4th of July!

We had a great Independence day this year. We spent the night at Green Valley Ranch hotel, where the kids enjoyed the arcade and pool (fully equipped with a sand beach.)  Then on the evening of the 4th we made our way to Dragon Ridge country club for fireworks, food and friends!

The festivities took place on the driving range, where there was a water slide for the kids, a band and a lot of wonderful food!  Thank you to the Burchards for the invite.

Kids having a ball on the green.

Cotton candy is always a favorite with the kids.

Blake absolutely loved the band, he definitely shook his booty!

Mikel enjoying a drink with John.

The kids loved the fireworks show....I'm sure they could have watched forever.

Blake loved it too!  I thought he would be scared but he wasn't, my brave boy.

Summer Fun in New Mexico!

Every June we go back home to Albuquerque, New Mexico.  It's so great to see family and friends. We go only once a year, however we try and make the most of it and I am always so sad to leave :(.

Blake and his friend Claire.

My friend Autumn is like family to me, so I love catching up and seeing how her kids have grown. We have 8 kids between our two families!

Luke, getting a ride from his buddy Connor.

We had to go to Old Town and look around.  Everything there is so uniquely New Mexico.  Here are the boys in front of Papa Leo's church San Felipe.

I was on a mission to buy some crosses, but Drew couldn't find any?

I was SO excited to find this bench with three suns (just like our family!)

We stopped at High Noon for dinner, the place is so old, the boys were certain that it was haunted!

This lamp proved to the boys that the restaurant was haunted!

At Wecks!

As soon as we get to town we hit the restaurants.  One thing that we miss so much is the amazing food and we have to go to our favorite places: Sadie's, Frontier. Dion's, Seferino's....just to name a few.

We met up with my Aunt Roma and Aunt Bobbi at another favorite place, Flying Star.

While we were away......

While Mikel and I were in Mexico, my parents took the boys to their cabin in the woods in Angel Fire NM.  They boys love it there!

Chilling on the deck with Grandpa.

The boys learning to fish in Monte Verde lake.

They also got to ride horses at my Grandma's house!

The boys had so much fun!

Our Anniversary in Mexico

We took a vacation to Mexico for our 10th Annivesary; the longest we have ever been away from our sons.  Mikel and I agreed this was our best trip yet.  We believe the reason is before we had children, relaxation and quiet were concepts that we took for granted.  Now we appreciate every minute that is ours.

We went to the Riveira Maya, which is south of Cancun next to Playa del Carmen.  It was so beautiful and tropical. We only wish we could have stayed longer!

The resort that we stayed at was the Grand Sunset Princess and it was incredibly beautiful and huge. We definitely got our exercise walking around.

The beach had soft white sand and the ocean water was warm, it was amazing!! This is all that we wanted for our vacation: to relax on the beach.

    

We have a (somewhat) similar picture of us on the beach when we were on our honeymoon in Cabo San Lucas.....I can't believe that it's been 10 years!

I didn't listen to Mikel and waited a few hours before applying sunblock....he called me "rock lobster" the rest of the trip!

There were Mayan sculptures throughout the resort.

We rode ATV's 15 miles through the jungle and the town of Playa.....it was so much fun!

We stopped to see the animals.

Who knew there are underground caves in the middle of the jungle? Incredible!

We zip-lined into a cenote together it was so much fun!

We did the zip-line a bunch of times, it was great!

Mikel diving in!

The fire-dancing show.

Mikel and I had such an amazing time.  He said he wants to take a vacation (sans kids) every year!  I'm not sure about that...but I do know that it is important to spend time together and I loved getting away for little while!