12 Wonderful Years

I woke up this morning to remember that 12 years ago today I got married. First, it is just a little scary to think it has been 12 whole years--that seems like a great deal of time that has gone so fast. I think everyone asks the same questions--am I happy? am I where I want to be? am I still in love? I am happy to say YES! I am happy and I am still very much in love, maybe even more in love with him today than 12 years ago. The question that I do ponder on a little longer is the; am I where I thought I would be or hoped to be? My answer is.... not necessarily, I would like more money and maybe a different career, but honestly, I could have the best career or plenty of money but that wouldn't make me feel any different about Heath. We have each other, we are happy, we have enough to get by and we laugh--so really, I am right where I want to be--close to him.

I wanted to add some music to the post when it was opened but I am not sure if it is possible or how to do that. So, I will add a link to my new favorite "love song". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iraoHE6JlY



Enjoy the photos below. There are plenty more but this was enough to remember the day and to think about the years since.

Happy Anniversary to all those out there I don't remember to tell--enjoy your time together.

Stellar 13 (Kansas City)

Our second big tournament was a national qualifier in Kansas City--this was April 3-5. We all flew there and that was fun!! This is Layne and Laura on the tram at the Denver Airport on our way to KC.

The girls always had a great time together--the volleyball at this tournament was not great for the team, but I feel they learned a great deal from that weekend. I will always remember someone's hair......

They did get to go to a fun game place--it had go-karts, laser tag, video games, etc.....

I actually have not photos of the girls playing this weekend. I know there are some out there and I hope to get my hands on them soon.

Stellar 13 (Part 2)

This blog has the rest of our Crossroads photos and although I have plenty of action shots of the team, I am just going to post those of Layne (and one of Heath). Below, Heath doing some coaching. Not sure if he was mad or excited??

Layne doing a sub.

Getting ready for another ace serve.

Yep, it was an ace!!

Passing

Big spike

Check back for more of the exciting Stellar 13 season.

Stellar 13 (Part 1)

I will try to give you a little season-in-review since I did a horrible job of updating during this past club volleyball season. Some background information, Heath and I coached the Stellar 13 team this past season (which included Layne). We have determined one thing, we will not be coaching Layne next year. We are going to let her go out and experience different coaches and different methods. I will officially say that I don't plan to coach a team next season. I want to be available to watch and support Layne. I will not predict what my coaching future holds for me, because I really don't know.

Over-all it was a good season. We had a very young and inexperienced group of girls, but we trained them well. We attended two national qualifiers--one in Denver and the other in Kansas City and just had our end-of-season dinner last night. The girls hugged and cried!! They were a great group of girls and I enjoyed coaching them (most of the time). :)


Below is our first tournament of the season--we had to travel 2.5 hours to Ft. Morgan, CO. It was a rough day but they did win the final cross-over match at the end of the day!!




Since we had such a young group, we felt that it would be beneficial to have a few video sessions. We watched our own play and some of the Women's National Team. There was usually pizza involved and lots of laughing.



Tournament #2 in Denver. We did well, finished 3rd, and moved back up to Division #1.






Our Hawaii trip was between tournament #2 and Crossroads (qualifier in Denver). So, next are photos of our fun tournament in Denver. It is a national qualifier, so it lasts 3 days--we stay in Denver and it is really a blast for the team. They are a goofy group of girls and I think they loved to have their picture taken. This was the first night at the hotel and they were excited. It was hard to get them to their rooms to go to bed.







After our first day of competition, we were headed to lunch and met up with the Bubba Gump shrimp.






That evening we decided on the Spaghetti Factory. The food isn't the greatest but it is a fun place. Well, we will probably never go back--it ended up being and almost 4 hour dinner!! Most of that waiting for our table. This was early on--before the whining started.






It was the balloon guy that really saved the night. He made these great balloon hats for all the girls and Heath.







Day two of competition was Dig Pink day in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness. It was very cool to see all the pink--everywhere.





This was a little strategy session. The girls played really great on day two--they took control of all three matches. It was fun to watch how much they had grown as a team.

I have some great action shots of Layne during Crossroads that I will share with my next post.