Beautiful Friends = Beautiful Pictures

Rich and I were lucky enough to meet a wonderful couple in May when we all went to Vegas to celebrate a mutual friends birthday. Kristi and Greg are two of the nicest people, not to mention they are an Air Force family too! It was so great getting to know them and spending the weekend celebrating together.

Kristi is a photographer that does A-MA-ZING work! If you are in the Colorado Springs area and looking for a family photo session, CALL KRISTI!!!! Check out her blog : www.kristiannephotography.blogspot.com. She specializes in newborns and family photography. She was gracious enough to schedule some time to take pictures for Rich and I this year. Despite her being at the end of a not so great first trimester of pregnancy, cold and 70+ mph winds, she braved it all to take some great pictures.

Here are a few of our favorites. I didn't put them all on here, just a few.

Baby it's cold outside...

but despite the freezing temperatures and snow here in NM, I've been fortunate to work 2 different cruises that took me to the beautiful and warm caribbean!

Went shopping and snorkling in St. Thomas

Had beach time in St. Maarten

Took a catamiran island tour and snorkled in Antigua

Was able to tour around St. Lucia by bus and boat

Saw interesting things in Barbados

Swam with dolphins and sting rays in Mexico

Hiked the Dunns River Falls in Jamaica

as well as went horseback riding in the ocean

I was able to ride a jet ski around Haiti

Formal nights are always fun on these Ships, not often I get to dress up here in NM.

I am very blessed that the career I chose takes me to new and exciting places. I am equally as blessed that my husband loves me enough to allow me to take these assignments and leave him behind while having a good time. I don't think there are many people out there who can say that they have gotten to go to or do the things I have been privileged to do while working!

New England in the Fall

My wonderful husband was bumped from a flight a few months back. The airline gave him a voucher to use at a later date. He gave that voucher to me to use for a girls weekend to go visit my friend Jill. What a treat this trip was. It was a much, MUCH, needed girls weekend away with an awesome friend. We had so much fun, a short weekend but packed with fun all the same.

We started with some sightseeing and shopping in Boston on Friday afternoon/evening. Saturday we had a lazy start to the morning, much needed i might add, and then jumped int he car and started driving. We went to Vermont to see all the beautiful fall colors and walked around some cute little, old, towns along the way. We just spent the day gabbing, walking, eating and taking pictures. it was GREAT. On Sunday we again took our time getting ready and then Jill, her husband Steve and I all went to brunch. it was TASTY. Then Jill and I did a little more shopping before we headed for the airport. A whirlwind of a good weekend. Thanks Rich!!

After picking me up at the airport, Jill and I headed to down town Boston to see what trouble we could find. We were able to find and get tickets for the evenings last harbor cruise. We set sail and started sucking in the exhaust from the boat, we didn't keep these seats for long. There is only so much a girl can handle before she needs clean air!

I loved how the sun was setting as we toured. So pretty with all the sail boats and the skyline of Boston.

Pretty nifty shot, if I do say so myself!

Ready to hit Quincy Market

but first, we had to take this opportunity for a picture

APPLES, what are apples doing growing wild on the side of the mountain? My guess is someone threw their apple core out there and it sprouted a big healthy tree!? it was pretty all the same.

Yup, gotta take the "classic pose" picture! :)

FALL, BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL FALL. OH HOW I MISS THEE!!!!!

We stopped to take a picture of this cute little church. It turned out to be a pretty cool stop and lead us to some pretty cool things...

Revolutionary soldiers. Some of the tombstones in this cemetery dated all the way back to the early 1700's. What an interesting find, it was neat to walk around and see the dates and the way family plots were done way back when. Interesting history we just happened to stumble across.

Robert Frost's grave.

LOVE all the different fall colors in that tree...I couldn't take enough pictures of FALL!

We ended the day at a cute little place called The Peppermill. We were a little chilly after the sun set but were happy to have a table outside and near the water. Great food, a great friend and a great weekend!!

I was sad to leave, but as they say all good things must come to an end. Until the next girls weekend!!

Balloon Fiesta

We started our morning before the sun came up. We went high up on a hill in Rio Rancho that was over looking the launch site of the Balloon Fiesta. This is the 40th year of the annual event and I wanted to see a mass ascension. WOW was it worth it. Even though it was COLD, it was well worth getting up and going to see.

Sun rise, what a beautiful backdrop to such a great event.

on Saturday, the first day of the event, there was reported to be over 555 balloons that launched. Rich and I counted over 100 on Sunday morning. We were a WEEEE bit off, the radio later reported that there were over 500 that launched on Sunday. ABSOLUTELY a must see event!

After we saw all the balloons launch, and after I took tons of pictures, Rich and I decided to go get breakfast at a near by IHOP. What a great idea. We we able to see all the balloons fly over head and do the basket skips in the river. We were even able to catch this balloon land as we left.

We wanted, and by "we" i mean ME, to catch the color of the Sandia Mountains at sunset. It turns a watermelon color at sunset, which is where it got the name "Sandia".

We are waiting, at the balloon grounds, for the night glow to begin.

Seeing all of these balloons lit up was A-MA-ZING!! Something everyone should see at least once!

The balloon behind us we were able to watch from start to finish. It started as a heap of balloon carnage and came to life before our very eyes. It was spectacular.

We were able to walk around between all the balloons and get up close and personal with them. was so very neat to see.

SO PRETTY! This is one of my favorite pictures from the night.

We were even able to see some of the silly shapes go up. This is Spidey Pig. There was also a butterfly and two bumble bees, a few aliens, a beer bottle, a strawberry and some weird looking thing we were never able to decide what it was, but we did know it was wearing a halo.

Hotel Rupanovic will be open next year, make your reservations early as we tend to fill up fast! :D

Below is a short video of the balloons lit up at the same time. The announcers would count down for all the balloons to lit up at the same time. I cant tell you enough how awesome this was. I am so very thankful that we were able to experience this!!

Paradise for a week

For our first anniversary Rich and I were able to go to Aruba for the week and stay at a golf resort right off the beach. It was absolute paradise! We actually won, yes that's right I said WON, this trip while on our honeymoon. That's the way to do it! :)

These "little" guys were all over the place. We were told they are a delicacy in Aruba. I had NO desire to even entertain the possibility of trying it. NO THANK YOU.

On our last full day in Aruba Rich and I went to the butterfly farm. If you know me, you know I took a gazillion pictures. It was SO beautiful and I didn't want to leave.

Our last full day in Aruba. It was a beautiful day and an absolutely breathtaking sunset. It was such a nice week away. We didn't talk about work or adoption or anything that could possible bring on stress. It was nice to get away for the week and just enjoy each other and celebrate the first year of our marriage.

It was July 4th and Aruba "knows who their sugar daddy is" (according to Rich). The put on a great fireworks show. What a great way to end our week. We are truly blessed!