On Friday we got to Santa Fe just fine..even though getting up at 5 something is painful, it's better than flying overnight and trying to sleep on the airplane. I didn't have a window seat on the way to Seattle, but I could see a little of the Alaska Range from where I was sitting (the guy at the window was taking lots of pics, I hope he got some good ones!). Aunt Cindy picked us up at Albuquerque and drove us the 50-60 miles to Santa Fe. Earlier in the day Dean stepped off something wrong and sprained his ankle pretty badly..it was really swollen. Ouch! Their dog Blanca was happy to see mom and I hehe. We played a trivia game and talked and then went to bed (my bed has four posts, nice! LOL. I've been teased mercilessly since telling Cindy and Dean about how hard it is for me to say "post"..I wouldn't say it when they were there lol)

Yesterday Dean went to the clinic for his ankle (a bad sprain, like he thought). He's been having to ice it and elevate it and can just manage to hobble around..he hates not being able to do much! The rest of us did errands and stuff..at the store, mom and Cindy were like "you should help us chop off stuff for dinner!" I groaned and was like "if I say IT, do I not have to cook?" and mom said "if you say post ten times in a row without stuttering then you don't have to!" Oh NOOO impossible haha!! Indeed, I failed immediately when I tried saying it LOL, so they had me chop a bunch of vegetables haha. Tedious, which is probably why they wanted my help. :P I kept practicing with "post," and eventually could say it without stuttering! Everyone was proud. :D It was kinda fun showing my skills off then LOL. It was cool eating dinner and saying "behold, I chopped this!" haha. After dinner we played Catan, in which I lost dreadfully, talked more, and eventually went to bed

Today we dyed and decorate Easter eggs! Dean is still very bored, but not bored enough to decorate eggs haha. My drawing skills aren't great, but I did alright I guess. Dinnertime should be soon..I wonder if I'll have to help again :P

( some pics! )

7 – World Health Day: Founded in 1950 by the World Health Organisation. What could you start to do today that will have a positive effect on your health? Drink more water?

8 – Zoo Lovers Day: Do you think zoos do an important job in teaching and conservation or do you think it is time to stop keeping animals in captivity? They do (there definitely are bad zoos out there though), though I still feel bad about the animals being in captivity

9 – Name Yourself Day: Maybe you always felt like your name didn’t reflect who you are, or maybe you just want to try something new. If you could re-invent yourself for one day by choosing a new name, what name would you choose? I've always liked Morgan..

The drive to Santa Fe yesterday was interesting..I LOVED driving on the Mogollon Rim..it's so pretty!! I loved the ponderosa pine trees. There was quite a bit of snow too. When you leave the Rim, the trees suddenly disappear and it gets pretty arid. But we drove through the Painted Desert and past the Petrified Forest..the red rocks were so pretty!! We also drove past an extinct volcano, which was cool. We ate lunch in Albuquerque (yikes! Too big cityish for me!), found a couple caches and continued the drive to Santa Fe (around 60 miles from Albuquerque). I think we found 11 caches in total! Most were on the Rim..it was lovely caching up there. Santa Fe is definitely more relaxed and nicer than ABQ. It was nice to see Cindy and Dean and their new dog Blanca and relax haha

Today we had breakfast and explored downtown Santa Fe. The architecture is really cool! I think the buildings are made of adobe. There are a bunch of shops there too..we looked in one and went to a couple churches..pretty! Cindy and Dean also went caching for the first time (their name is "chilipup" haha). One was in a hotel and you go up to the counter and ask about the cache and they bring it out to you..weird! I've never found a cache like that before haha. There's a certain area where Native Americans sell the things they've made (it's regulated, so they can't sell cheap knockoff stuff) and we checked that out. I'm wearing a Payson shirt, and they kept commenting on it haha! There was a LOT of jewelry, but I found a magnet and these cat things made out of clay or something. It's nice to support local artists. :) After that we found a couple more caches and walked to where Dean would pick us up (he went back home to check on Blanca). Well at that spot was a used bookstore!! I definitely had to go in haha. It was actually pretty nice and organized. I didn't have time to look at everything I wanted to, so I think I'm gonna go back. There was also a brochure with the used bookstores in Santa Fe, which is definitely useful haha. Then we went back to the house..tired haha

( here are the pics i've taken so far! )