Avery's Graduation

Our Main reason for the trip to New Mexico was to participate in the high school graduation of our granddaughter, Avery. We are so proud of her accomplishments!! 

Prior to the graduation, we got to have our traditional breakfast at the La Fonda French Pastry Shoppe on Wednesday morning and checked out a few shops in Sante Fe.  The ceremony itself was Thursday afternoon, and held in the auditorium of the Santa Fe Art Museum.  It was neat to have the mariachi music at the end of the program - so Santa Fe!!  The best picture I got was of her dad, Ken, being a proud father!!  

Grand kids

I wouldn't be a good grandma if I didn't share these photos of the grandkids!!  Aaron and Eleanor have a very sweet couple of kids, they are good parents!!

New Mexico Trip

We had so much fun in New Mexico this time!!  Our first two days were spent with my son, Aaron, and his little family.  In the pictures you will see Aaron, his wife, Eleanor, and their two little ones - Elliot (6y rs) and Olivia (19 mns).  Of course others in the pictures ar Dick and Ashley.  Our first visit, down at his home in Albuquerque (the first photo); then roaming the streets of Santa Fe; and finally, in the little town of Madrid, for a late lunch.  We had a good visit!!  It was so good to see each of them!!!

State Track Meet

Ashley, again, participated in the Wyoming State Track Meet this year.  It was held May 21,22, and 23 in Casper, Wyoming.  Fortunate for us, she did all her running on the first day and we added the next days to our trip to New Mexico.  Did not place as she did last year, but did run the 3200 meter (2 Mile) in 14:04.96.  A good run considering the battle she has had in shin splints this year.  Her only other race was a 4X8 Girl's Relay.  It is a race where each of four girls runs 800 meters and hands the baton off to the next girl to run 800 meters.  Her team was holding a solid 4th place, which Ashley, as third runner, helped extend their lead by 100 meters.  Unfortunately, their fourth runner lost all of the gained lead and threw her arms out at 2 meters before the finish line, impeding an oncoming runner, and getting her team disqualified.  It was a major bummer for Ashley and the other girls on the team.  She still enjoys her running, and I guess that is the most important thing!!

Last Bus Ride

Well, had to get in these pictures of a memorable event in our family - Ashley took her last school bus trip on May 19, 2009 and these are a few shots of that day.  She has had her learner's permit for some time now and has driven us for the alloted number of hours before she becomes licensed to drive in the state of Wyoming in July.  We will no longer get to wait out at the end of our driveway, visit and goof off as a family, while we wait for that late bus @ 7:15 on cold winter mornings.  It will be a bittersweet memory for each of us.

In anticipation of the coming summer, I got to thinking about a few of our horse rides of the past and thought I would share some photos.  Hopefully we will be putting more recent ones up soon.  The top photo is of Laura's quarter horse, Bandit. He's a good ole' boy, who really takes good care of her.  The second picture is several years old, but shows Ashley moving her mare, Cindy, through a crossing on the Elk Fork Trail.  

continuing on irrigation

Here are a few other pictures of irrigating, which is described more in the previous blog.  The first picture shows some of the activities of irrigating, including the chicken in the background (that yellow spot) finding food tidbits!!  The next picture is at the head gate of the canal - you can see the screened opening into our gated pipe system on the right of the picture and the dam set in place to keep the water from going on down the canal.  We use this system to irrigate about every 3-4 weeks during the summer growing season.  Our soil has quite a bit of clay content, so it holds the moisture well.