Memoirs of our Trip

So, here are pictures of the rest of our trip to New Mexico and Arizona.

Oh, the title of this post was suggested by Clara, because I was at a loss for a good title.

Mom and Dad with friends.

Mema and my cousin Gabi.

Mema and my cousin Asher.

Melissa with friends Lorien, Carmen, Tori, and Hannah.

We visited Mom's godmother.

We went on a picnic in the mountains with the Getty's.

Rowan and Melissa had lots of fun together.

On Saturday we made Eggplant Parmesan with Uncle Mark.

Mom and Auntie Charlotte on Mom's birthday.

Uncle Michael, Auntie Margo, and Mom

Our family with the Getty's

We drove to Arizona after being in New Mexico to see our grandparents on my dad's side.  

Clara picked a huge grapefruit.  We called it the grandaddy of all grapefruit.

Some friends of our grandparents took us on a golfcart to get ice cream.  It was cold, and at night.

Dad laid bricks for a sidewalk between grandma and grandpa's house and their neighbor's.

The result of Dad's hard work!

Dad grilling hamburgers

Mom, Dad, Grandpa Chris, and Grandma Dorothy

Ourfamily

All of us together.

Clara wanted me to take pictures of her.

New Mexico Trip

On April 2 we drove to New Mexico for a support trip.


We stopped at a big cross off of Interstate 4o and looked at the statue garden around it.



We got to meet our cousin's son Asher for the first time!





We all enjoyed holding him.

On Friday morning we spent time with Mema and Uncle Mark and made cookies. Date and Nut and then Dark Chocolate and Nut.

Melissa danced with the cookie sheets, waving them around to cool them off.

Mom really enjoyed sewing and quilting with Mema.

Gardening

So we started planting in our garden this Sunday, and did some more today.

A friend gave us this herb growing kit, so we did that.

Parsley, marjoram and chives.  

We put them in these bags so the sponge things they're growing in stay moist.

American backyard.  Clothes on the line, gardens, and white picket fences.

Melissa has her herb garden again this year.

Parsley and lavender from last year.

We started doing composting differently:  in a wire cage like this instead of a box on the ground, so it is kept away from animals, and has more air circulation.  Something like that.  

Ellie's Birthday Party

Here are some photos from my 15th birthday party.  

We went to the downtown part of Carrollton, and had a photo scavenger hunt in the antique store there.  Melissa did a really good job organizing it all.

We had to take a photo with a photo that looked remotely like you.

Visit from the O'Briens

Our long time friends, the O'Briens were able to visit us on Thursday and we had a very nice time together.  We ate delicious chicken alfredo that Melissa made.

Dad just told me that he used to call us the three musketeers.  

Mom and Mrs. Kathie had a nice time, I think.  They talked quite a bit.

haircuts

So today both Melissa and I got haircuts!  Our very generous friend cut our hair.

I'm donating my hair to Locks of Love to make wigs for kids who don't have hair.

I have a really short ponytail now.  3 or 4 inches.  It used to be like 15 inches long.  Like a whip.  I would turn my head fast, and hit people in the face with it.

So our hair is about the same length now- just above our shoulders.  We both really like it.

Ravioli

This is for Auntie Steph.  Because we finally made ravioli!  We used the cutters that she gave us.  

We also used this old pasta machine that Mom has had for a long time.  It worked really well, though, once we had it figured out.

We used a recipe that we found on the internet, I think, because we lost the recipe Auntie Steph gave us.

It was alot of fun making them.  Clara and I eventually figured out a good system, like an assembly line.

We also made fettucine with the leftover pasta dough, when there wasn't any of the cheese filling left.

The ravioli made a really yummy Valentine's dinner!