A New Mexican Halloween

Let me just say that we have eaten more pumpkin in the last 24 hours than most people consume in a year.  Here's a review of the menu beginning with Sunday dinner:

Turkey Pumpkin Chili...Amazing.  Click on the picture for the recipe.

My mother is a really wonderful bread maker and this, ladies and gentlemen, is the ugliest loaf of bread ever known to man.  I had to post it just to show my mother...try not to be super embarrassed of me.  Javi says there is an object lesson in this loaf of bread.  It is super hideous but delicious.  Oh Javi.  I'll just wait to hear that one in sacrament meeting.

Halloween Brunch was Pumpkin Pancakes: (For the recipe click on the picture.)

Lunch didn't happen because of all the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie dough I ate while baking them.

Dinner was an absolute success. Perhaps setting a new standard for my cooking abilities.  I would dare say it is the number one best meal I've made in my married career.  Husband agrees.

Pumpkin Sausage Pasta.  Again, click the pic for the recipe.

Parmesan Bread Knots.  Easy Peasy and Amazing.  (You guessed it...click the pic)

The plate I took to the Jave between news casts.  He was a happy camper especially because I also dropped off two dozen of his FAVORITE cookies to share with his friends.

Now for the costumes:

I was a zombie.  A scary/bloody one.

Lots of Zombies at the Branch Halloween Party.  All the Young Women dressed as Zombies because we dance the Thriller dance.  

Javi dressed up as a New Anchor.  Actually, he's dressed in his Happy Halloween outfit (I'm a believer that you need a new outfit for every holiday...it's a problem.)

Now for the twins: Asher was Batman and Gage was...Batman.  Gage was supposed to be Captain American but thought that two Batman's would be better than one.

Asher:

Gage:

And a special treat from the Javi.  This happened at one of our favorite thrift stores on Saturday date day:

A new friend from stake choir brought these over this morning.  Red velvet cake bites.  Holy cow.  Sweet Tooth Fairy...watch out.

Happy Halloween Everyone.

Bring on the HOLIDAYS!!!!  Fa-la-la-la-la!!!

Anniversario

Well, the Real Madrid game is on which is great news for this little journal.  It means I get to post AGAIN today!  I'm almost caught up!  This is going great!

Two weekends ago Javi and I celebrated our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY.  What in the world happened to that year?  Time is just whizzing by us.  Pretty hard to believe.  

Our day consisted of lovely things here around Albuquerque.  We're not exactly made of money at this point in time and so we decided that we would take in all of the fun things that the ABQ has to offer.  Our day went a little like this:

Sleep In.

Brunch at Slate Street Cafe (best banana bread and pumpkin pancakes in the whole world.)

Albuquerque Temple

Massages - courtesy of Rand and Sue-Thanks guys!

Nap Time

Get gussied up

Dinner at The Savoy - courtesy of Javi's boss who happens to be the father of the kids I nanny-Thanks Jeff and Jackie!

Salsa Dancing (we ate too much...dancing became impossible)

Red Box movie in sweats and blankies

It really was a lovely day and we were very, very spoiled to have the two most expensive parts of our day paid for by someone else!  It made our anniversary that much more relaxing and wonderful.  I am just incredibly grateful for this man I'm married to.  I become more and more grateful every single day.  You all would not believe how patient this guy is.  He has yet to raise his voice or argue with me and he still kisses me like it's our first kiss.  He makes everything so exciting and fun...for example...he is in the bedroom right now watching the Real Madrid game and squealing like a little girl.  He makes me giggle.  He is constantly grabbing hold of me and dancing with me in the living room or kitchen.  One of our favorite games is to grab his guitar after work and he plays this song he made up and we have to make up the lyrics telling the other about our day.  We get laughing so hard...who knew our days were so entertaining!?  He might be embarrassed that I'm writing this...then again, he doesn't read this blog...he dances all the time.  I get a full on dance number almost every day.  Whether it's clogging, salsa, or our favorite: Young Ambassador dancing, he never disappoints.  I must note, for memories sake, that many of the dance numbers end in injury.  Accidentally kicking the wall, kneeing the table, and tripping on chairs have all brought dance numbers to an end.  They are pretty much the best ever.

I loved the first home I got to share with him.  I am grateful for how understanding he was during my first year cooking fiasco's.  I love hearing him laugh.  One of my favorite things is hearing him on the phone with his Mom.  They are quite the hilarious duo and I can't help but eavesdrop.  I adore watching him play soccer.  He is so athletic and I just pray that our children end up with a slight bit of their father's athleticism.  I love his voice.  He is so talented and can sing anything.  I'm really grateful for a husband who can and will sing to me.  I love watching this guy on the news.  I fall in love with him every night at 10:00 all over again.  I often wonder how many other women watch him anchor the news and fall in love with him too?  He is so charming and lovable at his job.  He makes me laugh and I'm grateful for a husband who is so positive and jolly.  I can't imagine living here in New Mexico with anyone but him.  He makes it so enjoyable.  He lights up the house whenever he is home.  I am grateful for the way that he supports my dreams.  He is just as excited as I am about starting my Master's.  Education is important to him and I really appreciate that.  Really, I'll just say it: he is a dream come true.  I often find myself thinking that I don't deserve him but I'm sure grateful that he's mine.

Love you, husband.

Fall Break Visitors

We always LOVE visitors. It was so fun to get to pick up the Mama on Wednesday night and then pick up the boy form of me (aka Mark) and his wife, Erin, on Thursday morning! We just played and played and played. It all started out with a trip to the news station. Javi gave a wonderful tour and found his wallet in the process! Silly boy. They look like naturals!

After the tour we took the family to our favorite "New Mexican Food" restaurant Little Anita's.  Oh my gosh.  We love it.  The enchiladas are amazing and the sopapillas are practically to die for.

We next enjoyed giving a tour of our little home here in Albuquerque.  Quickly after the home tour Javi took off to work and the four of us went to UNM for a meeting about my Master's in Elementary Education program that I'll be starting in January.  Mom, Mark, and Erin explored the campus while I sat in an ETERNAL meeting all about what exactly I'm getting into....and let me tell you....I AM SO EXCITED!!!!  Believe it or not, I can have my Master's completed in 1 year and 4 months.  If I can just crank through school it will happen that quickly, but if not, it will be ok.  We're not going anywhere very soon so what's the huge rush?  One of the most exciting parts is that I get to start working in schools in my second semester!  I love that this program is so based upon work in the schools rather than just learning the principles and not getting to try them out.  Every time I think about the program I kind of get butterflies.  That's how excited I am about it.

The family were total troopers as Thursday was kind of a day full of stuff to be done.  After the UNM afternoon, I had to head home to make soup for the Halloween Party we were throwing for our Young Women's organization.  I even enlisted Erin to teach the girls the dance to Thriller so that they could perform it at the Branch Halloween Party the next week and pass off a personal progress value experience.  They loved it.  Here's a picture of the girls in their awesome costumes:

That night, after Young Womens, I introduced the family to the GREEN SMOOTHIE.  After TONS of convincing I finally got the brother to take a sip and he was immediately hooked.  Then we played games and laughed our heads off.  Like, laughed so hard that it kind of hurt sometimes.  After games it was time for Erin and Mark to see Javi on the news for the first time.  They kept saying "this is so cool and weird to see him on the tv!".  It's true.  It is really cool and kind of weird.

Friday we took the Tram up almost 5,000 feet to Sandia Peak.  It was really as beautiful as everyone says.  I'm so glad we did it!

On the tram...high above the world :)

Javi really wanted to play with the souvenir penny machine.

Schlotzky's Deli used to be a favorite of our family when it was in Utah.  WE LOVE IT.  Albuquerque still has plenty of Schlotsky's and so lunch there was a must.  It didn't disappoint.  Do you see this sign?  It says "we start baking our bunz off before you even put your pants on."  Ha!

After lunch we took Javi home to head to work and we set out to explore the wonderful world of MARSHALL'S.  I love Marshall's.  I had no idea how much I loved it. 

Saturday brought visits to two of our favorite places: Slate Street Cafe and Old Town Albuquerque.  We were the saddest ever to see this afternoon end because we then had to take them all to the airport and say goodbye.  I hate that part.  In fact, it's not getting any easier.

Thanks for visiting!  We can't wait for you to come again!

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

Picture Post.  Except to say that the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta was one of the most magical days ever.  I really felt like we were witnessing magic every time another balloon went up.  I am so looking forward to next year especially because lots of the family is coming to visit for the big event next year!  Yeah!

Early Morning: the first balloons to go up!

 One of my favorites because it's pretty :)

 Mr. Penguin!

 Enjoying our first of many Balloon Fiesta's!

 The Creamland Dairy Cow

 Javi and Darth Vader.

 Humpty Dumpty and a Pink Elephant

 The Wells Fargo Stage Coach

 Many of the news crew from Univision.  The guy on the left of Javi is Alejandro.  Alejandro and the girl in front of him with the baby, Anna, are the 5:00 news anchors.  Javi's co-anchor didn't join us for the fun that day.  Bummer.  The other people are cameramen, sound engineers, and interns from UNM.  Javi certainly lucked out in the coworker department.

 The family of Bumble Bees!

Javi even had the chance to do a story from the air!  It was his first time in a Hot Air Balloon!  See that story here

So, who's coming next year?

Grateful

This is the beginning of many posts about gratitude because this time of year always causes me to stop and think about the beautiful blessings that surround me.

I just read this blog post from our sister-in-law Bree (she's not actually our sister-in-law but Javi and I have always called her that) and it made me increasingly grateful for the simple blessings like being able to tell someone where I live rather than feeling like I have to hide the fact that I don't have a home at all.

This morning I started a training program to get myself running again. Seven years ago I could run 13 miles like it was nothing but the following seven years brought three knee surgeries and years of physical therapy. But yesterday I saw this:

As Javi expressed his concerns for my leg I reminded him, and mostly myself, that three surgeries were supposed to make it so I could run and dance again. That was the point of using a cane and crutches for so long. So, I'm starting slow....like really slow...like probably the people driving past me this morning on their way to work were wondering if I was actually moving at all but I'm doing it for those girls who loved to run and dance and can't for the time being. I'm doing it for myself because my knee is better now than it's been in years. The constant pain is finally tolerable and it's time to do the things I've had to sit by and watch for so long. Coming to this realization and tying up my running shoes this morning has made me feel very, very blessed today.

I'm really grateful today for clean drinking water. How lucky are we to just turn on a tap and drink as much as we want? That is a blessing.

I am very grateful for families. Last night my mom's side of the family had their annual Halloween party. I was lucky enough to get to see everyone's costumes and say hello via Skype. Families are the best and Skype is pretty great too.

I also must document how grateful I am for blogs...and how NOT grateful I am for blogs. I've had a real blog cleansing as I've realized that reading certain blogs can actually make me feel bad about myself! They can often make us feel that we're not pretty enough, not skinny enough, not a good enough cook, not crafty enough, not talented enough, and overall just not enough just the way we are. I don't read blogs like that anymore. Life's too short to feel bad about ourselves and for me blogs should only be a way to document lives, not a way to make others feel bad about their abilities...or lack thereof.

To end today's grateful list, I have to say how grateful I am to be married to Javier Misiego. He is even better than the dream guy I have designed in my head. Every day I get to reflect upon the goodness of marriage and relationships because of HIM! I honestly don't think it is possible to be treated any better than I am by my sweet husband. Heavenly Father totally spoiled me by giving me Javi.