Family Fun in Albuquerque (Nov & Dec)

November and December flew by with a lot of fun activities!

On November 21st we celebrated 5 years since Faith joined our family. I blogged about it here.

A few days later Tim's sister, Karla, and her family came to Albuquerque for the week of Thanksgiving! It's always fun to see the cousins enjoying each other and getting to spend some quality time as families!

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more fall

We've been enjoying the States. Here are some pictures to catch up on part of October and part of November.
We're starting to miss our life in the Middle East. We missed an important time for our friends, which was hard for us. But, we're glad to be here in America for a little bit.
We're looking forward to the holidays in the States, which have such a different feel than in the Middle East!

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We're in New Mexico!

Maybe you have wondered where we are and what we're doing. I thought I'd take a few minutes and share what we've been up to.

We are spending this fall semester in America! We're in New Mexico, where we're eating lots of green chili! We've been here for about a month and a half. It's been a crazy fun time catching up with family! 

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The Rest of October

In between and after Tim's sisters visited we had other fun things we did. We got to be with some other friends and some down time at Tim's parents' house.

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Tonya's visit

Tim's oldest sister, Tonya, came to visit last week and we had a blast! It was so good for Joseph and Faith to have some time with their cousins. We made some great memories!

Tonya has four kids Tori is 12 years old and the triplets (Josh, Justin, and Jackie) are 11 years old. They are so sweet with Joseph and Faith! It's fun to see them together!

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Karla's Visit

This week Tim's sister, Karla, came to visit from Colorado. She brought her two kiddos, but her husband had to stay home for work. It was SO GREAT for the cousins to play together! We're so glad she came!

I hope you enjoy all the fun pictures of our time with them!

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Grandma & Grampa visit

We decided that we wouldn't travel around while we're on vacation this time. So, my parents (aka: Grandma &  Grampa) came to visit for our first week. It was a fun time!!

They spoiled their grandkids and made lots of memories! We're so thankful that they came down to Albuquerque to spend time with us!

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Balloon Fiesta 2013

We are in New Mexico for a few weeks during October for vacation. It's so nice to be able to spend time with family! We wanted to make sure to be here for Balloon Fiesta because it's something we've missed. We haven't seen it for 4 years and it's something we wanted our kids to experience.

There's just nothing like being on the field when hundreds of hot air balloons are being blown up and lifting off. 

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August

August was such a busy month for us, but it was a lot of fun!! Tim was taking a 4-week course for teaching English as a second language. It was an intensive course and we didn't get to see him very much, so we spent our time catching up with friends and spending some extra time with family!

It was a lot of fun for us, but a lot of work for Tim. He ended up getting bronchitis at the end and was trying to recover as we finished packing and traveled back to the Middle East. Thankfully he seems to be almost completely better now!

I wish I could sum up all that we did in words, but pictures will have to do this time! Enjoy this slideshow of our time in Denver:

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Five Favorites

Here are five of our favorite places that we will miss from Albuquerque! We've really enjoyed New Mexican food, breakfast burritos, green chili in biscuits & gravy, and green chili on our pizza! 

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10 Indications that we're ready to go back

1. 108 degree weather was familiar and comforting in a strange way.
2. We miss seeing our little boy in a dress.
3. We're starting to have dreams in Arabic again.
4. It seems so natural to say "Salaamtik" when someone sneezes!
5. We're sad we missed Eli's birthday party. :(
6. Joseph was jumping up and down when he got to have hummus for dinner.
7. Seeing a Saudi flag made us excited.
8. At McDonalds we were wishing we had hummus instead of ketchup to dip our fries.
9. It's tempting to flash our lights at someone who is driving slow in the fast lane.
10. The kids are singing the Arabic Alphabet nonstop! 

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Greeley Stampede

Last Sunday we went to the Greeley Stampede! We took two full car loads with my parents, our family, Tim's parents, Tim's sister Karla and her kids.

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Grampa Day!

Last Saturday was a special day! We celebrated Father's Day and Grampa's birthday. We called in Grampa Day! It was fun to celebrate my dad! The kids loved having Grampa Day! Grampa's birthday is Friday, July 8th!! We're so thankful that he was born on this day...so thankful that God placed him in our family!

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Fourth of July!!

We had such a great time on July 4th!! We haven't been able to celebrate America's Independence Day in the States since 2006. It was extra special for us to be able to be in the States this year! We put on our red, white, and blue and went to the parade in Greeley, Colorado! We have enjoyed the parade in this farming community in the past and so we were looking forward to it! We met our friends, the Napiers, who had found us a good spot the day before! 

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Glenwood Springs

This week we had a special time with my (Jeni) side of the family! We went with my parents and my brother Andrew to Glenwood Springs, CO. Growing up we would drive up to this fun mountain town every once in a while. I have so many memories here and it was fun to go back with my kids!

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Family time

Last week we got to spend some more time with Tim's sister's family another time before we go back overseas. We're so grateful for the time that we got to spend with them!!
One day we went swimming. Another day we went to the children's museum and the last day we went to the splash pad. We also got to enjoy lots of hanging out time! :)

You can see more pictures of our time below...

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Surprising Kelly

We were so excited to surprise my cousin Kelly!! We happened to be in the same place at the same time and so we met up for breakfast. She was just telling my uncle, "I wonder if I'll get to meet Joseph and Faith before they go into highschool." Little did she know that they were waiting for her at the restaurant!!  

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Time with Nana and Uncle Dan

Last week we got to spend some time with Jeni's Grandma and Uncle Dan! They sure love Joseph and Faith. They spoil these two kiddos and Faith and Joseph love it!

They call my grandma "Nana" a name that Joseph insisted on when he was a baby! They have so much fun with Nana. She gave Faith a set of play jewelry, which was so cute! She loved wearing her tiara, earings, necklace and ring. Faith is such a girly girl!

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Papa's Birthday

It's not hard for us to remember Papa's birthday because it's the same day as our anniversary!! We were glad to get to celebrate his birthday with him this year! We celebrated a few days late since we were in Washington DC on June 3rd. We went to Chilis and introduced him to the Molten Chocolate Cake!! YUM!!


Below are a few more pictures of our time!

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Washington DC

Last week we left Joseph and Faith in Albuquerque with grandparents. We flew to Washington DC, just the two of us! It was such a nice time together!

We loved getting to catch up with friends!! We were close to Elizabeth when she was living in the Middle East in the same city that we were in. What a special friendship with a wonderful friend!

We also got to catch up with some friends we got to know in Albuquerque. Shaun & Anna recently adopted a precious baby girl! We got to meet this sweet baby and rejoice with them in how God has worked in their family!

I'm including a slide show of our pictures below.

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