Bye Bye House

Here are some final pics of the house before we said goodbye for good... we will miss our first house!

So much to say...

Summer is gone and Christmas will be here shortly, and of course I have been lazy about updating everyone about all the happenings in the Brunner household. First, we are very sad to report that we lost Jason's grandmother, Edna Brunner, in August. We will miss her dearly, but rejoice knowing she had a full and long life full of love and happiness.

Many people already are aware that this summer we moved from Manhattan to Kansas City because Jason is now working full time in Leavenworth, Kansas. I am currently still working for Kansas State University, I drive to Manhattan once a week, then work the rest of my week from home. So far things are working out well, however I am still keeping my eyes open for something in the KC area. At the moment, especially in this economic climate, I am happy I have a good job, with a boss who is willing to be flexible!

Thankfully, we were able to sell our house in Manhattan quickly... and although there were a few bumps in the road to closing, we still made money! It is a little sad to say goodbye to your first home, especially since we put a lot of sweat into that house, but we are currently enjoying the apartment life with no yard work or house projects. Even the dogs enjoy the apartment because they get to go on lots of walks! We are finally settling in and having fun learning a new area, playing soccer, and meeting new people.

I am also happy to report that after MONTHS AND MONTHS of training I successfully completed my first marathon on Sunday, October 18th. Jason and my parents came with me to San Francisco to be my cheerleaders! I am already signed up to run another marathon in May and even convinced Jason and some of our friends from Colorado to run too! I have lots of pictures, and will be sure to share them soon.

It has been a whirlwind couple of months, but things are starting to settle down and I hope to be better about blogging and keeping everyone informed about what is going on with us!

Lonely

Well, Jason started his job in Kansas City on Monday, and we are lucky enough to have great friends who he is staying with until we can move him into the apartment we rented on the 1st. So, it is just me and the dogs for the week! It is pretty lonely and quiet around the house without Jason, and I have trouble falling asleep... but I know I am safe with my two guard dogs by my side. Hopefully, we won't have to do this for long, but it could be a difficult transition to working from home, and I will need to be here to train another person in our office to help me with a few things. But, of course Jason will be home on Friday evening and we can catch up on his first week at work!

In other news...

Since Dani's last blog a lot has happened, and thus the reason for a lack of blogs. First, I passed prelims with flying colors. After passing, I was offered a position at the Army Research Institute Leadership Development Research Unit at Fort Leavenworth, KS. This means that we will be moving to Kansas City. I start my job on 22 June and am really excited. Here I will work on finishing my dissertation.

Dani looked for a job and was offered a position, but turned it down because she was told she can keep her job at K-State and work from home. She has to travel back to Manhattan once a week, but is excited to keep a job she likes. She's training for her marathon and is running double-digit milage already. 

We also finished renovating our house and are trying to sell it. Hopefully, this doesn't take too long so that we can just start our life in KC! 

Mexico

We just got back from a week long vacation in Mexico. Despite drug wars and swine flu we all decided to make the trip to paradise for a very special occasion. Brain and Jenny decided to have a destination wedding. 

They decided to have their ceremony right on the beach. It was really pretty and the weather was perfect for an outdoor ceremony. 

Here's a picture of the college group. Most of Brian's roommates from the soccer house made the voyage. 

Dani and her second husband, Matt Lay.

Terrance Daredevil Injuries

Here are the pictures of his minimal wounds. 

Look at his chin. 

Road rash on the belly. The purple bandage is for the IV, not a wound. 

SuPeR DoGGy!

For all those people who think small dogs are sissy, little, lap dogs Terrance went a long way to prove you wrong. Dani, I and the dogs were driving in the Jeep to a bbq. We always put the dogs in the back of the Jeep, but Terrance has figured out how to move into the back-seat so he can hang out of the window. He has done this for years with no problems. Well this time he decided to jump out of the window, on the highway, at 65mph. He ran across the highway before I was able to stop and get to him. When I got over to him he was shaking and bleeding, but he hadn't been hit and seemed to be moving fine. One of the great things about living in KS is how kind the people here are. No less than two people stopped on the highway to help us get the dog. One of these people was a vetmed student who did a rough check on him and said he looked fine but we needed to take him to the hospital to make sure he was okay internally. We took him to the hospital and they did a full exam and said nothing seemed to be wrong and were amazed that he was ready to play and be Terrance. Three different vets saw Terrance and all just had this look of awe that the dog survived jumping out of a car traveling at 65mph on a highway.