a little bit of halloween

We don't usually do much for Halloween, but this year we are a part of a potluck group and we carved pumpkins as our after-dinner activity. This is ours!! He's a cyclops jack o'lantern.

yes, my phone is stupid

I think one of the most socially unacceptable things Alex and I do because we are trying to pay off all of our debts is hang on to our 'stupidphones'. 

We save about $100/month by not having expensive 'smartphones'. Both of our phones can actually access the internet, and our plan gives us unlimited data, so we're not completely in the stone age.

So, the stupidphones are ok with me, but I am tired of people making comments about my phone! Couple of the gems I've heard at work...

"Sara, isn't time your phone went back a decade, where it belongs?"

"Wanna join this century and get a real phone?"

I wonder why everyone is so obsessed with my phone...probably because it's AWESOME! ;)

Alternatively, I work in a place that is driven by new technology.

could be worse...

As Alex and I struggle with living in a small space and making everything fit, I find this video very reassuring! This is the smallest apartment in London. The shower is in the toilet!!

Makes me feel a little better about our tiny space.

grizzly after a bath

This is the Grizzly dog right after we give him a bath! He goes nuts rubbing his head on the carpet!! So funny. :)

first fire of the winter

Ok, so I know it's not winter yet, but it felt like it in Colorado when we got back from New Mexico! Alex surprised me with some firewood and our first fire of the season (and in this apartment) in the cold apartment when we got back! Look at it go!

balloon fiesta! - individual balloons

Here are some of my favorite balloons from the fiesta.

 HEARTS

 ELVIS

 WHEN PIGS FLY

 CLOCK

PEANUT THE ELEPHANT

balloon fiesta! - mass ascension

Here they are - mass ascension pictures!! There are a lot of them!!

 A line of balloons inflating

balloon fiesta! - dawn patrol

The dawn patrol this year was about seven balloons!

Here they are, lined up.

And here they are, in the sky twinkling!

balloon fiesta! - morning glow

At the Balloon Fiesta, they have a few different events that are fun to go to.

Mass Ascension - when all the balloons go up in the morning

Dawn patrol/Morning glow - 5-10 balloons inflate and light up, then launch before all the other balloons

Evening glow - the balloons all inflate on the field, and glow in the dark night

We went down to the field in time for the dawn patrol/morning glow. Here are a couple of my best 'glow' pictures!

balloon fiesta! - inflating a balloon

Last year, we went down to Albuquerque, NM and stayed with my aunt and uncle for Albuquerque's annual Balloon Fiesta, and had so much fun that we went again this year!

This year, we decided to go down the field for the mass ascension of balloons into the air. (We skipped it last year because you have to get up so early - we got up at 4:15AM to make it there!!)

It was really dark, so hopefully you can see the pictures well enough.

 They bring the baskets and balloons to the field, here is a basket in a truck.

 They lay the balloons out flat on the field, with the baskets at the open end.

 Then they start to fan air into the balloon, to get it inflated.

 Members of the balloon's crew turn the balloon, pulling out more fabric to make sure the whole thing gets air in it.

The balloons are fully inflated, laying on the ground before they heat the air inside them to stand them up.

Stay tuned - many more pictures to come!!

Grizzly lounging

I know that I've posted a few of these pictures, but it just amazes me how much Grizzly sleeps!! Look at him all perched on the arm of the couch...and notice that there is plenty of couch available behind him!

a bear on the trail!

Ok, we didn't see an actual bear. But I thought it was one for a second. On the way back from our hike in Durango, we were hiking, minding our own business...and there on the trail was....this!

One of the the BIGGEST dogs I've ever seen. As he looked at us, we waited for a human to come walking down the trail after him, but none ever did! Unfortunately, this guy took an interest in Grizzly, who more unfortunately did not take an interest in him.

And despite our best attempts, he spent an hour hiking to the end of the trail with us. We called him "Monster" as we hiked...because he was that big. We looked around the trail head for his owner, but never found anyone to claim him.

Grizzly and his new best friend! (This picture doesn't show near how big he is!!)

hiking in Durango

 We also got to do some hiking while were in Durango! We found a great trail down the road from the cabin, and spent the day hiking!


<---Grizzly waiting for Alex to come to the trail!

 Fall colors on the trail!
 

                 


Views from close to the highest point on the trail

 When we could safely climb down to it, we climbed down to the river, rested, and had a snack.

Grizzly also liked playing in the river a little, until he discovered it was cold!!

Oh, and everything people say about fresh mountain spring water...it is excellent. :)

eating out in Durango

Before we went to Durango, we started saving up our entertainment budget so that we could have some spending money while we were there. We used some of it to go out to eat the first night we were there. We found this awesome little cafe with a great view!! The pictures don't even close to do it justice.

Even though no one probably cares, Alex got a chimichunga and I got a roast beef sandwich and both were delicious!!

trip to Durango

Thanks to some way far in advance budgeting and intense saving, we were able to go to Durango this past weekend. We stayed in a cabin at an RV park (not as bad as it sounds!!) that was surprisingly nice, even though it was on the small side. The great thing about the cabin lodging was that we could take Grizzly with us and didn't have to leave him with anyone.

The drive up was sooo pretty, since the leaves were changing. The timing couldn't have been more perfect for that. Here are some shots I took as we drove!