Another Wild Adventure

Almost There

2012-02-09T23:46:00.000-06:00

Only 6 days left until my due date! I'm feeling uncomfortably large, so I'm ready to get this show on the road!

39 weeks, 1 day

Nursery

2012-02-03T16:00:00.003-06:00

We've finished the nursery for the most part, so I figured I'd go ahead and share a few pictures.

The wall color is Sterling by Valspar, but we actually had them match the color at Home Depot so we could get Behr paint. A little of that stuff goes a long way!

The bed and dresser were already in the room, so we just shuffled things around a bit so we could add the crib and chair. Jacob's parents gave us that chair, and we made new cushions for it.

Jacob made the valance and changing table. He really dislikes the way the changing table came out, but I like it.

It's best feature is that it becomes a nightlight. I think this will be really handy for night-time feedings.

And here's the crib area. I made all the crib sheets with the help of this great tutorial from Michael Miller Fabrics. It was much easier than I had expected. For the crib skirt, I just hemmed some rectangles of fabric to the right sizes and used Velcro to keep them in place. This way, I can just reposition the Velcro as we lower the matress.

The mobile is one of my favorite things in the room. I used a 12" embroidery hoop, fishing line, felt, and polyfill to make it.

This is what it will look like from Baby D's perspective.

I bought these precious paintings from Trafalgar Square on Etsy. I absolutely love them!

The bunting is made from more of that felt and fishing line.

The shelves are from Lowe's, and they were surprisingly hard to install. Jacob ended up having to use all these fancy screws and wall anchors that were not included in the package.

Jacob made that headboard from an old door when we lived in Waco. He also cut those shapes on the wall from MDF, and I upholstered them. I love the fact that my husband is so handy!

So there you have it. Now we just need our baby. I'm really hoping s/he decides to come sooner rather than later!

Grandma Bobbie

2012-02-01T13:20:00.000-06:00

I love this picture of my grandmother. I've had it on my refrigerator for years now. She's the one in the middle with the brown, puffy hair and the beautiful smile. I'm the little one in the middle, sitting on my great grandmother's knee and looking up at my dad, who--from my perspective now--seems little older than a child himself.

My Grandma Bobbie was a singer, song-writer, poet, and author. Some of those titles by profession, and others simply by a love for the art. I remember as a child looking through boxes upon boxes of tapes she had made of her songs and the strong sound of her voice on those less-than-crystal-clear recordings. I remember going to church when she was singing, and how she would hit notes so high my ears would ring. I remember a children's book she wrote about angels, and how she used real make-up to shade their illustrated faces. I remember the strong peppermint smell of her muscle cream and a photograph she took of a cloud that looked just like an angel.

When I saw her at Christmas, I told her that I would bring her first great grandchild to see her soon. I cried on the way home because I was certain I'd made a promise I would not be able to keep. I can't say that I was surprised on Saturday night when I got the call. She had suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for as long as I can remember, and in the past few years her health had declined greatly. I'm so grateful to have had her in my life for as long as I did, and I'm also grateful that she's not suffering anymore. I know that she has been restored and is singing beautiful songs before the throne of God.

Pink or Blue?

2012-01-25T14:29:00.001-06:00

Today we've made it to 37 weeks! Last week after my doctor's appointment, I stopped by a children's clothing boutique (yes, we actually have one). I left with two adorable outfits. I just don't know which one our child will get to wear! Pink or blue? What do you think?

I took these pictures last week at 36 weeks and 1 day.

I've officially reached the point where I'm uncomfortably large...

And this is our little one! The hand looks very strange, but that's just some distortion. S/he looks much more human than at our last sonogram!

So today I'm very grateful that our due date is only three weeks away. It's hard to believe that s/he will be here so soon! What do you think? Is it a boy or a girl?

Christmas Recap- Huntsville

2012-01-24T10:45:00.000-06:00

On Christmas Day, we drove up to Huntsville to see Jacob's family. When we arrived, we went directly to Grandmother's house to visit with Jacob's mother's side of the family. The next day, we opened presents.

It was so much fun to watch our nephews open gifts and get some gifts for ourselves as well!

They loved wrestling with Uncle Jake (when he would agree to it). They also loved their Legos. Luke was interested in what could be built with the Legos, but Owen really just wanted to carry the Lego men around.

On Wednesday morning, the boys took a trip up to Green Mountain to walk around. Luke said that they walked "forever." I think they had a good time, even with all the walking!

Wednesday night, MaryBeth and Wes had a shower for us and Baby Huey! It was so much fun!

They had coffee, tea, and all kinds of delicious cakes. It's a good thing I'm on an "eat whatever I want" kind of diet right now! :) I'm pretty sure I tried them all!

We had a wonderful time visiting with everyone who came! It was great to reconnect with so many people we haven't seen in what seems like a very long time!

Thanks, Wes and MB for such a great party!

MaryBeth made the cutest centerpiece for the cake table with some of our baby pictures, but unfortunately, I forgot to get a picture of it! You can see a little bit of it in the picture below.

Then on Thursday night, we drove up to Nashville to see the Zac Brown Band in concert! It was one of the best concerts I've ever seen! I'm not sure if the baby loved it or hated it, but s/he was dancing around the whole time!

So, that's about it for our Christmas vacation. It was wonderful to spend so much time with our family and friends at home!

Chrsitmas Recap- Birmingham

2012-01-16T12:10:00.001-06:00

Christmas vacation this year was so much fun! We flew in and out of Birmingham, so we spent the first and last parts of our time with my family.

The Friday after we arrived, we ate lunch with some college friends, which was so much fun!

On Christmas Eve, we took our family Christmas/New Year's card picture. It turned out pretty good, I think. Mom said that people keep calling to ask where the other dog went! Millie (the one that's still with us) is really enjoying being spoiled these days. We're not sure if she's even noticed that her sister is gone.

We also went to the Christmas Eve service at Asbury. It was absolutely packed! We ended up getting there a little late (still 20 minutes before the service started) so we had to sit in the cry room. We cooked dinner together that night when we got home. It's always interesting when we all get in the kitchen together.

On Christmas Day, we went to my cousin's house for Christmas dinner. It was so much fun visiting with everyone, and the food was delicious!

We went to Huntsville that night. My next post will be all about our great visit with Jacob's family!

We made it back to Birmingham on the 30th. We got together with some of my friends from high school on Friday night, and we had a blast visiting with them all! Once again, I didn't take any pictures...

We ate New Year's Eve dinner at Ocean. And we almost made it until midnight. Almost.

Ms. Pam was able to come with us, so we had a lot of fun visiting with her!

It may be two weeks late, but Happy New Year anyway!

Thanksgiving Trip to Durango

2011-12-10T15:33:00.001-06:00

For Thanksgiving this year, we decided to take a trip up to Durango, CO. It was our second trip up there for the year, and I'm so glad we got to go back. This time we decided to relax and enjoy the town, since skiing is not an option for me.

We drove up on Thanksgiving, so we spent nine hours of our day in the car. When we arrived, we ate a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at The Mahogany Grille, which happened to be inside our hotel. We stayed at the historic Strater Hotel downtown. I actually took a picture of it last time we were there just because it's so pretty!

Every room is decorated differently with interesting antiques.

All our junk is in the way, but you get the point...

It almost made us feel as if we were visiting the old west!

On Friday morning, we took a ride on the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. It was definitely the highlight of our trip!

They have a Polar Express train that runs at night, so I guess this little item in the gift shop was intended to make the kids behave on the train!

We got to ride in the caboose! We chose that car because it was for guests 21 and over only. We won't have that option for much longer!

Not surprisingly, I forgot the SD card for my camera, so I only have phone pictures. Here are some of the views we had along the way...

We were able to go out on the back platform to get some fresh air. We didn't stay out there for long since it was so cold.

Our destination was Cascade Canyon, which was really beautiful, but again, really cold.

We lasted about 10 minutes before heading back to the comfort of the caboose.

After the train ride, we spent the rest of our time exploring the town. We had dinner at Home Slice Pizza. It was so good! If you ever go to Durango, you need to eat there.

On Saturday, we went shopping downtown and then found a place to watch the Iron Bowl. We ended up leaving at half-time and watching the rest of the game in the room. I may or may not have taken a nap while Jacob watched the game...

We had dinner that night at Ken & Sue's. It was also fantastic!

The food in Durango was so good that we haven't even wanted to go out to eat since we got back to Hobbs. It would just be disappointing! ;)

On Sunday we made the long drive home. We listened to The Hunger Games as we drove, which made it much more bearable. I highly recommend it if you haven't read (or listened to) it yet!

Dust Storm

2011-11-21T16:43:00.000-06:00

About a month ago we had a crazy dust storm here in Hobbs. We've seen dust storms before, but they were nothing compared to this one.

Jacob and Jeremy were putting spacers on the Subaru (which was unnerving enough for me).

Jacob came in and told me to get the camera and come outside. This is what I saw when I got there...

Two Down...

2011-11-19T13:01:00.000-06:00

One to go! We've made it into the third trimester! I've been feeling Baby Huey (NOT his/her real name, just a funny nickname) moving a lot. Those sweet little kicks I used to feel have become pretty powerful recently.

27 weeks, 2 days

I'm feeling good for the most part. I'm a little sleepy and a little off balance. I'm also feeling pretty large. I've gained 20 pounds so far, and I'm still hungry as ever. I do my best to eat healthy, but I haven't exactly been depriving myself of treats like pizza and ice cream either.

I don't like this picture as much, but it made me laugh. Here I am...

...barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen! Ha!

Hunting

2011-11-15T17:47:00.000-06:00

The last weekend in October, we took a really fun trip with our friends, Jamie and Jeremy. We went camping out in the Lincoln National Forest (west of Carlsbad, near Queen, NM). The Lincoln National Forest has three separate areas, and the one we went to was the southernmost.

As you can see, the term "forest" may be a bit of a stretch.

Jamie and Kaiser

Raider

We stayed in their pop-up camper in the middle of nowhere. This was my first camping experience that didn't involve a tent at a campground with a bathroom. It was different, but lots of fun!

The boys installed this nice laminate flooring before we left for our trip. Fancy, right? Jacob was just happy to finally put his air compressor and nail gun to good use.

This trip actually had a purpose besides spending time in the great outdoors. I'm not so good with the terminology, but he got a deer tag (like a hunting license- for a buck only) and he had to use a muzzleloader (a gun that is loaded from the front...think Revolutionary War). Jeremy (a seasoned hunter) was his guide for the weekend.

Ocotillo

They saw a fair amount of deer, but they were all does.

Jeremy looking for bucks

So in the end, all Jacob ended up shooting was a rabbit. At least it was a jackrabbit and not a little cottontail! We'd hoped this picture would be of Jacob with a large buck...

I guess we'll just take what we can get. I heard he shot a porcupine, too, but I have yet to see the evidence! ;)

In other news, one of my family's dachshunds passed away this week at the ripe old age of 16.

R.I.P. Missy

Weekend Fun

2011-10-26T22:18:00.000-05:00

The month of October has slipped past me somehow, so I'm going to try to catch up on the blog this week. Get ready for a long post!

We went to Birmingham during the last week of September because Jacob had class. We had a great visit with my family, and then we drove up to Columbia, SC for the Auburn vs. South Carolina game.

We got to see some old friends.

Here I am with Melissa and Bree.

And watch what turned out to be a great game!

Wes came down from NC, so we got to witness another Auburn win with him! This time was much more budget-friendly than last time...

The next weekend, Jacob's parents made the long drive out to NM to visit us! We had such a wonderful time with them.

The highlight of our time together was our trip to the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque! It was really cold, and it had been raining all week, so we didn't even know if the balloons would fly until about 5:00 that morning.

Luckily, the rain stopped, and it turned out to be a really beautiful day! It was a little cold, but it was worth it!

The Spider-Pig balloon was my favorite!

Family Pic!

It was so cold that it actually snowed on the mountain! It's hard to tell from the picture, but it's there!

That was the first half of October for us. I'll be back with the rest soon!

More On Acupuncture

2011-09-26T22:35:00.002-05:00

A friend of mine asked me to write a post on acupuncture, so I figured I'd try to oblige her. I really don't know all that much, so I don't know how helpful I'll be... I will warn you, most of this is information you can find with a simple Google search, so feel free to do your own research, and DON'T use me as a definitive source on the topic.

Is it safe?
From what I have seen and experienced, yes. The needles used are extremely thin, sterile, and disposed of after one use, making the risk of infection very small. There is nothing on the needles, so allergic reaction isn't something to worry about unless you are allergic to stainless steel itself. Usually, slight bleeding, soreness, or bruising are the only side effects. I didn't experience any side effects after my treatments. Here is a good article on acupuncture safety from ABC News.

Does it hurt?
Jacob will tell you that when it comes to pain, I can be a pretty big baby. It didn't hurt me, so I'm sure you'll be fine. The needles are so tiny, you can barely feel most of them. For me, going to acupuncture had the same effect as going to get a massage. It was so relaxing!

How does it work?
My acupuncturist tried to explain this to me from the perspective of oriental medicine, and I got lost. It has to do with balancing yin and yang forces in the body. Acupuncture focuses on overall balance and wellness as opposed to treating one problem at a time. Many people find that even if they go for one specific condition, acupuncture will clear up other problems as well. For example, I went for infertility, but it also cured my sweaty hands and feet (gross, I know, but it's true), allergies, and joint pain in my knees and ankles.

Here are a few links on this subject:
How Acupuncture Works
How Does Acupuncture Work?

What can it treat?
This list is really long, which is really cool to me. One of the reasons I decided to even write this post is that I know so many people who have conditions on this list! Please read it!

The World Health Organization recognizes acupuncture and Oriental medicine as effective for over 43 common ailments including:

Respiratory Disorders

Sinusitis

Rhinitis

Common cold

Tonsillitis

Sore throat

Hay fever

Bronchitis

Bronchial Asthma

Disorders of the Eyes

Acute conjunctivitis

Myopia in children

Cataracts without complications

Central retinitis

Mental- Emotional Disorders

Anxiety

Depression

Stress

Insomnia

Addictions

Weight control

Musculo-skeletal Disorders

Frozen shoulder

Tennis elbow

Low back pain

Osteoarthritis and joint pains

Stiff neck

Tendinitis

Bursitis

Sprains

Injuries from auto accidents

Chronic fatigue syndrome

Fibromyalgia

Gastro-intestinal Disorders

Acute and chronic gastritis

Hyperacidity

Hiccoughs

Acute uncomplicated duodenal ulcer

Chronic duodenal ulcer (pain relief)

Acute and chronic colitis

Acute bacillary dysentery

Constipation
Diarrhea

Paralytic ileus

Neurological Disorders

Headache and Migraine

Dizziness

Trigeminal neuralgia

Facial palsy (within 3-6 months)

Pareses following stroke

Peripheral neuropathies

Meniere’s disease

Neurogenic bladder dysfunction

Nocturnal enuresis

Intercostal neuralgia
Sciatica

Disorders of the Mouth

Toothache

Post extraction pain

Gingivitis

Acute and chronic pharyngitis

Ear Disorders

Ringing in ears

Deafness

Meniere’s disease

Earache

Reproductive System Disorders

Infertility

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)

Irregular Menses

Menstrual cramps

Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)

Menopausal symptoms

Morning sickness

Urinary incontinence

Impotence

Original source can be found here.

Of course, this does NOT mean that you should stop seeing your doctor for conditions listed here. But it is something for you to think about.

Here is a little more reading if you're interested or if you still have questions:

YinOva Center on Acupuncture
Acupuncture FAQs

If you are thinking about acupuncture for infertility, please read Making Babies. If you're not going to read the book, at least go to the website, take the quiz, and read the suggestions listed for your fertility type.

So, that's all I've got. I hope it helps those of you who wanted more information on the subject!

Baby Stuff

2011-09-21T18:52:00.001-05:00

So we had the "big" ultrasound on Monday, and we are happy to say that it's a...

Baby!

I know, that was mean. I apologize.

We decided not to find out the gender of our little one until he or she is born. Jacob really wanted to keep it a surprise, and since I always get my way, I decided I'd let him have this one. I did catch myself peering at the baby's lower half on the screen, just to see if I could make a guess. I could not. I asked if we needed to look away so that she could determine the gender, and she said she'd known since the beginning of the ultrasound!

I couldn't make out anything except the head, spine, and an occasional hand or foot. Our nurse practitioner would find something for us to look at, and we'd sit in silence until she explained it. Thankfully, she found everything she was looking for! She said that from the looks of things, we have a very healthy baby!

My sister keeps asking for belly pictures, so Erin, this one's for you!

19 Weeks

I have been feeling the baby move for a few weeks now, but Jacob has yet to feel any movements for himself. That day may still be a few weeks away!

People always ask how I'm feeling and if I have any cravings. I guess those are the FAQs of pregnancy. Here are my answers: I'm feeling great! I was so sleepy and hungry during the first trimester (not very sick, though), and now I feel almost normal. My back does get tired or sore sometimes. My cravings have been for peanut butter, fruit (tons and tons of fruit), sour cream and onion Pringles, and cookies of any kind. I did have a weird thing where the smell of pineapple made me sick, but I'm over that now.

And here's a wave hello from our little one!

San Antonio and Sea World

2011-09-19T14:13:00.001-05:00

About a month ago, Jacob and I got to spend a long weekend with his brother and sister-in-law in San Antonio. San Antonio happens to be one of my favorite cities in Texas, so when I heard we were going to get to see it again, I was pretty happy. There is so much history and culture there. There's the Alamo and other Spanish missions, not to mention the San Antonio River Walk, La Villita Historic Arts Village, the Historic Market Square (El Mercado), and amazing restaurants! I can now add another awesome destination to the list of great things to see in San Antonio: Sea World!

Here are a few pictures from the River Walk and the Alamo.

I was hiding out in the shade while the boys were reading about the history of the Alamo. San Antonio in August is so hot!

Wes and Mary Beth in front of the Alamo

We decided to take Wes and Mary Beth to Garner State Park, which is one of our favorites.

The next day, we went to Sea World. And it was awesome. The first show we saw was called Azul, and it had beluga whales, pacific white-sided dolphins, and crazy divers / trainers! It was like Cirque du Soleil with animals. It was my favorite show of the day by far!

Look carefully and you'll see the man who just jumped from the ceiling.

We also got a chance to feed some dolphins, which was pretty fun!

They also have an aquarium that we used more as a refuge from the heat.

We saw a detective show with sea lions and walruses, which was pretty cute. There was one little otter who stole things from time to time as well.

We saw some daring skiiers.

Finally, we saw the Shamu show, which was also pretty amazing.

The whales splashed those people at the bottom several times. They were drenched by the end of the show.

We had an awesome trip to San Antonio, and we loved getting to spend time with Wes and Mary Beth!

Mutton Bustin'

2011-08-29T21:43:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, Jacob and I had the opportunity to see a really great part of the Lea County Fair and Rodeo: Mutton Busting. It's like a mini rodeo. A sheep is placed in the chute (where a bull or horse might normally be), and instead of a full grown cowboy (or cowgirl) a child is placed on top. When they open the gate, the sheep runs for its life, and the child tries to hold on. The child who stays on the longest wins. It's awesome!

The precious boys I babysit were brave enough to ride! I was so incredibly impressed!

Cutter (5) - I wasn't able to get a good picture of him on the sheep

The announcer said that it's actually "legal child abuse," but I don't think one kid felt abused! We had the best time watching Lea County's bravest youngsters riding sheep.

Canyon (3)

Canyon after his ride

The sheep were pretty funny. Some of them ran and some of them bucked. Some of them couldn't really figure out how to run with a rider in tow, and they hobbled more than anything else. Those sheep ended up falling down before the kid fell off.

Unknown rider

Here's Canyon after the ride. He busted his lip just a little bit, but he said he would definitely ride again next year!

The boys had a good time watching the other riders, too.

Here they are with their grandfather. Aren't they handsome?!

If you ever get the chance to watch some Mutton Busting, you will not be disappointed!

Keep On Asking

2011-08-15T11:15:00.004-05:00

I happen to love this theme. It comes up many times in the gospels as Jesus is teaching people about prayer. In Luke 11, he tells my favorite story about persistence:

⁵ Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, ⁶ ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ ⁷ And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ ⁸ But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.

He goes on to relate this story to prayer.

⁹ “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

This idea of persistence is something that I never really grasped as I was growing up. I didn't want to be rude in my prayers, like some spoiled child throwing a fit until she gets what she wants. It's still a little hard to hear. But it doesn't show up just once. Nope. I've found it in Matthew 7, Luke 18, and even Genesis 32 when Jacob wrestles with God until he receives His blessing. I bet it's in there a whole lot more, too. Don't get me wrong, patience is key, and so is asking that above all, God's will would be done.

He finishes up on the subject with this:

¹¹ “You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead?¹² Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! ¹³ So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

So we learn in the end that we don't just get anything we want if we become the proverbial "squeaky wheel," but that God will give us good gifts, especially the gift of the Holy Spirit. His perfect guidance injected right into our lives.

Here's where my story comes into play.

Ever since I can remember, I've wanted one day to have a family of my own. A husband to love and help, and children to raise. As of my mid-twenites, God had blessed me with an absolutely wonderful marriage and the serious desire to grow our family.

Fast forward two years. Two years of infertility followed by pregnancy loss. Even though it was a really difficult time in my life, God took the time to refine me. I didn't get what I asked for when I asked for it. Jacob and I felt deep sorrow, loss, and emptiness. However, we never experienced hopelessness. As Christians, we know that no matter what we lose or gain in this life, we have been saved by grace, and we will be with our God for eternity.

After our loss, I began to notice this wonderful theme of persistence in my studies. I knew I wasn't supposed to roll over and go back to sleep, feeling sorry for myself. I knew I had to find out about this body God gave me and why it wasn't working.

Joyful is the person who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding. -Proverbs 3:13

I believe that God puts people and information in your path for a purpose. I won't give you the long version, but two friends recommended two wonderful books, Making Babies and Taking Charge of Your Fertility. If you are struggling with infertility, or even just starting to think about having children, read these books. They could save you years of heartache.

I was absolutely shocked to learn just how little I knew about myself and how I work. After charting for a few months, I could tell that something would need to be done. My wonderful neighbor recommended acupuncture, which is also recommended in Making Babies. Instead of a trip back to an infertility specialist, I decided to trust my friend and start acupuncture. Am I ever glad I did! My acupuncturist told me I would be pregnant in three months. I was pregnant in two!

On Wednesday, I will be 14 weeks along in my pregnancy. It's just the beginning, but at least we've made it this far. So today, Jacob and I find ourselves on the other side of this valley we've had to walk through, on top of a mountain. The view from here is beautiful, and even if we have to go back down there tomorrow, we will not forget this feeling we have now. God has provided a blessing for us in his perfect way. We are truly grateful.

Baby D - Due February 15, 2012

4th of July

2011-07-29T18:10:00.000-05:00

I know it's been a while since the 4th, but at least it's still the same month! :) Over 4th of July weekend, we headed out to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon. We wanted to see it when we went to the BCS Championship, but it didn't happen. We left on Friday afternoon and made the {extra} long drive out to Flagstaff. We stayed in a hotel there and drove up to Grand Canyon National Park on Saturday.

It was really beautiful! My pictures don't really do it justice.

Of course, we didn't make any campsite reservations. That's just how we roll. Actually, I called about a week before to reserve a campsite, and the lady seemed shocked that I even had the audacity to ask for a reservation on such short notice. Apparently they had been booked for months. Who knew?

Luckily, they do have one campground at the far end of the park reserved for people like us who don't make plans in advance. It's first come, first served every day. By the time we got there, there were only two sites left! This only reinforced our bad behavior...we may never make plans again!

We saw lots of ravens. They were huge and slightly creepy. That Edgar Allan Poe poem kept running through my mind...

This is like no other National Park I've ever visited. The Visitor's Center was huge, and there were several lodges and hotels. There were people everywhere!

This area is really nice with paved trails and railings. It was also swarming with people.

We went on a geological trail that walks you through the different layers of the Grand Canyon and when (only sometimes how) they were formed.

This was the coolest part. We were walking along, and Jacob heard something in the woods. We stopped, and out came this beautiful elk. He walked right onto the path and stared at us for a while.

I was slightly afraid he would charge us, but he just turned and walked down the path.

He looked back to make sure we weren't following him, and then he kept on walking.

On Sunday morning, we packed up our campsite and attended a service held by the Grand Canyon Baptist Church. It was a great way to start our day!

We had to get a picture of ourselves in front of the canyon before we left.

If it looks like we're holding on for dear life in the picture below, it's because we are. We went out on a point for the picture, and the drop off behind us was substantial.

There's the point we were on...

There were some crazy foreigners planking on the edge. I wonder if any of them fell off that day...

We went back to town and saw a not-so-interesting Imax show about the Grand Canyon. I have never seen so many tourists from so many different places packed into such a small space in my life. I actually feared being trampled at one point.

It was raining when we came out, and we happily ran through it to get to the car. I wanted to stay outside and splash around, but then I realized that I'm not seven anymore. It had been a really long time since we had seen rain.

We decided to drive down to Sonoma after lunch. We wanted to camp in the area that night.

Instead, we sat in traffic for what seemed like hours. I took a few pictures from the car.

Once we realized that all the campsites in the area were taken, we started driving back towards New Mexico. We camped at a KOA near the Petrified National Forest.

On Monday, we saw the Petrified National Forest. When you read the words "National Forest," do you think of trees? I do. Sure, they're petrified. Whatever. I still think trees. I was wrong.

Another raven. This guy was practically begging for food.

It was beautiful in its own way. The layers were really amazing to me.

And, here they are...

The trees.

All petrified.

We made the long trek home on Monday, but not before stopping at Chick-fil-A in Albuquerque. We miss Chick-fil-A so much!

We made it just in time to see the fireworks. Luckily, our entire drought-stricken town didn't burn to the ground. I was cringing the whole time they were going off.

All in all, it was a good trip. I'm glad we can cross it off the list. We've seen almost everything there is to see within reasonable driving distance, so we'll have to be a bit more creative in our adventures until it's moving time again!

Beach Trip 2011

2011-07-14T19:31:00.000-05:00

We also went to Orange Beach with Jacob's family in June. It was such a great trip, and our time there was much too short. Isn't that always how it is at the beach?

We spent plenty of time playing on the beach and in the pool. Our nephews are at such a fun age, and we loved spending time with them!

Wes and Mary Beth with our precious nephews, Luke and Owen

Owen looked so cute with his hat on! He absolutely loves hats. He's definitely a Davenport. :)

I think Luke was being a pirate in this picture. That's one fierce face he's making!

Grammy and Grandpa with Luke and Owen

My hair did not adjust well to the humidity...sigh.

We ate out several times, and I found my new favorite restaurant! If you're ever in Orange Beach, Cosmo's is definitely worth a try. My mom even came over from Destin to visit! Sorry, Mom, I didn't take pictures that day.

The boys

We had a great time, and we're already counting down the days until next year's trip. Can you blame us?

Santa Fe

2011-07-08T12:43:00.000-05:00

I'm not really sure what happened to June... It went by so fast! We took a trip up to Santa Fe the first weekend in June to visit my parents. My dad had an ASA Officers' Meeting, and they were nice enough to let us tag along!

We stayed at La Fonda On the Plaza. It was such a nice hotel with plenty of history, like most of the town. We saw the usual landmarks, plus a few new ones.

Bandelier National Monument

We went to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum, which was interesting enough, but unfortunately they did not have many of her works on display. We also took a bus ride to Los Alamos, NM, home to the Los Alamos National Laboratory which was founded for the Manhattan Project. For all you Losties who read, the town reminded us so much of Dharmaville. We toured the Bradbury Science Museum, which was Jacob's favorite part of the weekend. It was really interesting, even for me, which is saying a lot!

On the way, we stopped at Valle Grande, which was formed millions of years ago by volcanoes.

Here's Dad!

We also stopped at Bandelier National Monument, which reminded us very much of Mesa Verde, because it's full of ancient cliff dwellings.

Dad, Mom, and I made it to the top!

Dad took plenty of pictures (which I haven't seen yet! )

Here we are on the way down

We had a great time with them! After our weekend of fun was over, we took Mom and Dad to the airport in Albuquerque. We also went to explore Old Town while we were there. It was interesting, but it's not as cool as Santa Fe. Just being honest.

That's about it! Here's to adventures with the fam! More to come soon about our visit with Jacob's family!

Quietly Busy

2011-06-13T19:08:00.000-05:00

Hello! I have been quiet here on the blog lately, but it's not because we haven't been adventuring! Over Memorial Day Weekend, we went to Ruidoso, NM with our friends Jay and Katie (and baby Gracie!). Jay works for R&M also, so we actually met them when we lived in Hickory. They almost moved before our trip, but luckily they were delayed a few weeks!

We spent a lazy weekend at Billy's Hideout, which was within walking distance to the shops and restaurants of downtown.

It was a slightly strange, but quaint little cabin.

It had a hot tub, which was great!

This shower was the best (or worst, depending on how you look at it) part! It was like entering a cave to shower in a mountain steam. Yes, those are fake rocks built into the wall.

It was certainly not designed to accommodate tall people.

And Jacob found his new favorite lamp. He wanted so badly to keep it, but he decided our security deposit was worth more than the lamp.

One of the highlights of the trip was finding this great company that makes amazing artisan cheese. We ate almost an entire block of asiago in one sitting.

We also went to Inn of the Mountain Gods just to look around. It's a really beautiful hotel and casino on a lake! Who knew we had lakes in southern NM!?

We took these pictures after running through an extreme gust of wind, so pardon my crazy hair...

On our way back to Hobbs, Jacob and I stopped in the towns of Lincoln and Capitan.

Capitan-

Smokey Bear was a little cub found after a forest fire in the mountains behind me in the picture below. He then became the mascot for forest fire prevention.

Lincoln-

Lincoln is interesting because of Billy the Kid.

The building behind Jacob is the site of the "Last Escape of Billy the Kid." It's apparently considered to be one of the "most spectacular jailbreaks that ever took place in the Old West."

So after touring several historic buildings, we headed home. It was such a fun trip!

Anniversary Trip

2011-05-17T12:03:00.000-05:00

It's funny to me how I almost can't believe we've been married for five years now, yet it's a real struggle to remember a time when we weren't married. It's strange to think of us any other way. I still say that marrying Jacob was the best decision I ever made! :)

On Friday the 13th (our anniversary and a generally lucky day - ha!) the hospital had its grand opening. It was really fun for me to see the finished product. Jacob still has plenty of work to do here, so we won't be moving anytime soon.

I didn't take any pictures of the inside. You'll have to come visit if you want to see it! ;)

We headed to Amarillo that afternoon for a weekend of exploration. The trip could pretty much be documented in song titles. Amarillo By Morning. Cadillac Ranch. Route 66.

They closed the gates of Palo Duro Canyon State Park at 10pm, so we were locked out for the night. We've camped at many Texas State Parks, and this has never happened to us before. They usually let you come in at any time as long as you pay! We got a cheap hotel room, and the experience was more or less like camping. The walls were about as soundproof as a grove of trees, so we heard all kinds of people at all hours of the night.

On Saturday, we went to Cadillac Ranch. It's nothing like the song, but it is interesting.

Everyone brings spray paint to add their names or messages to the cars. I would guess that the layer of paint on each one is at least half an inch thick.

We haven't had rain in a long time out here, so I wonder how long this has been on the dirt...

We also went to see Historic Route 66 in Amarillo. There's not much of interest there, but I'm glad we went all the same.

We ate dinner at Feldman's Wrong Way Diner in Canyon, TX. It was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, and rightfully so. The food was really good!

We camped at the state park on Saturday night. They have a small herd of Longhorns at the gate.

We also saw a deer, but that was about it for the wildlife.

On Sunday, we made the hike up to the Lighthouse, which is the main attraction in Palo Duro.

On our way home, we stopped in Lubbock and walked around the Texas Tech campus. I was really impressed. We want to make it to a football game this fall, especially since Tubberville is coaching there!

We ate some delicious calzones at One Guy before heading home. It was a great way to celebrate our anniversary!

A 5K and a Wedding

2011-05-11T11:11:00.000-05:00

So, we haven't been doing too much adventuring lately. Ha! Hopefully we'll be able to remedy that situation this weekend. We'll see.

Note: All pictures are from Facebook. I didn't snap one picture myself!

Since I posted last, I participated in a 5K with Jamie (my awesome neighbor), her sister, and her friend. I say participated because we walked instead of running. I'm not much of a runner, and I never have been, but I had a great time walking and (more importantly) visiting with these ladies.

I also got to go home for Jay's wedding, which was so much fun! Jay is Carrie's younger brother, and I've known him since he was born. I always enjoy when someone I grew up with gets married. It's like one big reunion from our childhood! It makes me so thankful for the community that helped raise us all.

On a separate note, the tornadoes had just come through Alabama that week. I could actually see the path of devastation left by one of the tornadoes from my plane window on the way home. We were so very fortunate not to have lost any loved ones. I'm still amazed at the stories of hope and help that I keep hearing from my home state. I'm so proud to be from a place where so many people put their faith in God for help in times of need, and where so many have faith that moves them to action.

Fort Worth Weekend

2011-04-18T22:55:00.002-05:00

This past weekend, we headed over to Fort Worth to see the Blue Angels. We got in late Friday night, but we were up and going early Saturday morning anyway. We had to get the Subaru serviced first thing, and then we met Corley and David for brunch at Ol' South Pancake House.

We decided to see the Forth Worth Zoo before heading to the air show. I enjoyed taking pictures of the animals more than anything else.

He's looking for a kickball buddy, I think.

These birds have the same colors as the Blue Angels! :)

We got to see the crocodiles up close and personal. It was creepy and extremely cool all at the same time.

After the zoo, we headed to the air show. We definitely didn't account for the amount of traffic we'd run into, and we almost got locked out. They shut the gate as we pulled up, and we had to plead with them to let us in. If we hadn't had a "Friends and Family" pass, they would have had no problem turning us away. We were the last ones to come in for the day. Talk about cutting it close!

We got to sit so close to the planes, which was really cool! David is the narrator this year, and he did a great job! I took about 300 pictures. No lie. Here are a few of my favorites...

This big guy is called Fat Albert.

And I finally got my picture with Corley! :)

And Jacob got his picture with some cool machines.

It was so much fun seeing our friends (and really cool planes)!

We came back home first thing Sunday so we could make it our friends' house for a Sunday School gathering. We had a great weekend! I hope you did too!

Puerto Vallarta

2011-04-12T13:37:00.000-05:00

April 1-5, 2011

This adventure was a little more exotic than our usual excursions. Our neighbors, Jamie and Jeremy, asked us a few months ago if we'd like to take a trip with them. They wanted to try an all-inclusive resort, so (of course) we couldn't resist. We used bookit.com to find an excellent deal at the Sol Melia in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Relaxing in the hammocks

The major industries in Puerto Vallarta used to be agriculture and fishing according to one of the locals, but today it's mostly tourism. And it shows. Almost everyone is selling something, and no one is shy about it. It started right after we got off the airplane. A very nice girl helped us get half-price activities in exchange for listening to a time-share presentation. At first we thought it was a good idea, but after a few hours and almost yelling at the men who wouldn't take "NO" for an answer, we weren't so sure.

After the presentation, we had a nice walk back to our hotel to calm down. :)

We got out unscathed with our half-price tickets, and then the fun began! We spent most of the day at the hotel, and then we had our first excursion.

We took a cruise across the bay to a secluded part of the city, where we had a nice dinner and saw a show called "Rhythm of the Nights." It was choreographed by the same people who do the Cirque du Soleil shows.

Our picture didn't come out, but they used tiki torches and luminarias as the only sources of light.

The next day, we went fishing out in the bay. The guys would have liked to have gone further out to sea, but I was glad we caught some fish without having to spend the whole day on a boat. They were small fish, but they were really interesting. We caught mostly barracuda and Spanish mackerel.

Here's Jeremy with one of the fish he caught.

There were also lots of free activities at the resort like tennis, kayaking, and nightly shows.

Jamie and Jeremy after tennis

We went down to the boardwalk one night to check out the town. It was really beautiful, and there were tons of people out doing the same thing. This was the place to be.

They were having a sand sculpture festival.

The boardwalk at night

There was a five or six foot drop-off from the boardwalk to the beach/rocks/water, and there were no railings or ropes to keep people from falling in. Having lived our whole lives in the US, the lack of public safety measures in Mexico is surprising. When we went by construction sites, Jacob would just shake his head.

On Monday, the guys went to play golf at Vista Vallarta, which apparently was a pretty tough course.

Jamie and I got reflexology massages by the ocean while the boys played golf.

Later that day, we went on an ATV excursion, which I think was the best thing we did.

Here I am taking a siesta at our first stop along the way.

At our second stop, they did a presentation on tequila including its history and how it's made. It was really interesting!

Before we knew it, Tuesday came, and it was time to come back to New Mexico. I took a lot of pictures of the resort before we left that day. I was feeling sad about having to leave!

Puerto Vallarta was an excellent place to visit, and I'd love to go back again one day. Next time, we'll be sure to avoid the time-share people! :)

Taos

2011-03-31T11:55:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, we made the trip up to Taos for some end-of-the-season skiing. It was nice to be back in our adventuresome routine after taking it easy for a while. We left Friday after work and drove for six(ish) hours through this...

We stopped at Trader Joe's in Santa Fe. It's such a cool store.

I just thought this sign was funny. 2 Buck Chuck.

We stayed in a condo at Quail Ridge Taos, which was halfway between town and the ski mountain.

The view from outside our condo.

We ate breakfast at the Taos Cow on Saturday, and it was delicious. In fact, every meal we had was delicious. I love the healthy, organic options. I know, I'm a granola head. At least I can admit it.

We spent most of the day on the slopes. The weather was really nice, but the snow wasn't so great. In some places it was like riding an ice sculpture, and in others it was like a brown Slurpee. This coming weekend is the last one of the season, so it was exactly what we expected. Of course, we had a great time anyway.

Since it was so warm, we were able to sit outside at St. Bernard for lunch.

Jacob and I have many things in common, but food choice is not one of them. I had a portobello burger (a huge grilled portobello top on a bun), and he had a cheeseburger.

For dinner, we ate at Taos Pizza Out Back. Apparently, they used to be The Outback, but they were sued by Outback Steakhouse. Bullies.

This is an excerpt from their website:

"We feature local organic greens and vegetables when seasonally available. Our dough is non-dairy and is made with organically grown flour, with no added chemicals."

You can see why I liked it. The salad was the best one I've ever had. I'm not exaggerating either. I liked it more than my pizza, which is saying a lot.

I got a slice (that was the size of my head) of the goat cheese and caramelized onion pizza. Jacob got pepperoni.

We had Sunday brunch at Dragonfly Cafe.

I got the French Toasted Gingerbread with apple compote and creme anglaise. YUM.

Two eggs scrambled.

While we were at brunch, we overheard some people talking about New Mexico. They said, "We love northern New Mexico. Now, southern New Mexico is different. It's so ugly and flat. There's no culture there." Ha. We just laughed to ourselves.

We did a little window shopping after brunch before heading back to our "cultureless and flat" home. :)

A Hoedown and the Beach

2011-03-25T09:39:00.000-05:00

Part 1-

Yep. We went to a hoedown. Well, a hoedown themed fundraiser, anyway. The Lovington Rotary Club puts on a Casino Night each year to raise scholarship money for Lovington High School students. We went last year and even won a prize for our awesome costumes. This year, we pulled our costumes together 20 minutes before we had to leave. It showed.

We had a nice time, but unfortunately we didn't win anything. Jacob used his casino time trying to learn how the game Craps works, but at the end of two hours he was still a bit unsure. I didn't even attempt to learn. I broke even at the Black Jack table instead.

Part 2-

Yep. I got to go to the beach again. Without the hubs. Poor guy... I got to see my sweet friends (the three amazing ladies who came to visit me all the way out here) and my family! I so enjoyed spending time with them all.

I didn't put much energy into taking pictures, so here's what I've got.

This is Carrie's newest dog, Gracie. She's so tiny!!

Students packed like sardines...

It was spring break, and apparently Destin is like Panama City used to be. It was absolutely insane how many college students fit on such a small strip of shore. I guess they all just wanted to be really close to each other. The rest of the beach looked more like this...

Corley had to leave early because her husband had an airshow and her whole family was going to be there. He probably has one of the coolest jobs in the world. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of all of us together before she left.

My mom and sister got to be there almost all week, but my dad just came down for the weekend. Saturday, they took us out on the Nathaniel Bowditch. Here are a few pictures I borrowed from my sister's Facebook.

I had a wonderful trip. Living so far from home has really made me appreciate the time I get to spend with my family and friends. It really doesn't matter where we are as long as we're together.

Operation Tumble Weed

2011-03-11T10:12:00.000-06:00

Up until last night, the tumble weeds in our yard had been out of control. Under the cover of night, Operation Tumble Weed commenced.

Jacob took all the pests and placed them in a strategic location (the vacant lot behind our house).

At the end of it all, they piled up a good 7 or 8 feet (the ground on the other side of the wall is much lower than it is on our side).

Then, Jacob used a high-tech device (rake) to push them down into exile.

This may end up being a very successful mission, or it could be like "The Cat Came Back." Only time will tell.

Shaping Up

2011-02-11T17:09:00.000-06:00

Lately I've not only been sewing, but I'm also learning how to design fabric. It's been really fun for me, but it's also meant a lot of sitting behind my sewing machine or computer instead of exercising.

I made these potholders from my original fabric! :)

I decided that I was tired of doing P90X and since we don't have a gym here, that left running (which I hate). No thanks. So I decided to do nothing and just sit behind my sewing machine (computer, TV, etc.) instead.

But then Jacob found this awesome blog, bodyrock.tv. This couple has dedicated their life to fitness and the "home workout movement," as they call it. They have such a positive attitude, and I love that! I love the workouts, and I can truly say that I can already see and feel a difference. This morning I did the "Hot Mess Workout." I completed the whole thing. It was really challenging, and it left me feeling tired yet excited and accomplished. I can't wait to workout again tomorrow! That's never happened to me before. Ever.

If you're stuck in the same rut I was in, give BodyRock a try. You might like it as much as I do!

A Ski Trip and a Birthday

2011-02-04T12:49:00.001-06:00

I'm not really sure where this week has gone. It snowed here on Tuesday and Wednesday, and it seems to have interrupted my productivity. Jacob also had a birthday on Tuesday! We decided to stay in because, well, you can only eat at Chili's so many times without getting sick of it. Now the snow is melting, and I am back to documenting our adventures.

We drove up to Durango, CO last Thursday night to meet Luke and Lauren for a ski weekend. They are moving back east soon, so it was probably our last trip together. We've had so much fun traveling with them, and we're sad to see them go!

We stayed at Nobody's Inn in downtown Durango. It was a really cute boutique hotel, and the location was great.

The weather was amazing while we were there! It felt like March, not January! Unfortunately, I got a bout of altitude sickness with a side of dehydration, which put me (and Jacob) out of commission for most of the first day. My wonderful hubby gave up his day of skiing to take care of me.

I won't lie, it was really scary. I couldn't breathe, and I was so dizzy that the mountain looked like it was spinning! Ski Patrol had to take me down the mountain in a toboggan. The cool wind revived me enough that I could get a picture of my view on the way down.

The Ride of Shame...

Thankfully, the second day was much better. I was back to normal, thank goodness!

Sadly, Lauren hurt her tailbone right before lunch that day. She was able to get down the mountain on her own, but she decided to take it easy the rest of the day.

I tried to get a picture of Jacob coming over that hill, but I'm a little too far away...

I had never seen elk before, so I was pretty excited when we saw these guys on the way back to the hotel.

We ate brunch on Sunday and walked around a little more before saying goodbye.

All in all it was a fun weekend, but it was a little bittersweet with all the mishaps and having to say goodbye to our friends! They will certainly be missed!

The Windy City

2011-01-21T09:11:00.000-06:00

You probably thought that Chicago was the Windy City, but I'm thinking that should be the nickname for Hobbs. Unless you wanted to call it the Smelly Windy City. I think that could work. I wouldn't want anyone to confuse Hobbs and Chicago. It would be so easy to do.

Don't get me wrong, I like living in Hobbs, but come on.

Street signs are being blown down left and right.

Do you notice something strange about this picture?

Like this giant mass of tumble weeds??

I remember being so happy about the first tumble weed I saw out here. I'm over it.

This little guy wanted to give up his rambling ways to become a decoration on our doorstep. Fitting, don't you think?

Have a good weekend! Stay out of the wind! ;)

BCS Champs

2011-01-17T18:56:00.001-06:00

A week ago today, we were in Glendale to watch our Auburn Tigers win the BCS National Championship. It was amazing. However, getting to that point took much more than we ever expected. Have you ever heard the saying, "If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans"? Well, He must have had a pretty good chuckle as we were planning our trip out to Arizona.

The Plan: Buy tickets early from a ticket broker before making the trip to AZ. Drive to Tucson on Friday before the game and spend the night. Wake up early Saturday, drive to the Grand Canyon and spend the night in the area. Drive to Glendale on Sunday, get Wes from the airport, and meet up with some friends. Tailgate and go to the game on Monday. See Auburn win the National Championship. Take Wes back to the airport and drive home on Tuesday.

Ha.

Reality: The ticket broker didn't get our tickets, but thankfully he refunded our money. There are many, many angry Auburn fans who would love to find this guy...and not to shake his hand.

We did leave Hobbs on Friday. I loved watching all these planes fly west. I like to think that they were filled with Auburn fans!

We did not make it to Tucson that night. Do to an "operator oversight" (i.e. I hadn't changed the oil in a long time) the turbo charger on the Subaru went out in the middle of nowhere. No. Where. Between Carlsbad and El Paso, the speedometer started to drop. And it continued to drop. We drove several miles until we came to Mae's Cafe in Cornudas, TX. We picked Mae's because it was the only building with people in it. Period. We went in to use their phone to call AAA, because we didn't have cell service.

We ate dinner while talking with Mae, who is also the Mayor and owner of Cornudas, and her family/workers. A few hours later, AAA arrived to tow the car to El Paso.

Luckily, we have friends in El Paso, and they were kind enough to let us stay with them! Although it wasn't planned, we had a really nice visit with them! Thanks to Jay, Katie, and Gracie for taking us in!

We had to rent a truck for the trip while the Subaru was being fixed. We had to forgo our trip to the Grand Canyon, so we just drove to Scottsdale and checked in at our hotel a day early. We spent most of our time from then on looking for tickets.

We did take a few breaks to visit with friends and take in the atmosphere.

After two days of searching, we found tickets! Our hard work paid off, along with the help of a snow storm in the southeast.

Wes didn't get to sit with us the whole time, but he came to join us after the game was over.

Even after all the mishaps, it was totally worth it! We had a wonderful time. We will never forget watching Auburn win that game!

Wes and Jacob

Michael, Jacob, and Phil

Me and Jamie

After the game we met up with Corey and Justin, which was so much fun! We hadn't seen them in a few years, so we had a lot of catching up to do!

Before leaving on Tuesday, we had to get a picture with a big cactus. We only have the small kind in NM.

The Rental

We passed Ft. Huachuca, where Jacob's dad was stationed during his time in the Army. It was neat to see the setting for some of the stories he's told us!

So, here's to another wild adventure with a rough start and a happy ending!

WAR EAGLE!!!

The 12 Days of Christmas

2011-01-06T19:11:00.000-06:00

This year for Christmas, we were able to go home for 12 days! It was pretty great.

We went a bit earlier than usual for a friend's wedding, which was so much fun. David and Katie got married at the Grand Hotel in Point Clear, so we flew into Birmingham and rode down there with Brant and Brittany. We actually saw my mom at Chick-fil-A on our way out of Birmingham, which was such a nice surprise! We spent Friday night and Saturday visiting with friends from college, many of whom we had not seen in about two years!

The day after the wedding, Kenneth and Miriam drove us back to Birmingham. Once we got there, we had several days of doing "whatever Jacob and Mandy want to do," in the words of my mother. That amounted to lots of eating and visiting.

We took family pictures at Vulcan, which turned out to be pretty fun. We went to the top of the statue and then went through the museum. In all 18 years I lived in Birmingham, I never did either of those

things. It was like being a tourist!

On Christmas Eve, we went up to Huntsville to spend time with Jacob's family. We did more eating and more visiting, and it was wonderful. The boys played in the snow on Christmas Day, and I enjoyed watching them through the window. I did not bring the appropriate clothes for snow. I've never experienced a white Christmas, so needless to say, I wasn't expecting it.

We got to go shoot guns for the second time in a few months. This time, I shot too. It was pretty fun! I didn't really hit anything, but I guess that's not such a bad thing. Jacob did much better than I did, but I guess that's not saying much. I'm just glad we don't have to hunt for our food. I'm almost positive we'd starve.

As all good things do, our trip came to an end. We spent New Year's on the couch in Hobbs. Jacob was pretty sick, but he's almost over it now. Luckily, I never got his nasty cold!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! We certainly did!

Love and Loss

2010-12-10T21:13:00.000-06:00

In the past few months, Jacob and I have experienced these two emotions in ways we have never known before. In late October, we were blessed with the gift of a pregnancy after a year and a half of trying without success. It was such a blessing and a relief to know that we could conceive, and that God was going to bless us with a child. We lovingly called our little embryo "peanut" and read about his growth almost daily. We marveled at the sound of his little heartbeat. We were so in love with our unborn baby, and we were overwhelmed with thanks to God for such a miracle.

Yesterday, we went to the doctor and found out that I'd had a miscarriage. The heartbeat we'd once heard so clearly was gone. I was supposed to be ten weeks along, but growth had stopped at about seven and a half weeks. It was a surprise to say the least. I've never known sadness the way I met it on that day, and I know the experience was the same for my dear husband. Silent tears streamed down my face as we discussed the options with our doctor. I remember sitting in the chair, looking in the sad eyes of our nurse practitioner, and thinking, How are we going to be able to tell all our loved ones? Maybe it would have been better if we'd never told anyone I was pregnant...

I was so wrong in thinking that. Since yesterday at our lowest moment, we have truly been lifted up by the prayers and loving support from our amazing family and friends. Looking back, I cannot even begin to imagine how terrible it would have been going through this without them. We've heard so many stories similar to ours, and so many people have shared in our grief. We have been absolutely covered in prayer, and we've felt it. Today, I had a D&C procedure, and everything went as planned. I'm home from the hospital now, and while my heart is still hurting, my body has begun to heal. We know that God has a wonderful and perfect plan for us, and we will continue to praise him for his goodness and mercy. In the midst of our suffering, we can truly feel his love for us and yours. Thank you.

Guns, Planes and Decorations

2010-11-27T20:00:00.001-06:00

Our Thanksgiving holiday was not the normal one you'd imagine, although it was wonderful and special in its own way. Last weekend, I went to Destin to see my family, and Jacob, who had to stay in Hobbs, went quail hunting.

I did get to go with him for a little practice shooting before I left for the beach.

We went with Brian and Tosha to the middle of nowhere, and everyone except me did a little target practice. I didn't want a nasty bruise from the shotgun. Maybe I was being a wimp. Maybe.

They shot water bottles, boxes, and bushes in hopes of honing their skills for the big hunt.

Unfortunately, Jacob didn't get anything on hunting day. Brian got a few birds (not quail) and someone else from their group got one quail and one rabbit.

Then, I went to the beach. It was so much fun! Jacob was the only thing missing.

Even Chris, my brother-in-law, got to come! We went walking every day, which was wonderful. We even went to Eden Gardens State Park, which was really beautiful.

Unfortunately, the picture below is the only one with my parents in it. Not sure how I let that happen...

We got gelato at one of the shops at Seaside. Yum!

We spent all of 30 minutes on the beach, but I don't feel like we missed out on anything. It was pretty cold and windy out there.

Saturday night our friends Corley and David drove over from Pensacola and went to dinner with us at Louis Louis, my parents' favorite restaurant. It was so much fun to see them. Once again, I failed on the pictures...

I attempted to make it home on Tuesday, but my flight was delayed for about 6 hours due to fog, which caused me to miss my connecting flight to Lubbock. Long story short, I waited in the Memphis airport for about 5 hours in hopes that I could get on the late flight to Lubbock. It didn't happen, so I had to stay in Memphis Tuesday night. The only thing remotely good about being at the Memphis airport so long is that I got to eat at Neely's Interstate Barbecue. It's one of my favorite places to eat. Period. I realize now that I should have taken this picture before devouring my meal.

I finally made it home on Wednesday. It was quite an ordeal, to say the least.

Thursday morning, we went shopping for our Thanksgiving meal, and I spent most of the day in the kitchen. I love cooking, so it was actually quite enjoyable. We did get a rotisserie chicken instead of a turkey, since they only had frozen turkeys that wouldn't be ready to cook for days.

And then came the Iron Bowl. Here's our setup for Friday's game. We moved the computer into the living room so we could Skype with Wes and Mary Beth while watching the game. War Eagle!

And finally, we spent this morning decorating our house for Christmas and listening to Christmas music.

All in all, it was a pretty good Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for.

Vegas!

2010-11-11T10:58:00.000-06:00

This past weekend, we went to Las Vegas! We spent Thursday night through Sunday morning eating great food, enjoying amazing shows, and taking in the sights and sounds of the city. We're ready to go back as soon as possible!

Disclaimer: I forgot my camera, so all the pictures I have are from my phone. I'm glad it has a pretty good camera on it...for a phone, anyway.

Driving in, we were amazed at the size and shine of all the buildings on the strip. Everything seemed "larger than life."

We stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacation Club. I forgot to take a picture of the outside of our hotel, but this is the inside. It was really beautiful!

Friday, we went to the Hoover Dam. We loved learning about the construction of this amazing landmark. It was built during the Great Depression, and its story is pretty amazing. This project was extremely successful, since the Hoover Dam completely supports itself through revenue from power sales. They repaid the government in full for the construction costs and have never received government money since. Our tour guide said it was so successful, the government would never do anything like it again! I don't doubt his opinion...

We also found it very interesting (and horrifying) that 96 people died on site during the construction. If a worker died from a job site injury at the hospital or at home, that death was not reported. Some historians say that as many as 700 lives were actually lost. Construction safety has certainly come a long way.

This is a view from one of the vents in the dam.

This is the tunnel we had to go through to get to the vent.

This is the emergency exit, looking down. The stairs continue up to the top of the dam (it's like 60 flights of stairs, or something crazy like that).

This is Lake Mead, the lake that was created by the Hoover Dam.

This picture is from that big bridge across from the dam.

Friday night, we went out to eat and explored a little bit. There was so much to see! The Venetian was our favorite hotel. We at at Grand Lux Cafe, which was delicious.

We also saw Le Reve, which is like a Cirque du Soleil show (not actually done by that company) done in water.

Saturday, we walked around some more. We probably could have spent days walking around down there.

This is the car we rented. It made me feel a little like we were on the Dukes of Hazard.

We also went to Historic Fremont Street. It was what I expected all of Las Vegas to be like. A little more cheesy. A little less upscale.

Saturday night, we went to see Garth Brooks. We sat about 12 rows away from the stage. There was no band to back him up. It was just Garth and his guitar, and it was still amazing! He talked about the music that influenced his life and played some of it for us, along with his own songs. Trisha came with him, and she sang two songs also. It was such a great bonus to see her! I think it's safe to say that this was the best concert I've ever seen.

Sadly, Sunday came and it was back to Hobbs for us. We're already talking about when we can go back!

This and that...

2010-11-01T20:01:00.000-05:00

I really haven't been very motivated to blog these past few weeks, so here is a short recap of what's been going on out here in Hobbs. We've been back to a normal routine, which is nice for a change. We've been watching a lot of football. Of course, we've been glued to every Auburn game. War Eagle! We have also been to some high school games for a change of pace.

We went to the Lovington vs. Hobbs game with some of Jacob's co-workers and their families.

Luke and Lauren drove up from Carlsbad to watch the Hobbs vs. Carlsbad game with us.

We also took a short trip to El Paso with some of Jacob's co-workers as well. We stayed with the Rojas family in their beautiful home. The guys played golf and the girls went and toured the city, which was a lot of fun!

Besides that, we've been happily busy with church and neighborhood happenings. I've also been sewing and baking a fair amount (which is unfortunate for my waistline).

Oh, and I joined Jacob in the 27 club today, too. Another year older... sigh...

Surprise!!

2010-10-06T14:50:00.001-05:00

On Friday morning, Jacob and I both had appointments to see an eye doctor (technical term, I know) in Lubbock. We were going to spend the day shopping and enjoying being in a big city for a few hours before heading back to Hobbs, or so I thought.

Jacob told me that a co-worker of his had left his work keys at the airport after one of his trips to Birmingham, so we drove on over to pick them up. I pulled up to the first door, and Jacob was just going to run in, when I saw three very familiar faces coming out the door.

Carrie came first, followed by Corley, and Kimberly was last, snapping pictures as she came.

I could not believe that three of my best friends in the whole world were standing in front of me all the way out here in Lubbock, Texas.

If you know me at all, you won't be surprised to know that I cried. A lot. It's truly overwhelming and extremely humbling to have friends who care enough to spend their time and money to come to the middle of nowhere (let's be honest) to visit little old me. I was shocked. Jacob had secretly cleaned our house, packed clothes for both of us, and made arrangements for us to go to the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. Who knew? Apparently, everyone but me!

After eating a little Tex Mex, we made the long drive to Albuquerque. We stayed in a hotel near a large outdoor mall, so we (the girls) did some shopping and ate dinner at Bucca di Beppo. Jacob opted for dinner on his own so he could catch up on some work. It started raining as we were leaving dinner, so we had to run from awning to awning all the way back to the hotel. We were still pretty wet when we got back, but at least we worked off some of that pasta!

The next morning, we slept a little later than we'd hoped, but we managed to leave the hotel at about 5:40am. We were going to ride a shuttle to the Balloon Fiesta, but by the time we found it, the line was enormous! Think Disney World in June. Plus, Homeland Security had just stopped the buses to make sure each one was actually supposed to be there. Scary, but true. We decided to drive our own car and take our chances in traffic.

We parked at a hotel about a mile away and walked in since the traffic was so crazy. We arrived just as the first balloons were taking off, and it was spectacular. We were like little kids on Christmas morning!

We took tons and tons of pictures...

This is my favorite picture of Carrie!

They let you walk around among the balloons as they're taking off, which was pretty cool.

We heard there were over 500 balloons that morning.

A lot of the more complex balloons didn't make it off the ground, but it was still fun to look at them! There was even a balloon shaped like Darth Vader's head.

After it was over, we walked back to the car, ate at Five Guys, and headed back to Hobbs. We spent the rest of our weekend watching football and girly movies that may or may not have made us cry, and hanging out at the house. We did go out to eat on Sunday afternoon after watching Church of the Highlands on TV.

Before I knew it, Monday came and the girls had to go home, but I will never forget their trip. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends!

Thank you girls for visiting!!

Santa Fe and Taos

2010-10-05T13:01:00.000-05:00

We've been so busy lately that I haven't had much time to write about it all! Two weeks ago, Jacob's parents came out to visit with us! We've been so lucky to be able to see our families so much even though we live far away. We were so very grateful that they drove all the way out here. Here's a recap of our time together.

Friday night, we drove up to Taos and stayed in the most perfectly charming hotel, the Sagebrush Inn.

On Saturday morning, we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast, and then we set out to see the sights. We went to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge first. It was amazing to see the Rio Grande from 650 feet above.

We also saw a tarantula. It's always unnerving to see huge spiders walking around...

We saw some Earthship Biotecture homes built from mostly recycled materials like glass bottles and tires. These homes operate without any utility bills because everything is made on site. You can read all about the different systems on their website.

We also walked around in downtown Taos for a little while before heading off to Santa Fe.

In Santa Fe, we saw all the historic buildings and did some shopping. I found the most amazing wood block stamps that I can't wait to try out!

Somewhere during all that driving we did, we saw some prairie dogs and some pronghorns.

After our trip up north, we went back to Hobbs and just hung out at home. It was so nice to visit with them! Thank you guys for coming!

There is more to come about this past weekend soon!

Destin

2010-09-16T13:15:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, we went to Destin to visit my family. We had such a wonderful time! We went to the beach, watched movies, ate at Red Bar and Chick-fil-A, and even took a cruise on the Nathaniel Bowditch!

Right here, I'm trying not to scream. It's scarier than it looks!

This was our Titanic moment.

Thanks for a great vacation, Mom and Dad! We had a wonderful time!

Game Day!

2010-09-04T09:49:00.002-05:00

This football season is a bittersweet one for us, since we won't be making the journey to the loveliest village on the plains. It is exciting that football season is here nonetheless, and we'll make sure that all of New Mexico knows we're pulling for the tigers! :) We're going to Carlsbad to watch the game with our friends and fellow Auburn grads, Luke and Lauren. War Eagle!!!!

These pictures are more for my benefit than anything else. We're all entitled to relive the "glory days" once in a while, right?

I believe that this is a practical world and that I can count only on what I earn. Therefore, I believe in work, hard work.

I believe in education, which gives me the knowledge to work wisely and trains my mind and my hands to work skillfully.

I believe in honesty and truthfulness, without which I cannot win the respect and confidence of my fellow men.

I believe in a sound mind, in a sound body and a spirit that is not afraid, and in clean sports that develop these qualities.

I believe in obedience to law because it protects the rights of all.

I believe in the human touch, which cultivates sympathy with my fellow men and mutual helpfulness and brings happiness for all.

I believe in my Country, because it is a land of freedom and because it is my own home, and that I can best serve that country by "doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with my God."

And because Auburn men and women believe in these things,

I believe in Auburn and love it.
-George Petrie (1945)

War Eagle!!

Faith Like a Child

2010-08-24T18:01:00.000-05:00

I'm certain that you've heard of the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. You've probably read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or at least seen the movie, right? To be honest, I haven't "read" the Chronicles of Narnia either, but rather listened to them. I bought the audio book set from iTunes about a year ago for a long car ride, and since then I have listened to all seven books two or three times each.

I realize that these books were written for children, but that fact does not make me love them any less. I have always remembered the wonderment of discovery and the longing for truth I had as a child. I almost expected magic to happen at any moment, and I can think of many things that would have surprised me more than magic. Lewis uses children and magic, among other things, to tell the very real story of our salvation. No doubt, he does not tell that story the way you've heard it, but if you pay attention, it hits home just the same.

As I cleaned my house today, I finished listening to the last book of the Chronicles, The Last Battle, which tells of the end of Narnia. I would be lying if I said I didn't shed tears. I wasn't crying for anything in the story, like I might be prone to do while watching Titanic. I cried because it showed so plainly the magic of our own story. The wonder of our Creator's perfect plan. The sheer volume of His love. The thought of being with Him forever, and of recognizing all the faces we'll see in heaven. It's funny how the stuff of children spoke into my "grown-up" heart today, making reality all the more real, and all the more exciting.

And there was kissing and handshaking and old jokes revived, (you've no idea how good an old joke sounds when you take it out again after a rest of five or six hundred years)...

in The Last Battle, by C. S. Lewis