My Getaway Trip

{January 17-21}
I want to say that back in October I found a killer deal on airfare to New Mexico. Why New Mexico you ask? Oh just because it's where my dearest Stephanie lives. After looking at the calendar & Doug's schedule I decided that I was going to treat myself to a mini vaca to go & see her. And she of course didn't object to the idea either. So the flight was booked & I had to wait a couple months. Boo! The closer it got, the more excited I became. I tried really hard not to make it sound so in front of Doug as I know he was not thrilled about being alone with the boys for 4 days. Yep, you read that right. I was making this trip solo! 

The day finally arrived that I got to go to the airport by myself. I'll tell ya, I've never had such a feeling that I was forgetting something though. I'm use to traveling with kids & having a LOAD of stuff. To go through security & boarding with only my carry-on & purse was super nice & so much less stressful. 

I was all set & ready to go with these good reads. (bossy pants was hysterical & i highly recommend it) I think I could easily get use to this form of travel. This was already the best vacation ever & it hadn't even started yet. :)

When I landed in Albuquerque & was walking through the terminal I started to get super nervous for some reason to see my friend. It was that giddy/nervous feeling that later she admitted having as well, but described as 'waiting to see a missionary' feeling. Haha! Love her. When I saw her it took everything in me to not start running & squealing as I knew that would draw attention to us grown women acting like middle school girls. We did embrace for a long while & as cheesy as it sounds, during that embrace it was like all the time that had passed was no longer then a mere day. 

We hopped in her sweet new 'I'm a Dentists wife' car (jealous) & headed downtown to meet up with two of our other sweet friends from dental school. I had not seen Megan or Crescent since they moved from Buffalo in 2011 so this was a real treat for me.

This is a picture from our last GNO in Buffalo before they moved.

We ate dinner at the Standard Diner & we pretty much had the place to ourselves. The food was good, but the company was even better. After dinner we headed back to Crescents house to stay the night. We stayed up WAY too late talking & talking & talking. I'm pretty sure I may have dosed off a time or two as it was about 3:00AM my time. Haha! But I was not about to call it a night since it was the only I got with all three of them.

The next morning I went for a run which felt great since I did so much sitting the day before. It's always fun to explore new places too. I found some trails along a gully that were nice & I even saw a coyote. I was totally freaked out & was starting to plan my escape route in case it started to chase me. I kept saying to myself, "Do not make eye contact!" over & over. But of course I did make eye contact & just picked up my pace til it was out of sight. I'm lame I know, but those things can be dangerous right?

It was pretty cold out so I didn't last long. When I got back we had some breakfast & then we had to get on the road to Farmington so Steph could relieve the babysitter. It was so much fun seeing Megan, Crescent & their girls & I'm so happy & grateful that they made the effort to see me. It was great!

It was about a 3 hour drive to Farmington, but I wouldn't have guessed that since we just yapped about anything & everything the entire time. I was beyond excited to see my little boyfriends Collin & Weston! And I think it's safe to say they were excited to see me too. :) Collin was showing off on his scooter & Weston was all smiles & even let me pick him up & hold him. (which Steph says doesn't happen with most people) Score! I loved seeing Steph's house in person. It made all the photos become real to me now that I could actually visualize correctly where everything was. 

 

We spent that day just bumming around the house & I even got a little nap in too while Weston took his. After Collin got back from school we hit up Target for a little shopping.

 Love these two monsters! 

 

After Target we headed over to Travis' dental office. It was really fun for me to see where he works & meet his staff. Still weird to think that he is actually a practicing dentist versus my still in school dentist husband. So happy for Dr. Travis Evans, DDS & the life he is creating for his little family. My family.

Steph got another sitter for the evening so the three of us went out for dinner. Yes, I was the 3rd wheel & loved every minute of it! :) We went to Mikasa for some sushi.

 {Steph & Travis}

 They were pretty surprised that I as up for sushi. I told them I was growing up! Well, taking baby steps that is. I still don't handle the raw sushi very well. Everything we ordered was delicious!

 

 

After I took their picture they were going to take mine, but I insisted that Steph jump in as I didn't want to look like complete loner on this date. Haha! Glad she did because I LOVE this picture!

On our way back home we stopped in to get some frozen yogurt for dessert. I love the self serve & love even more tasting samples of all the different flavors.

 I ended up getting chocolate, pistachio & strawberry topped with all sorts of goodies. Yum!

These two sure know how to treat a gal on the town. It was the best 3rd wheel date I've ever been on!

Nights at the house were spent crafting a Valentines Day wreath that Steph had found. It was so much fun doing something together like we always use to do. I love how they turned out too!

Saturday morning Steph & I went to her zumba class & rocked out with some killer dance moves. It was so fun! Man, why can't we live by each other!!! After the class we hit up Mickey D's for some smoothies & hit the road for Durango to go check out some natural hot springs.  We stopped to grab some lunch at this yummy Fresh Mexican place (chipotle type) & then we were all set & ready for some R&R. Well neither of us had ever been to Trimble Hot Springs, but we both pictured being able to lounge around on chairs basking in the sunlight, reading & then dipping in the hot springs. Well....our pictures were off. WAY off! It's hard to explain, but it wasn't the spa-like place we had in our heads. The hot springs was more of a giant rectangular pool with a ledge all the way around for you to sit on. That was it. There were a lot of very interesting looking people there so at least we got in some good people watching. We kept giggling to each other as we were observing the 'au natural' types. One in particular was a young woman that had extremely long armpit hair. Yuck! But we got an even bigger laugh after we asked ourselves, "I wonder what they are all thinking about us!". haha! As we were most definitely the ones 'out of place'. It was fun & a new adventure we got to share. We stayed for a couple hours & then decided that was long enough.

We walked around downtown & window shopped in a few clothing & home furniture stores. 

 These masks were in a little novelty gift shop & we kept saying how fun it would be to throw a masquerade party. These were our favorites.

We had dinner at the Palace Grill before driving back to Farmington. I'm glad that Trav was willing to stay home with the boys so that Steph could have a little getaway of her own. 

Sunday we went to church. It was so nice being able to actually listen to the speakers, music & lessons all three hours. :) But I'm not going to lie, I still found myself a little distracted by these two cute boys.

 {Collin}

 {Weston}

 As we were leaving church & walking to the car, we couldn't help but laugh & also snap a picture of Weston's extreme plumbers crack.

This boys pants would not stay up & by the end neither would his diaper. Haha!

My two handsome boyfriends!

Since church as early we had the entire day to just chillax & have fun. While the boys napped we watched Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. "Bless your beautiful hide!". Haha! After naps we went on a walk around the neighborhood. You wouldn't think anything of it, but this little outing brought back a TON of memories from Buffalo. We went on walks every Sunday & either we stopped in at the Evans' or they stopped in at our place. It made me a little homesick for them even though I was with them.

After dinner we played a couple rounds of CandyLand with the boys. Collin was pretty happy about the fact that Aunt Rachel wanted to play. :) 

 Loving me some Evans family time!

I sure love these boys like they were my own! 

After they went to bed us grown ups stayed up late talking & eating dessert. Knowing I was leaving the next day I didn't want the night to come to an end. Maybe they'd let me move in? Oh wait, what about the others in Florida? Hmmmm? I guess I do have to go back. :) Haha!

My flight didn't leave until 2:30 on Monday so we all drove in to Albuquerque & hit the mall for some lunch and shopping. It was really hard for me to say goodbye to my second family. We were already planning our next visit as to make it an easier departure. To no surprise I did get all teary-eyed as we hugged goodbye. I really hate that New Mexico is soooo far from Florida. :( Thank you Evans family for letting me come for a visit! It was too short, but fun lived & I enjoyed every second I got with you all! Now we just have to get them to Florida for some sunshine & sand!