Finally!

If you are wondering why I haven't been posting it is because school has been all consuming for the last few weeks. However, last week I passed my thesis defense and today I completed the first part of my last 3 hour credit class (I have assignments to turn in online over the next two weeks). It's pretty exciting to think that I'll be done with school very soon and will be able to focus on our house, landscaping, reading, and playing disc golf! Eric and I have also discovered that we are evenly matched in tennis and we tend to head to the court at least 3 times a week. I'd also like to get in a few new fourteeners and some other front range hikes. Unfortunately that will have to wait until August when Eric and I get back from our cross-country road trip.

Here are some pictures of Eric's goddaughter, Cecily, and of our rapidly growing sunflower garden. I will be sure to post more pictures, especially of our trip.

Blue Subaru

Well, for a few months, Eric and I had been talking about how having two cars was more of a luxury than a necessity. We both bike to work or we carpool, and we live close to everything we need, so having one car would work for us. We thought about selling the Xterra and keeping the Impala, but with our lifestyle and the dogs it didn't make sense. We COULD have put the dogs in the spacious trunk of the Impala when hiking, but that didn't seem ethical :-) We thought about keeping only the Xterra, but that didn't make sense for long trips because of gas mileage. We researched, and researched some more, and crunched numbers, and every day went back and forth about what to do. Finally we decided to trade both our cars in and get a Subaru wagon since they have all wheel drive, good ground clearance, spacious room for puppies, good gas mileage, and they look cool. We test drove a few models and decided on the Outback.

So here is our new car! It is a 2006 Outback with 20,000 miles.



I haven't put the rack I bought for the Impala on it yet, but there is a nice basket that came with the car. That will be for snowshoes and packs in the winter. So now we can all still go hiking, camping, biking, and snowshoeing WITH our lovely dogs. I think there might be a 3 dog limit though, since it is a little cramped with 2. Eric and I call it "high security doggie jail" as it will be impossible for the mongrels to squeeze through the divider or get their heads stuck trying to sniff backseat passengers or gain access to food in packs. I don't Think Cache and Audrey were too happy with it!
Thanks to everyone for sticking with us through the whole process of choosing a new car, especially Eric's parents and the Chastains.