Some explainin' to do

Yes. 

Big news.

Bigger-than-a-house news.

But I haven't been keeping quiet to be mean.

Priorities kinda shift when babies enter the picture.

Suddenly, the blogging endeavor that you once kept up quite easily becomes merely a thought in the back of your head at 2 am when you're trying to roll over from one side of your body to the other while your belly sloshes and kicks.

But what a ride it was.  The most terrifying, exciting, nerve-racking experience of my life.  But in a good way! 

So for a bit of backstory:

When we made an offer on our house I was working a ton of hours at work.  It was the end of November.  End of Year.  End of Month.  Physical Inventory.  I think I worked about 50-60 hours that week, just cleaning up Open Orders and Inventory and customer's accounts and getting things in order.  (Clue #1: Sleep Deprived)  When I got home at night I would just collapse on the couch with Blake and fall asleep to the TV (Clue #2: Lack of Energy).  Work bought us dinner for like a week straight since they were keeping us all from our families so I felt like crap (Clue #3: Tummy Ache).  Practically every night I'd mention to Blake that I felt really wierd, not sick, but just... wierd.  A little queasy, a little grumpy (Hm. Morning Sickness anyone? Clue #4).  When I went to bed and if I laid on my stomach I felt like I was laying on a ping pong ball.  (Clue #5: There's a baby in there!!)  Of course, having a fever and the shakes & chills didn't help either.  I don't think it had to do with pregnancy but maybe all my hours working?  Who knew!  On top of that the heater on my car blew out and it was really cold that week too.  Didn't climb above freezing.

So yeah.  Lots going on and lots on my mind.  I attributed everything to long hours at work and dumb luck with the car.  (I mean really; why can't the heater blow out when it's 80 degrees??)

It wasn't until I looked at my pocket calendar (because I had been keeping track of my "monthlies" since we weren't trying but weren't preventing either, if you know what I mean) and realized after giving it a half-hour's thought that I missed a period.  Did I really miss it or am I just not remembering?  So I mentioned it to him that night.  Simple conversation.  "Uh Honey?  I think I missed a period."  "Oh really?"  "I'll probably get a pregnancy test while I'm out tomorrow."  "Ok then."  The next day was a Saturday, and while I was Christmas shopping at Target I picked up a preg test.  Freaked out about it then, and again on Saturday night.  I woke up early on Sunday morning to take Pearl out for her morning pee.  Saturday night before bed I opened the test and read the instructions.  Test in the morning when your pee's the most concentrated.  Pee in a cup or put the stick under your butt and pee on it.  I opted for the former because my hands were shaking so bad that I couldn't imagine getting a good result trying to aim for a stick!!  So I rummaged thru the kitchen cabinets for a disposable cup because there was no way I was going to pee in a glass or mug!  Managed to get enough in my cup and stuck the stick in for the required 20 seconds.  Then give it 2-3 minutes to process.  Good thing I had a dog crossing her legs to take my mind off it all.  Outside we went into the cold to clear my mind.  When I came back in, my hands shook even more and my heart hammered in my chest when I saw the result.  Blake was still sleeping so I had a couple hours to digest our news and think about it and pray about it.  My news to him when he got up pretty much went the same as a couple nights ago.  "So... I took that test..."  "Yeah?" He answered the same time he saw the test on the bathroom counter.  "Uh... that looks... uh... Hey!  Okay then!"  Hugs and kisses and you're-going-to-be-a-daddy/mommy congratulative statements followed.  Our house inspection was that morning so we piled into the Jeep and headed over to the house.  By then morning sickness settled in so I sat on a cold folding chair in the kitchen, put my head in my hands and willed the queasiness away.

Announcement in Pictures

Demolition

We began our demolition around early March. A very good friend of Blake's parents, more like a brother, actually, drove out from Omaha to help/take on/do the work of giving us the house we dreamed of and wanted.

Free of charge!

And no, I don't think he's available for other jobs.

Ike (and Tyler), we love you. Thanks for helping us start off our lives with a great kitchen.

Q: What happens when Life grabs you by your wrist?

A: You try your best to stay on your feet and not perform a stellar faceplant!!

When we got back from New Mexico, we were crazy enough to seriously consider buying a house. Were we nuts?! Don't get me wrong; we'd been saving like crazy for a down payment for a while and that was the plan all along but we didn't know if we were ready for the big jump. We had a real estate agent/office practically built in to the family and there was not doubt we'd eventually use their services. Our wishlist was that we wanted a 2-car garage, a big yard for Pearl, a larger kitchen (as we like to cook & entertain), at least 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and to be in the Cherry Creek School District; one of the best districts in the Denver area, if not the state. We embarked on a few Saturdays' worth of house hunting and narrowed down our search to a few listings in Centennial & Aurora. The place we eventually agreed on, which we'll call Kalispell, was updated and remodeled: the kitchen, bathrooms, floors... everything inside had a fresh coat of paint too. Blake didn't like it so much, mainly because it had a pretty dinky kitchen. I saw the potential but he couldn't see it yet.

"The Elephant" from the living room...

And from the kitchen. Just an empty wall.

It took a showing of another house with a similar layout for him to finally get what I was talking about; that wall's gotta go! It served a purpose as an eat-in kitchen, but we needed some serious storage space!

This was pretty much the kitchen, from the left side of the picture to the right!

So we put an offer on Kalispell with the full confidence that we could tear down that wall and put in more cabinets and countertops. The remodel was completed recently so finding matching everything wouldn't be hard. The only counteroffer the sellers gave us was a closing date change! Easy stuff! So naturally we accepted.

The inspection went well with no major problems. The inspector was worried about the roof and the furnace mostly. We asked the sellers if they'd go halvsies on one or the other. They responded by replacing the furnace free of charge, so we thought we'd better not push it.

We closed on December 30 in the middle of a huge snowstorm! We have a house!!

(Can you find the puppeh?)

Now THAT'S a Cave!

The Crazy Visitor Center Lady also said the last elevator down to the cave at Carlsbad left at 3:30 so we busted butt to get to Carlsbad in time. We put Roswell to our "rudder" and almost broke the speed limit to get there (Carlsbad is about 2 hours from Roswell, plus another half-hour to the caves). The landscape turned from dusty grassland to desert with towering yuccas and prickly pear cactus.


Naturally, once we hit Carlsbad, construction was being done on the main drag through town, which put us way behind schedule! We had only 20 minutes to make a 30 minute trip south to the caves! Would we make it in time?!

Thank God we did; we wound our way through the national park, marveling at the beautiful scenery as best we could as we whizzed past it all. We arrived at the visitor's center with 2 minutes to spare; Blake dropped me off at the front and went to park. I bought both our tickets (which, by the way are like 6 bucks for 3 days- totally worth it!!) and waited nervously for him. With one minute to go he arrived and we made it into the last elevator! Hooray!! Down, down, down we went. Ears were popping and climate was cooling to a very comfortable 56 degrees!

The park closed at 5 pm so we had to hurry thru and look at as much as possible. We didn't bring the tripod with us so not all our shots ended up like we wanted. As we made our way thru we decided that an hour-and-a-half wasn't nearly enough time and that we'd have to come back the next day, with our tripod! We drove back to Carlsbad, took in a late dinner at Chili's and spent the worst night at Motel 6 EVAR. But we were only there to sleep, for the next day held this in store for us:

If there is a way to lend depth-perception to cave photographs I sure would like to know how to do it! That was a big problem I had with these pictures. I couldn't get a feel for depth and sometimes texture with these... then again, maybe it was the subject matter! :-)

I shall give you some neato photos:

I think this photo requires a background story before my mother calls me up and asks what's wrong with me... You know what that looks like, right? As Blake & I were wandering through the main room we occasionally would pass and get passed on the trails by various people. Behind us were three younger guys, maybe in their early 20's. (First off, need I say more??) "Heh heh..." came a quiet voice behind us upon approaching this particular formation, "look - it's Titty Rock!" One guy said to his friends (My apologies to Mom). Click, click went their digital cameras. They spent a lot of time there. And yes, we passed them.

Really cool stalactite (holds "tite" to the ceiling, remember?)

Shot from the highest point in the main room; they say you can fit a Boeing 747 in here!


Stalag-mite make it to the top! :)

Doll's Theater

We wrapped up our cave tour about noon; we still had to make it home to Denver that evening for work in the morning. We did consider going south another 20 miles just to say we visited Texas too, but in the end decided against it. The ride back was uneventful (aside from realizing 100 miles north of Carlsbad that we forgot our pillows at the motel) and we got into Denver at 10:30 that night. Blake went to work the next day and I stayed home the rest of the week to do laundry, run errands and collect Pearl. All in all, it was an awesome trip; we had the best time together, and came home with great memories to last a lifetime. Would I recommend New Mexico for your next vacation destination? YOU BET!! Just go in the fall, and fit White Sands National Monument into your plans and take lots of pictures for me!

It's about time!

This is the first day I've had where I've had nothing planned that I've been able to update our humble blog. So much is going on right now but I have to save that for later. It's been five months since our vacation to New Mexico, can you believe it? Last I left off I believe we were just about to head to Roswell & Carlsbad.

About 9 in the morning we put lovely Santa Fe behind us and began the long, half-state journey south on 285 through the almost-deserted town of Vaughn. We rolled into Roswell around eleven.


In Roswell, for those of you who weren't aware or thought was just rumor, the way of life revolves around aliens. All the storefronts have some sort of alien-theme or application present:

Mexican restaurants...

Storage Companies... strange... we didn't see any UFOs stored there!

Where they say the WB show Roswell once was filmed. Now it's a souvenir shop.

We stopped by the visitor center on Main St to get advise on what to hit first, since we were only passing through and had a couple of hours to spend there. Blake decided just to stay in the car and send me in to get pamphlets so we'd only be there for a few minutes. I walked in to a deserted center where a video on aliens played to an absent audience. Cardboard aliens stood everywhere, and I started to wonder if they were open. All of a sudden, from behind the wall, a woman popped out and scared the crap out of me! She told me what we should see, helped me stick a pin into a map to show we were from Denver, and sent me on my way with the parting words "Have an out-of-this-world time!" Okaaaayyyy. Someone doesn't get out enough...

I made my way to the car, only to find it was empty. I didn't think alien abduction happened that quickly, I said to myself. And dangit! He locked the doors before he was beamed up!! As fun as that sounds, I really did figure he had to use the restroom so I waited. And waited. Then went to check on him in case he "fell in". I met him on his way out, completely unharmed!

The Crazy Visitor Center Lady told us to go to the UFO Museum so that's what we did.


I have to tell you that these people take their aliens very seriously. Inside, everything is presented in a timeline-like fashion, from the first witness accounts, to the first telephone call and radio address, to the alleged government cover-up and the subsequent sightings.

According to witness statements and affidavits, the government threatened their lives and the lives of their families if they told anyone about what they saw: alien bodies, ship wreckage, government movements, etc. However, with the recent popularity of anything alien in the past few decades, the government has pretty much turned a blind eye to everything that happened 70 years ago. The museum claims to show visitors the evidence; it's up to us to decide if it happened or not. I am still unconvinced about aliens, but convinced the government covered something up that happened here.

The UFO Museum also presented photographs that the public has sent them: hubcaps, hats, lenticular clouds (of all things), balloons, things that people have thought are UFOs but the pros at the museum have ruled out as such. But they also have photos that are pretty convincing. Crop circles, Mayan theories and Pop Culture are also on display.

Government-Issued Aircraft ID Chart :-)

What do you think?? Are they out there??

What a beautiful life

So...

You bet I don't remember having a blog.

I do remember! I think about it a lot and even more about the fact that it sits neglected.

I have a good excuse. A few really good excuses, actually.

When things settle down I promise I'll come back to it. I'm hoping February. Of this year. Before I forget all things New Mexico... still have Carlsbad Caverns and Roswell! Stay tuned!

Even more balloons!

I've been told by someone that my New Mexico posts have been too far between and drawn out. I do agree! Our weekends have recently been packed in with something else other than blogging, that of which will be revealed shortly. And no, for the last time, I'm NOT pregnant! Sheesh!!

The next day, still full from an excellent dinner the night before, we rolled out of bed; Blake to the shower and me to lay there and ponder early morning thoughts, which mostly consisted of how am I going to eat breakfast if I'm still digesting dinner? Once again, we were on the road with a bit of time to spare, and arrived at our VIP parking for the Gondola Club. If you go to the Balloon Fiesta you should spend more and do the Gondola Club, especially if you're only going to do this once in your lifetime! We did, and it was worth every penny! A golf cart was ready and waiting for us in the parking lot, and they shuttled us to the front gate of the Club. After checking in, we could pick seats, which we found towards the front of the club area for the best pics. The air was crisp this morning; the tables covered in ice and the grass in frost. Kay & Robert, a couple our parents' age from Phoenix, invited us to share their table.

We looked out across the field to the north, and noticed that the crews had begun inflating their balloons much earlier than they had yesterday; it's morning-glow time!!

(Not really sure what the deal is with the reflections just above the balloons... no; they're not UFOs. My apologies!!)

Up, up and away!

This morning the weather was cool and calm; just the kind of morning any balloon pilot would dream of. Wave after wave of balloons lifted off, and more crews and trucks still poured in to the field. Every step of the ballooning process was under way: arrive, unpack, inflate, take off.


Our field location was the best!! The wind pushed the balloons right over our heads, making for some killer shots:


Every now and then I look back to the south to get a "group shot":

Here's my second favorite balloon of the day:


And my favorite:

It's the one in the middle with the swirlies on it; the crew wore matching tie-dyed t-shirts!

As the saying goes, "time flies when you're having fun", and sure enough, for the most part, they were done. Some crews got to the field way late and the weather was too warm to fly. They tried to get their balloons up but they just fizzled. I would have loved to see the Sushi Chef take off! We packed up our stuff, flagged down a golf cart and directed our driver to the vending shops across the field. From there we walked through a tent full of vendors boasting anything & everything balloon-related: Christmas ornaments, sweatshirts, framed photographs, jewelry, etc. and even things not balloon-related, like Christmas ornaments, sweatshirts, framed photographs and jewelry. We walked the entire length of the field, looking for souvenirs and possibly Christmas gifts. Lots of places were selling hats, sweaters, blankets and other cold-weather goods. I was tempted, but I refrained. Unfortunately. We returned to the Club on foot and by the time we arrived we were exhausted and sweaty and thirsty. Our driver took us back to the car where we made phone calls to family and sat around, deciding what to do with ourselves for the rest of the afternoon. We drove around Albuquerque for a bit before deciding to head up to Sandia Peak, the highest "mountain" in the region. I put it in quotes because I laugh: 10,000 feet ain't a mountain!! Great views of the city, though:

Looking to the south, at Albuquerque

Now looking out east, on the other side of the peak

Driving around the city and up to the peak and back down again took about 4 hours; just long enough to make it back to the Balloon Field for the second part of our day. By this time the wind picked up, just enough to make us nervous about the balloon glow scheduled for that night.

We made it in to the Club again, meeting up with Kay & Robert again. Our catered dinner was delicious: Green Chile Scalloped Potatoes, Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Maple Syrup, rolls, salads, our choice of meat, and a scrumptious dessert table. I helped myself to a slice of the Double Chocolate Cake. With the additional open bar and live band, Blake & I were set for the night, regardless of the meteorological outcome. :-)


Sure enough, few crews showed up for the evening session; the wind had increased even more and this was the unfortunate result:

Just a handful of balloons had decided to make an appearance. I appreciated their desire to not let a crowd down, but I got bored quickly, so I went to capture the incredibly red sunset.


After an hour of minimal balloon-lighting, the organizers decided to switch to the fireworks. And since fireworks don't generally show up on cameras very well, I'll only share one with you.

Overall, the display was lovely; the canisters were set up pretty close to us so it was more fun to watch the fireworks go off, rather than look in the sky.

By the end of the night, we were cold and windblown; when the fireworks ended we hightailed it to our cars. I missed the curb to a sidewalk, my ankle turned, and I went down. Hard. And in slow motion. Crap- the camera! Was the first thing I thought of, as I was carrying the camera and its bag. I laid there on the ground for a few seconds, wondering what happened! I didn't move until I saw a volunteer running toward me and Blake asking if I was okay. Nothing was broken or damaged; the heel of my hand was a bit raw and my knee got scuffed up. I still have a red mark there today. It made memories, if nothing else!

Like the night before, we crashed when we returned to our hotel and slept quite soundly until late the next morning.

New Mexico Part III - The Balloons!!

Friday morning our alarm woke us at 4. Blake headed for the shower and I laid like a slug in bed. Whose idea was this??!! I demanded silently. What crazy psycho gets up at this ungodly hour just to sit in a cold camp chair and freeze their butt off anyway??

We do, apparently. You only live once, I told myself as I rolled out from under the covers, bleary-eyed from the hotel room lights. So kill me now. Once I woke up, I flew around the room, throwing on clothes and doing something presentable with my hair. Thank God for laser eye surgery; no contact lenses to push into Sandman eyes.

We were on the road in a half hour; Blake drove as I gazed out into the inky blackness. I admired the lightning storm to the south until I remembered: we were headed south. Then I started to worry. I got up this early to see balloons and I'd better see balloons!! I'm a night owl! This is going to suck if there are no balloons!!!

We arrived at our bus stop with enough time to buy a cup of coffee from the stand that was set up. Note to self: Don't buy a cup of coffee and get on a bus with it, especially when you have a tote bag, a camera backpack and two heavy folding camp chairs you have chosen to take with you. And on top of all that, try not to be the last people on the bus; you have to sit in the wayyyy back. Picture if you will: Blake with his coffee, the camera bag and a camp chair. He has to walk to the very back of the school bus, with the bag and the chair banging each adult, who, along with their appropriate spouse and/or child, is stuffed into a seat meant for a 5th grader. Now imagine what it was like for each of those adults to get smacked by that camp chair, plus maybe a dribble or two from hot coffee. Now imagine having to endure it twice, since I had the tote bag, the other camp chair and my own hot cup of coffee.

Yeah. Not fun. My sincerest apologies to all our bus mates. I hope those coffee stains have washed out!!

The sky was still dark when we approached the balloon field and de-bussed. The vending booths, however, were lit up like a landing strip. We plodded along the field, choosing a spot to put our chairs up and settle in to wait for the balloon teams. Having finished our coffees on the bus, I went out in search of food for us. Green Chile Breakfast Burritos stood out to me and they were cheaper than anything else I found in my short walk! And they were good! And hot and satisfying!

The "Landing Strip" and predawn clouds and crazy people

Notice the tiny little lights in the sky? Balloon officials sent up weather balloons to check the wind speed. The officials were also concerned about the thunderstorms earlier in the morning as well, and they sent those up to see if it was safe for pilots to take off. As it turned out, they told us via loudspeaker that the "Special Shapes Rodeo" was canceled due to wind, but pilots could fly at their discretion.

Here we have the official Balloon Fiesta balloon and the American Flag balloon for the National Anthem. See how hard the wind is blowing?

At first, I stayed with Blake and our stuff and took pictures, but then I really don't know what happened. My feet carried me away and I wandered off, drawn by the bright colors like everyone else. Sorry, Honey!! I got some great shots, though!

Hmmm... Who could this be?

That would be the friendliest gargoyle I've seen!

Ever wonder who would create a "Dead Cat" balloon? Yeah. Me neither!

Adorable Noah's Ark balloon!

The official name of this balloon: Shroom With a View

That would be a saguaro cactus. One of my favorites!

Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's Superman! No, it's a plane!

Any guesses??

This balloon was quite possibly the tallest one there. So awesome! They had set up all the way down on the opposite end of the field, naturally, so the walk to get there was a lovely brisk one. On the side of the balloon there is a yellow patch that reads: "Built to commemorate 100 years of powered flight and to remember the great courage of the fallen. Challenger: 1/28/1986 Columbia: 2/01/2003". What an honor it was to see this balloon up close!

Can't forget the Champagne Bottle...

Before we knew it, most of the balloons had either flown away or were taken down and bundled up, and folks were packing up. When ballooning, you can't really fly in the middle of the day; hot air balloon + air warmed by the sun = no fun at all. We walked around a little bit with all our crap that we brought before we had enough of the heat and baggage. Down to the bus we waddled. Boarding wasn't as big of an issue the second time around as we knew what to do this time! Unloading our stuff into the trunk of the car was an excellent feeling, as was driving back to SF. We reviewed our pictures as we lay collapsed on our bed and then crashed, sleeping until dinner. We ventured out to find the Blue Corn Cafe this time, and enjoyed another delicious New Mexican dinner with, you guessed it, green chili. After a brief walk around the Plaza, we drove home and hit the hay early, ready to begin the torture all over again the next morning.