Angel Fire

For Memorial Day we went to the mountains of New Mexico with some of our small group friends.  There is just something about being in the mountains, high above a sunlit valley.  Its like the whole earth just seems more calm and still there.  You can hear each bird and showers of aspen leaves blowing in the wind.

The mountains are Neil's favorite place to be.

Neil's uncle has a cabin in Angel Fire and he was so generous to let us stay there!  It was so beautiful, right on the side of the ski slope.

Here are some barbarians :)

Thats Amanda and Jon, Justin and Kimberly, then me and Neil.  I think it was a refreshing and much needed vacation for all of us!  On our first day there we went to Taos, a small town near by.  First we went to the Taos Pueblo which is considered the oldest continuously inhabited community in the US.  

Their adobe buildings were most likely constructed between 1000 and 1450AD.  We met a villager who tried to share her meal with Kimberly, said she thought Justin was cute, and told us her dog's name was "hot dog" and "radar".  We had fun shopping around and taking in the sights.

On Saturday the boys wanted to go fishing, so we girls decided to head to Red River and do some more shopping.

Little did we know that on Memorial Weekend Red River hosts a huge biker rally!  There were SOO many motorcycles!  It was crazy.  

Amanda got slightly stalked by one biker so Kimberly and I had to stay close by.  Then we had a store owner give us some New Mexico Salsa.  (you can barely see it in that last picture, tucked in my arm). We didn't even ask for it or buy anything from his store, he just started talking to us and then ran after us as we were leaving to give us some salsa!  I think that was largely in part to Amanda also.  She is so outgoing, she can have a conversation with anyone!  Way to go for free salsa Amanda! :)

On Sunday the plan was to take the ski lift up to the top of the mountain, have a picnic lunch and hike down.  When we got to the ski lift it looked like this.

See how it just goes white at the top?  That is a cloud.  So we were about to get on the lift and the worker at the bottom gives us this stern speech, "You do realize that it is raining at the top, don't you?  Are you sure that you want to go up?  Do you want a trash bag to wear as a poncho?  Its very cold and wet at the top."  He was a nice man and just trying to look out for us, but he just didn't know how determined we were to hike around on this mountain!  So we started up on the lift and we are literally being encompassed by this cloud!  It was really cool and cold too.  It was raining on us and we were soaked before we even got to the top.  Then we started our descent.

It was too cold to stop and eat our picnic so we just kinda ate as we walked.  We ended up having a good time despite the wet cold.  Now that is the sign of a true barbarian :)

On Monday our friends went their separate ways and Neil's parents arrived!  

We had a great time with them and we ate soo much!  I always have a fun time with them.  I already feel like we are family.

(i was saying, "lets jump when we take this pic" - me looking like a leprechaun is just a bonus *smile*)

We went back to Taos with them to find some pottery bowls for Neil and I and that was the day I ate the biggest meal of my life at my new favorite restaurant, Michael's Kitchen!  I had stuffed sopapillas and ate the ENTIRE huge dish plus another sopapilla with honey for dessert!  I was still full the next morning!

We wrapped up our trip by swinging through OKC for Bryce's birthday party!  It was a great two weeks!

St. Louis

Wow what a rainy June week we have had... kinda feels like a rainy april day.  And what does rainy april bring?  May flowers!  So lets focus on that!  (how was that for a segue?)In May we went to St. Louis with Kenny and Karen! For those of you who don't know, that is my sister who is married to Neil's college room mate.  They also get credited with getting Neil and I together!  Needless to say we have a special bond with the Schells :)  So they came up and spent the night with us on their way to St. Louis for a concert and then Neil and I met them up there for the day on Friday.  

We went all over the place!  St. Louis has this cool place called Forest Park where they have an art museum, history museum, science museum, zoo, botanical

 gardens etc. and its all free!  Isn't that amazing? 

So we went to the art museum, ate a gourmet lunch and headed to the awesome zoo.  I was thinking, really how cool can this zoo be? I mean, its free!  But it was amazing!  So beautifully laid out and tons of animals.  

My favorite parts were the penguin exhibit where they had tropical and cold climate penguins and the tiger area. The tigers were a special treat because they had several tiger cubs all in the same area.  Usually they separate tigers when they are grown, but these tigers were still young, even though they looked full size.  They kept playing and splashing in the water, just having a blast!  

Friends forever, Apart or together!

Blustery Day

Wow!  What an eventful day we had!  This morning I was planning on going in to work to cover the shift of my co-worker who was out of town.  So my alarm when off ("Iiii am a maaaan, of constant soorrroows..." -yes I know that is an interesting choice of songs to wake up to, kinda gives you a hint of how I feel about mornings!) and in between hitting snooze I hear POURING rain and crazy wind and sirens.  So after a few times of snooze Neil says, "well I guess we better get in the closet... its time to get up anyway" he said this with a nonchalant tone as if that was a normal morning greeting for us *laugh*.  So we got in the closet and I grabbed a bunch of pillows, he got the weather radio and some granola bars then I went to get my purse and my wedding ring, then he wanted his book, then I wanted my book, then we both had to go to the bathroom, (you can see how good we would be in a real emergency situation!) 

So once we were settled in the closet we decided to find out why we were in the closet and it turned out there were 85 mile an hour winds flying through our neighborhood!  Ack!  So we didn't really need to be in the closet since there wasn't a tornado warning, but since we were in there we decided to be safe and stay just incase flying debris came shooting through our window!  So then my boss called me to say that I didn't need to come in today since the weather was so bad!  That was good since I wasn't looking forward to driving in the monsoon!  So after the severe weather warning was over we looked out the windows and there was trash all over our front yard and the wind was blowing all the rain sideways and knocking over people's trash cans and walloping over our new little maple tree!  

Yes it tipped our little tree clean over and rubbed it so roughly against the pavers that it looks like we tried to chop it down!  Needless to say we were quite distraught, and had a hard time waiting for the hail and downpour to stop for us to go prop it back up!  The storm abruptly passed and the sun came out, so Neil pulled some of the steaks out of the backyard  that are no longer needed and we put them in the front yard to stabilize our trees. 

This task was harder than it looks, because if you will remember, our yard is made of cement! In the process of securing our trees we discovered another little home that survived the storm :)  

After we were done with the yard work we headed out to run some errands.  We got lunch at Q'doba (soo good!) and then went to flowerama and got a ton of beautiful yellow carnations to hand out to the mother's in our church on Sunday.

Oh and last week we went bowling with Jon and Amanda for Amanda's birthday celebration! 

 I was by far the best at getting my ball in the gutter :)  

It was their daughter's first bowling trip and she had a blast!  

observant

Woah!  So we just came in from a morning of lawn work and tree beautifing and Neil is in the kitchen cooking me a gourmet lunch.  We were looking for a "medium saucepan" which takes a little looking to find, when suddenly he opened a cabinet and there was nothing in it!  A completely empty area!  Can you imagine being in your kitchen, in a home that you have lived in for over 3 months, and not knowing you had a whole cabinet just sitting there unused!  lol that just shows how observant we are!

Saran Wrap

Wow, sorry it has been so long since I last posted anything, its been a busy few days, recovering from Easter, going to OKC, getting sick and then getting well :)  You would think

 that I would have had plenty of time while I was laying on the couch to blog to my hearts content, which I agree, the time was there, it was a matter of contamination.  You see, Neil has lovingly saran-wrapped all the remotes to the tv, dvd, and receiver to protect them from evil germs.  He even gave me a walmart sack to use as a glove when retrieving dvds from their case!  He is very thoughtful and slightly germaphobic, but not as bad as me.  But its a good

 thing because he has not gotten sick yet either!

Anyway, I didn't have saran-wrap to wrap around the computer, hence the lack of bloginess. Granted, I could have used my "glove" but I just didn't have the heart to.  

Here are the Top Twelve Tid Bits that sum up the last 2 weeks.

1.  We had an amazing Easter party for the "orphans" (that is Barbarians who weren't visiting their parents for Easter), complete with an Easter Egg hunt!

2. The boys were excellent sports and joined in on the hunting and hiding without too much of a fuss.

3. I went to OKC for the weekend while Neil was at the general assembly in St. Louis.  I gave Bryce Neil's April Fools day balloons and they are still inflated!  Thats

 impressive!  

4. We celebrated my birthday and I got a Gazelle :)  that is an exercise machine, not an animal. 

5. We went to Kenny and Karen's soccer game and just happened to run in to some other Missorians, Keith's parents!  What are the odds? They were watching Keith's brother who just happens to play on the same team!  They WON! Go Rockets!!

6. If the Rockets were an all girls team they could be called the Rockettes.  Then they could say that they have really great kicks! 

7. Nicole became an AUNT!  Oh and Keith is an uncle too, but not nearly as vocally excited about it as Nicole!! ;) 

 

8. I got to see my wonderful Aunt Neva and Cousin Carrie for the first time in forever!

9. On the way back to Springfield it was raining and sprinkling and carrying on, and God let me see the MOST amazing rainbow!  It shot straight up into the sky, probably 300 feet!  It was beautiful :)

10. I came back from OKC and immediately got the yuck.  If you need to know what the yuck is please click on the link to my sister Karen's site - April 10th.

11. My amazing husband has been lovingly taking care of me and cooking for me and telling me that I still look pretty even when I'm sick, all week long!

12. Tonight I am achieving a great wifely achievement which is conquering a mountain of laundry, the biggest I've encountered on my marriage adventure!  Wish me luck!

Tenebrae

"Just as you may never full appreciate a movie if all you see is the happy ending, you may never experience all the joy of the Easter Season without experiencing Good Friday first.  Come join us as we reflect on the grief and suspense of that day so we can all experience the joy of Easter together."

Last night, my savior died for me.  That was the focus of our Tenebrae evening.  Tenebrae is Latin for "shadows" or "darkness".  It is so incredible to imagine yourself as a disciple, to wake up this morning and feel such immeasurable hopelessness as you realize that your savior, friend, teacher, healer, leader - the son of God - died last night.  Wouldn't that shake your faith!?  It has only been in the last two years that I have fully grasped the incredible joy of Easter in realizing what the disciples must have felt that beautiful Sunday morning when they found that the tomb was empty!  All of their hope had been restored as they gained insight to the full glorious picture of God's awesome plan of salvation.

Our service last night focused on the last 7 things Christ said on the cross.  We also had a footwashing service (my first one), that we did in groups of family and friends.  Our small group, now known as "The Barbarians" (for further explaination of why we chose this name read "The Barbarian Way" by Erwin McManus - trust me you won't be disappointed!) chose to do the footwashing together, each couple washing their spouse's feet.  It was such a beautiful way to show an outward expression of my love to Neil, and I felt the same as he washed my feet. 

 We got to watch as Jon and Amanda's daughter participated in her first footwashing!  She is such a delight to be around and she did such a good job helping her parents and sitting still as her feet were washed.  She loves Neil and as I started to wash his feet, I think she wanted to come help!  Not even two years old and she already has a servant's heart :) 

Just Dandy!

Yesterday was a dandy day :)  I got to spend the whole day with the man of my dreams!  It was such a mild and warm day, just the right day for working outside!  Neil and I went to the Botanical Tree Trail and Nursery and got two trees for our bare front yard!  We decided on an Autumn Blaze Maple and Neil had to have a Colorado Blue Spruce.  Since Blue Spruces can grow to around 60 feet tall, we prudently decided on the Baby Blue *smile*

We borrowed Jon's truck, got them all loaded up and when we got home we set to work!  We called Jon a second time to help us unload the surprisingly heavy trees! We had to strategically place them in between the pipe lines running through our little yard and Neil did several "drive bys" (which consisted of him speed walking past, pretending to be in a car) to make sure that we had them in the right position. 

 Neil started digging and quickly realized that our yard is not made of dirt.  It is mostly rocks bound together with rock hard clay!  So he dug and dug and dug!  All day!  

While he dug, I set to work pulling up the dandelions from our yard.  Believe it or not, there were so many that I was still pulling dandelions after he "jackhammered" through our cement yard!  I pulled two ENTIRE walmart sacks FULL of dandelions!  It was so many that when I closed my eyes later I could clearly see the sprawling shape of those yellow weeds! haha! 

Neil lugged the trees into the hole, then found out that our wire cutters would not cut through the thick wire basket around the rootball!  Jon to the rescue again!  Its so nice to have awesome neighbors!  A saws-all really does saw all!  After Neil removed the wire, I helped fill the wholes back in and we got the trees watered just as the sun was setting!  Whew! just in time :)