Santa Fe & Friends

Because Tim gets every other Friday off we decided to book it on up to Santa Fe for a weekend getaway. It was rather spontaneous and after multiple phone calls I was finally able to arrange a hotel room for us and just as we were pulling into town. It was a "special" weekend the concierge told us. The Wine and Chile Fiesta was going on and most hotels were booked out. What he failed to mention was that the Wine and Chile Fiesta attracted the geriatric crowd. As you can imagine we and our huge stroller and cute kiddies were a huge hit everywhere we went. The old people couldn't get enough of our two little ones.

Besides the fact that we didn't fit in we still managed to soak up the history of this small town. We of course had to visit the Loretta Chapel and the mysterious staircase. Apparently the original architect died shortly after the chapel was completed, but before the staircase was built to the loft area. According to the historical plaques some strange man walked into the chapel one day and said he would build them a staircase, but needed utter silence and privacy. He locked himself in the room for 3 months and when he was done he left. His identity is not known. What is so mysterious about this stair case is that it has no supports running up the middle, no screws, the wood is from some unknown region (no where near Santa Fe) and the staircase has 33 steps from bottom to top (the same number as Jesus was when he died). Truly amazing architecture.

Hanging out back at the hotel-- getting ready to go swimming. As you can see Graham has multiples scratches to the left side of his face. You guessed it-- they're from Miles. He tends to reach over in the stroller and gouge at his face to steal his binky from him. I feel like a referee more than a mom on most days. :)

I just wanted to point out what the hotel called a crib. I would be more inclined to call them a set prop from the movie, "The Shining". Seriously, they were ancient, rackity and most likely full of lead paint. More importantly, they didn't contain our little 20 month old monkey. After a two hour giggle-fest he finally settled down and went to sleep in Tim's arms. Uggh! Next time we're bringing our own pack-and-play. Live and learn.

Onto a better note, Miles has found a really good friend here in ABQ. We just had them over today to play while the mommies made freezer jam and homemade marinara sauce. It's so nice to have some friends here with the same age of children.

Not to mention that they play so well together. So fun to watch them interact.

Life is good.

Parks & New Friends!

I've only discovered a few parks here, but the ones we've been to have been fairly descent. There is an awesome park within a 2 minute walk for our apt. Miles has made some friends in our ward and thus we've had some park play-dates with them. Speaking of our ward-- it's AWESOME! I was a little uncertain our first Sunday here, because there is a whole slew of children, but I think it's good. I was a bit concerned at first because I didn't want Miles to be a number and get lost amongst all of the other children, but we've got some great nursery leaders and this past Sunday was Miles first week in the nursery all by himself. I think it helped to have his new buddy there to keep him company.

Picky Eater!

Don't let this picture fool you-- he really hates food! I would say his diet still consists of Campbell Soup Noodle O's and applesauce. Occasionally he will eat a cookie, but only sometimes. Crazy kid.

He LOVES to eat his Noodle O's off of his chubby little fingers. It takes forever to eat this way, but hey I'll take it. At least he's getting some kind of food in his belly. Sometimes dinner takes upwards of 45 minutes because he HAS to feed himself ONE-NOODLE-AT-A-TIME!

ABQ ZOO

Our first Saturday in ABQ we decided to check out the zoo. Let me say this, it is WAY cooler than Hogle Zoo. Even if you do have to drive through the ghetto to get to it. We've been to a few zoos and this was the first time Miles really got it (I think). He took an interest in the animals and chose to roar at all of them. Apparently all animals roar in Miles mind.

This was Graham's first time to the Zoo and he could have cared less. As long as he has a clean diaper, and mommy to nurse he's happy anywhere. Because we liked the zoo so much we decided to purchase an annual pass. The pass is also good for the ABQ Botanical Gardens and Aquarium so we will definitely be using it a lot. We can't wait to go back and feed the fish in the koi pond.

Just Monkeying Around

Miles thinks it's just about the funniest thing to take all of the cooking equipment out of the drawers. Because we are living in this corporate furnished apartment temporarily we can't really baby proof the drawers and I'm REALLY look forward to doing so once we're settled into our somewhat permanent place.

Peek-a-boo

Swimming

Nothing like dipping in the pool on a hot day. This past Saturday we took Graham swimming for the first time. I thought he was going to scream and hate every minute of it. I was wrong. Not one squeak came out of him. I think he enjoyed it just as much as the rest of us.

Miles has no fear of the water. He has no fear of anything. We've taken him swimming a handful of times back in Utah at the rec. center, but this time around he was jumping off of the side of the pool by himself (Tim was standing in the water right there next to him). We definitely need to get him into swimming classes.

I just wanted to point out that we DO have grass here. Almost our entire apartment complex has grass. We love it! However, I'm not loving living out of boxes, using dull knives and light-weight pans to cook (am I a snob or what?). We are looking forward to moving into our 3 bedroom- 2 car garage apartment mid-October. It can't come soon enough. Overall, all is well and Tim is ABSOLUTELY LOVING HIS JOB! What else could we ask for?

Timeouts = Sad Boy

Okay so I know this picture is really sad, but it's about time Miles realizes that timeout is not a desirable place. Up until the last couple of weeks he's put himself into timeout without any fight, but today he was not so happy. On a side note-- I think it may be time to start thinking about a haircut. Yesterday at church he was called a little girl 4 times despite his pants and button-up shirt. And speaking of church, the gospel is strong here in Albuquerque. With 77 children in primary alone and another 28 in nursery I don't think we'll ever have an issue finding a playmate down here.

And on a church related side note-- just when you think church is a place of refuge from your husbands work, you realize 2/3 of the members also work at Sandia and they want to ask your husband all sorts of work related questions. No joke, 2-3 people came up to him yesterday and had questions related to their own job and were inquiring Tim's help in understanding it.

Greetings from New Mexico

Where to start? These past two weeks have been full of activity. Some happy. Some sad. And some exciting. First off, we blessed Graham the Sunday before we left Utah. Tim's parents, so graciously, let us have the blessing gathering at their house after wards. They spruced the yard up with grass and a beautiful wood deck for the event. It was such a relaxing afternoon with family and friends and it kept my mind off of the events in which were going to occur the next day. The following morning the movers came and packed all of our stuff into boxes and loaded them into a 75 foot semi truck. Who knew we could fit almost 75 feet worth of stuff in our tiny town home?

That next week we were homeless and living out of boxes. We spent a good amount of time hanging out at the grandparent's houses and I'm pretty sure Miles had no problem with that.

Because we weren't busy enough, we scheduled Graham's 2nd month doctor's appointment and our assumptions of him being one big chunky dude were confirmed.

Weight: 13 lbs. (80-85 percentile)

Height: 24 inches (90 percentile)

In the mix of moving I forgot to take Graham's 2 month pictures with his elephant in the rocking chair, so this picture will have to do until we are able to recover our stuff animal goods from storage.

Saying goodbye to Utah was a bit tougher than expected. There were tears (from me) and sweat (from Tim because he was definitely working the hardest to make sure we got out of town on time). The boys did awesome in the car ride down. They were troopers, really. However, the binky has made many appearances in dire straits. Usually he gets his binky during nap and night times, but it has been a constant companion for Miles the past week. I think we are all looking forward to getting back into the routine of things.

Once we arrived, we began our search for a permanent place to live. After scouring the internet for months leading up to our move we got down here to discover that the houses I picked out would not work out due to location reasons. The last five days we have spent time driving around looking at a bajillion houses to buy or rent. It has been frustrating to say the least and for the time being we have decided to stay put where we are until we get a better idea of where we would like to be. The boys know no difference and seem to be adjusting quite well. Miles loves to swim in the pool and play with the many rocks (which there will never be a shortage of around these parts).

It's crazy how the smallest things can make you feel like you're at home again. I don't know why I thought New Mexico wouldn't have some of the same stores as Utah, but I did. Besides the obvious of missing family and friends we miss the following: (and if you figure out how to send some our way, please feel free to do so) :)

Concretes from Nielsen's Frozen Custard

Onion rings from Pace's Dairy Ann

Grass in large quantities

Cafe Rio salads

Parks/LDS chuches on just about every corner

Little Cottonwood Canyon

Knowing where everything is

Park City

Clean neighborhoods

But most of all (and I thought I would NEVER say this) we miss Tug! He is dearly missed here in New Mexico and we can't wait to be reunited with him (whenever that is).

Changes

Miles being wild as usual

Tug chillin' at Graham's blessing gathering

Graham keeping me company as the movers pack up the bedroom

Our life has been all about changes, especially the last two months. With me quitting my job, giving birth and welcoming our little Graham into our family, putting our house on the market, selling our house (and all the chaos that comes with the ups and downs of the market right now), packing boxes, setting up living arrangements in New Mexico, changing our already set-up living arrangement in New Mexico at the last minute, blessing Graham, throwing goodbye/blessing gatherings, saying goodbye to our ward, family & friends, staying up countless hours in the evenings with Graham it all comes to this point today... TIM IS FINALLY DONE WITH SCHOOL! He defended his dissertation this morning and it was accepted with few to little changes. I now have to refer to him as Dr. Fuller. There is no turning back-- we are well on our way to New Mexico!