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

2 for 2

I just got home from yet another busy day.  My days have been consumed with work, college, coaching, and homework.  I am found doing one of the 4, but whatever time I have for myself it is with Cory or getting some shut eye.  Yeehaw!

I have an assignment due tomorrow for my calculus course and it is already scaring me.  I hope I do well.  Being that it's a college course, it is pretty much doing it all on your own.  I am only taking this class because I need it to refresh my Calculus skills.  I took Calc in high school, but you know, the saying "use it or lose it" holds its truth.  I never thought I would take calculus or any math again, but then I switched my major to Chemistry and hey look, there it is as a requirement.  Good thing I work with awesome math teachers that can help me if I need it.

So going back to Tuesday against West High, my volleyball team won.  They were shaky at first because it was their first official game.  Once I took that time out and settled them down, they got out there and figured out the flow again.  We just played East High today and we won.  It was awesome!  The girls are getting better as the days go and I love seeing the progress they make.  I can only be proud of them.  The highlight had to be when my outside hitter, Dakayla, jump served.  We were way ahead, and I told her to jump serve.  She gave me a face like, you are crazy coach.  But she did it and made it over.  It was exciting.  I love how the girls are very supportive and cheery too.

Tomorrow is FRIDAY, woohoo!!

Busy Bee

Sorry I haven't written in here for awhile.  Life just got more busy, starting today.  Well it has been about 2 weeks since I have had my C-team girls.  We had our first Jamboree last Saturday and my girls did good overall!  We started off shaky from the nerves, but as the day went on, the girls finally found their groove.  I am impressed with our defense.  We just need to get those hits with more power.  The girls are a fun bunch, in fact, they are super energetic.  Coaching volleyball is the highlight of my day, besides hanging out with my husband.  We have our first game against West High tomorrow and I hope the girls do great.  All in all, I am very happy with my picks.  I can't wait to post the team picture :)

In the mean time here is a picture we took at the "beach" out of Lynn Ary Park.  We had to go outside  because the sun finally came out.  Gotta enjoy the sun while you can here in AK.  It has been out for the past week and it is wonderful.  Cory and I even splurged some money at Boston's restaurant and we got to eat outside.  Too bad the girls that were next to us were super obnoxious and they couldn't talk without cursing in every sentence.  I mean, geez, have some manners, ladies.  Anyways, we watched the movie, The Expendables, which starred a lot of action actors.  I have to say it wasn't the best acting, but the action was superb.  I guess that is what happens when you put a bunch of action heros in one movie.

Today I started my chemistry class at UAA.  I am only taking one class this semester due to work and coaching.  I wish I could be taking so much more, but next semester I plan to.  Guess I can't stress myself out too much right now.  I am very happy I can take a class at least, plus I need this class because it is a prerequisite to a lot of my chemistry courses I am required to take.  My professor is very intelligent;  she has a  bachelors in chemistry, a masters in biology, and she is doing research on mercury in the tundra.  She is from Uruguay, so she has an accent, which makes me pay attention.  Hearing cool accents is interesting.  Cory also started his classes too.  He is taking three courses going for a Bachelors in Technology.  So check me out, I am a married-college bound-teaching-coaching-lady.  Now, if only I could wear athletic clothes all the time.  Nike, Adidas, hook me up!

Final Cuts

OoOoh Weeee.  Today was the first day of work for the school district.  I am back at Dimond High as a special ed teacher assistant.  I am glad not to be the "new girl" of the staff anymore, but I still felt old being that I graduated from there.  Anyways, I am pretty excited for this year, because I have one year of experience under my belt.  Not so nervous any more.  I hope I get awesome classes with awesome teachers.  The students start school next Wednesday and then it is all down hill from there.  The next few days of work will just be a bunch of trainings, yup.

Tonight I made my last cuts for C-Team volleyball.  I am super happy with the girls I am getting, because the upcoming 9th graders looked promising.  It was sad to come face to some girls telling them they didn't make the team.  That was the first time I have ever done that, and it gets me all shooken up.  It is going to be a great season, hopefully no drama.  The girls seemed super excited to be on the squad, although some went down, some returned, and some were happily surprised.

Now that I have my own team, I can take some initiative and morph these girls into "amazingness".  My goal is to not only make them better players, but better people too.  Cory will be volunteering to help out during practices and games, what a guy.  His help will be truly appreciated.  <3