Snow. Ice. Snow...Texas and beyond

i know it's been a week or more since the crazy "snowpocalypse", but wanted to share the crazy happenings here in texas & in colorado. 

February 1-3

the ice that fell in central texas caused everyone to have a difficult time when driving. and for the most part, a lot of people stayed home. however, i had to venture out to my parent's house to retrieve their car for them. they were planning on flying back down from CO to ft worth for the rodeo and wanted their car. anyways, i made the 25 mile journey out to the ranch. surprisingly the roads weren't too bad...except for one part...you see my parent's house live up on a mountain and the only way up is by a semi-step road. and when you have an inch or more on that road, it becomes impossible to drive up it. knowing that was the likelihood of the outcome, i still tried to prove myself and my dad wrong (he actually advised me to NOT even try to go up the hill). i learned that he was right very quickly. i started up the hill and about halfway up i started sliding. i couldn't go up or down, just sideways. my car was now diagonal on the road and close to the ditch. so i popped it in park, put the hill brake on and threw my bag on my shoulder to hike up the rest of the hill in the frigid cold temp. once i got up to the house i built a fire and settled in for the night. 

the morning came quick when i woke up to an ice cold house. yep it was 50 degrees. the heaters were not working, except only one in a certain part of the house.  oh and NO WATER either. come to find out one of the electrical boxes had froze, thus no heat. and our water well had froze. my uncle along with one of our ranch hands and i, we trying to use our limited knowledge and figure all of this out. 

my car was the next project on the list. it only took them a few pulls to get it straightened out and down the hill. clearly i was not going to even try to drive my parent's car down the icy slope. once we got everything settled at the house i headed back to town to my sister's place (i live in the barn apt out back). i had to get on back to check on the animals and to make sure everything was working properly. it was an adventure surviving the ice. 

February 4-7
friday i flew to colorado to meet up with my family. interestingly enough, it was a snowy blizzard here in texas the day i was flying out. by the time i left at noon, we already had 4-5 inches of snow on the ground. seriously? and i was flying to MORE snow. 

anyways, my time skiing with the family was great! it was a much needed break. while i was there for the weekend, we received a foot of snow. made skiing a bit more difficult, but it was SO fun! (click here to read about my sister's family trip to CO) 

here are few pictures from colorado...

the kids playing dominoes & other games...

they were sick the whole week they were there

 esther and i on the lift...

monday, feb 7 was when i flew back to texas. however, it never fails that my travel days are always full of more adventure.  i woke up that morning to find that my flight was cancelled and then even rerouted. i spent the next couple hours on the phone figuring out how to get back to texas before my volleyball practice. ends up i had to fly out of denver, which was about 90mins from where we were. but of course, the highways had been hit hard with snow and ice. it took us over 3 hrs to get to the airport. i made it there in time to find out that my flight was delayed. i just started laughing because that would happen. i did make it back just in time for practice though! :)

flying back at sunset always as it's perks...

February 7-13

every monday and thursday i have club volleyball practice. then we had a student ministry fundraiser for summer mission trips friday night. then i ended the week with a volleyball tournament in the dfw area. whew!

February 18-20 (this weekend!)

i'm headed up to oklahoma city for the weekend with a dear friend of mine. i love road trips. especially with great friends like Jen! 

even though it was a crazy week with the weather, i now have memories of all the excitement! thankful for the journey..!