Living in Placitas, it was really nice to just walk up and down the streets with the kids and Dodger. There is very, very little traffic. It would be a neat place to live in a lot of ways, but it is not children friendly. One day while we were out for a walk, there were some ladies coming toward us. One had a stroller. I thought for sure someone finally had a baby. Nope. It was a dog. Haha. Oh well.
Below it's not a great picture, but it hailed. Just had to prove to family that although we live in a desert, we do get moisture! ;)
More crazy, silly, messy girl:
Pierscen did have to use his breathing machine once or twice, but his attacks weren't very bad.
We went back to the aquarium and gardens without Ryan (as we have done many, many times since). The kids love it.
I think I like going the gardens even more than the zoo, which is saying something, because I love animals. But I love that every single time you go the gardens, it is different. Something else is in bloom. Or something has lost its leaves, but it is still gorgeous. It really is an amazing place. And yes, it's open year round.
The picture below is taken inside a giant pumpkin. It's pretty neat. I don't think I've ever tried to get a picture of the outside. Not sure it would work very well because it's so big!
Throughout the gardens they had several light sculptures they were setting up for the River of Lights in December. I remember reading up on it and it takes a crew of 6 men several months to get everything set up. It's pretty amazing. (But you'll see more of that in the December posts.)
The zoo, aquarium, and gardens all offer story time on different days. To date this is the only one we have made it to because Devry is usually asleep, but it was fun. This one was in the farm house out the farm section of the gardens. (They have several farm animals, apple orchards, grape vineyards, and lots of other plants. I believe they use the produce for the aquarium cafe.)
More from the Japanese gardens, my favorite.
Another great picture of the Sandia's from the park down the street from our new house.
I did manage to go to the temple one Saturday super early. It is a beautiful experience. (Since moving into our house, I have established a temple swap with a few friends and have gone many times.) It is a different experience than going to a temple in Utah. That is for sure. There, most sessions are packed, regardless of the time of day. Here, the most I have ever had in a session was twelve people. I've been told it gets busier as the day goes on, but I always go the first session of the morning to get back for Devry's nap time.
November also brought our first snow. Yes! It snows! But for me, it's perfect because it's usually gone by noon. Haha. The kids can play and gave a great time, and then it goes away. The snow factor surprises a lot of people, but I think that it's because most people hear New Mexico and think Arizona. I know I did. But the truth is, the elevation here is 5300. That's a thousand feet HIGHER than where I grew up in Utah. Yes, it gets hot, but it's no different than Utah. I think it got up to about a 100 this summer, but most of the time it's 80-90s.
Much of November was spent meeting with different contractors for carpet, paint and lighting. The carpet was in decent shape, other than being covered in dog hair. But I didn't love it. It was high traffic carpet, which wears a lot better, but it doesn't feel homey to me. And after 3+ years of not replacing the carpet in Wyoming and all the problems it caused for Dodger, I wanted to start fresh, no questions. The sample below was the selection I made.
One frustration we had in looking for houses was that there is no storage because there are no basements. We were happy with this house because it has a big pantry area and all the closets are big, plus two attic spaces.
Back at Sharon's there was a day that there was a Nicholas Spark's movie on TV. I don't love his stuff, but I was curious. They are cheesy romances, which isn't a bad thing. I am a girl after all. But they can be pretty dumb. Thankfully I had my baby girl who was more than happy to watch it with me. :)
I'll end this split up post with a picture of Devry trying gold fish for the first time. Her mischievous eyes say it all. WIN!
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