A Boy...And....His Muneca....

Not too long ago I was traveling....and thought I should check up on The Darlings...

and so I logged onto Facebook! That is the main reason I FB....to keep an eye

on The Darlings. It is good for a Mom to know what they are writing...and what others are

writing to them. Anyway....upon logging into my account, I discovered that The Boy had

made a new photo album and it was titled..."I think I am in love." And to be honest,

I said something like..."again???"....

I opened the photo album fully expecting to see photos of some lovely young lady and

I found pictures of her.....The Muneca....The Boy's horse.

It made me happy!


When The Boy talks about The Muneca his eyes light up and he smiles

without even realizing he is smiling. She makes him happy.


Saturday The Boy participated in a rodeo. It was fun for The Farmer and I to watch him.

He is the happiest when he is on a horse.

During a break in the rodeo, he rode over to where we were sitting and said casually...

"I forgot to tell you...but The Muneca might be pregnant...."

"WHAT????" ....that was my reply.

To which The Farmer said...."that happens...."

The Vet will visit The Muneca tomorrow to confirm the possibility.

Oh, The Boys hopes she is! The Rooster is making plans to train the new colt.

Oh....big plans are being made.

The Boy is taking his place in a long line of men....his grandpa's....his uncles...and his

father....who have also loved horses. It makes me happy, as a Mom, to see the

joy he feels when he is with The Muneca~

"My Faith In Humanity Is Restored...!"

Yesterday, The Farmer and I made a run for the border. That was after spending a great

part of the morning registering The Darlings for EFY this summer.....SUCCESS!!! If you have ever gone through the EFY registration process....you know just what I am talking about. It makes it even more interesting if you are trying to balance three children and their friends...

Anyway...back to the trip.....

We should have left alot earlier....I forgot everything that was important for the trip...

like...cel. phones...chargers....things that should have been mailed...you get the idea;)

I was so overcome with my EFY success...everything else was forgotten.

Another important thing I totally forgot to do was...fill the car with gas. And yes....there

are a few gas stations between here and El Paso...so I didn't worry too much.

We drove and drove....crossed the border...and headed down the last stretch to

El Paso, about 60+ miles....again passing another gas station. At last we arrived in El Paso,

by this point I had forgotten about the gas situation. We choose a different route into

the city than we usually take...and then it happened....the car sputtered....

sputtered again....and then it died.

The Farmer announced....."We have run out of gas!"

I think he actually took getting the whole event on as a challenge...to see how far he

could actually go before the gas was gone. And why not...right??? Just a side note.....

I have NEVER run out of gas.....EVER in my life! I have NEVER had the desire to

push the gas gadge to it's very limit....just thought I would mention that;)

Anyway, so there we were....out of gas....on the freeway....remember, I forgot the cel. phones, so there we sat. Luckily we weren't too far from a gas station. So, The Farmer walked

to a nearby body shop and asked if they might have a little gas he could borrow.....at first

the man wasn't anxious to help...until The Farmer began to speak Spanish....and

everything changed....the man recognized that The Farmer was a fellow Paisano....

(fellow countryman) and immediately offered a gas can will a little gas. Well, it

wasn't quite enough to start the car...so that would mean he would now have to walk to the nearby gas station. He grabbed the can and took off walking. I remained in the car...listening to some great 80's music...of which I am a great fan! The Farmer had walked about a block...

he was still in my sight...when a truck pulled up beside him and offered him a ride. I watched him climb in and wondered to myself...if I should be making notes of what the truck looked

like....just in case.....remember....no phones. I sat a waited.....a few minutes passed

and a different car pulled up next to me...and out jumped The Farmer, gas can in hand.

The car drove way....The Farmer poured the gas into the car....he returned the gas can...and

off we went....to the gas station to fill up. Once in the car The Farmer said this....

"My faith in humanity is restored!"

He never expected that people would be so kind. The guy that actually brought him back

to the car told The Farmer that he was preparing to go around the block so that he could see

what we needed and if he could help in any way. It is so nice to know that there are still

good people in the world that are looking out for others. Because of the safety issues we have

faced in our area in the last few years....we have become suspect of everyone around us.

We have been afraid to stop and help those who need help. It was a good experience...and maybe one we needed....to see the good in "humanity" once again!

But....just for the record....I think we should just fill the car

with gas before we take off on a road trip!

Basketball And Candy....

When we arrived in Reserve, NM....The Farmer's mind was flooded with memories.

You see when The Farmer was a Young Farmer...he too played in the same tournament,

in Reserve, NM.....in the same gym.

Now The Boy is re-enacting the whole event....many years later.


We "got" to drive through the little town and look for the house that The Farmer stayed

in when he was a young man. We spent quite a bit of time looking....he was pretty

determined to find the house....but in the end he was not sure which one it was.

We call these boys...in the middle..."round two."

Their fathers were friends growing up, and ended up living together while in college.

It is great to watch another friendship develop...one that will last a long time.

Maybe one day they will be watching their boys, play in a basketball tournament...in

Reserve, NM.





The JV Basketball team.

In the nearby town, where we stayed....we found the most darling candy shop.

It was connected to the little diner where we had a very tasty breakfast.


The shop was filled with "retro" type candy....

a wall full of Jelly Bellies....

Taffy...


Giant gumballs....

You name it....they had it!

It Was Cold....But...It Was Fun!

The Boy and The Lobos....headed to Reserve, NM last Thursday for a 3 day tournament.

We had thought that we would sit this one out and stay home. The Farmer is

suffering with his annual back problems....and it just didn't seem like a 6 hour trip in the

car would be a great thing for him. We got The Boy ready to go....loaded him on the bus...and

he took off. Only when he left, I felt so sad....like we were really going to miss a great

weekend. I told The Farmer how I felt....he knew I really wanted to be there....and

so we packed up the car....and the remaining Darlings and headed for Reserve.


Reserve is a VERY small town and the town's only real hotel, recently burned down.

We knew it was going to be a challenge to find a place to stay, since several schools from surounding areas would also be participating in the tournament. Luckily we

located some darling cabins, in a neighboring town....Alpine, AZ. The area was cold and snowy,

and the little cabin was dreamy and warm! Turns out, a few of the other parents

also stayed in the same town and we enjoyed breakfast together in the local diner.

And it wasa yummy breakfast at that!

They are great friends and great company!


The Lobos on the other hand....found themselves in the"ghetto" as they called it.

There were not enough beds and so the owners were kind enough to bring their RV, to

help house everyone on the team. It made for some great laughs! Thankfully,

boys only need a bed and a meal and they are good with that!


The games were great! We enjoyed watching both the JV and Varsity Lobos, as well as

the JV and Varsity Lobas (the girls team). They all did very well with the Lobas (girls) taking

2nd place in the tournament, the Lobos also taking 2nd place. Several of the kids were

named "All-Tournament" which was a great honor. They are all such great young men and women....it was a complete joy to see them compete.



Our Lobos are future missionaries....they are not covered with tatoos like most

of the young men from the other schools...they are clean....they are great sports....they are

just great young men (and women). They brought honor to the Academia Juarez.

Five of these young men have begun their preparations for their missions. Within the

next several months we will watch them become men. We think the world of each of them!

It was the best to have Lovlies with us. They cheered and made the tournament

that much more fun! Those Lovlies know how to have a great time!!

I tell The Boy....too often....that these are the best years for us as parents.

We LOVE following our kids around, soaking up every moment we are together.

I love when we are all in the car together.....when the radio is loud and we are singing along.

We laugh alot.....we talk alot.....It is a joy!!

Thank you to The Darlings....for allowing us to share the "ride" with you!

It Began Last October....

Last October we learned that Wicked...the musical was going to be in a town near us....

Tucson, to be exact. Because I saw Wicked, in Chicago, when it was fairly new....and LOVED it...

I hoped for the chance to take PreShie to see it too. She likes that kind of thing!

So for her 16th birthday we purchased tickets for the Tucson show, at the time January seemed

so very far away. So, January finally arrived....and last Friday we jumped in the car,

and headed to Tucson. It is a bit of a drive from our home...5-6 hours....but it didn't

seem that long with PreSh in the car....she is some good traveling company!

We arrived to find out that our hotel was much further from the event center than I had

thought...although it was a lovely hotel against the beautiful mountains of Tucson.

We had just enough time to change and head out to dinner before the play started.

We found a great place to eat....I had totally forgotten about "Snowbird" season in Arizona,

and so the wait was much longer than we had time for. Just as we were about to leave

the hostess offered us seats at the "kitchen bar," which was not really a "bar" but

a spot right next to the kitchen where we could watch the food being prepared. It worked

out really great because the kitchen guys didn't really use too much English when they

spoke....and PreSh felt right at home;) The kitchen guys took a liking to Lovely PreSh, and

next thing we knew we were being served free food....."from the kitchen!"

PreShie thought that was pretty great.
We then headed to the play....it was fantastic.....and I knew it would be!!!

The funnest part for me was watching PreShie enjoy herself so much!

The next morning.....after a great nights sleep.....(we were very tired...)

we packed up and got ready to head for the border, but decided to stop for breakfast before

leaving Tucson. As we drove down the street...looking for a great breakfast location....I

spotted Coco's. I hadn't eaten at Coco's for many years, but thought it might be a fun.

We went in....sat down.....ordered our breakfast....ate a little.....and realized

that something really bad had just happened right outside the window where we sat.

Yes....we were there for the terrible shooting that took place in Tucson on Saturday morning

last week. Not only were we in the city....we were just across the street...literally!

We watched the helicopters land....we watched the police arrive, traffic was backed up for miles,

people were leaving their cars in the streets to try and walk closer to the terrible

scene. It was unbelieveable! Groups of people gathered in the street trying to figure

out the details of the shooting. It only took moments for the news to spread that

Congresswoman Giffords had been shot. I wish I had had the presence of mind to grab my

camera and begin taking pictures. It was really an incredible scene. I called The Farmer to

let him know what had happened and ironically he suggested that we head for home

"where it is safe!" I thought that was pretty funny. It took us a long time to work

our way through the city....traffic became unreal as the police began to seal off large

areas. We finally found our way onto the freeway headed for home. We listened to the radio

for any piece of news, finally Grandpa S. called to let us know that they news had announced

that the Congresswoman had passed away......but wait....she didn't! At home...later that night,

we discovered that the news report had not been correct and that she had actually survived.

And so we have been watching....along with the rest of the country.....every news report

that we can find, still in utter disbelief that we were not only in the same city of this

terrible event....but within a few hundred yards of it. Wow!!

Just a bit of randomness......

*The new camera arrived....Horray!....I am learning about the new "tricks" that is does,

but I think I am going to be really happy with it. Tomorrow I am planning an outing

to photograph some lovely birds in our area....that we have enjoyed for many years.

*PreShie wanted a playhouse for Christmas....Santa was kind enough to fulfill her dreams.

It is being built now and should be done by the end of the week...she is thrilled!

I love that at "16" she is so happy about the playhouse....

*Our lights have now gone off 4 times....all while I am trying to write this post....ugh...

*The Rooster started back to school on Monday....he is NOT happy about that!

They have been out for close to a month...and it is hard to get back on schedule again.

The Boy and his Sister...will return to school next Monday...after a near 6 week break.....

We are planning on 2011 to be a great year! It is already heavily scheduled with many

activities....it is going to be a year of change for our family in many ways.....

We are excited for a fun filled year!!!