It almost looked like we were going to miss balloon fiesta this year. It started last weekend and we hadn’t made it out to the park once. In order to see the mass ascension (hundreds of balloons up in the sky at once), you have to wake up before the sun rises, bundle up, and get ready to sit in some traffic.

As its only two weekends, and Jason worked this coming weekend, I kind of thought it was just going to be a miss this year. Then our sweet friends the Carlsons threw out this last minute invite to come with them Thursday morning. We took them up on it and it was well worth it. It’s a sight to see and I loved getting a chance to see them all in the sky this year. They are really quite something.

And going to the fiesta with friends, especially friends with kids, is the way to do it :) Its pretty awesome to see them enjoy it so much.

I also felt something unique this year. My first year, I was purely a visitor, even to the great state of New Mexico at the time. The second year, I had been living here only two months on my own. This time, waking up in my own bed, brewing my own coffee before hand, and leaving my house with my husband, I loved realizing– this is my home. And its pretty special. <3