Visitors to El Paso

You'll have to forgive me for forgetting to mention some of our friends who have made the long trek to visit us here in Far West Texas. While at Hueco Tanks recently, Jeff was remembering what a great time he had there with Matt and his boys who drove over from Arizona this summer. It's a great place for exploring and rock climbing, but since it was so hot they were probably more than happy to escape back to the house and spend the entire vacation in the pool! I heard all about the fun they had, but I was in MN at the time & I'm sure Jeff and Matt - friends since grade school and Matt's boys had more fun without me to remind them to put on sunscreen and not swim after eating etc etc. Sorry I missed their visit...hopefully there will be a next time!

We also had some other friends visit this fall - Jennifer and Rick, who both happened to be near (if you consider is an all day train ride or a 6 hour drive considered near!) to El Paso for work conferences and stopped by for a few days. We also took them to Hueco Tanks (although on a different path - there are so many places to explore ) and found a secret cave with ancient pictographs, though we were also were so hot we wished we had stayed in the pool drinking pina coladas! You'd think there's nothing else to do in El Paso, but there is plenty. It's just only 20 miles away, so easy to fit into a short weekend visit, get some exercise, get out into the desert and see some scenery and local history. Something for everybody - including you!

My dad escaped from the Great White North to the Sun City for the month of January. We had some rain, some light snow but it was nicer here than the Januaries I remember in MN. We haven't been able to spend much time together since I moved to Portland, so it was very nice just to hang out together. We went to Carlsbad, and Hueco Tanks, Old Mesilla and finally I had someone to go to some hockey games with me! He brought me several treats from MN (lake fish cooked the way i like it by my daddy...MN sweet corn...homemade strawberry jam...yummm...they are lucky i shared!) and Jeff had a lot of fun cooking up some great dinners since they have more similar tastes. Jeff and Dad also kept busy with alot of house projects - they refinished the laundry room and installed a counter, worked on a couple dressers, and did alot of work in the hallway, of all places - new doorbell, programmable thermostat, new light fixtures, fixed the popcorn ceiling, took down the floor-to-ceiling beveled mirrors. Since it was his vacation, I was happy to see dad relax a bit too with some books, games and lots of western movies.

We love to have visitors, so let me know when you want to use our guest room and I promise to blog about our fun times in a more timely manner!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We hope your holidays were happy and that you had a prosperous 2009! As always, we did alot of traveling. In March we celebrated Kadi’s 1st birthday in OR/WA & saw many other family and friends. Nancy was home from Germany for a short visit, and I visited the Durands in Tacoma and met baby Cecilia. We took a motorcycle trip over to Alpine, Arizona in the spring. Over 4th of July I met my first nephew, Finnegan, born to Arana & Bryan & Grace in March & enjoyed spending quality time with lots of family and friends in MN/SD/WI. It’s been several years since our last camping trip but we dug out our gear & enjoyed camping with friends this summer in the mountains near Ruidoso, NM. Jeff became a dealer of a great system, which we have invested in ourselves and enjoy! Check it out at MyProAqua Jeff converted his Concours motorcycle into a “naked” bike and rode over to LA to visit Tim who borrowed a motorcycle. They had such a great time they may make the ride an annual Father’s Day event. In August Tim went to in Djibouti, Africa for 6 months drilling wells with the Navy and should be home around February.

We traded in Jeff’s beloved Jeep with the Cash for Clunkers program and Jeff enjoyed negotiating a great deal on our first new car. We broke it in with an insurance claim after waking up to missing wheels. (honestly though - El Paso has been the 2nd safest city in the US for about 5 years now!) Within weeks El Paso had a terrible hailstorm & we put in a claim for a new roof, but decided we might get dropped if we also claimed the hail damage to the HHR, thankfully it's hardly noticable.

In September I made a too short trip to MN/SD in honor of Grace & Finn’s baptism and Catie’s 5th birthday. Again, lots of family was around, including Natasha & Cecilia who came in from WA, and it was fun to all hang out together.

In October Gene & Theresia drove down in their “little” motor home and brought Kadi with them. They spent a couple days exploring Big Bend, TX while Jeff & I enjoyed getting to know Kadi better. Kadi (& Keila & Pete) will welcome a new baby girl in February so we are planning a trip to the PNW to visit them in 2010. I’m still plugging away at my MBA at UTEP. Between terms I’m catching up on all sorts of projects. Our 2009 New Years resolution to Not Shop at Walmart was successful & we are thinking of extending it through 2010. Though I really think we should add an additional resolution for 2010.

If you are a secret reader of our blog, much of this news is repetitive. If not, keep reading to see pictures of kiddos and watch a very short video of our Christmas Eve Egg Nog Dog!

Happy New Year!

Keep in touch!

Amber and Jeff

New Years Resolution

As of tomorrow, we have officially kept our 2009 New Years Resolution to Not Shop at WALMART! Yeah, us, but it wasn't really that difficult, there are plenty of other options, and the prices aren't that great. We did visit once when Gene and Theresia were here and needed prescriptions filled. We pushed Kadi around in the cart in circles to make her giggle and received a static electricity shock every couple steps. I think repeated physical pain is a sign that we shouldn't even be Inside a Walmart! So, we are contemplating extended it through 2010. I think we should add an new resolution for 2010 though. What do you think it should be?

Egg Nog Dog

Click on the title so see a video of how we spent Christmas Eve - taking care of Foster after he got into an unattended glass of egg nog. I spent most of the night with him on my lap or carrying him around. He normally doesn't enjoy that, but he was all loose and relaxed. If I put him down he'd just follow me around but he could hardly walk without his feet slipping out from under him, or walking into walls. Hilarious, but also disturbing. We don't know how much he had, so we kept a close eye on him. Surprisingly he didn't seem to have a hangover at all the next day.

Snow Day!

We had our first snow storm of the season. We got maybe 4 inches at my house. I've heard El Paso has gotten more snow this season than South Dakota! It took me an hour to drive home, but later I got to tromp around in the fresh snow in my sorel boots. I love it!

Baptism & Bday

I flew up to MN & Natasha & Cecilia flew in from Seattle. We drove down to SD to see Finn and Grace at their baptism, plus we celebrated Catie's 5th birthday. It was great to spend time together with family. It was a fun but still a relaxing long weekend.

Kadi's first visit to El Paso

Here's a picture of Kadi and Jeff on their way to the park. Gene and Theresia drove their van all the way down from Washington for a visit and brought Kadi with them. They stayed with us for a couple days before heading down to Big Bend, Texas. Jeff and I had Kadi for a few days and enjoyed getting to know her. She knows lots of words and is even starting to put sentences together. She is independent and knows what she wants! We played by the pool, went to the park, went to a kids zoo, went shopping, watched some movies, and just hung out at home.