As part of our trip east, we drove (rather Gregory did) my grandparents to New Mexico so they could visit with my grandpa’s older sister Shirley.  They spent three days together in Albuquerque while we were gallivanting around Santa Fe and Ojo Caliente.  We met up on the final leg of their Albuquerque journey, and got to see Shirley, too.  I had only met her once when I was very little, and actually have no recollection of her, just her house.  It was far from the hotel where we stayed and had a lot of wood paneling.  Aren’t memories funny?

I think my grandma jinxed this picture.  They were both smiling nicely and looking at the camera, when she exclaimed, “I never take a good picture!”  Well, whaddya know, it is a little blurry, and neither one of them is looking in the same direction.  They both look happy, though.  That is what really counts.

Look at this handsome couple: my Mom and Daddy, high school sweehearts that will be married for forty years in September!

Here we are, all together – the infamous Sohn family.  We all look so happy because we ate dinner together for the first time since, jeez, I don’t know.  It didn’t hurt that our bellies were filled with Daddy’s yummy green chile.  Food IS love sometimes, especially when it is Mexican.  Left to right, Aaron (the baby), Colleen (number two daughter), Mom, Daddy, Lara (number one daughter), and Chris (right after me).  It is a good picture.  I’ll bet my mom gets misty when she looks at it.

My adorable nephews – they are Lara’s boys, though not for much longer.  Chaz, on the left, is sixteen!  Jett is nine!  That makes me feel much older than I look, I hope.

A little background – this is the yard where I grew up.  It is rather large, and full of fun places for hiding and adventure.  The boys are sitting on and we are standing in front of one of a series of rocks that divide the upper and lower parts.  When we were little, we used to have so much fun racing, jumping from rock to rock.  I tried it again this time, but, even with longer legs, I’m not as fast as I once was.  I think a fear of falling has something to do with it.  I find it amazing to think of all I was capable of doing before fear came into the picture.  I think I’ll post more about that later…