Severe Weather Day

Yesterday was severe weather day in St. Louis. After lunch with a couple former players I picked my car up from the shop to run a few errands. The guys at the service center were gathered around the TV where the weather man was announcing tornadoes in surrounding areas. The skies in my area were bright and sunny so I went to pick up an SD card and stop by Target. I begged for my sister to meet me at Brentwood Target, but she would have none of that so I drove to her house and we went to the Hampton Target. After shopping for about twenty minutes they came over and announced that everyone needed to move to the back corner of the store because a tornado had been spotted in South County. We grabbed a ball for Claire and went on back.

Claire had a blast bouncing on her ball and trying to make friends

Everyone waiting out the storm in the lawn and garden section

When they provided a window to leave we checked out and went home. When we got there it was getting worse so we went into Kara's basement. Claire was in heaven. She had a comfy seat in her jog stroller with her chocolate milk and brownie. Kara was a bit panicked since she couldn't get a hold of her husband.

She also entertained us by playing the guitar and dancing to music.

Needless to say it was a crazy little afternoon. Quite the Target trip. Kara did make a good choice in going to Hampton though since a tornado did touch did by Brentwood and 40.

Now off to NY and Colorado where I will hopefully avoid severe weather for 10 days!

Birthday Weekend

This past Friday was my birthday. I didn't have any expectations and had not at all planned how I wanted to celebrate. As Tom and I talked on Friday we decided it would be nice to walk up to downtown Kirkwood for dinner. Lara Holley called right before we left and said she would join us after dinner. We had dinner at PJ's and drinks at Highlands. It was a great night. I didn't want a big party or anything special so it was fun to celebrate with two of my favorite St. Louisans.

Saturday my sisters, Tammy and Stephanie, came in town with their babies. We spent the day at the Flower Festival in downtown Kirkwood. It was a fun day with the babies and my sisters. However, with all of the babies it isn't necessarily a leisurely stroll through Kirkwood. Below is a picture of my sweet nephew, Joe, just smiling away while my sister was changing his diaper.

Saturday night we had homemade pizza birthday dinner at my parents house. My sister's birthday was the day before mine and Tom's was May 4th so we all celebrated together.

Trying to get a good picture with the three youngest babies

What a sweet little guy!

Me and Tom with our birthday cakes

My sister, Amy, with her birthday cake

And this girl...she LOVES her cake. She walks around all day saying "a caaaake, a caaake"

She was thrilled it was someones birthday so there would be cake to eat!

It was a great birthday weekend topped off with the celebration of Dr. David Holley's retirement. So fun. Next weekend...onto vacation!

The Calm After the Storm

Right now I am definitely experiencing the calm after the storm...and it's very strange. After a very crazy spring life has slowed. At times I feel like it has almost slowed too much.

I have completed my 300 internship for my master's in counseling. I have also completed all of my classes. I have not technically graduated because I need to complete my portfolio and take my praxis this summer. I keep remembering what life was like before I was working on my master's degree. All I can say is my freedom is taking as much adjusting to as my crazy schedule did.

My season is over. I felt like we travelled so much this year, but we are finally done. We finished 7-7. I would have like a 9-5 record, but they still did very well. I am looking forward to next year. I have 7 new girls coming in as well. It will be very strange to have subs on my bench next year.

Bikram yoga. I am still cleaning the yoga studio once a week in exchange for free yoga. I am trying to find 30 days in a row that I will be in town so I can do that 30 Bikram challenge.

Travel. Next Friday I head to New York with a tournament team for Memorial Day weekend. I get home on Sunday night and leave Monday am with Tom to head to Keystone, CO. After that I will be around until July 7 when I head to Portland to see Heather for a week. It sounds like I am travelling a lot, but I am more concerned about those weeks I will be in St. Louis with NOTHING to do. I need a hobby.

All in all life is good. Things have settled down a lot and I am just enjoying some calm for a minute.

Mother's Day

With all the excitement of the last week I seemed to have forgotten to post about Mother's Day. This year we headed to the Zoo for our Mother's Day Brunch. In my opinion it was much improved from previous years. We ate in the Living World and then took some pictures right outside. It was a fun morning together.

Below is a picture of me and my godson, Dane

Later in the evening we all went to Yo My Goodness for Frozen Yogurt.

The kids had a blast eating yogurt and playing together in Webster.

Look at all the cousins!

Notice that Claire is a little red in the face from running around the whole time!For Mother's Day with Tom's family we took his mom on a hike. We took her back to one we went to earlier in the year. It was amazing how green it was from all of the rain. We had a great time and it was warm and sunny!

Me and Tom on the hike
Tom and Liz on the hike
A great way to spend Mother's Day with some of our favorites.

It went TOO fast!

For the last few months I have been anxiously anticipating my best friend's arrival in St. Louis. It finally came. She arrived last Sunday night. I picked her up Monday am and was able to see her almost every day she was here. However, the end of her visit seemed to come WAY too fast. As I get older I realize it is dang near impossible to make friends like the ones I had in high school. Those girls are truly the best... it's just a shame they live all over the country! Love you , Renee, and I enjoyed our visit more than you know!

Monday night was beautiful. We put on our sundresses and

walked up to Amigo's in downtown Kirkwood.

A few friends met us for a margarita and dinner

Heather and me

On Friday and Saturday night I spent some time at the Hyatt with Heather and her parents. This is the beautiful view from the hotel room. We felt like we were tourists hanging out downtown in a hotel room.

What a great trip! Come back soon!.... PLEASE!

Typical Tom

Saturday we went to the beerfest at Forest Park. It was all craft beers from different microbreweries around the country. I can't believe I used to completely dislike beer cause I really enjoyed this event and trying all the different types and seasonal brew. I don't know enough to talk intellectually about it, but I know enough to tell you what I liked.

Below is the typical "Hey, Tom, let's get a picture".

I smile and assume he is doing the same

I realize he isn't and give him a talking to about just smiling for the camera

I try and check and see if he is smiling while the photo is being taken

I think I've gotten him to smile

He just smiles and laughs when I realize otherwise

The brewfest was fun. The pictures, on the other hand, need some work.

Conference Tournament and Banquet

Easter weekend my team went to Rome, Georgia to compete in the conference tournament. This was an exciting weekend for our team as it was the first year we have been in a conference and thus able to A. make it into a post season tournament and B. receive conference awards.

We wish we would have done better in the tournament but it was still an incredible weekend.

Below are some pictures from the various weekend activities:

The team all dressed up for the conference banquet

They really do love each other this much

The girls on the bridge

The sophomores and my first recruiting class :)

The Juniors

The team again

My favorite part of the weekend was seeing Amanda selected as conference player of the year. Possibly the highlight of my coaching career thus far. She has worked so hard and been through a lot with Mobap lacrosse. After her five years of dedication we finally were in a conference, had subs on the sidelines, and were able to reward her as she deserved. She received first team all conference and CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE YEAR! I did not know she was receiving this honor so I was shocked and SO excited for her. I had talked to her parents and convinced them to come to Georgia and I am so glad they did. I know they wouldn't have missed it for the world.

I was also honored with Conference Coach of the Year

Amanda and me with our awards

Two players on first team, two on second team, and two honorable mention

also, four academic all conference.

So proud of them

The team after our last game.

We lost 18-17. It was a tough loss, but the girls fought hard.

We are excited for next season already!