Yah! I just registered Tel and I to participate in the Relay For Life on April 30th/May 1st! We are walking the 10pm - 11pm time as of now. But we'll probably walk more! I honestly feel bad that I have never participated in this amazing event. I have lost members of my family to cancer and should be more involved in organizations like this. I never got the chance to get to know my Grandma Lott and Grandpa Perryman before they lost their life to cancer. It's crazy to think how different my life could have been with them in it. I would have loved to seen both their relationships with my mom and dad too. I always hear about Papper's sense of humor and would've loved to have known him. I am just grateful that I have my Grandma Nammer and that she moved to Soda when she did. I can't imagine her still living in Wyoming. I remember how excited I was when she decided to move to Soda. I also wish I could've gotten to know my Aunt Barbara better too! She lost her life to Breast Cancer when I was in the 5th or 6th grade. I had the chance to be her pen pal for a few years, which I thought was the coolest thing. I remember she sent me a LL Bean backpack for my birthday one year. Anyway, I am excited to be involved with the Relay for Life and I want to make it a point to participate every year in this organization.

MoAb 2008

So I came across these old photos of a little trip Tel and I made to Moab with Britney and Brady to celebrate finishing another year of college. It was such a fun little trip. It was only a quick weekend trip, but totally worth the drive. We went on some fun dirt bike rides. Poor Britney had to ride her four wheeler, and beat her self up trying to keep up.We camped alongside the river and had some good ol' camping food. Talking about it, makes me want to go there right now! We also did a little shopping, well I guess I did (I got me a pair of Keen shoes)! So glad I bought em. I almost talked myself out of it. And on the way their Brady got him a new pair of riding boots!Good times with Brit and Brady.

 

This was our cute little campsite.

Oh Tel

Kissin cousins!

ha...awkward picture!

Taken the bikes for a ride

Kane Creek Trail

Doing what we love together..

Taking a break

Looking good!

The Girls

The boys

Hike to the "Delicate Arch"

So cute..

Arch within the Arch

****Big Bend National Park****

So Telford and I just went on the best ROAD TRIP and had the best weekend we have had since being MARRIED! I took Friday off work, and that morning at about 6am we decided we were going to head down to BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK. Basically I saw that the temperatures down there were supposed to be in the 70's, so I was sold. We quickly packed up all of our camping and hiking gear, and threw it into the car and we were on our way by 8:00am.

On our way down we stopped in Alpine, Texas and decided it was the cutest little town ever, and that Tel should go to school at Sul Ross University there.

The entire weekend, I felt like we were at Yellowstone National Park looking at all the wildlife, we seen:

Lots of roadrunners
Lots of deer
Lots of Javeline pigs
Mountain goats
Coyotes
Antelope
Cardinals
The biggest crows I've ever seen

We underestimated how awesome Big Bend would be. It has so much diversity. One side of the park felt like you were in Moab, another side felt like you were in the Mexican desert, some parts felt like you were in the mountains. There was so much geological diversity!

But next time we visit Big Bend we are going to be on a BMW dual-sport! It would have been so cool on a dual sport. There were so many roads that you needed a high clearance vehicle. So obviously the cavalier didn't quite cut it.

It was so fun to be able to camp out in February and to escape Carlsbad for a weekend, plus no cell phone service most of the time. We seen a ton of beautiful country.



Sorry about the order of the pictures below, they are kind of sporadically placed and out of order. AND there's lots of them.

 

This is at the Hot Springs.

You can't really see very good, but this picture is of a Cardinal.

The second night, Tel heard the coyotes howling all night!

Coyotes + full moon = typical desert scene.

Santa Elena Canyon at Sunset.

Pretty sunset at the Rio Grande Village

McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, Texas

You can't really see the mountain goats in this picture because they blend in. But this is what this picture is of...

Precious!

It was so quiet and peaceful this evening. We watched a ton of mountain goats climbing the cliffs. It was sweet!

Santa Elena Canyon!

We took the scenic drive back home that ran along the Rio Grand to Presido, Texas.

In an issue of National Geographic, it highlighted this Rattlesnake exhibit, so of course we had to visit it. It was in Fort Davis, Texas!

The creepiest guy in the entire world was running this museum. He was telling us that he has lived in Florida, Lousiana, Arkansas, and all these other places, always running from the law. And this Rattlesnake museum has been his getaway. Then he started telling us about his pet Javeline!

Largest Live Rattlesnake exhibit on Earth! This was the dirtiest place ever!

Here is the guy running the museum's pet Javeline! Sick huh! But it's my favorite picture ever!

This was at the McDonald Observatory. The telescope was HUGE!

Rio Grande again!

  

Across the Rio Grande was a Mexican Villiage, Boquillas, Mexico.

The Mexican people would canoe across the river and set out goods to sell to the American visitors and then canoe back across the river.

This was walking to the Hot Springs that are part of the Rio Grande, but because Mexico has let the water out early this year, the hot springs were flooded. So you couldn't see them.

Rio Grande

At the end of our hike.

  

On the "Lost Mine" hike.

Love it. None of our pictures captured how beautiful the park was.

Telford with his morning hot chocolate. He said this was his favorite part of trip, making hot cocoa in the mornings.

Saturday morning before our hike.

We also picked the perfect weekend to visit Big Bend because it was a Full Moon!

 

This is what they call the "WINDOW".

I have been wanting to see a Javelina pig ever since I moved to NM, but now I have seen more than enough! Those things were everywhere! EWW!

Chisos Mountains

Walah!

This is the view from our campsite the first night. The Chisos Mountains were so pretty!

We stopped at Balmoreah State Park on our way down. We've been wanting to check it out for a while. The 77,053 square ft San Solomon Spring is the focal point of Balmorhea State Park. From 22 to 28 million gallons of water flow through the spring-fed swimming pool each day. And the temperature of the water is warm year around! 

 

We want to come state here over the summer some time.

People also scuba dive here all the time. It is 20' deep and has tons of fish!