New Mexico

This year it was time to visit New Mexico for the 4th! Lance took over a week of from work and we had a nice long vacation. It was glorious! 

 We were a little nervous about flying with all 3 girls but they did fabulous. The big girls watched their shows on the iPad with Lance and Madelyn slept snuggled up like a bug on my lab for almost the whole flight.

After the short flight we had a 3 hour drive to Ruidoso. Lance's parents picked us up and Joy managed to get Maddie to sleep using this pacifier. She is not a binky baby and she looked so funny to me with it in. 

Once we got there, I set up a makeshift playmate for her and she was happy as a clam.

It was just us for a few days before the rest of Lance's family got there and we spent lots of time just hanging out and tons of time at the pool!

 We love tossing the girls in the golf cart and driving down the street to the pool every morning!

Lots of walks and going into town.

Then Lance's brother and sister got there with their kids and the party really started!

Saw these matching dresses for the girls and just had to get them!

My parents were a few hours away in Lubbock with Sharon and my newest niece (Hi Cora!) and they were able to come stay with us for a few days before going home! So fun to have both sets of grandparents together! Thanks to Brent and Joy for hosting!

Of course Mumsy soaked up time with her little great-granddaughters. 

Cousin bonding time.

We all enjoyed getting to shoot Granddad's cross bow, but I think the girls liked it the most.

 Daryn's killer shot. 

With a little help from Daddy, Reagan even won first prize in the contest! She was awarded with this Texans hat that she wears proudly. 

Sunday after church, we snapped some family pictures and they turned out great!

Monday was Independence Day (more on that later), and Tuesday we got to celebrate Cal's 6th birthday! We went to Pizza Hut and the go-kart racing in town.

Daryn was tall enough to drive these ones, but not quite big enough to press the pedal and turn, so the employee had to along with her on the side. Really nice of her. Daryn loved it!

The bigs kids did too.

And of course the adults loved racing on the big track with the kids as passengers. 

It took some coaxing, but we convinced enough adults to do the water gun bumper boats so that all the kids could too! Granddad was a reluctant participant but we all had fun. And got pretty wet.

Trying to take a picture of this sweet face and got it mid spit-up. Perfect timing. That's lovely.

Birthday cake and presents at home!

The next day it was time to return home. Again the girls did great. Maddie fell asleep folded up like a sandwich.

The girls even had their own side of the aisle and they sat nicely. 

 We are so grateful we were able to have such a relaxing visit and spent time with both families. Lance and I got to go on dates, play tennis, and ride the scooter around the mountains. We love visiting New Mexico! Until next time...