The Last Few Years...

::A little trail history from Amy::
After graduating from CSU-Pueblo, Austin and I bought one way tickets to Alaska to spend an unknown number of months in persuit to make millions, though we came up short by the time we were ready to flee the arctic in search of normal daylight hours. It was an amazing experience and Ira and Rachelle were extremely gracious opening their (new) home to us and allowing me to take over their kitchen. The wedding gift that resembled a rather large gravy boat made a smooth transition into the never empty cookie jar for Ira and Austin (Rachelle and I were more into the cookie dough). We have thousands of memories and pictures from AK. When our time in Alaska started to wind down, Austin came up with the great idea to work at a ski resort for the upcoming winter months...Enter Lake Tahoe:

Heavenly Mountain Resort, part of Vail Resorts, was the first spot we both recieved jobs at, so we left Alaska...I went to Colorado to pack my bags and Austin went to Montana...later to meet in South Lake Tahoe, California. I soon became a Vacation Coordinator (aka: underpaid/overused travel agent) and Austin became a Snowcat Operator (aka: groomer). The snow was late to hit, but when it finally did in January, it would not stop! It snowed for 3 weeks straight, taking only short pauses to reload the clouds with the heavy stuff, the kind that makes it a workout to shovel your car out from under! It was great snow to ride though. Different from Colorado fluff, but it wasn't "sierra cement" either. Austin started telemark skiing while I kept to my board. We became a choreographed couple cooking in our tiny (and I really do mean tiny!) kitchen together. When our families came to visit, this became the entertainment because we had no cable! A part of us will always be there because our beloved hamster, Calvin, died unexpectedly and he now rests in the bottom of the lake in his exercise ball that he loved so much.

We took a great road tripped when moving from Tahoe; we went down to Vegas to visit Wags and Christina and baby Atticus ... then headed west to Santa Barbara to stay with Jock Bovington, a high school friend of Austin's ... then north up the Pacific Highway, which was absolutely gorgeous. We camped along the way out of the Subee (my Subaru Forester) and lived on oatmeal and noodles, the only things we really could cook with our little burner, and peanut butter sandwiches. The picture is in the redwood forest in northern Cali...those trees were amazing! We took video footage of them too. They truly are ancient giants. It was a great time just being with Austin and traveling and taking our time to get home while experiencing breath taking vistas and visiting quaint coastal cities. All the while training for my half marathon, I'll blog about that later. Roadtrips like that are extremely addicting and I recommend it to all!

Our summer was spent in Helena with Austin's family. Neither one of us worked and collected unemployment (mine was $79/week) and enjoyed doing anything that came to mind. Another thing I recommend to all! We went to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska and stayed with Nate Parker, another one of Austin's high school friends. He, his wife and their son Nolan were great hosts even if Nolan was very vocal in the early morning! That was a great trip and one that meant a lot to Austin. I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would! It was a lot of baseball and I like to remind Aust that not many girlfriends would sit through high humidity heat and terrential downpours and tornado and flood warnings to watch baseball with their boyfriends. It was wild weather, but definitely worth it.

So now I am in Colorado and Austin's in Hawaii. He recieved a graduate assistant job at Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu and is completing his masters in communication. He is extremely busy and there is a four hour time difference between us, so phone calls are few and short, but I have learned to appreciate even the shortest conversation just to hear his voice. I'm back home living the dream in my parents' house (funny joke)! It's been interesting being back around mom and dad every day, you can only imagine! I'm coaching JV volleyball. I'm loving it and truly love my girls. They are so funny and never cease to amaze me with their way of thinking. I have learned so much about myself from them. I never imagined they would be teaching me too! I'm substitute teaching also which I don't prefer, but it's easy money and has motivated me to obtain my masters in something far from education! I love coaching!

Austin and I will be joining up on December 15th. We both bought plane tickets to Seattle, to ski and snowboard and relax in Bellingham with his brother Quinn and his girlfriend Mary until we take off for Christmas to Helena. I cannot wait to be back up there. We don't know when we will take off for O'Ahu together, but it will be sometime in January, after the holiday.