About the Year

2006 turned out to be a year in transition for us. In April we moved from Phoenix to El Paso so that I could help open a brand new technical support department within the company. Money was tight during this time, as for about six months we were paying both a rent and a mortgage, but we did manage to squeeze in some long weekends back to Phoenix and a trip to California in the summer. We celebrated the October closing of our house in Phoenix with a trip to Riodoso, New Mexico.

Hunter

In February we decided to get a cat. We visited a couple local shelters, and we settled on a gray and white tabby; we named him Hunter. Here are some picture of him during the year, including Hunter's best Jaws impersonation.

One of the things Hunter would like to do when he was a kitten was hide in empty soda boxes. Here he is endorsing Mugs Root Beer and Coca-Cola.

California - June 2006

Alicia and I visited northern California over the summer. We spent half the week in Yosemite National Park, Alicia's first visit to the park, and the second half in San Francisco. We enjoyed the entire trip, and even though I had been to most of the places we went to it was still exciting to see several sightings of bears in Yosemite as well as the giant Sequoia trees for the first time. Alicia's favorite part of the trip was a train ride through Napa Valley, complete with many glasses of wine for both of us (most were just samples).

Click here for additional photos. Press play below to see a short video on some of the wildlife we saw while in Yosemite National Park.

Labor Day Weekend Golf Trip - September 2006

We spent Labor Day Weekend in Phoenix. I had my annual fantasy football drafts that I wanted to attend in person, and their were a couple golf outings. I played two courses that I've always wanted to play: Eagle Mountain in Fountain Hills and Rancho Manana in Cave Creek. I brought my camera along to take some pictures. In addition, I also took this opportunity to use my new camera phone (my first that could take pictures). While the photos certainly are not high enough quality to print out a 4"x6" photo, I liked a lot of the pictures and wanted to do something with them. I decided to create two postcard-style photos. One of them you can see below, and the other can be seen with the rest of the golf photos.

Birthday Trip - October 2006

Alicia and I went back to Phoenix in October to surprise my grandmother for her 80th Birthday celebration. Doug and Kris were also able to make it in from Houston, so the whole gang was here. We celebrated with dinner at the Biltmore. Over the weekend I also had a chance to squeeze in a round of golf with the UHack group that my father-in-law puts together.

Riodoso - October 2006

After five stressful months of very few visits on the house, we received an offer in September. Everything went like clockwork and we closed in October. Alicia and I celebrated with a trip to Riodoso, New Mexico, about a two and a half hour drive from El Paso. Check out this dedicated page for this trip.

Other Photographs

April 16- I spent my last day in Phoenix visiting family for Easter (Alicia stayed in Phoenix for another week). Here are Marie and Jami facing off against each other in Dance Revolution.

April 23 - The move to El Paso went very smooth. Moving is certainly never a fun task, but we were thrilled with our moving van. While we new the company we hired did a lot of work for ASU athletics, most of their trailers are orange with the Allied logo on it. We were lucky to get one of the ASU athletic trailers. Fortunately, our stuff made it through Tucson in one piece.

June 3 - Alicia's parents made their first visit to El Paso the first weekend in June. After a couple days, we all went to Tucson for one night as I wanted to play Tucson National with the UHack Group. We also wanted to visit my Aunt Janet, Connie, and Murphy (pictured here).

August 3 - Our first summer in El Paso turned out to be quite a wet one. Like Phoenix, El Paso also has a summer monsoon season, and this year was a big one. During the week this photo was taken, parts of town received as much rainfall in one day as it usually does in an entire year. I took this picture as I arrived to work this morning, as the rain had let up and a rainbow appeared over the call center.