As an example of true faith (or parental misguidance, you can be the judge) here is Bradley taking a dive of faith.

So, this past week, Brad has learned a new game with Kim and I, which we call chase. He'll chase us giggling the whole way, or we can chase him with the same giggling result. Enjoy!

Bradley's First Hike

Bradley takes a moment to prepare for the arduous hike ahead. Titan helps him in his meditations.

After Bradley has prepared himself, and Kim and I have loaded up everything for Bradley's diaper bag (you know, everything including the kitchen sink and then some), we are off.

In Albuquerque there's hot days, really hot days...well I think that's it...oh yeah there was that one day where it was kind of cloudy and rained a little. Well, on a day when it's 95 degrees outside, what better than to go on a hike in the desert (this is why Brad needed to prepare himself). Well, we actually went to the one part of Albuquerque where it's green, which is right by the river, a little oasis running down the middle of town. The hike was short but fun. Bradley seemed to enjoy himself. The hike went along the Rio Grande River, right in the middle of town.

Little does Kim know it at this point, but she is soon going to come face to face with something she now fears as much as fire.

That's right, a snake. On our way back to the car, I saw a branch and some sticks on the trail. I just walked by them, but as I was doing so, Kim jumped back and yelled "Snake!" I looked down, and, sure enough, about a foot and a half away was a yellow snake a few feet long crossing the trail. It wasn't coiled up and didn't have a rattle, and just kept moving to the other side of the trail.

So, we survived Bradley's first hike by the Rio Grande River.

Frisbee Golf

Just wanted to put up a few pictures from last Saturday. We went and played frisbee golf with Mike's co-worker and his wife and their dog, pepper. It was pretty fun. Mike's family asked if this was outside the city because of all the desert. The answer is no. This is right in the city. Albuquerque is basically a bunch of communities surrounded by patches of desert. It's rad.

Our lone ranger, lost in the desert.

Aaron and Ashley's dog got a little tired so we let him ride in the basket.

Random teepee. Why not?

Brad and Dad. We forgot his hat, hence the "turban"

Not playing frisbee golf, but figure we need a pic of Brad and Mom in here, too.

Bradley Blowing Raspberries

Brad loves to blow raspberries. He does it all the time and it is adorable. This particular moment isn't as spontaneous as most, but still pretty cute.

New Mexico

Well, we are finally in New Mexico, and I finally have 2 seconds to sit down and write! But it has been a great trip so far. Bradley did so good on his first plane ride. We got to the airport around 8. I should have taken a picture of me loaded up with all of our stuff. We had the stroller, a diaper bag, a back pack, another diaper bag, and then a gargantuous car seat strapped to my back. It was pretty awesome. I do have a picture of Bradley and I waiting for our plane.

We made it through security about 8:45. It took forever for them to scan all our stuff! Then we walked around the airport for an hour til our flight left. I tried pushing Bradley in his stroller for about 45 minutes in hopes that he would fall asleep but to no avail. There was way too much to see in the busy airport. While getting on the plane, people were all very nice and accommodating. There was a really long walk to plane after we entered the gate, so one guy asked me if he could help me. (at this point, I was carrying Brad and pushing the stroller with the car seat in it.) So I said I was fine and he walked on. Then he turned around and said, “here, you take the baby. I’ll get the stroller.” So he pushed the stroller the rest of the way. I thought that was really nice of him.

Once on the plane, Brad was pretty sick of not being able to crawl around (he’s a busy boy!). To top that, we were right in the middle of his naptime. But even despite that, he was still pretty good, aside from throwing a (clean) wet wipe at the people sitting behind us. Unfortunately, they didn’t know it was clean and both looked a little disgusted. Luckily, no one was sitting next to us, and so he spent the last part of the trip in the following manner.

Once during the descent, he woke up and just screamed once really loud, but I had his binki handy and threw it in his mouth. he took a couple of good swallows (which I’m assuming cleared his ears) and went right back to sleep. He didn’t wake up until everyone was off the plane. I was so glad it went so smoothly.

Once we were in New Mexico, the real adventure began. Only one of our 5 boxes showed up. Grrr!! So, we had no bed for Brad, no clothes for me, no sheets, no soap, pretty much nothing. But I didn’t want to go buy it all because it was all on it’s way! So that was annoying. Luckily, I had a bar of soap in my makeup bag. I don’t know why I threw it in there, but luckily, I did. So, I was super bored when we first got there, because I planned on unpacking! And good luck trying to get Brad to take a nap when there is no crib for him, especially now that he can crawl. So he was pretty mad. But I finally took him for a walk and he totally passed out. Our apartment is on the second floor, but if you are wondering if I carried his stroller up the stairs with him in it so he wouldn’t wake up, I did. And it was so worth it cuz he slept for two hours.

Once he woke up, we went to Walmart to get food, dishes, and pans. Unfortunately, we ended up at a Walmart Marketplace, which ONLY has food. Dad Smed graciously tried to help us find a real walmart but that failed miserably. By the time we got home, it was like 9, WAY past Bradley’s bedtime. That night, Bradley and I slept on a bare mattress due to the fact that we had no sheets. Luckily, we had a little blanket for Brad that I had taken on the plane, and Albuquerque is hot. So I was okay sleeping in my clothes with no blanket until about 4:30, at which point I got a little cold. So our first night here was quite exciting.

The next morning was also interesting. I was sick of wearing the same clothes and felt super gross. So I hung out with no clothes for a couple of hours while I washed all of mine. Lame, I know. And I'm sure you all wanted to know that. Bradley and I took a shower/bath because we had no shower curtain and then we had no towels. So yeah. It was a special day. Then I went to walmart to buy a cheap skirt so I could go to church. Got it, thought it was great, until I went to church and it kept riding up, so that was also awkward. I also found it ironic that I went to Walmart on Sunday to get a skirt to go to church. ☺ Oh well. I also had to get dishes and stuff so that I could eat breakfast. It is what it is.

So, I got to sacrament meeting about 15 minutes late, left about 10 minutes early and called it good. Then Brad and I went home and then Dad got home!!! So needless to say, I was pretty happy to see him and all of our stuff! We still had to wait til Monday for Brad’s bed but at least he had clothes, sheets, towels, etc. So that was fabulous. Here is Mike and I right after he got there at the door of our new apartment. And also our car packed to the brim.

Our apartment is great. It is pretty big and open. It has a fireplace (haha). It’s still pretty new. Here are some pictures of the area around our house:

Sunrise on Mike's first day of work. (the only day I got up when he left for work) This is taken from our patio

view off our patio

This picture was taken just across the street from our house.

This is the street we live on

The kitties seem to like the new place. Here are some pics of them in their new apartment.

They were worn out after their long trip

Looking out the sliding glass door at their new home

So, you would think that Titan would be better behaved now that we are miles away from his old home and naughty ways, but no. Nothing has changed with him and he is still a naughty little kitty.

Titan on top of the fridge

Titan on top of the cupboards, getting into his food. I finally had to move his food into a cupboard because that is the only place he can't get to it!

Titan just exploring.

And here are some cute pics of Bradley. Oh, first a story. When Brad and I first got here to the empty apartment, he was so excited about all the wide open space, because everything is on one level. So I set him down in our living room and he starts crawling and he's just giggling. (I'm sure the lack of sleep had nothing to do with this.) Then he gets to the hallway and is just giggling. Then he sees the master bedroom doorway, so he peeks in and sees even more room to crawl so he starts giggling again as he crawls in. He explored the whole apartment this way. Every new doorway a very delightful surprise. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. Anyway, here is a pic of him crawling around in our apartment.

Bradley in the living room

Brad loves to brush his teeth with mom every day.

Okay, last but not least, Brad just learned how to say Daddy. So here is a video of him being adorable.

And with that, what else is there to say? Bye!