Family visit and more....

Sorry for the lapse in time since our last post. It's been from a combination of busyness and procrastination. :) So a few weeks ago now my parents came to visit. We had a blast showing them around the Sandpoint area. We hiked to some waterfalls, ate at a lot of great restaurants, and toured Coeur d' Alene. That was the most social interaction we've had since moving here...haha. The only thing that could've made their trip better was having Kara's parents here too!

Our jobs continue to be going well. I'm starting to get a bit more comfortable with my job. My sales territory has now expanded to the entire U.S. and my knowledge of the industry is expanding. I'm finding the sales cycle to be a lot longer in the software arena vs. what I'm used to in the transportation industry ;). Patience is not a virtue I possess... I do have a lot of projects on the table right now, but they seem to be taking forever to come to a close. Last week Kara and I made Chili and I brought some for everyone at my work. It has been great to start building deeper relationships there. I think that's how this whole "travel experience" will work, once we start developing friendship we'll be moving on to our next location. That bums me out in a way, but I know that is we signed up for.


Kara is still enjoying work. She cares so much about her patients, and I know she is a bright light in their world. She is also growing closer with her co-workers. She still comes home with stories of how much food everyone brings each day, now including her, and it's sort of the running joke between us. We're not sure where we will be going next, but are open to wherever.

The craziest thing happened this week. We got 12" of SNOW!!!! It was super crazy. Lets just say that was not the best day. We had to get towed up the mountain and had to dig out our van from being parked in the resort parking lot. The whole time this was happening on Schweitzer mountain, the city of Sandpoint wasn't seeing a single snow flake! Needless to say we now have new tires, chains, a tow rope, sand bags in the back of the van, and a snow shovel. Thank you Wal-Mart! Since then, the snow has mostly melted and we are seeing mostly rain and clouds.

We didn't really do much this weekend for Halloween. Kara had to dress up for work on Friday so I got out of having to dress up with her over the weekend. :) We are starting to meet more people through church, work, and other things, but it's hard to actually form friendships when you only see people an hour or so during the week, and when we don't live in an area where we can host people easily. It's crazy that over half of our time is already up here and that we only have 6 weeks left! So far we'd rate our time here as a 7/10 and we're excited to see what the next 6 weeks have in store.

Sunrise to Sunset

Just wanted to add a some pics from a a few of the sunrises/sunsets we have been lucky enough to see this since we've started our adventure.

This song, along with our beautiful views, remind us that we need to continually refocus our lives not own our own plan, but for the plan that God has set for us.

Sunset on our way  to Yellowstone

Driving into Boise, ignore the bug guts

First morning sunrise....gorgeous.

Sunset while kayaking

Sunset while Kayaking

Tuesday Sunrise this week

Tuesday sunrise, overlooking Sandpoint

Wednesday's Sunrise

Week Two in Sandpoint

Bridge/Hwy coming into Sandpoint

So we have now been in Sandpoint for two weeks, this week really flew by!

Work for me (Kara) has been really good. I don't feel completely comfortable with everything yet, but it's coming along well. The people I work with are great, and very helpful with newbies! Everyone seems to really love their jobs, and a few spend time there on days off sometimes just to hang out. I think that's a good sign a decent place to work. One crazy thing is that every day, someone brings in something for everyone to eat. Doughnuts (on four different days already), veggies, fruit, chips & dip, chili, candy, chocolate cake, popcorn, coffee, etc. (That's only for the first 2 weeks!). I am really going to need to watch how many 'snacks' I'm munching on between patients! :) It's been interesting to me to get to know the patients I work with since the work is completely different than in ND. Most of the older people I got to work with in ND and MN grew up farming or ranching, and here most people grew up being loggers. I even had one patient here whose grandma came here from Europe and was forced to work at a tuna cannery in California when she was 8. Crazy! So now it's  Andy's turn....

Round Lake/Anniversary

Hello fellow blog followers! So the interview I had  last week went well. I am on the substitute teaching list at a charter school for middle and high school students. I  haven't gotten called yet, but was told that I could be as busy as 3-5 days/week. I guess I'll just have to wait and see. I have had a few chances to network with business professionals around the area through chamber events and local business groups. I have a busy week ahead following up on employment leads such as:  short term marketing positions at 2 local coffee roasteries, and a possible sales position at a software company. Those are the job leads that would be based out of Sandpoint so far. In addition to that, I am also working on sales opportunities with a couple logistics companies as well as an audio and web meeting solutions co. You know the old saying, "if you throw enough stuff on the wall, something's gotta stick"! If anyone has any other ideas I am all ears. :) When I'm not job hunting I spend my time biking up mountains, and finding new trails to run. Back to Kare...

Round Lake State Park

Sour Patch Kid? :)

Round Lake

This past week we went hiking at Round Lake on our anniversary, which was really fun. They have pretty leveled trails in the mountains/trees surrounding a smaller lake. Yesterday we went hiking up Schweitzer, the mountain we are living on, called Mickinnick Trail. It was a pretty steep trail at times, but had amazing views! I was reminded just how out of shape I am, as today I am walking around like I need both hips replaced. :) We have started going to a church in town that we really like. Here's a link to their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Sandpoint-ID/Grace-Sandpoint/232884868320?ref=ts . We have met a few people there and are hoping to meet more as we go. We are really missing friends and family this week, since we don't have the ability to be in contact as often and aren't able just to go hang out with people we know. We are hoping to have more opportunities to hang out with new friends after work and on weekends as soon as we can. 

Trees turning on Mickinnick Trail

 We hope that you are all finding time to enjoy the beginning of fall---heard it was gorgeous in ND today! Thanks for the care packages and cards this week, we really appreciate it. I am working on getting some return mail out soon! :) If anyone gets an itch to send a letter, our address is PO Box 2484, Sandpoint ID 83864. Have a great week!!

View of Sandpoint from the top of the trail

We Made It!!!!!

So after a few days journey, we are finally here!!!

I'll quick recap the rest of our trek and make a quick post. So we went to Boise from Yellowstone and stayed w/ my aunt and uncle Jane and Marv. We were able to catch up w/ her daughters (Anna and Alecia) and their families as well as my Aunt Kathy, and her daughter Kristy's family. We had a great time catching up with them and getting shown around. They were amazing hosts we hope to see them again while we are in Idaho. On Friday, we traveled to Couer d'Alene, in northern Idaho. Instead of driving through the mountain ranges the whole way through Idaho, we were advised to drive through Oregon and Washington instead. It's a longer distance but takes the same amount of time because of less mountains. It actually went pretty quickly and we saw some gorgeous scenery along the way. We stayed with my cousin Brooke and her family once we got there. We got to know CdA a lot better and had a lot of fun with her and her family, and were able to see my cousin Taylor & his girlfriend as well. It's a great city with a lot to do!

Today we drove up to Sandpoint, which is where I will be working. It's absolutely gorgeous. The town is in a valley surrounded by mountains, and in the middle, is the biggest lake in Idaho. We met up with the guy whose condo we will be living in and he said, "Welcome to Sandpoint. This is the town, and you will be living way up there," while he pointed to the top of a nearby mountain. We followed him up, thinking it would be just a little way up the mountain, but didn't stop driving until we got to the top. We are right by the Schweitzer ski resort, and could easily walk to the lift from our place. Crazy. It's only 9 or so miles, but it takes about a half hour to get here. I'll add pics tomorrow, but it's just getting to late at the moment. After we settled in a bit, we drove into town, ate supper, found where I will be working, and got groceries. We are in pacific time so it was pitch black by the time we got back up to the mountain, which meant a beautiful sky full of stars.....and the smell of pine needles of course. We hope to be able to explore the town a lot more this week.

I start work tomorrow and am excited but nervous too, as I think it is with most first days. I don't think it has hit me yet that I'm not home, since we've been so busy, but have a feeling it will hit me this week. I will definitely be missing family and friends while we are gone. But I am so glad that Andy is along with me. It makes me feel like there really is no reason to be lonely because it is going to be so great doing this together. Anyway, I better get going, but hopefully will have time to fill in some of the gaps tomorrow or Tuesday including lots of pictures from our week long trip to Sandpoint!