Our 10th Anniversary

On June 5, 2009, Jeremy and I celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary! WOW! It is really hard to believe that we have been married for 10 whole years. It sure does not seem like 10 years! We have some friends, Todd and Annette Woods, who have a cabin near Las Vegas, New Mexico. They have named their cabin, The Wood Shed. They let us go up to their cabin and spend the week there. It was really nice. We had a very relaxing time. Their cabin is on the property of Blue Haven's Camp. It is the last cabin before the actual wilderness. Piper, Finn, and Seven got to spend the time with their grandparents, in Abilene. Rilian had to come with us, he'd be quite hungry if I left him for a week! The weather was wonderful! It was cool during the day and cold at night. We had to turn the heater on at night. One day it rained. It cleared up in the afternoon, so we decided to take a hike. That is the one thing that I wanted to do before I got there. On the 2nd day there, I finally got to do just that. I carried Rilian in a Snugli on the front of me. It limited my view of where I was walking worse than when I was pregnant. We got to a point on the path that with Rilian, we could go no further. There were huge rocks to climb over and a creek to cross a few times, and so we decided to turn around and head back to the cabin. I was satisfied with the little hike and I knew Jeremy didn't really want to go hiking in the first place, so I decided we were done.

On the way back from our hike, I saw this sign and could not resist taking a picture. I thought it was cute!
We decided we needed a picture of the three of us. This was a rock we found on our hike and thought it was a good place for a picture. Jeremy set the camera up with the self-timer and ran to sit beside me so he could be in the picture too.
This was the view off the front porch of the cabin. On the way to the cabin, we had to drive through this creek. The day that it rained I was worried we would be trapped at the cabin because the creek might have rose too high to cross with all the rain we had. That was not the case, the creek didn't look like it had risen more than an inch where we had to cross.
How beautiful! This is what the drive up to the cabin looks like. I took this picture from the porch looking towards the road. There are a few cabins along the way, but for the most part nothin' but trees, dirt, and nature!
Here is the front porch...nice, big porch with a porch swing to swing on. We tried out the swing some. It was so relaxing swinging and listening to the nature that surrounded us. One morning I woke up to the sound of something banging around on our front porch. I was really scared to think that it might be a bear. The Woods' have said they have seen bear up there and there was even a young one on their porch once! I laid there in bed wondering if I should look to see if it was a bear. I then thought to myself that if it was a bear, I really didn't want to know. If it was a bear, I would be terrified! Do you know where the front porch is located? Right outside of the master bedroom, where we were sleeping!!! I wondered if I should wake up Jeremy. While laying there for a few minutes trying to decided what to do, I did not hear it making anymore noise so I went back to sleep. I told Todd when we gave him the keys back to the cabin and he said it was probably a raccoon. He said a bear would have been really quiet. Good to know!

The cabin! Doesn't it look like a lincoln log cabin? Just like it was described. So beautiful!
This is how the cabin looks from the other side of the creek, along the path that we hiked on. Secluded! Nice!
Rilian! I just had to take this picture! Isn't he adorable?!?
Now for the inside of the cabin...here is part of the living room, looking at the front door. The window looks out onto the front porch. When we walked in, I was not expecting it to be as nice as it is! We were pleasantly surprised!
More of the living room...this was taken standing at the front door looking in. A fireplace. We did not use it. You can also see the dining room table. You can see the inside of the cabin walls are also the outside walls. It has the same lincoln log look. So beautiful!
Here is a better shot of the dining room table. If you look at the window behind the dining room table, you can see the wooden shutters. We closed them up at night. Who knew what was lurking out in the dark forest? Oh, sorry...I guess I've watched a few scary movies.

The kitchen was great! It had everything you could possibly need in order to make meals. Dishes, pots, pans, cups, etc. There was also a dishwasher, microwave, and a washer and dryer. Jeremy and I used the kitchen for two breakfasts and two lovely dinners. One breakfast, he made french toast and bacon. The other breakfast he made eggs, toast, and bacon. For dinner one night we had baked chicken, baked potatoes, rolls, and broccoli. The other dinner we had pork chops, delicious mashed potatoes, corn, and rolls. The meals were so good, thanks to my handsome chef!
Master bedroom...above the bed you can see how the windows look with the wooden shutters closed. I mentioned them earlier when I was talking about the living room and dining room table. They close and latch. All the windows have these shutters as well as curtains.
Bathroom...it had a really long counter with the sink, which was nice. There was also a shower/bathtub. You can see another window above the toilet with the wooden shutters closed.
Here are the stairs, going up to the loft. They were really neat. It looked like they were made of the same logs that made the walls, just sliced in half. There wasn't a railing, so you had to be careful.
Upstairs were three double beds. Here is a shot of two of them.
And here is the other half of the three double beds upstairs.
This is called Hermit's Peak. It can be seen on the way to the cabin before you get to Blue Haven's property. One of our teen girls said she has hiked it. The section on the left is the forehead, in the middle is the nose, and on the right is the mouth. Do you see the face now? Pretty cool once your eyes see it!
Santa Fe is just about 60 miles from the cabin in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Jeremy and I took a day to spend in Santa Fe. There are alot of shops to look in. Alot of walking to do. After going into a few shops, we came to the conclusion that they pretty much sell the same thing. After we parked the car, we started walking and heard some beautiful music. We looked down one of the streets and saw them playing their bells and drums. We stood there and listened for a little while. If Jeremy were here right now, I'd have him help me put some of the video on that we took of it, but I'm not sure how to do that, so here is a picture.
If you are familiar with New Mexico, you know that there is a pretty good population of Native Americans living there. There are quite a few reservations there that they live on. At the Plaza in Santa Fe, they sit under this covering and sell their jewelry. Each piece of jewelry is inspected by their tribal government to make sure it is authentic and of good quality before they are allowed to sell it. So if you buy it, you know you are getting the real deal. It was kinda neat to walk through and look at it. They were just sitting there all along the wall all the way down, with their jewelry displayed on blankets.
This was one of the Catholic churches we went in. Interesting that there was a gift shop when you first walk in. They also had scaffolds up in the auditorium because they were doing construction. There was a service in progress. You could look in through glass windows and see it in progress. I am not sure if they always have services, or it we just happened to be there during service. Well, come to think of it, I think a lady was singing and people were sitting there listening to her. I guess it might not have been a service. I am not sure.
Here is the outside of the building.
These are the front doors. Each of the rectangles on the front doors was a picture of the history that happened in the Catholic church. I am not sure the beginning and ending of the time period in which this history happened. But thought the doors were pretty interesting.
This sign was in the lobby of the church. Very interesting. I thought it was funny that they had to actually tell people not to throw coins in the baptismal font. I guess some people would? Wouldn't it be easier if all churches had their rules right there when you walked in?
I could not resist taking this picture! How many times do you see an orange safety cone hanging from a flag pole? This was to the side of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi. It reminded me of the time after 9/11 when we had terrorist alerts. I guess this day was an orange alert. On this side of the church, there was a courtyard filled with young people. They could have ranged from teens to young twentys. They were just hanging out. It looked as if they were either homeless or backpacking somewhere and had just decided to hang out there for a little while. Not being from there, I do not know their story. I also was not a very good person and did not talk to them to find out. I don't know if Santa Fe is a place for transients to stop through. It sure did seem as if there were several people playing music, whether instruments or singing and instruments, for money.

Loretto Chapel was the next church we went in. It is not a church that has services today. You can rent it out for weddings and other events. This is the church with the miraculous stairway. It has been on Unsolved Mysteries. The story was that the church needed a stairway to go upstairs and there was not alot of room to put one. Out of nowhere a man appeared and built a stairway for them. Once the stairway was finished, he disappeared without a trace and was never seen again. They think he was some kind of saint. What makes it so miraculous is that he built the stairway without supports. It is just stairs.
Here is the front of the inside of the church. Very elaborate. As you sit in the pews, this is what you would be looking at. It is a Catholic church, so there were candles lit for loved ones up front too.

Here is the miraculous stairway. You can see there is not any support for the stairway, just stairs. We were only allowed to get so close. I guess they were trying to preserve it.
Below the miraculous stairway was a picture of what the stairway looked like before they put a railing on it. If I was to go up the stairway, I would much rather have a railing to use!
The last church we went in was the oldest church in the United States of America. They still hold services in it today.Very neat to be able to go in and see what it looked like. It too was a Catholic church.
Here is the outside of the oldest church in the USA.
This is the inside of the church. It was very small. There might have been 10 pews on each side. You can see Jeremy sitting in one of the pews reading the history of the church. He is the man sitting behind the lady wearing a white shirt.
Across the street from the oldest church in the USA was the oldest house in the USA. It seemed more of an alley than a street. We were not able to go in the oldest house in the USA because the sign said it was closed indefinately. Kinda disappointing.
This is the outside of the oldest house in the USA. The walls were neat because there were pieces of what looked like hay in it. That shows how old it is. We sure don't build like that anymore.
For dinner, we ate at a restaurant called the Ore House. Do you know why they chose that name? It used to be a whore house. It did have good food, if I might add.
We also went to the mall in Santa Fe. It was a decent sized mall. There was a carousel for children, or adults I suppose, to ride near the food court. Not very many malls have one of those. I had to take this picture. It was the view from outside the mall. I just thought it was beautiful! I love this style of house and with the mountains in the background, it made it so much more beautiful. I am not sure what this neighborhood was. They were really nice houses, but all the roads in the neighborhood were dirt roads.
And that my friends is what we did to celebrate our 10th Anniversary!