Time Flies!

Wow! I know it's been a while since my last post, so I figured I'd update on what's been going on. In August we were pretty busy with preparing for Bart returning to work. Before he left there was lots to do and friends & family to visit. We had our fabulous Trash the Dress session with the amazing Corinna Hoffman. We had a blast and the pictures, of course, came out beautiful. It was an experimental session, with it being at night, but the pics were great and Corinna is so much fun to hang out with! Here's the link to our pictures.

We also had a tough time in July/ August with my grandfather sick in the hospital and by the grace of God he is now 100 times better than before! We had lots of great family time visiting him and sticking by each other while he got through this. The doctors were wonderful and we had lots of prayer from our family and friends.


Also before Bart went off to work, we had the pleasure of our friends, Katie and Jeremie, coming down to visit. We met them on our Jamaican honeymoon and became instant friends. And how convenient that they happen to live in FL too! It's so nice to find a couple that we just "click" with. We look forward to many more fun weekends with them! Here's a picture from their visit.


The weekend after their visit, Bart left for West Africa, which is much better than his usual Oman or East Africa. I also started classes for Flagler's fall session the date he left. Convenient for me because it's much easier for me when he's away if I'm occupied and busy with school. September has flown by and I finished up Fall Session A and am currently in Fall Session B. December 12th is graduation, and I'm so ready!

Friends, Fun and Fireworks!

This 4th of July is our first as a married couple. *awe* Last year we were in TN visiting family, so this year since we were home Bart and I wanted to host some festivities at our house. We invited some of our closest friends and had a great cookout. Bart's the GRILLMASTER! He made such great food and had a pretty good time doing it! After the cookout we all grabbed chairs and walked downtown for the fireworks. It was a great time! Pics below... :)

2nd Mate to Chief Mate, then Captain...

Bart has definitely had a very busy couple of weeks. He's been down in Dania Beach studying for his Chief Mate/ Captain test. Two weeks of studying and 3 days of testing. He had nine modules to complete and on Wednesday I got the call that he just completed the test and PASSED! I'm so proud of my husband and so excited for his accomplishments! As soon as his license comes in the mail he'll be able to go back to work. I'll definitely miss him. After a year of time at sea with his C/M license he'll be able to upgrade his documents to Captain! Did I mention how proud of him I am? :-)

During the three weeks he was gone I was pretty busy myself. I decided to surprise Bart the first weekend and went down to visit him after getting off of work on Friday early. We had a great weekend together and saw some friends while down there too. The rest of my time at home I juggled working with my own sprucing up of the house. I re-painted the bathroom, put together a cabinet for above the toilet, and re-tiled the floor. It's a much nicer area now that I'll be able to live with until we actually remodel that room. I also re-painted the dining room. For those of you who know I've never warmed up to the green in there, so now it's a nice neutral (oatmeal on top, antique on bottom) room. Bart was very appreciative of my efforts and was very impressed, especially with the bathroom, with my work.

Wedding Photos

If you haven't already seen them through an email, here are the links to our wedding photos.

This is the link to photos taken throughout the wedding weekend. http://picasaweb.google.com/jenny29078/WeddingWeekend

And here's the link to Corinna Hoffman's website (our FABULOUS photographer!!):
http://corinnahoffman.blogspot.com/2009/05/jennifer-bart-tied-knot-in-st-augustine.html

Wedding and Honeymoon

We had a wonderful wedding May 9, 2009 in downtown St. Augustine. Everything was perfect and we had a great time! Our amazing photographer, Corinna Hoffman, will put together a slide show of all of the pictures once she's finished with them. You can check out her website blog at http://www.corinnahoffman.com/.

In the meantime... we have a cute picture (above) that our friends, Hope and Jason captured after we were pronounced man and wife, Mr and Mrs Bart Clendenin!!! YAY!

After the beautiful wedding and reception, we departed for our honeymoon on May 11th to Negril, Jamaica. We had an perfect honeymoon there. The resort exceeded our expectations, the people were so warm and friendly, and we even made new friends. We were so sad to leave and Bart even thought of throwing fit (like when he was a kid) before leaving! ;-)

We'll try to get pictures from our family and friends soon, but for now you can click on the link below for pics of the honeymoon.
http://picasaweb.google.com/jenny29078/HoneymoonInJamaica

Our Ski & TN Trip

In the midst of wedding planning, work and college I was happy to take a break and travel to Tennessee to visit my future in-laws. Bart and I drove up on a Friday and came back on the following Sunday... a full 7 days of rest, relaxation and fun! While we were up there we spent time with the horses, the Clendenin puppy clan, and Bart's parents and sister. We even took time to travel over to Banner Elk, NC and try out my skiing skills. Bart's a very good instructor and I learned how to do all I needed in 4 trips on the bunny slopes. I did so well on the green run (beginner) that Bart decided I should try out the blue run (intermediate). That didn't work out so well, but I ended up perfecting the green run and had a lot of fun doing it! Here are a couple of pictures from our trip. :)

Insight

I got this from Corinna's blog and just had to post it here. I don't know anyone who couldn't relate. It's amazing and this boy is definitely wise beyond his years. Happy New Year everybody.

To view the video click below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl0HLn118pM