Road Trip to Albuquerque, NM, etc.

Ok, so everyone keeps asking me, "Why New Mexico?" Because of the Beans, of course! I mean the Bean family! I mean, don't get me wrong, New Mexico has some good beans, but it's the people I'm after! Shortly after I moved to Houston, TX, a new girl came to my church and we were introduced. Her mother-in-law was with her and asked her where I lived and we found out we lived in the same apartment complex and that's how mine and Liz's friendship began. Liz watched my daughter Olivia while I went back to school, we talked and bonded about how busy our husbands were while in medical school, and we had LOTS AND LOTS of play-dates with the kiddos! I love these people and I told Jordan after they moved away for Matt's residency in Albuquerque that we were going to go visit them when we had the time. Everyone I talk to about Liz who knew her back in Houston has nothing but nice things to say about her. She has been an amazing friend to me, even from a distance and I'm so glad that she and her family are in my life. So that's why New Mexico!
It took us 14 hours to get to their house, but the trip getting there was a lot of fun. I am definitely a road-trip person! I stock up on junk food, bring lots of activities for the kids, and Jordan and I listen to an audio book while we drive. We finished the book "Calamity" by Brandon Sanderson. It was really good, but I'm not surprised, since Brandon Sanderson writes amazing fantasy novels. This book was a part of a trilogy set in our time in our world, but a world where superheros suddenly exist except are actually evil villains. They have superpowers but the superpowers corrupt them and they wreak havoc on the world. This book is about a boy who fights against the super-villains. I promise you'll really enjoy it! Brandon Sanderson has a way of making all of his characters distinct and interesting and he doesn't dawdle when getting into the story.
Olivia watched a ton of movies on the iPad and Romney did basically what a baby does. The only downside is that I had to climb into the squishy backseat every time Romney got hungry so I could feed him a bottle, but thank goodness for bottle-feeding or the trip might have been much longer. Both of the kids were really good on the trip and we all really enjoyed ourselves. We even took our dog Loki, who only whined the first couple hours of the trip and then settled down. He basically stands on the middle console the whole time we drive.
My favorite part about the trip was just simply visiting with Liz and Matt and the kids playing together. I haven't been as good about doing play-dates for Olivia since Jordan's been off work. We've just been doing a lot of family activities and Olivia has really been missing friend time. She had a blast with the Bean kids and was really sad when we had to leave.
While we were there the Beans took us to a roller-skating rink where Olivia learned to rollerblade for the first time! She did really well and you could tell she was really proud of herself.

Olivia Rollerblading!

                                     

We were also there to celebrate two of the Bean kids' birthdays. We went to their birthday party and had a lot of fun getting to meet some of the Beans' friends and eating yummy food. You could tell the Beans' friends loved them and I'm pretty sure they are the type of people that will make friends wherever they go!



The Beans took us to a New Mexican restaurant called Monroe's! It was really delicious. What makes New Mexican food unique from plain old Mexican food or Tex-Mex is their love of green chiles! Well, I LOVE green chiles, so it was a perfect match! We had the chile rellenos and they brought out indian scones which are like the scones we make in Utah for Navajo tacos! That's the other thing about New Mexican food, is the incorporation of Native American dishes into the food. SOOOO DELICIOUS!

While New Mexico is a desert, you can see the Rocky Mountains and a lot of beauty in the barren land. New Mexican residents incorporate a lot of bright colors into the city of Albuquerque and there is a lot of nod to Native American, Spaniard, and Mexican culture in the city. I'm pretty jealous of the New Mexico license plate color, which is a pretty turquoise!
While we were there we were fortunate enough to be around for Albuquerque's Old Town 311th founder celebration. It was a treat visiting Old Town and seeing the cathedral. There was a lot of Native Americans dressed in traditional clothing and selling jewelry. The kids loved getting their faces painted and the balloon animals. I loved all of the touristy attractions. I LOVE being a tourist. I may not be the tacky "wear-a-Hawaiian-T-Shirt-in-Hawaii" kind of tourist, but I am pretty close. I always make Jordan take us on historical tours and visit souvenir shops. I wish I could have stayed in Albuquerque longer so I could have spent a little more time learning about the history.

I almost forgot to mention how sweet Liz and Matt were for offering to watch the kids one of the evenings we were there so we could go out on a date. We went to a Vietnamese restaurant and a dollar movie to see La La Land! It's fun to go on a date for less than $30! Thanks again Liz and Matt! You guys rock!
Now for my review of La La Land. I will make this short and to the point. It was really good and artistic, but it didn't knock my socks off. Maybe you can blame it on all the hype. I wasn't disappointed with it, I'm just not going to gush about it. Sorry if we can no longer be friends...
Our trip ended far too quickly and I was so sad to leave the Beans. The good thing is that I know we'll be friends for a very long time because it's not likely I'm going to let them get away so easily. They're stuck with me. Sorry guys!
Our trip home was pretty uneventful and similar to our trip there. The only difference is that we played the license plate game and tried to find all fifty states of America. We ended up finding 33 states and 4 Canadian territories. Not bad for a 14-hour drive in the southwest! It was hard to come home after such a fun trip. Because of all the recent and upcoming changes in our lives, our home doesn't really feel like home anymore.

In some ways, I still feel like I'm on a road trip. I don't think I'll really feel settled again until we're in our new home in San Antonio. Everything feels so bittersweet and final here in Houston. We've been crossing off Houston activities on our bucket-list and writing down the places we HAVE to eat at before we leave. Right now the restaurant list consists of: Bernie's Burger Bus (American burger cuisine with awesome shakes, sweet potato fries, and THEE BEST ketchup/BBQ sauce mixture), Cafe Piquet (Cuban), Chi Dynasty (Chinese), Pappasitos (Tex-Mex), and Morningside Thai (Thai...duh). A lot of our other favorite restaurants they, fortunately, have in San Antonio as well, hallelujah; I'm looking at you Chuy's, Torchy's and MOD Pizza!
The last few things we've done is go to Kemah Boardwalk, the Showboat Drive-In Movies in Hockley, and Surfside Beach. So here's a little explanation: the reason Jordan has that big gash on his head is because he dove into the water when the tide was receding and hit his head on the bottom of the ocean. It looks a lot worse than it was. Glad he wasn't seriously injured, but I'm also glad it wasn't Olivia that had a big gash on her head this year right before a big holiday, and I'm also wondering why it seems like one of us is always injured in holiday pictures...

Easter was pretty low-key this year, but a lot of fun! We dyed Easter eggs and the Easter Bunny decided Olivia was old enough to start a tradition that I grew up with as a child and sent her on a Scavenger hunt around the house to find her surprises. There were eggs scattered around the floor with jellybeans inside and to keep Easter about Christ, one of the eggs had no candy, but a note inside that read "He is not here; He is Risen!" When Olivia found the note, we talked about Jesus Christ's Resurrection and what it means for us as children of God on the earth today. We also watched a couple short videos about the Resurrection.

 I am so glad that because of my Savior, I have the opportunity to return to Him once more and be perfected through him. I think this Easter I had a rebirth of my determination to truly believe. I realized that I needed to put my whole heart into believing in Christ, that he is Living, and that he loves me and is actively helping me in my life. I am grateful for Easter and what it means for me. I am grateful for my friends. I am grateful for new opportunities to make new friends. I am grateful for my Savior, who is my one constant friend in this life filled with unknowns. "And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him." Matt 4:18-20
If we follow Christ, he will not only remain by our side throughout our life, but he will help us help others along the way.