Sitting on Great-Grandpa's Knee

Last winter, Sean gave me the most amazing gift, when he suggested that we make the very long drive back to my hometown for Christmas. It had been 1.5 years since we had been down to visit my extended family, and I had been wishing that I could get the kids down to see their great-grandpa again. Except how do you say, "Hey, Babe...let's pack up 4 kids and take a really long drive so that you can spend Christmas in a hotel room?" Not exactly what most spouses want to hear. But I married the best guy who volunteered for it himself, even though he knew it would take him far away from his own family on Christmas.

I love him! *sigh*

The drive back to where I grew up in New Mexico takes 16 hours each way. It's a long road trip through some pretty empty states with literally no cell signal for hours at a time. (As a total side note, can I just add how weird it is to be unable to even make a call in this day and age?) When we go back, we have to take two days to drive each direction because the kids just can't do the full 16 hours in one stretch. So it ended up being a two day drive down, two days in New Mexico, and a 2 day drive back. Not going to lie. It was a bit grueling to spend four days driving for just 48 hours in town, but the kids were champs, and it was so amazing to get to spend Christmas there!

I bet you are wondering what the kids thought of all of that....well...they were totally confused and so over tacos by the time we left, it was almost comical. It was just too different from Christmas as they know it. haha!!

My kids know all of the traditional Midwestern Christmas stuff, you know, the stuff in Christmas movies. But in New Mexico, a traditional Christmas looks very different. It involves luminarias, Mexican food, and no snow. haha! I think my little family was in a bit of a culture shock, but to me, it was so perfect. It was just like going back in time 20 years and getting to do Christmas the way I remembered as a kid. Our extended family always celebrates on Christmas Eve with a giant get-together, and my grandpa always displays his collection of several hundred Nacimientos (nativity sets) for the public to enjoy as well. It was all exactly as I remembered, even down to the exact same Christmas Eve punch recipe that my aunt has been making every year for as long as I can remember and sitting on the floor eating dinner with my cousins because there aren't enough seats for all of us. 

And I got to share ALL of that with my kids and show them what Christmas was like for me while growing up. They may not have appreciated the over-abundance of tacos in the moment, but I think they had fun anyway!

One of my big goals going back was to get some photos of my kids with their great-grandpa. It was so important to me to get those photos...but, unfortunately, I waited until we were saying good-bye to try to get them. It was already dark outside, we were in a dimly lit living room, and that combined with my not-so-stellar photography skills just wasn't working out the way I had hoped. All of my photos were blurry and my tired kids weren't fully on board with the idea of watching mom try to take the same photo over and over. Thankfully, one of my cousins took over with his own camera and captured the photos below. I have to give him a quick shout-out because Paul is an international award winning photojournalist, and I kind of scored big time by having him rescue me from my lack of skills.

I wasn't sure what he had been able to catch. I gave him the worst lighting ever, 4 very tired kids, and only about 10 minutes to work with. But oh my word! I just cried when I opened the link he emailed to me to download the pictures. My kids sitting on their Great-Grandpa's knee....so precious! They are exactly what I had dragged my camera all the way to New Mexico to try to get. Photos that I will cherish forever!

(Warning: I'm posting all of them below because I don't want to lose them! It's not really a warning though because I have cute kids and a cute grandpa. hehe!)

Great-Grandpa Taylor and Ellie

Elijah and Great-Grandpa Taylor

Abby and Great-Grandpa Taylor

Caleb and Great-Grandpa Taylor

Me and My Grandpa

The Crew: Elijah, Ellie, Great-Grandpa, Abby, and Caleb

Our Family....so worth the drive!

The Playroom at my Grandpa's house. I spent a lot of hours in here as a kid.

Brothers: I love this photo! It pretty much perfectly sums up their relationship. lol!

We have a ton of family in New Mexico who I think might enjoy these. Somebody show Grandpa for me! :)

Anyhow, thanks for enjoying these photos with me even though grandparent photos are maybe not that interesting to the general masses. Our trip to New Mexico was one of the sweetest gifts that Sean has given to me, and then the photos from Paul on top of it...well, I think I can safely say that time with family and the memories that go with them are everything. <3

This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

Last winter, Sean gave me the most amazing gift, when he suggested that we make the very long drive back to my hometown for Christmas. It had been 1.5 years since we had been down to visit my extended family, and I had been wishing that I could get the kids down to see their great-grandpa again. Except how do you say, "Hey, Babe...let's pack up 4 kids and take a really long drive so that you can spend Christmas in a hotel room?" Not exactly what most spouses want to hear. But I married the best guy who volunteered for it himself, even though he knew it would take him far away from his own family on Christmas.

I love him! *sigh*

The drive back to where I grew up in New Mexico takes 16 hours each way. It's a long road trip through some pretty empty states with literally no cell signal for hours at a time. (As a total side note, can I just add how weird it is to be unable to even make a call in this day and age?) When we go back, we have to take two days to drive each direction because the kids just can't do the full 16 hours in one stretch. So it ended up being a two day drive down, two days in New Mexico, and a 2 day drive back. Not going to lie. It was a bit grueling to spend four days driving for just 48 hours in town, but the kids were champs, and it was so amazing to get to spend Christmas there!

I bet you are wondering what the kids thought of all of that....well...they were totally confused and so over tacos by the time we left, it was almost comical. It was just too different from Christmas as they know it. haha!!

My kids know all of the traditional Midwestern Christmas stuff, you know, the stuff in Christmas movies. But in New Mexico, a traditional Christmas looks very different. It involves luminarias, Mexican food, and no snow. haha! I think my little family was in a bit of a culture shock, but to me, it was so perfect. It was just like going back in time 20 years and getting to do Christmas the way I remembered as a kid. Our extended family always celebrates on Christmas Eve with a giant get-together, and my grandpa always displays his collection of several hundred Nacimientos (nativity sets) for the public to enjoy as well. It was all exactly as I remembered, even down to the exact same Christmas Eve punch recipe that my aunt has been making every year for as long as I can remember and sitting on the floor eating dinner with my cousins because there aren't enough seats for all of us. 

And I got to share ALL of that with my kids and show them what Christmas was like for me while growing up. They may not have appreciated the over-abundance of tacos in the moment, but I think they had fun anyway!

One of my big goals going back was to get some photos of my kids with their great-grandpa. It was so important to me to get those photos...but, unfortunately, I waited until we were saying good-bye to try to get them. It was already dark outside, we were in a dimly lit living room, and that combined with my not-so-stellar photography skills just wasn't working out the way I had hoped. All of my photos were blurry and my tired kids weren't fully on board with the idea of watching mom try to take the same photo over and over. Thankfully, one of my cousins took over with his own camera and captured the photos below. I have to give him a quick shout-out because Paul is an international award winning photojournalist, and I kind of scored big time by having him rescue me from my lack of skills.

I wasn't sure what he had been able to catch. I gave him the worst lighting ever, 4 very tired kids, and only about 10 minutes to work with. But oh my word! I just cried when I opened the link he emailed to me to download the pictures. My kids sitting on their Great-Grandpa's knee....so precious! They are exactly what I had dragged my camera all the way to New Mexico to try to get. Photos that I will cherish forever!

(Warning: I'm posting all of them below because I don't want to lose them! It's not really a warning though because I have cute kids and a cute grandpa. hehe!)

Great-Grandpa Taylor and Ellie

Elijah and Great-Grandpa Taylor

Abby and Great-Grandpa Taylor

Caleb and Great-Grandpa Taylor

Me and My Grandpa

The Crew: Elijah, Ellie, Great-Grandpa, Abby, and Caleb

Our Family....so worth the drive!

The Playroom at my Grandpa's house. I spent a lot of hours in here as a kid.

Brothers: I love this photo! It pretty much perfectly sums up their relationship. lol!

We have a ton of family in New Mexico who I think might enjoy these. Somebody show Grandpa for me! :)

Anyhow, thanks for enjoying these photos with me even though grandparent photos are maybe not that interesting to the general masses. Our trip to New Mexico was one of the sweetest gifts that Sean has given to me, and then the photos from Paul on top of it...well, I think I can safely say that time with family and the memories that go with them are everything. <3

This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

The First Ishum Family Vacation - We Were NUTS!

A few days ago, we went to bed, and woke up to a COLD house. Somehow, the weather took a nose dive overnight, and we missed that beautiful transition from hot summer weather to cooler fall. I'm sure we will still have a few more warm days before we officially give up and embrace coats for the year, but it did leave me with two things:

1. I found myself scrambling for long sleeve shirts at 6:30am so the kids had something to wear to school.

2. I realized that if I didn't get our First Family Vacation photos up STAT, it wasn't ever going to happen. And first family vacation photos are kind of significant when you weren't allowed to leave the house for the first 2 years, am I right?

So without further ado....in July, we loaded up the kids for an absolutely NUTTY vacation idea that involved driving through 4 states, spending time with family in two different cities, and spending a total of....gosh, I think it was 43 hours of driving time in the car over a 10 day period (not counting driving time in the cities or the added time for potty breaks and food on the road). With 4-year-olds. I have to say though....it went better than it probably should have. Lol! What can I say? It was a very optimistic inaugural trip!

We started out by driving from Kansas City to Denver and stopped by the wonderful Kit Carson County Carousal in Burlington, Colorado that Ma and Pa (Sean's parents) stopped at just three weeks prior on their trip. In fact, it was one of the last things that Ma did before she unexpectedly passed, and she really enjoyed it, so it was definitely something that we wanted to stop and experience. 

It ended up being such a fun little detour! It holds the distinction of being one of the fastest antique carousals (if I remember correctly), and it was only $0.25 a ride. Definitely a budget friendly adventure for our family!

Top: Caleb and Elijah

Bottom: Abby and Ellie

We started driving to Denver EARLY that morning....like 4am-butt-crack-of-dawn-early. But what that meant was that we got into Denver that afternoon which left time for adventuring after a quick nap. We stopped by Uncle Nathan's homestead for bison burgers and popsicles and a little bit of Colorado country exploring!

Ellie, Abby, Elijah, Caleb, and Uncle Nathan

The next day we hit up the Denver Children's Museum. Definitely the most pricey thing we did on the trip, but the kids absolutely reveled in the chance to dress up and explore grownup places like a grocery store, a veterinarian's office, a fire truck, and a bubble factory without being told, "no touching!"

Ellie and Caleb

Ellie and Abby

Elijah

I snapped this photo of Abby riding in the car one day in Denver. After a few hundred miles, she was tired of sitting like a normal human being. Lol!

I can't remember the name of the mountain anymore, but we took the kids on a mountain hike. It really wasn't that long. Maybe only a mile and a half or so total? There were some old castle ruins on the trail, so we took the kids up to see those. The scenery was gorgeous....but the kids didn't seem to appreciate it quite as much as we hoped. Caleb seemed to want to go the opposite direction the entire time we were on the trail....there and back. Oh well! The weather was perfect, and we got some good snapshots! We will certainly try it again the next time we make it out there!

Top: Caleb and Abby

Bottom: Elijah and Ellie

Of course, we had to stop by the Red Rocks Amphitheater while we were out there. Sean and Uncle Nathan went to a NEEDTOBREATHE concert one night while we were out there, but we took the kids by late one afternoon for a few minutes. Unfortunately, we managed to coincide that right when the general public was arriving for a Van Halen concert, so we didn't stay long. It didn't seem like it would be quite their musical style. ;)

Sean, Caleb, Ellie, Abby, Elijah, and Uncle Nathan

And then, we jumped down to Colorado Springs one morning to visit Focus on the Family and Garden of Gods.

The last time Sean and I were in Garden of the Gods was the summer after we were married. This is one of the most stunning places I've ever seen, and it was just as impressive this time around. We did manage to get our ONE family photo on the trip there. Some random guy saw our kids and jumped out of his car to try to take photos of them. I saw it happening and quickly handed him my camera and asked him to take a family photo. Our kids scattered again before he even finished taking photos with my camera. He wasn't too happy, BUT I'm not overly thrilled with strangers lining my kids up to take photos of them and then posting them.....where??? Seriously, it's ridiculous what people do. He didn't get his photos, but I got one. I'm good with that!

Oh, which reminds me of another story from Denver! Believe it or not, we were actually harassed and stalked by someone on this trip!! Like....this lady figured out what hotel we were staying in and showed up at the hotel to see our kids. Long story. I can not even begin to tell you how unnerving that is. So yeah, I'm going to be careful, and if people aren't happy about it....I'm okay with that. My kids. My rules.

Ellie, Elijah, Mommy, Abby, Daddy, and Caleb

I did get my most favorite picture on this part of the trip though! Love, love, love the way this one turned out! I only wish I was in front of the camera with my family instead of behind it! Then it would be perfect for Christmas cards!

Elijah, Ellie, Abby, Caleb, and Daddy

Anyhow, then the trip to Focus on the  Family was a total FAIL. It was a series of things that went wrong: Elijah went to the use the bathroom and didn't get himself far enough back on the toilet. We didn't have a change of clothes with us. People would NOT leave our family alone and let us look around. We are used to people gawking and asking questions, but people refusing to let us escape, even knowing we needed to take the kids to the bathroom, is what caused Elijah to hurry on the toilet and not take the time to position properly. Caleb was having a bad day. A very bad day. I think we were there for 20 minutes. It was that bad. I literally cried from Colorado Springs all.the.way. back to Denver about my horrible parenting skills, how Caleb's autism can have such a huge impact on family life, and how people can be so rude sometimes. I was really over people at this point.

If you are curious. This was a little under the halfway point in the trip. I may have told Sean that we were absolutely insane to attempt a road trip of this length with this many kids at this age. But it's all good, because moments like that are what marriages are made of. I married the best guy. He told me it isn't all pretty, but we are making memories, and we are doing it together.

The next day we got in the car and started the 9 hour drive to Las Cruces, New Mexico (read 11 hours with quadruplets) to visit my family. I snapped this highly flattering selfie on a nice stretch of desert. Lol!

Becca and Sean.....still kicking!

I'm originally from New Mexico, so the trip down there was just to spend three days visiting my extended family, **finally** introducing our kids to them, and of course, eating as much Mexican food as humanly possible before having to leave again. Yes, it involved #GoalEating. And I'm not ashamed of that.

Top: A photo with my brother Mark. We only got to see him for about 30 minutes before he went out of town!
Bottom: A photo with my cousin Brooke who was one of my best friends while growing up!

Fun selfie in the hotel room!

Abby, Caleb, Ellie, Elijah, and Mommy

I had a chance to teach my grandpa the fine art of taking a selfie and making yourself looking thinner than you really are. You have to hold the camera up higher than your face. He was all giggles! Haha!

Any chance to catch a precious photo of my littles with their great-grandpa is one that I will take! I have some cute ones from the few visits he has made to Kansas City since they were born. We will add this one to the lineup (even though a couple of kids aren't looking or have their faces covered):

Elijah, Abby, Great-Grandpa, Ellie, and Caleb

And then we headed home. As much as we enjoyed our adventures....and we really did, other than my ugly face cry on the way back from Colorado Springs.....we were definitely looking forward to our own beds. It took two days to drive the 16 hours (more like 20 hours) from Las Cruces back to Kansas City. We stopped overnight in Amarillo, TX where I realized that I'd made a mistake. In all of our travels, I had booked suites that slept six people: 2 queen sized beds and a pull-out couch. In Amarillo, we checked in and realized that we had...2 queen sized beds. It was a bit comical for one night as the room was non-refundable through the Hotels(dot)com website. We started out this way, but the boys decided to sleep on the floor after awhile. Hey, it worked for a night. It definitely made us even more excited to pull into our driveway 24 hours later!

If you read this far, you deserve a medal for vicariously spending 10 days on the road with us! Fun times! Hopefully family trips become even easier and more fun in the future.

This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

A few days ago, we went to bed, and woke up to a COLD house. Somehow, the weather took a nose dive overnight, and we missed that beautiful transition from hot summer weather to cooler fall. I'm sure we will still have a few more warm days before we officially give up and embrace coats for the year, but it did leave me with two things:

1. I found myself scrambling for long sleeve shirts at 6:30am so the kids had something to wear to school.

2. I realized that if I didn't get our First Family Vacation photos up STAT, it wasn't ever going to happen. And first family vacation photos are kind of significant when you weren't allowed to leave the house for the first 2 years, am I right?

So without further ado....in July, we loaded up the kids for an absolutely NUTTY vacation idea that involved driving through 4 states, spending time with family in two different cities, and spending a total of....gosh, I think it was 43 hours of driving time in the car over a 10 day period (not counting driving time in the cities or the added time for potty breaks and food on the road). With 4-year-olds. I have to say though....it went better than it probably should have. Lol! What can I say? It was a very optimistic inaugural trip!

We started out by driving from Kansas City to Denver and stopped by the wonderful Kit Carson County Carousal in Burlington, Colorado that Ma and Pa (Sean's parents) stopped at just three weeks prior on their trip. In fact, it was one of the last things that Ma did before she unexpectedly passed, and she really enjoyed it, so it was definitely something that we wanted to stop and experience. 

It ended up being such a fun little detour! It holds the distinction of being one of the fastest antique carousals (if I remember correctly), and it was only $0.25 a ride. Definitely a budget friendly adventure for our family!

Top: Caleb and Elijah

Bottom: Abby and Ellie

We started driving to Denver EARLY that morning....like 4am-butt-crack-of-dawn-early. But what that meant was that we got into Denver that afternoon which left time for adventuring after a quick nap. We stopped by Uncle Nathan's homestead for bison burgers and popsicles and a little bit of Colorado country exploring!

Ellie, Abby, Elijah, Caleb, and Uncle Nathan

The next day we hit up the Denver Children's Museum. Definitely the most pricey thing we did on the trip, but the kids absolutely reveled in the chance to dress up and explore grownup places like a grocery store, a veterinarian's office, a fire truck, and a bubble factory without being told, "no touching!"

Ellie and Caleb

Ellie and Abby

Elijah

I snapped this photo of Abby riding in the car one day in Denver. After a few hundred miles, she was tired of sitting like a normal human being. Lol!

I can't remember the name of the mountain anymore, but we took the kids on a mountain hike. It really wasn't that long. Maybe only a mile and a half or so total? There were some old castle ruins on the trail, so we took the kids up to see those. The scenery was gorgeous....but the kids didn't seem to appreciate it quite as much as we hoped. Caleb seemed to want to go the opposite direction the entire time we were on the trail....there and back. Oh well! The weather was perfect, and we got some good snapshots! We will certainly try it again the next time we make it out there!

Top: Caleb and Abby

Bottom: Elijah and Ellie

Of course, we had to stop by the Red Rocks Amphitheater while we were out there. Sean and Uncle Nathan went to a NEEDTOBREATHE concert one night while we were out there, but we took the kids by late one afternoon for a few minutes. Unfortunately, we managed to coincide that right when the general public was arriving for a Van Halen concert, so we didn't stay long. It didn't seem like it would be quite their musical style. ;)

Sean, Caleb, Ellie, Abby, Elijah, and Uncle Nathan

And then, we jumped down to Colorado Springs one morning to visit Focus on the Family and Garden of Gods.

The last time Sean and I were in Garden of the Gods was the summer after we were married. This is one of the most stunning places I've ever seen, and it was just as impressive this time around. We did manage to get our ONE family photo on the trip there. Some random guy saw our kids and jumped out of his car to try to take photos of them. I saw it happening and quickly handed him my camera and asked him to take a family photo. Our kids scattered again before he even finished taking photos with my camera. He wasn't too happy, BUT I'm not overly thrilled with strangers lining my kids up to take photos of them and then posting them.....where??? Seriously, it's ridiculous what people do. He didn't get his photos, but I got one. I'm good with that!

Oh, which reminds me of another story from Denver! Believe it or not, we were actually harassed and stalked by someone on this trip!! Like....this lady figured out what hotel we were staying in and showed up at the hotel to see our kids. Long story. I can not even begin to tell you how unnerving that is. So yeah, I'm going to be careful, and if people aren't happy about it....I'm okay with that. My kids. My rules.

Ellie, Elijah, Mommy, Abby, Daddy, and Caleb

I did get my most favorite picture on this part of the trip though! Love, love, love the way this one turned out! I only wish I was in front of the camera with my family instead of behind it! Then it would be perfect for Christmas cards!

Elijah, Ellie, Abby, Caleb, and Daddy

Anyhow, then the trip to Focus on the  Family was a total FAIL. It was a series of things that went wrong: Elijah went to the use the bathroom and didn't get himself far enough back on the toilet. We didn't have a change of clothes with us. People would NOT leave our family alone and let us look around. We are used to people gawking and asking questions, but people refusing to let us escape, even knowing we needed to take the kids to the bathroom, is what caused Elijah to hurry on the toilet and not take the time to position properly. Caleb was having a bad day. A very bad day. I think we were there for 20 minutes. It was that bad. I literally cried from Colorado Springs all.the.way. back to Denver about my horrible parenting skills, how Caleb's autism can have such a huge impact on family life, and how people can be so rude sometimes. I was really over people at this point.

If you are curious. This was a little under the halfway point in the trip. I may have told Sean that we were absolutely insane to attempt a road trip of this length with this many kids at this age. But it's all good, because moments like that are what marriages are made of. I married the best guy. He told me it isn't all pretty, but we are making memories, and we are doing it together.

The next day we got in the car and started the 9 hour drive to Las Cruces, New Mexico (read 11 hours with quadruplets) to visit my family. I snapped this highly flattering selfie on a nice stretch of desert. Lol!

Becca and Sean.....still kicking!

I'm originally from New Mexico, so the trip down there was just to spend three days visiting my extended family, **finally** introducing our kids to them, and of course, eating as much Mexican food as humanly possible before having to leave again. Yes, it involved #GoalEating. And I'm not ashamed of that.

Top: A photo with my brother Mark. We only got to see him for about 30 minutes before he went out of town!
Bottom: A photo with my cousin Brooke who was one of my best friends while growing up!

Fun selfie in the hotel room!

Abby, Caleb, Ellie, Elijah, and Mommy

I had a chance to teach my grandpa the fine art of taking a selfie and making yourself looking thinner than you really are. You have to hold the camera up higher than your face. He was all giggles! Haha!

Any chance to catch a precious photo of my littles with their great-grandpa is one that I will take! I have some cute ones from the few visits he has made to Kansas City since they were born. We will add this one to the lineup (even though a couple of kids aren't looking or have their faces covered):

Elijah, Abby, Great-Grandpa, Ellie, and Caleb

And then we headed home. As much as we enjoyed our adventures....and we really did, other than my ugly face cry on the way back from Colorado Springs.....we were definitely looking forward to our own beds. It took two days to drive the 16 hours (more like 20 hours) from Las Cruces back to Kansas City. We stopped overnight in Amarillo, TX where I realized that I'd made a mistake. In all of our travels, I had booked suites that slept six people: 2 queen sized beds and a pull-out couch. In Amarillo, we checked in and realized that we had...2 queen sized beds. It was a bit comical for one night as the room was non-refundable through the Hotels(dot)com website. We started out this way, but the boys decided to sleep on the floor after awhile. Hey, it worked for a night. It definitely made us even more excited to pull into our driveway 24 hours later!

If you read this far, you deserve a medal for vicariously spending 10 days on the road with us! Fun times! Hopefully family trips become even easier and more fun in the future.

This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

Let's Name a Wildlife Refuge!

I'm hoping that you all can give me a little hand.

Well, give my entire extended family a hand is probably more accurate.

Don't worry, it's a whole lot easier than it sounds at this point. :)

One of my uncles (on mom's side) is currently in the running to have a Wildlife Refuge named after him in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Most people settle for having a star named after them...having a whole Wildlife Refuge named after you is a big deal!

Uncle Johnny (John Paul Taylor, Jr.) was the former wildlife biologist with Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico. He led the eradication of salt cedar from the Bosque to re-establish the native cottonwood groves, while his practices and leadership were instrumental in many other reclamation projects of the riparian habitat along the Rio Grande, and all over the country. He also developed close working relationships with Mexico on bird fly-ways protection.

In other words, he was a darn good wildlife biologist and his passion for it is pretty obvious in the work that he did! I have fond memories of him inviting us out to the Bosque to watch the birds come in for the evening as they were flying south for the winter. Such an amazing sight!

How would you like to go to work and see this everyday?!

In 2004, at the age of 49, Uncle Johnny suffered a massive stroke and was life-flighted to a nearby hospital. The doctors did what they could, but they were unable to reverse the damage.

Before they took him off of life support, Aunt Maggie, his wife, decided to donate his organs to help other people. She earmarked his kidneys to go to one of his closest friends and cut years off of her wait on the transplant list.

So here's the deal: There is a new Wildlife Refuge that is being built in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southwest Region is asking the public for assistance in choosing the name. They are considering naming the Wildlife Refuge after Uncle Johnny in appreciation for the work and progress he brought to preserving wildlife habitats in the area.

Cool beans, right?!

So if you don't mind, could you click here and vote for the name, "John Paul Taylor, Jr. NWR"? You just click the little check mark and you are done! He's right at the top of the list. And you don't have to be in New Mexico to vote. :)

Thanks!! :)

Curious to know more about Uncle Johnny? The Bosque del Apache put out a publication just after he passed away dedicated to him: http://www.friendsofthebosque.org/Newsletter111204.pdf

I'm hoping that you all can give me a little hand.

Well, give my entire extended family a hand is probably more accurate.

Don't worry, it's a whole lot easier than it sounds at this point. :)

One of my uncles (on mom's side) is currently in the running to have a Wildlife Refuge named after him in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Most people settle for having a star named after them...having a whole Wildlife Refuge named after you is a big deal!

Uncle Johnny (John Paul Taylor, Jr.) was the former wildlife biologist with Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico. He led the eradication of salt cedar from the Bosque to re-establish the native cottonwood groves, while his practices and leadership were instrumental in many other reclamation projects of the riparian habitat along the Rio Grande, and all over the country. He also developed close working relationships with Mexico on bird fly-ways protection.

In other words, he was a darn good wildlife biologist and his passion for it is pretty obvious in the work that he did! I have fond memories of him inviting us out to the Bosque to watch the birds come in for the evening as they were flying south for the winter. Such an amazing sight!

How would you like to go to work and see this everyday?!

In 2004, at the age of 49, Uncle Johnny suffered a massive stroke and was life-flighted to a nearby hospital. The doctors did what they could, but they were unable to reverse the damage.

Before they took him off of life support, Aunt Maggie, his wife, decided to donate his organs to help other people. She earmarked his kidneys to go to one of his closest friends and cut years off of her wait on the transplant list.

So here's the deal: There is a new Wildlife Refuge that is being built in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southwest Region is asking the public for assistance in choosing the name. They are considering naming the Wildlife Refuge after Uncle Johnny in appreciation for the work and progress he brought to preserving wildlife habitats in the area.

Cool beans, right?!

So if you don't mind, could you click here and vote for the name, "John Paul Taylor, Jr. NWR"? You just click the little check mark and you are done! He's right at the top of the list. And you don't have to be in New Mexico to vote. :)

Thanks!! :)

Curious to know more about Uncle Johnny? The Bosque del Apache put out a publication just after he passed away dedicated to him: http://www.friendsofthebosque.org/Newsletter111204.pdf

Three Days of Christmas

Our First Christmas Together!

We are still recovering from our long Christmas weekend. Whoa. It was wonderful to get to see our family, but the kids especially were worn out by the time it was over.

THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS

We started the weekend off with a visit from the babies’ Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Winn. The babies seemed to really enjoy the visit, and Ellie discovered that Great-Grandma wears necklaces that are really fun to chew on. :-)

With Great-Grandparents Winn: Ellie, Caleb, Abby, and Eli

They brought a gift with them that was big enough to pile all of the babies on top of. Abby didn’t seem to get into the Christmas spirit as quickly as the others, but eventually, they all took turns tearing (really more like chewing) on the wrapping paper. They brought us one of those Super XL Play Yards. Or as I affectionately refer to it, “The Baby Cage. “ We’ve already started using it to corral the kids. Awesome gift because these little people are all over the place now!

What is this big box?Opening their first Christmas gift

Friday evening, my parents, brother Mike and his wife and daughter, and my two youngest brothers, Josh and Chris, came over for dinner. We decided to have a New Mexican Christmas dinner as a nod to our childhood. It’s so hard to find good Mexican food here in the Midwest, so we like to make it ourselves to make sure it is good. :-)

New Mexican Christmas Dinner

I made Chicken Fajitas with homemade salsa and homemade guacamole.

I baked some bischochitos as well. They are the traditional New Mexican Christmas cookie. Made with brandy or white wine, rolled thin, and dipped TWICE in sugar and cinnamon. Yummy!

Bischochitos

My Mom wrote down my grandma’s posole recipe while she was in Mesilla, New Mexico visiting last week. Cooked correctly, it takes a while to get that perfect flavor of pork, hominy, and red chili, but it is so worth it. Mom made her red chili sauce from scratch just like grandma used to do. She also brought a big pot of chile con queso (not rotel, mind you. I’m taking about the real stuff!)

Sarah brought Little Smokeys and Taquitos. Little Smokeys? That’s not technically Mexican, but every Christmas Eve, we had a potluck at my grandparents’ house and someone always brought Little Smokeys. It’s just not Christmas without them. The only food item that got a complaint were the Taquitos. Mike told Sarah that they weren’t quite right because she didn’t cut them in half for him like when we were growing up.

But, other than Mike’s small complaint, everyone thoroughly enjoyed skipping the Traditional Christmas Dinner, and going with the New Mexican version. Can you tell it was one of my favorite parts of the entire weekend??

Uncle Josh, Uncle Christopher, Grandpa, Cita, Daddy, Aunt Sarah, and Uncle Mike

There is even talk about making it a tradition from here on out. I’m totally on board with that!

The kids thought that the wrapping paper was the best part of the evening. Then they got to the toys and realized that Grandpa and Cita brought all toys that make noise. The kids LOVE the fact that they light up, move, and play music. (Sean and I are still coming to terms with the extra layer of noise in our house now.)

First Christmas!

Two of my siblings couldn’t make it back from Christmas, but we were lucky enough to get to Skype with my brother, Mark, from New Mexico (he moved back to the area that we grew up in). We wish that he could have made it here, but Skype is a good compromise!

THE SECOND DAY OF CHRISTMAS

Saturday afternoon, Sean’s parents, and sister Ruby and her husband and daughter came over for a traditional Christmas dinner. Ham, sweet potatoes, cheesy corn, rolls, and pumpkin pie. Another delicious meal! Which reminds me, I still need to get that cheesy corn recipe from Ruby. It was beyond amazing!

That was followed up by some Wii Bowling before we dug into pie and then into presents.

Pa, Cousin Marissa, Ma, and Daddy Playing the Wii

Cousin Marissa, Uncle Todd, and Aunt Ruby recovering from Christmas Dinner

So much for our kids not being spoiled! They were simply showered with toys, books, and clothes! But they are having a great time exploring all of their new items! Ellie was also held for two solid days, so we are still suffering from the ramifications of that. I didn’t really think it would be possible to spoil quadruplets. Uh…I was so wrong.

Abby, Cousin Mo, Eli, and Caleb looking at the Bilingual Learning Table from Uncle Todd and Aunt Ruby

Ellie and Abby unwrapping a new book from Ma and Pa

CHRISTMAS DAY

Sunday morning, it was just our little family. How fun to have their first Christmas! Unfortunately, by the time we got to Sunday, they were completely done with anything related to Christmas. Sean and I didn’t do much in terms of gifts for them (consignment sales is where it is at!), but even the little we did was completely unnecessary after the windfall of gifts they got on Friday and Saturday. In fact, I collected all of the puzzles they got from us for Christmas, and I’m going to rewrap them as birthday gifts. Yep, I’m that kind of mom. I won’t be able to get away with that for long, but I’ll take it while I can!

The babies and their three days of loot

Post-Christmas Day

Monday morning, our kids who are usually awake and playing in their cribs by 8am, slept until we woke them up at 10am. We didn’t take them anywhere due to our lockdown, but apparently they were exhausted just from interacting with everyone.  Whew!

Eli and Caleb, tired but still playing...

The only thing that Ellie wanted to do all day on Monday.

This was not posed! Abby was just too worn out to play or crawl around anymore. Eli makes a nice pillow. :)

Even though we enjoyed our first Christmas together, all six of us need a break. I hate to say that I’m glad it’s over, but it’s nice to get back to the regular way our house runs.

But, I’m already looking forward to next year when our kids will be able to make Christmas crafts, eat Christmas Dinner with us at the table, help us decorate the tree, and start understanding the real reason for the CHRISTmas season!

Our First Christmas Together!

We are still recovering from our long Christmas weekend. Whoa. It was wonderful to get to see our family, but the kids especially were worn out by the time it was over.

THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS

We started the weekend off with a visit from the babies’ Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Winn. The babies seemed to really enjoy the visit, and Ellie discovered that Great-Grandma wears necklaces that are really fun to chew on. :-)

With Great-Grandparents Winn: Ellie, Caleb, Abby, and Eli

They brought a gift with them that was big enough to pile all of the babies on top of. Abby didn’t seem to get into the Christmas spirit as quickly as the others, but eventually, they all took turns tearing (really more like chewing) on the wrapping paper. They brought us one of those Super XL Play Yards. Or as I affectionately refer to it, “The Baby Cage. “ We’ve already started using it to corral the kids. Awesome gift because these little people are all over the place now!

What is this big box?Opening their first Christmas gift

Friday evening, my parents, brother Mike and his wife and daughter, and my two youngest brothers, Josh and Chris, came over for dinner. We decided to have a New Mexican Christmas dinner as a nod to our childhood. It’s so hard to find good Mexican food here in the Midwest, so we like to make it ourselves to make sure it is good. :-)

New Mexican Christmas Dinner

I made Chicken Fajitas with homemade salsa and homemade guacamole.

I baked some bischochitos as well. They are the traditional New Mexican Christmas cookie. Made with brandy or white wine, rolled thin, and dipped TWICE in sugar and cinnamon. Yummy!

Bischochitos

My Mom wrote down my grandma’s posole recipe while she was in Mesilla, New Mexico visiting last week. Cooked correctly, it takes a while to get that perfect flavor of pork, hominy, and red chili, but it is so worth it. Mom made her red chili sauce from scratch just like grandma used to do. She also brought a big pot of chile con queso (not rotel, mind you. I’m taking about the real stuff!)

Sarah brought Little Smokeys and Taquitos. Little Smokeys? That’s not technically Mexican, but every Christmas Eve, we had a potluck at my grandparents’ house and someone always brought Little Smokeys. It’s just not Christmas without them. The only food item that got a complaint were the Taquitos. Mike told Sarah that they weren’t quite right because she didn’t cut them in half for him like when we were growing up.

But, other than Mike’s small complaint, everyone thoroughly enjoyed skipping the Traditional Christmas Dinner, and going with the New Mexican version. Can you tell it was one of my favorite parts of the entire weekend??

Uncle Josh, Uncle Christopher, Grandpa, Cita, Daddy, Aunt Sarah, and Uncle Mike

There is even talk about making it a tradition from here on out. I’m totally on board with that!

The kids thought that the wrapping paper was the best part of the evening. Then they got to the toys and realized that Grandpa and Cita brought all toys that make noise. The kids LOVE the fact that they light up, move, and play music. (Sean and I are still coming to terms with the extra layer of noise in our house now.)

First Christmas!

Two of my siblings couldn’t make it back from Christmas, but we were lucky enough to get to Skype with my brother, Mark, from New Mexico (he moved back to the area that we grew up in). We wish that he could have made it here, but Skype is a good compromise!

THE SECOND DAY OF CHRISTMAS

Saturday afternoon, Sean’s parents, and sister Ruby and her husband and daughter came over for a traditional Christmas dinner. Ham, sweet potatoes, cheesy corn, rolls, and pumpkin pie. Another delicious meal! Which reminds me, I still need to get that cheesy corn recipe from Ruby. It was beyond amazing!

That was followed up by some Wii Bowling before we dug into pie and then into presents.

Pa, Cousin Marissa, Ma, and Daddy Playing the Wii

Cousin Marissa, Uncle Todd, and Aunt Ruby recovering from Christmas Dinner

So much for our kids not being spoiled! They were simply showered with toys, books, and clothes! But they are having a great time exploring all of their new items! Ellie was also held for two solid days, so we are still suffering from the ramifications of that. I didn’t really think it would be possible to spoil quadruplets. Uh…I was so wrong.

Abby, Cousin Mo, Eli, and Caleb looking at the Bilingual Learning Table from Uncle Todd and Aunt Ruby

Ellie and Abby unwrapping a new book from Ma and Pa

CHRISTMAS DAY

Sunday morning, it was just our little family. How fun to have their first Christmas! Unfortunately, by the time we got to Sunday, they were completely done with anything related to Christmas. Sean and I didn’t do much in terms of gifts for them (consignment sales is where it is at!), but even the little we did was completely unnecessary after the windfall of gifts they got on Friday and Saturday. In fact, I collected all of the puzzles they got from us for Christmas, and I’m going to rewrap them as birthday gifts. Yep, I’m that kind of mom. I won’t be able to get away with that for long, but I’ll take it while I can!

The babies and their three days of loot

Post-Christmas Day

Monday morning, our kids who are usually awake and playing in their cribs by 8am, slept until we woke them up at 10am. We didn’t take them anywhere due to our lockdown, but apparently they were exhausted just from interacting with everyone.  Whew!

Eli and Caleb, tired but still playing...

The only thing that Ellie wanted to do all day on Monday.

This was not posed! Abby was just too worn out to play or crawl around anymore. Eli makes a nice pillow. :)

Even though we enjoyed our first Christmas together, all six of us need a break. I hate to say that I’m glad it’s over, but it’s nice to get back to the regular way our house runs.

But, I’m already looking forward to next year when our kids will be able to make Christmas crafts, eat Christmas Dinner with us at the table, help us decorate the tree, and start understanding the real reason for the CHRISTmas season!