Let it snow Let it snow

It finally snowed in Albuquerque. Real white stuff that stuck to the ground. The whole town shut down for 2in of it. The kids had a snow day from school, I had the day off work. Derek even got sent home a few hours early. The first thing we did once we got home was PARTY. I bundled the kids up and we played in the snow for hours.

Thanksgiving

We were excited to get our holiday started early. The kids were drinking tons of caffeine to stay awake for Aunt Lisa's arrival. The excitement came to a hault when we got a late night call. My little cousin was in an accident, wrecked the car on her way to see us. Even though we were heart broke and very concerned about her, Thanksgiving day still came. We made the most of it. We cooked all day and filled our hearts and mind with good loving thoughts. Derek made the best pies we have ever had. By the time we served the feast we were all to stuffed to even finish one plate. We will be having Turkey dinner for weeks. I can say it was a great Thanksgiving, it opened our souls to what is important to us... Family. Lisa is doing ok, she had surgery Thanksgiving day and spent the holiday in a hospital far from her home and hours from us. But, we know she and her family felt loved and Thankful. Thanksgiving still came for them too, the hospital served them Turkey Dinner.

Gettin' ready for our day of Thanks.

The 65 degree weather makes it a little difficult to get in the Holiday spirit, but we are doing our best. We are so excited to share our new world with some family and friends. A few weeks ago Derek's (and Lil's)friend Tyson was in town and stopped by to have a barbeque with us (I know a barbeque in November, what the hell?!).
My little cousin and her family are coming to see us for Thanksgiving. We have a huge, amazing kitchen here that gives us plenty of room to drink while we cook our feast. And, I have a gravy boat! I know it sounds silly but you can't have Thanksgiving without one. I drove all over town to find one. It's gunna be a wonderful holiday. I have managed to blow our entire monthly grocery budget on this one meal. It has been difficult to instruct the children to leave the food alone until Thanksgiving.
It is a family (Tucker family) tradition to watch Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" after our Thanksgiving Feast. We have not had that movie the last few years, so we compromised with any Holiday movie we had. I am so excited to say this year we will be watching Bing Crosby!!!! I also stuck with the new tradition we made the last few years so we also have "A Nightare Before Christmas".

Not a Traditional "Bray" Halloween

Derek became a Tucker this Halloween. No raging party. No bathroom incidents. No bowling trophy for "best costume!" Just a calm relaxed Halloween with the kiddo's. Our attempts at a party were smashed with excuses that memorizing a map was more pressing. Oh and an Obama rally in a swing state stole some of our guests as well.

I passed out candy and Lil took the kids around the hood. I was a little jealous of all the other parents taking kids around. This state definitely has more of a party atmosphere than UT. Most adults were waiting at the curb with their own treats!

Harley and her friend Kiana were punk-rockers. Kodalee was Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana. Tripp was Thomas the tank engine and a pumpkin. Seems that our 2.5 year old lost interest in the first costume half way through the day. The pics in the Thomas costume were a task. You can sort of make out that I was chasing him around to capture the pic.

We all carved pumpkins. What a blast. I must say Lil is far more artistic than I!

I also attached some photos of little Tripp attempting to be an urban rock climber. He is holding the window sill and climbing the wall in our room. What a goof!

Halloween Bash

This new land of enchantment is proving a damper on the Bray Halloween Bash. We're gonna attempt to have our own party. We are jonesing a bit since we were on a cruise ship for last years bash. Not quite as far away this year but still won't be on Connie Drive. I shall keep you posted on how things go.

Oh Hail !!

Yes, I did cave and let Derek get the wonderful barbeque. While we were at Home Depot picking it out, we had quite a storm. First, we had a hard time finding one in stock. The only one they had was sitting out front in the light sprinkling rain. We agreed to purchase it if we could have a discount. The manager decided to give us a 10% discount. While we were waiting in line to make our purchase the light sprinkle turned to a "Power Wash". We were stuck inside waiting out the storm. Well, by now I wondered if anything would be left of our new barbeque that was getting pounded by the hail. Once the storm was over Derek got his new toy and I got a hint of "New Mexico Snow".

Good Timing

Well it's a good thing we got the kiddo's gathered up and attended our balloon fiesta activities last weekend with my mom in town. Everything was cancelled the latter part of this week due to high winds. Thursday morning was very cool as it was the special shapes mass ascension. I watched it from the center while at work which isn't too far from the fiesta park. It is an awesome sight to see over 100 special shaped hot air balloons in the sky.

The girls are finished with their first semester of school. Yesterday was fall break. All of the children are so intelligent. It scares me!

I finally convinced my amazing fiance to let me have a toy! Look how sweet it is.


And it's a Comsumer Reports best buy. Yay it's gonna be so awesome.

ABQ Balloon Glow IV

 

 

 

 

ABQ Balloon Glow III

 

 

 

 

ABQ Ballon Glow II

 

 

 

 

ABQ Balloon Glow I

 

 

 

 

ABQ International Balloon Fiesta

 

 

 

 

Cross Dressing Thursdays

 

 

 

Oh yeah some good bribery for Tripp when he's older. He loves mommy's shoes. Uh oh.

Beautiful ABQ

So many people have said that ABQ is the armpit of the west. I don't think they were trying to hard too enjoy it here because this place is amazing.

From Rainbow 09 '08

From Rainbow 09 '08

From Rainbow 09 '08

From Rainbow 09 '08

Koda's Birthday 08

Koda had a chef party for her seventh birthday. We had such a blast. Look how beautiful our tiny girl is.

Harley's Birthday 09/13/08

Harley chose to have a masquerade for her 11th birthday. We brought the kids over, set up a camera for the kids to shoot poses. Being the cruel parents we are, we played a little prank on Har's...she wanted a skateboard so we went ahead and got her a finger skateboard. Before we gave her the real deal! Look how excited she is in the pic with the finger board!!!

Some Family Hiking

There are several collections of petroglyphs close to our new casa. We forced the kids out to go and play some.

And so it begins!

After hearing from a few close friends they want to see "Life With Derek" updated we decided to put a blog together for the family. Here we go...hope you enjoy.

You know you're in ok city when