Saturday Adventures South of Albuquerque

When we first arrived in Albuquerque, I would ask everyone I met what were some of their favorite New Mexican things to do. Someone told me about Bosque del Apache. Sadly, everyone here says 'boss-key,' which drives my Spanish-speaking ears crazy...but when I say 'bohs-kay,' everyone stares at me like I don't know what I am talking about. Oh well. But I digress.

Bosque del Apache - an animal refuge where they plant fields that remain unharvested to provide food for animals year round. And there are numerous flocks which migrate here in the winter. So Saturday morning we left at 5:15 to drive 90 minutes south to San Antonio, NM, in order to arrive before sunrise. Because around sunrise, the flocks will take of en mass. We were told it was pretty cool, so we dressed warmly, and arrived just about 10 minutes before sunrise. We saw a large flock in the air near a pond, only to notice that even more birds were still on the ground. The birds in the air were mostly just flying laps around the birds in the pond. After we were sufficiently cold and had been there probably 10 minutes, they suddenly started to take off. For the next 30 seconds the air above us was filled with the sight and sound of thousands of birds. Happily, I caught it on camera.

Then we drove through the rest of the refuge, which was beautiful and full of loads of birds. But nothing was quite as breath-taking as the lift off.

After that we drove to truly the middle of nowhere. The Very Large Array is built where there is almost perfect radio silence, no light, and very water vapor in the air. All these things can disrupt the radio waves that these 27 giant antennae receive from space. I was surprised how cool it was...I thought the kids would be terribly bored, and I assumed that the self-guided tour would be lame. But we were thrilled with how much we all learned.

They actually reposition the 27 antennae every 4 months, after collecting data from all the targets on the agenda. It takes 3 weeks to move them to one of 4 arrangements, ranging from .7 miles to 22 miles across. They then collect data from those same targets again, from the new position. Then, again from the last 2 positions. Once they have collected data from all four positions, they are able to compile the data into a complete picture of the star, galaxy, or nebula they were targeting.

Then a trip to Pie Town, NM, which was not at all worth the drive. Oh well. At least I know not to recommend it to anyone else!

This and That - January, part 1

The kids got a box of geodes for Christmas, and after going to Home Depot to find a decent chisel, we spent

 After studying Germany in geography, the girls built a medieval castle.

One thing I love most about Albuquerque, and the thing that will be hardest to leave, is our Charlotte Mason homeschool group. Erin had us over to her home for some winter bird watching and then led the kids in an oil pastel/watercolor art project.

We started giving the kids an allowance to help them learn money management...and this is what Niels wanted more than anything.

The Holidays

Every year, as a homeschooling mom, I have every intention of doing at least some school over the Christmas break. But pretty much every year, I fail. 2017 was no different. I even ended up taking an entire extra week of vacation, knowing that all our Albuquerque friends were out of school on December 18th, we ended up starting our vacation then too, spending the week making candies and cookies, wrapping presents, watching holiday movies, Christmas caroling, and just having fun together. Paul's sister, Christina, arrived on Friday night, after finishing her last final of her college career. My kids were thrilled, and we felt spoiled, to have "Aunt Stina" with us for a week.

I ordered a 4 lb wheel of our favorite cheese, Saint Andre, as well as a 10-year Hook's aged cheddar, which I think I need to buy on a monthly basis, cranberry crusted goat cheese, and a triple cream bleu. We were almost transported home to Wisconsin.

Being married to Paul, Christmas is always a big deal. As scientifically minded and practical as he is with some matters, when it comes to gifts, it's all about feeling. "I don't feel like Niels has enough...Anna needs more books to equal Hattie...I don't feel like we've found the perfect gift for Anders yet," are statements always heard throughout November and December. I have learned after 12 years of marriage that there is no reasoning with him when it comes to gifts. He is going to give what he wants to until it feels sufficient. As much as I have tried to set a budget in the past, or tried to plan a strategy for what to buy, he always does his own thing anyway. I've learned to be okay with it, and actually love him all the more for it.

This year was no exception. It was magical, as the kids loved all of his thoughtful gifts (it should be added that they certainly didn't mind my gifts....books and clothes....but they obviously weren't the highlight of the day). Karaoke machine, 3DS, tanks, fighter jets, Nintendo Switch, dune buggy to name a few.

Paul was on call starting Christmas day through New Year's so the rest of Christmas week was spent exploring our new toys with Christina. A few times we went to the park to enjoy the dune buggy, drone, and laser guns given to us by the Eastons. We also snagged a movie or two. It was a perfectly lazy week, in all honesty.

Saturday morning the kids and I loaded up in the van to drive to Spanish Fork to visit Michael, Julia, and co. Christina flew off to Texas and Paul was stuck with a few more call shifts before he could join us Monday night. I spent my first 3 days in Utah alone visiting old friends...the Calders, Sara Garay and co, and Jenny Transtrum. We spent a very quiet New Years Eve alone in Michael and Julia's home, going to bed at 9:30.

Once Paul joined us, we did a few more fun Utah things...visiting BYU, seeing the lights on Temple Square, swimming, doing burger Saturday with the family, perler beads, board games, and just being together. The hopeful skiing didn't happen, since the mountains were literally bare. And we spent one evening at the Petersons who lived in Lubbock before. Always fun to rekindle friendships.

And Erik turned 1...what? My final baby just started cutting his first tooth around his birthday. He's such a good baby. Ever since we move to ABQ, he has been sleeping like a dream and is perpetually happy.

Then back to ABQ...to work, to homeschool, to a house full of Christmas decorations needing to be taken down.

An extraordinary man

Last night I picked Paul up from the airport after a 3-day Y-90 seminar in San Diego. We went to a new (delicious) Indian restaurant, and I asked how the seminar went - if he felt it helpful, how he would be able to apply it to his work, etc. He started to explain to me what Y-90 actually is, how it works, and how he uses it to help people with liver cancer and other ailments. As he excitedly explained it to me, and showed me a new app that helps him properly determine dosage for his patients, I was suddenly reminded of how smart my husband is. He has spent the last 10 years of his life attaining a very specific skill set of knowledge. He actually understands the science behind radiation treatments, MRI technology, the inner workings of the human body, and can look at white/gray/black images and tell you what is the matter with somebody.

I was reminded of when I met him at BYU, back in 2004. I remember one of the first times talking with him, I told him I was a humanities major with an English emphasis. He opened a discussion on classic literature, and I quickly realized that the astrophysics major, math minor, pre-med guy in front of me was more well-read than I was! It was intimidating at first, but I soon fell in love with him and admired his great brain.

That admiration came rushing back to me last night as he sat across the table, attempting to explain a very complicated topic to his not-so-scientifically-minded-wife. I realized that through this decade-long medical journey we have been taking, he really has become expert at something. I sometimes forget, in the busy-ness that is my life of homeschooling, housework, and kids, that he almost lives another life at the hospital. For Hippa reasons, I never am able to see him at work, so it is sometimes even hard for me to imagine how he actually spends 60 hours every week. I sat there in awe of this extraordinary man who has worked so hard to learn something he loves.

Now, I don't write all this to brag about him, although I do think he's pretty great. I write to remind myself, and anyone else who might be reading, to stop for a minute. Take a look around at the people closest to you. At the people who you see day in and out, who you are with so much that you aren't able to see the changes happening in them. At those who you may take for granted. At someone you might not even take into consideration. At yourself. Take a second look at them and see something extraordinary in them. What makes them stand out to you? What makes them special? I know you’ll find something. I know it will be there. It is in all of us.

Lessons learned...renewal

A week before Christmas, my external hard drive started acting funny. I was immediately angry at myself, because, in the back of a drawer in the office, was a brand new external hard drive, one that I had bought at least two years earlier when our computer had crashed. Then, we had been able to recover everything, and I had immediately bought the extra external hard drive, in case we had troubles again.

But I didn't even open it. It sat in the back of the drawer for more than 2 years. I would see it and think, "Ya know, I should back up everything on to that today," and then move on and forget.

So the right before Christmas, when the hard drive started having problems, I immediately transferred everything onto it...but it didn't all transfer. In fact, most of the pictures didn't.

I felt sick. That terrible pit in the stomach we all hate feeling. I didn't want to deal with it. I didn't want it to ruin Christmas. So I unplugged both hard drives, and tried to push it to the back of my mind.

Christmas was wonderful, New Years was great, vacation in Utah relaxing. But in the back of my mind, in the pit of my stomach, the fear that those pictures were lost gnawed at me. Dreading having to deal with the reality of having lost all photos from 2006-2014 (2015-2017 were backed up on iCloud), I finally dropped off the hard drives at a repair store, and was told they'd do their best.

I didn't sleep much the next two nights. The pit in my stomach grew, being almost certain that all photos from Hattie, Anna, and Niels' births were gone. All of our time in Texas. Half our time in Wisconsin. So many memories. I prayed for a miracle, even just to be able to recover even some of the pictures, and asked the girls forgiveness for having made such a huge mistake. They were two pretty crappy days.

Then Thursday, the store called with the news that they had pulled a TON of data off the hard drive. For privacy reasons, they didn't open to check to see if everything worked, but they assured me that there was a lot there.

I started to hope. I still dreaded picking it up, and having to actually face it.

When I plugged it in, I nearly cried. It was all there! I skimmed through quickly...well, almost all there. They hadn't been able to recover pictures from November 2013 through 2017. But, remember, 2015-2017 were on iCloud. Which meant that I really only lost 2 months of 2013 and all of 2014.

All things considered, much better than expected.

And somehow (I think miraculously) 2014 was the year I was most active on Instagram and Facebook, before taking a 3 year hiatus. I also printed a photo book that year, AND it was the last time I blogged regularly on here.

Over the last two days, I've spent hours pouring over snapfish, shutterfly, facebook, instagram, and blogspot...and anywhere else...and I've pulled up about 330 pictures. And because those were the pictures printed and shared, they are among the best of the year. I've asked family and friends if they can search through their pictures and send me anything they've got with us in it.

I also have been uploading the pictures from 2006-2013 to Amazon Photos since 8 am. They are still uploading now...not even halfway done.

So, that was not a short story, but here's the lessons learned.

1. Don't wait 2+ years to back up your pictures. In other words, don't be dumb.

2. Have copies on your hard drive AND on the cloud somewhere. You won't regret the $ per year they may charge. I've had hard drives fail me twice now and just don't trust it anymore.

3. I really should instagram/facebook/blog more. I think in the past I've always viewed social media as a way to communicate with others. It certainly IS that, but it can be more. I need to view it as a way of documenting life...my kids' lives more than anything.

4. Listening to promptings. I had seen that unopened hard drive SO many times...I even moved it across the country and packed it up. I felt so many times that I should do it. But I always had an excuse, a lame one.

After talking with a friend while swimming today, she talked about how she sets apart a specific time every week to blog, so that at the end of the year she can print it all out. I've always struggled with making the time to blog, between kids, house, homeschool...endless list. But after talking with her, I'm pretty sure I can budget an hour a week to sit down and write...there is always less tv for me to watch. I love writing. I used to be good at it. So here I am, with a new year and a new purpose, focusing on recording history for my family instead of only sharing it with others.

P.S. There will be pictures in the next post. I'm having to download all the iCloud stuff, and it'll take a while to get it all organized again.