Another semester down

It has been too long to ignore this blog.  Not that I haven't ignored it, it is just that we have been THAT busy.  We are officially done with our spring semester.  Woohooo!  We took our last final this afternoon.  I cannot wait to celebrate this weekend.  Just one more day at work and bring on the weekend.  I have friends from high school that are graduating and I am so proud of them.  I will graduate with a mathematics degree next fall, if all goes well.  Cory and I have already signed up for summer classes.  I am taking Calculus III and Probability.  Cory is taking Biology Lab, Computer concepts in Business, Trigonometry, and Microeconomics.  I am so proud of his studious self.

Since Cory and I have been doing a super job saving money, we decided to pay off the truck with some of our savings money.  It feels great to finally pay off that truck!  No more 400 dollar payments a month for that rig, it is officially ours.  Except now, we will save 400 a month to compensate.  At least we are not paying interest.  Using one rig has been working great thus far.  It definitely saves on gas, since gas prices are so nasty now.

Well, Cory's belly button is doing great.  His recovery has been very smooth.  It is now the end of week 4 after surgery and it probably won't be 100% healed for another 3 weeks.  Although, he did get to go back to the gym and he has been taking it real slow.  Doctor said to take the work out intensity gradually.  Even though he may have a scar, he is still so perfect :)  Cory's 27th birthday also passed, on the 14th.  I bought him a sweet NorthFace backpack.  Since, he is going to be a full time accounting student, he needed a nice backpack to lug around those heavy textbooks.  It was between that or Blue Man Group tickets.  I say the backpack is more important.

My adult volleyball league ended also.  We had an end of the season tournament about two weeks ago.  We were kicking butt all day.  The games were tough and we pulled it out as Champions.  We only had 6 people, so no subs.  Cory couldn't play, but he came and took some sweet pictures at the championship match.  Due to Cory's absence, we had to pick up another guy, John, from another team that wasn't participating.  I was so glad to fill that hole.  He was so awesome and he fit perfectly.  I am so proud of my team.  I am also so thankful for Superior Automotive for sponsoring us.  I gave the owner the trophy and I hope it is somewhere in their shop.  We also received sweatshirts for 1st place.  I plan to make this team again for the fall or spring, whatever works for scheduling.

Action shot!

Champs!

In other news, at work, I had the opportunity to escape and help at Senior Fun Day.  It is a day just for the Seniors to basically skip school officially.  It is held at Kincaid Park.  There was a DJ, kickball, softball, soccer, obstacle course, mechanical bull riding, giant boxing, gladiator games, and a BBQ.  I helped hand out free shirts to the seniors.  I had a lot of fun.  My little brother is a senior, so it was great being there with him.  Plus, I know a handful of seniors from coaching them in volleyball.  It was a blast dancing around to the music and just being entertained by people battling in the boxing/jousting pits.  I didn't want to leave, but I had to because of my final.  The seniors were blessed with a sunny, bright day.
 

My brother and I at Senior Fun Day

I am so sad to say that I am quitting my job at Dimond.  It is not that I want to, it is just the choice I needed to make, so I can finish school.  It is the most rewarding job ever, aside the drama from students. It was the best opportunity for me to see if I wanted to be a teacher and I believe education is so important.  I want to be a person that will impact a teenagers life for the better.  Working at Dimond has helped me figure out what I learn and teach best.  It was down to science or math.  Math won that battle.  I will become a full time student in order to pursue my dreams of becoming a high school teacher.  The principle said that I will surely have a spot back when I am ready to become a certified teacher.  Who really knows, but at least I know I have a place to come back to.  It felt awesome coming from her.  She was so proud of me and I am so thankful for the supporting staff at Dimond.  My last day at work will be May 20th, which is the official last day of school.  Even though, I get mistaken for as a student, I will always be the baby of the staff.  I hope they find someone that is awesome to replace me.  I will surely miss working at Dimond.

Until Next time!
Future Events
-Cory will be taking his Personal Training Certification Exam May 3rd
-Gly will be holding Open Gym Volleyball after work starting next week
-Norielle, my brother, will be graduating from high school May 9th, yay!
-Fishing in Yakutat Trip with Banan&Crystal May 27-May 30

Stay strong

A tragedy has happened in my family.  My Uncle Noel, 48, passed away on Wednesday March 30th.  He was in the Philippines on a vacation, when a heart attack struck him.  It was all very unexpected.  He is the husband of my Aunt Edith;  father to my cousin, Julie; and grandfather of Kadyn.  I am doing my best staying strong for them.  My Aunt Edith flew down to the Philippines on Saturday to make funeral arrangements down there.  Julie and Kadyn will follow today.  My uncle will have his funeral and burial in his birth nation.  It is very weird and sad to me that he is gone.  It is like he was just here enjoying his favorite hobby of cooking in his kitchen.  I just think to myself that he is on a very very long vacation in paradise.  Rest in peace Uncle and my condolences to my aunt and cousin.
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On Friday morning, Cory went under the knife to fix his umbilical hernia at the VA Hosipital.  It was pretty minimal, but Cory decided to get surgery now, while he is young and fit, before the hole in his abdominal wall gets bigger.  I took the day off so I could help him.  The nurses and staff were very nice to me.  Apparently, Cory talked a lot about me in the operating room because the staff seemed to know what I do and who I am when they met with me.  I waited in the waiting room for about 2.5 hours until Cory was discharged.  He came out fine, thanks to the Vicodin.  Once we got home, he was very very tired.  The slept on the couch for a couple hours and then needed more pain meds.  Rachel, my friend and covolleyball coach, came over with food for us.  I am very thankful.

Cory is acting really normal, minus him being sore on his belly.  He is able to do everyday tasks, go to class and what not.  The doctor said he couldn't lift anything over a couple pounds for the next couple weeks, so that is where I muscle up.  Laughter also hurts, but it is so good for the soul.  His belly is pretty swollen, but that is a good thing.  Gotta get those blood cells moving to repair his body.  We removed the gauze and giant medical tape on Sunday and now there is flossy tape and glue covering his stitches.  It looks like the incision is about 2.5 inches long, ouch!  This road to recovery will be over before we know it, but right now it seems really slow.  In two weeks, he will have the stitches removed.

Well on the upside, we got Cory an early birthday present on Saturday.  Found a Canon 40D camera at the local photo store for only $595, pretty much brand new.  Only had 2,000 shutter actuations, which means it barely got used.  The 40Ds can go up to 100,000 shutter actuations before it gets beat up.  Shutter actuations on a camera are equivalent to car mileage on a vehicle.  We had to snag it because it was a great deal.  Now hubby has his own camera and we can have photo-adventures together.  He was able to practice with it at the photoshoot for 6 month old Keeley.  My first official shoot with my Epic Photography business. Lynnette, the mother, called us and found us via Yellowpages.com.  Check out the photo blog at epicphotographyak.blogspot.com.  I also purchased a nifty 50mm prime lens.  It is so fun and great for portraits.  The collection of equipment is growing :)

Cory's first dSLR camera

Cory said he had a lot of fun during the shoot.  I guess he sees why I like photography so much.  Today, I plan on giving Lynnette her edited photos.  She seems way excited, because she texted me yesterday about her anticipation.  I hope she likes her photos.  Cory and I got the edits done quickly, which will hopefully look good for our business.

Funny that we bought each other the same camera for each others birthdays, hehe.  He thinks that is it for his birthday gifts, but I have more surprises in store :)  I can't believe he will turn 27 on April 14th.  We met when he was 24 and I was 20.  Time sure flies.

On Saturday Night we went to the Japan Relief concert at Dimond High, which consisted of Taiko Drummers and some singers.  It was pretty cool to watch.  Cory practiced some more on his camera.  The money, when we bought the tickets, proceed to donations for the disasters in Japan.  Here are some photos from the concert:

On Sunday, my parents came over to see how Cory was doing.  Mom was so surprised to see Cory up and about like nothing happened.  They brought us some food and I served everyone my white chili with chicken for lunch.  It turned out great.  Yay for crock pots!

Cory and I were able to sign up for our fall classes on Monday.  I am planning on taking Intro to mathematical proofs, Linear Algebra and Fundamental of cell biology with lab.  Looks like I will be minoring in biology.  Cool.  Cory will be taking more accounting/business courses and calculus.

In closing here is a photo of downtown Anchorage, taken from Earthquake Park at 10pm.  Shows how bright our little downtown city is.