The Land of Enchantment

How many of you knew what I was referring to in the post title?  Be honest now.

Even if you didn't know, how many of you would guess that I was referring to New Mexico, USA?

Yeah, didn't think many of you would.  If I didn't know, I probably wouldn't have guessed it either.

At the end of March we were able to ditch school and work for a day to head down to New Mexico to visit family that we don't get to see too often.  Blue's sister and her husband live there along with their three adorable kids.  We got to celebrate each child differently.

First, we celebrated this little one's third birthday.  For convenience's sake, I'll call him L.  His grandma made him a Thomas the Tank Engine cake.

L decided that he'd rather eat it without utensils.  I'm of the opinion that as long as you're young and cute enough to get away with it, you should go for it.

Who could resist that face?

After L opened presents, Blue and L's older brother, J, put together L's new helicopter.

We also got to meet little miss N for the first time.  She is quite possibly the happiest baby ever.  Even though she had a slight fever and cough while we were there, she hardly fussed at all.

If I can have an adorable and agreeable baby like that, sign me up!

Later that day we went to J's soccer game.  It reminded me of all the fun I had playing soccer when I was younger.  Seven and eight year old children have a lot of energy--they never seemed to get tired of running around, not even in the hot New Mexico sun (which gave me a nasty sunburn).

Possibly the main event of the weekend was J's baptism.  Here he is with his family before the service.

Blue snapped this shot of J and his incredibly blue eyes.

Yeah, I'm really hoping our kids get some of those.

It was a very nice service and it was good to be reminded of the covenants I made when I was that age and that I renew every Sunday when I take the sacrament.  Congratulations to J for trying to be like Jesus!

Afterwards we took some informal family pictures.  We're pretty cute, huh?

On Sunday little miss N was blessed by her daddy.  Here she is with her mommy in her blessing dress.

After that we made the long drive home.  Blue declared it the perfect vacation because we were doing something the whole time and didn't just sit around doing nothing.  I would have liked it to be a day or so longer (I mean, we drove there on Friday, spent Saturday doing things, then drove home on Sunday, so it was a quickie) but it really was a great weekend with the whole family.  It looks like we'll be getting together again at the end of May.

I'm so glad my in-laws are cool and not crazy. Here's to family. :)