Winter hikes

We've had a really mild winter here this year, so not much snow in the state in general and really none in Albuquerque. The east mountains always gets more snow, so we took a couple of hikes there in the past month to get our fix!



The first hike was in the Juan Thomas Open Space, which is a pretty leisurely 3.5 mile loop that we've done before on our bikes.





The second was the 10k trail, which we had not tried yet, and it was a little tough to really follow the trail at times because of all the snow!





I definitely want to go back and do this one again in the spring because we took a wrong turn and had to back track, so I don't think we really traversed the whole trail.

We've also discovered recently that New Mexico actually has a booming wine industry and some pretty great vineyards close to Albuquerque.  We tried out Corrales Winery back in February, and their peppery Cabernet was delicious!



Definitely looking forward to trying out more local vineyards!

Christmas in Taos

For Christmas, Jenny came to visit and we all took a trip up to Taos to ski and spend the long weekend.  Even though it's been a bad year for snow here in New Mexico, we had a good time on the few slopes that were open, and Jenny had a chance to get back on skis after about 6 years off!





We saw a family of deer on our way up the ski lift one morning!



And had a delicious dinner (and no prep or dishes!) on Christmas day at The Bavarian.

Friendsgiving

Unfortunately we weren't able to go back to GA for Thanksgiving this year and didn't have any family in town, so we had a Friendsgiving gathering at our house instead with some local friends who were in the same boat.  We continued our tradition of frying a turkey (which Bailey was obviousy very interested in...)








It was a fun time with great weather, great friends, and a delicious spread!

Josh turned 30!

Back on November 9... pre-dinner beers at Ponderosa Brewing...



And dinner at High Noon Restaurant and Saloon...




Welcome to the dirty thirties Josh!

I "ran" a 5K and went to a parade!

Somehow my ridiculously athletic friend, Megan, convinced me that I could be a runner, even though my whole life I have been decidedly NOT good at running.  But I decided to give it a shot, and, after working through a lot of pain and frustration, I actually surprised myself!  I was able to run probably about 2 out of 3.1 miles of the Duke City 5K, and most importantly I finished (and the ambulance behind us wasn't even for me!)!



In the beginning of November I went to the Dia de Los Muertos Marigold Parade with some friends from my old job.



Lots of cool culture and costumes!  Lindsey has perfected her sugar skull makeup game over the years... mine needs some work for next ear but I'd say it's not bad for my first try!









And Frankie was a little too young to be super impressed... maybe next year!

Family Fiesta/Balloon Fiesta

I'm so far behind and trying to play catch up here!!!  Back in October, we had two sets of visitors for the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.





First my parents came and we had a great time showing them around town, since their last visit they were only here for a few short days.  We took them for a hike up at the Sandia Peak.





It was an extremely windy day, but we ventured out along the Crest Trail for some spectacular views of Albuquerque.





And turned around at Kiwanis Cabin, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.



We also got to share the fun of the Balloon Fiesta with Barbara and Leonard, who came to visit right after my parents left.



It was a cold and early morning, but beautiful and fun as usual!



We went back the next day for the "Music Fiesta" portion to see Billy Currington!



And of course we had to take Barbara to the Bloody Mary bar (Bailey and Addie got to come too)...





Barbara taught us to make traditional, homemade gyozas...



And we took a quick trip up to Taos to pick up some old ski lift chairs that will be given new life on a porch in Hartwell, GA.







On the way home we went over the big Rio Grande Gorge Bridge for some beautiful views.