Vacation, Part 2: Mora, NM

On Wednesday, the 8th me, Dad and the kids set off for my Mom's parents' house in New Mexico. The drive would normally take about 12 hours, but for us it took about 14.


Bet you can guess why.


Anyway, we were really glad to (finally) get there.

In the morning we visited Victory Ranch with my cousin Chad, Crystal and their daughter Cailen, my Aunt Terry, cousin Haley and Mommer to see the alpacas.


There were some mamas in a pen with their babies that were only a few days old. How cute is this little one?? I love how the back legs are kind of spread out a little more to keep him steady.





Mommer bought the kids a tour so they could go into the pen and feed the mamas and pet the babies. Pyper was brave and let them eat from her hand.

Hakan was a little nervous about that. He'd let them scarf right out of the cup, then finally started just dumping the feed in piles on the ground. Limited contact- that's what he preferred.

I love the crazy long hairs on this one's ears and eyes.

After our visit with the alpacas Mommer took us to their "farm". This is where they keep their two horses Brandi and her baby Star. They were very interested in the kids. VERY interested.


Pyper helped water Mommer's vegetable garden (and shoes). Isn't this such a pretty spot in the valley? Wish I could get a good panoramic shot of the whole place. It's beautiful.

During the days we visited there was plenty of work to help out with. Popper is terracing the slope on one side of the house with some railroad tie retaining walls and recruited lots of people to help level it out.

Cousin Jordan took the kids for a ride on a 4-wheeler.

Nobody got my Spaceballs reference, though.

Some of us did a service project one morning then met up with everyone else at a local restaurant for lunch.

Next we invaded a little ice cream parlor down the street.

Ignore the stupid look on my face. I was too busy enjoying my Rocky Road to bother trying to look cute for the camera.

While we enjoyed our ice cream cones we walked a little further down the street to visit the ranch supply store Popper helped get going. Here's Hakan, Pyper and Keith checking out a real life Wall-E. I think the kids were more excited about this than their ice cream.
Hakan loved helping Popper drive the tractor.
The last night we were there we enjoyed the new terrace with a fire and some conversation.

One day me, Mom, Jennifer, Pyper and Finn visited the plaza in Santa Fe to do some window shopping. I didn't take any pictures while we were there for some idiotic reason, so here's one of me and the kids when we stopped by again on our way back to Utah on Monday.
And just for fun, here's a video of a ride Keith and I took through the canyon.




Stay tuned for the 3rd and final installment- coming soon!