::misc::

Looks like we're going to get the house I wanted most after my long week of searching. One house (in the area we were most interested in) stuck out from the rest in price and size and quality. I only found it because I went to the ward on sunday and asked around to see if anybody had heard of places coming available. This place, oddly enough already had some dentists in it, and they were moving on to their next life step. The house was perfect. I knew the second I walked into it.
After a lot of stress and waiting to hear from the landlord who not only was in England, but also on vacation it looks like we're good to go and he's sending us a lease to sign. I'm very relieved. I'm so glad we could find something that will be comfortable and that's at a reasonable price. Hooray!
You want a couple of photos? I don't have much worth showing because I didn't take very good pictures, and the current tenants were in the midst of moving chaos, but what I have I'll show.

My mom took this one. Its' a picture from the sitting room kind of space back towards the kitchen. It's an open concept place with high ceilings, skylights and and a nice airy feeling to it.
From here on out, I'll mostly just show you the yard. (And take the word "yard" with a grain of salt, I mean this is New Mexico, people!!)


Personally I'm happy to have a wall that will keep little boys and big dogs from escaping out into the desert.
We're happy there's a garage. We're happy there's a guest room and more than one bathroom. This will be great.

And how can you go wrong with sunsets like this?
Now I'm able to get excited about moving instead of being worried about it, yay!

Next. I have to speak in church on sunday, and they didn't give me a topic. I'm just supposed to "pick something." I think I've got it picked now, but I've been racking my brains trying to figure out something good. Argh. Like speaking isn't stressful enough?!

It was so hot here yesterday that I just wanted to go to Antarctica. Though I've liked it here, I will NOT be sad to leave the humidity behind. It gets old really fast. And a high 90s day at the end of May is a bit of an unexpected unpleasant surprise, unless you're smart enough to make it to the beach. We weren't.

School goes until June 23rd out here. Can you say cruel & unusual punishment for the poor kids? I think Max will be enjoying some hookey beach days in the next month.

I wish I could write. Go here and read this entry by a girl I went to high school with. She writes so nicely.
An excerpt: "Why do we go to bed only to find another day has slipped through our fingers breaking into a million tiny pieces? A little lump of it lodged in our throat, a little in our heart, a tiny amount in the trash, some settling in our stomachs, and more down the drain, bits and pieces piled in prayer, and specks stuck in beads of sweat."
How lovely is that?
I love the internet and how we can share and read and appreciate each other's thoughts. It's so inspiring and humbling too.

That's all for now. Maybe now that we actually have the house lined up I can remember how to blog again. I've been remiss, and I've been missing it.

::dog day::

A couple of weeks ago we sat down with the calendar to talk over May. Out of nowhere Max declared today, 5/22, DOG DAY. You know, like mother's day or father's day. Dogs are important too. He also said it started at 7:50AM.
So last night he suddenly freaked out because we didn't have any dog day presents, and it was going to start so early! I told him we'd take care of dog day on the day itself, and he could just start it out by being very nice to Sultan.

Sul got to eat 3 times today. This is impressive because normally he eats once a day (not by his choice of course). We bought two different types of dog treats which Max dispensed liberally throughout the day. We got him a wool bone at Trader Joe's that I thought he'd hate, but he seems to like it a lot.
Max asked if we could go mini golfing for dog day. I said that sounded a little unfair, considering the dog couldn't come with us, so instead Kris and Max took Sul to the dog park (really out here the dog park is just a great big dirt patch, so it wasn't that fun. I didn't go. But oh well, it's the thought that counts. I'm sure Sultan didn't mind the dirt.)

After the dirt, I mean dog park, Sultan got a bath. I'm sure this wouldn't be his #1 pick for a dog day activity, but too bad for him.


If you think that Max looks like he's having WAY too much fun here, you'd be right. He was way too delighted to be spraying Sultan against his will.


Max told Kris in the afternoon that Sultan told him that "today was the best day of his life." Pretty great. Then, shortly after that he asked Kris when MAX DAY was going to be. Kris told him that Max day is also known as Max's birthday, and it already happened. I guess that made enough sense to Max. It's a good thing he didn't ask me or else I would probably have started talking about how it seems like EVERY day is Max day. He probably wouldn't have appreciated that explanation quite as much.

Happy DOG DAY to all you dogs out there!

::santa fe::

Max and I spent almost a week looking at zillions of houses and lots of schools. We saw things like this

and this

and this

and yards/landscapes such as these



My mom came out for a few days, helped to entertain Max and kept me from going insane. It was so nice to have her there. It was a lot of work. I probably looked at 10 or so houses (with only a few turning out to be possibilities) and we went and had visits at three schools.

In the end I got a great lead from somebody at church for a house the size we need in the area (with the right school) that we're interested in. Now we're just working on making that happen. Keep your fingers crossed for us, but so far things look good! When the house is ours for sure I'll post some more pictures maybe.

Finally

Finally, a quest that started this past Christmas--when I got a saltwater fly rod as a gift--was achieved. I caught and landed my first stripped bass on a fly rod. I caught it in the Narrow River using a clouser minnow that I tied this winter. I really like the idea of catching fish using the "flies" that you tie yourself.

Ginna and Max are out of town and I'm entertaining myself by fishing.

This is the strongest fish that I've ever landed on a fly rod and it took me a good while to reel it in. My arms were actually tired afterward.

I told myself that if I caught even one fish this year before we moved, I'd call it a successful foray into saltwater flyfishing. Yippee.

::::

Max and I are heading to NM tomorrow to find ourselves a house and take a look at some schools. We're really excited, but it would be so much more fun if Kris could come along!
At least my mom is going to meet us out there for a few days and keep us company. I'm definitely looking forward to that.
We'll keep you posted.

::what flavor is your car?::

Ours is poppyseed.

The tree over our driveway has been dropping all sorts of weird sticky stuff. It doesn't come off much, even at the carwash. Poor poppyseed car.

Ah well, at least the tree is shady. And the car makes me want some sort of delicious lemon poppyseed cake. Mmmmm.

::lilacs::

I love our next door neighbors. I don't know a thing about them, except that they have this lovely huge lilac bush that hangs over the fence into our yard.

Looks like there's almost more in our yard than theirs, doesn't it? This is a view from the driveway. When I got out of the car for a while I could smell the delicious scent wafting out to me. It was heavenly.

I love the smell and the way the blossoms look. It was so fun to watch the bush blossom last spring and this. I'm just bummed that the flowers are gone now. My photos are from last week.

I'm going to have to have my very own bush someday!!

::mothers day bracelets::

I was inspired by the tutorial on my friend Katy's blog. I just loved the bracelet that she had made out of wool pebbles. I thought one of those would be a fun mother's day gift.
But I'm nothing if I'm not practical--I knew I wouldn't get it done if I tried to make my own pebbles. I'll try it some day, but for this time I ordered some from here. Isn't etsy wonderful?
Once they came (all the way from the UK), I took a bunch of beads from back when I thought I might have a knack at jewelry making, and I put them all together.

I think the pebbles are just so interesting--they've got such a cool texture, and the marbled colors are beautiful. It was fun to pick beads to play against the pebbles.

Kris was concerned they'd look like "dryer lint bracelets." He admitted they were cool once I was done.


I like them. What do you think?
Thanks for the inspiration Katy!!

::my mother's day::

I had such a lovely day yesterday. It was pretty chilly outside but the sun was shining very beautifully. Max and Kris took really good care of me.
The flowers are from Max--he made them at school. I love them! He also brought home a handprint with a little poem in a big envelope he had decorated with hearts. So cute. The cheesy poem even made me cry.

Kris made us a yummy breakfast (including bacon). Kris also taught our primary class at church which was nice. In this ward during the 3rd hour the men take over and the ladies get to go in the gym, have snacks and mingle. It's pretty nice.
I guess the bishopric was in charge of the primary. They brought in cupcakes for the kids to frost as mother's day gifts. Kris said it turned out crazy--lots of little kids covered in frosting (happy mother's day!!), but the kids had fun. And the best part was, the bishopric cleaned up after themselves--the room at least.
Max was quite excited to give me the cupcake.

Look at the copious amounts of candy. And can you see the dirt on time? There's real dirt on there, thanks to the little seed pot from primary that Max was also supposed to give me. Pretty funny, right? I let him eat most of it--for some reason.

Kris and Max cleaned up the kitchen and made lunch.

The kitchen was a big mess after our busy weekend, so it was a big job.
I got some nice presents. We played games. I got to talk to Murphy and the rest of my family on Skype. We had delicous ice cream.

It was a great day. Thanks boys for taking such good care of me. I love you so much!!!