Brian and Amanda Lain

Albuquerque May 2010

Brian — Mon, 31 May 2010 22:08:19 +0000

For Mother’s Day this year, we took Brian’s mother, Sue, on a hot air balloon ride in Albuquerque, NM. The balloon dipped down within feet of the Rio Grande River, then soared up to 3,200 feet. The weather was perfect, the view was amazing, and only the landing was a little rough, though not a “crash” landing according to the FAA-certified pilot. All in all, an excellent trip. Happy Mother’s Day, Sue!

Skiing in Colorado!

Brian — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:11:49 +0000

Last week, we went to Keystone, Colorado for a week of skiing! We were invited by a couple of friends to stay in a cabin on-site, and were able to walk to the lifts at Keystone. We skied and went ice skating at Keystone, skied at Vail, went tubing at Copper Mountain, and saw the snow sculptures at Breckenridge where participants compete to carve a 10×10x12, 20+ ton block of snow. All in all, an AWESOME vacation, complete with exercise, fresh air, and no injuries!!!

AWESOME view from Vail Mountain. Did I mention that we are building RIGHT HERE (once we become gajillionairres, of course)!!?!?!?!

Us getting ready to speed down Keystone Mountain!

Skiing at Vail.

Tubing at Copper Mountain with Shawn and Victoria.

Ice skating at Keystone.

It was only 5* – Amanda’s face is stuck like this.

Snow sculpture at Breckenridge.

Our Daily Walks

Brian — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:02:20 +0000

Below are some pictures of Ciara and Miles out on our walks. Miles can’t quite keep up with Ciara yet, but by looking at the size of his feet, it’s only a matter of time before he leaves her in the dust!!

We Went Skiing!!!

Brian — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 02:05:46 +0000

To finish out the old year and ring in the new, we went skiing on December 31, 2009. The weather was great (16* and sunny), the ski hills had snow (most of any ski resort in NM), and, miraculously, neither of us got hurt! Below is a picture of one of the ski hills, and two pictures of Brian cruising down the mountain at top speed!!!

Introducing “Miles” – Our New Addition!!!

Brian — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:36:33 +0000

Brian’s mom, Sue, found an adorable, though severely starved, weak, and frost-bitten, puppy on December 12 (coincidentally, Brian and Amanda’s 7 year wedding anniversary) far removed from houses and Silver City. Sue took great care of him for about 2 weeks, but found that she was unable to care for him for he was wearing her out! So, as a Christmas present to all of us, Brian and Amanda adopted this cute lab/pit bull puppy to keep Ciara (their lab/pit bull) company. We named him “Miles” as he was miles from nowhere, and miles from “home”. He is 6-8 weeks old, male, mostly black with some white on his chest like Ciara, and was 7 pounds on December 12. He is gaining weight, and the hair on his tail and ears is growing back – it had all fallen out due to frostbite. Below are some pictures.

Miles on December 12, newly rescued and extremely hungry. Sadly, you can see his backbone, ribs, and hip bones due to his lack of food.

Miles at Brian and Amanda’s house.

Miles at Brian and Amanda’s house, tackling a rawhide almost as big as he is.

Miles and Ciara running through the house.

Montana for (Pre) Christmas!!!

Brian — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 23:00:11 +0000

Amanda went to Montana for 1 week prior to Christmas to see the family and the snow, take care of her sister, Kassy, after a procedure, see Nicole’s (Amanda’s niece) school play, go to Kassy’s work’s holiday party, and deliver and gather Christmas presents. Montana, to include Missoula and West Yellowstone, and the 5 hours of driving each way, was remarkably un-cold and un-snowy! Not the Montana winters Amanda remembers, but great to be home for the (pre) holidays! Below are some pictures from the visit.

Amanda, Amanda’s mom, Nicole, and Kassy.

Kassy’s family: Tim, Kassy, and Nicole.

Amanda and Nicole.

Kassy kicking Amanda’s a** at Tri-opoly (3-layer Monopoly). Yes, she won, of course.

Snow as seen from porch. As a reference, when Amanda was growing up, you could not see where the road went from afar for the snowbanks, much less the weeds and sagebrush. Now, there is less than 1 foot of snow, compared to 5-10 feet in Decembers past!!

IT SNOWED!!!

Brian — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 01:13:47 +0000

Finally – a little taste of winter! Up until this week, the temperatures have been in the mid 60s. We got a touch of snow on the mountains at the beginning of the week, then got an actual snow storm yesterday. Winter wonderland in Las Cruces!

Organ Mountains – first “real” snow!

Same mountains, different shot.

The yucca (NM State Flower) in the foreground.

The same yuccas as the previous picture!

Ciara loving whatever happened to the lawn!

Ciara giddy with excitement!

Silver City

Brian — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:01:38 +0000

While we were in Silver City, we went on several nature hikes. The weather was very comfortable for November and the air was so fresh! Below are some pictures from our walks.

Brian, Amanda, and Ciara

Sue, Brian’s mom

Brian and Ciara

A Stellar Jay

Good-Bye Grandma Dannie

Brian — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:08:26 +0000

Sadly, Brianâ€™s grandmother â€“ Udania, “Dannie”â€“ passed away November 6, 2009. Brian and his grandmother were very close, as Brian lived with and was cared for by his grandmother for many years. Dannie was in poor health for the past 8 months, following a broken hip, then kidney dysfunction. We are thankful that she is no longer suffering, but we will all miss her immensely. Below are the pictures used to exemplify her life at her service. May she rest in peace.

Dannie’s Collage (Big file 27.1 MB)
Dannie with her roses
Pictures contained in the collage (VERY large file: 162 MB)

Washington D.C.

Brian — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:42:26 +0000

Amanda went to Washington, D.C. last week to begin her new job with Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology – CPST (www.cpst.org). After a long week of work, Amanda went to Fort Belvoir, VA to visit her sister and niece and nephews. They went shopping, played games, and went to the National Zoo, which, by the way, has 3 pandas! All in all, a GREAT trip!

Laura and the kids (Luke, 3; Natasha, 5; Brad, 8 )

Baby gorilla!

An orangutan crossing the high wires above where we were having lunch! Natasha calls them “Tang-or-Rangs” – CUTE!!!

Amanda and the kids in front of the Orang Crossing sign. No, we were not the orangutans they were referring to.

Beautiful fall colors!