Happy Birthday Jenna

Jenna's Birthday was June 17th. Wow has time gone by so fast. She is growing up so quickly. She has been walking since May and and is pretty much running now. Just the other day she was walking under the table and she has grown so much that now she bumps her head on the table. She bumped it and was crying so hard that when she was trying to get out from underneath the table she just kept bumping her head. LOL. She was so upset.

For her birthday we went to the botanical gardens and the aquarium. It was pretty hot that day but she loved every minute of it. The botanical gardens has a screened in area where they have a ton of butterflies. We went there and watched them fly around for a while. The boys love going there also to see the butterflies. We then walked to an area in the gardens that they just opened up. It is a Japanese garden. Wow. That area is pretty cool. There is a waterfall with a pond and goldfish and ducks and stuff. There is a small trail that winds around the edge of the pond. There are little streams with neat rock bridges and stuff. The sprinklers were on when we got there and the boys were bending over and getting their heads just soaked to try and cool themselves off.

We couldn't take the heat anymore so we went inside into the aquarium. That felt so good. Jenna was totally amazed by the big tanks that they have that cover the whole wall. When she first seen it she just stood there a second then she decided to try and touch the fish. She could't tell where the glass was because it was pretty dark. So she would take a few steps and reach for the glass but she wouldn't find it. So she would take a few more steps and reach for it. It was so funny. She just loved seeing all of the fish and stingrays and stuff swimming by.

We left there and came home and had birthday cake. Tracy gets all of our cakes from this little cake shop where they have the best cakes in the land of enchantment. They gave us a little smash cake for Jenna since it was her first birthday. She couldn't wait to dive into that cake!

Jenna had so much fun!!! I think that we all did.

Camping in the Jemez Mountains

Back in May I took Tyler, Shawn and Matthew camping for 4 days and 3 nights up in the Jemez Mountains. We had so much fun. Shawn was a little scared the first two nights but once he was inside the tent he was fast asleep. The weather was amazing. Just a light breeze, low 80's during the day and in the 50's at night. Lots of sun and fun!!

The first day Tracy, Jenna and Nancy came with us and we hiked a pretty tough hike out to some hot springs. The trail was pretty steep at times and we all were whining on the way back. The springs were awesome!! The kids loved playing around the springs.

The views on the way back were amazing.

We set up camp later that night and Tracy, Jenna and Nancy left that night. So we were on our own.

The next day we drove around and hiked a few small hikes and seen some of the local attractions. We cooked all of our own meals and even washed the dishes after every meal.

On our third day we hiked up to some other hot springs and had lots of fun splashing in it. We left there and splashed in the river that runs down the mountain. That was much colder than the hot springs but was very refreshing. We jumped from rock to rock for a few hours up in Dark Canyon. The boys thought that Dark Canyon was a pretty cool place.

For Fathers Day Shawn gave me a card that was so awesome. On the front it had a daddy bear and a baby bear looking at a flower with a butterfly on it. The daddy bear says to the baby "Enough of this nature stuff, let's go scare some campers". I loved that. I thought that was very funny. Shawn was so scared that we would see a bear. We never did. We did see some elk though. The boys thought it was pretty cool that we got to see a large bull elk in full velvet. He was magnificent.

I had an amazing time with my boys. Children are the true meaning of life. They bring me more joy than I can express. I love them with all of my heart and I thank God everyday that he has blessed me with such a wonderful family.

Shawn's broken elbow

Shawn broke his elbow on Tuesday. We were out on our normal everyday rollerbladding/dogwalk. Shawn was on his rollerblades and he fell. The doctor says that he broke his elbow and needs to be in the cast for a while. He picked purple because it is moms favorite color. He is getting around pretty good so far. He hasn't figured out that he can still use his fingers though.

This picture is from the zoo. There is a large cage that you can go in and feed the lorikets. He wanted so bad to have one sit on his cast.

New to this cool stuff

Thanks to our good friends Jackson and Valerie we have wanted to give this a try. So here goes.

I married Tracy 10 years ago. Wow that went by fast. We have four beautiful children.

Tyler is 8.

Shawn and Matthew are 5.

Jenna the little baby girl is turning one.

We live in Rio Rancho NM. I work as a controller at Albuquerque Center. I am almost done with the training. It has only been two and a half years.

We love the outdoors. Hiking, camping, bike riding, rollerbladding, all of that stuff. We really like the Jemez mountains about and hour north of where we live.

We have a few pets,

Thunder is a siberian husky and he is 10.

Copper is a husky/lab mix and he is 2.

Gizmo is our cat and she is 9.

We have a 10 gallon freshwater fish tank with neons and guppies.

We have a 55 gallon saltwater tank with a purple tang, a foxface, two clowns, two cardinals, and tons of corrals. We started that little hobby last year and I love it. It was supposed to be for Tyler but I found it very fun and challenging.

We have met tons of great people over the years and I hope that this is a way for us to keep in touch more.