A week with Grandma and Grandpa

Mom and Dad were able to come out for a few days before Sterling's blessing. We loved having them here and we were super busy doing projects and playing.

We ate good food...

Mom and Dad helped us pick up a deep freezer, this bag of cheese was the first purchase I made of something extra to put in my big freezer that I wouldn't have room for in my little one. So grateful for Mom and Dad's help.

Dad helped us do lots of projects around the house. He fixed our side gate so now it isn't hanging on just one screw but swings open and shut and can lock! He sanded it down so we could paint it. It looks like a new fence! He put up shelves in my laundry room! He also sanded down some trim on the front of our house and started painting it for us. AND he reinforced and sanded down this table in our yard that was here when we bought it and Scott and I painted it.

We are so grateful for all he did! Scott loved to help Grandpa.

Scott reading with Grandma in bed one morning.

Cute Sterling one morning

In preparation for having a total of 14 people for dinner on Sunday, Mom and I spent our days looking for tables. After looking at a load of stores, we finally found a great table on Craigslist. It seats six but can use the two leaves to fit a load more! It works perfect. Though much bigger than we need right now, it's a really good table and I love it.

And we went to the zoo! Scott ran from animal to animal so excited. He is pretty cute. All we have pictures of though is him with the ducks:

Mom and Dad were so nice and let us go have a date. We used the gift card Stan got for Christmas to the Cheesecake Factory that just opened in Albuquerque! It was amazing and so fun. This man is wonderful :)

We had a great time with them and are grateful they took the time to come help us out!

Sterling's First Outing

We wanted to go check out some ruins (because what else would we do the first chance we have to get out again??). They were a little south of Albuquerque so it would be a warmer spot to go in the middle of February. We originally thought that we would walk up a canyon to an old homestead before stopping by a ruin on the way back, but decided we should keep it a lot more simple on our first run with two kids. We are grateful we did :)

At the trailhead

All tucked in and ready to go!

And because we changed our minds, we ended up walking on a random route and found an old homestead anyway!

An old chimney, angle 1

An old chimney, angle 2. It looks like they tried to close off the fireplace.

This home had a similar style to one we have seen before where they carved a v into the bottom of the top beam and then stuck the pointed ends into them to make a wall.

Well as we looked at this house structure, we noticed that the stones were very well carved, kind of like pueblo ruins, lo and behold, we could totally see outlines of Indian ruins right there by the homestead! They had taken the bricks from the ruins to build their house! Here are the ruin pits right next to the homestead:

This kid wanted to walk a little. He is such a fun companion!

Pottery

These were the "real" ruins we were heading to.

View from the top

And the side

Me trying to get Scott to look at Stan...I'm in trouble if he doesn't quit hating pictures...

It's amazing the intricacy they used!

Random photos:

This interesting plant was really pretty with it's purple flowers

We found a handful of random pails on trees:

He loved walking on this hike, we have a hiker in the making!

I sometimes feel bad for dragging my babies on these adventures, but when they are so sweet afterwards, I know it was okay :)

We had a delicious BBQ before we headed home. It was pretty windy so we just ate in the car. Scott took the driver's seat.

Beautiful sunset to finish off a beautiful day. Scott looked out and said "It's so beautiful Mom!" Yes it is my boy!!

Around Albuquerque-February 2016

A Sunday morning fire. We loved being able to have fires during the winter and were grateful for a friend that gave us some good wood! Stan is such a great fire builder. Scott talked about them for months after we quit building them. We would usually have Stan build one while Scott was in the bath so that he didn't see the door open. Whenever he would take a bath, even until recently, he would mention something about a fire and try to run out of the bathroom to see it.

One day for lunch, Scott and I were having nachos. We had just about finished one plate when I turned around to do something. When I turned back, Scott had put a new chip on the plate and was on his third handful of cheese.

Our Chinese New Year traditional dinner. Scott was trying out the chopsticks

I ventured down to the park with boys on a warmer day. Scott was so excited to get out of the house.

I love the way that Scott walks. He has a cute little spring to his step.

He was/is so sweet with Sterling. He turned around as I was "jogging" and was talking to him while holding his hand.

He loves the slide!

This boy started smiling.

Loves laying by dad

I LOVE baby sleeping positions

I finally got around to raking up the leaves in the backyard and Scott wanted to crush the leaves like I was.

One of my favorite things about Sterling are his broad shoulders. He is going to be a big boy.

Stan and his friend talking shop. Brian is the one that got Stan into radios. He has been so helpful as Stan has tried to figure things out.

Scott loves our backyard and that it is one big sand pile

They just finished this new park. It is a half hour away but super neat! Scott loved it!