We've been married since June 2015.
Countries Tyler has been to: Canada, Mexico, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, France, England, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, Greece, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and of course the USA.
Countries Mary has been to: USA, and, well, nope, that's it.
Let's just say, when we got married, Mary was feeling a little travel-jealous. So, rather than starting in on kids right away, we decided to save up for a real adventure when Tyler's classes permitted it. (He's working on his master's in counseling right now.)
Because we both speak Spanish, we knew it had to be a Spanish-speaking country, and it had to be somewhere neither of us had been before. We found our volunteer program, IVHQ, online, and decided that we would spend 12 weeks out of the country, in order to really immerse ourselves in the culture. Our plans evolved some as we continued planning, and we ended up with a total of 8 weeks volunteering and 5 weeks adventuring between Ecuador and Peru so we can (hopefully) make it to Machu Picchu, which has been Mary's #1 must-see for several years. Isn't Tyler a wonderful husband for making her dreams come true so quickly? ;)
This trip has been a year and a half in the planning, but we hope it will only be the first of many adventures around the world.
***
If you want to know more about us individually, keep reading; otherwise thanks for visiting with us! (And you thought TMI was just a clever way of putting our initials together... ;) )
***
Mary grew up reading fairy tales from around the world and has always been fascinated by the common threads that seem to tie them all together. As the youngest of 8, she found herself with lots of time for reading, but never dreamed she would one day visit the places she had read about. She sees the world with a writer's eyes and can usually be found either outside in nature, or with her nose in a book.
Tyler is a born adventurer. He approaches life with the idea that if you can do it, then you should, and if you can't do it, all you need is the right motivation. No problem is too difficult or too big (or too small!) to be solved. He loves being outdoors, whether it's on foot, on a bike, or especially on skis. He also loves photography (which is unfortunate for Mary when she happens to be on the other side of the camera!) and has recently discovered that he's very good at designing a blog.
We met when Tyler showed up on Mary's doorstep for a party the day after he moved in down the street. He had come to Utah to be a ski bum, and Mary was a complete Southern Californian at heart, which is to say that she actively dislikes anything that can be classified as 'cold and wet'. It was obviously never going to work between us... until he started chasing her roommate, with Mary's help. Fortunately the roommate was smarter than either of us, and we eventually figured out what she knew all along: that we were better off as a team. We've been together ever since.
