banquet for me, and there was things I def learned to make next year better.  The girls gave me a gift, which was really thoughtful of them.  I didn't expect a thing.  It was a box wrapped up, with another wrapped up box in it.  It was like digging for buried treasure because I went through 6 boxes to find an awesome gift!  The girls got me a voucher for two for an overnight stay at Alyeska Resort.  I was absolutely grateful for this gift.  I know for a fact this kind of gift it pricey.  Well I have until May to use it, but if only I had a snowboard and Cory and I could use it to snowboard and stay the night out there.

I am so glad the season ended with such success.  A record of 14-0 and winning first place in all three of our tournaments.  I hope those girls take this success through out their lives.  I can't wait to see what they will become in the future.  Coaching is so rewarding, especially after hearing this from Emma Hickel, "You really changed me for the better, and I just can't say thank you enough.  Hopefully if I make it to varsity my senior year, I will owe it all to you guys! Thank you so much!  I feel like I improved so much!" I know my practices weren't easy, but I really wanted to push them so they could be amazing.  Besides improving their volleyball abilities, I wanted to boost their confidence and make them better people all around.  I am super excited for what will become of next years season and turn out.  Although, I will never forget my first season COACHING at my alma mater, Dimond.

Love,
Gly

Ice Storm

Today I woke up and was ready to jump in the shower.  Then I thought to check the internet on my iPhone in hopes work was cancelled due to the ice road conditions.  Yesterday going to work was pretty bad.  The roads were horrible and scary.  People were getting stuck in ditches left and right.  UAA campus was closed and I had a feeling if conditions worsen or stay the same, there will probably be an ice day.  Well, Alaska never has cancellations due to weather, unless the roads get TOO icy.  There could be 7 feet of snow and school/businesses would still open.  Hopefully tomorrow there will be a closure and that would make me have a 6 day weekend, awesome!  I definitely have Thanksgiving and Friday off, but having tomorrow off would be such a treat.  Even if I have to go to work tomorrow, it will be an easy day and it will feel like a Friday.

For todays agenda at least:  Stay inside hang out with hubby and do some studying.  If we had ice skates, we could probably cruise around the streets ;-)

Here are some pictures I took from the Anchorage Daily News site of how horrible the roads are.

EDIT:  It is 4:44PM and I just looked at the Anchorage School District website.  We have tomorrow off too! Yes!  6 day weekend! Yeehaw!

Fast Turkey

Whoa.  Where did November go?  I can't believe this month is almost over.  I thought time was supposed to go slower now that I am not coaching volleyball anymore.  Anyways, I will have a three day week at work this week and I am so glad!  After the 4 day weekend, we will have a 3 week shoot until the two week Christmas break.  Gotta love the days off working for the school district, which I really enjoy.  I can't wait to become a teacher and have my own classroom.  The only tough part about teaching is the unmotivated and back talking teens, but other than that, it is so fun to teach and watch students learn.  I have planned out that if I take 8 classes per year, I will be done with school in 3 years.  Which seems like a long time, but time moves so fast and by then I will only be 25.  If I could take more classes a year, I would, but work isn't letting me with their hours.  Once I obtain my bachelors, it will take me 1-2 more years to get a masters and certificate for secondary teaching, which puts me at about 26 or 27 years old to have my own classroom.  Most of the teachers I work with didn't start teaching until they were 26-28.  So I don't feel so bad under their wing as a teacher assistant.  That is probably a great time to settle, even though I wish we had more money now.  Life will continue to be busy for awhile, but as long as I keep my stress level down and switch up activities, then life is good.

Cory got his results from his IBEW interview and he ranked 51 out of 200.  I look at it as top 25%, but at the same time, that looks so far from the top 10.  Companies take apprentices according to rank and if they need more workers.  For example if a company needed 4 apprentices, then they would take the top 4 out of that 200.  Right now it is pretty dead for work, being that it is winter.  They said in March, things start getting busy and Cory might get called to be an apprentice, if they end up needing 51 people.  Oh, just another waiting game.  I don't know what to think, but Cory has tried to get a good job.  We knew this was going to be the risk to take when he switched from active duty to reserves.  I tell myself it is not my fault, but I continue to feel like it is my fault he is in this jobless position.  He reassures me that it is not and he chose to switch and wanted more control of his life.

Right now our hope lands on him getting that civilian job on base.  If he could only get his job back when he was active duty.  They are trying to hook him up, but only time will tell.  Time, faith and hope.  He has applied every time his ex-shop has had an opening.  I really hope it can work out, because that job is our best bet.  If he lands it, he can continue to work on his retirement.  He already put in 5 years.  If he starts a non-federal job, he would have to start back at zero years.  Plus he would get a great hourly wage, where we can afford to buy a house and I can go to school full-time.  I am trying not to lose faith here, but it would really help if Cory can get his armament mechanic job back.  I am glad he is persistent though.

Well, Cory and I signed up at the gym called Powerhouse.  The base gym was way to far.  Here are our calculations:
1.  Base gym took 20 mins to get there and back home, which is 40 minutes for travel.
2.  Going 5 days a week (Cory), in one month all that gas going to the base gym equaled a tank of gas ($75-80).
3.  Powerhouse costs $69/month and it only takes us 5 minutes to get there.
Conclusion:  Saved about 10 bucks a month and saved 40 minutes of our time on base gym vs powerhouse. Win!

I am slowly getting back into working out again.  So far I am only 3 days a week, which is perfect.  Right now I am trying to round up some people to play on my team for adult league volleyball.  I am close to a full roster, but I need one more person that can play middle.  We plan on playing reverse coed and I am so glad to have not only my friends play, but also my hubby play with me again.  I also need to find a business that will sponsor our team because the entry fee alone is $450 for 16 matches.  Then on top of that each player needs to pay $55 to play.  We also need to make jerseys and I am hoping a business will sponsor us and we can wear their logo.  Well, I have until Dec. 3 to get a sponsor and one more player or else we are paying out of our pockets and I hope we don't have to do that!

Other than that this weekend was fun.  Thursday, I had dinner with the varsity volleyball team and other coaches at Chili's.  They just won their third state championship and it is amazing for our program.  They played against South, which was the team that was undefeated all season and took first in every tournament.  Except, on that night, November 13, the Dimond girls beat them to take the state title.  Whoohoo!  It is great.  I am so happy for those girls.  Looking for a "four-peat" next year.  Friday, Cory and I drove to Wasilla to have dinner with our friends that live out there.  They have two boys and they are so cute/fun.  We also watched two movies in a row.  What bums we were.  Yesterday Cory and I ran a bunch of errands then went to Banan & Crystals house to watch the UFC fights.  Banan works on the slope and he is dating one of my high school classmates, Crystal.  Then today they came back over and we watched a movie called, Ip Man, a martial arts movie, and had Chinese food.  Yummy.  Which reminds me, we are going to spend Thanksgiving with my family to eat not only turkey, but a lot of Filipino food.  Score!  Until next time!  <3

Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day and at first I came up with the idea to make a photo button of my husband.  Then I thought, maybe I can make a generic logo for a photo button for staff that want to honor our military members.  I sent out a mass email on Monday to the staff at Dimond and asked if they wanted me to make them a photo button of someone they know in the military or a generic one.  In fact, I got my photoshop skills out to make a neat logo design to support our troops.  I got a lot of responses and the next day I started making buttons.  I made probably 50 photo buttons.  I was glad to do it.  MSgt. Watts, the JROTC leader, said to me "God Bless You for doing this."  It felt great that I was doing something right.  We have a machine here at school to make photo buttons. I am very thankful I got to use up the supplies to make such a little trinket.

One of our teachers here at Dimond, Jason Ott, is in the Air Guard.  He left back in the summer before school started and has a six month tour in Afghanistan.  He writes our school once a week so we can know how he is doing.  A good number of staff asked to wear a photo button of Ott.  There is another staff member, Jamie Bahmer, whose husband is also in Afghanistan.  The sacrifice they made to go there is amazing.  Cory also went to the desert back in 2008, right before we met.  I am so proud of him in so many ways.  He is now a Tech. Sergeant.  When we met he had 2 stripes on his uniform, now he has 4.  Woohoo! And although, I have never met my grandpa, he was also in the military.  I heard stories of him going to Vietnam.  He must of been an amazing person.

In honor of our veterans and current military members, I wore my "Dimond Supports our Troops" button and one of my husband, Cory.  What a great day to honor all of those people.  Although, I wish the students realized it was Veterans Day.  Oh high schoolers can be so ignorant.

On the side note, today is the first day of State Volleyball.  Cory and I will drive to Wasilla to support our Dimond Varsity.  I hope they play well.  Let's get a THREE-PEAT!

I love my AIRMAN. 

My photo buttons I wore
TOP:  The design I made
BOTTOM:  Cory

Great Success

I am so proud of the girls I coached.  I had 9 freshman and 3 sophomores on my team.  I am so thankful I didn't lose any of them because of grades or anything dramatic.  I can't believe season is over, but I am so relieved.  The girls finished with a perfect season.  We won every game in our conference and took first place in all three of the tournaments we had.  I did it.  After our first tournament back in September, I made it a goal to have a perfect season.  The girls deserved it with everything I put them through.  They were probably the only C-Team that did extreme weights and conditioning.  They are hopefully set with good foundation that will lead them success in their volleyball careers.  I know for a fact, the freshman will never forget this season.  I, for sure, will remember this season forever.  My first year coaching at Dimond, the school I have many volleyball memories at and learned so much with great coaches.  I am so glad to be a part of it all and give back.

Congrats girls for finishing first place in our end of the year tournament!  We did not get knocked out, but for our championship match, we played Chugiak.  Chugiak's C team is coached by my good friend, Chelsea Guarco.  They got knocked out of the winners bracket in the first round and fought their way back up to the champsionship match.  It was so cool playing against her team.  The best friends' teams playing against each other.  Anyways, after our long day of battling it out in a double elimination tournament, we decided to eat dinner at Red Robins.  We ate dinner as champions!  It was delicious!  I slept with a smile slapped on my face that night.  Here is our victory portrait :)

Champions!!

Yesterday, Cory woke me up and suggested we go to Eklutna Lake to take some photos.  A photo adventure.  I was groggy and still wanting to sleep, but I was down for it all.  We got ready in our warm clothes, made myself some coffee, and headed north.  We had no time for breakfast, so we had some McDonald's breakfast.  Cory also bought some flowers because his idea was to take these vibrant flowers with the dead, cold, environment surrounding it.  In Anchorage, there is no snow yet, but 20 miles north, yes there was snow on the roads!  We shifted into 4-wheel drive to go through the curvy and hilly roads to Eklutna Lake.  When we arrived, there was about 3-5 inches of snow on the ground.  It was pretty cold, but that didn't stop us.  We walked around the lake and through the woods to a creek.  It was actually really relaxing to be there, because it was dead quite.  The only noise I heard were the 4-wheelers driving by, but it wasn't much.  Here are some photos from our jaunt.

Oh, are those flowers for me? and the handsome guy too? :)

We had a very productive day.  We did some house chores, like laundry and grocery shopping.  We also rearranged our living room.  There is now so much more space now that we don't know what to do with our selves!  I love the new arrangement.  We basically flip flopped everything.

Anyways, I also made my little brother his senior Ad that goes in the yearbook.  I was very proud of it and it is going to be one of the most unique and neat looking.  Click on it for an enlarged view.

Until then!  Love, Peace, and Happiness <3

Relief is coming

The last time I left this blog I talked about what I have been doing in my busy life, well the next week, life only got more busy.  Although, I am glad there isn't snow on the ground yet,  but the roads are a little icy in the mornings, which is scary to drive in.  I am at work right now on an inservice day, and there is nothing for me to do.  Good thing I have homework to work on.  The teachers just had conferences last night and it is like they really have nothing to do either.  I wish in-services were more fun.  Anyways, here is the recap as of late.

October 19:  We had a game against Service and the girls had another battle to win this one.

October 21:  We played a school that is not in our conference, Lumen Christi.  Lumen was the first school I coached volleyball at.  They are a tiny private catholic school and didn't have much of a volleyball program when I was there.  Since I left, their program has been growing and there were a handful of players I coached when they were freshman, now seniors.  It was nice to see them and I knew they would probably stomp my girls, but since my freshman team has been beating everyone in our conference, I decided it was time to let them have a taste of something different.  The game was long.  We didn't pull out a win, mainly because my girls were nervous and they were not playing like they usually do.  Their emotions ran wild when the referees called things the girls have never heard all season.  Anyways, they were pretty upset with the loss and I felt indifferent about the whole thing.  I really wanted to see them fight that night, but instead they seemed to have curled up in little balls.  Oh well, it is not how you fall, it is how you get back up.

October 22-23:  I ran a giant tournament at Dimond High for the Varsity teams.  There were 20 teams invited total, which were teams in our conference and out of our conference, all over Alaska.  Even Barrow showed up, and they live on the tip top of Alaska in the DARK.  They were good too, which was awesome.  I directed traffic, made sure C-Team girls were working their shifts, talked between coaches and parents, and made sure the big bracket was updated.  A parent thanked me for my good work.  Actually, I got a lot of thank you from the coaches as well.  I was very proud of myself for running the tournament smoothly, no gliches.  The ex-Cteam coach even commented on me on how I was not looking stressed, because every year she stresses out about this tournament.  I just hoped for the best and it worked.

October 26:  We played Eagle River and killed them.  Scores 25-9, and 25-11.  I told the girls if they could keep them under 10 points, I would buy them treats.  So they did it, and I got them a bag of candy.  Good thing I didn't say cookies or ice cream, because that would of been more pricey.

October 28:  Our last practice of the year! I was definitely in a great mood.  Knowing how I will have my time back and knowing I did it, made me really happy.  We had a fun practice with the music going and the girls were very energetic.  I will finally get my money for coaching within the next couple weeks.  Most of it will go towards our savings for buying another vehicle.  Hopefully, I can use some of it to buy a new camera.  I really want to upgrade my EOS digital camera.

When I got home, my brothers came over.  Justin has a project where he needs to make the Air Force Academy Chapel.  Cory has been so awesome to help him.  I tried to help, but it seemed like the boys had it covered.  Here is a picture of what he is supposed to build and a picture of the boys working on the scale model.  They spray painted it gray and Justin suggested to add snow on it.  Spray paint snow should do it or glue cotton balls all around it to make it look like winter.  I suggested they put a little GI Joe by it too.  Hopefully Justin receives a good grade for it.

In the afternoon, I have a calculus exam to take. Then tonight we play South High, which is one of our main rivals and tomorrow will be our last tournament of the year at East High.  I hope the girls bring their "A" game for the next two days.  Time to step it up one more time.  After the tournament, my team plans on eating at Red Robins.  This is for a final good bye and good times until the volleyball banquet, scheduled for December 1st.  Hopefully we will eat together as champions!  Cory and I plan on not doing anything this Halloween.  We NEED to relax and just be with each other for once.

Other than all of this volleyball, Cory and I have been planning out what classes we want to take next semester.  Looks like I will be taking calculus II, a chemistry lab and maybe a computer science class that is required.  Oh if only I could JUST go to school.  Although I did think of my dream job, which would be a photography teacher for high school.  That would be so great!  <3

Cool Nule

Wow! It has been awhile.  Well I guess I have lots to cover.  I am going to summerize what my life has been like since the last time I blogged. First off Cory finaly got am interview scheduled for next month for the IBEW electrical apprentice job. We are excited but first he must pass the interview. Praying it works out.

October 9:  My C-Team girls had a tournament out in Chugiak.  They played so amazing and we won every game.  The girls deserved their First Place status in the Gold pool.  We had a lot of fun and one of the parents even bought pizza for the victorious day.  I am so proud of them!

October 10:  I took senior photos of a girl named Hillary Vilareall, graduating from Service High School.  I took her older sisters pictures back in 2008, so this was a great opportunity.  She plans on being an architect.  Here are some of her pictures.

October 12:  We had a game out in the valley against Chugiak.  We barely beat them.  Scores were 26-24 and 25-23.  I believe the girls were getting a little too comfortable with their winning streaks and they knew it.  I wasn't too impressed with how they played, but I am glad we squeezed out a win in that one.

October 15:  We had Breast Cancer Awareness night for a home game against Bartlett.  Lots of Pink.  The day before, the girls and I tye dyed t-shirts and socks to prepare for the night.  The girls had a lot of fun tye-dying and they looked great with their own made shirts.  The night was great because the girls played the best game all season.  The scores were 25-9, 25-6.  What a hoot!  Cory wore a pink cape one of the girls made, too bad I didn't document that, but I did document Cory holding a parrot.  It was an in-service day at work and one of my coworkers brought his parrot in while he did grades.  The parrot liked to say "whats up" a lot.

Anyways, it was a Dimond High sweep.  C, JV and Varsity all won their games against Bartlett.  Here is a picture of the coaches.  Left to right, Cory, Me, Kim Lauwers-head coach, Stan Afoa-JV coach, Rachel Swenson-other Cteam coach, and Cyndi Addington-volunteer coach.  Gotta get a kick out of Stan's hair!

This weekend was a nice relaxing weekend with no volleyball.  Cory and I went window shopping for a LED flat screen TV.  We decided we want a bigger TV in the living room and put the 32" LCD in our room.  After a lot of research and looking around, our knowledge of TVs grew.  We knew the difference between plasma, LED and LCD.  Also, we know about resolution and refresh rates.  We found a great deal at Sams Club, going for a Hitachi 42" LED 120Hz 1080p, and pretty excited to own it soon.  We are still debating to buy it at the moment after all that hunting.  Only because we are down to "Do we REALLY need it?".

I have a busy busy week ahead of me with a chemistry exam tomorrow, two volleyball games, senior night, and a tournament to run next weekend.  Woohoo.  Last push of volleyball season <3

Humanity is alright after all...

Today Cory and I went to WalMart for some groceries and we bought Grandma a photo book.  When we got to the checkout lane, an older lady in front of us had a counter full of stuff.  She looked at us and asked "Do you two want to go in front of me?"  We only had three items to purchase, 2 milk jugs and a frozen lasagna dinner.  Cory replied, "If you don't mind ma'am."  So she shoved the items in front and made room for our items and let us go before her.  What a nice lady.  We thanked her after we checked out and felt pretty happy.

After WalMart, we headed to Sports Authority.  I signed up for the coaches club, where I get this booklet of coupons that I can give away to the volleyball players.  They have pretty great deals for coaches and players. We were shopping for prizes to give the girls for tomorrows practice.  We are having a C/JV team in house tournament.  Coach Rachel and I already picked the teams ensuring that none of the teams were stacked.  We decided the winning team get individual gift bags.  She is making baked goods for her contribution and I am chipping in Quench Gum and Power Bars.  When we got to the check out lane, cashier Phil (which I learned is dating one of my coworkers), helped me out and also gave me $5.00 off of my little purchase.  He searched in my coupon book for anything to save me money.  He found a $5.00 coupon and used it immediately.  I was thankful for his willingness to hook me up.

That was 2 for 2!  Just when I was going to give up on humanity (mainly on how high schoolers disrespect the staff), these adults flipped my perspective around.  Thanks to those guys for making my day!

<3 Gly

The green is coming in

Me taking pictures at Point Woronzof

This week was yet another busy one.  On Tuesday Cory had a group project presentation for his safety class.  He told me his group got a B, which is pretty good.  Now he has to prepare for a solo 10 minute presentation in front of the class.  Lots of preparation and practicing will go into that long presentation.

As for me, my girls had two games at the end of the week versus East and West.  We won both games and I even played with the line up for the girls.  I had some girls play middle that aren't middle, some play outside that are not outside.  I was really impressed to see how the girls stepped up into different positions and they still played well.  Yippy, our record is now 9-0.  We have a tournament this upcoming Saturday in Chugiak, which is out of town.  It should be fun for the girls and we will do secret spikers again.

Cory got me signed up for a USAA account.  We bought a ROTH IRA for me.  We put down $1000 to get it started.  We wanted to do this for awhile, but was waiting to save up that money.  It made me feel more adult by planning on my retirement.  People around my age do NOT think of retirement plans.  I mean why would they?  Retirement is SO far away.  Anyways, a Roth IRA is an individual retirement account that has non-deductible contributions and tax-free growth.  I won't get to take it out until 2040, because that is the plan I chose.  I will be 52 then, which is about the right time to retire.  Since we cancelled our Alaska Club membership, we plan on putting that 150 a month into my roth IRA.  Although, when we make more money, the contributions will raise.  It is so weird to think that far ahead in the future, but once I am at the retirement age, I will be so thankful we made this decision.  One of my coworkers got me started into thinking of retirement.  He invested in a traditional IRA when he was 40 and said that was way too late.  He wished he invested in a roth IRA when he was my age.  He thinks if I invest now, the benefits later will greatly be appreciated.  I am glad I listened to him and Cory was all for it.  I don't think retiring from one job alone is enough to live off the retirement checks.  So gotta have an additional retirement plan.

This weekend has been pretty chill.  I helped out on Saturday during the other volleyball games.  I even got a pedicure with one of my girlfriends, which has to be the highlight of my weekend.  Cory had to work this weekend on base.  He had to study last night for an exam to get his rank up.  So instead of hanging out with him on our saturday night, he studied and I went shopping.  I was pretty bummed out he crammed on studying, because I was really planning to hang out with him after he got off work.  Well he took his exam this morning and passed with flying colors.  He will now have another stripe on his sleeve and now an E-5, which is a staff sergeant.  I am proud of him, of course.  More money for us, well 50 bucks more a month for his one weekend a month, but hey, it is better than nothing.  As for me, I got to sleep in and when I woke up I got some chemistry and calculus homework done. When Cory got home from work, we decided to go to Point Woronzof to take some pictures and enjoy the sunset.  We saw planes come in real close because we were right next to one of the air port landing strips.  I had a blast.  Too bad we are losing sunlight now otherwise we would of been outside longer.  Sunset probably came around 7:40pm.

Balancing together on a stump

Only 4 more days for the Alaska PFD of $1,281.00. WHOOHOO!  I am so proud of being an Alaskan.  I seriously want a bigger TV.

Wake me up when September ends

Last Tuesday, my girls played South Anchorage High School, which is one of our biggest rivals.  Games go best out of three and we played in 3 games for the first time.  We lost the first match, won the second, and pulled it off in the third winning the game.  We were so happy, but the girls had to really fight.  That makes us 7-0.  My goal is to have a perfect season and I hope the girls really want it.

On Thursday I had to coach both C-Teams since the other C-Team coach left with varsity to California.  Next year it will be my turn to go with varsity and I can't wait!  So since I had both teams, I just had this huge competition where the girls had to get individual points through passing, setting, serving, hitting, queen of the court, and tourney play.  I told the girls to show up to practice wearing bright colors, the dress code for practice is usually grey top with black spandex.  I gave a Gatorade to the best outfit and a free Dimond t-shirt to the girl who scored the most points.  Had a lot of volleyball that day. We definitely had to document our outfits!  After practice, Cory took me to a movie titled The Town with Ben Affleck as the lead.  It was a really good movie.  I mean good plot and good action.  It wasn't one of those super hero movies, but one where it was all about the villains.  Lets just say a villain went from bad to good by self realization.  Hands down to Ben Affleck who also produced the movie.  Go watch it.

Me and the C-Team girls

On Friday, I had to run the JV Tournament.  I had the C-Teams girls work too by keeping score, libero tracking, and running concessions.  It was a LONG day.  Had work all day then didn't come home until probably 10:30pm.  Good thing Cory came to hang out with me and he even brought me Subway and an energy drink.  Either way, I was super exhausted.  The JV girls placed second against South.  Our Dimond JV girls were pretty bummed and I had to give up my shoulder so one of them could cry it out.  Over all it ran smooth and I was glad there were no big problems that I couldn't handle.

Saturday, Cory and I hiked in Girdwood to the Hand Tram again, but this time with Justin and Ruthie Taylor.  I had a blast.  I just LOVE playing outside.  We took lots of pictures and this time we hiked a little bit further than last time.  The trail is beautiful and peaceful with Winner Creek running by you.  The weather was really sunny, not a cloud in the sky, so it was perfect for hiking.  It wasn't warm, but we got warmed up through out the hike.  The fall is beautiful!  Here are some pics from the hike :)

group shot

LOL

Hello, better half.

Peaceful

The Gorge

After our hiking adventure, Cory decided he wanted to order the fights from home.  We watched and I must say, that fight card was not impressive.  Spending 80 bucks a month on the fights plus food/drinks isn't becoming worth it to me anymore.  Maybe we can spend that 80 bucks next month on a date or something cool!  Yes.  I would love that.  Let's see if that happens...

Today has been pretty relaxed.  Did laundry, dish washer is running and we have been doing some homework.  <3