Little Breath of Fresh Air

Another weekend spent in the mountains of New Mexico! This time with company! Shanam's parents from Utah, our good friend Sam and his fiance came up to enjoy some time together. We rented this cute cabin for the weekend and enjoyed making fires in the fireplace and breathing in the fresh mountain air. Highlight of the weekend? Mountain biking!!! This time, with my own bike and some miles of training back in Andrews, I did a little better :) Besides the fact that I threw up on the side of the trail and almost went into shock, it was great! LOL! It just shows I was pushing myself, and that's good, according to my coach :) Really, though, it wasn't that bad. I made it all the way up the mountain and it was a great feeling of accomplishment! I can't wait to go back and do another trail :) I'm going to get into shape, you just watch me!

***Disclaimer*** My husband is not trying to kill me, so don't worry Bre :) The throwing up and going into shock were two seperate events. I went into shock after I fell from trying to get on my bike (that's a whole nother embarassing story in itself) and I was dumb and didn't eat or drink anything that morning before going out, so my body was really not liking me at all. Shanam is still the sweetest most patient guy I know. :) And I AM going to get into shape!

Cornapalooza!

Shanam and I attended our first ever CORNAPALOOZA!! What is this you ask? Well, obviously it has to do with corn...a lot of corn! At a cornapalooza this is all you eat, but don't you dare forget about the all the fixin's!! According to some, the best way to dress up a cob is by adding the following layers. First comes the butter. Let it melt and ooze all over the cob. Then slather on the mayonnaise. ( I know, I know, sounds pretty interesting!) Now that it's nice and wet, not to mention fattening, start adding the Parmesan cheese, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper. Whew! Now it's ready!! I know I couldn't believe it either!! Any of ya'll ever had it like this? How do you dress your corn? I'm just a plain butter and salt girl myself, but it was fun trying something new :)

More presents!

Today, a huge box from home arrived with tons more wedding presents and gift cards and sweet notes and I sat on my couch opening and reading and crying. I was so touched that so many people would still make an effort to send something or write something. I'm still crying as I think about how many special people have been a part of my life. It brought back so many great memories of great times I've shared with amazing people, and made me so grateful for all that I've been able to experience before getting married. I just feel so grateful to have lived the life I've lived!!! We got a card from an amazing French family that helped me tremendously on my mission, a creative gift my favorite seminary teacher new I'd love, a funny card from an old Disney co-worker who never ceases to make me laugh, sweet notes full of love from distant family members I've only met once, a letter from an awesome college roommate who's serving as a missionary in Arizona. This is just to name a few. What wonderful people! We have received so much love and support all throughout our relationship, I don't think I could ever really say enough thank you's to cover it :)

As I go throughout my day, I have a lot of time to think and ponder, and my thoughts will often think about friends from the past. Wondering what they are up to, remembering good times we shared, and especially thinking about how they have influenced my life for the better.

You are not forgotton. Thank you for enhancing the beauty of my life. I feel truly blessed to know you!

4th of July Andrews Style

Turtle Races!!!!

This was so much fun to watch! All the kids start collecting turtles a month ahead then take them here to the city park on the 4th and race them. There were over 400 turtles entered into the race!! There were two circles with heats of ten turtles at a time. Some turtles were huge, some were babies, and some were even painted! 10 turtles are put in the middle, the barrel's lifted and the first to cross the outer circle wins. Pretty fun tradition :)

Here is the city of Andrews watching and cheering on turtles :)

Later on that night we went with some frinds to their family party. This was the garage band. It was actually the band the city wanted to hire for the town party but their family outbid the city. LOL!

We're looking a little ragged and warn out. Holidays can be like that :) Too much fun!

This is Jeffrey. These are his fireworks. $900 dollars worth. Let's just say he put on one heck of a firework show. With the live band in the backround and fireworks filling up the entire sky above us, we enjoyed every patriotic second.

And Shanam enjoyed dessert :)

San Antonio Trip!

We have been looking forward to this trip for a while now! And it was so much fun! "Wicked" was playing in the Majesty Theatre, which was the reason we went, and we loved it so much! We had both seen it previously, but there was just something enchanting about it seeing it in that theatre. The inside is decorated so that it feels like you're outside at night at an Arabian palace. Anyone ever been there? So cool!This is our possy :) We went with some friends from Andrews. Seriously laughed the whole time! They are so much fun! We ate breakfast both mornings at this Mexican restaurant called Mi Tierra. There were mariachi bands, hanging tassles, flags, murals, lights, crepe paper, I mean you name it, it was there as decoration. :) Had our first taste of Mexican hot chocolate--delicious--and real Mexican pastries. Good, but really... nothing compares to French pastries!

The River Walk, of course :) Our hotel was right on the river, close to everything! Traveling together and seeing new things has got to be one of our favorite things to do!!