It was the winter of 2018. Jamie was home visiting family after a long fire season as a hot shot in Northern California. I was home celebrating one of my best friends birthdays (special thanks to Mara for being born). We both found ourselves in the small mountain pub in Ohiopyle, PA that night. After an hour of staring at one another from across the pub, Jamie took a seat next to me and introduced himself. We connected over the notion that we often felt torn between two places/lives, and while so much of our roots were laid here, we each held a desire to explore the rest of the country/world.

One month later, I drove back home to spend my spring break with Jamie in Pennsylvania. Our first unofficial date was a walk in the woods along our favorite river. Later, we would tell each other that we knew by the end of that walk that we'd found our person. That week was a series of walks in the woods, camping in the cold, and little dates alone and with friends. The night before I drove back to Tennessee, we celebrated St. Patty's day at the pub where we met, and both of us left that night with the knowing that we'd already fallen deeply in love.

A week later, Jamie drove down to Tennessee to spend the last 4 weeks he had on the East Coast with me. Another fire season was quickly approaching, and we both wanted to log as much time as possible with one another before going long-distance for 6 months. Jamie had already fallen in love with Daisy at this point (we all know it doesn't take long with her), but something about this picture tells me this is where he learned just how dog-centric his life would come to be! ;P (pictured is my favorite foster dog - Jones).

A few months later during summer break from school, I drove from Tennessee to California to see what I could of Jamie in between fire assignments (aka "rolls"). We didn't expect much time together. As a hot shot, it's fairly unheard of to have much time at your home base, so I drove out with the hope that maybe I'd at least have a few days with him. In fact, what was supposed to be a week long road trip turned into a 32 hour marathon to get to California because it was thought that Jamie would be in NorCal for the next 3 days, and neither wanted to risk Jamie leaving right before I arrived. I remember pleading with a higher power during those last 12 hours of the drive to give us at least one night together. Those 4 weeks I spent camping at a lake near Jamie's base, he was only gone for 5 nights total. It felt like the Universe lending a hand to two people that desperately wanted more time together, and would drive 2000 miles for the chance of even one night.

Four weeks of sleeping in the bed of Jamie's truck under the stars, bathing in the lake in the woods behind his base, and sneaking Daisy onto the ferris wheel at the local Susanville fair. Our time together in NorCal was pure bliss. It's hard to believe it was real, even to this day.

A photo of Shasta Lake because this was one of the most beautiful places I'd ever been. Jamie was on a roll and I drove here with Daisy to spend a few days.

Four months later, our first fire season together was finally over! To nobody's surprise, we absolutely crushed long-distance. Me being in vet school combined with the demanding nature of Jamie's job, it was easy to shift our focus on working towards our goals, even if we were doing it a whole country apart. Jamie split his off season between Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and traveling. And kayaking of course.

Our first international trip together - Jamaica.

Jamie surprised me with the Spring Break trip of a lifetime - Three days/nights on the Black Canyon of the Colorado River.

The first of many river trips to come :)

After two fire seasons with the Lassen Hot Shots, Jamie decided to start looking at other crews in areas that we would want to live. I was heading into my last year of veterinary school, my clinical year, so I would be traveling all over the country every few weeks to a different hospital. We'd heard wonderful things about Bend and thought we'd give Central Oregon a try. Jamie landed a position in Sisters, OR and I planned my first two clinical rotations in Bend, OR so we'd be a short drive away from one another. I thought we chose the area for the gorgeous mountain views, the access to the outdoors and the culture, but looking back, I think Jamie may have chosen this town because of the skate pool ;P

It took little to no time for us to fall head over heals with Central Oregon. We were hooked, and it felt good to know where we wanted to lay down roots. Over the next year, as Jamie worked another fire season and I worked on finishing vet school and passing my boards, we both worked on finding jobs/housing in Central OR with the goal to move there full time immediately after my graduation.

&& more importantly, Daisy fell in love with Oregon too!

After Jamie's fire season was over, we headed to Costa Rica during my vacation block of clinical year, right as COVID was first hitting China. Looking back, Costa Rica would not have been the worst spot to get stuck. This photo was taken after surviving alligator infested swamp land and finally getting a hitch back to our abandoned raft (and Phil) - a hilarious core memory.

One of our first breakfasts in our Oregon rental house. During the height of travel restrictions, Jamie officially moved to Oregon and I followed him a few days later.

Since COVID cancelled my graduation ceremony, Jamie and Daisy threw me their own version out of the bed of Jamie's truck. It was more perfect than anything I'd dreamed of, and the speeches were much more interesting :)

The best diploma I've ever received LOL

In the Spring of 2020, Jamie started his dream job as a rapeller with the Central Oregon Rappellers.

&& in June, I started my first job as a veterinarian - a day I've been waiting for since I first learned there was such a thing at 5 years old.

Since then, we've been enjoying the life we've worked so hard to build in our little slice of heaven.

In December 2021, we closed on our first home a few days before we left to paddle down the Maranon River in Peru!

Knowing we were coming back to OUR home after Peru was an epic feeling.

After work, Jamie and Daisy surprised me with a picnic before anything had been moved in.

And then... one year later... as we celebrated a cozy, quiet Christmas morning just us and the dogs in our new home, he surprised me again. Lost in the excitement that morning, we forgot to take a photograph. This photo is from a few weekends later when we drove to Mckenzie Bridge, OR to secure the beautiful venue we are so excited to share with you!

Looking back at all we've done and shared over the last 5 years is so special. We're pretty stoked we get to keep doing this together forever. And for now, we've got the best two little fur babies anyone could ever hope for.