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

Willie 2011

Here are some of Willie Phillips' senior pics

Rockin' Weekend

This weekend was a blast and the weather was amazing with sunshine!  After practice on Friday, Cory and I went to Taku Lake to relax and chit chat on a blanket in the grass.  We also got him a maroon Nike dri-fit shirt and we got "Dimond Lynx" screen printed onto it, so he can now have a Dimond shirt to wear during games.

Saturday we had to wake up early, 6:45AM, for a 9AM Tournament at Service High school.  We had a lot of game play and had a lot of fun.  I had the girls do "secret spikers" which is like secret santa for team bonding.  The girls were really happy with the gifts they received.  The parents were a lot of help and they were great supporters.  They were so kind to buy the girls snacks and pizza for the tournament.  Cory was great on the bench, supporting the girls too.  I got the girls gatorade and Heidi, a girl from the team, made maroon and gold headbands for everyone.   Anyways, the girls not only played amazing,  but they beat everyone in the league.  They played 8 games total, including the Championship match.  No team could get to 20 with us in score.  Talk about domination.  Everyone did great and I wish I could name all the Kodak moments, but that would take a lot typing.  The girls had great serves, awesome digs, and aggressive hits.  They deserved 1st place and I hope we keep it up all season.  When the tournament was over, Cory and I headed home to take a nap.

Mud bath 

The group (Brandon, Brittany, Gly, Cory, Anthony & Kaden)

Relaxing at Taku Lake

When we woke up, we decided to eat at Tastee Freeze for some hot dogs.  We waited a little bit for his friend, Brandon, and his wife & kids to show up.  They wanted to go to Kincaid Park and we were happy to show them the Kincaid Beach.  When we got there, the tide was out.  Cory and I prepared to play in the mud and had our bathing suits on.  Brandon and his family didn't know what to expect so they weren't prepared, but they still played in the mud with us.  I knew I should of packed some extra clothes.  While we were there, the tide came in, which was pretty exciting to experience.  The Non-Alaskans got to see such a thing.  We had a lot of fun out there.  After the beached we all went home and cleaned up.  Cory and I went over to Brandon's house, which is in Palmer to keep the fun going.  I really liked hanging out with them, plus their little boys are fun kids.

On Sunday, I had another senior photo shoot to do.  His name is Willie Philips and I have known him since he was in elementary school.  He is my brother's best friend and I was honored to take his pictures.  I took him out to Beluga Point and McHugh Creek.  A lot of his shots were similar to Nors.  He wants to be a physical therapist one day and I believe my brother and him plan on becoming roomates.  Well I haven't edited any of the pictures yet, but once I do, I will post my favorites on here.  So stay tuned.

All in all, the weekend rocked!

Little Brother, not so little anymore

Today I took my little brothers senior portraits.  We went to Beluga Point and McHugh Creek to capture such photos.  I can't believe he is a senior, but then again, it is about time.  Class of 2011, wow.  We had some good times during the shoot.  For instance we almost got swept up by the tide.  We found stepping rocks to get to this big rock in the water, but after taking a few pictures on the rock, we realized our stepping stones were getting smaller.  So we booked it across on the way back looking like ninjas.  Just hopping about back to shore.  It was funny, but I am glad we didn't get wet or fall in.  Anyways, here are just a few of the pics I took.  Can't believe he is "all grown up" now, what a handsome man :)

A rainy Labor Day weekend

Friday night was amped up with a game versus Chugiak High.  They are our number one competitor and my girls had to fight in this battle.  After all the hard work the girls went through, one of my girls saved us with her amazing serves in the last game.  It was from a girl I never expected, so she was the star that night.  Everyone contributed greatly, and I am so proud of them!  The fact that we won, made me absolutely happy.  Here is our team pic, finally!  We are now 4 - 0.  Lets keep it up!

Click to Enlarge

On Saturday, it was raining outside which stopped us from going to the State Fair in Palmer.  It would of been fun to eat all the food like elephant ears, turkey legs, funnel cakes, and curly fry logs.  The one time of the year you can eat all you want and not feel guilty about it.  Since it was a rainy day, Cory and I decided to drive out to Beluga Point in hopes of seeing a beluga whale.  Unfortunately, we didn't.  I have always wanted to see a wild beluga whale!  One day people, one day.  After some time by the coast, we decided to eat dinner at Haru Sushi, our favorite place.  The waitress even offered to give us ice cream on the house, but we were so full, we declined.  How silly of us.

Today we woke up and it was raining again.  No fair this year.  Today was the last day.  We didn't go last year either, but last year we didn't go because we were busy finding an apartment to move into.  When we were just married and broke.  And still broke.  Soon, I hope things work out and Cory finds a job he really enjoys.  Whether it is as an electrician apprentice or an armament system mechanic.  We even thought about him applying elsewhere out of Alaska for the air force armament mechanic job.  It just all depends.  If we have to move out of state in order for him to get a job, then we will.  I don't care where I get my degree, as long as I do, so I can move up in the teaching world.  I can't be a teacher assistant forever.  I just want to be a teacher soon, so I can bring more money home and of course finally have that as my label.  It is my goal.

Well we finally decided to cancel our Alaska Club gym membership of $133.00 a month.  In the beginning of it all when we signed up last September, we thought that price was just outrageous.  But we like that gym that much.  Cancelling was a wise choice, being that we already have a free membership on base.  Elmendorf has a really nice gym, but it is so far from where we live.  Far as in it will take us 30 mins to get there instead of 10.  It is alright though.  Cory says we should throw that money into a ROTH IRA for me, which I can't argue with.  In fact, I haven't worked out for about a month now.  I'm down to 125 instead of 130lbs, which means my muscle weight went byebye.  At the same time, I haven't been eating as much because I don't have muscles to feed.  Unlike Cory, he eats on the hour ever hour ;)  Well I did enjoy the gym today.  I did some cardio and then we jumped in the pool & hot tub after.  I might as well enjoy the pool at least before the months over when our membership is officially done for.

My filipino dish is finally done for dinner and now I must enjoy it <3