Sarah and I went to a corn maze in Las Cruces with our squadron last night. It was a lot of fun, although much less idylic than the pictures online made it seem. Somehow, I saw that coming. There were thousands of screaming children running around underfoot in the entrance area. There were also two small goat pens with goat stairs and a catwalk (goatwalk?) in between them. Of course, there were more screaming children poking the goats with corn stalks. They didn't seem to mind too much though.

Fortunately, things calmed down considerably once we got into the maze. We wandered around for a good hour and had a great time.

Also, Sarah's slippers fit inside of mine.

hiking in Cloudcroft

Today we went hiking in Cloudcroft with the Johnsons again, and this time the Fulsons came along. This time, we decided to tackle the Trestle trail. I had heard that it was 7 miles each way, and I planned on only doing part of it. Fortunately when we got there we realized how incredibly wrong I had been; It was only a couple of miles altogether.







Just like last week, it seemed to be a day made just for hiking that trail. The leaves were turning
and the air was just starting to be crisp. Instead of an earthy smell, this trail had the smell of pine. It took us a while to get to the bottom, passing some beautiful scenery, and we enjoyed ourselves for a while once we were at the trestle. The way back up was a bit more difficult.

Afterwards we stopped in Cloudcroft for a bite to eat and some ice cream. We also walked into the world-famous (at least in Alamogordo) pie store, and even though it was not a very busy part of the day for them, it smelled absolutely delicious.

Another beautiful day.

Canadian Thanksgiving

Today was Canadian Thanksgiving, and the Air Force was kind enough to give me the day off. Actually, it's Columbus Day too, which is an excellent day to give somebody an antique compass.

But, because we had the day off Sarah and I went hiking in Cloudcroft with Sara and Jeff. We took a nice hike on the OSHA trail, and decided that today was the penultimate day to go hiking in Cloudcroft. The leaves were the perfect shades, halfway fallen on the trail. The weather was a perfect blend of crisp and comfortable. The earthy smell and tree-canopied trail reminded me of Narnia. Even the gopher holes in the clearing seemed to take on a mythical beauty.




We also decided to cook a turkey and have some people over in celebration of Thanksgiving, so we roasted our first turkey and whipped together a Thanksgiving dinner in record time. It was delicious. Sarah worked incredibly hard, but it was worth it because we had so much good food and fun. We tried a spice-rubbed turkey with cranberry barbecue sauce. Mmm-mmmm.



Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Time Keeps on Rollin'

Lots has happened in the last 2 weeks. Jordan had a birthday for one... 24!?! That's so old. I can remember when he turned 18 and I was scared to go to his birthday party haha. We had a little get together for Jordan's 24th at our house. I decorated our living room with balloons, streamers, and Transformers birthday essentials (i.e. paper plates, tablecloth, etc.). Several of our friends came and we played lawn games and Taboo. We all had a great time. I made a carrot cake that was delicious!

Last week was mostly uneventful. Jordan and I try to go swimming on Wednesday and Friday mornings and it has worked out twice. We really enjoy swimming together in the mornings so we'll definitely continue that.

Friday night we went to the Fulson's house for a fondue birthday party for Mary Lou. We had a great time with the fondue and.. you guessed it Taboo again. Saturday morning Jordan, Marc, Mary Lou and I went to Cracker Barrel in Las Cruces. We tried to go to a corn maze afterwards but it was $8 a person!! A tiny bit ridiculous if you ask me. So instead of running around crazy in the stiffling heat, we went around and looked at some nice houses next to the mountains. Later when we got home we watched Maverick and this morning we went to church and then to Brown Bag Deli (<-- the best sandwich shop EVER) with Sara and Jeff Johnson. Today was Sara's birthday (yes yet ANOTHER September birthday) so we had a great time with them. Then today, just in case we hadn't seen enough of them, we went back to the Fulsons house and played Dominos for nearly 4 hours.

There are some new pictures in our photo album of our bathroom with phase 1 completely finished. Phase 2 will include a new vanity/sink and new light fixtures... that won't be for a while though.

So things have been going great. Jordan is so patient and loving. I don't know what I'd do without him. We feel so blessed with all the God has provided for us since we've been here.

birfday

Today was my 21st Birthday. We had a really good time at church, Hastings, and Ryan Bird's house for lunch. Jordan and I took a nap afterwards and then went to Applebee's with some friends. We had a great time. The only bad part about Applebee's was that the Maple Butter Nut Blondie which was the reason for going to Applebee's for dinner was burned!! So... we got a refund and a free appetizer. I guess we'll go sometime soon and get the appetizer and try the Blondie again.

Jordan is so great. He was so loving and kind today. My best birthday present was having a whole day to spend with him. I'm glad that my birthday was on a Sunday.

yay!

Today we finally installed our RO system!

Our water in Alamogordo is really bad, so we had to put in a water softener, which makes it undrinkable (it's salty). So for 3+ months now we have had to walk or drive down the street (okay, it's only 2 blocks, but still) to get drinking water. Not a huge problem, but when you run out at 11PM, it's not the most exciting thing in the world.

Today though, we finally installed our reverse osmosis system. It took nearly all day, and we haven't actually had any of it yet, but it's going to be so nice to have such easily available water.

With that successful (albeit longer than expected) adventure and a near crippling thumb injury derived from checking the tire on our motorcycle, it's been a full day.

And...tomorrow is Sarah's birthday! She can finally go unescorted into the alcohol section of Wal-Mart!

trip to CO

Sarah and I went to Colorado this weekend to enjoy a bit of a vacation and to visit friends. We drove up there with Marc and Mary Lou, which was a lot of fun.

While we were there we tried to go to the balloon festival, but it was cancelled. We did get to rock climbing with Dave though. Also, I finally got to deliver the key rack key to the BSU house, after only a year and a half of working on it. Doesn't it look great?

We had a great and relaxing weekend, and now it's going to be extra hard to go back to work in the morning. It was much-needed time off though.