It's been a long time

Well, it has been a long time since Kara or I have updated this blog. So, briefly here is what has been going on. Stay tuned for pictures, lots of them....

1. Two of Jen's aunts came out to visit for a weekend and we went to Rocky Mountain National Park and Vedauwoo

2. Jen's niece had her first birthday. Then the grandparents came to Wyoming and we went to Buffalo, Cody, and Yellowstone. It was a good time with lots of good pictures to come.

3. We celebrated our 9th anniversary on July 7th.

4. Kara is currently on vacation with her mom and new stepdad, David. Guess where? Yellowstone, that's right. Kara is there for the second time in 3 weeks and the third time in a year.

5. Kara and her family will proceed to Logan, UT to see her sister, brother-in-law, and cute little nephew Clay for a few days before they come home to Laramie.

6. Just today Jen did her fisrt interview for her dissertation. What a relief to finally be proceeding and get the first one out of the way.

7. Kara and her family have seen 3 bears in Yellowstone already!

The Ugliest Elk in Rocky Mountain National Park

The mountains "opened" on Memorial Day weekend. Every year we drive through the Snowy Range when it first opens. Here are some pretty cool pictures from our drive.

This shows just how deep the snow was. Apparently, it was 20 ft. deep in some places (or so we were told.)

Kara loves this picture. Do you see which way the stop sign is facing? That means that there is(or is supposed to be) a road right there!

We also went to Rocky Mountain National Park. On the way there we saw this cute little Bighorn sheep. He's so adorable...I want him for my very own! :)

And finally, we saw thousands of Elk in the park but they are not very attractive right now because they are losing their winter coats. This gal came very close to our car and we dubbed her "The Ugliest Elk in Rocky Mountain National Park."

If you want to see more pictures, check out Jen's Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/people/jjrude/

In other news...

Kara only has one and half days of students left, then two and a half more days of staff development and she is done with the school year!!! Bring on summer!!!

Jen did not get the job that she blogged about in the previous blog. :( But that's okay because she is going to build up her private practice. She got her own office and is having lots of fun decorating it. So if anyone knows any mentally unstable people in Laramie, tell them about Jen. Heehee.

Enjoying Some Time Off

Jen is officially done with her graduate assistant position at the University of Wyoming and is enjoying some much needed time off. She's trying to stick to a routine though in order to manage her headaches and it's working out okay so far. The last week has been rough, but overall the past two months have shown so much progress it is unbelievable. She would definitely recommend The Diamond Headache Clinic to anyone who suffers from migraines.

Jen is also waiting to hear back about the interview she had last Tuesday. She could hear anytime between now and the 29th of May. The wait is starting to get on her nerves, but hopefully the wait will be worth it. This potential job is nearly the "ideal" job that she could wish for. Pretty cool to have the opportunity to have your "almost" dream job and only be 30 (well almost 30).

Kara is counting down the days at school. She's down to single digits with the kids, June 3rd is the last day they come. Then Kara is done with school on June 5th. Yippee!!!! We can't wait to get to spend more time together and to go up into the mountains.

That's all for today. Hope everyone out there is doing great.

Not much to report...

Hello all.
There is not much to report on around here, but I felt like I should update the blog.

Kara only has 20 days of school left and then she will be free for the summer. Jen has a job interview on Tuesday at the university...so send positive thoughts, prayers, and energy her way.

We are still waiting for a potential birthmother to contact us. We are so excited to start our family, but the wait is getting long!!! Kara is sad that she won't have a little one to spend her summer with...but you never know... So keep spreading the word: Jen and Kara Want to Adopt! If you know of anyone who is making an adoption plan, please send them to our website at http://www.jenandkara.com/

By the way, we are re-doing our birthmother letter so if anyone has anything NICE to say about us and what great parents we'd be...please post. We might just pick your comment to put in our letter. :)

Leprechauns tried to steal my change!

Awhile back Jen really wanted to get a Wii. We weren't sure we should be buying a Wii right now for several reasons, but then I had this brilliant idea. I told her that if there was a significant amount of change our big change bottle, that we could take it to the bank, put it in our account and buy a Wii. So one day we sat on the bed and counted change for hours. It ended up that we had almost $200! Not enough for a Wii...but enough to make us feel ok about buying a Wii. However, it was Sunday and the bank was closed. So we bought the Wii anyways with the intent of taking the change to the bank on Monday. Well, that was a couple weeks ago! (I'm a little bit of a procrastinator.) So today, since I'm on Spring Break, I decided to take the change to the bank.

I pulled into the parking lot, hopped out of my car, and grabbed the gallon sized baggie that held $200 of quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies. (This is when the lephrechauns tried to steal it!) The baggie burst open and $200 of change flew all over the parking lot!!!! It took awhile, but I scooped it all up, took it into the bank, and was glad to be rid of it. Next time we have to take $200 of change to the bank....I'm making Jen do it!!

Snowshoeing...not so much

Jen has wanted to go snowshoeing all weekend and it just never happened. So, today after work and school we came home changed, cleaned out the car, got the dogs ready, and headed up to Happy Jack (mini-mountains only 15ish minutes away). We get there and guess what, yep, that's right...NO SNOW! At least not enough for snowshoes. We got out anyway to let the dogs play, mainly because they were driving us crazy. Nakai goes absolutely nuts when in the car. She can't wait to get somewhere and get out to roam and run about.

Here are a few pictures from our outting. We hope you enjoy.

This is Jen's favorite nature picture of the day. The berries just demanded to be digitally captured!

Jen just thinks this one is kinda cool. Kara had to help by holding the branch down low enough for Jen to get the picture. Just one more time where being short was a disadvantage. You'd think we'd be used to this by now.

And last, but not least.......

Kara playing peek-a-boo with the camera.

Jen's Updates

Well, I've decided it is time to let all of you know that I will not be going to Africa this summer. This was an extremely hard decision to make, but it was a decision that had to be made. Financially, it is not possible for me to go. I applied for a grant through the University of Wyoming but was denied. With no financial assistance and my new monthly prescription expenses there is just no way that Kara and I can come up with the extra money for me to go to Africa, even though it was for a good cause. Maybe our finances will be better in two years when another Africa trip should be planned. Who knows.

I have also been to the Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago, Illinois. This is supposed to be the leading headache clinic in the country, possibly even in the world. My trip resulted in a 6 day hospital stay so the doctors could change my medications and monitor me closely during the process. I now have minimal daily pain, which is huge progress! I'm still having my migraines, but the new medications actually cause the pain to go away. So, when I have a migraine I don't have to just tolerate the pain, I can actually get relief. Definitely a step in the right direction. I now feel like I will be able to be an even better mom when the day comes.

Bonus - while in Chicago I got to see my best friend Ella who I hadn't seen in just over four years. I hadn't seen her since a few days before I closed on the house. Craziness! It was great to get to see her and meet all of her new friends. Although I must say they are all high anxiety and a little neurotic! Thankfully, they all agree with me so there won't be any disagreements when they read this post.

Thats all for now. I hope all is well with all of our blog followers, family, and friends.
Jen