Jennifer Ryan:  

Graduated high school in 1995. Bummed around different jobs for about 1.5 years then enlisted in the U.S. Army as a 63B aka Light Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic. (That MOS has since changed a bit however). That is where I met my hubby Tass. He was an artilleryman sent to be our PAC clerk (paper pusher) he was thrilled!!! (ya, not really lol) We met in the Fall of '97 and we were married Fall of '99. Dec of '99 I was medically discharged from the Army. I worked for OfficeTeam for a few months before the Army moved us to Anchorage (Fort Richardson) Alaska! There we 1. bought our first house. 2. I started college 3. worked part-time for blockbuster (fun job) 4. Got pregnant with our first little boy! Right after that my hubby got selected for Recruiting Duty in Eugene, Oregon. That's where we spent 3 LOOONG years, but we also conceived our 2nd little boy! They were both born there. After recruiting was FINALLY over we asked to go back to Alaska. We got here Sept '05. 1 year and 1 month later my hubby got deployed with his unit to Iraq for 14 months! During that time I drove with my kids and my mom from Alaska to Sandy, Oregon and lived there for 11 months. Was an artist in the Sandy Mountain festival (I am a photographer). Went hiking and visiting areas in Oregon. Spent time at the beach and parks and other places. Then we drove to Cali to visit my MIL. My sis came with us, we saw Crater Lake (again, love that place), Big Tree's, Cali; Yosemite, Cali; San Fransisco, cali; and a few other places here and there. I drove back to Alaska mid Sept '07 and got our house on post and spent about 2 months getting the house ready for my hubby's LOOOOONG awaited return from the Sand Box. Since then (Nov. 27th) we have been catching up and just getting used to each other again. Spent a weekend up in Fairbanks (thanks Mikki) and visited Santa at the North Pole. Tass had 35 days of leave, which rocked! We got to spend a lot of time together...He's now back to work full time and we're getting a routine down again. We feel like a whole family again..i love it! 2008 Updated on July 26th 2008 in green I started classes again in January... FINALLY! I'm on the 10 yr bachelors program lol!!! hey i took like 5 yrs off, give me a break lol! Not to mention all the moves and having 2 monster babies. I'll get there. I got through the semester with an A in both Speech and Academic Writing about Literature and a C----- in College Algebra! woohoo! That C feels like an A+++ let me tell you! I struggled and struggled. I think she gave me sympathy points lol! so VA will not fund my geology degree. I can't get it done in time before my benefits expire. And we keep moving so trying to constantly transfer credits all over the place and trying to find schools nearby where we will live that HAS a geology degree... ya...it just ain't happenen!!! Now I am getting a BA in Web Design and Interactive Media at the Westwood College Online.....assuming I can get VA to agree. I think it will happen though. I start in Oct. The thought of not doing Geology is kinda breaking my heart, but i got to do whats good for the fam. I shouldn't have taken so much time off. oh well. If we were staying here in alaska for the next 6yrs i could get my PhD in Geology easy (well, maybe not EASY lol), but it's not gonna happen right now. I WANT to be a Volcano Seismologist... Some Day... I am hoping to go back when the kids are in Jr. High and get it then...we'll see. I am already online a bunch and doing a lot of graphic art kinda stuff anyway...so migh as well. ...Expand for more