New Mexican Christmas

Here is our traditional New Mexican meal with El Monterey enchiladas, green chile corn, tamales, beans, and chips with salsa and guacamole. MMMMM how we miss Mexican food!
We made gingerbread houses and this gorgeous piece of work is Carrie's
Here our Christmas pj's. Every year our mom gives us Christmas pj's to wear.

Our Anniversary

The night of our anniversary we went out to eat at an Italian restaraunt.














A little culture from the marketplace in a nearby tourist city.










































































































Thanks to our parents who sent so many presents to make this Christmas a little easier to bear.

Christmastime in the city...

For this pretty thang we had to drive 5 hours to find. It was in the middle of a large snow covered field. It took us 3 hours to chop it down. I had to hire 3 men to carry it to the train where they strapped it on top. It was quite an ordeal, but well worth it as you can see.

I would like to suggest that these are our city's way of decorating the city for Christmas, but sadly, it is not. This is just what it looks like every night. Very pretty!

This is a shot of Cody and Carrie in front of the main fountain and mosque in the city.

We thought we would throw a little cultural pic in here. In the old part of the city, this is how most things are moved around, by mule and cart. This is because the streets are so narrow.

Messy Dar (House)

I am lord of the sea!!! All who see me cower in fear!!!

Here is a random taxi shot.

This post is entitled "Messy Dar" for good reason. Carrie and I have had a little trouble keeping things picked up. But... just so our mothers don't have a heart attack, we now have it all clean and neat. We hope it will stay that way. :)

Eid al Shokra (Feast of Thanks)

Cody performing his Thanksgiving duty and royally screwed up the carving of the turkey. It ended up that we had shredded turkey instead of nice filets. Oh well, for next year I'll have someone send me an electric turkey carving saw. yeah, a turkey carving, gas powered saw... yeah, that's the ticket...


This, as you can see, is my dad's twin brother, Vladmir. We think he sort of looks like my dad. Anyhoo, this was a jazz concert we went too. It was "quite fantastic" as the people here would say.


This is the new rug Carrie just purchased. She is quite proud of it and therefore it must go on the blog.


Carrie couldn't decide between the two of these pictures. Sooooooooooo CUTE!!!

City Life

Here is the school where we study language.









This is some cous cous our neighbor friend made for us. It fed all of us for two days!




These are in the old part of town where there is shopping and food and such. As well as cute old blind men.

Here is Cody having a philisophical debate on whether the world is really round or flat.

Roman Ruins

We decided to renew our vows underneath this gorgeous archway. Just around the corner is pool of eels that if you feed boiled eggs too you will increase your fertility. You'll never guess where we visited next!






This photos are of ancient Roman Ruins. I think it was a fort of some sorts or something like that. Anyway we feel more cultured just for going.















This is a random picture Cody took of Carrie leaving the bathroom in our apartment. "Your sooo vain, I bet you think this post is about you...."

The City

This gorgeous beach is only a 10 minute walk from our apartment.












This is an old fort thing on the beach, these are some cute tourists we got a pic of



Little boy on the old street.

WE ARE HERE!!!

The last week has been very busy with trying to get our new life in order. Internet is very sporadic, so we will post as often as we can. As you can see, our apartment rocks! We have a great kitchen with a brand new fridge and a great stove.

















This next picture is the view from our apartment. It is a graveyard across the street. Carrie and I go strollin' through there at night looking for potential friends.













This is a great candid shot of Cody in our new study. Oh, the study. Carrie just missed me pulling out my pipe and smoking jacket before reading a little Thoreau.


















This last photo is of our living room. Here in north Africa the couch looking thing is called a "farach." It is very comfortable and great for large groups.

Back home in LC

A great pic of Cody eating pizza in the airport. I promise these post will get more interesting!!! We arrived back in LC and have been packing our bags to leave this Sunday.

Another Glorious Day in our Capital

Here are some more pics from DC. We went back on Saturday and it rained the whole day! Here's Carrie giving her presidential speech. Unfortunately George was busy this day so we were unable to have tea with him. Maybe next time.

Washington D.C.

If only the photographer had caught Carrie pushing me in afterwards.

Camping Trip

Here is pic of the family from our camping trip in Ruidoso last week. It was Cody's Birthday so we camped out in tents and the back of the pick up!

First Entry

Here is our first photo. More stuff to come!!!