Gone Country

Cody and I grew up during the best times of country music. Sure, there's still some good stuff out there, but nothing quite compares to the steel guitar and fiddle of the early 1990's. Because of this, we were super excited to have the chance to see Alan Jackson when he made a stop in Las Cruces on his tour. Perhaps the best part was that Cody's friend Blaine from Harlingen was there playing drums for Casey James, the opening act. (Casey was a runner-up for American Idol and has a couple of famous songs out that are playing on the radio right now.) Blaine was very generous and let us use his tickets for the show, so we had fantastic seats to see one of the members of country music royalty. Every song took me back to my childhood, and we had so much fun singing along!

Easter in the Desert

I'm going to go ahead and apologize for being a blog slacker. I got really good at it for a while, but wouldn't life be boring if it remained predictable? Not to worry though, because I'm about to catch up royally...

The weekend after Cody's birthday, we celebrated our second Easter away from family. A lot has changed since this time last year, and we continue to be incredibly thankful for the journey that God has taken us on and the wonderful ways that He has shown us His grace and power. I am feeling fantastic and have less time for blogging due to the fact that we're super busy being out and about all the time! I'd say that's a good problem to have though, wouldn't you? Hopefully you were all able to celebrate that same amazing love and God's great mercy at Easter this year. It's always such a wonderful reminder that nothing we go through can ever compare to what Jesus did for us. Although we definitely missed the family festitivites, we're enjoying creating our own family traditions and were excited to have a new member to add to the Easter celebration this year. He may be a little stinky, but we love him!

Our Easter featured a powerful illustrated sermon at the early church service, followed by a huge feast for the two of us complete with a ham, deviled eggs, homemade mac 'n cheese, green beans, and of course, the Johnston family track meet via telephone. We had a slight advantage this year due to the powerful winds that tend to blow through New Mexico in the spring, but I'd like to credit the victory of my team with the sheer athletic performance of our family members (myself included!). We missed out on the hula hoop competition, but I'm sure my cousin Daicee and Aunt Pat would've showed us up with their mad skills anyway. :) Rio really enjoyed his first Easter and even got to sample a bit of the holiday ham. Talk about livin' the dream!

The most handsome boys this side of the Rio Grande!

 Easter family pic

 I continue to believe that we own the most photogenic dog ever. Check out that pose!

 Rio reaped the benefits of the Easter bunny with a very large rawhide bone. He finished it in about 3 hours.

 And the track meet begins! Cody rocked the shot putt (cotton ball) throw.

 Me with the javelin (straw) and discus (paper plate). Rio is pumped, too.

 Cody was a little disappointed in our performance on the discus throw. Thanks to the wind, I'm pretty sure I received a negative 4 foot measurement...

Rio held down the fort while we competed like champs. Isn't a dog's life great?

Happy Easter from the Johnson's!

Cody's Quarter Century

This weekend I very generously handed over my birthday royalty title to my wonderful and handsome hubby. I have been planning to surprise him with a very special birthday weekend for quite some time now, and am so glad that the plans worked out. Cody's parents and brother, Cale, came out to the desert for a long weekend, and we had so much fun spending time with them, as always. It wasn't the same without Katie, Jason and Princess, but we'll all be together soon enough...can't wait for August!!

We started off the weekend with dinner at Cheddar's, always a favorite in the birthday boy's book. Saturday brought a trip to the Farmer's Market, where the boys got more than their fill of shopping before their first meal of the day. Tami and I joked that we were "grounded" after the amount of time that we forced them to spend waiting downtown while we checked out all of the vendors and a cute boutique that neither of us had yet discovered. As if that weren't enough, we continued
to shop til we dropped, and Tami definitely spoiled me with some fabulous new spring outfits. Our trip wouldn't have been complete without a few purchases for my super cute prego sis-in-law and her precious little angel. We had so much fun and were very proud of our finds!

My fabulous mother-in-law,Tami, enjoying the scenery of the Farmers' Market

The hubs and me 

Lynn at the Farmers' Market, enjoying the live music, but not really enjoying the musician's political stance. (She was clearly a liberal.) :)

Brothers at the Farmers' Market

I just had to include this photo of our little princess' first pair of shoes. It's never to early to start the collection after all!

After the shopping extravaganza, we returned home where the boys were grilling some tasty steak. Our good friends James and Zetdi and Chris and Samantha joined us, and we celebrated the birthday boy with great wine, basketball and of course, a Funfetti cake.

The hubs and his stack of steaks--we had quite the selection, might I add. Nilgai, oryx, elk and beef!

Cody and his birthday necessity, a Funfetti cake

Sunday brought a birthday breakfast fit for a king and a trip to Mesilla. We toured the square and visited a local vineyard for a little wine tasting. The scenery was beautiful, and we were happy to see sunshine and not the nasty dust storm that the weatherman had predicted.

The birthday king in all his glory, waiting to be showered with gifts

Me and the boys (minus one)

Just soaking up some sun (and needing this yellow rocking chair!)

Cale and me celebrating the infamous Billy the Kid

The boys in Mesilla

Lynn and Tami in Old Town Mesilla

Wine tasting at Rio Grande Winery

Last night when we were going to bed, Cody told me that I did very well with this year's birthday. I must say this was the ultimate compliment, and I only hope that it shows my amazing hubby just a bit of my appreciation for all that he does for me on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. I'm so thankful for him and every opportunity to celebrate his awesomeness! When we get to have family here to share in the celebration, you simply can't top it. Thanks so much to Lynn, Tami and Cale for helping me to make the birthday king feel extra special this year!

Cody and Lynn taking Rio for a desert excursion behind our house

Lynn, Cody and Rio monster

Happy Monday to everyone!

Going Green

In true Irish spirit, we were a little more than excited to celebrate St. Patrick's Day this year. I mean, I really do enjoy any opportunity to get in touch with the roots of my ancestors, and when the occasion enables me to wear obnoxious amounts of my favorite color (besides pink), it's a win-win situation. Cody and I started the day with a breakfast fit for a leprechaun, featuring green scrambled eggs. While they may not have been the most appealing in looks, they sure did taste excellent...or should I say "egg"-cellent. :)

After searching high and low for something festive to decorate Rio with, I finally decided to dress myself and we joined our friends Chris and Samantha for some fun festivities. We went to Ump 88, a local bar that is owned by a MLB National League umpire. I always love to go there because of the baseball memorabilia all over the walls, and can't wait to take Dad there on his next visit. Cody enjoyed the traditional green beer, I ate way too much and we watched the NCAA tournament. I, however, am boycotting it at this point due to the fact that Missouri's unexpected loss pretty much devastated my bracket. I don't lose very well. The weather was beautiful, despite being a bit too windy for my tastes, but we had a blast hanging out with some wonderful friends.

 Before green beer...

 ...and after green beer!

 My sweet friend, Samantha, and me

James and Zetdi

 Sam and Chris

Sam keeping her champagne chilled with a little Alion action. Cody was proud of her marketing skills. 

We'll be back soon--Cody's birthday is rapidly approaching!

One with Nature

Hello blog world! It has been quite some time since we graced you with our presence. Life continues to go by more quickly than ever, and we just manage to stay busy (and not necessarily with things more exciting than work and puppy parenting). Needless to say, we have been slacking in the adventure department, unless you count playing travel agents for our trip to Maine and Boston this summer. At least you will have something to look forward to in our blog world come July! I have also been fighting the tremendous urge to shower my little niece-to-be with sassy outfits. Somehow Cody convinced me that I should wait to go all out princess shopping until the doc confirms the gender 100%. Yeah, he's practical, but I like to live on the edge... :)

On another note, I have been fully indoctrinated into spring weather in New Mexico. While the sky is always blue and the sun is always shining, there is one thing that I have not been the biggest fan of--the crazy winds. Let me tell you, this is no spring breeze my friends. This is a full on, dust in your eyes so your eyeliner runs, wear cute dresses at your own risk kind of gust. In a word, it's ugly. I suppose we could be taking cover for tornadoes on a weekly basis though, so I shall count my blessings.

This weekend we decided to brave the wind and soak up some sun with a trip to Aguirre Springs Park, which is just down the road in the mountains. We hiked a couple of the trails and enjoyed the mini-getaway. Rio was absolutely in heaven with so many rocks upon which he could mark his territory, and boy did he do just that! We love being so close to such amazing scenery, and are constantly reminded of God's amazing power when we see the majestic mountains. Sometimes I'm convinced that this is really why He placed us here, so that we would always remember that He is in control and so much bigger than us. I definitely need that reminder from time to time! It was a great afternoon becoming one with nature and spending some quality time with the fam in the mountain wilderness. We can't wait to go camping and spend even more time away from the hustle and bustle of "city" life. Haha.

Here are a few pics from our adventure.

A Weekend Away

I can definitely tell that we are back to the grind and the holidays are a long way behind us. Some say that January is one of the most depressing times of the year because of this fact. I disagree, however, because I'm not really sure where January has gone! The weeks are flying and its hard to believe that we are almost finished with February. Needless to say, my blogging skills have been only sub-par in the last few weeks, but I'm happy to redeem myself now!

Cody was in San Antonio all last week for work, leaving me all by my lonesome while he and Rio spent some time in my homeland. My parents, being the amazing people that they are, puppy-sat our little man so that he wouldn't be alone when I flew into SA on Friday night. They had lots of fun with him, and I think he is missing all of the attention and early morning walks. It's always heck going back to the real world, isn't it? My mom taught Rio a few things while he was at their house...very important life skills like how to dust, mop and change the sheets. Our dog was of course an excellent helper, though he couldn't quite understand why the duster couldn't be thrown and fetched. Dad also contributed to Rio's life lessons by teaching him how to bring him a cold beverage. I was a little surprised that Dad was the first to introduce Rio to this trick, but I know Cody is very appreciative! Rio will definitely be looking forward to his next trip to SA, I'm sure of it.

Very blurry, but Rio is helping Mom dust.

Just doing what he does best, being the man of the house.

So proud of his newest trick that his "Grandad" taught him. (That's a Coors Light can for those that can't decipher it.)

The weekend was absolutely perfect and we were able to spend lots of time visiting with my grandparents, parents, sister and old friends. The days always go so quickly, but it's nice to do some catching up. We shopped (of course), played the traditional family card game and met some friends at Silo for live music and drinks. As always, it was hard to say goodbye. We can't wait for the next trip in the spring!

Ashley and me. Love this girl!

Me and the hubs, reunited after a long week

Duncan and Ash--miss them so much!

Love these sweet girlfriends. So glad Christina joined us!

Me, Christina and Britt. So glad I got to see these sweet friends.

This is trouble... :) Cody was so excited to spend some time with Stephen. These boys are the best!

We hope you are all enjoying the new year as much as we have thus far. Stay tuned because in the very, very near future we will be able to reveal whether we'll have a precious niece or nephew come August! 

Hitting the Slopes

I would like to start this post with a disclaimer. It is my first attempt at using the Blogger app, so we'll see how it goes. Anyway, Cody leads a very hard life. He was forced by his company to spend the last week in Ruidoso for an ag conference, where he basically entertained and enjoyed the royal treatment himself. Being the loving wife that I am, I could not let him spend another day in Ruidoso alone, so on Friday after work I drove up to join him for a little weekend getaway. We stayed at the famous Inn of the Mountain Gods, where we dined in the delicious restaurant and enjoyed a room with a balcony view that was absolutely gorgeous. It was a little hard to come back to reality. Saturday morning, we indulged in a fantastic brunch, where I was greeted with a huge dessert buffet. Clearly they knew I was coming! After stocking up on lots of carb-filled energy, we hit the slopes for my first attempt at snow skiing. I was a little nervous, but figured that my natural athleticism would carry me through. I'm not going to lie, the brakes on my skis didn't seem to be working on the first couple of runs, so I did what any intelligent young woman would do and took full advantage of the junk in my trunk. That's right, I fell down in order to stop, and I'm not ashamed. I did catch on pretty quickly though, and by the third run I was shoop shooping like a pro. We'll definitely be going back soon, but not before I acquire the proper snow bunny attire and accessories. Cody is thrilled about that, too.

Here are a few pics from our day on the mountain!

Ski Apache, Ruidoso

Do I pull off the snow bunny look?

The hubs and me after a successful day

A little dark, but this is the view from our room off of the balcony

My hot ski instructor :)

Another one of the serene view outside our window. Blissful!