New Mexico Part 1

Road trip! I am not one to enjoy car rides, but I was actually super excited to make the 2500 mile round trip with my cousin Ashley and her daughter Liah. I was excited that some of my side of the family was going to see Zach and meet his wife and daughter. While my family may be dysfunctional we do have some normalcy at times. 

On Wednesday I left Boise and drove to Elko. On Thursday while Liah was in school Ashley and I ran errands and of course that involved stopping at Starbucks where I got a new cup!! This vaca was off to a good start.

We left Elko about 4pm on Thursday and stopped in Vegas around 10pm at one of my favorite places!

At In-N-Out Ash and I both had caffeine so when we got to Kingman, AZ we decided to head on to Flagstaff, AZ. What we didn't know at the time and didn't realize until we went to three different hotels in Flagstaff at 2 in the morning was that there was a huge fire south of Flagstaff and combined with the Memorial Day weekend that close to the Grand Canyon hotels were packed. We finally found a hotel around 2:30am and got a few hours of sleep before we finished the 5 hours left to Cliff, New Mexico. 

 Child labor at it's best - Liah actually loved rolling my suitcase and we all know I don't pack light. 

Ah, we finally made it! Liah and Hailey hit it off instantly! And Hay enjoyed showing Liah all her animals!

I absolutely love this little girl!

I wasn't sure how Hay and Liah would get along, so I bought them each the same doll so they could play together. Well it turns out they were instant friends and didn't need the gift.

They played so well together. I loved watching 2nd cousin meeting for the same and hitting it off so well - it melted my heart!

Bedtime story time. Niki is such a great mom!

On Saturday before the baby shower we had lunch with Niki's grandma, mom and sister and than went over to Niki's grandma's place and played on the swings. 

Watching Zach with the girls was awesome! He is such a good day and Liah loved him, he was her buddy!

Cousin love!

Friends Birthdays. Babies and More!

The spring time means friends birthdays! I organized a group of friends to have a lovely dinner at a new restaurant in Meridian called Twigs for Kathie's birthday. 

I love this photo! Poor Kathie. She doesn't talk about underwear, but we do, so of course we have to bring it up whenever we are around her. I just want to note, I did not get that card for her. Though, I would like to note that I wish I had! :)

Next up was Stacy's birthday! For her actually birthday we went to another new restaurant in Meridian called the Yardhouse. However, the weekend before Stacy, Viki and I had a girls afternoon. We had coffee, got our nails done and had a great lunch at Red Robin. 

And a week after Stacy's birthday, Yesenia and I went to the Yardhouse for her birthday!

Happy Birthday to all my spring friends! 

Now for some random. 

First up - Operation embarrass Alissa with a sea horse pool toy. Mr. Seahorse enjoyed some fresh air by hanging out of the sunroof in Bonni's car as we went through the drive-thru at Panda Express.

There is this website where people post the names the barista's write on their Starbucks drinks that are wrong. We all know my name...well this is what a barista thought my name was...

Mmnnn...the Idaho potato..

This spring has also brought new babies into the world. 

First meet Jackson Harmon Smith, I just love him! I love holding him, even when he spits up on me. I love when he sleeps in my arm, or when he smiles (no it is not gas)! But most of all I love seeing my best friend as a mother.

Next up, Finnely Valor Dukes! This little guy is so adorable and I got to hold him for over an hour in my arms and he just slept there like a perfect angel.

It's been a great spring!

Ladies Retreat

The last weekend in April I went on a Ladies Retreat for work. I was on the planning committee. How I got on the committee is beyond me, I am not a committee person. Anyways the weekend before we were suppose to go someone at work told Bonni that he was looking online at the cabin we use for all our retreats and we were not on their schedule. So, Bonni called the manager and sure enough we weren't on the calendar, even though we had booked the cabin a year ago. Well Bonni decided to be nice and we took two other cabins they had. 

McCall is a beautiful area, I love this small central Idaho town. Our cabins were right on Payette  Lake.

Part of the lake was still frozen!

Our two cabins.

All or our meals were planned, but the best one was for Saturday night - Soto Ayam, which is an amazing Indonesian soup. Have I ever mentioned how much I love Indonesian food?

Bonni frying yummy Indonesian crackers.

Yeah, I pretty much rock at helping... :)

Yum, yum, yum!!!

We want food!

Some more beautiful photos from my balcony.

We may be coworkers, but above everything else we are friends and we cuddle while watching The Amazing Spider Man!

This is the perfect picture of what a retreat is all about...

On Sunday morning it was snowing!

All the lovely ladies. These photos are so fun with the snow falling...

I am so glad I went on this retreat! We did a video series by Beth Moore called Loving Well. It was amazing what God did in our hearts this weekend, it was just what I needed.