School and Work

We both went back to school in late August and Jen got a last minute job to pay for her schooling and provide a stipend. It was definitely a blessing! Kara has a very full class this year and she enjoys working with the kids. Some days are harder, but that's true in most jobs.

Jen is teaching a Diagnosis and Psychopharmacology class to first year masters students in the Counselor Education program. This and providing supervision (of their counseling) to the first year students is what is paying for her school. Of all the classes the department offers this is the one class Jen really wanted to teach so she is very excited. At times it is more work than expected, but it is very rewarding and will help with her future career goals of being an adjunct professor.

Jen is also still working on her dissertation. She has 3 of her 4 research participants and has interviewed each of them one time. She also has a lead on her 4th participant so things are looking great for her to be able to graduate in May 2010! Very exciting for both of us.

Jen is also a business owner now. She is co-owner of Alliance for Growth: Counseling & Consulting, LLC which is where she does her private practice counseling. The economy is hitting the business hard, but things should work out.

We are both enjoying our crafts and have been doing a lot of quilting and a little knitting. Both of us have finished projects in the last couple of weeks and are trying to finish up some quilts before we start new ones. The unfinished projects were starting to take over the room so they really needed to be finished!

Way Overdue Update

So, it's been forever since Kara or I (Jen) have posted an update to the blog. I'll start with the vacation we took with my mom and Dad to Yellowstone in late June/early July. We had a great time. Even saw a bear! Below are some of my favorite pictures.

This is the first elk my mom remembers seeing. We took a family vacation to Yellowstone the summer I turned 8, but she didn't remember much from the vacation. It was cool to see her reaction to seeing an elk. I took lots of pictures of this elk just for her!

Above is a really cool burned tree. My parents do Old West shooting competitions and Dad was with me when we saw this tree. It reminded both of us of a man holding his arms up saying "Don't shoot!"

Buffalo just amaze me. This is one of my favorite shots and I took lots of pics of buffalo! We did see a buffalo taking a dirt bath, but the pictures didn't turn out.





Upper Falls at Yellowstone. As most of you know water amazes me and it is one of my favorite things to take photos of. I could have stayed at the waterfall for hours just staring and listening!



Jen, Kate, Gerry, and Kara. We had a great time on this vacation. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Here is Old Faithful. A trip to Yellowstone wouldn't be complete without it. If it went off more frequently I could have stayed there and watched it a few more times.

Somewhere I also have pictures of a buffalo herd and a bear. When I find them I will post them.

Thanks for being patient. We will try to do a better job of updating the blog!

New website

Check out our new website! Tell us what you think...

www.jenandkara.com

Our lives in 3 minutes and 30 seconds!

I can't believe that I (Kara) made this video! I am getting so tech savvy! It's amazing!

Jen's Aunts Visited

Aunt Louise, Kara, and Aunt Lori

Rocky Mountain National Park

The second weekend of June was filled with the visit of Jen's two aunts, Lori & Louise. They were a riot and it was great having them out here to visit. It was a quick visit, but we packed it as full as possible so that it would be memorable. The first day we went down to Rocky Mountain National Park and then the next day we went to Vedauwoo just East of Laramie.

Lori has been out here a few times, but never got to see the Bighorn Sheep in Rocky Mountain National Park. This time she finally got to see them, well their butts at least. She practically stole some guys binoculars so that she could see them way up the mountain. Oh well, at least she got to see them. It was kinda like a kid in a candy store!

Louise had never been out to visit us or the area. She was just amazed and couldn't stop taking pictures. She even took a picture of the back seat, okay probably not on purpose but it sure was funny. Louise kept all of us laughing the whole weekend. I think she enjoyed Vedauwoo the most, she got to look at the rocks and use her imagination to see the shapes they made. I can't even make a list she "saw" so many things in those rocks.

It was a great weekend and they are both invited back any time. Below are some pictures from the weekend. Oh, we even saw a porcupine and watched it climb a tree! Craziness.

Yellow Bellied Marmot playing peek-a-boo.

Jen's favorite place on earth.

Reflection in Bear Lake

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.