Settling in

You know how I mentioned that one of my favorite things about NM was the lack of bugs??? That can no longer be said! Take a look at a member of our welcoming committee...he showed up and met his demise the first night in our new house. I'm just glad we got him before he got us...and I hope there are not anymore like him!

That is a nickel beside him, just for size reference. He looks to be some kind of wasp or hornet...yikes! In addition to him, Danny killed a giant cicada, downed several wasp nests from around the house, sprayed many an ant and just this morning offed a black widow. Welcome to the neighborhood! This house has been empty for some time, so we are thinking that it just needs to be rescued from the wild! There is a lot more foliage in this neighborhood and we are just 2 blocks from the river, so I attribute the abundance of insects to these two factors. There is a trade off wherever you go. So far, I will take the bugs. I love our new place.

I finally finished up cleaning the old house yesterday, so now I am able to focus on getting settled in to the new...it's been a little slower than I would like, but we will get there...eventually.

Yesterday we took a much needed break from the moving and settling to explore our "Backyard". There is a good trail along the river and it literally took us two minutes from our driveway to this:

We took a little walk along the banks of the Rio Grande, hunted for good skipping rocks and spent a little time skipping them. It was a nice break.

Last night we were invited to a new friends' house (from our new ward) for a BBQ and a little swimming. It was a lot of fun and we are feeling welcomed into our new ward and neighborhood.

I am hoping to get things situated here soon and will post some pics!

Just for fun, here's a pic of my little trooper that has been somewhat ignored throughout this whole moving process! Good thing for his new toy!