Home in Minnesota

We arrived in Minnesota on July 1, after driving for two days in the car with the cats. It was a long trip and we were happy to finally arrive. The movers came with our stuff about a week later. Thankfully we didn't have any problems and the whole thing went relatively smoothly. We have been spending our time lately unpacking and getting settled in St. Cloud. It has been going ok so far, although we both have to admit that this has been a big move! We have made some friends already, mostly through our friend Adrienne who lives here. This social connection makes us feel less isolated here, which is nice. I have also been studying for the licensure exam in order to become a licensed psychologist. This isn't a requirement for my job, but will be good to have in the future if I want to ever do any private practice on the side. So I have been spending a good deal of time working on that. (it is kind of a beast!)
So far, married life has been going well- we are both happy to have each other through these other big life changes. What a summer!

Back in Pennsylvania for now...

After driving back to Minnesota and flying back to Pennsylvania, we are officially back in Huntingdon for now. Our cats, Jupiter and Callie, were happy to see us! We are going to be moving to Minnesota on June 30th. We had a great trip all over the West for our wedding and honeymoon. It was really nice to see everyone and we enjoyed the whole experience. We will be getting our photos from the photographers here in the next few weeks and we will post more wedding pictures then.
We'll update as the move approaches!

Black Hills, South Dakota

After spending a few days in Cody visiting with family and relaxing, we left Wyoming and started heading back toward the East. We are currently in Rapid City, South Dakota. On our way to Rapid City we stopped in Deadwood and played a few hands of blackjack. It was fun. Today we explored the Black Hills. First, we went to Mount Rushmore. It was interesting and worth seeing for the most part, although it is a bit over commercialized and over the top. We then went to Crazy Horse Monument. This monument is a bit more culturally sensitive and does a better job of attending to the history of the Native American population in the area. We enjoyed seeing the Native Americans selling their hand made crafts and jewelry. We then went on a drive through Custer State Park. We enjoyed this part of the day the most. There were less people and more opportunities to see unaltered mountains and native wildlife. We also encountered some non-native "wildlife" in the form of donkeys that also live in the park. They are used to humans feeding them, although they aren't supposed to, so they surrounded our car almost immediately. It was pretty funny!
Tomorrow we are headed out for our long drive back to Minnesota in preparation of flying back to Pennsylvania. The honeymoon is almost over but it has been fun to see all of the sites.

Jackson, Wyoming

After leaving Cooke City, we drove through Yellowstone National Park and arrived in Jackson, Wyoming. It was a great day in Yellowstone, with many animals out and not very many people. We saw a grizzly, wolves, a coyote, buffalo, and elk. Being from Wyoming, I love the mountains, especially when it is quiet because the tourists haven't arrived yet. In Jackson we stayed in a cute cabin, that we called the "honeymoon cabin." We took a tram ride up to the top of the Tetons at Teton Village ski resort. We also walked around town and took in the sites. It was a nice trip. After our time in Jackson we drove back through Yellowstone and arrived back in Cody for a few days. The highlights of the second Yellowstone day were a grizzly bear with her cubs and seeing Old Faithful erupt. We are now in Cody at a bed and breakfast. Today we went rock hunting with my dad. We found some neat fossils. So, overall it has been a nice honeymoon and lots of western site seeing. We will post pictures soon!

Cooke City Montana

We are currently on our mini honeymoon, starting in Cooke City Montana. Cooke City is near the northeast entrance to Yellowstone Park, and is the city with the highest elevation in Montana at 7200 feet. Given that, it is actually still very cold here and is SNOWING as we speak! This is actually pretty typical for a high mountain town, but for those of you from non-western locations, it is probably hard to imagine! We have a quaint room at a local lodge and will be heading to Yellowstone and Jackson Wyoming tomorrow. Given our remote location we also don't have any cell phone service either, although there is some internet. We saw a grizzly on our way to Cooke City too!
Right now we are off to explore the local stores here in Cooke City.

We Are Married!

The day finally arrived! We had our wedding yesterday and it was a really nice day. We had expected rain and were surprised when we had fairly decent weather. Which meant we were able to get a few photos outside of the mountains. The ceremony was at the Red Lodge Golf Course.
The morning started with the women getting our hair done and the men decorating the reception site. We then all met up at the ceremony site (which we were able to decorate the day before) and ate a bite of lunch before we all got dressed and ready. It was kind of a whirlwind of photos and getting ready from that point on until the ceremony.
The ceremony was a very special, meaningful celebration for us. We feel like it went well and was exactly how we envisioned it. Since we had around 40 people at the wedding, it was small, relaxed, and intimate.
We then took a few more pictures and headed to the reception at Bridge Creek Restaurant. The reception was a fun time with food, cake, drinks, and family/friends. The men did a great job decorating! The food was really good too.
Overall, we are very happy with how everything turned out! Thank you for all of those who attended.

48 hours to go!

Chris and I made it to Red Lodge after spending some time in Cody first. We have been doing a lot of last minute details. Although it is a bit hectic, we are looking forward to the wedding. For those of you attending the wedding, we are staying at the Pollard in downtown Red Lodge.
The ceremony is at 3pm at the Red Lodge Golf Course. The reception will follow at Bridge Creek Wine and Kitchen.
This has been a great year and we are excited the time has finally come!