September 16, 2015: My day at the NM State Fair with grandkids!

At the last minute, I decided to treat my grandkids to the NM State Fair this year! Shauna and Jacob had already taken Tyler and Elise, so I invited Kiley and Jessica and their little ones to join me one day after I had taken my mother to her doctor's appointment. It was the last Wednesday of the Fair, and the best opportunity for Hudson, since he is in kindergarten all day. On Wednesdays, he gets out of school early, so it was the perfect time for all of us to go. We met at my mom's house, where the boys loved playing with Uncle Vernon's awesome toys.

We got decent parking near the Fair entrance, and it was free this year. But to add to my delight, entrance to the Fair that day was also free! I saved $30 on tickets and used those funds to purchase pony ride tickets and cotton candy for the Dunlap boys. It was also less busy than the evenings or weekends, so that was also a plus.

Happy faced Hudson at McDonald's Farm

Milking this fake cow was pretty cool!

Beau and Hudson on the huge tractor

Collecting eggs and produce at the Farm

Baby Hannah in her stroller
That blue lunch bag was filled with snacks and water from home

Cute little Beau liked the real chickens at the Farm

The boys learned how to lasso a Longhorn!
Here, Hudson tries his hand at it

Little Beau is confused about the whole thing

Love the look on Hudson's face as he tries lassoing 

Joey loved these little tractors!

Farmer Joey

Kiley had a hard time pulling Joey away from his tractor!

Cute little pregnant mommy due with son #2 in December!

It was HOT that day, especially in the Petting Zoo, but well worth the stop

Joey unfortunately missed the most fun parts of the visit, but these
guys loved the animals. There were so many different kinds this year.

Mama donkey with her adorable baby donkey

Love this photo of Jess and her littlest ones near the goat and baby donkey

Beautiful Beau loves the animals--like his cousin Tyler

 Two adorable Wallabies and a chicken eating together

Hudson and brother Beau brush this pretty deer's fur

Fun family shot--now if we could only get Hannah to look up and smile...

5-year old Hudson participated in the Pee-Wee Stampede

There he goes riding his stick horse!

Here, Hudson is doing his best bucking bronco moves!

The joyous smile of a "Bucking Bronco Champion"! 

You can see Hudson's cool trophy in his hand 

Later, Hudson was chosen to be the Rodeo CLOWN

He didn't quite know what to do with himself, but he was still cute!

Pony rides for the boys! Beau picked this white pony and really enjoyed riding him

Hudson really liked the experience too

Beau and Momma Jessica going in circles!

What a day at the NM State Fair! The funny thing was that the boys were more interested in going back to "Great-Grandma's house" to play with Vernon's toys, than spending the day at the Fair!

September 7, 2015: Labor Day weekend fun!

Saturday, September 5th: Mike and I took the 11-year old scouts in our ward on a challenging hike up to the TWA crash site in the Cibola National Forest early on Saturday morning during the Labor Day weekend. We met at the church at 7am and were supposed to be done by 1pm, but we didn't return to our car till after 4pm.

I was so grateful that Matthew Oschwald's dad, Jim, came with us. He and his son and I hiked together at the rear, while Mike and the rest of the boys took the lead. Jim was great company and a big help during some tough spots! All of the 11-year olds made it, and they were: Nick Hall, Matthew Oschwald, Eli Lines, James and Joseph Camacho, and George Rule--all wonderful boys!

"Brother Hobbs," our fearless scout leader 

Eli Lines

George Rule 

Our patrol leader, Nick Hall

Enjoying lunch and rest

A beautiful fuzzy caterpillar on our way back down

This Bull Snake was rattling at us and trying to scare us away 

The Camacho twins rock climbing at the end of the hike 

A pretty lizard we saw on the desert soil

The boys loved climbing these big rocks 

Monday, September 7th: Mike and I spent the whole day with Alec and Denice Smith for the FUN part of our holiday! We started out the day by riding the Sandia Peak Tramway to the top, did a bit of hiking, and enjoyed a picnic lunch that we had packed. We sat on some flat rock cliffs that overlooked the city. 

After spending a couple hours at the top, we rode the tram back down and headed to Sprouts for our favorite movie treats. Our plan was to watch "Max" at the dollar theater, but the movie was sold out. So we went back to our house and watched "The Proposal" instead. Afterwards, we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. We had to wait for about 25 minutes for a table, but we enjoyed visiting and eating peanuts. Our meals were tasty but not as good as our own home cooked dinners! Good cooks are picky eaters and big food critics! After dinner, we walked across the new foot bridge that goes over Paseo del Norte.

We were all pretty tired after a big meal and a long day. We went back to our house and played one game of Monopoly Deal before saying goodbye to our dear friends. We love the Smith's and look forward to our next double-date together.

Denice Smith and me on the Sandia Peak Tramway

Different views of the Sandia Mountains on our way up the tram

The Hobbs' and the Smith's at the top. It was 20 degrees cooler and quite windy. 

Me and my honey bear Mike enjoying the sunshine and the views

After dinner, we walked along this bridge over Paseo del Norte just for fun
Denice and Alec are such nice, sweet friends to have