the land of enchantment.

i spent the last week of my summer vacation traveling to the land of enchantment {aka new mexico} with my friend kim {formerly known as new friend kim}, and i may have fallen in love. 

with the state, that is. 

her family lives near albuquerque, she wanted a rode trip companion, and i'm not one to say no to a little adventure. so away we went.

we stopped at the great sand dunes in colorado {which you may remember from here}, and we climbed all the way to the top. each time i visit the sand dunes, i am overwhelmed with how beautiful and strangely located they are.

we spent the next six days driving through and exploring new mexico. 

it all started in taos, where we stayed in the most adorable casita, tasted the best margarita in town, attended mass, posed for senior photos {that was kind of a staple throughout the trip}, hiked to a beautiful lake in the rain, had some of the best ice cream in the u.s., got hit on by a biker gang, explored the town, and most importantly, kim savored one of the best donuts of her life.

on our way to albuquerque, we stopped off at the rio grande gorge bride to take in the gorgeous views and obviously spent a few hours at ojo caliente mineral springs resort and spa because nothing says true relaxation like a whispering policy, mud baths, and hammocks. it was glorious. 

i was so happy to meet kim's family when we got to albuquerque. they were the nicest people, and her aunt makes some amazing food. they was no lack for snacks, cookies, or diet coke. their kindness and love for each other definitely made an impression on me, and i hope i can hang out with them in the land of enchantment again soon.

the highlight of our albuquerque adventures included visiting the plaza, taking more senior photos, and most importantly {for nick} visiting the breaking bad house. i have to admit, i've never seen an episode but nick instructed me that i just HAD to go. the owners of the house were outside, so i asked if i could take some photos. they politely agreed as long as i stayed off their property. and they told us {other people came while we were there to take pictures too} that we would't believe how many people came to their house, day and night, to take photos. intense.

we finished off our new mexico adventure with a trip to santa fe. we spent the day there walking around, admiring art, and eating at the tea house.

i have officially decided that i LOVE santa fe and want to go back as soon as possible. 

it just had a great vibe with a lot of color and beautiful art. 

two very enthusiastic thumbs up from this girl.

before we knew it, it was time to head back to colorado and start work again.

i had the best time and can't wait to come back to the land of enchantment again soon.

p.s. kim is currently single, and i will be accepting resumes for interested suitors on her behalf. 

camping: the lesley way.

it's no secret that i love summer. i frequently forget what day it is and get to vacuum my house to my heart's content.

it's pure bliss. 

{oh, and i've just started a dawson's creek marathon on netflix, so i've really taken the good times up a notch.}

in addition to staying in my pjs for as long as possible, photographing babies {i have a website now, so you should probably check it out}, and using the bathroom whenever i please {aka a teacher luxury}, nick has insisted we clock in some good camping time this summer in order to help him reach his goal of climbing all of colorado's 14ers {he's currently at 40 out of 53. yeah i'm impressed too.}

our first excursion a few weeks back included throwing sir winston in the back of the jeep and heading out for a quick car camping trip to aspen. nick wanted to get up in the elevation and do some hiking, so we set up camp, drank beer around the fire, and woke up at 4:30 am and headed off for the trail.

in our 2 years of marital wisdom, we devised a pretty good plan for hiking together. i take sir winston and start off with nick until the trail gets too "mountainy" and sir winston and i head back to the tent to go back to sleep and nick takes it the rest of the way.
so that's exactly what we did.

this also gives me the opportunity to take photographs at my leisure on the way back down.

everyone wins.

our second camping trip of the season was a little more…involved.

this time we were backpacking, uphill the whole way, and with a lot of big rocks covering the trail.

fortunately, we brought our friends matt, kandyce {who is responsible for some of the beautiful photos below, and she was kind enough to let me steal them} and jonathan along because misery loves company and they are pretty great company.

after our car tried to die on us in colorado springs, we finally made it to the blanca peak trailhead, put on our packs, and set off for our 7 mile hike. 

{i can't help myself with the heart rocks.}

when we finally made it to the top, completely exhausted, the view at the lake was completely spectacular and made all the misery worth it {mostly}.

the next morning, while kandyce and i were sleeping, reading, walking around the lake, and talking about family, marriage, and general life things the boys were taking it to the next level and summiting mount blanca.

they learned a valuable lesson on the cleansing effect of apricots that day.
only the strong survive climbing mountains while eating handfuls of apricots.
and they made it back to us in one piece, mostly.

we headed back down that afternoon to meet our friends james, sarah, mitch, and whitney who were staying at a campsite nearby.

they spoiled us with a delicious dinner already prepared, the perfect campsite location, cold beers for everyone, a hilarious game of cards against humanity, and hours spent around the campfire.

and they even endured me talking about how beautiful the sunset was for at least an hour.
i couldn't help myself. 

sunday morning we decided to visit the sand dunes before heading back to denver, and i'm so glad we did.

primarily because i got to see what happens when you tell a group of people to do a jumping picture, in sand, and you put your camera on continuous shooting.

enjoy.
{maybe we'll get it next time guys.}

i'm really thankful that camping has become a summer staple for us.

it's a beautiful, challenging, and always hilarious adventure.