Wish List Item

Do you remember these?



It's a bottle cap belt made from recycled tires and old Coke bottle caps. The buckle is like an old seat belt buckle. I remember they were getting to be pretty popular near the end of my senior year in high school and I remember thinking they were so cool! At the time they were being sold for around $50, which to a high school senior about to go to college who was already paying for her car payment, it might as well have been $5000.

So it's been 10 years. I don't know why the belt popped into my head again a few weeks ago, but it did. Ever since, I've been secretly wanting to get one. So I asked my neighbor's daughter who's in college if they were still popular nowadays. (Yes, just asking her that made me feel super old.) At first she had no idea what I was talking about. After about 10 minutes of describing it to her, she finally gave up and said, "Ummmm, no. They're not in style anymore."

I'm still thinking about getting one anyway.

I mean, with the style that's being constantly sported around Santa Fe, I'll fit right in. :)

Our First House Guest, Hot Springs, and Hiking

Our first house guest came to visit us around the end of last month. We had a blast having S stay with us. The week he was here went by so fast that I felt like I barely turned around before it was time to take him to the airport again. But we were able to show him around and do a lot of fun things. Like hike to the hot springs...
and go for hikes. On the way to our first hiking trip, we stopped and let S look around at some scenery.He's into photography, in case you can't tell. :) He takes some amazing pictures.On the first hike, we all went to hike the Santa Fe ski basin. The forecast was set beautifully at 73 degrees with light wind. But when we got up to the ski basin, we got this:Snow. At the end of April.

But we still had a great time anyway!At this one part in the trail, the snow was up to our waists. Seriously.I love new adventures!!

I wasn't able to go on the second hike due to classes, but S and Brent went to Bandelier and hiked up to the Painted Cave. "The boys went to the Painted Cave and all I got was this picture."But it's still pretty cool. :) And it sounded like they had a great time!

Couch!!!

Finally! FINALLY!!!!! Our couch/loveseat is here!!! For the last six months we've had our guests sitting on the floor if there were more than 3 other people at our house. Now we can accommodate up to 5! Yay! :)

We had it specially ordered from a local company here, so we were able to pick out the covering, the design, and the size. We got a loveseat that reclines separately.

Here's Brent putting it together!Do you like the pattern? The official name is "doe", but it's like a khaki color. As you can see, it also has these really cool swirlies.

The swirlies really aren't that noticeable in life as they are in the picture. I thought it was because of the flash that they illuminated so much, so I tried one without the flash, but then it looked too dark.So just imagine something in between these two pictures. Anyway, we love it and are really excited about it!

White Sands

Last weekend we drove 4 hours to the south end of NM to check out the Trinity Site and go to White Sands. If you're unfamiliar with Trinity Site, it's where the first atomic bomb was tested. It sounds so interesting but unfortunately, for me (and Brent, too, a little bit, I think), it was b-or-ing. Like, really, really boring. Like if-I-wasn't-married-to-a-nuclear-physicist-I'd-turn-around-and-leave boring. The most exciting part was seeing all the security you had to go through to get in. And there were loads of people everywhere, so you couldn't get a good picture of anything without some random stranger in it. And the biggest boring thing of all is that there's nothing there. I mean, it is where the atomic bomb was dropped. So it's just a big circle of nothing. But the Trinity Site's only open for one day twice a year, and now we can say we've been there and done that. Thankfully we went last weekend without knowing that it's the last time getting in for free...now they're going to start charging $25 a car and $10 a motorcycle to get it. I would've been really upset to pay that much money to walk around in a circle and go through an old house!

Anyway, the highlight of our trip was White Sands. Hands down SO MUCH FUN! I was a little nervous about it because I'm not a big fan of the sand at the beach. It's course, scratchy, gets everywhere, and sticks to you. So when White Sands was said to be like the beach without water, I wasn't thrilled. But I've got to tell you: I was wrong. I was way wrong.

The sand is soft, cool, powder-soft, and made from gypsum. Sure, it still got everywhere, and I still have sand in my tennis shoes, but the views from the top of dunes are amazing. Reminded me so much of "Lawrence of Arabia". Just breathtaking. And the sky...well, I can't even describe it. And with the mountains behind the dunes, words just can't describe.We camped in White Sands for one night in one of the dunes. It was only a mile and a half from our car to our campsite, but the first time out it felt like a lot longer. Since the sand shifts over time, it was kinda hard to find land markers and our campsite. Not to mention trying to walk up the side of dunes where the sand just gave away under your feet with 30 pounds on your back!(Can you see our tent?)

So we got to watch the sun set,

and the sun rise the next morning.
But the best part - the best part - was yet to come. Playing in the sand!!!!!!!

Brent checking out where he should go down on the sled.We started off small.
And kept going down, down, down...On a whim, we bought a cheap plastic snowboard at Walmart. It was awesome for the sand!!Here's a few videos of us playing in the sand, if you're interested. This is the first time I'm trying to post videos, so let me know if they go through or not.
Brent sandboarding:


Lori sandboarding (I take a little while to get going):


Brent's board into Lori's feet:


Lori trying to go up loose sand (please ignore the butt!):


So far, this is definitely my favorite place in the state to camp and play. I think we're going to try to make this at least a yearly thing. So, so fun!

And just beautiful!

Still Smitten

I know I don't usually blog about my husband (well, not whole dedicated posts, anyway), but I just have to share this: my husband is awesome. Really, he is. I'm so thankful that the Lord put us together. Even after eight years, he's the one I still get excited to talk to, the one I love coming home to every night, and the one that has the cutest butt in the whole world. Plus, I touch his dirty socks, so you know that's gotta be love. :)

I think the thing I love most about him is that he loves the Lord.

And not only is he super handsome,but he's smart,a hard worker,patient,serene,and he doesn't take himself too seriously.He's the master of sunset photos,and he lets me drag him up mountains.He talks to me about big decisions.Yup, he's pretty awesome.

I think I'll keep him. :)

New Look

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I'd forgotten what "full-time" student meant. Basically, it means I'm constantly running around like a chicken with it's head cut off - 24/7. So that is my life currently.

I have lots to blog about - our anniversary trip (to see Wicked!!!) in ABQ, more pictures from hiking and horseback riding, our hilarious 10-year old neighbor literally climbing our walls, and a few other things. Now, if they actually make it to the blog or not is the question! I barely have time to make dinner these days.

So on to this post already!

This is mostly for my sister and mom. I knew they'd want to see. Brent & I have been needing/wanting a new bedspread for a while now. The last one we had was given to Brent while he was in high school by his grandmother, who used to work at a factory that made the bedspreads. I absolutely love that bedspread, curtains, and color scheme, but it was time for a change, and the bedspread was starting to show some serious signs of wear.

So last weekend we went to TJMaxx. And came out with our new look.You can't really see it in the picture, but the curtains have some texture* at the top, which I really like...it gives the room a little dimension.*The pictures during the day didn't turn out as well as I liked, so I took some at night, so hopefully you can get a better idea of what it looks like.
As you can see, it's kinda a shiny green, brown, and off-white. We have a queen bed but got a king-sized bedspread. Now maybe we won't fight over the covers as much! :)

Like I said earlier, I just loved that bedspread from Brent's grandmother, so of course we couldn't get rid of it. So it's now in the guest bedroom! The guest bedroom is coming along nicely...I'm excited to have visitors come test it out! Now that you have a bed, bedspread, curtains, and some resemblance of a floor, I know you must be excited to come visit us!!! :)

*Please note that I have no idea what I'm talking about here. I just remembered the words my sister and mom use often when they come to my house, but in a more positive tone. Like "now there's texture" as opposed to "this room has no texture".