Love ya, mean it!

I'm not going to lie, it was hard to see this past weekend come to a close. After over 48 hours of quality bonding time with two of my very best girlfriends, Carrie and Christina, I can truly say that this was one of my favorite New Mexico weekends thus far. That should really come as no surprise, considering the weekend was full of all of the best activities...eating, wine drinking, and lots of shopping! Carrie even managed to squeeze in some photo ops with the neighbors' front yard cactus plants... clearly she wanted to soak up every last bit of our desert scenery!

We started the weekend with dinner at our old stomping grounds, Cheddar's. It seems that this has become a tradition whenever we are reunited, as we always went for yummy food and margaritas when Christina would visit Aggieland. The next morning, we woke up and started the day with a visit to the Farmers Market, where we looked at tons of fun jewelry and Christmas ornaments, among other arts and crafts. Just as a side note, the Las Cruces market happens to be the #1 Farmers Market in the US. Pretty impressive, huh? I have to admit that it is one of my favorite things to do in our new city, and it certainly feeds my jewelry buying addiction. I was quite proud of myself for sticking (mostly) to Christmas shopping on this visit. :) We took a break from shopping with a fantastic brunch at one of my favorite restaurants, La Iguana. Afterwards, the shopping continued and was followed by a wine tasting, where we enjoyed everything from champagne to Pecan Blush, the most tasty pecan pie flavored wine. (You're in luck, family, because this will be accompanying us on our Thanksgiving trip to San Antonio next week!) My wonderful husband grilled steaks for dinner, and we crashed after a day filled of activities. There's never a dull moment when we girls get together! A great big thanks to Cody for his patience with the obnoxious singing, giggling, and inside jokes.

 So excited to see my girls! Dinner at Cheddar's in El Paso

 Ready for a fun day of shopping, eating, and wine tasting. (Rio is, too. Check him out in the background!)

 Ladies that brunch

 And so begins the pecan orchard photo shoot... Had to squeeze some cotton in there, too.

 Perfectly natural behavior.

 Love these two!

 Aren't they talented?

 Of course, this is Cody's contribution to the weekend photo collection.

 The usual...snuggling and making crazy faces...

 So presh!

 Rio had a rough day playing with his puppy friends.

Before their departure, we all made a trip to White Sands for some sledding on the famous sand dunes. Fortunately, there were no casualties on this visit, though it was a little too windy for my liking. I'm pretty sure Cody and I were showering the house with sand for the rest of the day... Rio was a huge fan of the sand dunes and sprinted up and down them like a champ. He wasn't so sure about the sled, but did sit in it for about 3 seconds before jumping out. At least he humored us...

 Pre-White Sands w/ Roo (short for Roomie of course) and Rio

 Action shot!

 A man and his dog...

 Practicing the Christmas card pose. We're lucky our dog is so photogenic.

 Friends for 13 years and counting. Love her!

Little man loves his Aunt Carrie!

I'm pretty sure this weekend Carrie, Christina, and I realized how much we treasure the time when we're reunited. When I think about how long these wonderful girls have been in my life, I am so thankful for the blessing that they have been to me. We have been through a lot together--from first crushes, to pep rallies, to being homesick in our college dorms--and it's hard to believe we're "grown ups" now. I'm just thankful we don't have to act that way when we're together!

One Spooktacular Weekend

It's hard to believe that October has come and gone. I guess when a month turns into what feels like a week, you've truly become an adult. Speaking of adults, Cody and I were definitely anything but that for Halloween weekend this year, getting in touch with our inner children in the most fashionable (and classy) way. Being the fantastic wife that I am, I let Cody choose our costumes this year, and though I most certainly would've preferred to dress up as a mobster and flapper to show off my glam side with a fabulous sequin dress and sassy curled bob, I made the ultimate sacrifice and instead let my husband demote me to a...(drum roll please)...road kill raccoon. I did my best to remain as runway-ready as possible, though it was a bit difficult with the black mask around my eyes and the red lipstick smeared around my mouth. This was officially the first time that I haven't had a "cute" Halloween costume, but I will admit that it was pretty fun to go all out and look slightly disturbing this year. After all, that's what Halloween is about, right? Did I mention that I went to a party looking like death, too? Not to worry though, because there were several costumes that made mine more than appropriate for the party crowd. We mingled with Katy Perry and Russell Brand, met a few local Las Cruces heroes, encountered Batman and Robin, and took a few photos to document the oh so very spooky spectacular.

 Here we are, the most fabulous hillbilly and roadkill raccoon this side of the Rio Grande. If you look closely, you can see my tail. Go big or go home.

 Cody and one of his buddies, who made us all laugh dressed as a local Las Cruces hero.

 Love these girls! I was obsessed with their Dia de los Muertos skeleton outfits.

Just having fun!

Monday brought the official day of Halloween, and the fun people that I work with decided we would celebrate with a potluck lunch. Each of us brought something yummy and festive, and we had lots of fun stuffing our faces. Not everyone dressed up (including me, though I did bust out my Lady Gaga-esque leather leggings and hairpiece with rock star accessories...certainly not normal work attire), but those that did went all out. I'm pretty lucky to work with a group of people that keep me laughing pretty much 24/7. Sure does make getting up at 6:30 every morning a lot easier. :)

 One of my potluck contributions...super scary cake balls. Yes, I know the faces are questionable, but use your imagination people. They're ghosts.

 Snake pizza...doesn't this just look ssssssso delicious?

 Yep, 2 of those are my bosses. This is what happens when you get creative people together in costume!

My friend Yvonne brought this hilarious veggie tray, complete with puking pumpkin. She did a great job!

This post would not be complete without a picture of my little man. We didn't want to be "those people" who put their pet in a ridiculous costume, so we went with a simple bandana. Since that moment, he refuses to go anywhere without it.

Happy Halloween from the Johnson's, and welcome to November!

Ole Droopy

My diva wife finally decided to let me write on the blog. I'm going to keep this short and sweet, which will be hard considering the hunt was one of the most awesome trips I've had so far.First of all thank you to my cousins Ross and Kim for telling me to put pictures up of my hunt almost every day since I have been back.  I was lucky enough this year to be able to treat my top selling client from Helena Chemical (Mike Cleary) on an elk hunt in New Mexico’s 16A hunting unit.  We took trailers and gear in a few days prior to the hunt with the help of Cripple T Ranch Owner Gene Blair.  After driving on a dirt road for about 3 hours, and being 5 hours (pulling a trailer) from the closest cell phone service and building rock bridge crossings to get through the massive washouts we were finally to our camp that would be home for the next five days.  Needless to say I was in paradise and ready to start hunting.  We got the camp set up and rode around to get to know the land on Friday, October 14 to get to know the land.  Some of the farmers from the Las Cruces area had come up to hunt on Gene’s ranch and we had a few more that just came to enjoy elk camp.  Gene aka RO was my official guide and apparently personal trainer on the trip.  In the first two days we walked between 25-30 miles in the mountains and had hunted hard.  Through all this walking we saw several cows and had a close encounter with a bull that we never laid eyes on.  Needless to say by the third day we were both hobbling around camp like a couple old men and I had blisters on each of my heels.  I ended up guiding Mike Sunday evening out of a Ranger ATV and after missing a bull opening morning, Mike redeemed himself with a 400 yd shot to kill a respectable 6x6.  There were about 30-40 elk in this herd with 4 6x6 bulls all about the same size.  Then it was my turn.  The next morning, after having the battery die on one ranger leaving me to walk another 3 miles and Gene blowing out a tire and not making the Sunday evening hunt we decided to road hunt.  We charged up the ranger and went to a T-Bar (a big flat) to glass.  We then proceeded to drive up an old rocky road to T-Bar tank and then just like in old Johnson fashion we think the roof of the ranger is going to cave in because Gene is pounding on it saying hurry up there’s a herd.  I quickly jumped out and ran up to the edge of the tank to see elk piling out of the trees.  After seeing 3 6x6 elk already run out I hear Gene say hear he comes followed by a big bugle.  He ran out of the trees about 150 yds and never stopped.  I took a running shot which reminded me of hunting nilgai back home and stopped him in his tracks.  Hurrahs rang out and high fives were given.  Thanks again to Gene for guiding me and for Helena for all the support.

Elk Camp 2011

 

Mike Cleary with 6x6 in T-Bar

After the fun comes a little bit of work...loading the elk with 2 people is tough

Me & my 6x6, Ole Droopy. The guys at the camp named it this because of the eye guards.



Gene Blair, the RO and me

The hunting crew with meat loaded

What comes in must come out (going through one of the several wash-outs)

Scenery was awesome

He was taken from the tank behind me

Three bulls that were taken in the area

Sweet(er) Dreams!

Can you believe it's only been one day and I'm already doing another post? I'm quite proud of the volume of blogging I've been able to accomplish this month. I guess we just continue to have a lot going on! Either that or I just like to share every detail of our life and pretend like it's way too exciting...
In any case, we've had some updates to the house lately and the decorating diva in me simply must share the new additions.

You may recall my mention of the 6:00 am garage sale purchases in the last post. I'm pretty sure my mother-in-law, Tami, and I proved our incredible shopping expertise when we picked up an antique sewing table and cute leopard print chair, both of which I adore. The chair has made a stylish addition to our first guest room, and the sewing table added just the right touch to our dining room, serving as a buffet of sorts. I can't wait to display desserts on it when we have people over for dinner!

Here's the fabulous sewing table, all the way from the 1800's. It even has the antique sewing machine still in it.

 Thanks to a recent purchase, we were finally able to finish the second guest room! We were lucky to receive the furniture from Cody's sister Katie's room in Harlingen, and I love the look of everything together. It's more than ready for visitors, so come on over!

 Drum roll please... the main event...our brand new bed! It's amazing how much bigger our room looks now that we have a bigger bed in it. The only problem is it's so pretty that I hate taking it all apart to go to sleep. :) Cody is ever so thrilled by the collection of throw pillows.

I meant to include this pic in the last post, but since I forgot it had to be part of this one. How precious are Lynn and his grandpup? 

Wishing everyone a fantastic week. Until next time!

White Sands or Bust...(literally!)

See? I told you that the next blog update would be coming soon. Again, it's simply because our life is, and continues to grow more and more exciting. We were extra thrilled to have a few visitors last weekend, too. Cody's parents and sister, Katie made the long trip to New Mexico to spend some time with us. It was so great having them here, though the weekend definitely went far too quickly. We saw the sights of Las Cruces (Cody is an excellent tour guide), ate lots of green chile (signature New Mexico cuisine), watched Aggie football, and perhaps most importantly, took a trip to White Sands for the Balloon Festival. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is where the excitement really went down.

After lots of resistance on my part, my mother and father-in-law convinced me to wake up at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning to view a collection of hot air balloons. I must say, I'm glad I gave in to the peer pressure, and not just because it enabled me to break my shopping record by being the first customer at our neighborhood garage sale at 6:00 am. It was one of the most gorgeous sites I've ever seen--a white sand backdrop, clear blue skies sprinkled with just the right amount of color from the mountains, and TONS of bright hues as each hot air balloon signaled lift off. If you ever get the chance to witness something like this, do it. It's truly incredible and yet another reminder of the natural beauty around us that we too often take for granted. OK, my hippie moment is over now, so back to the excitement...

 Katie and Lynn pre-balloon launch

 Cody just being fabulous, as usual.

 Big sis & me! So glad we were finally reunited.

 Balloon launch pad

 Time for takeoff!

 A little father/son bonding time at White Sands

 Family photo op

 Isn't he even more handsome with a colorful balloon backdrop?

 I have the best in-laws, and no, I'm not just sucking up. They're incredible!

 Had to document the Aggie-colored balloon. Whoop!

After the balloon launch, we had to participate in the must-do activity of White Sands: sledding down the sand dunes. Naturally, we loved the thrill of speeding down these hills, and Lynn and Tami even participated. Tami, in fact, was probably the most hard core sledder of our group, when she flew down the dune and got at least 2 feet of "big air" upon landing...and that wasn't all she got. She unfortunately bruised the heck out of her tailbone and caused quite a scene at the national monument (hence the "bust" in the title of this post). The park rangers even called the paramedic team over! I promised I'd be a good daughter-in-law and not go into too much detail, but trust me, Katie and I could hardly resist taking a few paparazzi pictures of the scene. Not to worry, Tami is doing well now and mending the tailbone like the champ that she proved to everyone that she is. In other words, I have one tough rock star of a mother-in-law!

 Let the sledding begin!

 I think I was born for this.

 Right before the rock star, big air moment...

 The paramedics responded rather quickly. Moral of the story: if you're going to be hardcore and bust it while sledding at White Sands, it's nice to know their first responders will be there in a flash.

The excitement clearly did nothing to deter us from continuing the sledding extravaganza. It's always good to get in touch with your inner child, right?

 My favorite part of the morning was the hot air balloon ride! Sorry the pic is so far away, we were busy floating over New Mexico...

Can you believe how cool we are?

We were really sad to see a portion of the Johnson family go back to Texas, but now we're even more excited about the big reunion at Christmas. Plus, as quickly as time is flying, we know that will be here before we know it. Thanks again Lynn, Tami, and Katie for spending a wonderful weekend with us!