The Start of 2005

We began 2005.....

With a nice weekend trip to the coast to see friends.

Here I am with Dana in her house. Dana and I know eachother from college back. We've both moved out west got married and
Thank the Lord,
Still keep in touch so we can revert back to using our midwestern accents. Yes, ......we know we have an accent!



Here are Justin and I on the beach of the Pacific Ocean. It was a pretty windy day! But, still beautiful as ever. FYI, the coast is pretty chilly most of the year....and the rain, don't get me started with the rain!


In April, Justin and I got the opportunity to move from our one bedroom apartment in town to a little one bedroom cottage in a small rural community. It was an...intersting house. No level floors, only white primer on the walls, and spiders everywhere. However, we moved in and made it our own. It sure became a cute place after a while. Some might say we "put lipstick on a pig".

Being in this area has a few perks. One of those is that we live near a wonderful picturesc river. It is so beautiful and fun to raft in. But, more than that, it's great for throwing rocks! Here is Justin and Cody playing.

A Recap on 2004

After a 9 month engagement and our wedding on Sept 4th we decided to make our roadtrip from the midwest to our new home for our honeymoon. It was the perfect adventure for us.




We stopped in Custer State Park......the most beautiful place in South Dakota. It's nestled in the Black Hills among the huge rocks, beautiful trees and abundance of wildlife.
Justin and I spent a whole day hiking through the "Sunday Gultch" trail. It was georgeous. Even the rocks sparkled!





Next, we ventured onto Yellowstone. We had a 2 night stay at the Yellowstone lodge cabins. That's where I spent a summer working during college. I had to make it a stop on the trip...I just had to.

Here we are on a hike I took with friends back in the college days.


After a few more stops we made it home to our new one bedroom nest. Justin went back to school and work and I started looking for employment. It finally came in November:)






We spent Christmas of 2004 out West with Justin's family. It was hard to be away from family but we managed. This was our little Christmas that we had at our apt. Thanks for all the gifts everyone:)









We then met the rest of the Justin's family at the old huntingCabin (this was in the middle of nowhere). It's been the family hunting grounds for decades. They can sleep up to 20 people in this cabin and feed them all before going out hunting at 6am.
Here we are in front of the cabin with our dog, Cody, and our matching vests made by grandma Joy. It was a "make it or bake it" Christmas that year.

In the Beginning

In The Beginning..........Welcome to the story of our life together. To catch some of you up on the years I'm going to go back in time to the early 21st century...........

Back in those days there was a young independent man named Justin who had just graduated from college and was spending his summer guiding whitewater rafting trips on the wild rivers of the Pacific Northwest.

The Meeting
One day when he was guiding a whitewater trip with a youth ministry he'd been involved with, he met a new fellow guide.......

Justin was awe-struck, she sure was a hottie! She was a blond, midwestern bombshell named Frannie, chasing her dreams in the wilds of the West. (I do have to say that writing your own blog is quite uplifting for the ego:)

Unfortunately he had to wait until the next summer to get to know her. And that he did. The two became inseperable buddies. Doing everything together from hiking and hunting to sitting by the fire and reading together. Different books of course, but reading them together in the same room. The funny thing about their relationship was that much of their time spent together was spent bickering and fighting and being annoyed at each other. It was a very odd relationship. They liked to do things together but they were both very stubborn in thier ways. During this time, someone told them "You are both such loners....But you're Loners Together".

Of course we all know where this led.........................................

We were married on September 4, 2004. It was a beautiful day with friends and family. And, I've got to say it, I was having a great hair day! After the wedding we roadtripped back West for our honeymoon and started our life together. Justin has since been working as a security guard and going to school for his second degree in Pastoral Studies. He will graduate next June! I have been working at a local security software company where I stare at a computer screen in my little gray cubicle all day and run statistic reports (and I have a Recreation Management degree....go figure). It pays the bills while we're getting Justin through school:)

We hope you continue to visit our Blog and keep in touch with us as life continues to change!