Year of Firsts...January

My new year's resolution is to try 1 new thing a month.  January started off strong.  If I keep going at this pace, I'm going to run out of my ideas by mid year.

I had planned to visit my little sister in New Mexico, and when I told her about my new year's resolution, she thought it would be fun to have me do a police ride-a-long with her husband who is New Mexico State Police. Of course, a week before I came to visit, my little sister did a ride-a-long so I wouldn't get to do it before her.  She got to see Nate have a guy do a drunk driver test, walk the straight line and all.  I was excited to see some excitement also!

I rode with him for 4 hours and saw a lot of warnings and tickets....not much else.  I guess it's a good that I didn't see more excitement because he told me if anything serious came up, he'd have to drop me off on the side of the road wherever we were and then go by himself.  Not exactly exciting.

But he did let me ride in the driver's seat long enough for a picture.  He even let me wear his hat!  He also let me look up my profile on his laptop to see if I had a record...I don't...phew!

We also went to Roswell, New Mexico, which was exciting!  I have seen a UFO myself, so it was good to know that I wasn't the only one!

They got us!!  Owen and I were terrified!

Can't a girl get some privacy..

 The kids loved Roswell.  We chose not to go the the UFO museum because it was mainly news articles of different sightings, and once again, I've already seen a UFO so my account is more important than everyone else's.  We went to different areas that were a little more kid friendly and entertaining.

As you can see below, some weird things started happening...

Danielle has had a New Mexico bucket list, and a big one on her list was Carlsbad Caverns.  These were truly amazing!!  You go down into the earth where there is an underground cave that spans a couple miles.  You can either hike 1.5 miles down or take an elevator.  We chose to hike.  The kids were such troopers.  Owen wanted to hold my hand the whole hike.  He was adorable.  A couple times he got scared and didn't want to go on, but I would assure him that we were safe, and there was more to see.  He walked the whole thing by himself.

Talena and I pondering life..

The fourth thing I did in January was snow shoe-ing.  As one who doesn't like hiking, I was hesitant to take on this venture....not because I don't like the outdoors or nature but because I get really self-conscious around people who don't ever need to stop or take breaks.  My friend from church, Ashley Morrison was willing to take me.  Our other friend Talena Born joined us.  We had such a fun time.  Snow shoe-ing was fantastic and the place we went to, donut falls, was amazing!

I might have fallen..

Had to slide down some spots...surprisingly scary!

The final stretch before the Falls

Donut falls.

4 new things in January...February is semi-planned and ready to go...so far I am loving this new year's resolution!!

2013...Year of Firsts

I've never been a girl of many hobbies.  When people asked me what I like to do, I immediately respond, "I like sports and people."  As you can see...not a very long list.  I have also never been one to make new year's resolutions.  I think it's unrealistic to make a drastic life change just because it's a resolution.  If you wanted to make the change bad enough, you probably would've done it by now, resolution or not.

I was talking to my friend Angela Hanks about hobbies.  I told her that I don't have many, and it would be nice to say more than "I like basketball" when I meet new people.  She and I decided to make a list of new things I would try this year.  And thus began my very first new year's resolution...I was going to try one new thing a month.  It could be as big as visiting a new country, medium like trying a new activity, or as simple as cooking a new recipe.  I don't want to overwhelm and limit myself in what could count as a "first," since I'm already leery of accomplishing new year's resolutions.

Some ideas I want to try are:
Ice Fishing, Snow Shoe-ing, sew/crochet/knit, ceramics/pottery, sky diving, zumba, languages, and the list goes on.

Other ideas that friends want me to try:
Bikram Yoga (the thought of this scares the tar out of me), cake decorating class (don't know if this interests me at all, but I guess that's the purpose of this resolution), police ride along, and some that I'm sure will continue to come up through out the year.

To help me remember my resolution, I have this hung up on the wall next to my bed.  If anyone has any other suggestions for me, please let me know!  It's going to be a great year!!