We're off!

December 27, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

We're off to the airport in an hour.  Hanni flies out at noon, and we don't leave until 3pm, so we'll likely hang out in ABQ for awhile.

We'll see you all soon!!!!!

and to all a good night!

December 25, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Merry Christmas all!

We are in the post present lull.  All of us are in our new clothes, and playing with our new toys. 
We can't wait to see you all soon!

More snow and cold!

December 05, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

We had more snow last night, and Robbie and Isabell are enjoying a snow day today.  Now they're watching A Christmas Carol and playing with the dogs.

Sigh... I'm still trying to work.  Bah Humbug!

Here's the snow

December 03, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Snow!

Good Morning!

December 03, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

We had snow this morning, and it looks like it will continue through the weekend.  Today we're heading down to Santa Fe and then to Ojo Caliente to soak in the hot springs and maybe get a massage.

We made hot chocolate and pancakes this morning, and now the neighbor puppy is over napping with Shiloh and Isabell. 

They Say It's Your Birthday!

December 01, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Happy birthday Robbie!!!!  We had pancakes (and a few presents at breakfast), and I there will be more goodies tonight after an afternoon movie.  Life is good.

Heading Out

November 23, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Early Thanksgiving wishes to everyone, and Happy Birthday wishes to Sam!  We're heading out to the airport soon, and will be in Arizona until Sunday. 

Love to you all!

Thank you!

November 14, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Thanks everyone for all the birthday cards and good wishes!  It was a long weekend (Isa had a 1/2 day on Thursday, and both Isa and Robbie had Friday off) full of relaxing family time. 

We've been on a Harry Potter marathon finishing up the seventh movie last night.  Now we get to watch the final movie tonight - after homework and committee meetings!

December trip

November 06, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

I keep forgetting to post our December trip plans.  We'll be flying in to PDX the day after Christmas, and flying back on Jan 1.  I think we're hoping for some quiet "free" time, but for the most part we're excited about all the overwelling and load family time!! 

Ouch!

November 03, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Yesterday I stupidly rubbed my eye while cooking.  Oh, did I mention that I had chyenne (sp?) pepper on my fingers?  Ouch!!  After riping out my contact (hmmm... before I rinsed my hands, so more pepper got in my eye), I did the whole flush with cold water thing, and then walked around all day with my glasses on and a puffy red eye.  At least the food was yummy!

New Cookbook

October 25, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Well, it's been almost 2 months without eating meat (just me - not Robbie and Isabell), and I finally went out and bought a new cookbook.  I've been doing well adapting our usual dinner recipes, but it was time for some new inspiration. 

I picked up the Moosewood Cookbook (it was actually afordable), but I'm wondering if any of you guys have other suggested cookbooks, websites, or favorite vegetarian recipes.  (Please remember that "gormet" grocery stores are few and far between!)

Hugs to all!

The sky is falling (just kidding)

October 17, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

There was a 3.8 earthquake this morning.  The epicenter was somewhere between Sante Fe and Espanola.  After years of small quakes in OR - that I never felt - it was weird to actually feel/hear one.  I didn't realize how load they were!  It sounded like a big truck went rumbling down our road.  Other than a small growl from the dog (so much for animal insticts) there wasn't much to it.

One of those days...

October 14, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

It's been one of those days - yuck!  It was good for about 30 seconds, and then I actually had to get up.  We planned to go camping this weekend, but that's off now, as we're faced with another plumbing fiasco.  Sigh... I'm going to look at seed catalogues!

Crazy!

October 11, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

It feels a little crazy that 14 years ago Robbie and I got married.  We met 16 years ago in September!  This morning we were talking about how strange time is.  In some ways the years have flown by, and in other ways a few years ago can feel like a lifetime!

We're keeping things pretty small this year, due to a lot of unexpected expenses the last month or so, but we will have some great wine (always good to have friends who own a winery)!

Happy Birthday Mom!

October 09, 2011 by Robbie in Cortez

I'm the In-the-dog-house-son!  Happy belated birthday mom! With my hectic work schedule and busy weekend, I forgot to call my mom for her birthday. GUILT, GUILT, GUILT!!!  Though I forgot to call, you are always on my mind, I hope you had a good birthday! Love you!

News

October 06, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

With all the news in the world today, I feel particularly sad about the death of Steve Jobs.

the candle wick flame

September 25, 2011 by Robbie in Cortez

Posted by Isabell:

Hey, adam I was wondering if you could make me a post for family of adam. Also I am going to start a blog on family of adam called the candle wick flame. So can you please give me a my own post?

Do you ever feel like the world just seems to freeze in the middle of somthing. Today I was looking for something to do when all of a sudden a my black cat (Midnight)jumped out of nowhere and scared me half to death. when I got up she just stood there like nothing happened, and looking at me like i had just dropped out of the sky. I looked back at her back but I think I was really breathing hard because she raced by me and nicked my skin, and thats when the world just froze on me. Any way I think sometimes cats are the ones who drop out of the sky.   

Happy birthday Bob!

September 12, 2011 by Robbie in Cortez

Kindergarten Humor

September 11, 2011 by Robbie in Cortez

We have had Oregon weather for the past two days with dark overcast skies and rain. It's been wonderful hearing the the pitter-patter of rain on our aluminum roof. Isabell and I went to Santa Fe to look for clothes for her. It was nice getting out and walking around. Today we will go to Espanola and do a little grocery shopping.

Quick funny Kindergarten story. We just finished reading and one of the activities was to name a part of your body. "What's on your head?" "Hair!" They would respond. So, Anyway here is there response to another question.

Mr. Cortez: "What's under your nose?"

Children: "Boogers!"

Not exactly the response I was looking for, but it was quite funny and I had a good laugh about it!

Back to the daily grind

September 06, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Well, we had a golden opportunity of a 3 day weekend without Isabell and no work!  (Isabell went to the Four Corners Folk Festival with friends)  What you may ask did we do with our exciting time?  Not much!  Robbie had a cold last week, and by Thursday it hit me with a vengence.  Although the Nyquil allowed (forced) us to sleep in, we spent a lot of the weekend running errands and blowing our noses. 

 On an up note, we picked up a bushel of green chile from our friends farm, and for a little extra they roasted it for us.  Robbie and I then spent 3 hours peeling, seeding, chopping and bagging the chile.  Most of it went right in the freezer, except for the cup or so that went into a rockin green chile mac & cheese.  Perfect comfort food!

On a down note, we went up to Taos on Monday, and while heading out of town decided to drive in to the Ford dealership to look a the sticker prices on a couple of cars.  We weren't sure if they were open, but one of the gates was partially open, so we figured we'd just drive in really quick to check out the prices.  Unfortunately the low gate swang back a little and Robbie ran into it.  While there's not much outward damage, the radiator got a crack.  After a few hours getting it towed down to Espanola (buy a very nice company, who was actually closed, but took care of us and gave us a ride all the way home) we got my car and picked up Isa.  Thank goodness insurance will cover most everything including the towing and rental car!  It was a good reminder of why we should never attempt to go anywhere on a holiday, when everything is closed.

I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone this weekend.  I'm hoping all the green chile stew I'm making will blow the cold away and you won't have to avoid me like the plague!

Storm

August 26, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Hey Sadie & Greg!  I'm sure it will just be a crappy storm with lots of rain by the time it reaches you, but would you please post to let us all know that you're ok in MA?

Home

August 22, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Well, we got messed up on our trip days, so we stopped updating where we were.  Now we are all home!

Robbie had a terrible time getting home due to weather delays.  He ended up staying the night in DC and getting home Tuesday morning.  Hanni stayed in ABQ and met him at the airport, where they rented a car for the week.  Isa and I drove and drove and made it home on Saturday.  I don't think I've ever heard Isa so excited to get back to NM before!  We spent Sunday running errands and doing laundry.  Isa also dyed her hair red, which looks amazingly good.  In the evening we all went to the movies - Robie and I to One Day, and Hanni and Isa to Smurfs. 

This morning she and Robbie were off to school early since Isa was so excited to get back to here friends.  Hanni left for the airport shortly after, and now I'm here catching up on work and making very long lists of things to do (easier to make the lists than work through them :) )

Love to all, and more later!

Day 14 Niagra Falls to East NY

August 07, 2011 by Robbie in Cortez

Day 12 Harrisonburg VA to PA

August 05, 2011 by Robbie in Cortez

Day 10 SC to Williamsburg VA

August 03, 2011 by Robbie in Cortez

Day 9 Lenoir NC/ Pisgah National Forest

August 02, 2011 by Robbie in Cortez

Day 8 Morning in Savannah then north to NC

August 01, 2011 by Robbie in Cortez

Day 7 Savannah GA

July 31, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Day 6 Leaving Clanton AL for Savannah GA

July 30, 2011 by Robbie in Cortez

Day 5 Leaving New Orleans into Mississippi

July 29, 2011 by Robbie in Cortez

Day 4 New Orleans

July 28, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Hello all!  We walked down Burbon Street last night, and I think Isa and Robbie had a little culture shock :)  It's sort of like Old Town Portland with open containers!

This morning we got up and walked to the Cafe du Monde for coffee and biengetts (?).  We strolled along some of the streets, but Isa was having a lot of problems with the heat.  She and I headed back to the hotel, and Robbie continued exploring.  I think we'll take some time to cool off and then head out again.

Sadie, I worry that Robbie and Isabell will get tired of all my comments starting with "when Sadie and I were on our trip..."  We're really excited to see you all!  Hogs & Quiches to all of you!!

Day 3

July 27, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Hello all!  We made it to New Orleans, where we're splurging and staying at a hotel near the French Quarter.  It's muggy and overcast, but we're looking forward to exploring.  We'll be here for 2 nights, and Isa is looking forward to a ghost tour tomorrow night!

Day 3 Leaving Texas today. Amennnn!

July 27, 2011 by Robbie in Cortez

Day 2 leaving fort stockton, texas

July 26, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Adam!

July 20, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Happy birthday big brother!!  We can't wait to see you in August and toast to you properly!

House sitters

July 18, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Arggg!  All of our house sitters are falling through!  Anyone know anyone who wants to vacation for 3 weeks in New Mexico???

Contact Information

July 15, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Hello all!  We've spent the last 2 weeks moving to the new house.  It's been crazy and tiring, but we're finally getting settled in.  We were excitedly waiting for the DSL to get hooked up this morning, when the service guy discovered that the phone line had been shredded when they graded the road.  They got in a temporary line, but it will be 1-2 weeks before the new burried line is in.  Now we will have REAL highspeed internet, yeah!! 

Our new mailing address is: PO Box 805, Chimayo, NM 87522

Our physical address is: 29 Plaza del Cerro, Chimayo, NM  87522

Our new phone number is: 505-351-2360 (we have to go buy a new phone, so don't call us yet!).  We still have our cell phones, but service is sketchy.

As soon as we're a little more organized I'll get some photos posted!  Hugs to all.

Happy Father's Day!

June 19, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Happy Fathers day everyone!  We're really blessed to have so many amazing men in this family.  We love you all!!

Summer

June 13, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

We had a great time in Santa Fe this weekend.  It was fun to meet new family and eat great food and wine!  Isa would want me to add that anywhere with a swimming pool is perfect!  She unfortunately ended up with a sunburn on Sat, but is recovering quickly.  She even managed to sleep until 10:15 this morning!  Although... that may be because we stayed up late watched episodes of Firefly.

Sadie!!!!

June 10, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Happy birthday to you!  Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, we love you!  Happy birthday to you!!!!!

Quick update

June 03, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Our electricity was restored last night, so I am blissfully typing away from home!  The fire is still burning in areas, but the crews are getting it under control.  It was kind of cool to watch the huge planes and helicopters dropping water all day.  Robbie saw them refilling at the monastery's reservoir, and said it was amazing to watch.

Isabell is off to the Four Corners Folk Festival this weekend with Gennys' family, so we're all alone.  I think we'll work on more packing, bleh.

We're ok!

June 02, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

It's been an eventful 24 hours here.  Robbie and I were coming back from Taos yesterday (Isa had stayed at home playing with a friend who lives here too), and about 5 miles from Sipapu we saw smoke, and then large flames up on the ridge.  By the time we got to the highway below the ridge, the fire had jumped the highway.  We made it through just before they closed the road.

When we got home, there was no power, water, or sewer (we have our own water treatment plant at Sipapu, but the pumps are powered by electricity).  It sounds like a power line went down and sparked the blaze. 

It was a little touch and go if we would need to evacuate, but thankfully the wind pushed the blaze west - away from us.  The fire crews have been working nonstop, and the planes were out all morning dropping fire retardent.  So far they contained the fire at the original location (above the Buddhist monastary for those familiar with the area), and are still working on the other side (up the highway towards Taos).  It sounds like 2000+ acres have burned so far.

The crew here picked up 2 large generators from Los Alamos, so we now have power at the main lodge, and the water and sewer are working.  It's been a great excuss to BBQ everything in the freezer, and eat a lot of ice cream!

We'll keep you posted as we get better connection to the internet!  Love to all!!

And we're off!

May 30, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

House inspection at 10am!

Happy Birthday Jennifer!!

May 26, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Wow!  Happy birthday sis!  We love you sooooooooooo much!!

Wow!

May 19, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

A counter-offer we can live with! Keep your fingers crossed!!

Long overdue life updates

May 18, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

It’s been a long time since I’ve giving an actual update on our lives, so hear it goes!

Well, there’s only 1 week left of school down here!  Robbie will have a few extra teacher work days, but both of them will be finished by Memorial Day weekend.  There have been endless end-of-year activities.  Isa had her spring preformance at school, where she participated in the recycled fashion show, a stilt club dance, and irish dancing with live music (her best friends dad is a wonderful fiddler, and 2 of the boys in the 6th grade accompanied on guitar).  Tomorrow is art and rootbeer float day, and on the 28th she has her trapeze preformance, which is a mad scientist version of Allison in Wonderland.

Depending on the living situation we’re hoping to go on a couple of short camping trips, and day trips.  After 3 years here (how’d that happen?), there is still a lot of the state we haven’t visited.

 We’ve all been debating on what to do with the first part of the summer, before the big road trip to Maine.  Isa has asked to do nothing (I think you all wore her out last summer!).  Robbie has been debating a couple of classes and programs to gear up for his master’s program this fall.  If I can pull it off, I want to find some volunteer opportunities working with middle and high school kids.  I’m going to try to get into the alternative licensure program at Northern next year (the same program Robbie was in last year), but I’d be working towards a secondary license. 

In addition to my work, I got back the fitting notes and pictures for Sadie’s wedding dress.  Now it’s back to work revising and repatterning so she can be radiant in August!

We decided to pull out of the house we’d been trying to buy in Alcalde.  It had dragged on for 5 months, and looked like it would drag on even longer, without any guarantee that we’d be able to convince the bank to do the required work, or the lender to approve the property.  We put a bid on a beautiful (already remodeled) little house in Chimayo last Friday.  The house has been on the market for 2 years, and we seriously under-cut their asking price, but I’m hoping it will still work out.  We should hear today or tomorrow if they accept or counter.   

We can’t wait to see you all in August!

Happy birthday Yayoe!

May 13, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Have a wonderful birthday - we miss you!

Happy Mother's Day!

May 08, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

To all my mothers, grandmothers, step-mothers, mothers-in-law, aunts, sisters, sisters-in-laws, Happy Mother's Day!

To all the other women in my life who, while not family, have still helped to support, shape and influence me in my life, Happy Mother's Day to you too!

Interestingly enough, the woman who helped found Mother's Day, in honour of her own mother, later sued the government because of the over-commercialization of the holiday.  A good reminder that today is not about cards and gifts (though those are nice!), but about truly honouring the women in our lives who make a difference.

I love you all!!

ugg

April 26, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Snow yesterday, and more today.  Yuck.  That's all there is to say.

Happy Easter!!!!!!!!!

April 24, 2011 by Robbie in Cortez

Happy Easter!  We've had an eventful Easter Weekend.  Dad and Anne flew to Albuquerque on Thursday, drove up to Santa Fe, where we met them for dinner. On Good Friday morning, Seraph and I drove down to Espanola and navigated slowly to Chimayo where we met Dad, Anne, and Isabell (She slept over with them). The roads were already packed at 8:30am with walkers. A fifteen minute drive took us a little over a half an hour to arrive in Chimayo.  There, we dropped off my car and walked a bit looking for my dad. They were a bit late because of incoming traffic.

By the time we arrived in Nambe (10 miiles away), it was already 10:30am. It definitely was the warmest day of the pilgrimages I have taken. It was different having family along as I usually went by myself, however it was fun sharing it with loved ones. The first half of the trip went easily enough with throngs of people in pursuit of happiness, blessings and sore bodies. by the second half our bodies were tiring and our feet were definitely sore. Two miles from Chimayo the narrow roads were overly crowded with cars and the edge of the road crumbled beneath our feet.

Three and half hours later we arrived at the Santuario, touched the church, prayed, walked over to the Rancho de Chimayo Restaurant to celebrate and numb ourselves with wine and beer.

Overall, we didin't come back to shabby. Seraph had a few blisters and coverted to a red neck (sun burn). Isabell did surprisingly well, and only complained toward the last few miles and only came back with a few sun burned spots. As for Dad and Anne they did very well with a few sore areas. To end it all, they have announced they are getting married in June. Congratulations!!!!

Saturday, Isabell had an Easter egg hunt at Dixon and came way like a bandit, and then we all went to Questa to see Grandma, and my Uncle and Aunt.

Seraph for some reason or another has decided to have a small Russian Easter today. You'd think she would not miss the chaos of cooking for a heard of small elephants, but she said she missed the chaos and wanted to celebrate with friends and family. As Charlie Brown famously says, "Good Grief!"

Well, we are now preparing for church and I'll let Seraph give you more detail on the Russian Feast later on

Easter

April 21, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Kulich - check, Pascha - check, Chocolate Almond Torte - check, Perogies - check.

Easter season has officially started! 

(Mom - I nearly cried with happiness when the cookbook arrived - and the bunny story was great too.  Poor Robbie was regaled with stories of Easter's past as I went through each recipe!)

Weekend

April 03, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

It's been a sad weekend down here.  On Friday night one of my co-worker's (Alan) son died in a car accident.  He was about my age, and while he'd had some rough times, he was one of those people everyone like.  Isa and I will be going out to the families property tomorrow, where he'll be buried.  Isa sadly pointed out that this is the second funeral she's attended since we moved here.

Hawaii

March 11, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Yayoe - I just read about the tsunami waves hitting Hawaii.  Would you please let us know if Josh, Jody and the boys are ok?

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

March 05, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

So your like, almost 40 now, right??

at the coffee shop

February 25, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Back to normal??

February 08, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Well Robbie & Isa are back to school today (yeah!!).  There are still a lot of places without natural gas, but they must have realized that an angry mob of parents that were going to show up at the capital if they didn't get the kids back to school.  We're still under a state of emergency - not that you'd ever hear about that in the news!

Oh, and thanks for the comments yesterday, we did manage to get groceries without eating any tourists or Texans!

(Here's a picture from Isa's mystery birthday party)

Family Updates

February 07, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Well, Robbie and Isa are still out of school.  Hopefully (for my sanity if nothing else) the gas will be restored tomorrow.  I did make Isa do "school work" this morning.  Some math and reading worksheets we found on-line.  Most of Taos and Espanola are closed down, as well as the smaller communities.  We've has snow the last few days, so I continue to be thankful for our big fireplace.  I suppose the nation will persivere, as Texas did find the power to keep the Super Bowl going, even if they couldn't get the electric to the pipelines.

We're heading out to look for an open grocery store, and maybe run some errands if possible.  Love to all!

What the...?

February 03, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Well, I guess the energy crisis has begun.  At least in NM.

Robbie & Isa headed out late this morning - 2 hour delays in their district.  Robbie just called to say that school has now been cxl'd due to a natural gas shortage.  Most of the schools in the state are heated with ng, so currently there are about 200 closures in the northern part of the state (ok, not all of these are heat related).  Apparently our state has extensive ng resourses, but no real infrastructure for it (propane and wood are still cheeper heating sources).  Sigh... makes me glad we have a fireplace and warm blankets!

(Yes, that's frost on the inside of our 3" thick front door!)

Silly things on a cold day

February 03, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Ok, this was a "must share" with my family:

http://artofmanliness.com/2011/01/30/22-manly-ways-to-reuse-an-altoids-tin/

Snow!

February 02, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Robbie and I just dug the cars out.  We had 20" of snow over the last 2 days, and it's been really cold out!!  While Robbie & Isa's schools were open yesterday, the highway in front of our house was closed, so they each got a school day.  This morning they had 2-hour delays, so they head out to school in a few minutes.  The problem from living where you work - no snow days here!

Birthdays!

February 02, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Happy Birthday Destin!!!!  Robbie and I always measure the length of our relationship by your age - 15 years and counting!  Have some fun, as the next 15 will go far too fast.  Luv ya dude.

Birthday parties

January 23, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

We're slowly recovering from Isa's birthday mystery/slumber party!  A night of 6 hyper girls is enough to wear me out, but everyone had fun.  Wow - 10 years old!!!

I Love Boobie bracelets

January 21, 2011 by Robbie in Cortez

I had an interesting conversation with my sixth graders today about "I Love Boobie" bracelets. One of the boys was wearing one, and I asked him if he was wearing it because he was supporting breast cancer awareness. He smiled shyly and I didn't even have to decipher that smile. My other student, with a serious face, said, "No, I just love boobies." I did tell them that buying this bracelet supported a good cause. Afterwards, I thought back to my grade school days, and probably would of said the same thing. Boys are just boys!

Go Ducks!

January 10, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Our restaurant manager is a former Oregonian, so we were able to convinced him to keep the bar open late tonight for the BCS game.  I did promise not to wear anything that identified me as an employee - just in case we get obnoxious : )

New Year Wishes

January 01, 2011 by Seraph in Cortez

Happy New Year!!  Here's hoping that 2011 is even better than 2010!

I got 4 girls (Isa and 3 friends) fed up on crepes and whipping cream (glutten free recp per Adam - Thank You!!), and now their out sleding.  Now a few quiet moments with my own breakfast and coffee.  So far the year is good!