Carlsbad Caverns

We were told that before we moved away, we had to see the Carlsbad Caverns. This past weekend was Aaron's last weekend here in Las Cruces with us, so we decided that Saturday was the day to go. It was a 3 hour drive. We went all the way to Carlsbad (a little past the actual caverns) due to some missing signage, but that was okay, we needed somewhere to eat lunch. We ended up at the Caverns at 2:00pm. There are two ways to enter the big main cave - take an elevator that descends the height of a 75 story building or go through the natural entrance. That way was a 1.25 mile hike down a very steep path. We figured if we did that with all the kids, they would be done at that point and wouldn't want to see the big room, which has the most famous and interesting features. After we took the elevator down - which went down 750 feet in less than one minute - I got out my nice big camera only to realize that the batteries were dead. I had brought along extra batteries, but they were in the car. Rachel had our old camera with her, so that's what I had to take pictures with. Some of the pictures turned out great, and others you can't see very much. They had lighting down in the cave, but it was still pretty dim. It was very interesting to see all of the formations.




Can you tell how thrilled they are about getting their picture taken?



Here's the slideshow. A lot of the pictures are dark and everything looked really amazing in person - the pictures don't really do it justice.


I'm still trying to decide if it was worth the long drive, but I'm glad that we went. Hmmmm, what else do we need to see before we leave?

Pinewood Derby

A few weeks ago, David was able to participate in the Pinewood Derby. It was fun for him to spend a few weeks planning and making his car. I had planned on taking pictures of the progress but I forgot! David wanted to make his car look like Speed Racer and they did a really great job. He painted it in Cub scout colors - blue & gold. Here is David before the racing began.

He's waiting in line to get his car registered and weighed.

When they put David's car up on the track for his first race, there was some discussion about his car. The front of the car had a v shape carved out of it. That was right where the pin rested that holds the cars at the top of the track. So, the tip of David's car was about 1/4 of an inch ahead of the other cars. We honestly weren't trying to cheat or anything - it was just how the car was designed. They decided to make things fair, David's car should be raced backwards - because the back of his car was a flat edge.

David ended up winning his first race!

Here is David's car - up on the track.

Each car got to race 3 times. In David's 2nd race, it jumped off the track and didn't finish (Dad says it was probably going too fast :))
David got first place in his 3rd race! Now he had to wait for the semi-final races. Here is his car on the table with some of the others (David's is on the far right).


In the semi-finals David's car got 2nd place. He had a lot of fun and got an award for the most futuristic looking car.


Maybe next year we will figure out the secret to having the fastest car!

Being Replanted

We've come to accept that the only thing that is really constant in life is change! As many of you know, we are moving to Colorado Springs. We recently moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico so I thought I would explain the circumstances surrounding our move. We really do like it here in Las Cruces, and expected to live here for a long time. We have met a lot of great people here and we love the weather (although we haven't lived here during the Spring - which is supposed to be pretty windy). We moved to Las Cruces when Aaron accepted a new job with Honeywell. They have a contract with NASA. He was told when he accepted the job that the contract renews every 5 years and that was coming up in October. Honeywell expected to get the contract again and told Aaron that even if they didn't, the new company usually hires all the people that are currently working on the contract. Well, when NASA announced the contracts in October, they awarded it to a new company. Honeywell protested the bid - so all of that has been up in the air for several months. In the meantime, an opportunity came up for a job in Colorado Springs with Honeywell. Right now the contract here with NASA is still up in the air. It will probably go to the new company, but Aaron has no guarantee of a job with them. We thought maybe the job in Colorado Springs would have to wait until the contract negotiations were finished but they really want Aaron now. It's a good opportunity, closer to my family (about the same distance as we are now from Aaron's family), and right now, it's the most sure thing in terms of a job. We've just been renting a house here, and with only a couple months left on our lease, we don't have much to lose. We will miss the friends that we have made here. It has never been our plan to move so much and we hope that we will stay put in Colorado for a while. So, hopefully that explains everything! Aaron is leaving right away! He has to start on March 2 and will be going up a little before that to find us a house. The kids and I will follow during Spring break (around March 23). We are excited and ready for our new adventure!

Emma's tooth

A while ago Emma fell on the edge of the bathtub and banged her two front teeth pretty hard. Since then, I had asked a couple of dentists if we needed to do anything about it, because the tooth had changed color. She had never been seen by a dentist, I just asked when I had brought my other kids in. He said it should be fine, unless the tooth seemed to be bothering her. When I brought her in for her first dental visit, they examined the tooth, took an x-ray, and determined that not only was the tooth dead, it was abscessed. The dentist decided it would be in her best interest to pull the tooth so the infection wouldn't get any worse and possibly affect the permanent tooth waiting to come in. My dentist, who is a family dentist, not a pediatric one, was nervous about doing an extraction on a three year old, but decided to go ahead because Emma was so well behaved. I am so blessed to have such cooperative kids! She just sat there and let them do everything. When they were finished, she let out a couple of tears, but was trying to hold back. It was so cute. They pampered her by letting her pick out several toys. She is very excited about leaving the tooth for the tooth fairy tonight. I am so proud of her for being so brave. I snapped this picture with my cell phone right before they did the extraction.

I took her to get a shake from Sonic afterward and she was as happy as can be. She didn't even complain about her lip being numb. Here is her cute new smile!

New Years Eve

We were able to spend some time in Kirtland, New Mexico after Christmas. We had fun celebrating New Years with cousins Broc, Sam, Ezra, and Daniel. We had a chocolate fountain.

The kids enjoyed dipping their fruit, cream puffs, and cookies.

The kids made noisemakers.


And we had a pinata.




It was a fun New Years Eve!

Christmas morning

We had a great Christmas this year! Our best Christmas present was having our house (which had been on the market since June) close on December 22. It was supposed to close on the 19th and we were never really told why (paperwork??) it didn't happen. So, I had to worry all weekend long if it was really going to happen or not. We were so relieved when it was all final - just three days before Christmas. That would have been enough for me, but the kids would have been a little disappointed on Christmas morning :).

Emma loves learning her ABCs and when ever you asked her what she wanted, she always said ABCs!

Josh got a trunk of Star Wars dress up clothes complete with light sabers!

David still loves turtles and was thrilled to get a turtle Webkinz

Rachel just wanted a pretty watch ("a NICE one Mom, nothing plastic or Hannah Montana")

Enjoy the rest of the pictures in this slideshow.

We had a great Christmas and I am looking forward to the year to come.

Christmas pajamas

Here are the kids in their traditional Christmas eve pajamas. Since they always know they get pajamas on Christmas eve, I added a surprise by getting them all slippers. I was a little stressed this year and didn't do any sewing, but the kids enjoyed them just the same!
Rachel really wanted a nightgown this year

Emma loved her flower pjs

I found the cute slippers first and was happy to find some matching pajama pants for the boys.


All four of them - ready for bed!

Merry Christmas

We hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas concert

Josh's kindergarten class put on a really cute musical concert. I guess it was really a winter program. All the songs were about cold and snow and not about Christmas. I thought it was pretty funny because it's still pretty warm here - it will get up to about 65 in the afternoon. We are probably never going to have a snow day from school (something they sang about) or get even 7 inches of snow - let alone 7 feet! I guess it's all in the spirit of being politically correct.

Edible Snowflakes

The kids and I made a yummy recipe the other day from The Friend magazine. It was a fun activity and very tasty as well.

You take a tortilla, warm it up in the microwave to make it flexible, and fold it in half several times (like you are making a paper snowflake). Cut out shapes along the sides and unfold. Fry in a small amount of oil until lightly browned and crispy.


Sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy!


I promise he really is enjoying it! Josh was in a bad mood because he wore his pajamas to school on the wrong day. All the kids really enjoyed making and eating their snowflakes.