Uncle James in Albuquerque!

Uncle James came to visit for a week and we had so much fun.  He hadn't seen Doug or the kids since before his mission and so it was a great treat for all of us.  We spent a lot of time just hanging out, but we were also able to visit some fun places.  The first place we went was the Aquarium and Botanical Gardens...

Aquarium and Botanical Gardens

Our next trip was up the Sandia Mountains.  What a spectacular view!

The girls love James!!!

That night we drove west to go off roading with Russ and Julie.  We didn't have room for everyone in the Pathfinder, so we had to take the van.  Not a good idea.  This picture doesn't do it justice, but this was the hole that we fell in.  I'm shocked that we made it out with no damage to the van!

The boys

Love roasting Hot Dogs.

The last place we went was one that Julie was really excited for.  It's called Bandalier and it was amazing!  We had so much fun and were so sad that Julie couldn't make it.  She is about to have her baby and all the climbing and walking would have put her into labor.  But we took plenty of pictures!

The kids loved their walking sticks.

140 feet up!

The 3 best hikers!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma Maggie!

Grandma's birthday was August 8th and to celebrate Doug, all of his siblings and their families met in Nebraska to surprise her.  It was a great surprise...she never saw it coming.  We had so much fun with her and loved seeing the entire family. It had been way too long since we had been back and I had missed all the fields and the small town.

We spent a lot of our trip out at Aunt Crissy's house on the Lake.  The kids had so much fun in the water!  Dallin has really missed the beach and ocean. This was such a great substitue for him.  We couldn't get him out of the water!  Finally at 8:30 we convinced him that it was too dark to still be in the water and he reluctantly got out.

Aunt Ani, Great-Grandma Duey, and Grandma Maggie

The kids with Great-Grandma Chisholm

We all had such a great time at the lake.  The kids loved playing with their cousins and seeing all of their grandmas.  It couldn't have been a more perfect day!


The second day in Nebraska we headed into Lincoln to see Great-grandpa Duey.  He had been really sick and sleeping a lot, so we were really excited that when we arrived he was awake and in good spirits.  It was great to  see him!

We can't leave Grandpa's place without popcorn & Ice Cream! 

Misconception

When you mention New Mexico, most people think desert.  I've been asked several times why we would move here.  In fact I had a friend tell me once that she landed in New Mexico to visit some friends and said that the whole state appeared to be under construction. We have found New Mexico to be a really beautiful place.  We have gorgeous mountains to the East, three volcanoes to explore to the West, and tons of open space.  This weekend we took advantage of the landscape and headed North with the Trapnell cousins and our friends Nate and Erin.  We had so much fun!  The drive up was amazing.  We saw lots of desert, plateaus, and great rock formations.  It reminded me of Southern Utah.  Then we turned onto a dirt road and headed up into the mountains.  We had a great weekend with family and friends and are really excited to head up again soon.

These two are great friends.  They play so well together and had a blast camping & exploring together.

Can you tell Dallin loves camping?

It was Russ' birthday and Julie made a great cake!  Dallin loved it and after he finished said, "Julie, you are invited to my birthday party!"  Ever since we came home Dallin has been telling us that for his birthday he wants to camp in the same exact place for 5 days with the cousins.  He had so much fun and talks about it constantly.

Julie is amazing!  She has a 6, 5, 3, and 1 year old in addition to being 8 months pregnant and camping.  I got out of my tent to check on the rain situation and found Julie reading under the canopy.  She had put the kids to bed and was enjoying the evening.  I have a lot to learn from her!  I'm so thankful to be living close again.  Now we just have to work on Amanda & James!!  Come on guys...New Mexico is the best!!

July Update

We have loved the weather here.  The fruit trees are starting to produce beautiful fruit and the we love being outside.  Dallin keeps asking me where the beach is and when I told him that there was not a beach in Albuquerque he was shocked.  I guess he just assumed there was a beach everywhere.  Even though we miss the beach and pool a lot, I don't miss the heat and humidity.  We tried to take some pictures of the kids before church, but we got a little more attitude that we needed...

Dallin and Brooke love playing and goofing around together.  They are constantly coming up with new games and love pretending they are animals or having pretend birthday parties together.  I'm thankful that I still have another year before Dallin is in Kindergarten all day.  Brooke is going to go crazy without him.

New trick:  Balancing apples on their heads.  Dallin has gotten pretty good!

Grapes from our garden

Game night:  Sunday afternoons have been so much fun for us.  I'm glad Brooke was able to capture some of our game night.  It has become a fun tradition and the kids are becoming great team players.

Caught in the act!  Brooke is always getting into the peanut butter.  She is an addict.  I'm going to have to start hiding it from her.  Every morning the first thing she asks for is peanut butter.  The honey is new...two of the worst things to clean up!!

Fun Comments this Month:

*We were at Aunt Julie's house and she told the kids that they could each have a grasshopper cookie if they cleaned up all the toys.  Dallin yelled up to the other kids to come down and help, "Julie is going to give us a catapillar cookie if we clean up!"

*Dallin asked me if I knew how a french fry is made.  I said yes do you?  He said, "They take the brown kind of tomatoes and cut them up and then put sprinkles on them.  I saw it on a commercial."  The things you can learn from TV.

*Dallin was getting a spoon for his yogurt and asked me, "Are these the little spoons..you know size 4?"

*We were at the park and Dallin said, "Watch mom, I'm going to do a trick on the monkey bars.  Let's see...This is a very dangerous trick so I'm going to need an assisitant."  He looks around the park and then selects me.  A very creative way to get your mom to come help you cross the bars.

*Dallin and his cousin Colton were talking about Doctors last week.  Colton told Dallin that his brothers hated going to the Doctor because they gave them shots on all parts of their bodies.  Dallin said, "I don't like my Doctor either.  He's a mad scientist."