New Mexico

The first stop on our road trip was Los Alamos, NM

and Bandelier National Park

We got to climb into little shelters built by the pueblo people.

 

It was so crazy to see the shell of a whole civilization 

Inside a Kiva

We got tired of climbing ladders at the end of the day

On our way back to the car we ran into a deer... and as you can see by the enlargement,

he was very happy to see me.

To be honest, I was a little nervous to see him walk toward me!

We stayed the night in Santa Fe and explored the city that day but for some reason I don't have any pictures.

Then it was off to Portales, NM

The scenery was a lot of the same:

You can tell you are getting close to a city when the buildings start looking a bit newer...

We spent two nights in Portales and got to visit a bunch of people from Matt's mission

Its a pretty cool place. 

Next stop was Lubbock, Tx

Visited some more people, ate at all the restaurants Matt has been missing for the past three years.

It was Texas Tech graduation so all the hotels were booked.

We got to stay in a shady motel called "Inn of the South Plains"

Prairie Dog Town, Lubbock, TX

Baby Races.

The last hour of our crazy roadtrip (which we haven't posted about yet) felt like the longest.

It was incredibly muggy outside, I was tired of eating fast food, and we were both as dirty and run down as our poor car.

But as we were about to get on that last freeway towards civilization we ran across this:

We slowed down and saw this:

Then we parked right here and watched

It was the tiniest race I've ever seen.

Tiny drivers, tiny cars, tiny track

Even though it was dark it was still really warm and muggy and smelled like freshly cut grass. There were about 9 spectators on the bleachers, two of which were local firemen reading books, waiting for one of these babies to fly over the fence (which is made out of water barrels). 

It was fun to watch. Made for a good last stop of the trip.

we went to a horse race

So I am skipping a few things we haven't posted about yet... 

but those will come eventually.

So. Here we are. Dallas. Well, Colleyville, actually.

Matt had a great time in Puerto Rico with the Bayer people

(he'll have to post those pictures sometime... when he isn't completely drained after work)

and he is having a great time in Dallas with Southwest so far.

Even if we don't get to fly as much as we thought, there is tons to do in the "Metroplex" 

example: go to a horse race

That's matt watching the tractor pull the starting gate around the track

Behind those huge banks of windows are rows of seats where "fancier" people 

can avoid the heat while watching the race and losing money

This indicated the race horses were approaching the track...

Never seen one of those played before

I'd die if I had to wear that coat in this heat!

Dumping Gatorade on the winning horse...

except its not Gatorade and that horse totally lost.

from rain to rain-ier

So roadtrip #3      (roadtrip #2 was our Disneyland trip and all my pictures are on film so maybe by next spring I'll have those scanned)   was good. Short but good. We got to spend time with family and be with our mothers on Mothers Day. We also got to skip the first good weather back at home while just missing the sunny day in Washington. So we went from the rain - to the rain - then back to the rain. Hopefully living in Dallas this summer will make up for all this cold spring weather.

So, naturally I only took pictures the first hour of our trip so here is what happened in that first hour.....

Emily Jane, LuLu the monkey, and I had a very legit tea party...

Here are a million pictures of that...

Then Emily put on an outfit to match mine...

 see.... twins...

       

Matt and Emily jumped really high

 and then emily got us both sick

..... rude

now matt is in new york.... hopefully he doesn't get the whole world sick.

i'm going to bed.

Basketball

Today went like this:

8:00 am - Internet Marketing Final

12:01 pm - Jamba Juice Coupon redemption with Hillary (don't get the apples 'n greens fruit/veggie one)

1:00 pm - Consumer Behavior Final

4:00 pm - Turkey Burgers made by yours truly

4:36 pm - Bike ride to school to shoot hoops

4:59 pm - Hillary dominates it (see video)

5:27 pm - Bike ride around Springville

5:40 pm - Walk to Grocery Store to get rootbeer float stuff & redeem free redbox code

5:50 pm - Look at cars we can't buy (including Chevy HHR, Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger, Chrysler Town & Country)

6:00 pm - Make Nachos

6:08 pm - Realize neither of us are hungry for nachos. 

6:30 pm - Watch Rebecca Black's Friday Cover by some girl, it was ooookay.

6:40 pm - Watch some youtube videos of nephew Blake

7:10 pm - Blog about day

Next up...Despicable Me - it'll be the first time we've seen it!

Guess who just turned.....

That's right! Blake turned one!

This weekend we got to take a road trip to Manteca to get together with the Stephensons as well as (almost) all of the Erdmanns to celebrate our numero uno nephew turning the big numero uno!

He is so fun to watch. I think, here he is making fun of the Olsen-Twin smirk

... and this one's the "i'm-not-trying-to-be-charming-but-i'm-totally-charming"

Happy New Year

Please note the dress Melissa is wearing.

Notice how finely tailored it is.

I made it. From scratch.

It bustles in the back.

It took FOREVER!