Preston in the Taos Rodeo "Hide Slide" Competition

We went to the Taos Rodeo today and it wasn't much of a rodeo (the calf roping had one contestant as well as the steer wrestling) and we were longing for the days of the Oakley rodeo or the Lehi Round-Up; however, they had many activities for the kids. This activity was demonstrated by the clown riding on the cow hide at a much higher speed and he literally "ate dirt" around the barrel. Even after seeing that Preston wanted to give it a go. We didn't think they would let him do it, but sure enough he put on a bike helmet and went at it with no fear proudly wearing his Utah Jazz jersey like a true cowboy!

20 minute catch-up

I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth. I just haven't entered the blogging world for a few months. For the few of you that occasionally check our blog, here is what is going on in our lives (and I am going to try and do this in 20 minutes - yeah right).

GRAND JUNCTION, COLORADO

We are moving the end of July. We haven't really talked or thought much about our upcoming move because we love Taos. We haven't been ready to emotionally check out yet. Last week we went house hunting and found a lovely house (complete with a guest room). One of my favorite parts of the house was this pedestal sink. This is the only glimpse of our home you get-if you want more, come visit any time after August!

TAOS

Just one reason why we will REALLY miss this place. I took this picture in May about 100 steps out of our front door. BEAUTIFUL!

CARLSBAD CAVERNS

In southern New Mexico there are some caves that are gi-normous. I know that probably isn't a word but enormous just didn't describe exactly how big these caves are! Just one room in the cave has a perimeter of 1.6 miles. Think of 14 football fields and you have an idea of the size of these caves. You can see the entrance behind the kiddos. We went about a month ago and just today Carter said, "Mom? Big cave is fun, huh?" Good times had by all.

It was REALLY bright when we came out of the caves!

On the way home we drove through Roswell, New Mexico. This is only one of MANY crazy alien paraphernalia found throughout that town. It was pretty comical - definitely worth sharing!

Bet cha didn't know that the real Smokey the Bear was born in New Mexico. He is now buried here. Another pit-stop on our way home from Carlsbad.

PRESTON

A.K.A. "Snaggel-tooth" finally lost another tooth. That thing hung around like that for FAR too long! We came up with lots of different ways to get it out, but he didn't go for any of them.

LAUREN

Oh yeah baby! She is still preparing for a career in fashion creativity (I think that is a better description of just what Lauren does with clothes than fashion designer).

CARTER

I absolutely love this kid. He has taken up calling me "Ang" and dad is "Kennan". Am I a bad mom if I call him bossy at least once a day? Here he is mutilating our pizza dough. No worries - I had enough so we didn't have to use his.

Spring in New Mexico = WIND

Spring in Taos has been beautiful. I love spring. The flowers, the bright-green grass, the budding trees, what is not to love? I have found something. Wind! It is so windy here! The wind in April was fine, I tolerated the wind in May, and now I am just plain sick of it! Today Lauren asked what is good about wind...Trying to be Patty Positive, I told her windmills which she pointed out that there aren't any in Taos. After that, I was stumped! Even Preston couldn't come up with another positive thing about all this stinkin wind. I guess I could have said flying kites :)

CRESTED BUTTE

For Spring Break (way back in April), we went to Crested Butte, Colorado. It was one of my favorite vacations EVER. We skied, swam, ate, and skied. Since we already have ski pictures on our blog, here are some of the other highlights of the trip:

The indoor/outdoor pool was super fun. Even super-cold-water-wimp (that would be me) braved the outdoor pool. Kennan lost a few $$ when he bet the kids to go and lay in the snow for 10 seconds. I didn't play that game.

Easter egg hunts in the hotel room. Lauren loved her Easter dress which she promptly put on. It took Preston forever to find his Easter basket - that Easter Bunny is really clever and hid it in a sneaky spot!

By the way - this took WAY longer then 20 minutes!