Trying to be a good Housewife

I am sitting here in this office. I am supposed to be CLEANING it. But every time I come in here I think, "Ok, I could start pulling everything out of here, OR...I could get on Facebook and see how my friends are doing." So, guess what I've been chosing lately??

You see, this office is so pitiful that just thinking about cleaning it makes me want to eat a chocolate bar! Help.

Also, this is the first day in, oh....two and a half years (it seems) that all three of my kids are actually playing together and not killing eachother! So I feel that I have to take advantage of the quietness. It might only last another two seconds.

Can anyone relate?

Photo shoot

Well, it's time for some updated family pics. Last night we went down to the bosque (Spanish: land covered with trees) by the Rio Grande and took some pictures. We got too hot and too hungry to stay very long, so we'll get some more pics soon.

Jacob - Age 9-1/2

Anna Mary - Age 8

Caleb - Age 6

I like this one.

Anniversary

Well, today (July 22) marks 12 years that Melissa and I have been married. In some ways it seems like it couldn't be that long and in others it seems like we've been together forever (in a good way!) Well, here's a then and now photo of us. We've had a special weekend together. Friday night Melissa's folks took the boys to Santa Fe for some camping and Melissa's sister took Anna to play with her cousins in Abq. It's so great to be close to family now! :) Melissa did have to work Friday night, so I was by myself and went to see Wild Hogs by myself at the dollar theatre. I laughed so hard so many times. Melissa was scheduled to work Saturday night too, but when her boss heard from me that we were celebrating our anniversary, she arranged for someone to work her shift! Thanks, God! So, Saturday we woke up all by ourselves and went out for breakfast together. Then we just spent the day running around going to flea markets or whatever we wanted to. Our pastor then gave us a certificate for a free dinner for 2 at Outback, so we had a very nice meal to top off the day. We went to church (work mostly) together and Melissa fixed food for all the volunteers and I did my Sunday work. This afternoon Melissa's folks brought the boys back and spent the rest of the day with us. We enjoyed our time together and watched a hilarious video called Thou Shalt Laugh. It is sooo funny!

Anyway, here is a pic of what we looked like 12 years ago before we got married.

Family Reunion/Vacation

Well, we did it! We went on "vacation" to see family! The unofficial bi-annual Flaming family reunion was held July 5-7, 2007 in Omaha, NE. And boy, was it very humid/hot - at least for this family that's been acclimated to the dry, cool mountain climate. Don't we look hot? and I don't mean the good kind of hot.

We started out on the 3rd heading to Kansas to stay with my mom. We spent the 4th with her and our "gang" friends - Faith, Todd & Julie, Scott & Amy and Jonathan & Amy (and all our kids and kids' friends). We grilled out and shot fireworks (and a potato cannon) during brief spurts of rain all evening. It was so great to see everyone! Then on the 5th we grouped up with my brother Ben, and his wife Lisa and mom and made a caravan to Omaha.

Thursday night was a planned dinner with 50+ family members meeting at Valentino's Italian Buffet. Mmmmmm!! Friday was open for anyone to do whatever we wanted, but since we weren't used to the humidity anymore, we voted to stick close to the pool! Actually, by the time we got going we went hunting for a mall - of all things - because the kids had spending money. But, before they could figure out what to spend it on, it was time to go to the water park at Mahoney State Park.

Now, for those of you growing up around Wichita, this place beats FantaSea hands down. The complex has kid's water playground, two twisting, 236-foot water slides, and an awesome wave pool! We stayed all afternoon and got worn out. That evening we had a catered family picnic with all the fixin's.

Saturday we packed up and decided to head back by way of going across all of Nebraska and then down through Colorado. We spent Saturday night in Colorado Springs and then had a leisurely drive down to Santa Fe on Sunday where we stopped in to see Melissa's parents. We ended up spending the night with them, which was a very nice finale to our family vacation.

A new blog

Well, all blogs must start somewhere, so here we go. The purpose of this blog is for friends and family to be able to keep up with us out west in New Mexico. I hope you enjoy our journey!

Here is a view of the Sandia Mountains as we see them from our back patio! We also see lots of hot air balloons on cool mornings anytime of year. You've probably heard of the very famous Albuquerque Int'l Balloon Fiesta that is held every year here. This year it will be held October 6-14 with thousands of balloons here - all different shapes and colors. It's awesome so come on out for a visit and check it out!!