8 Days Away

We recently spent 8 days away from home. We traveled to NM and I’m going to try to give you a semi-quick recap in 8 main topics (get it….for the 8 days we were gone?! ha ha). In no particular order.

Before I start, I want to state that I did not take many pictures while gone. You would think that I would….but I just have too much fun hanging out, talking and/or relaxing and I sometimes forget to take pictures of those moments. But I did take a few. They are included.

Here I go…..

1. Family - The main part of our trip was spent in Roswell (my hometown). There, we saw my mom, Scotty, Jessica and Brennen. I am always a little sad that I don’t live in the same town as my (or Nik’s) family. Especially now that we have Jaxen. But it is what it is and we try to make the best of it when we are there. And I enjoyed so much the time I got to spend with my family. They are so wonderful and I love them all so much!

Jaxen and his Bebe!

Jaxen and his Pepaw!

  

Jaxen and his aunt Jessie…playing in the water (washing dishes)!

Jaxens cousin, Brennen!

2. Wedding - The main reason we went to NM when we did was because my cousin, Lisa’s daughter (Courtney - for those who were at my wedding, Courtney was one of my flower girls) got married! Her wedding was Saturday, in Lovington. And while there, we got to see lots more of my family that I have not seen in many years. And very few of them have ever met Jaxen - so that was fun! It was a quick trip and I did not get to spend a lot of one-on-one time with them, but it was still so nice to see them and to see Courtney get married. Just to be there for her special day meant so much to me.

Andrew and Courtney - first dance!

Jaxen playing outside before the wedding -

what a stud!

3. Long-time Friends - As always, when we travel, we try to see some friends. Nik and I have some of the best friends I could ever ask for. And it is always so good to see them! We did not get to see every one of our friends in the NM area but were so glad we were able to see Matt & Kesha (and many friends at the First Church of the Nazarene in Roswell); Paul and Brenda; Connor & Kaylee (and all our favorite mountain people at the Bonita Park Camp). We had such good visits with everyone. It was really a time of catching up - but it also always encourages me to see them. Long-time friends are the best. And we are so blessed to have so many in our life!

4. Games - Of course, seeing my family always means playing games! If you know my family at all, you know we spend the majority of our time around the kitchen table playing some kind of game. Marbles, Skip-Bo, Phase 10, Sequence, Boggle…. you get the idea. I love games. And I love to win at games. Sadly, though, I did not win very much while there. I’m blaming it on lack of sleep!

5. Sleep - When we slept, we slept good. But sleep was not a major component of this trip! Jaxen had a couple of rough nights where he would not go to sleep and when he did, I stayed up way too late playing games and visiting! But that’s okay. I knew I could catch up on my sleep at a later time (and I did take few naps). Yesterday we laid around and napped most of the afternoon! Jaxen is having a bit of a hard time adjusting back to our normal routine. But nothing too terrible. Probably one or two more nights and we will be there!

6. Exploring - Jaxen had the best time exploring. We stayed in two homes while on our trip and in both homes he kept walking all around, touching everything, seeing what he could play with! He was so entertained while away. I think he enjoyed having new things to play with!

Cups are always a great toy!

These next pictures are so funny to me…but there is a story.

Every day when Scotty comes home from work, he puts his work boots

and hat on this mat by the door.

Every day, Jaxen picked them up and moved them off the mat!

It was so funny. I finally got some pictures….

And there he would leave them! 

Every. Time.

7. Car Rides - We were in the car a lot! We left Thursday night and drove through most of the night/early morning to get there. Jaxen did so good on that trip. He slept and had no problem going back to sleep once we arrived. Then we were in the car back and forth to Lovington (Jaxen slept both times) and Ruidoso (again…Jaxen slept)! We tried to time some of our trips during nap time. And it went well.

Jaxen - ready to head home!

Then we headed home. We left after lunch and Jaxen slept a solid 3 hours and was calm (dozing in and out of sleep) for the 4th hour. Then we had to stop because he was crying and not happy to be in his car seat. We spent about an hour in McDonalds, letting Jaxen run and play. And play he did! That kid did not stop moving for an hour! He had the best time playing and Nik and I laughed so hard just watching him run around like a crazy man. Seriously. The stares we got! We finally made it home with only one more stop (for some milk) - thanks to Netflix on Nik’s phone!


8. Tennis - While we there, Nik and I enjoyed some time to ourselves playing tennis. We love to play tennis but we never get to go. Just to hard to arrange baby-sitters to go play. Thankfully, my family did not mind keeping him while we went out and played some games. And we got to play a little bit with Brennen! He is taking tennis lessons. It was so fun!

One last thing - my sister bought Jaxen some new shoes while we were there and the minute Jaxen saw them, he immediately (tried to) put them on his feet and started walking in them! They are a little big, but he loved them! Thanks Aunt Jessie!

And that’s my recap! It was not quick. I know.

We had such a great time and are so glad we got to spend some time in NM!