Catching up and a few new things

Greetings from the desert (I use that term loosely)!  The weather is 56 degrees and sunny now but from the end of August to the beginning of September was monsoon season.  We were told this last season was the wettest they've had in a long time.  It rained everyday for weeks.  Our grass in the backyard was beginning to look like a jungle and we didn't have anyway to cut it.  A quick trip to Wal-Mart and Larry was cutting the grass with a weed whipper.
Nothing major has happened since our last post but we have had a lot of fun everyday things happen.  In case you haven't gotten a moving picture on Skype of our latest cat, here she is.  Cookie is her name and she tolerates our presence pretty well.  We got her at the humane society.  She's 7 years old and even though she isn't real fond of Sophie sometimes, Sophie adores her.

 

Here is a picture of Sophie and her partner in crime, Violet.  Here they are having some good clean fun.

 



We had a great time visiting with Larry's dad, step-mom and sister in September.  Here are some pictures from the top of Sandia Mountain after we took a tramway ride to the top.

 



 

We went camping for the first time in New Mexico.  The campground was a state park on Bluewater Lake.  We camped on a hill overlooking the lake.

 

Sophie has her own Princess tent.

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately we forgot to check the weather before we left.  It got into the 30 degree range that night.  Fortunately Sophie was bundled up and toasty warm.  Unfortunately, Larry and I had on several layers and all of our blankets on but still weren't warm.  It seems too much ventilation in a tent is not good on a windy cold night. 

 



 

Here is a picture of our proud Heritage Girl Scout.  If you haven't heard of it, its like Christian girl scouts.  She loves it and has earned 2 badges already.

 

We had a lot of fun in early October when we went to the Balloon Fiesta here.  Its the largest hot air balloon event in the world.  When we first talked about going, I thought it might be kind of boring.  Boy was I wrong.  It was amazing.  We went twice during the week long event.

 

Larry and Sophie in front of Spider Pig.

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

Larry's favorite, Darth Vadar.

 

 

Laying out a balloon to fill up with air.  Then they will turn the burner on to get it upright.

 

One of Sophie's favorites, the butterfly.

 

Her very favorite, the kissing bees.

 

Another favorite, the princess carriage.

 

We went in the evening to the "Glowdeo".  They tether the balloons and turn on their burners.  The balloons glow in the night sky.

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you liked the pictures.  We have more company coming soon.  So we'll have more to share then.

 

Where baaaack!

It's hard to believe its been 2 years (and 2 houses) since our last blog post.  As everyone knows, we've moved to Albuquerque, NM and we love it!!!!  If you'd like to see some pics of our house, go to my facebook page and our best friend Cassie posted some pics from when she was here with us.

After searching for a about a month, Larry has a new job.  He started on the 28th and its taking some time for him to get in the groove again.  Its so nice to have him so close to home.  It only takes him 15 minutes to get to work.  We've added another family member.  Her name is Cookie.  She's a calico cat and she's 7 years old.  Its taking some getting used to Sophie's exuberant nature but Cookie's warming up to us all.  Sophie and I have tapered down our school time.  The kids here had their last day of school just before Memorial Day weekend.  So Sophie's friends have been wanting to play.  Sophie has a new best friend.  Her name is Violet and she lives just two houses down from us.  She's 4 years old, soon to be 5.  But she's pretty big and mature for her age.  The two girls together raise quite a raucous but they have a blast.  They're quite inseparable.

We try to get outside most everyday (Sophie and I).  I love to soak up that vitamin D as much as possible.  We have a couple of backyard games to play.  So that's fun.  A couple of weeks ago I introduced Sophie to mud pie making (strictly second-hand knowledge as I was not allowed to get dirty when I was a kid).  She may have made them before but she couldn't remember doing it.  At first she didn't want to get her hands dirty and just said "Ewwwww!"  It didn't take long for her to become one with the mud.  Here are some cute pictures.

 

Sophie's foot prints.

 

It's obviously not as green here as it is in Minnesota but I was surprised to see some color pop up in our backyard.  One day Sophie watered one of the bushes and the next day there were roses blooming on it.  That's the kind of gardening I like!

 

 

 

 Sophie was drawing scenes from the movie Tangled on the patio.

 

She even drew the castle where they lived and their rooms.  As a side note she drew a little tiny picture of the hero.  Obviously he's not as important as Rapunzel.

A couple of days ago, Sophie came in the house and said she took Butterscotch "for a walk".  Butterscotch is a stuffed dog she got from Grandma and Grandpa Gabriel.  She has Buddy's old retractable dog leash that she likes to put Butterscotch on when she's in the house.  It seems she took Butterscotch "for a walk" (or drag) while she was on her bike.  Not only did Butterscotch need a bath when he came in but he needed some minor surgery from Veterinarian Mom as well.  I pulled out over a dozen little prickles (kind of like sand burrs) from his fur.  Sophie decided she won't be taking Butterscotch "for a walk" again.