One more Hike in June and water polo

 I love June.  It is my month.  It is usually the month that I feel the absolute best.   However, this June I have been sick the entire month with a terrible sore throat that just wont go away.  I have tried to make the best of it but it hasn't been great.  I hate being sick.  Despite being sick, I have tried to hike every Sunday with Stephen.  It has been great spending extra time with Stephen.  We hiked Domingo Baca trail and went up to the TWA crash site.  On the way, I saw a bear cub.  It scared me to death!  We hiked the rest of the hike yelling "HEY BEAR" nearly every step.  

Nolen has been loving playing water polo every morning this summer.  His team is pretty good and it gets us out of the house first thing in the morning.  

 

My Birthday! 44!

 Well a Happy 44th birthday to me!  I am still sick and haven't totally got over this terrible cold, but the medicine is working.  I still have a few more days of taking the meds and I hope this is the last time I will ever be sick in my life!  HA!  I woke up early and went on a fun run with Pam Martinez and Spencer Morgan in the foothills.  I am training for the Taos up and over 10k.  It isn't going great because I have been so sick for half of May and now ALL of June.  After my run, I took a long bath and then got ready to for brunch with Stephen at Los Poblanos Farm.  We then came home, gave each other massages, and then got ready to go on a cool train ride in Santa Fe.  It was a wonderful day!! Stephen got me a new Garmin watch and I LOVE IT! 

 

A New Job and a hike

 We arrived home at 10 AM and I sent Edward right back over to Flix Brewhouse.  Edward got a job right before we left for SWEM BIRT.  He went to orientation an hour before we had to catch our flight to Arkansas.  He got to work to find out what his schedule looked like to find out he was scheduled for work that night!!  I am so proud of him for getting a job and being willing to work.  He is growing up so fast and it just blows my mind that time moves so fast when you're an adult.  

 Also, the moment I got home from our trip, I booked an appointment with the doctor at urgent care.  I went in and got some serious meds to kill this sore throat.  I spent the entire week super sick and I am ready to get rid of this cold.  Stephen was really excited to have us back home so I went on a fun hike with him (and I complained a lot because of my sore throat). 

 

SWEM BIRT- North Carolina and a toe into Tennessee

 Our last two days of the trip were spent in the Great Smokey mountain national park and at the Biltmore in Asheville.  A few years ago, the boys and I went to Tennessee to visit my sister Kendra.  I had planned to visit the Smokey mountains and hike up to Clingmans Dome.  However, the day before we drove over, the road was closed to the dome.  So, I convinced the group, except Edward, to make the two hour drive to the dome.  It was recently renamed back to it's original name Kuwohi. It was super foggy and rainy but beautiful.  

 We headed back to the hotel to swim.  I would say, this was one of the kids favorite days.  They made up games and wrestled.  They even did an underwater swimmers dance.  It was so fun.  I had a terrible sore throat still, but was trying to just keep my spirits up because this trip was our main trip for the summer.  

 We woke up the next morning and went to visit the Biltmore.  Wow!  It was an incredible sight.  The Vanderbilt family had built the estate in the late 1800's.  It was so beautiful.  There were so many rooms and pianos.  The gardens were gorgeous.  It was $100 a person to visit and luckily all the kids were free.  We listened to the tour on a small recording device and it was interesting.  After we left the Biltmore estate we headed to Charlotte to fly home at 5 AM the next morning.  SWEM BIRT is one of my favorite trips we take each year.  We have been able to visit nearly all 50 states together.  We have 9 states left to visit next summer.  I almost can't believe it.  I adore my friend Melanie and her kids.  They are the best family to travel with year after year.  Until next year!