Notes From Nephews

Mark & I got this post card from Mason this week. Nov 2009
For the past couple of years he has come to NM with his Dad to visit us during the craft fair. This year he went to Utah to help Chris and Taunie with their move.
And today...I ran across these notes and pictures from Chris and Josh mailed to me in 1994!
Soooo Cute!!

Athen's Marathon

This was the end of the 10K. I thought I was going to puke in the Original Olympic Stadium, seriously! I was exhausted!

Ancient Olympic Stadium. It was huge and the entire thing is marble. Absolutely gorgeous!

Oddly Similar, In a good way, of course

They have the same disposition.

24 Hour Vacation

First of all, its rare that you see Mark and I kiss. .... should do that more often. I threw that pic in for grins.
On Saturday morning we got up, both worked out and then headed to El Paso.
We went to the mall and spent less than an hour. We each got a pair of shoes and I got two new pair of jeans to go with the awesome boots I found on sale Thursday. More about the awesome boots in a separate blog.
From the mall we went to the movie theater. After the movie we checked into a brand new, Courtyard Marriott (it was free,used reward points), took a short nap and headed to dinner. After a fun dinner we went to the late movie. We went back to the heavenly bed at the Marriott, and read until we fell asleep. We woke up, went to the gym, sat in the hot tub, ate a great breakfast and were at the movie theater by 11:20 a.m. As soon as that movie finished we drove 40 miles to Las Cruces to meet Kristin and Joey at, yes, the movie theater! After a short visit, Kristin and Joey went to a BBQ and Mark and I had a quick dinner and drove home.

We had such a nice 24 hour vacation, we laughed and held hands and thoroughly enjoyed each others company. We used to do more things like this. I wonder how we got away from it?
We've decided that we are going to have a few more outings, just the two of us. Carlsbad Caverns is on the list, the Zuni Cliff dwellings in Silver City, somewhere hiking and definitely another trip to El Paso.
We spend a lot of time alone and we have a great home but there's just something about being away, the undivided attention, just for one day, that serves as a good reminder of why you love the one your with.
I highly recommend it!

he loves to be held like this, lol

Tastes Changing?

Thanksgiving at Grandma's will be interesting.

Dad

Dad getting a trim after cataract surgery. The plastic was to keep hair from getting into his eyes.

Dad was almost like the man on the horse after his surgeries..Arms up, celebrating triumphantly! He is seeing so much more than he had been. After getting the second surgery done, he wanted to read EVERYTHING, just to practice.
We hadn't spent much time together in quite a while and really enjoyed each others company over the past few weeks. Mark has been in Korea and Jeffery is a teenager so it was just he and I most of the time. Nice to be together.

Surprise!

So, I'm doing dishes and I look out the window and think to my to myself, "is that a watermelon"? I dried my hands and walked outside to the edge of the lawn and YES, it is a watermelon! And YES, it was this big the first time I saw it.
I have thrown a watermelon into the desert instead of the trash, to see if the animals would eat it. I never realized it would grow. I guess we got just enough rain this year.
Dad convinced me to pick it. I don't know if it was quite ready or not but I picked it and cut it open. It tasted just okay and had TONS of seeds. I threw the seeds back out into the desert. Lets see what happens????

CAJFW- Sorry you missed the experience

CRAZY AUNT JUDY FROM WISCONSIN
She is definitely and "experience", lol! She can remember so many funny stories. And if you ask her a question, she says, "That's a long story." and of course, it is....it doesn't matter what the question is. She is a nut! She NEVER stops talking. We had a great time. She went with me to pick up dad in Hobbs. It made the trip go by really fast!

James and Nanny after dinner. It just hit my how truly lucky I am to still be in Alamogordo. I've have thought so much of leaving after the kids are gone and maybe someday I will but for now I realize how nice it is that when everyone comes back home, we get together at Lily's, Nanny's or my house. I think the kids may want that some day.

We all loaded up in the motor home and took an overnight trip to Albuquerque. Here is Lily, Mel, Dad and James with Robert and his family. We ate at this restaurant that reminded us so much of how we grew up. It was eery...a song came on the juke box and I could feel tears running down my cheeks. When I looked up at Lily, she was also teared up. Happy Memories!

Lily was Elk hunting when Judy arrived. We went to pick Lily up in the mountains and this is Judy, all dressed up for Lily. Acting CRAZY!

What Have I Been Up To?

I'm out the door on the way to Hobbs for Dad's cataract surgery. Its tomorrow morning, the 30th at 6 a.m.
Well, some good news. We found the leak! We've been through numerous contractors, the guy that originally roofed the house has come out three times to try and find it, two stucco guys, two insurance claims, three ceiling repairs, expensive sealing of the roof and FINALLY, we found a roofer that came out and saw the design of our house and said, "I think its the door. I don't think its sealed properly. " We put water exactly where he said to and water came pouring into the living room! I think we have finally found it this time!

I'm up to seven miles! I ran seven miles on Saturday.

Mark is on his way to Korea and we leave for Greece shortly after his return.

Sorry no pics. I will send those to Jake on the new phone! LOL! sorry.....

I love you guys!

Fisherman

Virtual Makeovers

Guess What I'm Going to Be Doing in Greece?

I'm so excited! I ran a marathon about seven years ago. It was an amazing experience! I hurt my back during the run and the doc has advised against running the streets so I don't get to run like I used to. I'm not going to be able to do the whole marathon, 26.2 miles but I am going to do the 10K. That's only about six miles.
I did (ran/walked) four miles this morning. It took me about 45 minutes. I'd like to do the entire 10k in about 50 minutes so I will have to build up an endurance... Of course, Louise will be joining me as she did the marathon. Mark, Lily's son and Mark, my Mark will also be participating but I'm not sure what distance they will be doing.
Just the thing to give me a little motivation!

Precious E

Good Sport

Wii Fitness. This is Mark doing the Dance Off. Isn't he a good sport to let me take pictures?

Drippin' Chicken!

Guess What!? Our old frig took a dump too! When I went to get something to defrost for dinner I noticed that there was slime juice dripping out of the freezer.
Mark had been in it earlier and said, "Ya know, when I went in for a drink....and stopped mid sentence." Well I had a trash can full of chicken, hamburger, pork chops, shrimp and veggies. I think it happens at least once to every family.
The old frig was at least 20 years old and it came from JC Penney. It held up pretty well, I thought. I was able to find an almost identical one at Lowe's. It was a simple stainless steel "looking" for $450. Not too bad considering we keep it in the laundry room and I just needed something that worked.

100 Posts

This is post number 100. So I guess I average about fifty posts a year.
The blog has been an awesome way of documenting simple life events and its been great for keeping in touch.
I find myself always carrying a camera. Something I never did before. If I did carry the camera, I would take a picture or two and now everyone knows that each event or photo is a potential blog entry.
Next 100 posts?????
Coming soon...November Greece and Thanksgiving at Mom's in Oklahoma, December another "over 40" birthday and Christmas, January is a new year, 2009, Jeffery graduates in May. Are you planning a trip to NM? Kristin continues as a full time college student. Jeffery college??
Empty nest this year...
Mark and I will continue to travel and we'll do more of it together.

Derya & Alev in Alaska

You see these signs everywhere...Some say "Give Moose a Brake"

Tubing close to midnight. Derya is the one on the right, airborne.

This is right about midnight.

People fish during lunch. Downtown Anchorage


Views like this everywhere...just driving.
Alev and Derya playing hockey. It was fun to watch. I've never seen hockey before and everyone that spoke to us reminded us just how talented these two are.
More driving...


This is the view from the girls back patio. Right in the center is a glacier. Its difficult to see in this picture because of the clouds.
A river just down the street from their house. We watched this beaver for a long time.
Mark and I played a little golf.
Alev-Athlete of the year. She has made a commitment to the University of Wisconsin. Derya is also considering Wisconsin. Both to play soccer and hockey. It is very likely that Alev will be in the 2012 Olympics!

And flag football. These two are on the go every minute. They don't sleep much especially this time of year when the sun shines almost 24/7. We had a really nice visit.

Quick Drive on a Warm Afternoon

Mark and I went for a quick drive to the post office. Of course, we took Brewster along for the ride. It was in the evening and it was pretty warm. We had the windows rolled down and the air off. It must've gotten a little warm for Brewster.
He's never done this before, at least we THINK he's never done this before.