Camping Trips - maybe THE best camping trip

Tony and I have definitely had some fun camping trips....in fact I think they have all been fun. Even the night that Jen & Adam, Heather & Gary, and me and Tony camped out at the tree farm and FROZE (especially Gary:)). The night we spent at Tony's parents land and Tony's friend Davis drove up way late and scared the crap out us......too many fun nights to mention here.

But the night that is probably the most memorable was one we shared with Kelly, Athena, Josh, Patrick, Jenni and Rob at Three Rivers in New Mexico. I can't even think about the night without cracking up. It started off with Coors Tall boys and ended with Carlos Rossi wine....who wouldn't have a good time? :) There were also some Bloody Mary's in the middle of all of that.

When we were taking turns dancing around the picnic table Kelly fell down, got back up, and kept dancing. I don't think he ever missed a beat. Then playing frisbee he fell into a cactus but said he was fine.

Ok, disclaimer, this part is gross: but I got sick in the middle of the night and barely made it out of the tent...and onto my shoes. Ewww!! Then I stumbled over to the water jug and saw a bear standing right next to Kelly's tent, so I ever so quietly walked back to the tent. Well, the next morning I was talking about this and everyone said I must have been seeing things, and I figured that was not too far fetched. Then Patrick woke up from sleeping on a picnic table and said "Guys, last night there was a black bear in our camp - I saw it but couldn't do anything about it". Meanwhile he had some purple stain all the way down the front of his shirt. Awesome....

When Kelly got up his foot was HUGE and had cactus needles all over it! He could barely even walk. Well, come to find out his foot was broken - during our Rossi Possi dance session when he fell down it was a lot worse than anyone thought!

You would think with all that happened it wouldn't be such a great memory - but it was - it was a night to remember.  Here are some pictures from that night.

New Mexico in May

We went home to New Mexico for Mother's Day (and my B-day). I would have blogged about it sooner but I'm a bum! :) It was wonderful - the weather was great and it wasn't windy!! We got to see my great grandmother. She's been so sick and we were really glad we were able to visit with her. Tony had a good time - it has been years since he had been back to NM. We didn't get to stay there very long. We got in after midnight on Friday night and had to leave Sunday morning. It sucked because I got sick on Sunday morning - I was probably just being a hypochondriac but I got bit by a spider and had a weird reaction. SERIOUSLY? Always something! It was really beautiful though and we had fun - I'll probably go back in July but Tony may not make it back until Christmas.

Super Bowl's Past

When I was in high school we always had a super bowl party at our house. My mom and dad would graciously open up their home to a bunch of kids from our youth group. We'd buy pizza and coke and snacks and semi watch the game in between talking and playing. It is such a great memory to have and I'm so glad my parents were always ok with a bunch of dumb teenagers invading their house.

Another great memory is the super bowl where Janet Jackson exposed (ewwww) herself. Everyone was in the kitchen at Jen's and no one was sitting there with me to see it! Of course I was the only nerd watching Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake...but still! That was a great party - good friends, food and booze. It was one of many souree's over on Capri Rd. We found some random video tape the other day that we had taken over at a BBQ on Capri and it brought back such funny memories. If I could ever figure out how to load it onto the computer I could post some of it so that you could get a chuckle too.

Today we are having some friends over to watch the game and snack. Another year...more memories to be made.

Roasting, Green Chile that is

I found some Hatch Green Chile at the grocery store. That's right, HATCH GREEN CHILE! Only one of the best things ever. EVER. I roasted it over our tiny camping grill, cleaned it, put cheese on it, and then had my way with it. And IT WAS AMAZING. I almost cried when the smell of the roasting chile started permeating the air. It is by far one of the BEST smells in the ENTIRE WORLD.
It is a smell of my past. It brings about so many pleasant memories. It makes my mouth water to even think about the smell. It is a signal of the start of fall in New Mexico. Even if it is still hitting the mid-90's, you just know that Fall is around the corner. The welcome relief from the heat is soon, along with scarecrows on front porches, surrounded by pumpkins, your house smelling warm and welcoming like fresh baked snicker doodles, school supplies, football games, sweaters. All these memories and more flood back to me with one wiff of the roasting chile. I wish everyone could know this amazing smell, and the even better taste of a FRESH roasted green chile. Oh the possibilities...rellanos, green chile cheese burgers, plain on a fresh tortillas, fresh green chile enchiladas, green chile stew!!