Life's rough.

This is my view for lunch. Life's rough right now :) Gabe enjoys dinig al fresco, so once all the dog monuments are removed from the enclosed courtyard, we lounge in the sun eating grapes and relax. Gabe loves to pick up all the rocks he can find, pet the turtle statue, and all in all loves being free to roam where he pleases with out mommy having to be a baby-police officer. It's a lovely arrangement for both parties. And the doggies.


Gabe has about 6 grapes shoved in his mouth right now. He can't get enough red grapes.

Not too bad, eh?

How big is Gabe? SO big!

Afternoon toddler weightlifting.

Showing Winsty the people's elbow. Don't mess.


I mistakenly thought theses purple bushes were lavender. False. They are some type of sagebrush. Still my favorite desert flora right now.

As much as i'm loving fall in New Mex, my mom sent me some teaser pics of the adirondacks...makes me miss all the colors of the leaves! I really am a true north-easterner at heart. But I love the southwest too.


Look at these jokers!



This one's my personal fav. I love birch trees!Good job on the pics Mom!


Gabe's nappin' so it's my chance to chill. Peace out all! Feel free to be jealous of my veiw. Or the Nulks who get to enjoy it year-round :)

New Mexico..so far

Gabe & I are having a blast here in the land of enchantment. The drive out went about as smoothly as possible (aka no Gabe screamfest, no bad traffic or truck troubles) minus me getting lost in tulsa, OK for a breif period. We arrived in placitas about 10 pm central time and were greeted by Grandpa Nulk, Brian & Christina, Sadie & Ceader. Sadie suprisingly chose not to like Winston (cuz he's so scary) but other than that the 4 dogs got along swimmingly. Gabe was ecstatic with all the attention. He buddied up to Uncle Brian straight away and loved playing with Aunt Carolyn & Uncle Ron (who arrived SAt. afternoon).

Early Sunday morning was balloon fiesta! Mary, Carolyn Gabe & I went and it was totally fabulous! We woke up Gabe at 4:45am but you'd never know it. He was completly enthralled with the balloons (calling them "moons" and pointng up. We took the shuttle from the Santa Anna casino and it was about the easitest thing ever. NO parking a mile away or sitting in traffic. Totally the best discovery ever. Props to Aunt Carolyn for finding out about it! As soon as we arrived at the Fiesta Park (it waqs still dark) we hopped in line for freshly made breakfast burrittos and hot chocolate. My burritto was delish (sans green chile, thank you) and soon after the balloons were starting to inflate. There were about 700+ balloons that launched and the colors were amazing! I was in photography heaven. I think i took about 300 pics that morning. We got to watch the sunrise and stayed there a longgg time watching all the balloons rise up and shopping at the vendors. The contrast of the mountians, blue sky and brightly designed balloons was unreal. Gabe loved running all around pointing and chasing after balloons. Here's some pics of our visit so far.



Uncle Brian being tempting Gabe with a beer

I'm obsessed with these chili ristras (sp? I can't spell in spanish at all)



5 am bright and early.You'd never know it though, he loved sitting next to me on the bus and looking out at the moon. I think he especially loved zero carseat.



The sisters fussin' over Gabers






The crazy sisters!








Good thing i have a very photogenic baby...he's my favorite subject by far. Him and Nulkie :)


Sunrise. Me not being a morning person at all, this was a treat!

The balloons all were so beautiful. I could not stop snapping pics


Gabe loveddddddd this duck balloon

That's the gals and Gabe in front of it. CAn you believe how big these balloons are?



It's SMokey the bear...resurrected. I guess he was shredded to pieces and burned up a few years back.

Insert star wars music here. Mary didn't even know who this was. Darth Vader! Hello! Thanks to Mcgregor and wesdawg, i know my star wars.

A "zeebra". Aka the refs of the fiesta..telling balloons when to go up and so on. I know it's a terrible photo. Don's judge, i tried.


Gabe in a gondola. This was taken thurs. night at the balloon glowdeo. It was cancelled though. And you'll never guess how difficult it was to get gabe;s pic without ten other children jumping in. Mary & I had to be agressive and yell at kids to wait their turn.

The toad and hittin' the road

In 1 day I will be hitting the road accompanied by Gabe (duh) & 2 dogs, picking up Grammie Nulk in Tulsa, and making the 15 hr trip to Placitas, New Mexico. Also known as the "land of enchantment". Or the land of "illegal immigrants". But enchantment sounds much prettier. I'll let you decide. Did i mention Bella was recently (last night) sprayed by a skunk? 15 hours in the car should be realll fun. But no worries mate, i had Nulkie get me a Yankee candle car jar--MacInctosh flavored. It smells like a heavenly orchard. Anyways I'm getting sidetracked. So Gabe & i are planning to be enchanted for the next month as we spend time with the Nulkie granparentals. They haven't seen Gabers in 5 months! I mean he's basically potty-trained and tying his shoes! No no, i kid/wish. But he has developed a lot; they'll clearly be in love :).

While were basking in the new mexico sun, enjoying the balloon fiesta and lots of spoiling from the grand-p's, nulkie will be starving and sleep-deprived in Sapper school! But he'll do great, lets face it, Nulkie thrives on physical fitness and competitions. Me on the other hand, i thrive on long walks, long naps, big bowls of ice cream and delightful books. So I'll be all set. I also lovee buying turquoise from the Indians in old town. And sopa pias (i have no idea how to spell that).. Can you tell I'm excited? But I am sad that Nulkie can't come. Ah, the life of a solider.

You might be wondering why I'm blogging and not spending this time packing. Well i really get bored of packing after awhile. Can you blame me? And combined with Nulkie packing for sapper, the house looks like an explosion of army gear and ugg boots. I've been trying to get the house in order and finish up some sewing projects, but i lose motivation very quickly when it comes to cleaning the house to leave it empty for a month. I have packed Gabe's clothes, toys, car-entertainment items...etc. I still have to pack sippes, snacks, caffeinated beverages for yours truly. And starbust. Definitely an necessity.

About the toad. Nulkie discovered one while putting away the lawn mower. Naturally he caught it and it peed everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE. I've never seen so much fluid come out of such a little body. That little guy was terrified. Bella was voracious. I guess the skunk spraying hasn't lessened her hunting obsession at all. We left her in the house and let Gabe come out and "pet" the toad. Pretty cute. He also happened to be wearing his "Gabe-wize-er" shirt with a pic of him sitting on a giant frog. Oh, the irony.



Next time I update, we'll be in the 505. With the new F-150!! Boo-yah!