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!)