Roger grew up in the bustling mega city of Lexington, KY, home of the UK Wildcats and many places that are just super cool because they are in Lexington and Lexington is the best place in the world (and the biggest city in Kentucky!). After finishing high school he decided to make the 82 mile move to college at the University of Louisville. He loves to play his guitars and listen to trendy British rock music like Coldplay. His favorite thing in the world is his wife (followed by large airplanes and big cities).

Courtney spent the first 18 years of her life in Paducah, KY, home of the National Quilt Museum and that weird tree carved to look like Chief Paduke. While in high school she played many sports and was practically a local celebrity (at least among her mom and dad and sometimes her little brother). Just like Roger she decided to move to Louisville and attend the University of Louisville in the fall of 2001. She really likes to read books, especially books like Blue Like Jazz and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Her favorite thing in the whole world is her husband and she also enjoys playing tetris on her gameboy and quoting Nacho Libre with her closest friends.

Roger and Courtney met in the winter of 2002 at an ice hockey game. Roger was wearing his super cool scarf with pockets to keep his hands warm and Courtney decided that she liked that. After many late night games of ping pong and cards they began dating on March 5, 2002. In the summer of 2004 Roger and Courtney traveled to Chiang Mai, Thailand to teach English and do other fun stuff. While they were there Roger took Courtney to the top of a big mountain (Doi Suthep) and asked her to be his wife. She said yes, of course! They then spent a whole year planning their fabulous wedding and on June 25, 2005 they were married in Paducah, KY. They spent three weeks hanging out in Thailand for their honeymoon and then returned to Louisville to try and find jobs to fill the time until they could move overseas.

After spending a long, long year as tellers at a bank and filling out a lot of forms they learned that they would be moving to The Islands in January 2007 to teach English and do other fun stuff. They sold most of their stuff and put the rest in boxes, 2 footlockers, 1 very large duffel bag and 4 suitcases and left Louisville behind.