Homework

Look at this!!! I typed my first Braille this week! How cool is this!?!? It takes me back to middle school typing classes with Ms. Dukakis. Absolutely random words placed in what they call a sentence, so you can practice only the letters you know.

(the last line is my name)

So for those of you who don't know, I have joined the 9-5 group of Americans...except I only work 8-3. I'm working at "NMSBVI" (New Mexico School for the Blind & Visually Impaired), in the ECP (Early Childhood Program- ie. Preschool) so they make us take a Braille class (which means I am now learning a second useless language....ok ok ok...Braille will probably be more usable than Latvian once I'm done at the school), and means along with working I now am back to being a student! (only this is not nearly as stressful). I think ep needs one of these braillers to make her typewriter collection more complete!

State Fair

Last night we went to the State Fair. I'd really wanted to go to one of the rodeos & concerts last year, so I found tickets for this year! YAY!

fair food....only fair....Micah thought it was funny how dirty my fingers got
(just call my Betsy with the Ketchup)

I've never seen a daredevil show like this!

yup, we live in the Southwest

after a couple tries, we found some food that was better than fair...real Pie!!

the rodeo...followed by....

a Diamond Rio concert!!! LOVED it!
and the stage came down from the ceiling!!! How cool is that?
Micah was a good sport through it, though not quite as much a country music fan as me

Apt 36 Reunion

The weekend after Labor Day, Micah's old roommates all got together for camping in Zion....The Pierces came from Orange County, us from Abq, Greg from Chicago, Amron, the Garcias, Jason & the Seversons all came from Provo, so it was quite the gathering!
Saturday, most the group hiked Angels Landing & the Lillroses did the Narrows because Micah's knee couldn't handle the steep Landing hike & before & after we did a lot of eating & chatting together!

A picture for Daddy

Trying to get a group picture with the timer before everyone else left
(Brandon & Jacie had already gone)

A neighbor-camper had pity on us and offered to take it for us...of course no one had showered at this point, so I'm not sure we wanted the moment documented....but here it is!

Micah's been waiting for a long time to take me to one of his favorite spots, which happened to be on the way home! Glen Canyon Navajo Bridge:

Labor Day Weekend

View from our abq balcony, a few days before

We met up with our friends Brandon & Erica in Flagstaff and saw some of the sights
Their daughter Brilyn (I'm not sure of the spelling) at Sun Crater Volcano
...from this far away, she saw me taking a picture and looked up for a smile!

look how huge this fly is!

she wanted to take pics with the camera

Red Rock Canyon, right outside Sedona, which is a really pretty place all situated in red rock

At church, Erica tried for 2 hours to get baby Drew to sleep and he wouldn't...then she handed him to Micah so she could write out a check, and before she was done "Micah" had him to sleep (I'm not sure he should really get the credit, but I thought it was so funny)

The Silver VW Phoenix Gang

After Flagstaff & spending the night with Brandon & Erica in their cute new house, we went to Tucson to visit Micah's cousin Jenny & her family. We went to the Outdoor Desert Museum on Labor Day.

If you look closely, right behind the glass is a HUGE cougar! This is her cute son Joseph!

Getting ice cream at the museum

Jenny & her new daughter, Lilian

What a cute family!
Nick & Jenny with their gang

We took a scenic route back to Abq that afternoon...

A lot of the roads were through old mining towns, well, current mining towns, I guess
Micah kept saying how big these dump trucks were....
I didn't really agree, until we got this picture.
Compare the dump truck to the regular sized pick up truck next to it!