Aunty Meggy Visits the Duke City

Aunty Meggy came to town to play!  We spent our days...

...wrestling and blowing raspberries on each others bellies...

...we also did some climbing up in the Las Conchas area...

...we dug around in the dirt...

...we ate the dirt...

...then, we explored this ancient Jemez pubelo...

...but, mostly we chilled, ate lots of food, and had fun!

The boys already miss their aunty Meg!  They miss her snuggles and playtime. We wish we lived closer. :(

Exploring the Jemez Mountains

About two hours outside of Albuquerque you'll find the Jemez mountains.  Maybe it's been too long since I've been out in the mountains (no thanks to this long winter), but they were seriously some of the most gorgeous mountains I've ever seen.  They range from redish-orange sandy plateaus to green and lush rocky faces.  Our first stop-- Los Alamos to check out the town.  We discovered there's not much there and it's highly unlikely we'll ever want to move there and transfer to Los Alamos National Lab.  Next, we hit up the Los Conchas climbing areas.  This area was hit heavily by fire last year and it's evident by the many blacked out areas and dead trees, but still beautiful nonetheless.

Graham's first time trying on the harness.  It didn't last long before he wanted free of these constrains, but he thoroughly enjoyed playing with the many buckles (carabiners).

No major climbing was done this trip, but we did poke around and play in the dirt.

Then, as we began driving home we discovered this fun hike up to some hot springs.

The hike was perfect!  It followed the creek almost the entire way (which was Heaven for Miles-- because he occasionally liked to dip his fingers into the rushing water) and once up at the springs we hung out for a bit and felt the warm spring water with our hands.

It was an unplanned hike, but we will be back in the near future.  Not far from this hike we discovered some old ruins and monastery that we'd like to return to and check out.  This was one of the funnest Saturdays we've had in a long time.

Birthday Boy!

A couple of days ago Tim celebrated his birthday.  To help ease his homesickness and loneliness in New Mexico I decided to summon friends and family with his gift.  I had 12 of his closest friends and family write notes attached to the backsides of postcards and when he received them all in the mail they fit together like a puzzle to unveil a little birthday message.

fitting the pieces together...

 

...and reading the birthday messages from loved ones...

Such a memorable birthday.  I loved watching his face as he laughed over the messages he received.  Thank you to everyone that participated-- he absolutely LOVED it!

Easter Happenings

We've had many Easter celebrations the last few days...

The ladies in our ward gathered together and put on an Easter egg hunt at the local park.

This is Grahams new mode of transporting his basket-- around his neck!  Hey, it frees up his hands to pick up more eggs. I'd say that's a rather ingenious move on his part.

basket heads!

 Graham's found another resourceful use of our plastic Easter eggs-- using them as cups for his applesauce.

Dying eggs... and our hands...and our counter tops...and everything else that gets in our way.

That rascally Easter bunny left some foot prints leading to the boys' baskets and Miles was beyond excited about that.

 "I know the baskets have got to be around here somewhere.  The footprints end right here!"

Checking out our basket loot and new camp chairs.

And last, but not least, snuggling on the beanbag for Easter outfit pics.

Happy Easter!  Hope your holiday was filled with as much eggcitement as ours was!