Yesterday, after dinner, we drove to the Northeast Heights area of Albuquerque to see the temple. It is a beautiful temple! (aren't they all though?) We walked around the grounds and just enjoyed the quiet time together. It was a nice way to end the Sabbath.
You can't really tell from this picture but the Temple is actually PINK!
The kids thought the fountain looked like a temple too.
The weather here in New Mexico is crazy! March thru May it's windy beyond belief, June is hot and dry and July and August get the monsoon. Take today for example at 10 o'clock this morning we were already in the pool and it was a warm 82. It is now 4:22 pm and the weather has changed dramatically, 77 and pouring rain!
It actually does this almost every day. Sometimes the clouds just move in and other times we get the full monsoon, with rain, hail lightning and thunder. I love it!!!
This is video of the storm flooding our courtyard. Awesome!!
I really love the weather here and can't wait to see fall and winter!
We recently went home to Utah to spend 16 days with our family. We played a lot, laughed a lot, ate a lot and relaxed a lot. It was sooo nice!
We had a very smooth drive getting there. It went by so fast! I think it went by so fast because of all the cool stuff that there is to see along the way. Our first major sighting was Chimney Rock. There is a road that you can take to get closer to it but we were anxious to get to Utah so we just stopped at the trail head to take a quick picture.
Chimney Rock
We saw several more places that we wanted to go see (Ship Rock and Angel Peak) but didn't stop at any until we got to Wilson Arch in Moab. (I have always wanted to go to Moab but it just not at the top of the list.) We did get out and attempt to climb up to Wilson Arch but we all had flip flops on which made it difficult on the slick rocks. I think that we will have to move it up the list and go back and do some hiking when we aren't in flip flops.
Wilson Arch
When we got to my sisters house we had some yummy Cafe Rio for dinner and then went for a walk at the nature preserve behind their house. When we got to the end of the path the kids wanted to throw rocks into the creek. They did that for a while until I showed them the culvert that went under the trail on one side and come out on the other. Then they started playing "Pooh Sticks". The littles thought it was so fun to see which branch would come out first.
Pooh Sticks
On Tuesday Chet had to go to work all week in Vail so the kids and I stayed at Lindsay's at night and Jann's during the day. It worked out great. We were able to spend lots of time with everyone that way.
Chet in Vail.
He actually did work very hard while he was there. Meetings from 7 am to 9 pm except on the last day when they got to play.
On Friday Chet left Vail and met us at the SLC airport and we headed to Disneyland! We had so much fun there because my dad came and so did my sister and her family. The cousins were so excited to do all the rides together. I was just happy to be with my favorite people at my favorite place. :)
The cute cousins waiting for Buzz
Everyones favorite ride Tower of Terror.
I love this picture! They all look like they are having so much fun.
Big Thunder with the Bigs. LOVE these kids!
We got to take the Littles on Small World while everyone else went on Space Mountain. They loved it! Aubry "danced" through the whole ride.
Sunday we were at the park by ourselves. It was a lovely day and we got to do all of our favorites.
My favorite ride, Splash Mountain. This was Liv's first time in the front. She was soaked before we even got to the big hill. She said it was scary but AWESOME!
Big Thunder is probably Liv and Harris favorite ride in Disneyland. Liv thinks it is funny to scream as loud as she can on this ride. I'm not sure why but it is pretty funny.
They had this cute photo spot outside of Toy Story Mania
On Saturday we took a break from Disneyland to go to Sea World. It was about 20 degrees cooler there than at Disneyland. It was so nice!
The Bay at the back of Sea World.
I know that I have said this before but Harris LOVES Shamu. He lights up when he gets to see him. I love to watch Harris watch Shamu. It brings tears to my eyes because of the joy it brings him. I hope that he always feels that way!
I have also said before that Harris' favorite show is River Monsters. He is fascinated by the enormous fish that the host, Jeremy Wade, catches. Needless to say, besides watching Shamu, the new Rivers section was Harris favorite part of Seaworld. The tank has 8' alligator gar, 6' red tailed catfish and will soon have arapaima. All of which have been featured on River monsters. We just sat and watched them all for about 30 minutes. The best part of that was when a little 3' alligator gar tried to take a bite of one of the giant silver dollars right in front of us! Harris thought that was great because we could see the gar's giant teeth.
The fish at the top is one of the giant Alligator Gar. You can't tell from this picture but that gar is between 8 and 9 feet long! The black fish with the white stripe actually has a red tail and thus is called a Red Tail Catfish, and he is about 5 or 6 feet long.
We ended our day at Seaworld with another Shamu show, it was a great way to end a wonderful day.
After a very fun weekend with my family in Cali we headed back to Utah to be with Chet's family. It was a lot of fun for the kids because their cousins from Arkansas came to Utah to visit as well. We spent most of our time swimming in Papa and Grandma Wendy's pool but we did make time for a trip to the Dinosaur Museum and bowling at the new Jack and Jill's in Lehi. Chels and I even sneaked away for a little Anniversary Sale shopping. :)
Liv has always loved to dance with her Papa. It's not exactly dancing. It's mostly Chet Sr. holding Liv while he twirls and tosses her around. On this trip Liv discovered that they could dance in the pool. It is really cute to watch them although Papa is usually exhausted by the end of their "session".
Papa and Liv "dancing" in the pool.
Harris "dancing" with Papa, Liv and uncle James waiting for their turn.
We had a great time at the Dinosaur Museum. I mean who wouldn't have fun seeing giants, damming a flood and digging for fossils.
Liv is apparently going to be eaten by the Carcaradon Megaldon while Harris sits idly by...
All the cousins and uncle James trying to stop the floods.
On our last day in Utah we took some family pictures with Chet's family. Which was our second attempt because on the first attempt Harris got really sick and was throwing up most of the night. Fortunately he got better and we were able to get some cute pics. Besides posed shots Wendy wanted wanted some candids as well. She decided that a water balloon fight with 200 water balloons was the perfect way to get those candids. Everybody had so much fun. Harris got Chet smack in the face and Liv, being the only girl, took quite a few shots as well. It was a blast to watch.
This pose was Chet's idea. He said it was like Splash Mountain. It's kinda silly but it turned out pretty cute.
Uncle Nate got Liv good with the water from the balloons that popped in the bucket.
We had a great time in Utah and Cali with all of our family. I am so grateful that Chet is able to provide us with the ability to travel often. It makes living far away from everyone a little easier knowing that it won't be long until we get to see them again.
We went to the zoo again today, our favorite place here in Albuquerque, and finally got some video of the polar bears jumping into the water. It is seriously so much fun to watch them and hear the kids reactions.
We also go to see the new baby Ankole. Which is basically a Texas Long Horn but the Ankole is twice as big and they live in Africa and not Texas. And oddly enough for a baby animal he wasn't very cute.
Baby Ankole
Most of the animals were sleeping today because it was so hot. We still got some cute pictures of some of our favorite animals.
The King and Queen of the zoo.
Don't you just want to rub his tummy?
This guy didn't look very happy but he did seem to be posing for the camera.
All in all it was another great trip to the zoo!
For some reason my sister, Lindsay, and I were talking about the gross bugs we have here in New Mexico that we didn't have in Utah. Now, I've never been one of those people that are grossed out by bugs. As long as they leave me alone and aren't in my house they are fine. But since we moved here I have come to hate 2 types of bugs. The American cockroach and house centipede. They are sooooooo gross and sufficiently creep me out!
When we first moved into this house we had quite a roach problem because the previous owner hadn't used or cleaned the pool in 2 years! It was like a swamp, seriously. So the roaches thought it was the perfect place to hang out. Well 3 months later after emptying and cleaning the pool, spraying the house and setting out a dozen roach traps they are mostly gone. We still get the occasional roach that sneaks in somehow but I quickly trap it under a glass and wait for Chet to get home to dispose of it. :)
Just looking at this picture gives me the heebie jeebies!!!
The centipedes aren't as big of a problem but they do occasionally get in the house and hang ominously on the walls. They get pretty big too. We found one in the hall bathroom onetime that was about 3 inches long! I was actually on the phone with Lindsay when I found that one and I started screaming! I still shudder thinking about it.
Uuuuugggghhh! (shudder) Just look at all those legs!!!
I am now totally grossed out so I will stop blogging now. I think I'll go wash my hands or something. (shudder again)
We had a good long weekend and started our celebrating on Saturday. We had our friends, the Lindell's, come over for some swimming and bar-be-quing. We had a great time in the pool and an even better time playing Apples to Apples. I don't think I have ever laughed that hard playing that game! JEW!!! ;)
When it finally started getting dark we decided that we didn't want to go face the crowds at the high school to see the fireworks so, we sent Chet and Jac to buy some at the store. The kids had a great time with the sparklers and watching the store bought fireworks. Disney however decided that the fireworks were not fun and tried to attack each and every one we lit! She was crazy running around them and barking and biting at them. She even got so close sometimes that she burned her fur in spots! Chet finally had to hold her to keep her from catching on fire. It was a fun day.
Aiden, Harris, Boston, Liv, Jackson and Maddie watching the fireworks in the courtyard.
Disney getting the fireworks. Crazy dog!
Chet trying to keep her from the fireworks. Can you tell she still wants to get them?
On Sunday we actually didn't do anything! Chet didn't really want to do anything because it was Sunday. So really it was just another day. We did get to see some amazing fireworks from the deck while we read scriptures. Here in NM you can do the big fireworks like at Disneyland, just not in the city. (which we can see all of from our deck) Well, apparently people don't obey that law because we saw hundreds going off and heard sirens until about 11:30. It was awesome! (except the sirens part)
Monday we got up bright and early and headed fishing at Fenton Lake. It was a pretty long drive, 2 hours, but the scenery was amazing. Very different from Utah canyons. I was a little car sick by the time we got there from looking at everything as we drove. When we finally got to the lake we got set up and sat...and sat...and sat. We didn't catch a thing! The kids were so disappointed we decided to try the fishery that was another 3 miles up the road. But alas we didn't catch a thing there either. We did get to see a muskrat though. That was pretty cool. We finally gave up and headed home for a nice cool dip in the pool. Can I just say that I LOVE having a pool!! We spent the next 3 hours swimming before the kids were exhausted and ready for dinner and to watch Snow White as a family. It was a fabulous day!
Nobody having any luck.
The muskrat. He looked like a small beaver but with a skinny tail instead of a flat one.
The kids love it when Chet throws them around in the pool. Harris has mastered the front and back flips. Its a little more difficult with Liv who is super tall. But man Chet is going to have some buff arms by the end of the summer! ;)
Finishing an awesome weekend with a dip in the hot tub. (can you see Harris has raccoon eyes from his goggles?)
We had a great day celebrating Harris' 5th birthday! The day started off with presents, of course. He was a little spoiled and got a lot of really fun stuff. His favorite things he got though were his new Michael Jordan shoes from Chet and his fishing pole from his cousins.
He was so excited when he saw the shoe box that a look of pure joy came over his face. Like father like son I guess. :)
He then insisted that we put them on him and that I take a picture of the shoes to "put on facebook".
After opening presents and a breakfast of "fresh hot waffles" we headed out to the pool. The kids were all pretty excited to get in.
Harris decided that he needed a break from the pool to warm up. No better place to do that than in the awesome lounge chairs that my dad bought for us.
After several hours of fun in the pool we got ready and took everybody to see "Toy Story 3" in 3D. It is such a cute movie, but Harris takes after me and was ready to leave about halfway through. I told him no and he sat and enjoyed the rest of the movie with the help of some licorice.
After the movie and some dinner at "ollie gardy" aka Olive Garden we headed home for cake. It was a wonderful day and I am so glad that Harris was born!!! Love that baby boy!
