Mike taking a rest and making it look easy!

Cool shot of the road back.  I was having a hard time with the downhills.  I did learn on race day that I do bette ron downhill when I have a group of people to chase!

Kind of bummed we didn’t get a lot of pictures of the local road race here.  Mike was able to place fifth in the time trial and rocked it, even though it was SNOWING while he did it.  He had to unclip at the turn and we think he would have placed higher if his turn was smoother.

This is the picture of the crit race, the same day.  He was able to stay with the team and Zia Velo came in for a win for the Category 5 racers!

This was my first road race on my road bike and it took place in Hillsboro, NM (about an hour and a half outside of town)…we seriously did not get a single picture of that day!  Mike paced 25th and I placed 12th.  I was riding by myself for half of the 32 miles I rode, so I was hurting!

Good times.  I would do it again!

I was going to be in Vegas for Mike’s birthday and I felt a little bad so I decided to make a special weekend for him in Las Cruces.  We decided to have a “staycation” and stay at a nice Holiday Inn Express here in town.  It ain’t no Mandalay Bay, but it was pretty nice and had an awesome hot tub and work out room!

Mike was able to hot tub before watching “The Walking Dead” finale and then we went out for ice cream right after.  The next morning I made an appointment for him to get a massage at Massage Envy.

Staycations rock!

I know its hard to tell from the picture, but for two nights straight, the dog’s in our neighborhood have been barking nonstop. Since Mike’s been out I’ve been a lot more paranoid about what’s going on outside. So last night I went to check and see what they were barking at. When I looked outside, there was a light going across the sky (like a plane or helicopter) and then it just STOPPED in its place. It stayed in the same spot for about five minutes straight and got brighter and then dimmer.

 

Eventually after thirty minutes of spying on it, it moved behind the houses behind us and then it was never seen again. Hmm….aliens?

This past year has been a little rough on Mike when it comes to anything medical. He lost his eyesight in April in his one eye, was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in May, started his Copaxone treatment in June, and we’ve been on watch since.

The last month or so has been trying to make sure he is still doing ok. He gre a large bump on his tongue and we were worried it was bad, so he had to get it removed and tested. Thankfully it was not cancer or anything!

Then Mike went in to get his eyes checked and he had to get retested for his eyesight. Unfortunately, he needs glasses.

Dialated eyes. Poor Mike. Hopefully this is it!

It had been almost a year since I had ridden Mundy’s Gap. I was going to go out and ride it to see if I was ready for the El Paso Puzzler. Let’s just say after this ride, I decided to opt out of the Puzzler this year.

Brent kicking my butt up the mountain.

Here I come!

Nice shot Mike!

Before the Schramms and Hooblers took off back to Arizona…we took a little ride on A Mountain!

The whole crew..

Coming up the trail…

The other side of A Mountain.

Mike going downhill on the hardest part of A Mountain!

Back in January, Mike took a day off to go with the boys snowboarding in Ruidoso.

Silliness on the lift.

At the top of the lift with Alex…

Alex with his skis…

I took some pictures of the decorations around the house and forgot to post them! (It’s also good for me to post them so I remember how to set up things for next year.)

The living room..

Barney’s new stocking..
My Christmas village getting bigger..thanks mom!

Well, another successful Christmas is down in the books. These are a little out of order, but here we go!

Christmas Eve Eve with Barney. We ate corn beef and cabbage (I have this new obsession with cooking with the crockpot) and then went for a little bike ride.

Christmas Eve Dinner. Actually, more like Christmas Eve lunch. Mike had to work that night, which really stunk, so we had it a little earlier. I made the reindeer bottles courtesy of Jen and Pinterest.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care.