Let it Snow...and snow...and snow

I'm beginning to think that we bring snow with us as we travel across the southern US (emphasis on southern...ironic?). I mean, what are the odds that we would move to the desert and experience a full-on blizzard? I swore after last year's hardcore winter that I had gotten my fill of that powdery white stuff and the cold weather that comes with it, but I must say that it was quite magical to see those snowflakes falling outside my office window yesterday afternoon. Cody even laughed when I dubbed myself the snow princess as flakes fell from my eyelashes during our lunch date. I think he's jealous. Anyway, I will admit that driving through a blizzard yesterday after work was not the most fun of experiences, and thus I am incredibly thankful for the ability to sit in my warm house until things clear up a bit this morning.

After drinking my body weight in coffee in an attempt to warm up, Cody, Rio and I began a little winter photo shoot, and I'm pretty excited to say that it made choosing the Christmas card picture extra easy. Who wouldn't use a perfect winter wonderland as a Christmas card photo backdrop? I will be withholding the actual photo though, because it just wouldn't be the same if we leaked it before the card is mailed. Don't worry though, because we have plenty other great freezing photo ops to share!

 Yep, that's the view from our front yard. These two south Texans never dreamed we'd look outside our house and see something this magnificent!

 Rio loved the snow, but wasn't as excited as me when it hit his eyelashes.

 Little man looked cold, so being the good dad that he is, Cody shared his Carhart jacket with him.

"Mommmm are you ready yet? Can we pleeeeeaaase go play in the snow now?"

 Cody's truck had icicles from the bottom of the door all the way to the driveway. It was slightly cave-like...

 Gorgeous snow-covered scenery

 Our casa in a winter wonderland

My boys!  Aren't they handsome?

 Our neighbor was kind enough to take a family pic...Rio was more interested in the snow

 My baby boy!

 View from the backyard (that's the deck)

 Mountains behind the house

 I love snow!

What a great snuggle buddy. Even though he insisted on trying to drink my coffee. He clearly appreciates the joy of Starbucks Christmas Blend as much as I do.

With the scenery outside I can truly say that it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Now hopefully we won't be frozen again in February, because I feel it's much more appropriate now and I can only handle so much of this cold weather stuff. :)

Rio's First Retrieve

Last week, Cody and some of his clients went out for a day of quail hunting in Deming, just west of us. Cody was pretty pumped for the impromptu trip, and was even more excited at the prospect of letting Rio show off his retrieving skills. Rio hadn't chased anything more than a duck decoy until this trip, but he proved to be quite the retrieving champ. He wasn't sure about the feathers in the bird though, and insisted on pawing at them to try to get them out so that it would be more comfortable to hold in his mouth. Needless to say, my experienced hunter of a husband is even more motivated by this, and ready to perfect our little man's skills before his first duck hunt over Christmas. Naturally, that means I have two dead quail in a ziploc bag in my freezer. I'll go ahead and step down from my soapbox now, before the ranting about germ-infested frozen foods begins... :) (Sorry for those of you who support this endeavor. Even I have a bit of a hippie side I suppose.)

Anyway, back to Rio's award-winning performance. He has become quite skilled in waiting until he is "released" (his name is called and Cody points his finger) to retrieve, whether it is a ball, a bird, or otherwise. We're pretty proud of the little champion that we've created, and can't wait to see him in action in just a few weeks. Without further adieu, check out Rio the Retriever!

Can't you see the pride in both of their faces? 

Well, you're in luck because at the moment we are snowed/frozen in, so I'll be able to catch up on a couple of blog posts. Get ready for a winter wonderland!

Thankful

As I sit here reminiscent on the activities of our Thanksgiving holiday, I am both thankful and distracted. Thankful, of course, because I realize the blessings of time spent catching up with family and friends in the great state of Texas. Distracted because Rio insists on bringing all of his new toys to me, one at a time, and placing them in my lap, pawing at the keyboard until I throw them. Maybe I can crank out this update while he's chasing his Dora the Explorer ball, compliments of Aunt Kirby's mad gaming skills (more on that later).

We began our trip to Texas on Wednesday afternoon, and Cody couldn't have been more excited. He finally got the truck that he has been waiting for, and I think it's safe to say that he is in love. I don't feel too neglected at this point, besides the fact that he won't give me permission to get behind the wheel. Apparently I'm not a good driver or something... pshh. I suppose for now I'll just enjoy my shotgun seat and be the best navigator this side of the Rio Grande. Now back to Thanksgiving. So we arrived in San Antonio in the wee hours of Thursday morning, and my awesome family waited up to greet us. After a few hours of rest, Mom and I prepped the 21 pound turkey, and may I just say that we did a fantastic job. Even my picky husband said that this was the best turkey he's ever consumed, and that is quite the compliment in my book. Note: champagne makes the turkey extra juicy. Who knew?  Between the turkey, sides, and desserts, we had more than enough tasty food to go around, and by the end of the night we were all ready to slip into a food coma. Perhaps sleep would have been more fulfilling than the Aggies' football performance, but I digress. I know better than to make the mistake of reliving that experience again. (I had one angry father and husband that night.)

 Sister and me (Rio wasn't feeling the photo shoot at this point)

 Rio and Aunt Kirby

 My little family... it's pretty hard to see Rio at night, huh?

 A little dark, but had to get a pic of Dad and his girls!

 Grandma, Grandad and a few of their grandkids. These two are the best!

 Ready to cheer on our Aggies

Mom & me

Black Friday brought a day of marathon shopping for Mom, Kirby, Grandma and me. We found several good deals, though we certainly chose sleep over sales and didn't start until slightly before noon. I tried to get everyone to wear their red velour track suits and high heel pumps, but apparently no one had trained quite as much as the Target 2-day sale lady did. (Did I mention that I'm slightly obsessed with those commercials?) After I shopped til I dropped, Cody and I met up with our good friends Duncan and Ashley for some wine, followed by a trip to Wild West for some dancing. It was a day jam-packed with all of my favorite things and some of my favorite people.

On Saturday we traveled to San Angelo to visit with my dad's side of the family. We feasted on HEB brisket (my favorite) and observed an ongoing Brown family Thanksgiving tradition when all of the girls feasted our eyes on that dreamy werewolf and vampire. That's right, the holiday wouldn't have been complete without a screening of the new Twilight movie, Breaking Dawn, and no, I'm not ashamed. Perhaps the highlight of the weekend though was the trip to Mr. Gatti's the next day. We have my fun-loving husband to thank for that one! We joined my aunts, uncles, and cousins and got in touch with our inner children as we stuffed our faces with pizza and competed to see who could win the most tickets, just like the old days. My selfless sister used her mountain of tickets to purchase the most wonderful Dora the Explorer ball for her puppy nephew, and Rio won't go anywhere without it. Some say we're ridiculous for spending the afternoon playing arcade games, but I say we're just that fun. :) Either way, we wouldn't trade the bonding time with our family for anything. It was the perfect end to a perfect long weekend. Did I mention that I schooled my Uncle Steve in basketball? I even have the sore arms to prove it... don't judge.

 All the girls before Breaking Dawn (I felt the "vampire" eyes we all have were somewhat appropriate...)

 Let the games begin! 

Bethany being a great sport while Uncle Steve shows off his earnings

 Cousin Bethany and me

 All of the "adults" 

 Getting in touch with his inner child with some bumper car action

 She makes that bumper car look fabulous.

Game on!!

Today brought the return of the work week routine, but I couldn't be more excited for the arrival of the holiday season. It was such a treat to blare Christmas music on the drive to the office this morning, and I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of the weekend so that I can deck our halls and make it official. Did I mention that in just 2 more days my birthday month begins? It's the most wonderful time of the year! Thanks for letting me have my birthday princess moment, and for sharing our Thanksgiving with us.We'll return for another exciting update soon, but in the meantime I highly suggest that you immerse yourself in the musical styling of the N*SYNC Christmas CD. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

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!