We have been quite busy, but that is no excuse for not writing!

So Nate and I have been quite busy lately. Longs days at work have translated to falling asleep on the the couch in the first five minutes of any leisure time activity. Never-ending power point presentations have sucked up all of our time, and leave only the time after all of our Soldiers have gone home to finally start our days work....at 1800. Hopefully it should slow down a bit though. Tom and Frank have been putting up with our extended work days with great indifference. As long as they get their food on time after PT, all is well. We do apologize for not writing as often as we should, so I will catch you all up on our recent adventures.

Last weekend, Miller and I checked into a cute hotel in Garmish for a bit of skiing. The hotel was grand (but cheap, go figure) with a wardrobe in our room that could have held all of Narnia. We (well, I) enjoyed skiing some of the challenging terrain in the German Alps. I will forever thank my mother for turning me into quite a profficient downhill skiier, as the skill has been indespensible in later life. Although the skiing was great, with plenty of powder, the trails were crowded with Europeans who apparently think it is a waste of money to pay for a lesson, and would rather tumble aimlessly down a black. As funny as it is to watch, it can become rather trecherous to try to navigate around bodies that are quickly reaching terminal velocity. We enjoyed eating sausages and drinking beer on the slopes. Although I much prefer the trails back home, they do have thier slopes-side cuisine down to a science! After a mid morning binding readjustment, my new skis were great. Unlike my old sticks, they have a narrow waist which provides responsive turning with a greater length to increase speed. I think I would give Alli a run for her money on these bad boys. Nate did as well as a guy who is deathly afraid of heights would be expected to do on a 10,000 foot peak. He increased his carving skills on some of the gentler trails and was able to challenge himself on some of the steeper inclines. Although I would not call his experience, fun, I would say that he is slowly working in the right direction to make skiing fun. As everyone knows, it is never fun to ski when you haven't developed the muscle memory for it. Off the slopes, we did get some good shopping in. Nate also found a great restaurant that serves tex-mex food, Guiness, and Bulmer's. It was wicked!

This week, my beau and I spent our lunches getting in some great running, as work has been so busy, we have been working through PT. We also ordered new breaks for the VW. As I have to shift down to first to stop, I think it is time to drop some cash on these very necessary parts. On a very exciting note, we will be adding a new vehicle to our car quiver! Yesterday we ordered a new Volvo XC60 which will be rolling off the production line in Sweden in early April. Miller nearly died thinking about the money we were dropping on this car, but with all the repair costs I have been sinking into our silver bullet, it will be worth having a new car with a 5 year, 60,000 mile warrenty (which includes wear and tear, like breaks and windshield wipers). We will be keeping our VW, as we have to own at least on standard car. We wanted the Volvo in standard, but it is not worth it in an SUV. The gas milage is actually worse with a standard in modern cars, and despite being fun to drive, the benefits did not out weight the costs. So my beautiful blue beauty will have a steptronic transmission (same as in my mum's car). The XC60 will be dark metalic blue with black leather interior, extended moon roof (it is almost the length of the car!), heated front and rear seats, 3.2 liter engine, all wheel drive, and so much more! I wish we had it now, but it will be worth the wait. Also, it will be quite inexpensive to insure thanks to some great safety features. Okay, now I will stop talking about the car! Anyway that about catches you up!
PS.
If you want to check out our new car, build one here: http://www.volvocars.com/us/models/xc60/Pages/BuildYourxc60.aspx