Dance Recital

Waiting in the Dressing Room for the Recital to Start
Morgan's Christmas Lyrical Dance
Morgan and her friend Ashley(she braved the recital w/ us) and Carolina(in the costume)
Morgan and Ms. Debra

It was that time again...time for the yearly dance recital! Since we live on the Northshore and Morgan goes to school on this side, we said goodbye to Dance Co. Ltd. and moved over to Golden Girl Dance Studio, which was very convenient. It's a VERY small dancing school with only 2 or 3 classes and I have to say this was the easiest recital I've ever been through. It lasted all of 45 minutes and was not hectic at all. Thanks to Ms. Debra for a great year and congrats to Morgan on her 7th year of dancing!!!

Morgan's Rite of Passage

Since Morgan finished 3rd grade, she will now be headed to big, bad Middle School! Her school held a Rite of Passage ceremony, which is very similar to a graduation. Morgan was so nervous though that she threw up when she got to school. They almost didn't let her participate, but we convinced the principal it was nerves and she let her "graduate" with the rest of the class.

Off to Kidsports!

We went to my wonderful godchild's 4th birthday party this weekend. It was at Kidsports at Elmwood. Morgan had a great time doing gymnastics for everyone. She is quite the gymnast!

Better Than Ezra and the Zurich Classic

Us and Kevin

The songlist that I got the crew member to rip off the floor of the stageAll the autographs

Me and "Hugh". I kept calling him Hugh even though his name is Tom.
Us and Travis
Us and the keyboard player


I was the "awesome best friend" and got Sherry backstage to meet Better Than Ezra. I was hanging out with them all day - which included getting their >$1000 worth of food and drinks that they requested. They even requested red or blue plastic cups - not clear ones :) I guess you can do that when you're famous!

Are You Tired of Seeing My Birthday Cake??!!

Ok, so I have been quite busy in the last month. I know you all must be VERY TIRED of seeing my "golden birthday" cake. I know Sherry was tired of seeing it! Anyway, if you look at Sherry's blog, you will see what I was doing in April. It mainly consisted of planning the Zurich Classic and being fantastic at my "Player Relations" job! You don't even want to hear about the jokes I got by having that title :)

Happy Golden Birthday to Me!

Last Thursday was my 29th birthday, which meant it was my Golden Birthday!! I had a great day...other than having to go into work. Kirk sent me flowers and Sherry sent me a cookie bouquet, then I met Morgan and Kirk at Trey Yuen for dinner. When we got home, they had an ice cream cake for me (mint chocolate chip ice cream and chocolate cake...yummy)! I also got a new golf club from them and my parents and sister gave me a new watch. Not a bad Golden Birthday!!

Demo Day

On Tuesday our Lakeview house was finally demolished. It only took a year and a half for all the paperwork to finally go through. We still have to go to court with Allstate on August 30th, which is exactly 2 years to the day our house flooded.

It's Poison Oak

Last Night in Good Spirits
This Morning Before Going to the ER...Much Worse

For some reason, Kirk wanted to post these pictures, so I apologize if they gross anyone out. After going to the ER this morning at 5:30, Kirk found out he had a very severe case of Poison Oak. It was so bad that his throat was actually swelling. He got an IV of steroids and is now on a regular dose of it. He's doing MUCH better and his face isn't so swollen anymore. He can also see out of both eyes again. Thanks for all the phone calls and get well wishes!

Update

Endymion Parade
Kirk and Mo at Endymion
Morgan and Katie at Thoth

Morgan and Elise Working to make money...they made $40 in 2 days!!
Morgan speaking at her school performance
Waiting for Endymion to pass

I know it's been a long time since I last posted on here, so this will just be a recap in pictures. With only 4 weeks left until the Zurich Classic, my life has been pretty much revolving around work. We've been through Mardi Gras, a school performance, another conference in Arizona, St.Patrick's Parade and now Kirk has either poison ivy or poison oak. It's pretty gross looking so beware of the picture!

Kirk and his poison ivy or poison oak

Pawpaw

Mawmaw & Pawpaw

My grandfather passed away yesterday. I was on my way to work when I got the phone call. Pawpaw had just gotten out of the hospital two days prior but wasn't doing well. Luckily my dad was still in town and was able to visit with him for the past few weeks. If you don't know, my dad comes from a rather large family. My grandparents have been married for 67 years and they have 17 children (my dad is the 2nd oldest). I have about 54 first cousins just on my dad's side. I found out that my grandmother had told Pawpaw it was ok for him to go and that she would be ok. About 20 minutes later, he took his last breath. It was a hard day for all of us. Please keep my family in your prayers.

Snowboarding Day 2

Going Down the Mountain (notice the snow on the back of my pants from falling)
Kirk Looking Like a Pro

Tuesday was our last day to hit the slopes and since we still had the snowboards, that's what we were going to do. After a few quick warm-up runs on the small Sweet Pea slope, we took the lift up to the green trail again. My first run down included many falls, but I was finally starting to get the hang of it. By the end of the day and 6 runs later, I was almost a pro...yeah, right! But I was down to two or three falls instead of one every few feet. If we had one more day, I'm sure I'd being able to go down without falling. They say it takes a good 3 days to get good at snowboarding. I wanted to see if they were right. I can say that if you are going to try snowboarding, make sure to wear LOTS of padding and get a helmet. Oh, and expect to be VERY sore and have lots of bruises.

Almost at the bottom of the slope

But instead landed on my bottom

Snowboarding Day 1

We decided to turn in our skis and poles for snowboards. Yes, we're crazy but we wanted to learn. It looks much easier than skiing, but once you strap that board on, it's pretty difficult. We went to snowboard school on Monday and learned how to skate on the board and then how to use our heel and toe edges to help us control our speed and move the board along. All was fine on the little Sweet Pea slope, even though there were many falls and landing in the snow. But at the end of the day we moved over to the green trail, and let's just say, I didn't quite make it down as easily as I thought I would. Kirk actually did much better than I did...he made it all the way down the trail. After that day, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to or wanted to continue with boarding, but many people told us you had to give it at least 2 or 3 days.

2nd Anniversary

Sunday was also our 2nd Anniversary, so after wearing ourselves out skiing all day, we went to dinner in Park City at Zoom. It's Robert Redford's restaurant located on Main St. and we had eaten there 3 years ago before we got engaged. The food is yummy and we really enjoyed it.

Some of you may remember that Kirk lost his wedding ring while SCUBA diving on our trip in Punta Cana. Well he surprised me by buying himself the same ring I had given him on our wedding day. He got it sized a little tighter so maybe this time it won't fall off...we'll see.

Skiing Day 2

After Saturday night's blizzard, we woke up to a beautiful clear day. It was still pretty cold, but at least it wasn't extremely windy. This is a view from our balcony overlooking the mountain and the plaza.
After a quick run on a green slope to get warmed up, we tackled a blue...it was the very one where 3 years ago on my 2nd day ever of skiing, I took my skis off, threw them down a steep slope and walked down. Well, I'm proud to say that this year I made it down that slope without falling! This is me getting ready to head down the dreaded slope. Do I look nervous? After we made it down Snowdancer and then Kokopelli again, we took a break and mapped out a long run, where we were going to hit four different blue trails and 3 lifts. I was exhausted by the end of it, but I can now say I've done 4 blue slopes in a row.
This picture to the left is at the top of a steep slope on the Harmony trail. It was the 3rd of the four that we did in a row and had a great view. But it was also the longest trail we did. If you look at the bottom of the slope, you can see a house. This trail actually went through a "neighborhood."

Park City, Utah...Skiing Day 1

Getting Ready to Brave the Cold
Taking a Break for a Picture
The Evening Blizzard from our balcony

Kirk surprised me with a trip to Park City, UT for our anniversary. Three years ago we got engaged in Park City, and since I've been talking about wanting to go skiing again, he thought it would be a good idea to come back here. We arrived yesterday around 1:30 and just hung around the square in the Canyons since our room wasn't ready. It was FREEZING outside when we got here(a big 19 degrees) and flurrying. Today we got up, went to breakfast, bought our lift tickets and went to pick up our ski rentals. Then we took the gondola up the mountain to start our day of skiing. It was even colder up there! The high was about 2 degrees and again, snowing! The wind was also killing us, making it feel even colder. After getting my bearings on one beginner run, I finally felt comfortable skiing. It's been 3 years since I skied and that was when I learned how to do it. After another couple runs, I decided to brave a blue slope, and I have to admit, I did pretty well on it...well except for the very beginning where I kept falling down and losing my skis. But once I got past that part, I didn't fall again. I was pretty proud of myself, so tomorrow I'm going to tackle it again and maybe this time I won't fall at all. There's a HUGE blizzard going on outside right now. Tomorrow is our anniversary, so we're in for more skiing and then dinner in town at Zoom.

LSU 41 - Notre Dame 14!!

G O T I GE R S !!

OK, I know I'm normally not an LSU fan, but I was able to get some Sugarbowl tickets for Kirk & I to go watch LSU beat Notre Dame. It was my anniversary present to him since Sunday will be our 2nd anniversary. We had excellent seats, other than the crazy Notre Dame fans behind us who kept yelling and clapping. We were in the club level on the 45-yard line...not too shabby! You would not believe how many LSU fans were in the Dome. We hardly saw any Notre Dame fans. We had lots of fun and were glad to be able to go. Kirk as never been to the Sugarbowl before, so he was glad his 1st one was when LSU was playing!

Start of 4th Quarter

Having Fun at the Game (yes, I'm wearing an LSU hat, so be quiet)

LSU's Cheerleaders (the girl on the right end is Morgan's old coach at St. Dominic...Go Jamie!)

Fireworks on New Year's Eve

Time to Light the Fireworks

Shooting off a Roman Candle

Sparkler Time

Kirk bought fireworks for the 1st time ever and I have to admit, I've never bought fireworks in my life either. In fact, I've never shot off fireworks; I've only done the sparklers as a child. I'm not big on the popping noises and I'm afraid the house is going to catch on fire. So when Kirk said he was buying fireworks, I was a little concerned. We went outside and he and Julian shot a few off and then that was enough for me...I went inside and baked some cookies.

Morgan just being herself!

In from Iraq

My cousin Michael has been in Iraq for the last few months (6, I believe?) and finally came in town for a brief visit before he has to go back. This picture of him and Morgan was taken on Christmas Day when we went to eat at my cousin Emily's house in Covington. She and her husband Jason had just built and moved into the house and it's beautiful! We had a great time at their house and were so happy we got to spend it with them, Michael, Aunt Paula, Uncle Mike and Brady on Christmas Day.