Cold Weather & Bare Trees

Winter, seemingly endless with it's cold weather and bare trees. And so it was that we had another big snowfall this past weekend. We had 10 inches of snow between 3pm and 12am Friday night. Steady sheets of snowflakes fell consistently. Walking from the car inside, my head and coat were covered in plump white flakes.

Brenton had to leave for the airport shortly after 4pm, with a good inch of snow already on the ground and during our "Winter Storm Warning". At 6pm he called saying he was leaving the airport. What is normally a 45 minute drive was taking a bit longer with the snow showers. An hour and a half later he called to say he'd sat on Interstate 26 without moving. At 11:00pm I jumped off the couch when I heard the dog bell jingle as Brenton opened the door. Ironically, the gentleman Brenton dropped off at the airport made it to Chicago, on a re-routed flight, before Brenton made it back to the college.

Sure enough the snow came down good and hard. I missed the good pics though, quite a bit thawed out today with the warmer weather. Guess that means there is still work on Monday! But at least there is also 24 to look forward to Monday night!





Lexi (left) & Bentley (right)

Hmmm...

What to blog about... I'm headed to a jewelry party at my friend's house in a few. Brenton's currently working on his last class for his masters, while emailing soccer recruits and watching "Walk the Line". School is back in session... we've already had a mandatory hall meeting, a fire drill and my Resident Assistants have helped me plan our activities for the semesters.

I baked a cake for one of my supervisors at The Cove, it was her birthday on Friday. Chocolate cake, with a chocolate creme center and coconut cream whipped topping... a light tasty treat. Was a nice boost in between two three-hour meetings.

Running off to get ready and take a few of the college girls to the party this rainy Saturday afternoon.

A Little Bit Of...

Random. What better describes this word than our weekend in Jamaica! Even the beginnings of the trip were a little sporadic. In mid-December Brenton had a contact touch base about a tournament in Jamaica. We decided to sign up just before Christmas. We left early this past Thursday morning, with a full day of travel, to find ourselves waiting for a few other coaches. Our taxi took us on the scenic route through the mountain, one to make your stomach churn for sure. The few hour ride to Jakes Place, with our new friends, was good prep time for the next adventure.

















When we arrived, the place could not find our reservation. Shortly after a little follow up, they showed both of us couples to a little cottage we were to share... two bedrooms, one bath, with a little living room and kitchen to share. The other couple was kind to give us the bed with a mosquito net since the little booger swarm me and leave me itching with welts for days. And luckily, our room opened up to the patio and ocean. A serene, restful environment for sure. Brenton and I both agreed our bodies went limp from overcast breezes, resting from the point we woke up, and listening to the waves lap over the rocks again and again. Peaceful.



















The sandy spot near the pool dropped off into a run-down coral reef, with strong under-tows. We never swam but walked around a few of the long dried out reefs once the tides came in. We didn't go far out of Jake's Place as it was communicated by our local contact that we should not venture out and about. There was one sunny day, the day of the tournament.

Brenton had a long day at the soccer tournament where over 300 individuals, both men and women, were entered. Two of his Jamaican players met up with him at the tournament, one whose father introduced him to the previous coach of Jamaica's national team. Brenton also gleaned a lot from the coach we stayed with, who has coached over forty years at a Division I college.


We left on Monday, fifty minutes later than expected. Luckily we made it to the airport an hour and a half prior to our flight. Lunch was a luxury for our beating hearts.

Wintry Views from Our Treehouse Cottage

(Although, views since much of the snow has left.)

4-Wheel Drive Only, Please.

So the very smart technological side of me did not copy my NC snow photos onto my computer file before deleting them off our camera. Sorry but no picture updates with this blog. In fact, I've become completely lazy with pictures. It's probably the fact that I'm not a photographer and do not know how to take great pictures like my brother-in-law Jer. All my photos start to look the same, even the unique angled shots are all alike. So sad, but light is being shed on my non-giftings at the moment!

That and we are lacking internet again at this phase in life, which leads to the lack of consistent blogging. Some day... altogether though, we're doing well. We missed the big snow storm that I've heard would rival the Asheville storm in the early 90's. So thankful we don't have them often, but Brenton and I thought it would have been fun to get snowed into our home for a few days. It's still been a trek getting up and down our slippery, bumpy and muddy drive.

Actually, it was just earlier this week that I was trying to get up the grooves, which were still partly icy and embraced by lanes of snow. Brenton had headed out of town and told me to keep momentum so I would not get stuck or have to back down the mountain on patches of ice. Perfectly enough, my neighbor and baby were also in the car. I got half way up and stalled for a van that had tried to go up our icy drive in 2-wheel drive, but slid backwards down the hill a ways, half in a culvert and halfway on the road. Inconvenient, yes. My neighbor and I looked at each other and said, "What in the world was he thinking!" The poor guy was shaken up, but thankfully no damage was done. My neighbor walked up the hill with her baby and my wonderful friends at The Cove sent a husband of a fellow co-worker to get both of our vehicles taken care of. I was probably a chicken, but did not want to be the lucky individual to wreck one of our vehicles. I left with a guilt trip for not being too friendly to the flustered gentleman who asked what house I lived in... Poor guy, just not his day. I avoided his conversations knowing his work would bring him up our hill on a somewhat regular basis, and the fact that my husband was gone.

Thankfully Brenton made it home and we have not been stuck yet. Today is in the twenties but feels like four degrees and I can surely vouch for the bitter Michigan chill outside. We had wonderful holidays over the past few months. Due to my lack of blogging... we had Thanksgiving with Brenton's immediate family and extended family from his mother's side. We met up at his grandparent's farm in Kansas with over 80 relatives, and still missing some. This Christmas we spent up north visiting my side of the family and a number of Brenton's connections; friends, a recruit, a previous supervisor and had a wonderful end to 2009.