Sunday, July 18, 2010

what we've been up to:

b: preparing his presentation for the ecology conference in august.
l: writing a literature review for my thesis.

b: riding his bike in the name of "training" for his 70 mile bike ride
l: grooming our garden, hoping we can eat more than lettuce before the summer turns to winter. {last year that was sept. 15.}

b: gearing up for a week in yellowstone, doing river research commissioned by the navy.
l: gearing up for a two-day whirlwind tour of our square state, stopping along the way to interview people who provide services to people who are homeless. this is for job #2, where i am a mentor to a mcnair scholar.

b: working on all four of our bikes--something always seems to be in disrepair these days. i guess they are just getting more use than normal.
l: refinishing some furniture {pictures to come when it is complete}.

both of us:
  • wishing we had more time away from the computer, where we could hike, bike, eat, read, & sleep. 
  • enjoying our delicious CSA fruits. these apricots straight from the tree are incredible.
  • looking forward to having our godson & his lovely family here in our house soon. what excellent motivation to work hard now so we can enjoy every moment they are here!

Monday, July 12, 2010

celebrating year V {in photos}

for our anniversary dinner we went to this funny, although delicious, restaurant in lander that i had been to once before, called "cowfish". their menu makes me laugh. no trying to hide the fact you are eating animals, i guess.
 
harvey boy was slightly less than amused to be in the car yet again. luckily he demonstrates his annoyance with dramatic sighs, dirty looks, & long naps... not destruction of nearby shoes & suitcases. he really is a great road-trip dog, other than his annoying hourly habit of biting/snapping at every white car that drives by. only the white ones. apparently our dog is prejudiced.
after dinner we hiked {if you can call it that, as we were both wearing flip flops} to the poppo agie falls. the river was still flooding, but had come down considerably from the week before when the national guard was called in to protect houses & businesses. town looked a little worse for the wear & we spotted a few trailer houses outside of town that were not in their original location. 
two things i can say about being married five years: 
1) we still love each other like crazy
2) we still can't take a decent self-portrait
this was our lovely anniversary sunset as we headed back down from the hike. pretty amazing.

after camping for free in the city park {best idea ever!}, we headed west. we stayed a night in dubois. i was surprised by how amazing the landscape is east of dubois--a mini version of the bandlands. i don't think it gets much attention though, because dubois has become a stopover on the way to grand teton or yellowstone. i didn't mind, as it meant we had more to explore on our own. we went into the fitzpatrick wilderness for a day hike & only saw one other group. 
nothing quite like wilderness to remind you how big the world around us really is. plus it is nice to be reminded that there are places on this globe that aren't inhabited. that comforts me.
there is also nothing else quite like the tetons. we forgot just how captivating they are until we came over the pass & caught our first glimpse of them in two years. still as breathtaking as ever.
we spent a day on the snake river, at high water. apparently i kayak with my eyes closed. that explains a lot.
brandon's new camera is waterproof so he was enjoying taking photos on the river. 
just right of the center of this photo you can see my little orange helmet bobbing over the waves. this is the last rapid before the take-out, always a bittersweet moment for me.
the absarokas. i love the way that name rolls of my tongue. the mountain range isn't too bad either.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

grateful

i am so grateful to have a girlfriend to go ride mountain bikes with. riding with brandon is awesome & pushes me, but riding with a friend is a whole different thing. having emily in town for the summer has been a blast... it is going to be hard to say good-bye come august.

i am also grateful that the clouds are moving in this afternoon. i have studying that just wasn't going to happen if it stayed sunny out all day. grey afternoons are just the thing for thesis prep!

we had an awesome 5 year anniversary trip, complete with heaps of photos. for now, i am going to exercise self-control & choose to do reading for my thesis before i upload the pictures to our blog. admittedly, it is far more rewarding & enjoyable to edit & comment on photos, but i can't handle the guilt that is oozing out of the stack of articles i need to read.

lastly, i am grateful for skilled doctors who took care of one of the best ladies in the world {becky, arguably the best MIL ever!}. surgery went well & hopefully her recovery is just as smooth.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

looking forward

i recall talking with friends about adopting children even when i was a child. it has always been something i planned to do & luckily brandon resonated with that desire. 
recently our reasons & hopes to adopt have grown deeper & greater. we talk about it frequently & it seems like a natural, & solidified, part of our plan for the life we share. i can't say exactly what our "future family" will look like, but i am certain that adoption is in the path we have ahead. 
i had a talk with a professor on campus today, who recently adopted her son. our conversation confirmed & re-ignited my desire to adopt a child. although it is many years off, i look forward to the day that our family grows from the outside in.