Long Overdue

It has been so long since I last posted, but time got away from me.  The most exciting update we have… FIRE SEASON IS OVER.  Brian and his crew ended up working about 1,000 hours of overtime and I know Brian is glad to relax after six long months of very hard work.  We were so excited and relieved when he finally came home from a month long fire in Elk City, Idaho. This was by far the most challenging fire and I am still wondering how we both survived it.   It took a while to sink in that he would not be leaving for another fire until next March and we can now say we have spent longer than two weeks together for the first time since getting married-so great!  It has been so wonderful finally getting to spend all of our time together and I have been spoiled by Brian.  He does all of the grocery shopping, cooks dinner every night, and I often come home to the cleanest apartment ever (Kathy, you would be so proud of his cleaning skills)!     

I am still working on my Masters and just started two new classes today.  I have been doing observations at the school across the street from us and I love it there.  The population is primarily Hispanic so a lot of the classes are bilingual; this has been fabulous for practicing my Spanish.  All of the teachers are so friendly and the students love having a visitor. 

Other than these big events we have just been enjoying Santa Fe.  Here are some pictures of what we have been up to.  

A few fire season pictures:

Such a proud wife! 

Visiting Tent Rocks:

Our first time seeing a Tarantula 

Our adventure to Taos:

So Beautiful...

The Grand Canyon is SO Grand

It has been too long since I last updated the blog.  Brian’s last four days home were several weeks ago and they were spent so well.  He has been home since then, for a quick one day break.  He was excited that he only had to go six days without a shower, his bed, and a good meal rather than sixteen days.  The crew was quickly called back out to Colorado and he has spent about a week there and then headed straight to Wyoming.  He is so happy to finally be out of Arizona and north of New Mexico!  He has officially decided that Arizona is his least favorite state, for several reasons.  I can’t blame him though, not only were there temperatures over 100 degrees everyday, he was near fire!  Although, as soon as he came back from the fire roll in Arizona, we headed to visit Flagstaff and then the Grand Canyon (which are both in Arizona).  Poor guy.  He didn’t mind though, he was so excited to take me to see the incredible GC.  

On our way to Flagstaff we saw a sign for a Meteor Crater…  WE HAD TO SEE IT.  We pulled off the exit and drove the short five miles only to find out you had to go on a lengthy tour and it was not cheap.  We are wondering how someone gets to claim a meteor crater and charge people fifty bucks each to take a tour?  Either way, we decided to pass.  I was so bummed, but Brian reassured me that what we were about to see was going to be way better; he was right.  

The Geeps leading the way to the Crater!  

Neither of us had been to Flagstaff before and we really loved it.  We walked around downtown and then had a nice dinner at a restaurant that came highly recommended to us from one of the locals; it was fabulous!  

Some pictures of Flagstaff...

A church made out of lava rock.  It was so neat.

Filming a movie... we watched for a while and are wondering if we will ever see it in theaters!

The next day we ventured to the South rim of the Canyon.  I knew it would be beautiful, but it exceeded my expectations!  It is the most amazing thing I have seen yet.  It really does take your breath away.  I wanted to hike down into the Canyon, but since we were only spending the day there we decided to do the ultimate tourist visit and walk along the paved path of the South rim and admired God’s immaculate creation.  We got risky and hiked down to a few rock ledges but we made sure they were not ones that would break off while we were casually trying to take pictures (we heard a tour guide say that it happens).  Even though Brian has been there before he loved seeing it again.  I wish I could explain how truly amazing it is, but no matter what I say about it, it does not do it justice.  Seeing the Grand Canyon is something everyone should do!

A few pictures of our adventure.  

My first look at the GC.  AMAZING.

A ledge we walked out on to.

These ones make us laugh!

BEAUTY.

This is just a small glimpse of our amazing trip to the GC.  Even though our trip was short, it was well worth the drive.  We enjoyed our mini vacay and look forward to our next adventure!  

  

BEAUTIFUL New Mex

The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy for the two of us.  Brian spent sixteen days at the Little Bear Fire in Ruidoso, New Mexico.  Unlike the last fire he was at, this fire had over two-hundred homes/structures lost.  I know this was hard for him to see and our hearts felt for these families that lost everything.  I spent the weeks staying busy with work, hanging out with Natalie and Caitlin, and on my days off made a trip to Las Cruces to see my Nana and Abuelo.  It is such a beautiful city and I am blessed to have them so close.  (I will be back very soon Nana)! 

The BEAUTIFUL sunset from the balcony at Nana and Abuelo's.

 Although it is so hard to go 15-20 days without seeing each other, it helps us to really appreciate the few days we have together.  (At this rate it will feel like we are newlyweds for a VERY long time :]]) We have so many places we want to see and things we want to do while we are here in New Mexico; we try to fit something exciting in each time Brian is home.  This time our big adventure was a trip to Taos.  Taos is a ski town about two hours away.  We made a day of it, and fell in love with the area!  We walked around the historic plaza, got lunch at an amazing deli (food in New Mexico is on another level), and then headed to the ski valley.  The ski valley got us very excited for ski season, even though it is ONLY June!  

The highlight of the day was our hike to Williams Lake.        

   

The hike was only four miles round trip, but God's Creation is always incredible and the scenery was breathtaking.  As much as we enjoy the scenery, it is so nice to be able to enjoy each other's company with no distractions.  We have decided that hiking is one of the best dates and it is FREE!    

On our way up to the lake we came across a pile of snow!  When you find snow in June and in 90 degree weather you have to stop and enjoy it.   

Once we reached the lake we had the best views of all.  This is us at Williams Lake:

We had the most wonderful time in Taos and are already looking forward to Brian's next trip home! He has left for the Sawmill Fire in Magdalena, New Mexico and is excited because they get to take helicopter rides to the fire.  :] His job always brings something new and exciting.  We are so thankful for all of our family and friends that are so wonderful and continue to keep us in their prayers.  We miss everyone so much and are in the process of planning a trip home!   

A Few Days Home

An updated post...FINALLY.  Brian was gone for 15 days at the Gladiator fire in Arizona, so when he got home, the computer and phone were on the back burner.  Caitlin, Natalie, and I had to laugh because as soon as our husbands came home... we hardly talked and didn't see each other until they left again.  Brian had three days off before he was back to work.

The days off we had together were so wonderful and they came just at the right time!  We did some relaxing, cooking, and movie watching.  We ran all of our errands via our bikes and took several long rides (we have put bike rides on our long list of favorite things to do together).  Since Brian only had three days off and one of the days I had to work, I was feeling a little bummed.  Brian, being the amazing husband that he is, rode his bike (45 minutes) to the sports shop I work at for my lunch break.  We went to a local deli and were really impressed, the food was so delicious.  However, the lunch break date taught us a really important lesson about Santa Fe.  DO NOT LEAVE YOUR HOUSE WITHOUT SUNBLOCK.  The sun is no joke here. Poor guy, after his two hour round-trip (with no sunblock) his arms and knees were FRIED.  It made for a rough couple of days.    

Despite the sunburn, the next day we made a trip to Madrid, which is about twenty minutes away.  It was a ghost town that is now a cute, little street with really neat stores and a FABULOUS coffee shop.  We enjoyed walking around and made a nice long stop on the patio of Java Junction. 

Notice the sun burnt arms.  They don't look too bad in the picture.

You can see the shops in the background... they each had so much character.

Coffee cubes! No watered down coffee. Why doesn't every coffee shop do this? Brian was unsure if they would taste good on their own but he loved them! 

 Last but not least, we saw a woman that had wolf dogs but before I realized they were half dog… I thought they were ALL WOLF.  They looked just like wolves! They were not on a leash and Brian was casually petting them, I was doing the “elbow nudge” to try and get him to stop and thinking to myself “HELLO! WHY ARE YOU PETTING A WOLF?” After we got to talking to her  she mentioned they were wolf dogs (this is the first time we have ever seen a wolf dog).  She went to a special wolf trainer in order to properly train them.   They were very obedient and listened really well but we don’t think it was the good trainer, we think it is the extra large cups of ice cream she was feeding each of them. :]  

A fun adventure in Madrid… I can't wait for him to be home again!

  

(I am hoping all this fun we are sharing about will get some of our family and friends to visit :]] We miss everyone so much and cannot wait for visitors!) 

FIRE SEASON.

FIRE SEASON HAS BEGUN.  It has become very official that fire season is now here and in full swing.  Brian is currently at the Gladiator Fire in Arizona, which is only one of the many current forest fires.   It is safe to say I spend a lot of time refreshing the website that allows me to get updates on the fires.  It is up to 13,000 Acres and only 10% contained.  With the fire growing everyday, I know the crew will not be back for a while.  I have been doing my best to stay busy and keep distracted!  My new job has helped a lot and I really enjoy being around the few people I work with.  It is a local outdoor sports shop in the plaza downtown.  I have gotten to update a couple of the window displays and have two more larger ones I am currently brainstorming about.  Also, I have been very thankful to have  met Natalie (a fiance) and Caitlin (a Wife) of two of the guys on the crew.  On my day off, we took a trip to the RIO GRANDE, a river about 30 minutes away.  They brought their doggies and we walked along side of the river while they played in the water.  The scenery was beautiful and the weather was perfect (which I have learned, is not surprising in Santa Fe). 

Again, I took pictures of this adventure but my camera is not super fancy so it does not fully capture the BEAUTY of Santa Fe.  

Meet Treya-One of Natalie's sweet pups

This is Cypress, Caitlin's Best Friend 

Diving for rocks...so funny

This is Treya's brother Rusty & My favorite picture captured from the day!

The Rio Grande has been added to the list of places I will take Bri after the fire season.  I am so glad to be able to continue to explore Santa Fe!  

  

TWO DAYS OFF

As most of you know, even though Brian left in April, he was still working on school work in order to graduate this semester.  As of last week, it is official that he is a college graduate. I am so proud of him!  Last week was finals week for Eastern so he spent his two days off at our new favorite coffee shop, finishing his classes.  I spend the days telling him to hurry up and finish so we could hang out :).  We were so happy when Wednesday rolled around this week.  He was still on call but had the day off! We took full advantage of this and went on a day hike at the Atalaya Mountain Trail which is about ten minutes from our apartment.  It was about a seven mile hike round trip with the most amazing views along the way.  I was a bit winded towards the top (especially after we decided to take the steep route rather than the normal route) but we made it.  We enjoyed spending time together and the view was so rewarding! 

We took a few pictures from the top of Atalaya Mountain!  My camera just didn't do it justice.  

Since We Tied The Knot

Since the Wedding we have had so much excitement going on!  We are finally getting settled in our new home and are really learning to love Santa Fe.  Brian really loves his new job and is learning more than he imagined he would!  He works long days and comes home really tired but he enjoys the challenges that the job brings.  I have been lucky enough to meet about half the guys on the crew and some of their wives, fiances, and girlfriends.  It has been nice to meet some new friends and I have been able to spend some time exploring Santa Fe with them.  We are going to really appreciate each others company when the crew starts to leave for fires more often!  So far, they have only left once for a quick three day fire in Southern New Mexico.  


Since I was unsure of how long he would be gone, I was so thankful to have my first visitors!  My wonderful Nana and Abuelo came from Southern New Mexico to stay with me at the apartment.  We went and did some sightseeing, furniture shopping and walked through all of the neat art galleries on Canyon Road.  

 I was so glad to have the company and with the fire being so short they even got to visit with Brian!  I am already looking forward to the next time they come and visit.