"Come live in my heart, and pay no rent." Samuel Lover

It's already been two weeks since I've blogged?!

Everything's been so busy with school starting and & all of the engagement stuff... time seems like it's been flying..
So besides for being engaged... [which has been pretty exciting..]

There has been a lot of other "blog worthy" things that have been going on that have not been blogged about..

:)

So everybody wondering what Blake arrived to when he got off the airplane to begin the best trip of his life?

Yes.. that's right.. this awesome sign that my sweet creative little sister made with me.. :)

& a few cheering fans!

Yes.. that's right you read correctly. cheering. haha and boy.. was it funny..

I was standing there with this sign waving it above my head.. screaming Blake Blake over here! & jumping up and down.. in this teenie tiny airport..

:)

He loved it..

[My dear mother had the brilliant idea of taking a picture of his face as he saw his ride home..

& she was nice enough to take the picture while I was holding the sign..priceless]

When we had been on the phone during one of his layovers earlier in the day I was like what would you do if I picked you up with a big sign screaming..

& he may have said something about keeping the embarrassment levels down or something..

but at that point I was already laughing and so excited for what had to accompany his plane landing..

Then once Blake forgave me for his embarrassing airport experience.. 

He let my family and I take him to the Mesa Verde Indian ruins not too far from my home town!

:)

It was so cool even for me to get to see them again because I hadn't been since I was probably in Elementary school.. so I guess the awesome thing about not remember things is that it's like seeing them for the first time again! 

:)

The Indian ruins are amazing. It's sad that when you have cool things like this so close to you it's really easy to take them for granted!

These Indians were amazing to be able to have built these building with only mud and water.. [& the lady may have said urine... eugh.. but I tried to block that one out.. ha I guess if you want something to last forever.. you just have to pee on it? sick!]

& going anywhere with my family always turns out to be fun.. 

I've never met any other people that can make me laugh so much.

I'm really lucky that I got to grow up with them.

Mitch and Blake were having fun with my camera..

& apparently are convinced that Mitchell had a sweet mullet going on comparable to the guy in front of us on our first tour...

haha

cute.

Then when we were leaving the first group of ruins that we visited I was reaching into my bag to grab my water bottle out..

& all of my rice cake snacks that I had brought fell out!

&.. that may have not been such a big deal had the tour guide not just given a big..

long... never ending..

speech on how we need to keep everything but water in our bags if we want to preserve the ruins and not have creatures taking over!

And you're probably like Hailey.. just pick them up! But.. I turn around and she's standing right behind me!

ahh..

& even better I had been standing on a ruin that I wasn't supposed to just like less than 3 minutes before this and she had been reprimanding me then..

So my family and Blake were making loud sighs [mostly for our entertainment.. & for the lady]

and like gosh.. hailey we can't bring you anywhere.

great.

But don't worry.. after my episode I was on my best behavior.. & we were able to enjoy the beautiful ruins again.

:)

Mitch and Marah discovered that the awesome thing about Indians buildings is that..

you can be in two rooms at once!

These people knew how to get around I guess..

This was the ruin that Blake had been looking forward to..

[since you got to climb under ground.. ]

so hopefully it was worth his wait!

I think these are the rooms that probably inspired the people up at school to ask me if I climbed into my home with a ladder.. & caught my food with a spear..

Yes. thank you very much for thinking that I am a barbarian.. ha

But the room was really cool never the less..

[literally it was so nice to have it to get out of the sun.. I'm sure that's what it was used for a 1000 years ago too!]

& yes.. I am blessed enough to be genetically related to this good lookin guy here..

haha 

never a dull moment with this one.

i love you mitch.

After Marah finished grinding her corn..

[& telling us a story about how the Indian women would get sand in the corn and it ground down their teeth and that is why a lot of Indians didn't have teeth! ah.]

We were all exhausted and had to call it a day..

Then for the rest of the trip.. Blake mostly had to help me pack and get ready to go..

 

But he was a good sport.. and packing was much better with him there.

:)

We did however get to see Mar play in one of her High School soccer games though!

& she did soo awesome!

She's a little smaller than the rest of the girls.. [& if you know me you understand what I'm saying.. it just runs in our family.. haha darnit.]

but she doesn't even let it phase her.

Good job Marah Lyn. :)

I'm so proud of you!

& we took Blake to this ice cream parlor that we had wanted to go to in the little town next to mine..

It's called Vanilla Moose [as you can see from the first picture.. :) ]

& when I poked my head in while she was making my ice cream.. 

I think I discovered this cute little parlors inspiration!

I don't know if this moose head screams ice cream to me.. but.. to each his own.

& Mitch was the best little brother ever and helped me show Blake a little tour of the canyon in his truck..

:)

We showed him the drop off..

& for those of you who aren't from New Mexico..

The drop off.. is a very HUGE drop..

that people throw rocks.. and washing machines.. and cars.. & everything else you can think of off!

When I was in High School my friends and I would come out here and we would golf off of it.. and lay out here and tan..

it's actually a pretty fun place to hang out believe it or not.. there are places to climb all over.

But the part that Blake thought was the coolest was that it creates a really huge updraft!

So if you throw things off they will spin around like a boom-a-rang and come back!

[Most of the time.. ha Mitch has definitely experienced the loss of a hat trying to demonstrate this cool trick to me!]

My little brother.. is much braver than me..

I worry about this little guy. [ & although he may not be that little anymore.. ]

If any of you know him.. watch out for him.. I sure love him and he hangs off of cliffs!

Then unfortunately for me it was time to say good bye to my family and head back up to school..

But.. then it was Blake's turn to take me on a little adventure!

I had really been wanting to go to the fair with him all summer.. so as soon as he got back he took me to the state fair!

Which.. I don't know if it was because it was a state fair.. or because Idaho has a lot more farm animals than where I'm from but it was pretty big and really fun.

Unfortunately the stinky animal thing.. seems to be universal in all fairs. state or not.

Next year I'm going to follow this smart guys lead!

:)

&

although they had large Clydesdale horses..

This was the horse that had all the ribbons behind it! haha..

There are some things in Idaho I just don't even try to understand..

& speaking of which..

This is something that my sweet fiance introduced me to!

Square Ice Cream?

& yes.. it was better than round. 

You'll just have to try it for yourself.

:)

& THEN..
he took me on the Ferris wheel.

Perfect Fair Date.

I'm so blessed to be in love with a man that treats me like a princess. 

& flies to see me just so that I don't have to drive home alone and he can get a few extra days with me and my family..

So although a lot of really happy things have been going on.. this last couple weeks has been kind of up and down.

Just before we left New Mexico my uncle Troy passed away.

Since he was only 38 it was really unexpected and hasn't been the easiest death for anyone in his family..

He was the most loving caring man..

& if anyone wouldn't mind saying an extra prayer for my grandma, mom, and her brothers it would mean a lot to quite a few people.. myself included.

I also just wanted to say I love you to my family and friends. Thank you for all the support and happiness that you've shared with me..

I can't tell you what it means to me.

:)

I hope you guys had a great weekend!