May Give Thanks, Week 1

May 1:
     Thankful for all the "new" things my little guy has done today. He clapped for the first time, took several steps in a row on his own, and even walked from the couch to the coffee table on his own. He is just picking up on everything these days. Even when we say something to him, like "Say, Hi Dada" he will mimic it so well! Its the best feeling ever.

May 2:
     Thankful that I was able to sit down and prep all the blocks for the next section of the Halloween quilt. The prepping on the freezer paper takes a lot of time (probably because I am OCD), but I finished all of it for the next section! Its nice to have that time where absolutely no little hands are grabbing at everything you are doing. Happy dance!

May 3:
     My oldest son tried his hand at painting for the first time today. I am thankful that he enjoyed it a ton (even threw a fit when he had to stop for dinner), thankful he didn't eat any of the paint, and lastly I am thankful for such beautiful artwork now hanging on my fridge! Best way to keep a kid busy for an hour.

May 4:
     For awhile, after the holidays, my mother and I kind of got into a routine of calling each other whenever we could find the time, and just take a moment to catch up. She often called on her way home once a week, and if I missed her call I would try calling sometimes on the weekend while I had a hubby to help keep the kids out of my hair. Today, I called my mother and we were able to chat for some time, so thankful for such a wonderful mother, and as I get older I realize how much it calms me to have someone to chit chat about life with. Its a beautiful thing, that as we age we grow closer to those we often pushed away while we were kids. Love you Mother Elizabeth!

May 5:
     Working on little projects here and there for my sons 1st birthday next month. Thankful today I was able to finish up cutting some of the pages for the banner. I am excited to see this party come together, but at the same time its too soon.

May 6:
     Thankful for an hour or two, during the boys nap, to put one coat of orange paint on the boys stove/oven unit. I can't wait to finish it up.

May 7:
     Today is a hard day to find something to be thankful for, but after a long day in an ER for my oldest son, I am thankful for all the family and friends who have supported us.


Give Thanks,
Sarah

March Giving Thanks, Week 1

March 1:
     I am thankful today for the safety of my sister and her soon to be born son. She is at the hospital, earlier then her due date, by about 3 weeks. I am excited and have been checking my phone non stop.

March 2:
     Starting to finally catch what the boys had, and I was feeling pretty sick this weekend. I am so thankful to my husband who stepped up and took care of the kids as much as he could, to let me get an extra hour or so of sleep!

March 3:
     Today I am thankful for the birth of my nephew! He has arrived. He was only 5.12lbs and 17in long.

March 4:
     Spent the afternoon out shopping with just the two kiddos. I am so thankful they both behaved so well, and everyone was saying how well they were behaved. Felt great to be out for more then 5 hours and know my kids are being calm and polite!

March 5:
     Thankful for the weather holding out until late today so the kids and I could get in a 45 minute walk. I think we all needed it.

March 6:
     Today I am thankful for my weight loss, it keeps on going. Some weeks are slower then others, but my new total of loss this week is -22.6 pounds!

current weight

starting weight

March 7:
    Thankful today for the small blessings in our life; such things like, going to Toys R Us and getting excited about picking out toys for the kids. I think my husband and I are enjoying some of these toys more then the kids are.

Trains are all the rage in our house, and are also kind of fun for adults too!

 Give Thanks,
Sarah

Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico

While we have been in New Mexico we have had a horrible time getting out and sight seeing. The reasoning is because I have been pregnant most of the time we have been here. Now that I am healed from giving birth and our boys are finally big enough, we decided to travel out of town for the day. Where to? Well the Carlsbad Caverns in southern New Mexico. We drove 2 hours south through Roswell, which was an awesome visit, but we didn't get to stop and shop (might have to do that before we leave), then we traveled two more hours to the Caverns. It wasn't that bad of a drive!

When we got to Roswell we were able to grab some starbucks, which is like a luxury for those of us living in Clovis, because we don't have one! Then as we started back on the road, our oldest son got sick. Poor guy has been fighting a cold, as I have too, and it finally got to him and he just made a mess of his outfit and carseat. Thats always fun! After a wardrobe change and some medicine we were finally back on the road to the caverns.

The national park entrance was a fun drive! Its curvy and the speed limit is 40, so it makes it fun to drive. Once at the top, at the center, we were able to unload, go to the restroom, and grab our tickets to the park entrance. We checked out the gift shop and got a few items for our collections. I love to collect shot glasses from each place I go, so of course I had to get one! We also got a small shirt for Brian, which in a year or so Jared will wear too. Once the shopping was done, we were off to the actual caverns.

The caverns entrance is extremely steep. Both myself and my husband had a child strapped on us, I had the youngest and my husband had the oldest. It was a workout for both of us. They have an elevator entrance for those who use wheelchairs or walking assistance but if you take the elevator you drop right down into the bottom of the caverns. Its great if you need the assistance, but I highly recommend making the walk. Half of the exhibits and unique rock formations are along the path. They also have seats and benches along the walking path so if you need to rest; or for us feed the little ones, then theres plenty of areas to do so!

Once you get to the bottom you can walk around several different paths. Some say it should take an hour to walk, but for us most of them only took about 30 minutes. I believe the time is based off walking with the audio; meaning you would stop and listen and then walk, stop and listen, etc. We walked along slowly but like I said, we made it through most of the areas in about 30 minutes.

 Also at the bottom is a very small selection of food and drinks. The water bottles were small and $5 each, so be sure to pack a hydro pack or a couple bottles of water. The food selection was also small, but we had snacks so I didn't even bother looking at any of it, especially after seeing that the water was $5 each. They also had sweaters and a few other souvenirs for purchase, the sweaters were $40 and hard helmets with lights were $5 each. The caverns are cold, around 50 degrees so be sure to pack a sweater, or in our case we had kids keeping us warm! 

The sign at the top of the facility said that the elevators could be an hour wait, but when we got in line it was a little after 4pm. When we got on the elevator it was only a little after 4:30pm. It really moved fast as they had two elevators running. The elevators go up several feet and it goes fast so if you have kids I would recommend a pacifier, bottle, feeding them or giving them something to chew because your ears will pop. The elevator was worth it at the end, as all our legs were killing us.

It was a fun day trip, and totally worth it. I would love to do it again, but I think it would have been a lot more enjoyable if the kids were bigger. Our drive home was an easy one, and we made sure to grab some starbucks on the way home.

I would highly recommend the Carlsbad Caverns to any family or couple,
Sarah