Stow Aways: 2015

Trip to Salt Lake

Grandma Debbie visits ABQ

Father's Day

Janie visits ABQ

Rough Riders 200 - Angel Fire, NM

Each month, I thought you couldn't possibly squeeze more into a month and still be alive. April was killer, May just about did me in, and then June, there are no words for June. But, I'll try.

We took a week to enjoy summer in ABQ after the Iron Horse, then, we headed to Salt Lake. We took David with us and dropped him and his biking bum (and bike) in Moab, UT. Someday, maybe someday, he will blog about his time away from us (which is a lot lately.) Who knows what the heck he did in Moab, but we continued on to Salt Lake, with Stryder dog in tow.

Of course, first thing in the door is to pick up the baby. Harriet just can't get enough of the babies.

Then, the kids just had the time of their lives playing with cousins outside.

So did Stryder. We tried super hard to not leave evidence of our dog in the yard. But, he ate dozens of whiffle balls, chewed a few bats, and left the lawn polka-dotted. Sorry, Lis. But, you're welcome for the continual reminder that you (apparently) don't want a dog.

Sloan was big enough to hang with the girls.

Jess, has apparently had a tiring year.

Grandpa Lyle is always fun.

More Lyla holding.

More jumping with Kate.

I think David texted me this picture from Moab one morning. Whatever dude.

We went to the zoo and saw the bird show. Dang bird always gets us to donate.

Then, cousins on the carousel always gets interesting. Harriet FINALLY got the dolphin. FINALLY. No one cried. We're making progress.

Grace on her favorite tiger.

Lyla thought it was loads of fun.

Sean was cool and settled for the bear even though he wanted the wolf pretty bad.

Did I mention? Finally, the dolphin.

Then, we seriously went to the best movie ever. Well, the movie was pretty good (Tomorrowland), but the theater. Oh man, the theater! One of the things that kills me about going to movies is the leg room. Having my knees bent for over an hour just sends me over the edge. They hurt so bad by the end and I can never get comfortable. This theater has reclining leather seats? WHAT? Sign me up. If I lived nearby, I would probably go every afternoon for a $10 nap.

Then, we celebrated Father's day with Grandpa Lyle. We're getting quite the crew of crazies, himself included.

Grace has a soft spot for Jessica's dog, Dante. So do I. He inspired us to give Stryder a chance.

Then, Melissa and I took the kids to Thanksgiving point to the Museum of Curiosity. I have to admit - a pretty cool place. I couldn't believe it, but my awesome museum pass came through again. It got all of us in for free. That pass, I tell you, is the best money we spend each year.

We spent some time with Grandma Pearlie and had several popsicle sessions on Great-Grandma Johnson's old swing.

Grace gave her a lawn concert.

What? Finally a moment by the pool? This is something I had seriously been looking forward to for absolute months. Melissa and I had been working so hard all spring at the kids' schools and entertaining the little darlings and we just wanted 20 minutes in a lounge chair with our feet facing a dang swimming pool and nothing to worry about for at least those 20 minutes. We finally got it. It was heaven.

We got to see Aunt Emily's new place. She bought her own house recently and she and my dad have been super busy fixing it up and making it look amazing. Kate and Harriet thought her comfy sofa and super soft fuzzy throw were a perfect place to spend the afternoon.

And, why didn't we think of this before? Finally solved the sleeping situation at Melissa's house. Threw Harriet in Kate's room. The two of them had a sleepover every night and had a blast.

These are 2 peas in a pod.

Did we mention Stryder is now writing Santa a letter? Dear Santa, a bigger yard please. Aunt Lissie's is just right for my long legs.

Love the summer storms in Salt Lake. I'm especially grateful for them now because it means the air gets cleared out. The pollution there has gotten so bad since we've moved away.

More sleepovers in Kate's bed. These two stayed up past midnight every night for 10 days.

More Lyla cuteness.

More backyard fun. It was so nice to just sit and talk to Lis and let the kids play all day.

Finally got all of the little stinkers lined up on Grandma's swing. Grace didn't use to be so out of proportion. Now she's a giant with the Lilliputians.

Too lazy to rotate this pic, but we felt bad for Grace and Sean that they didn't have any sleeping over, so the last night, she slept in Sean's room and they split the trundle bed. It has been sad to watch them drift apart a bit as she has done a lot of growing up lately, and he is still a little boy, but they still love each other and are best buds.

Then, we came home to ABQ for a minute. We brought Mo-Deb home with us from Salt Lake! Hooray! Grandma got to come BY HERSELF for quite a few days and play with us.

One of the first things we did was ride the rail-runner from ABQ to Santa Fe and tour the historic churches up there. I've always wanted to go inside the cathedral. It's such a gorgeous building.

We ate at the historic Santa Fe Plaza Cafe. Mom and I had the best sandwiches.

Group mirror photo.

Then, we took the girls to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. Harriet has been interested in her since 2nd grade. She was so excited to get to see so much of her original artwork. One of the cool things the museum does for kids is they hand them a sketch book at the reception desk and encourage them to find certain things in certain paintings throughout the museum. The girls love drawing and they spent a lot of time making sketches of Georgia's works.

Then, we finally made it to the Loretto Chapel with the "miracle" staircase.

I had heard about the staircase. There are two in Utah as well and a handful of others throughout the world. But, the story behind this one is pretty cool. These nuns needed to get from the loft area in the church to the pews below, but there wasn't room for a regular staircase and they didn't know how to solve the problem. They prayed to the patron saint of carpentry and waited the 9 days (or something like that) for an answer. On the 9th day, a stranger came to the church and started building this floating spiral staircase for them. Then, he disappeared without payment or without saying good-bye. I guess originally, there wasn't any railing on the stairs either, but they added one later to make it safer. It is such a pretty church.

Then, a hot air balloon came right over the house to remind me that I love living here.

I asked the kids if they could do anything in ABQ with Grandma, where would they take her? Um, apparently, Explora. Oh man, we spent so long there that day. They went through every little experiment and station and spent forever building another house. And, there was someone working there who totally let Harriet ride the tight-rope bike, so I thought we were golden, and then Harriet was almost too scared to ride it. But, then she did. Yay!

We spent forever in the puzzle cafe, trying to feel smart. These two are definitely pretty smart.

We had so much fun with my mom. I'm so glad she came. It has been way too long since we had a good Grandma visit where there wasn't something crazy going on at the same time. Thanks mom!

And, then, it was Ellie's last day. We can't even talk about it. Sniff Sniff.

And, then, JANIE came! She actually got here before my mom left, so she moved right into the guest room as soon as I could get the sheets washed. Everyone warned us that she would be a moody teenager and would hole up in there and we would never see her. Little did they know that we would do plenty of fun things to get her to come out.

It was kind of cool - Janie and Grace both have recommends to do baptisms at the temple, so since I had a temple assignment in the baptistry, they both came with me and did the temple together.

Then, a friend recommended this cool alpaca farm in Corrales. I had never heard of it, but it turns out, alpacas can be tons of fun, and this place did a great job in educating people about them and letting us hang out with the animals. He just about had me convinced to get an alpaca by the time we left. They are such great animals.

The girls LOVED it, even though it was so hot we couldn't even fathom the thought of wrapping ourselves in alpaca wool. Super glad these guys had already been sheared. They were so soft. I don't know if I have ever felt an animal that soft.

Then, David came home for 5 minutes and we gave him some Father's Day presents, including new ties and a matching shirt, and had a party with Grandpa Earl. These girls love their daddy and their Grandpas.

Then, David left again, and Jane came down to pick up Janie. We had some fun with Jane before she left and went to the museum again. Hanging with Jane is always a good time. We wish we got to see the Vigils more often.

And, since we knew we'd miss Grandma's b-day in July, we threw her a party too. The girls chose some cute presents for her. Harriet and Grandma are sometimes the apple and the apple tree. Harriet secretly wishes she could keep the orange and pink purse we gave to Grandma, (who LOVED it too.)

And, then we tagged along with David and his friend Jared on another bike trip. He likes to disguise them as family trips. They usually turn out pretty fun. This time, it was Rough Riders 200 in Angel Fire, NM.

These 2 crazy dudes rode 200 miles in 2 days. For fun. And paid to do it. I won't ever get it, but I'll take pictures.

Got up early and went down with them to the starting line.

I've never been to Angel Fire before. It was really pretty up there. Wished there was a tad more to do and that I didn't have a knee swollen to the size of a grapefruit for the weekend.