Greek Festival

We attended a greek festival recently held at the Greek Orthodox church in Albuquerque. It was fun...unfortunately, we only had time to eat and look around really quick which would explain partly why all we have are pictures of us eating and of our food. The other part of the is that Gary has this obsession with taking pictures of his food...um, pretty sure he got this from his father...but the scary part is, I'M starting to do it too! You'll see...

Ya'll missed out...

...and so did we! It was the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta recently and I was SO excited! Day one I got up bright and early (sort of) and drove all over NE Albuquerque looking for the BEST place to see all the balloons while my husband played racquetball with some friends. This event just doesn't even compare to Freedom Days where I grew up...sorry Utah. Everywhere I drove, there were HUNDREDS of people parked on the side of the roads just standing out watching the mass ascension. It was SO neat!

Obviously, there were already quite a few balloons up by the time I got out there but they lined the whole horizon of the sky as far as I could see! It was SO cool! (These pictures really don't do any justice to it). The plan was to attend the Glowdeo on the Thursday (a few days before the end of the 2008 Balloon Fiesta). Believe me, I was SO excited. The Glowdeo (from my understanding) is an ascension of all the special shaped balloons-at NIGHT so they glow and light up the sky. COOOOL! Well, as my luck would have it, bad weather blew in about a half hour before we were going to leave so it was cancelled...and didn't leave for the rest of the festival so I didn't get to go to ANYTHING. It was really neat though, to go running every morning and see hundreds of balloons in the air!

This picture (below) is of the balloons taking off. There are so many balloons that even though they have a HUGE HUGE place where they take of from, they still have to do it in shifts. You can see them blowing up behind those buildings. I thought it was kind of cool.

Start making plans to come visit next year during Balloon Fiesta October 3-11, 2009!!! We can BOTH experience it for the first time, together! :)

El Pinto

So, there is this restaurant in Albuquerque that has some claim to fame. El Pinto...it's divine! True New Mexican Food...yes folks, there IS a difference. The fame? Well, McCain, Palin, and Obama recently ate here during their time in Albuqurque. Previous Presidents including George Bush and Bill Clinton ate here as well. ALSO ESPN did their little 50 states tour...and yes, came to El Pinto. Gary and I went there on Friday RIGHT after work. Should you ever venture into this fabulous restaurant, you might want to avoid the covered patio during "Happy Hour"...aah, yes, that's where we sat. Surrounded by MANY MANY MANY socialites enjoying their time together maybe a little too much. WHY they sat us there, WE HAVE NO CLUE! BUT, the food was great and the person I was with made it even better. We'll be visiting again...just not during Happy Hour.

Camp Fire...again!

Last Saturday, Gary and I decided that it was just too nice to NOT go do something fun outside. So, a camp fire it was! Just the two of us and we had way too much fun. The only problem we had is that there was no one else there have take a picture of us...so these are what you get! Yes, that is chocolate on Gary's lips...I suppose he just wanted to save a little of his Reeses Smore for later.

Tag...I'm it

My sister in-law Liz tagged me on her blog.

Five places I have lived...

5. Calgary, Alberta, Canada
4. Provo, UT
3. Ontario, Canada
2. Orem, UT
1. Albuquerque, NM

Five snacks I love...

5. Sun Chips
4. Peeners (Peanut Butter M&Ms)
3. Fresh Fruit from any season...
2. Celestial Dessert (I'll make it for you sometime...fabulous!)
1. Cookies...made by Gary. Otherwise, I'm not a HUGE cookie lover

Five jobs I've had...

5. Receptionist
4. Life Guard
3. Order Sales Rep
2. Health Educator
1. Executive Assistant

If I had a million dollars I would

5. BUY and furnish a house in Albuquerque
4. BUY and furnish a house in Utah and visit often
3. BUY and furnish a house close to Gary's parents in Kentucky and visit often
2. BUY myself a new car...sorry Gary, you just got a new car or I would have bought you one too! :)
(Hey, Suzanne Orman said that investing in real estate right now is GOOD!)
1. Go on a few trips, and save whatever is left.

Five things I love...and this is in no particular order
5. Spending time with Gary
4. Waking up early
3. A good run
2. SAND, WATER, SUN (aka: Beach)
1. Canadian Chocolate

Five people that I tag are...
Heather Ward
Stephanie Salmon
Lindsey Miller
Kathryn Burton
Jessica Salmon

Only in New Mexico

...do they sell things like these at Home Depot! No, seriously. I should have taken pictures of all the other Chile decor. These were NOT the only things! Maybe I'm not quite to that point yet in my home decorating. Or maybe I just need my own home first!

QUICK Trip

A couple weeks ago, I went to Arizona to play with 3 nieces, 1 nephew, and a dog for four days while their parents went to Seattle for a little get-away. We had so much fun!!! So much fun that I didn't take any pictures but these two: We went to the Choo Choo Toy store (can't remember the real name but it had something to do with a train) and they took turns riding the horse. We had lots of fun!

I flew directly from Arizona to Utah where I stayed in Park City for a few days. Purpose of the trip? To see youngest brother, Lincoln and only sister, Chandra play some Soccer. But check out how pretty the colors in the Canyon were! Well, here in New Mexico everything that was brown during the summer is...still brown. And anything that was green, is still green...I hope we get some sort of an Autumn before Winter comes. But I'm not rushing it, I like the warm weather. Here is the view from the pool. Yeah, basically when I wasn't watching soccer, I was swimming in the pool or sitting in the hot tub. Park City sure is a pretty place!
Meet Lincoln...soon to be 16! He's a dang good soccer player too! Haley and I had fun cheering for him.
And this is Haley. She had me write on this poster (on the white shorts) "Go Fish" and then she held it up ... cheering Chandra on.
Here is the Utah State Soccer star! (well, I think so anyhow) I'm glad I was able to see her play at lease ONE game this season!

TAG

Kourtny TAGGED me. I think I'm totally normal so I asked Gary what some random/weird things about me were...and man, he had a list! So, this is technically like Gary doing my tag for me. So, here I go...

#1) It's been said by many that I have 'interesting' writing. I'll let YOU be the judge:

#2) My Dad's nickname in High School was Silver Top. I think. Or maybe Silver Fox. Either way, it was because he had major gray hair in High School, actually by the time he was a deacon! Well, lucky me, I got that gene. I have vivid memories of my friend, Shari sitting behind me in school my senior year of High School picking the stray grays from my head. (Thanks Shari!) Now there are just too many to pull out so I dye them.

 AS IF I would post a picture of me with gray hair on the internet! But you can see one of my Dad!

#3) This is NOT a rag. It is the remains of my baby blanket. One of about three that I sleep with. The truth is, I probably have about 5 or 6 blankets that I sleep with, I just limit myself to a max of 3 per night. So, yes...I'm a blanket person. No, I never carried it around and sucked my thumb, I didn't have detachment problems when I started going to school and had to leave it at home. I'm normal, I just like it under my pillow at night. Gary wants to burn it.

But it does NO harm laying under my pillow at night, so I say NO WAY!

#4) I'm a bare foot girl. I NEVER wear shoes in a house and I don't even like to walk around with socks. Gary is totally the opposite. He can NOT walk on a hard floor without shoes on because if he steps on even a small crumb, it bugs him. But me? No way! I'll just clean my feet later.

#5) My wedding band really truly cost a quarter

Here is a picture of our rings half way done.

Here is the finished product

#6) I like to collect pictures of Mullets. No, not ones posted on the internet but ones I take with my very own camera. It's Kelsey's Fault!

#7) Unlike most of my married friends, I LOVE it when Gary grows his facial hair out. He won't do it very often, in fact this picture was shortly after we were married and I think he's done it one other time. But I LOVE it! He looks dang good either way, so I can't complain.

Now time to tag a few pepes:

 Channy Baby
 Sarah Fears
 Sarah Jackson
 Ciara Schofield
 Lindsey Miller
 Jen Pritchard
 J'me Shillig