A day with my husband

Every summer since we've moved here, the kids and I are always in El Paso Texas visiting family during the Celtic Festival.  My husband went last year by himself.  It's okay that he went by himself, but I really wanted to go too.  This year I made a point to plan our vacation to Texas before the Festival.

Today my husband and I enjoyed a fun day with awesome music, good food and each other's company.

For me I relaxed knowing all my kids were busy and taken care of and there would be no stress leaving in the mad house of a parking lot....since all we had to do was walk up to our house :)

This group was the best!

The clouds built all around us but it didn't rain :)

Fish & Chips!  (and a dark beer) The fries were great, with garlic and vinegar.  (I'm glad I took my husband's recommendation....quite tasty)

My husband & I
I'm thankful for the time we spent today together.

Summing up Vacation

The star on Trans Mountain

on the other side of that flag is Juarez Mexico

enjoying the nice hotel my mom got for our "staycation"

getting ready to shoot Grandpa's guns

Sara

Kyle and his best friend Sean

Los Lunas (on our way home)

My Mom and Her Yard

Every summer I enjoy sitting in my mom's backyard.  Most mornings we enjoy our coffee out there and then sometimes in the evening we'll have a glass of wine.  She also has a hot tub in the midst of her beautiful yard that we enjoyed too.  We always enjoy the one on one time and conversation.

Chaparral Style

One thing that my daughter did with her Grandpa on vacation was....learn how to parallel park.  She drove his truck, which she really enjoyed and she parked between two big boxes instead of cones.  It worked and she did really well.

A new tradition

Last year we went out to Chaparral and grilled pizzas at my dad's.  We had so much fun and they were really good.  The whole process just really helped bring us all together to enjoy some family time and create memories.

This year we grilled pizzas on my Dad's 63rd birthday.  Once again it was great yummy fun!  So I think we will continue doing this every summer we go visit my dad.

Vacation to Texas 2013 (Day 1)

To start the week off, on Sunday my mom and Larry took us to Las Cruces NM to the Farm & Ranch Museum.  I enjoyed all of it, the animals, the scenery, the old timey things inside, the old tractors and the black smith demo.  But I think the boys like the Black Smith Demonstration the most and the girls I think liked it all....although I have to wonder with Karlee, every fake animal she saw she was kissing it for some strange reason.  They all were very easily entertained when it came to the milking demo machine on display.....they really enjoyed putting their thumbs in the hole to feel the pressure and the sensation that a cow would feel while being milked.   The Blacksmith made a nail and Kyle was excited to keep it.  Kyle's best friend Sean joined us this year on our trip to El Paso Texas.

After the  Museum we headed to the Mall to do some shopping and have lunch.  It was a great day and a great start to our week.

Finding the Joy

Today is the 4th of July!  Happy Independence Day Everyone!  My daughter Karlee and I went to the parade here in Flagstaff AZ.  I have to say that I really didn't want to.  I think that after living in a small town as Fort Davis TX and their 4th of July parade sort of spoiled it for me....we had a great parade there.  Karlee wanted to go with a friend and her family so we did. We met up with them.  I enjoyed being around them.

While watching the parade for a bit, Karlee leans over to me and says see mom "Ft. Davis didn't have an awesome eagle in it".  I laughed and told her thank you for finding the joy and pointing it out to me.

I had fun at the parade.

The eagle was my favorite!

My daughter's smiling face and her sunny outlook really made the parade extra special!

My youngest, Sara was in the parade with some friends from her school.  (she is the little blonde girl waving)