Luna

The week before last I did not post hardly at all because I was either in major pain or majorly drugged depending upon whether it was the beginning or the end of the week we're talking about. The lovely results of a root canal that snuck up on me unexpected. Lovely, huh? So, I have some catching up to do because we did take a little weekend trip.

The weekend of the 24th, Amy and Jim invited us to Luna, New Mexico. They go there every year for the 24th of July parade and rodeo. Jim's parents both grew up in Alpine and Luna and so he has roots there. It was fabulous to get away and we loved the land - absolutely gorgeous.

Despite the mud and rain, the trip was great fun and we did get to enjoy the parade and rodeo without rain. It politely waited until afterward to come down so we spent the afternoon/evening in the toy hauler with the kids watching movies and we played a couples game that turned very entertaining. At one point, we were all laughing so hard that I thought the whole world could hear us. And there wasn't a lack of arguing either -- very entertaining, but both marriages survived the game despite some rocky moments =)

London loved Aidan's cowboy hat.

does she have it in her to be a cowgirl?
I don't really think so, but she does look cute!

Cousins heading for the parade.

Waiting for the parade to start. It's the cutest little 10-minute parade that doles out a ton of candy. The parade goes down the main street and then turns around again, with each float throwing handfuls of candy both times. And there aren't that many spectators.

There was A LOT of candy collected.
When the parade turned around, Jim and Nate were actually throwing candy back at the floats.

After the parade, we headed to the rodeo. Now the parade may be small stuff, but the rodeo was quite the large to-do. There were tons of people and it was totally fun. The cutest thing at the rodeo.
I was sad that none of our other rodeo pictures turned out.

We separated from Amy and Jim and took the scenic route home on the Coronado Trail. I've never seen this part of Arizona and, to be honest, I had no idea forest like this existed in Arizona! It was dense and immensely green. I loved it. It always amazes me that Nate knows Arizona 100 times better than me, a native. I think this summer I've seen more new places in Arizona with him than in my life. I love that he likes learning and seeing new places. He always comes home from a trip and gets out his atlas and studies the surrounding areas. He's like a walking map afterward. And, unlike me who forgets everything, the information stays in his head for future reference.

Lovely family picture. Not the best, but the only one.
We stopped at a scenic lookout just past Hannigan's Meadow and took pictures. It was fun and the girls loved getting out of the car for a few minutes.

The rest of the trip was spent with me self-medicating for my toothache. Nothing seemed to work so it was pretty miserable despite my interest in seeing new parts of Arizona. We drove through Thatcher and Safford which I have never seen either. I loved seeing the farmland which I never expected. I guess I can now say I've been to where President Kimball was raised.

Nate and I looked back and London sleeping and noticed her eye was open. Creepy, but funny so we had to get a picture to remember.