A Train Ride!

Well folks Ty and I had a great date night last night! We went up to Santa Fe and rode on the Santa Fe Southern RY. This was my first time on a train and really loved it. Ty said he had fun too. We drove pretty fast to make sure we made it after Ty picked me up at my work. Drove to Chocolate Maven in Santa Fe to bring a little treat for the ride. Holy Cow is Santa Fe very packed, meaning no room for parking. We luckily found some free underground parking and made it on the train just in time, phew! Our ride took us through Santa Fe and then headed due south for about an hour.

The seats in this train were so cool! You could flip the back of the seats to face whatever way you wanted. So some people with big groups could face each other or you could put your feet up.

This is when the Rail Runner passed us. This train goes back and forth from Santa Fe to Albuquerque.

The coolest part about this train is that they had this open area you could go to outside. We stood out there most of the way out to our destination. The train was probably moving around 20-25 mph so it wasn't too bad standing outside.

The boards we were standing on.

Our fearless conductor

This picture doesn't do the view we had any justice at sunset.

 

After our awesome ride we at dinner at Rooftop Pizzeria, soooooo good! We ate outside in the cool Santa Fe night and stuffed ourselves with goodness:) It was such a great and fun night spending time with each other. . . LOVE LOVE LOVE date nights!!!!!!

An Award!

So this was a pleasant surprise:) About a month ago Ty asked if I wanted to go to a dinner for his work. He said it was for a project he helped with at work and some of the big wigs would be there. So about two weeks ago we went to the Biopark here in ABQ for the special dinner. The guests were asked to wear business attire and everyone looked really nice. We first checked in and got our name badges to wear and then we were escorted to the aquarium for drinks and appetizers. Very very nice. It was fun to watch the big fish swim around and to munch on some yummy food.

After about an hour they escorted us out onto the main area outside for a buffet. The food was yummy and they passed around red velvet cake. At this time they started the awards ceremony for those whose inventions were pattened, other inventors, and finally those who contributed a lot of hard work towards the company. Ty received the last award with a select handful of other people. I am very proud for what a great job he is doing at his work:)

 Ty even pulled out his Suit for the event. He informed me that he hasn't put it on since his last job interview about 4.5 years ago:)

Look what I can do!

Ty has been great helping out with stuff. For instance the other day I was trying to plug in my alarm clock for my new job but our bed was in the way. Even with my long arms and 15 year old wrists I couldn't get it plugged in. This bed weighs a ton and it's a big project to move it. Ty comes up with this idea to use his Musky reaching stick (what we use to pull the big fish in and not have them chew us up) to plug in the cord.

Also  our trolling motor has been leaking gas a lot and it stinks up our garage. Ty doesn't like to leave it on the boat and wanted to build a stand for it. YE-Ta-Dee! This is what he built for it. What a man!:)

Mormon Battalion Monument

Ty and I have driven past the sign on I-25 when we go fishing for this monument and I put it on the list of must see. So one Sunday we waited till it was evening time, because it was so blasted hot, then grabbed some crackers to eat on the way up. It's about a half hour drive from our place but the weather slowed us down a bit. . . monsoon season my friends!!!! Holy cow the rain was coming down hard, got a little frightening at one point. Anywho we made it safe and sound.

The mother load!

Went to Bluewater Lake in search of Musky's. Got the right gear, got the right poles, and got our game faces on! We caught 6 in total! These fish are huge and soooo much fun to catch. They look a lot like a pike. The rules to the game. Catch and release only UNLESS the fish is bigger than 40 inches. We caught Musky's between 25-28 inches so we threw them back. We loved it so much that we are going back again tomorrow. Our goal: to catch one that we can keep!

All the pics are taken with the different fish we caught ourselves.

 The first fish that was caught by Ty. As he was reeling it in I realized that I had one as well. Mine turned out to be a crawfish:)

 The picture isn't the best but if you look real close you can see some wild horses. There are a couple up here at Bluewater

Ty's new look

After our trip, I asked Ty if I could do his haircut. . . he said yes. Dear world here is Ty's new look!

Utah Vacation

At the end of July Ty and I made our way up to Utah to vacation with the Smith family up in Midway and to see my family also. It was such a fun time! My dad picked us up from the airport and we made our way to Kennecott Copper Mine. I went to it when I was a little kid for a school field trip and I don't remember a thing. Ty has never been and thought it would be fun to go see. 

On our drive up to the mine.

 Dad, Ty, and I liked looking over the edge and watching the big machinery driving around. We thought the little white truck in the picture below was crazy how small it was compared to the others. A little bit later we realized that it wasn't a truck but a semi truck! Man the mine trucks are HUGE!

 Of course we had to get the classic picture while here:)

 Tuesday we went on a little hike with my family up Battle Creek canyon. You can see Evan Rude, Ty, and dad leading the way.

 Addie, mom, Brynlee behind mom, and Ickles in the far right. Ty and I then visited some friends in SL valley. Then that night for Pioneer Day we went with my family to Lynn and DeAnn's house for a BBQ. It was good to spend time with family.

The next day we headed out with Ty's family for the Smith family vacation to Midway. I absolutely love Midway, what a beautiful area!!!! Here is the place where we all stayed. It was a gorgeous house!

 The view from the back of the house after you climbed a hill. You can see a little bit of Deer Creek in the background.

 Another view. . .

Most of Ty's nieces in their matching dresses

The next day we went to Deer Creek to play in the water. Ty and I did a little bit of fishing and caught this guy.

Here is the Smith's stakeout on the beach. We had sea doos we were taking turns on, lots of fun!

 Stopped at a cheese/milk place on our way back from the Lake. Aggie ice cream for all!!! Thanks Sue and Skipper:)

The next day we went to Park City and the Olympic park to do some fun rides.

 I have heard of people going up to the olympic park to just watch the athletes train. . . Can I say fun! In the picture below you can see a ski jumper in the air doing flips.

 The family watching the athletes jump.

 On our way to go do the slide and the zip lines we watched some long jumpers coming down the hill.

 Here's the crew for the Alpine Slide.

 The zip line was a little too much for me. . . let's be honest I just survived the tram ride up to the top:) Ty came down the zip line with the skipper.

 Ty's in the white and the Skipper in orange.

 One of the rules to the house was to take off your shoes when you came in:)

 As we were waiting in the Salt Lake Airport to board our plane Saturday, they came on speaker saying that our flight was overbooked and they were offering $400 voucher for those who were willing to stay longer and take the flight out the next morning. Ty and I were all over that. In the end we have a total of $800 vouchers for our next flights, a free hotel room, and free meals. We stayed in downtown SLC in a very nice hotel room. We had dinner and then walked around SL. We were just two blocks from the Gateway, Temple Square, and the new City Creek mall.

 On our walk back from City Creek we stopped and got us some cheese cake, YUMMY!

The next morning our ride picked us up and we were off once again for ABQ. Got home around noon and even made a Sacrament meeting. Our trip was loads of fun! We love visiting with our families and our friends:)