Jenn's trip to Albuquerque!!

Part of my birthday present was to go to Albuquerque to see the Balloon Fiesta and see my bestest friend Cari. I flew out Thursday morning. We all headed to the Balloon Glow that night (and thank goodness cause that was the last glow for the weekend). Here we are at the glow:

all the balloons go up

The Wells Fargo Balloons

monkey balloon

one of my favorite balloons--Noah's ark

Ryan, Corinne, Cari, Isaiah, and Hope

Cari and me as it gets dark

The Bee's--they were holding hands

The "glow" starts

Isaiah and a tired Hope

No trip to see Cari is complete without some shopping. After spending the afternoon at Coronado, Cari and I headed out to Santa Fe to the outlet mall. We both found new Coach purses (of course). We tried taking a picture but it kept turning out blurry. Here is the best we could get (along with the beautiful sunset).

We LOVE COACH!!

On Saturday morning we attempted to go to the mass assension, however, the weather did not want to cooperate with us (or the rest of the week for that matter). They did attempt to blow up the stage coach balloon, so we watched while they blew that one up.

Here it goes....

and now the fan....

This balloon is HUGE!!!

They call these guys zebras--they are the officials for the fiesta and they dress in over the top costumes. They take their jobs very seriously.

I think Hope was a little tired from getting up at 5:15am!

After the disappointment of no balloons we headed back home for a little nap before Isaiah's soccer game. However, the weather did not want to cooperate with us for the soccer game. There was too much wind and too much rain (it was POURING!) Poor guy...he was SOOO excited to play too :(

Well that nigh Cari, Corinne, and I went to El Pinto for drinks and some good Mexican food. The pitcher of margirita's was FANTASTIC and the food was good too! It was a fun night!

Cari, me, and Corinne (and the lovely margiritas!)

YUMMY!!!

My bestest friend!!

These were our shots---not your typical Utah shot

I wish I could take this home!! I loved eating all my green chile all weekend long!

On Sunday afternoon, we headed up to Moriarty to the pumpkin patch. They had so much stuff to do from the hay ride, to a pillow jump, to pumpkin sling shots, to a petting zoo. Isaiah had so much fun all afternoon.

Isaiah feeding the goats

Me doing the sling shot w/ baby pumpkins

Isaiah and Ryan at the petting zoo (before Ryan got kicked by the sheep)

Isaiah

The Merkel family picture

Hope and Isaiah at the Pumpkin patch

Isaiah at the pumpkin patch

After the pumpkin patch we had dinner at Bravo. It is an Italian resturant and it was AMAZING! I probably gained a few pounds over the weekend with all the good food!

It was an amazing weekend (even with the bad weather). I always let too much time go by without seeing this girl...I need to work on that! I love you Cari and miss you already!!

me, Cari, and Hope at dinner