Sunday, July 25, 2010

Ute Stampede 2010

Last Saturday Scott and I both took the day off, me from my FritoLay job and Scott from Hostess and we went to the Ute Stampede like we do every year. We headed down there in the morning and went to the car show. A lot of cool cars. The car show for the Ute Stampede is better than any other car shows I have seen anywhere. There was one car that was painted all patriotic and I thought that was awesome. After the car show we went to get some doughnuts that Scott loves. Later we went to the little craft fairs that they have at all the city festivals and I bought two new watch bands. There were a ton of booths with the watch bands. It was pretty crazy. Lots of options, but most of them are too gaudy for me. But I found some I really liked. Apparently Scott's mom's cousin makes them as well, so I may have her make some for me in the future. Who knows, don't have a lot of spending money right now. Anyway, we watched the ever wonderful bathing beauty parade and then had dinner and went to the rodeo that night. The rodeo is always a lot of fun. It seemed like it was a bit longer this year and the half way entertainment was awesome. They were motocross and really impressive. Anywhoo, after the rodeo we always walk through the carnival on the way home and man, did I feel old. I am not old people, but watching all the teenagers run around the carnival and act like idiots made me feel ancient. I was pretty annoyed with how stupid they were and thought wow, I have gotten old. I guess that was 8 years ago. Almost a decade since I was in high school. I'm not old, but I am a lot older than them. It was a good weekend. I was glad we were able to have a weekend off together. Scott has been helping on a route recently and with me working so much for Frito we only see each other 2 or 3 times a week. It has been hard. Hopefully we will be able to see each other more soon. This weekend we spent all morning together on Saturday, but I had to work Saturday night. I don't mind working during the week, but Saturdays it is really hard to leave Scott at home. But at least I know it is only temporary!

Monday, July 12, 2010

"Team Building"

For a couple of years, my boss has been talking about getting together as a department and doing something fun. He finally pinned down a date about a month ago and this weekend was the big hoopla. It was a lot of fun. Friday afternoon we went golfing as a department. The department really consists of two young girls just starting marriages and 3 middle aged men (I hope that isn't rude to say). Anyway, my boss also invited the CFO and they both brought their sons. I know not everyone enjoys golf as much as I do or as much as my boss does, but I had a really good time, and I beat everyone in my group. That always makes you feel good when usually I have the worst score. But considering I play with a scratch golfer most of the time, that is not surprising.
Anyway, Saturday night we had a BBQ at my boss' house. We were able to bring our spouses with us, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. It was great to get to spend some time with the people I work with in a social setting rather than a work setting. I really enjoyed hearing stories of what things were like for them years ago and a little more about what their temperaments are like. We had little starters before dinner and some nice conversation and then my boss grilled chicken and ribs and then we had dessert after. It was super tasty. I was so glad we were able to do the whole thing. I thought it might be awkward, but it was fantastic. I think even Scott enjoyed himself. He was extremely entertained by one of my co-workers. I hope we get to do it again!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

New Mexico Vacation

This post is loooong overdue considering we went on vacation the week of Memorial Day, but I have been so busy with work I haven't really haven't had the time or energy to blog. I have been leaving at 730 in the morning and getting home between 9 and 10 at night. I got done early tonight and Scott is sleeping, so I have a little while to do nothing before I go to bed. So, I blog.
Unfortunately since it has been so long I don't think I remember all of the details of every day, but I will give a brief synopsis with pictures inserted here and there. It is going to be really long so feel free not to read the entire thing.
Sunday we left super early in the morning to head to Albuquerque because Scott felt that was the best time for him to drive. We both worked Saturday evening and got a little bit of sleep before we left, but both of us stayed awake for the drive and the 9 hours seemed to go by pretty quick. Scott set everything up so I could sleep, but I didn't really fall back asleep. Oh well. We got there around 130 in the afternoon and had to wait for our hotel room to be ready, but once it was, we went right to sleep.
Monday we hit our first golf course of the trip. With it being Memorial Day we knew the course would be busy and we would be paired with a couple of other people and we weren't thrilled about it, but we got lucky. We played with one of the nicest guys I have ever met. He was super laid back and fun. He kept me relaxed and was really helpful to Scott telling him where he wanted to aim his drives and stuff. I would love to play golf with him again and he actually gave us his card so if we are ever in town again we can give him a call and set up a round. The course we played was Sandia Resort, and everyone there was super nice. Scott said it was the best customer service (for lack of better way to put it) that he has ever had at a course. They just really made us feel at home even though we were on vacation. It was a good round of golf.After our golf game we headed to Scott's brother Bryce's house to join his family for dinner. We went to a really cute place that I don't remember the name of. It was supposed to be authentic New Mexican food. Didn't love the food, but the ambiance was really great. It was fun hanging out with them too, they lived in VA when Scott and I got married and now in NM, so I don't know them very well, but I absolutely adore Bryce's wife Christin. She is a lot of fun to be around and one of the nicest people I have ever met.
Tuesday we decided to golf again. We got up early and hit Paa Ko Ridge Golf Course. We had to drive up the canyon to get there, so it was a little bit of a drive, but it was well worth it. It was a BEAUTIFUL course. Absolutely gorgeous. The starter actually put us out before our tee time so we could play in a twosome and we barely saw anyone else the entire day. It was great. Unfortunately the course has 27 holes and we only played the additional 9 and the front nine. but maybe one day we will get back there to play the back 9, because the starter talked about how amazing the views were on the back 9 and how sad she was we weren't going to play it while we were on vacation. It was beautiful and a lot of fun anyway though.
Tuesday afternoon we headed up to the Sandia Peak Tram ride, which is the longest aerial tram in the world. I am glad we did it for that reason, but it was kind of a waste I thought. It was $20 per person and basically we just went up and it made Scott and I (who are both afraid of heights) pretty nervous. It was really high up at parts and I know it was safe, but still. It cramped and smelly and we basically got to the top and couldn't see much because it was hazy and then we just waited for the tram down. Not as great as I expected.
Wednesday morning we got up really early and played golf with Bryce at Twin Warriors Golf Club. It was really nice and was the most expensive, but we got a free shirt, a bag tag, a divot repair tool and I can't remember what else, but it seemed like a lot of stuff. Another beautiful course, but didn't compare to Paa Ko Ridge. It was nice to play with Scott's brother though and we had a good time. I didn't play very well the front 9, but made up for it on the back 9 and didn't hate my score.
Wednesday afternoon we drove to Carlsbad NM and checked in to our AWESOME hotel. It is called Trinity Hotel and it was a bank way back in the day. They had modern furnishings in this totally historic building and the room we stayed in was 1200 sq feet. It was called the safe room because the safe was still in it. The actual safe was converted into a little media room with a tv and a couch. It was really nice and definitely worth the price. We had dinner there that night and breakfast was complimentary with the room the next morning. I would definitely stay there again. Fantastic.
Thursday morning we headed over to the Carlsbad Caverns. They were so amazing. We went on the King's Palace tour and we went on a couple of self guided tours and there was still a lot more to see.Another thing I highly recommend. I had been to the Timpanogos caves and they were puny and lame comparatively. I want to go back and see more of the Carlsbad Caverns. Four hours just wasn't enough time!
We drove back to Albuquerque that night and hung out with Bryce's fam again. It was a good time. We watched the wipe out couples edition. It was pretty funny.
Friday things started to slow down for us a little bit. We actually slept in a bit Friday morning and we went to the Botanical Gardens, the aquarium, and old town during the day and then headed over to Bryce's house for dinner. It was fantastic to have a home cooked dinner that night after eating out every other night. Lots of junk. That night we went on the old town ghost tour. Totally freaked me out. Awesome.
Saturday morning we got up the earliest we had our entire trip to go on a hot air balloon ride! It was soooo cool. It was not even scary at all. It was actually hard to believe we left the ground because the take off was so smooth. We actually flew over a golf course and got some cool pictures. It was a really great experience and I was glad we did it even though I got sick and wanted to throw up for about 30 minutes of the ride. Scott actually kind of made fun of me for that because I wanted to badly to go on the hot air balloon ride and I ended up not feeling well. Even so, I was really glad we did it. We went back to the hotel and took a nap after we got back and then headed back over to Bryce's house to hang out a little more.
Oh by the way, we had scrumptious Cinnabon for dinner twice. I really wish they had those here...