Lauren Visits Albuquerque

Lauren decided to visit us a few weekends ago. She flew in on Thursday and I picked her up without Alex knowing. She went to the front door and knocked and Alex had to do a double take before opening the door. He was very exicited to see her. I had already tricked Alex into getting off work on Friday so he was able to spend Friday with her and that night we had a guys/girls night. So, I invited some of my friends over and they were able to meet Lauren. Then, we decided to go to the tram on Sunday. We have been here a year and still had not gone to the tram! If I ever tell anyone I live in Albuquerque, I hear "Oh have you been on the tram and seen the balloon festival?" As of a few weeks ago, we had not done either. So, we went on the "World's Longest Tramway." It was a really fun experience. The whole tramride was a beautiful view of the city and there were places to hike and a restaurant that we ate at that was on the top of the mountain. We had a great time!

Albuquerque meets Josh

We have been able to have a lot of company over the past month. Alex's friend, Ryan, came down and spent a weekend with us on his way to Colorado. Then, Josh came to visit us on his way home from Colorado. It was a lot of fun to have him here. He was here for about a week. Alex and Josh played a lot of card games, we went to the movies and out to dinner a few times. It was nice to be able to spend some time with him.

A New Addition to Our Family

Well, Alex and I have wanted a dog for quite some time. So, a couple weeks ago we went to a few animal shelters in Albuquerque and finally found our dog! We named her Misty and she is an Australian Cattle Dog. She is about 2 years old and a ball of energy. She has become a perfect addition to our family.
We found out the day we adopted her that she had heart worm, but we took her to a vet and she is being treated for it, so in about six months she should be good as new. We have really enjoyed having her around. Alex built her a cage (well that is quite an underestimate, it has taken over our living room) and we try to take her on a walk or run every night. She has been really good for us!

The Billingsley Bunch

We went to a family reunion a few weeks ago. It was a nice weekend away and it was fun to see everyone! There was great food and it was nice to catch up with the family. There was about 100 people there. We had family Olympics and a talent show. We had a great time!

4th of July

For the 4th of July we decided to come back to Arizona for the weekend. We went to Alex's parents for the 3rd of July and watched fireworks there and for the 4th of July we brought my brothers sparklers to play with.
There wasn't many fireworks this year to watch, but it seemed we all had a lot more fun with poppers and sparklers.Of course this was the only time I remembered to take my camera out the whole weekend, but we had a lot of fun!

The McAlister's in Albuquerque

I have been terrible about taking pictures and even worse about posting! My parents came up to visit us about a month ago. We had a lot of fun! We went to the casino one night, but mostly we just hung out around the house. It was great being able to show them where we have been living. We really enjoyed having them at our house!

Happy Birthday Alex!

For Alex's Birthday this year, his parents bought us plane tickets to come visit everyone in Arizona. They had a big party for him and it was a lot of fun. It was really nice to see everyone! Mark instantly fell in love with their new puppy, Johnny. He held the dog all night.
We played horseshoes and boccie ball and had so much food!
I called Tim earlier in the month and asked him if he would pick out a gun for Alex because Alex had really been wanting one. Alex was really surprised when he opened his present and really liked it. He walked around with it the rest of the night.
All in all, it was a great party and we both enjoyed ourselves a lot!

Flat Stanley Meets New Mexico

For one of Mark's school projects, he sent us Flat Stanley. Flat Stanley is a cardboard cutout that the recipients are suppose to decorate and take on adventures, then return to the original owner. Alex and I decorated Flat Stanley like an Air Force Officer, then he went to work with Alex.Then, he went to work with me.We took him hiking and a lot of other random "adventures". It is amazing how excited everyone got when we brought Flat Stanley somewhere and how quickly everyone got together to figure out the next fun picture we could take of him. We had so many pictures to send back to Mark.
When we came back to Arizona, Mark met us at the airport so he could meet Flat Stanley for the first time.
Alex and I really had fun with Flat Stanley.

The Death March

For months Alex trained for the Bataan Memorial Death March Marathon with a 35 lb. pack. He ran up a mountain near our house with another one of our friends a few times and went on long runs every Sunday, not to mention the other "short runs" he ran daily.

A few days before the race, Josh came to stay with us. Then, the day before the race, Tim and Diane came too. We all drove to Las Cruces, New Mexico together and the next day they raced.

It looks like all the training paid off, because Alex placed 11th out of 382. Alex, Josh, and Tim all crossed the finish line together. It was a really neat experience.

Quick Update

As I was so kindly reminded my Amber, I have not posted in awhile. Alex and I have both been really busy. However, that also means that we finally have a routine!

Basically our life right now consists of both of us working a lot. It is tax season, which means I get to work 6 days a week and I get to teach cute little 3 year olds the other day. It is really nice to finally be busy, but I have to admit April 16th is going to be a great day.

Alex is getting settled into his job and has lots of projects assigned to him. Also, he just started school at the University of New Mexico to get his masters in Electrical Engineering. I don't know how he has the motivation, but he seems to be enjoying it. He is also training to run his marathon at the end of March, so we are planning a trip down to Las Cruses, New Mexico for that.

Every Saturday night, there are a group of us that take turns hosting "Game Night." We have had so much fun. We have played everything from Cranium to Charades.

Also, Alex's parents came and visited on Valentine's Day. It was a lot of fun to have some family up here. They even joined in on our game night. But, of course, I did not have my camera charged, and I still don't have my camera charged so I don't have any pictures. I will try to remember to charge it and post some pictures.

We celebrated our 1 year anniversary this past Sunday. We rented lots of movies and just hung out all day. It sounds lame, but that is our favorite thing to do and it was really nice just to take a day off and hang out with each other. I can't believe it has already been a year, it is going by so fast!

We miss everyone and we love having company, so let us know if you feel the need for a vacation in Albuquerque...We would love to have you!

2 New Jobs

Right after I completed my training with H&R Block, I got an e-mail from a CPA firm that I had applied to in October . I had really wanted to work with a CPA firm, but I had given up hope for awhile. Anyways, I decided to go on an interview during one of my trips back from Arizona. I ended up getting the job and so I quit H&R Block and started working last Wednesday for Vaughn Group. I love it so far. It is a small office (about 10 of us) and they do taxes, audits, financial planning, bookkeeping, etc. I feel like I will learn a lot! Also, last week, I started teaching the 3 year olds at church. They are a lot of work, but they sure are cute! So, I plan on being pretty busy for awhile, but busy it way better than being bored at home : )

New Year's Eve Wedding

On New Year's Eve we went to Alex's best friend, Ryan's, wedding. Alex was the best man.
The ceremony
Me and Jennifer, it was a cold night so we stole our date's jackets.
Kyle, Ryan, and Alex. Truly, the 3 musketeers. Kyle was one of the groomsmen and both Ryan and Kyle were groomsmen for our wedding.

I thought this picture was pretty funny. The wedding photographer saw us dancing and decided to take our camera and take pictures of us on it. When I was looking through pictures during the night I was a little surprised to find a whole bunch of random pictures, but she quickly explained where they came from. I thought it was really nice.

The wedding turned our beautiful. It was a really fun way to spend New Year's Eve!

Mark and Jake Meet New Mexico

After Christmas, Alex and I drove my brothers with us to New Mexico. It was so much fun! I only wish they could have been here for longer! The first night they got here, we had a second Christmas planned for them with a few presents for each of them. One of the presents was a sled and they immediately went out to the backyard to test it out. When the came back inside, Jake kept opening up the back door because he said he forgot what the snow looked like and he wanted to be reminded. The next day, we took the boys to a real sled run at a ski resort close by with some friends and we had a lot of fun (except I forgot my camera again and have no pictures). Then, we came home and had fondue for dinner. Mark really enjoyed it and Jake ate some cereal : )
Here is a picture of Mark relaxing on the couch while watching a movie.This was Jake's healthy dinner the first night while we ate Spaghetti.Alex and Mark played Zelda (a video game) for hours. Jake did some aerobics on the couch : )

Me and Alex were really excited to have my brothers come up with us! They were so good the whole time!

Four Christmases!!

We had a wonderful Christmas time this year. Of course, I forgot my camera, so I keep stealing all the pictures that everyone else took! We started our Christmas celebration at Alex's Grandma's house on Christmas Eve. All of his family was over there and we exchanged presents and had a wonderful dinner.Then, we went to my parent's house and waited for Santa to bring Mark and Jake their presents. After we opened presents there, we went over to my Grandparents house with all of my family. We opened presents there and ate our traditional Christmas dinner of pasties. It was a lot of fun! Alex and I decided to do a Zelda scavenger hunt for my brothers to find their present. I made them scrolls for their clues and uniforms to wear. Alex made them each a sword and shield and "bad guys" that they had to fight with their swords. At the end, they found a Wii game. It was really fun for us to watch. I will edit this post and post some pictures of it when Cindi sends some to me... Here are a couple pictures of the "bad guys" Alex built.

Christmas, evening we went to Alex's parents house and opened presents there with his family. We stayed in Arizona until the end of the weekend relaxing and having fun with our families. It was a great trip.