work in progress

This is my work in progress from the trip! Just the top of a Michigan State quilt!

holiday travel

One of the many blessings of our new life in Montana is that we are able to see more of family and friends. For Thanksgiving, Mikel was looking forward to seeing family and have the opportunity to go fishing. Because Mikel was going to be out of town, I decided to go home to Riverside and see some family and soak up some sun over the holiday. 

After a crazy first season in Montana it was nice to have some time to relax and visit!

My flight was set to depart the Helena airport about 1:30 in the afternoon so the two hour drive shouldn't have been a problem but we kept hearing about a winter storm that was supposed to dump the night before we left. At the last minute we decided to head to Helena the night before and, when we woke up to this, we were glad we did....

snow outside the hotel in Helena

 It snowed 5-6" that night so it was much less stressful to already be in Helena. Mikel still had to drive back to Dillon but at least he only had to go over the pass once and there was no worry about missing my flight!

The Helena airport is very small but easy to work with: 4 gates and 2 runways!

Helena airport

a good view from the airport

Everything was going well until the plane I was supposed to get on to Salt Lake City had to turn around because of mechanical problems. Initially we were told the flight would be cancelled and we wouldn't get out until tomorrow. With Mikel half way home and headed to Idaho it was going to be a  long night in Helena!

Luckily, we were able to get on a MUCH delayed flight into SLC and caught a later flight from SLC to Orange County. I was one of the few people on my plane who actually made it to their destination that night so I can't complain about a couple hours of delays!

happy Thanksgiving!

How can you pass up a picture like this when you drive by it everyday on the way to work?!

This hay bale turkey has been sitting outside one of the buildings on campus all month and I love it!

whew!

Whew!! We survived the season! It seems like it flew by and I cannot believe it's already Thanksgiving time. In the back of my mind I always knew that we would get a chance for some vacationing and family time around Thanksgiving but it seemed so far away when the focus was all around the volleyball season. Now that the season is over, I better do some laundry, cleaning, and packing!!

On top of the volleyball season ending, my first block of teaching has ended as well. We are on a block scheduling system here at Montana Western called Experience One where basically our students take one class at a time, three hours a day, for 18 days; there are four of these blocks each semester. Because I only teach part time, I teach three blocks throughout the year: one in the fall and two in the spring.

This fall I taught a Coaching Volleyball class during Block 3 which just ended yesterday. It was definitely a different teaching experience than having classes that last an entire 16 week semester but I loved it! I had seven students (all boys and only one non-athlete) and it was a lot of fun. Next semester I will be teaching two blocks: Biomechanics as well as Public and Community Health. It looks like Mikel will also have the chance to teach two blocks next semester: Foundations of Health and Human Performance and Methods of Teaching Team Sports.

As for volleyball, although there are always games and matches that I want a chance to do-over, I couldn't have asked for a better first season. This year we went 7-19 overall and 2-12 in conference. We do plan on those numbers going up in the future but it was a huge improvement over the 1-24, 0-14 from last year and was the best season since at least 2005! The girls worked hard and did everything I asked. At times we were over-matched physically by our opponents (I need to recruit some size!) but we battled and improved throughout the season. I had two amazing seniors who I will definitely miss going forward but I cannot thank them enough for what they have done for the program. It was great to be able to have Mikel travel with us and sit on the bench to support both me and the team. Although I'm sure both me and the team are enjoying some rest time, I am excited to get back in the gym and start working towards next season!

what?! winter?!

Saturday we woke up to a surprise. Not a "oh yea, what did the postman leave!" surprise but a "I closed my eyes for 8.5 hours and this happened?!" kind of surprise.

We got snow.

Not just a light dusting but real snow.

The snow did hold off until November though so we can't really complain too much. I am looking forward to later in the week when the weather is supposed to be back in the mid 40s. Yea November!

snow at school