Snowshoe, WV

In mid January I went to Snowshoe, WV to go skiing with the men's group at Bright Christian Church for three days. Jon Buesing invited me and it was a great time out there. The thing I loved the most is just the natural beauty of the landscape.

I have always loved the being outside and just seeing everything that happens in nature. Even as a little kid I would clear cut the brush behind my house and make trails to walk on and ride my bike. I even went as far as to drink the creek water (which was mostly septic run-off) when I was in 1st grade. My sister told on me and needless to say that was the last time I partook of the sweet creek nectar... Anyway I miss those years and the trip to Snowshoe brought back so many of those memories and it was just beautiful to see the landscape and mountains. So thanks for inviting me Jon it was a blast!

Trip Highlights...

• Skiing 6-9 hours a day
• Fresh snow every morning and during the day
• Skiing Cupp Run at 30+MPH the whole way down
• Swimming and sitting in the hot tub outside when the temp. was 15 degrees
• Walking to Starbucks in the morning cold
• The stillness of mountain life in the morning
• Not sharing a bed with Jon
• Arriving home safely and alive

Jon, Milo, and Me on the AA highway

















Jon hitting 90+MPH on the AA = Scary...

















Our condo... you can own one for just $550k

















Me on the lift with Keith (proof I skied)

















Cool lift shot

















The Village on the top of the Mtn. was really cool. It was filled with shops, restaurants, and condo's.

















Village and condo's


















looking into village from slopes

















Drop off to village

















Huge pile of snow in the village (we were in the crossfire of gang warfare)





















the largest adirondack i have ever seen

















View from our condo's deck

















Another view


















Sunset from deck

Update and Pictures!

I have to apologize for not being a great blogger. I have been busier than usual, but that is not much of an excuse for the absence of updates on the life of Andy and Molly. Sorry...

With that said, here are some pictures, links, and updates! Enjoy!



This is me with a "dirty stache" in the 1980's wagon of Nick - the Children's Minister at Bridgetown. I decided to grow it because I knew of nobody in their mid-late 20's that has a stache (also many "youth ministers" have some form of a christian goatee, which says "i love jesus and youth," but never just a stache). The best part is that I never explained it to anyone, I just rocked it and let them look at me and wonder. This shot was taken while we were on our way to Crossroads Community Church in Hyde Park. Crossroads is the hipster church of Cincinnati and we were going there for a Children's/Youth meeting about a 40 day journey type of thing they are leading. They are a great church because they publish much of their programming materials for public use and do not charge a dime. A really cool mentality to have for such a huge and progressive church. Needless to say, I probably should not have rocked the stache there, but I did and I received many weird looks from people, but the few that were able to hear an explanation appreciated the humor.


Birthday...

So Molly asked me where I wanted to go for a birthday dinner and I aimed high. I said I wanted to go to Jeff Ruby's and have a steak and she accepted my request. Jeff Ruby's is very well known for cooking the best dry aged steaks around. We had a great time together, some steaks that were amazing along with the rest of the meal and great service. If you ever get a chance to eat there it is well worth it.




















a table like the one where we sat...























the wine cellar where you can dine...


















inside...


















inside...

Breaking News!

Over the Christmas break Molly and I found out that we are going to be new parents! Trust us we are just as excited as you are because this is not about a child being brought into this world, but us raising a puppy and then having a companion.

Molly and I had been considering getting a dog for a while and we had researched the various breeds and decided that we wanted a dog that did not shed, one that knows how to be active, but also knows how to remain fairly calm. With this said we settled on a Cock-a-Poo. This is mostly due in part to Matt Prentice showing me his sister's Cock-a-Poo and me being very impressed with all of these traits and also the intelligence of the breed. Lucy, the dog of Bill and Cara (Matt's sister and brother in law), rings a receptionist bell to let you know when she needs to go to the bathroom!

So it was the week before Christmas and I emailed the breeder and she said she had puppies ready for Christmas. I sent a picture to Molly and without even asking her I just went and picked it up while she was at a Christmas party. Needless to say Molly was surprised, but excited to see the new addition. We decided to name the dog Crosley after Crosley field, which is the old stadium where the Reds played baseball. We have had Crosley for about two weeks and it has been good overall. The first few nights were horrible because he cried all night and decided to defecate in his kennel, but after we moved his kennel closer to our bedroom he has done much better and has not soiled his linens. Today is the first visit to the vet which should be exciting!

Hope you can enjoy the pictures of Crosley as much as we enjoy having him as a part of our family.




















Crosley in his bed






































He has a mean bite on Santa






































We caught him sleeping in this position