Olympic Trials!

The Makos have two swimmers competing in the Olympic Trials! Taylor Charles competed Monday in the 400 IM- we pulled out our kids and crowded around Zach's computer to watch! He was seeded 97th and dropped 20 spots to 70th!

Dakota Hodgson, who competed with the Makos his junior and senior years, is competing in the finals of the 200 fly tonight! He made it through prelims and semifinals and is seeded 8th for tonight's race. Check it out on the Brentwood Home Page here.

A former Gator, Maclin Davis, is also competing in the Olympic Trials.

Check out more about other Nashville swimmers in the Trials...

Here
Here
on NBC
Here

Watch it tonight on NBC!

You guys are making Nashville and the Makos proud!!

Please Note:

*Finals will air live on NBC at 8:00pm in the eastern time zone and at 7:00pm in the central time zone. Finals will air tape delayed in the mountain time zone at 7:00pm and at 8:00pm in the pacific time zone*

June 28 

Prelims, 4:30-5:30pm ET, NBC Sports

Finals, 8:00-9:00pm ET, NBC

Coming soon...

... revamped pages! You may have noticed the tabs above- about me, things i like, recent pictures, links, and lilylaurenphotography! Check back soon for the update!

Also coming soon... One Thousand Gifts and more Life in Pictures posts!

In the meantime I will leave you with a few things...

~ The Interlude Dance- aka the Gator's Flash Mob dance! So much fun!!



~ A blog that I love reading- New Dress a Day! I have her daily posts emailed to me! So much fun and so much creative inspiration!

~ BlimeyCow= awesome.

#YOLO



Thanks for reading! Check back soon for updates :)

Lily

#nogatorleftbehind

Let's talk about how much I love my job. It is amazing. I work with three super awesome people and our kids are so adorable.

Today my 6&unders did eight laps- the most they have done all season! Today was also the first day we have not had any tears! This past Tuesday we won our second meet- by 263 points! Last week we won by 290 points! Our kids had great swims, fabulous sportsmanship, and a super fun FLASH MOB!! (see last post for the link to the Interlude dance!) So proud of my Gators!!

Today my fabulous boss gave me the evening off! :) Mom and I went shopping- so much fun! I love you so much dear Mom! :)

It is so weird to not be at the pool... Whenever I am not I wonder, "What am I supposed to do with my life?!" So here I am- blogging a little update :)

Last week I met Sheryl Crow- so fun! I shook her hand :)

A little peek into life at the pool...

Things I say 500000 times a day! Our kids have these things drilled into them every day... Now I have them fill in the blanks or answer the question :)

- Q: How do we make ourselves float?

  A: Heads back, bellies up!

- Q: How many hands do we touch with on breaststroke?

  A: Two!

- Q: How many hands do we touch with on butterfly?

  A: Two!

- Q: What do we NOT do on backstroke?

  A: Roll onto our stomachs!

- Q: What do we do off the walls?

  A: Streamline!

- Q: What are our feet doing when we are streamlining?

  A: Kicking!

- Q: When do we take our last breath on freestyle and butterfly?

  A: At the flags!

- Q: What's the order of the IM? (for 7&ups)

  A: Butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle!

- Q: What's the order of the mini IM? (for 6&unders)

  A: Backstroke then freestyle!

- Q: What do we do when we finish our race at a meet?

  A: Stay in the water till everyone is done and then shake the hand of the person next to you! Or give them a high five!

- Q: We want to have good what?

  A: Sportsmanship!

- Q: How often do we breathe on breaststroke?

  A: Every stroke!

- Q: When do we take our first breath off the wall?

  A: After two or three strokes!

- Q: What do we NOT do on breaststroke or butterfly?

  A: Flutter kick!

Yes, our kids can answer those questions! :)

Me: "What do you do if you feel like you are sinking on backstroke?" 5 year old: "Poke that belly up!" This made me laugh because I say "poke that belly up" :)

Every day I wear my hair in a bun on top of my head and I wear sunglasses. The other day it wasn't super bright yet so I was wearing my normal glasses (so I could see haha). One of my kids: "What's up with the glasses?!" Me: "Well they are what I wear in real life" :)

7&8 year old: "I'm a sea orphan!" *goes underwater* I was really confused... then asked, "Do you mean sea urchin?" too funny!

You know you're a swim coach when... you see one of your 5 year olds in "real life" and they look at you and say, "What are YOU doing here?? Why aren't you wearing your swim suit?!" :)

If you would like to read more about coaching :) check out the following links on my Tumblr!

~it's great to be a gator!

~quotes of the day

~i love my job.

~what we do when it's 60 degrees outside

~happiness (part two of the wrench story)

~quotes.

~thankful. (part one of the wrench story)

Love,

Lily

Life in Pictures

Here are the most recent pictures from my iTouch... Enjoy! :)

Beautiful sister!

Happy Father's Day to the world's best dad! I love you so much dear Dad!

Super cute kids at church!!

Dinner with Dad, Cara, and Julia at SATCO!

We love doing meet entries till 10:15 the night before a meet! At least these people are super fun- as demonstrated by these pictures, right? ;) 

You know, just the song for our Gator flash mob... :) SO AWESOME! Go here to see the dance!

Cleaning out the closet with B, M, and G! So fun!

Yup, all this junk was in there. Lady at the clubhouse front door: "Is this your house?!" soo funny

Finished product!!

Walk at Radnor Lake with this dear and beautiful friend! I love you!!

This picture makes me smile :)

Yummm- Sweet Ceces!

I need remedial braiding help... Poor Cara... :) 

Father's Day with Nana and Papa!! We love you!!

"gang signs" aka events/heats/lanes from the swim meet! 

One day one of my sweet swimmers brought me homemade brownie and biscotti- yum! So precious! 

With my darling friend Anna!! This was after I caused problems at Starbucks... So I decided we should come hang out at my house instead... haha

Lunch with my favorite guy {Dad!} after the June ACT! Burger Up- yumm!

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Lily

Life in Pictures

Mimi graduated! Love these girls!

At SB' s fabulous senior recital! Love you sweet friend!

SB graduated! 

:) 

Gorgeous grad!

Lunch with my favorite guy at Silly Goose!

Lunch with Nana, Papa, and Cara at Panera!

Mimi! 

Zach and Matthew!

Coaches names

What I do when I get locked out of the house- party at LU's Starbucks!

Reallyyyy cute... but this makes me laugh. I may or may not have whipped out some goldfish to eat during graduation... :)

I love you! Sweet Ceces with the gorgeous Julia

Look at these cute kids!! 

Our little brother! 

:)

Love her!

p.s. Dear Katie Bell, we were really sad we couldn't come to your recital! I am sure you did great! xxoo

Summer!

Summer is so wonderful!

Coaching is amazing. I can't even use the right words to describe it. It is fabulous. It is so rewarding! The other day a 10 year old girl came to afternoon practice with an illegal breaststroke. We worked together and by the end of practice, she did it legally! I am not sure who was more excited- me or the swimmer :)
~~~~~
Some of my favorite quotes.

No Gator Left Behind

#winning

Sportsmanship defined by a 6 year old: "It's being happy when the other team wins."

J to swimmer: "Let's have a heart to heart."

5 year old: "When do I get a trophy?" Me: "Not today, honey!" "Tomorrow?" "Actually, we get them at the end of the season!"

5 year old: "I HAVE A LOOSE TOOTH!! LOOK!" Several other kids: "Me too!"

You know you're a swim coach when...
Last night I saw one of my 6&unders in "real life" (read: not in a suit at the pool)
Kid: "What are YOU doing HERE?! Why aren't you wearing a swim suit?!" soooo funny!
~~~~~
I get fired (that's "fired" :) daily. Yesterday it was because I wanted the kids to breathe and not have to do lots of breath control... :)

More coming soon :)

Love,

Lily