McCook Trip

Went to McCook with the sibs and Mom to visit Uncle Robert. Had a great trip, lots of fun but found Uncle Robert to be in fragile health. We were glad to have had the opportunity to help out around the house with some things and Mom arranged for some friends to take him to the doctor this week. We can all be thankful once again that we have such a big and loving family. We are truly blessed.
Our annual trip always includes a trip to a pumpkin patch on the outskirts of McCook. That is where this picture was taken. We enjoyed all the sights and sounds of a perfect autumn day.

There was a balloonfest going on in McCook (eat your heart out ABQ folks). Had 5 hot air balloons that launched from the airport at daybreak. We were late arriving and ending up chasing them all over the countryside to get a picture. Went all the way to Indianola in fact. Was a lot of fun and lots of laughs but only got some very far away pictures that are fuzzy at best. Oh well.

My love to you all as we close out October and move quickly towards Thanksgiving and then...YIKES...Christmas!

I am a real photographer...

I am not sure I am supposed to show this, or tell you guys but I would like you all to take a moment and go to this site http://www.honeychuck.com/gallery/EPArtwork/index.html Aimees friend Debra is releasing a CD with a her band and the last 6 photos on the left scroll bar are ones that I took and they are mushed together combos of my stuff and it is really cool and I am REALLY excited. And this is LPerez studios (and my friends and I's halloween pumpkins)

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

...the studio that your very own Monica and Blue Room Photography will be working out of it is really great and I am so excited my sides could split...it is FINALLY happening!!!!! Yay! I love you all and I will keep you posted as new developements come in.

Monica

does it make me old...

does the fact that the thing i want most for my 21st birthday is a bottle of wine, candles, a long hot bath, and pure uninterupted silence make me seem old?
haha....just thought id 'drop in' and say hi to all, miss all of you and am hoping to see some of you (well all, but I know thats unlikley) during the upcoming holidays. yes i said it, holidays, they put out fake christmas trees and decorations this weekend at work already sooooo yeah its here already. lol. I found out that grandma and aunt teresa are coming out for thanksgiving so im excited about that, maybe i'll try and convince Larry to come to southern CA and visit us, ha unlikley but i'll bug him about it!!! lets see, oh and my official graduation dates are may 17th for Gender and Womyns Studies and may 18th for Poli Sci, would love to have people come out to visit and see me!!!! We should all try and get to gether and have a summer reunion/ class of 2007 party since 3 of us are finishing, would be fun. ok better get back to the never-ending pile of homework.
much love and peace to all.
Nicole

Shhh... Don't Tell...

I'm sitting in my Geology lecture. Lemme tell you, I don't know if there is anything more boring than listening to someone lecture about how rocks are formed.

I swear that the whole point of getting a degree is just to prove that you can jump through the right hoops.

Things here are good. Hectic but good.

Sarah passed her nursing boards, so now she's Sarah R.N. I've been working part time in our Office of Diversity Programs and Services, with some really great people. The little bit of extra money is good so that I earn my keep.

My classes are interesting, to me anyhow. I'm doing a project on Vietnam War movies- Apocolypse Now, The Deer Hunter, and Platoon. That will be a depressing couple of weeks.

What else- oh, I'm also doing a project on Chaco Canyon. I hope to visit there with one of my professors this summer. Here is a neat movie on Chaco. Two of my professors are into Southwestern Archaeology, and they keep trying to tell me that that's where I need to work too. We'll see-- I've got a lot of life left to live, and there's a whole lotta history to look at.

Also-I've been co-teaching a sociology class this semester. At first I wasn't very into it, but am slowly watching as the students "get it", which is an interesting process. I'm afraid I might not be patient enough to teach for a living though.

That's about it here- I should probably pay attention while my professor explains erosion.

Next week? Latitude and Longitude. No, I'm not joking. Maybe Val can help me w/ my homework.

Love you all so so much. PS- a little birdie told me that Rachel has a birthday on Thursday- pop her an email or a card! (if you need the address email me bookgeek AT gmail dot com.

Little Girls

Wow!!! Little girls are a bundle of energy!! I had a great time with Val! As you may have read we went to JPL and then beach/ We also spent an afternoon at the spa getting a pedicure and a manicure. That was really nice. I think Val liked it. She definitely liked the way her nails looked at the end-she got flowers on her toes. I am not so sure she liked having to sit still for that long but I on the other had thought it was wonderful! We waited until Saturday to go to Disneyland so that Mike could come with us. Part of that was selfish--I did not want to have to ride some of the rides. My "old" body can not deal with them--not that they really could before either but... We got there during their first hour of operations and we began our day of waiting in lines. The fast pass thing was GREAT but I learned that you really need to have 2 days and a hotel room to do Disneyland right! My way of thinking is start early, go back to the hotel room when you are able to check in at about 3:00 and then go back to the park after dinner and spend the rest of the night. Repeat the second day! Val did well. She lasted the entire day without getting grumpy-me, I did not make it. Val went home Sunday at noon. Isn't she brave-flying by herself!!! Southwest is great! Mike and I spent Sunday afternoon and evening recuperating. I have to admit that I am still tired! It was a ton of fun!! Hope you all had a great weekend! Enjoy the week ya'll!
Love,
~~~Suz

Sprenkle Kin

Aunt Zan and I had fun at the beach!!!!! I saw a hermit crab, sea anenomes, a crab shell, and a starfish. I collected mussel shells and other types of shells and green sea glass. We saw a photo shoot on the beach and surfers! HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you all!!!!! ROCK ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Valerie Maestas

Southern California Fun

We are having a great time. There iswas nothing to worry about. She had a great flight with some really nice stewardesses. They got her here safely. Today we went to JPL and Val learned about what NASA does or more specifically what JPL does for NASA; saw tons of deer on campus (That's what they call JPL's land); real size replica of Cassini (satilite to Saturn); an engineering model of the Mars rover(They use it to run simulations here before trying manuevers there) on Martian like fields; ate lunch at a really really nice cafeteria with a crepe bar; mission control; and saw where they put together satillites, rovers, etc-- a very clean facility everyone has to dress like a surgeon. After that we went and spent some time at a spa; had our feet and hands done. Val got flowers on her toes and mine needed a much needed rub down after Mike and I's backpacking trip last weekend (If you can find the smugmug link you can see pictures. I saw the most beautiful sunset EVER on Saturday and then got flurried on Sunday am.) and the high heels I crazily wore to work the other day--they killed me!!! I dont know why I do that to myself! They should be banished from the earth!! We came home and met up with Mike. He started an apple pie--using the apples we got several weekends ago up north where we also picked raspberries. Awesome fun! Anyway, Val helped him with the top crust. We are currecntly sitting here eating out pie and listening to good music. Val is as active as ever and appears to be enjoying herself. I hope so! Val and I are off to the beach in the morning. More later!
Love you all
Suz and Val -- Val wants to write some tomorrow. I will let her type about our beach trip tomorrow night.

Yet another sitting...

Again...if you are sick of seeing it let me know, but I just like feed back! Heart you all!