Red or Green??

That can only mean one thing...we are in New Mexico! We've been eating all sorts of good foods with my favorite ingredient...green chiles! Though I'm not a big fan of red chile, I'd definitely rather eat NM red than anything back in our neck of the woods. As soon as we crossed the border from Colorado, we hit a Lotaburger and had us a cheeseburger with green chiles. But I think I should step back in time a bit.

It was sooo great to see my family again! Though I love to spend time scrapping with my CKU pals, it's a long time away from Mat and the kids. So LOTS of hugs were exchanged in the hotel hallway.

After loading the van (and when I say "loading", I mean LOADING), we headed to Colorado to visit one of Mat's college friends, Jeff (he was in our wedding). They opened their home to us, which meant Nicholas has great fun with his 2 boys. They played lots of video games...and we did, too. Can you say "Rock Band"? Yep, we all had fun with that one!

After staying the night, we drove through the Rockies. Unfortunately, one of our fans gave out along the way. So, during the steepest parts, we'd stop periodically for the engine to cool down. Once we got past the highest summit, we made it down just fine (repaired when we got to ABQ).

Since being here, we've gone to an Isotopes game (they lost to the Tacoma Rainiers... drove hundreds of miles to see our "local" team play), taken the Rail Runner (train) to Santa Fe for a day of shopping/sightseeing, eaten LOTS of great NM food, went on a "date" (Mat and I saw "The Time Traveler's Wife" while kids were at home with grandparents), and have played lots of video games (Papa and Nana decided they needed a Wii for their anniversary so used us as their "consultants" during the purchase). While shopping for their Wii, we picked up Rock Band 2 ($99...how could we NOT!). We also got to meet one of our newest family members, little Paxton. He's the son of Mat's cousin, Byron, and wife Cassie....and he decided not to wait until his due date and arrived 8 weeks early. We visited with him in the NICU (no kids allowed so Samantha was truly bummed). Luckily, they released him yesterday so his parents stopped here before their 3-hr drive home (Samantha was tickled)!

Tomorrow, cousin Michal comes over to spend the day/night with us. I know Nicholas is excited and will have lots of fun.

This will have to do it for this update cuz my fingers are getting worn out. Perhaps I need another green chile fix!