Welcome to 2010!

Just a quick note to wish all our family and friends a very Happy and Healthy New Year!

It's been a VERY busy month of December for us. We packed up our dinky apartment on the west side and moved to our NEW home in Northeastern El Paso. We also drove to and from Washington to visit family for the holidays. As soon as we're a little more settled (and can find the camera cord to connect to the computer), we'll get a proper post up.

Until then:
For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne,

We'll take a cup of kindness yet,

For auld lang syne.

Winter Wonderland ... in El Paso!

The weathermen threatened and promised, but no one took them seriously. Yet they were right!

A cold front moved into the area Saturday and it had been a blustery, rainy, freezing (for El Paso) couple of days. The storm finally dumped its snow payload on us yesterday morning. It wasn't sticking at our house, but from the video below, you can see that it was really coming down.



By the time Cam came home from work, there were a few inches on the ground on post (the other side of the mountain from our apartment) and the freeways were a mess. Still nothing was sticking on our side of the mountain ... even by bedtime.

Surprise! Surprise! We awoke to a winter wonderland this morning with about 2 inches on the ground, but the parking lot and sidewalks were mostly clear. Cam got to delay his arrival on post to let the roads clear up and all of the snow should be gone by this afternoon do to the temperatures rising to the mid-40s. At least it was fun while it lasted!

For the record, that's TWO (2) snowfalls we've seen here! Guess the desert really does experience a WIDE range of temperatures...

Our Soon-to-Be New House

While my family was visiting for Thanksgiving, our wonderful Realtor, Susan, allowed us to take them on a tour of our soon-to-be new house. Mom and Dad were impressed and offered lots of advice on projects we should and should not undertake.

We are keeping our fingers crossed that the VA appraisal is done soon and we are able to close on December 11th. That gives us just enough time to get moved in prior to leaving for our long trip north to Washington for Christmas.

I took a few pictures while were on the tour, but the photos really don't do the place justice. It's a 2100+ sqft house, with 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths in a military-populated neighborhood. We can't wait to move in and make new friends!

Front of the house

Back the house

Kitchen & Dining Area

Family room off the kitchen

Master Bath

Thankful for Thanksgiving!

We are so thankful for Thanksgiving this year. Not only were we able to spend it together in our new hometown, but we were able to share our blessings with family and friends!

I was so grateful to have most of my immediate family join us for the big day. My parents drove down from Washington on Wednesday and my youngest brother, Erik, flew in on Thursday morning. Unfortunately, my other brother, Tim, was unable to leave NY and we all missed him terribly.

While the family was in town, we took them sight-seeing around El Paso and Ft. Bliss and even showed them the "mighty" Rio Grande. Despite my father's best efforts, we did NOT tour Juarez, Mexico ... even if we had the ability to be armed to the teeth! We were also able (thanks to our wonderful Realtor) to take them on a tour of our soon-to-be new house!

For the big day, Cam invited a few of the single 2nd Lt in his class for dinner. They, in turn, invited a few more friends, so we had a packed house for dinner. It ended up that we had PLENTY of food and no one went hungry! We even sent leftovers home with the visiting 2nd Lts.

We had a marvelous, if uber-casual and slightly cramped, Thanksgiving! Hope all of you were as lucky as us and able to enjoy the holiday with those you love! Happy Belated Turkey Day!

Cam and his beautiful (and TASTY!) bird

3/4 of our guests

Food-induced coma (Or maybe it was all the football?)

Please forgive us ...

Well, we finally BOTH made it.  We are now officially grown-ups (i.e. in our 30s!) and no longer carefree 20-somethings.  As such, we're finding it harder and harder to remember to post things to our blog.  So, to make up for the month-long absence, please find THREE (3) posts below detailing our "wild" and "crazy" adventures of the past four weeks.

However, one benefit to old age (besides yelling at random whipper-snappers), we're finally taking the plunge and buying a house!  After several rounds of offers and counter-offers on two separate houses, we finally have a Seller-accepted offer!!!  We are hoping to close the first week of December and be all moved in before we trek north to Washington for Christmas.  As soon as the t's are dotted and i's are crossed, we'll post some pictures!

Now, without further ado, please see our newest three posts below...

Welcome to the Dirty Thirties!

We decided to really celebrate our entrance into a new decade by taking a weekend trip to San Antonio, TX. (See post below for details and photos.)

However, an occasion such as this also requires a party in town with friends. Therefore, eleven of our friends (and two adorable kids) joined us for a dinner out in El Paso.

The Birthday Kids

Our very good friends, the Welches
(He is in BOLC III with Cam; She is my crafty buddy!)

Leslie is another classmate

The Radcliffes came too!

Miclos is yet another classmate

The cute camera-hog daughter of our friends, the Dubys

The beautiful freeway and power lines

Racing Fools

Cam has discovered a new "hobby".  About once a month, he competes in races in and around El Paso.  The latest race on Nov. 7th  was the 5th Annual 2009 Grape Race!  It was sponsored by and took place at Zin Valley Vineyards in Anthony, TX (about 10 miles northwest of El Paso).

Cam ran the 8K race and improved his time by over 3 minutes.  This may be attributed to his participation in the daily Running PT at Ft. Bliss for the last 3 weeks.  He even completed 30 miles total (including this race) during that week! 

For my first race EVER, I decided to take it easy and did the 1 mile "fun walk".  While I walked faster than I thought I might, I am now more motivated to start training for the 5K run/walk coming up in December.

Following the race, the Vineyard supplied wine for tasting and PK Chang's provided a catered dinner.  If only all the races had such incentives to finish!

Pre-race Photo

 

Kristy crossing the finish line!

 

Cam crossing the finish line!

Cam had been participating in the Running PT for the last three weeks in order to train for the 10K Run Post Championship on Nov. 14th.  The training proved to be beneficial again as he was able to maintain a less-than-9-minute mile pace during this race!  Keep up the good work, Cam!

 

The BOLC III 2nd LTs that ran the 10K

Weekend Adventures in San Antonio

In honor of our third anniversary and 30th birthdays (all which fall within five weeks of each other), we spent a weekend in San Antonio!

It was always a city on our List to Visit and since our beloved Cougs would be playing Notre Dame in the Alamodome ON Cam's 30th birthday, it was a hard decision to make!

We spent all Saturday morning visiting the Alamo ruins along with our fellow Coug and ND fans. We took the self-guided tour through the chapel, visited exhibits in the Long Barrack (the last strong-hold of the Texan defenders against the Mexican Army), listened to Park Ranger talks, and, of course, shopped at the gift shop!

After a morning spent immersed in the rich history of the city, we decided to explore the miles and miles of Riverwalk that run throughout downtown. We took the 30 minute guided boat tour and learned several interesting facts about the city and it's architecture. We explored shops and restaurants. We also passed many, many, many fans dressed in their Crimson finest and were greeted across the river by shouts of "Go Cougs!"

When it was finally time to head to the game, we joined the large stream of fans with high hopes for a good game, if not a Cougar victory. Unfortunately, the wrong team won, but we did run into a former high school classmate and another friend that worked with Cam at the CUB!

Before flying out Sunday, we spent the day touring the four other missions in the San Antonio river valley. All of these missions had similar designs: chapel, rectory, housing for the native population, protective walls, etc. The missions are in varying stages of preservation and excavation, but they each have active congregations that still worship weekly in the chapels built in the mid-1800s.

All in all, we had a great weekend and it was especially nice to get away from home to celebrate some very special days!

Fun times in San Antonio

The Five Missions of San Antonio

Crafts GALORE!

It's been a while since I posted any "craft" updates ... and I've certainly been busy! I try to remind Cam that if I stay busy, I'll stay out of trouble and out of the bars. Ha!

I've continued making quilts for the El Paso Project Linus group and have decided to become more involved with the group starting in January. I'll be leading the team that gathers donated blankets from various drop-off locations around the city.

I joined a sewing group recently and learned how to make a purse during my first meeting. Based on that experience, I designed and made a birthday present bag for the 4-year-old daughter of a friend of ours.

Because he thinks his Uncle Cam is "cool", our nephew decided he wanted to be an Army man for Halloween. While perusing the Clothing & Sales store on post, we ran across kid-sized ACUs and decided they would be perfect for him. To make them more authentic, I sewed on the name patch, US Army patch, and flag patch before sending the set north.

Finally, it hasn't been all sewing-type crafts for me. I recently took a beading class and learned how to make my own jewelry from store-bought beads. While I haven't finished anything yet (and therefore have no pictures to share), I am looking forward to expanding this new skill!

Baby quilt made from a Project Linus kit

Shiver me timbers! A cute flannel quilt

Arrrrr, Matey! Fabric detail

The sewing group's project purse

Addisyn's bag (w/ a little bling!)

Cute bug & flower lining of Addi's bag

Andrew's ACUs

World's Fastest 10K

Cam participated in the World's Fastest 10K race yesterday (10/11/09). The race is a nearly all downhill run down the side of the Franklin Mountains (the mountain range that runs through the middle of El Paso, TX) and used by many "professional" runners to improve on their personal best time! The road course starts at an elevation of 5,200 feet (the summit of a pass over the mountain) and finishes at 3,800 feet.

Like last time, we met up with a couple of friends prior to the race. Charla ran the 2 mile fun run and Jason (a lifelong cross-country/track runner) used the 10K as a warm-up for the Albuquerque Marathon taking place next weekend. Cam and Jason were even joined by their Battalion XO, Major McCoy in the race. Approximately 175 people ran and Cam finished 12th in his age category with a time of 49 minutes 28 seconds. He even beat his goal time of 50 minutes!

After the race, despite tight muscles, Charla and Jason joined us for a yummy brunch at our favorite local greasy spoon! We all are looking forward to the next few races coming up, including a costume race for Halloween, a race at a local winery (with free booze at the finish line!) in November and a Jingle Bell run in December.

Cam before the start of the race

Cam coming into land at the finish line (note his race #)

Crossing the finish line with a time of 45:28

The runners (L to R): Major McCoy, Cam, Jason, Charla

Long time, no post...

Wow! It's been a long time since I've looked at our blog! Good thing I decided to put fingers to keyboard to update you on what's been happening in the World o' Smith. Unfortunately, we have been leading a terribly unexciting life in El Paso for the last few weeks!

Cam has been staying VERY busy with BOLC III (Basic Officers Leadership Course) training. So far, the 2nd Lieutenants have been trained on basic leadership skills and various Army forms and paperwork. They have had several tests on the material and Cam has been averaging in the high 90%'s. If he maintains this average through the next 2 1/2 months, he may have a shot at an Honor Grad spot during his December graduation. Next week, the 2nd Lieutenants begin Patriot missiles training.

Part of the recent BOLC III training included a field trip to the Islamic Cultural Center of El Paso and El Paso Holocaust Museum. Spouses were invited along and so my friend, Charla, and I joined the class. While Cam and I didn't learn much about Islam at the Islamic Center (as we both have studied the religion a far amount), we did learn a few things about mosques. The most interesting tidbit: all mosques contain a large dome over the prayer room in order to enhance the acoustics of the room. It's a similar concept as the designs of many of the old cathedrals in Europe.

After a quick lunch, the group headed to the El Paso Holocaust Museum, one of only four stand alone museums dedicated to the subject in the US. The docent giving the tour herded us through the exhibits rather quickly and did not give us enough time to read all the information at each stop. Therefore, the four of us (Jason, Charla, Cam and I) decided to revisit the museum the following weekend. Again, we did not learn anything new at the museum, but it was an interesting place to visit. (FYI - Cam was a History major; emphasis on WWII and I learned many things via osmosis from him. Either that or it's due to the constant exposure to the Hitler ... I mean, History Channel!).

While Cam's been slaving away at school, I've been staying busy playing housewife. I've made several new quilts and other sewing projects and will post pictures in a new post soon! I've also joined the Ft. Bliss Officer Spouses' Club and have been making new friends and trying new activities. I'm also making time to reconnect with several old "new" Army wife friends, now that everyone is back in town.

Finally, this past week we celebrated our third wedding anniversary! Due to Cam's large quantity of homework that week, we were only able to celebrate with a very yummy home-cooked steak dinner and cheesecake. Never fear! We are headed to San Antonio to watch our beloved Cougs take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at the Alamodome at the end of the month to celebrate our anniversary and 30th birthdays! Not exactly the traditional leather/glass/crystal gift, but perfect for us!

We will have several new posts coming over the next few days. These will include the craft update I mentioned above as well as a post regarding Cam's latest road race! Stay tuned...

Run, Cam! Run!

Cam participated in the 16th Annual German American Night Run 8K last night at Ft. Bliss. The event was hosted by the post's MWR and the German Air Force Defense Center in honor of Oktoberfest! (The German Air Force has been a fixture for many years at Ft. Bliss training with the US Army on missile systems.) Prior to the race, we met up with some of Cam's fellow 2nd Lieutenants and our friends, Jason and Charla.

The 5 mile race course was around the streets on post and therefore, was a pretty flat run. For his first race, Cam felt he did relatively well and managed to maintain his goal average-mile pace. We are looking forward to many more races in the months to come, including a 10K in October and a possible half-marathon in March!

After the race, we pigged out on German brats, beers and goodies with our friends before heading home to watch the DVR'd Coug versus Hawaii game. On second thought, we should have stayed at the park and rocked out with the German Air Force band ...

Some of the gang that ran (L-to-R: Charla, 2LT Jason, 2LT Cam, 2LT Dan)

We were serenaded by the German Air Force band with German and English covers of music ranging from Billy Ray Cyrus to AC/DC!

Cam finished with a time of 46:45

Obvious Dinner Choice: Brats w/ Sauerkraut

German goodies provided by the German Wives' Bake Sale (YUM!)

Home, home on the Range!

Yesterday we spent the afternoon with our friends, Charla and Jason, out at the Ft. Bliss Rod & Gun Club. We took our full arsenal out and Jason and Charla brought their 30-06 rifle along too!

After prepping the targets we found and scavenged from the range, we were ready for fun! Cam was finally able to zero his AR-15 properly, shoot his new PPK and Tauras .357, and try out Jason's 30-06. Jason tried his best to bruise his shoulder with his rifle after Charla destroyed the milk jug on her first shot. Charla has now added a 9mm to her Christmas wish list. And Kristy had fun using the .357 and decided that the PPK is the perfect "purse gun"!

All in all, we enjoyed flexing our 2nd Amendment rights and were only a little disappointed that we were unable to kill "Achilles, the Wonder Duck" (scavenged from the range) despite repeated attacks from the 30-06, AR-15 and shot gun!

The boys prepping the targets

Cam and his "new" PPK

Jason and his 30-06

Kristy with the .357

Charla and her destroyed milk jug

Achilles, the Wonder Duck, survived our onslaught!