Winter Vacation in Taos Part 2

Since the last post was getting a little long, I decided to make this two posts.  And also because Mitch decided to take over 250 pictures in one night.  Yes, you read that right.  He was our paparazzi for New Year's Eve to say the least.  Everyone has AT LEAST 10 by themselves.  If you had a dance party it was closer to 40 of yourself. :)  But I'll get to that night in a second. 

After the Teeples arrived on Thursday night, we had the gang complete.  Friday was declared as Spa Day!  Well, at least for some of us!  A few of the people still went skiing.  Since I am not a skier, I was happy I had friends for the whole time.  We had the best time at the spa!  That night we came home and had pizza and watched some football.  The Sooners won so, it was a fun night for our house!

Saturday, New Year's Eve 2011, was one of the more fun days I have had in a long time.  Everyone, minus Charlie and myself, woke up early to hit the slopes.  We stayed in a took our time getting ready, but had plans to meet up with everyone else on the mountain.  We got there in the afternoon and headed up the mountain back roads, in our 4-wheel drive truck.  And let me just say, it is a good thing we had it!  We were running a little behind so as soon as we were getting there everyone else was leaving to go skiing again.  But we didn't let that rain on our parade.  We then decided to sit at the bar and celebrate!

Here's to 2012!

After an hour or so, we had friends come and join us! 

This is definitely one of my favorite pictures from the trip!

Once everyone was finished skiing and drinking on Taos Mountain we headed back to the cabin!  We spent all night playing games and hanging out.  I think we played Catch Phrase for at least 2 hours!  It was such a great time!  Here's the night in pictures!  I will start off with the cast of characters for the trip first since they are some of my favorites!

And here's how the night went.............

The Catch Phrase begins!

The Skinners!

Pistols Firing??

Charlie's first dance party of the night!

Best buds!

Max partied the night away!

Grant decided we would have our own ball drop at midnight!

The Girls

One of the funnier pictures ever taken!

Charlie teaching the guys the dance to "Waterfalls," by TLC

T-Boz, Left Eye, Chilli and that other guy...

The Bolens getting their groove on!

And the dance party begins!

Charlie's rendition of "Man in the Mirror"

Rhett serenading Elizabeth

Mitch was getting down to some Hush Hush Commotion

We had so much fun in the mountains with great friends!  We really couldn't ask for better friends than these couples.  They all made me laugh harder than I have in forever.  I wish I could post all 300 pictures from this trip because they are all hilarious! 

To the Bolens, Carrolls, Skinners and Teeples,
You guys made this the best trip to the mountains ever.  Mitch and I are truly blessed to be able to call you dear friends of ours.  We truly cherish your friendships!  I look forward to many more trips to the mountains and hope that you will always join us!

I found a few friend quotes and I think they sum this group up pretty great!

"True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends, but in their worth and choice."
- Samuel Johnston

"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together"
- Woodrow Wilson



 

Winter Vacation in Taos Part 1

Mitch and I love the mountains and Taos so much that we have made it a yearly event to go the week after Christmas through New Year's.  This is the second year we have gone and it was a great time!  Mitch and I left for Perryton on Christmas night.  We decided we wanted to drive half way so we wouldn't have a long drive and so we could get there early in the day.  We pulled up to Taos around 2pm on the 26th.  After settling in we headed out to dinner at our favorite spot in Taos, Graham's Grill.  Graham's is always good, but this was our favorite meal we ever have had there.  It was delicious! 

This is the cookbook from Graham's.  I have only tried a few things so far, but they have all been great!

The next morning we woke up bright and early and headed into town for breakfast.  We hit up our favorite breakfast spot at Michael's Kitchen.  It was so good and one of our favorite breakfasts we have ever had!
I always get the Poor Man's Eggs Benedict and I have made it a mission for 2012 to try and replicate the dish in my own kitchen!

 Best breakfast in Taos!



Also, our first few days in Taos we had the privilege of getting to see some of the wildlife that lives around Valle Escondido.  We saw deer everyday and what was left of a mountain lion visit.  We originally thought the mountain lion was a bear, but seeing as how it is winter they are already sleeping for the winter.  Sadly, luckily for us, the mountain lion visit was at night so we never saw him in person!

After a few days of alone time, we had friends join us on Wednesday the 28th!  This week we were joined by the Bolens, Carrolls, Skinners and Teeples.  We had a such a great time!  Everyone minus Charlie and myself went skiing .

Mitch and his Christmas ski pants!  I love Elizabeth in the background of this pic!

All the boys {minus Preston}

The Taos gang!



After dropping everyone off, Charlie and I headed back down the mountain to explore Taos.  We had a great time visiting the Earthships, The Gorge bridge, shopping around town and lunch.  Since I am new with my camera, Charlie posed for lots of pics!

These are the Earthships!  They are made out of 100% recycled material.

Miss Charlie posing by the Earthship

All of the silver is the bottom of pop cans.  Also, notice the tires in the wall.

The colors are cans or bottles that are colored

The Gorge Bridge-It's like a mini Grand Canyon in Taos

We went exploring

After a long day on the slopes we hit up another great dinner spot, The Trading Post.  It was very yummy!  Then, it was back to the cabin for games! 

TO BE CONTINUED.......