Hail Storm Photo

Becoming a Mountain Woman

Hello friends and family,
I hope all is going well back at home and wherever you may be. It's been a great last few weeks for Oliver and I.

Over the 4th of July Oliver I and I went to the ward byb bbq. We played some ultimate frisbee and Oliver got to resurrect his old baseball skills by playing a sort of makeshift softball game. Unfortunately however the afternoon rainstorm came in and after trying getting soaked we decided to head home. That night we went to a neighboring community called "White Rock" and watched a very good fireworks show.

A few days later Oliver and I both happened to be home for lunch when a huge hail storm came in. It was so loud! Because we are such a high elevation here (7355 feet) and lightening is really close and is what often starts fires here. Anyways, Oliver and I watched in amazement as the hail got bigger and bigger until it looked like little golf balls were being dropped from the sky. We then realized that our car was being pulverized by all these little buggers and there was nothing we could do about it. After the storm we took it in for an estimate and we think the car will be totaled. About every square inch of the car has a dent on it. The good thing is, you really don't notice the dents unless you're looking for them. We're still waiting to hear back from the car place though. The funny (or not so funny) thing is though, is that everyone else in the town is in the same boat. Since it was in the middle of the day, most cars were at the lab (with no overhead parking.). A lot of people got it worse than we did--with cracked windshields and broken skylights in their home.

On Wednesday I went to Albuquerque for the first time with YES corp (my job). We were taking the kids to a low ropes course at UNM. It was really fun, but unfortunately while we were there my boss got word that her grandmother had passed away. I then ended up having to drive all the way from Albuquerque to Los Alamos (should be about 2 hours away, but ended up taking about 3). I was really really nervous to drive, because first of all it's this huge 15 passenger van, it was on the freeway in big-city traffic, I was unfamiliar with the area, and I have 15 crazy teenagers in the back. I know it's only because of my prayers that we arrived back safely. It didn't help that because of things that had gone on while in Albuquerque I was going to be about 2 hours late to my job at Smiths that evening. Luckily, we all survived it :)

Lastly, Oliver went on a fun camping trip this weekend. We went up to a place called Jemez Falls in the mountains. It takes about 45 minutes to get there and on the way you pass this place called the Valles Caldera. I've tried to post a picture above. It's a lot greener right now than it shows in the picture, but this place is probably the prettiest place I've seen in New Mexico so far...not exactly the red-rock desert look that most people think of when they hear New Mexico.

Anyways, this was the first time Oliver and I got to try out our new camping gear. We went to Santa Fe last week and bought a tent and sleeping gear for me. It will be nice when we have our own camping chairs, stove, and other such camping luxuries, but it's a start. We went with another couple from our ward and I decided to mix up the usual camping hot dog cuisine with some pigs-in-a-blanket. We would roast the hotdog, wrap it in biscuit dough, wrap it in tin-foil, and then drop it in the ashes. They took a while, but where delicious! Oliver also taught me how to chop wood. It took forever, but it was really fun and the wood smelled just like the cleaner pine-sol.

The next day we we got up and went to Jemez Falls (the topmost picture) which was gorgeous! The water was a bit cold, but once you got in it felt great! We even swam under the waterfall.
After that we came home and I gave Oliver another tennis lesson. He's getting the hang of the forehand and surprised me by his innate talent with overheads. He probably hit about 8 out of 10 perfectly. I was so pleased :) Oliver is also teaching me to play guitar and I regret to say my progress is going a little bit more slowly than his. Anyway, that night we joined our friends again for dinner and a game of croquet. We lost again, but this time Oliver put up a really good fight against our friend who is an avid golfer.

Also, Oliver and I have decided to arrange an overnight camping trip with the Laird family this coming fall when we're back. Where would everyone like to go? And what weekends would be good for them?

Change of Email Address

Dear family and friends,
I just wanted to let everyone know that I will no longer be using my sparklingfairy2@yahoo.com email address. It seems as if someone has hacked into that account and so I will be shutting down the account. I'll be using my gmail account from here on out and will probably be getting a new one of those sooner or later because of my new last name.

Thanks! Happy America Day!

Love,
Julie