We're back

Well, it's been a while. You'll notice there are no pictures in this post. That is because I left the camera & cable in the car and I am too lazy to go get it, and it is too cold. So you'll see pictures later. Here's an update of what we have been doing the past couple weeks. Chad worked 48 hours Monday and Tuesday of last week, and Wednesday we went on a 16 mile backpacking trip in the Juniper Mesa Wilderness. The weather was perfect during the day--sunny and in the 30s. You may think this is cold weather, but it was actually nice when we were huffing and puffing and the sun was shining on us. The really cold part was when we camped on top of the mesa at night and it got down to 11 degrees. The water in our Nalgene bottles was freezing as the wind was blowing. We snuggled in our warm sleeping bags in our tent, and I wore the new down jacket Chad got me for Christmas. Then, it was too hot. Hard to strike a happy medium! But, better to be warm and be able to get cooler than not to be able to warm up at all. The backpacking trip was fun except for the blister I got on each foot...the one on my right foot was actually on the bottom of my heel. I didn't even know you could get blisters on the bottom of your heel. Well, if you haven't gotten one of those, you haven't lived.

We got back from our trip and spent a restful few days at home. Chad worked Christmas Eve and came home Christmas morning. I had made breakfast, so we ate and then opened presents. Chad got a ton of DVDs and CDs and some gear, and I got a brand new sewing machine, dishes, CDs, cookware, and the jacket I mentioned earlier. We lounged around Christmas Day and took all our boxes & wrapping to the recycling bin (I couldn't believe how many boxes just the two of us accumulated for Christmas alone), and got ready for our next trip. The 26th we drove to Vegas to spend a couple days with Emily, Joey, Riley and Josey. It was a lot of fun to hang out with them, and our nieces are just adorable. Then Thursday we drove to San Diego to see the Aggies play in the Holiday Bowl, and we won't talk about that game. It was fun anyway, and we got to see the Aggie band play twice. As usual, the Aggies won at halftime even though we didn't win the game. Being there made me excited to go to even more A&M games when we get back to Texas.

And so now, I am in my classroom, planning what I will teach my students over the next 20 weeks. Looking at a new year is always exciting, especially this year for us and all the unknowns it holds right now. In the next few months we will know where we are moving, what our jobs will be, etc. Sometimes the thought of moving and getting new jobs is scary and daunting, but these next few months for me I think will be very exciting. Keep us in your prayers as we look at making some pretty big decisions...and look for pictures in the next few days.

New Pics

Here are some new pics of me at work. After 3 weeks of our base being back open we had only done 2 calls.....until yesterday. Yesterday the crew did two calls and today we have done one so far. The holidays are always a little less than happy for some, which makes them busy for people like me. Anyways, enjoy and be safe on the roads this holiday season.



P.S. No comments allowed about how funny I look in my hemet.


About to take off















Our pilot Bob flying us over some Indian ruins on the way back home from PHX.






























Me in the air betwee PHX and Prescott

Oh the weather outside is...

Snowing, kind of. As I sit here writing this post there are a good number of flurries outside, but they are mostly tiny little snowballs (think Dippin Dots, the ice cream of the "future") that really just roll off everything and don't stick. The weather is supposed to get a little worse tonight. We were going to go backpacking tomorrow but Chad is working instead so we will leave on Wednesday, for two days only. We both decided that 2 days is plenty in the cold weather. Tonight is supposed to get to 16 degrees...brrrr. Okay, the snow has turned into fat flakes now. My favorite.

Anyway, not much new here. I did get tickets to the holiday bowl where the Aggies will play the Golden Bears, which as far as I can tell do not really exist in wildlife. I have never heard of a golden bear. So it's the matchup of the two mythical mascots. Anyhow, they are ranked #21 and #20 respectively, so they are pretty well matched. It should be a good game. So this week we're backpacking, next week we'll be in Vegas and San Diego, and then we'll be back home to start work again. :( That's about it from here. I knew I hadn't posted in a while so here it is. By the way, look for some pictures from our trips in the next couple weeks.

the Element: off-road

Here are some pictures from the weekend before last. There is this historical Stagecoach stop that is about 20 miles from Prescott down windng mountain dirt roads. I have been wanting to check this place out ever since i say it on a Forest Service map right after we moved here. Anywho, we set out in the Element and had quite the adventure. Using only a less-than-detailed forest service map and a giant orange box of a car, we set off in search of Palace Station. we ended up a a few roads that, although they weren't labeled 4X4 only, they should have been. One was barely wide enough for Ele (our car, and niece i suppose) to fit through. The area was gorgeous. Its like having Blue Haven in your backyard. Well, we mad a wrong turn and ended up a mile frm the top of one of the major mountains in the area that has a fie look-out tower at the top. I bet you can't do that in texas (arkansas maybe). we decided that we didn't have any pressing matters at hand so we hiked up to the top. Afterwards, we realized where our wrong turn had been and we began our journey back towards Palace station. Shawn called my wife (as he often does) as we were leaving the top, which surprised me at the fact that we got such great reception. When we finally arrived we were greeted by a sign that basically said: Palace Station. Look at a distance but do not trespass. People live here. Please respect their privacy. After driving all day on these horrible raods we couldn't even explore. It was a cool trip anyway

That was one sharp curve. I'm glad I got insurance on the rental car.

The beautiful Lesley at the top of Mt. Union.

Finally

Here are the pictures we promised, although you probably don't care about them now.

This is Lesley when she was a pateint for a nightime scenario with the Wilderness Emergency Care class I was teaching this semester. She was ejected from a bus that rolled over on mountainous terrain. She landed on a stick which implaed her back and gave her a severly collapsed lung. She also had copious amounts of cold, wet blood on her back, and laid in only a t-shirt and jeans in 25 degree weather. Then my students took FOREVER to find her. I finally had to lead them to her (I was supposed to be in the van crash, but i was uninjured, lucky for them)

A close up of her wound.

YUCK!!!!!!

My wonderful students doing a great patient assessment on Lesley. (They have no idea that their patient is the teacher's wife at this point.)

Trying to get Lesley, who is now truly shivering, into a sleeping bag.

They are so serious!!

Test

The Aggies are playing in the holiday bowl. If anyone knows how I can get decently priced tickets please let me know!

Help

Okay, So I am actually ready to post pictures, but all of the buttons are missing above this window...in other words there is no button to click to upload pictures. Any help would be appreciated.