The Roses

My sweet darling love had this whole surprise planned out for us to take a trip together for my birthday. 

We (the kids and I) booked it home from TX on Sunday and I re-grouped to prepare to leave my kids for a few days, and walk back out the door the next day. We took off Monday afternoon and headed towards the mountains! Secretly, thats what I had hoped for but I wasn't gonna assume and get my hopes up. We ended up in Cloudcroft, NM. 

Beautiful

Perfect

Cozy

Amazing.

Those are a few words I would use to describe this place. Nat got us a cabin up in the mountains.

The fireplace in the room was lit the whole time we were there! It was great to sleep to the warmth and the glow of the fire..

 right outside our door.

We went to supper right after we got their... oh YUM! I serisouly just can't stop thinkin about it! I can't wait to eat there again when we go back. I snapped this photo of the sunset on our way.

The next day we did a little shopping.

 and eating.

 For lunch we got  some sandwiches from this cute little sandwich shop and we went for a little picnic.

 then a 3 1/2 mile hike! I think it was a tad unintentional for 2 outta shape people to go on such hike.

But, we did!

 As relaxing and peaceful as it was to be surrounded by such beauty, I'll admit that I was a CHICKEN! I mean, seriously, they have these signs posted all over the trail about animals to watch out for.

A coon- OK.

Rabbits, birds- OK.

A BEAR?!?! - not ok.

MOUNTAIN LION- not ok.

So yes, I was a little cautious. I'm the kinda person that sees something once and I will NEVER forget it. I seriously have to be very careful as to what I watch on TV cuz it will haunt me forever. So you know, those bear attack shows.... ya, running through my mind the whole time. I just kept waiting to hear that bear.

 Fortunately, we didn't see any frightening things.

But lots of pretty things!! Seriously. Wow, the fall colors. AMAZING!

Later we went driving around... just for fun. We found a few trails that led up mountains and took them. We decided we wanted to come back at night and see what more wildlife we could see. 

elk remains.

But before we did, we had some dinner. My sweet, thoughtful husband brought steaks for us to grill for supper right outside our cabin. But, thats it. :) I had to smile at his thoughtfulness but then laughed about the fact that he didin't bring anything else. No utensils. No seasonings. No sides. No plates. We had a good laugh about it. After an expensive trip to Allsups, we had a nice little dinner together. It got waaay to cold to eat outside.

He ended up using screw drivers out of his truck to turn the steaks... and used pliers and a screw driver to open the canned veggies. :)

and of course s'mores!

That night we went out back up a few trails in the mountains and we were able to see a TON of elk. It was amazing. 

The next day we went fishing.

Nat caught the first one.

I caught the 2nd and 3rd. Yep, I got 2. He got 1.... 

So, we got a little competitive. ;)

We had an amazing time. It was definitely a much needed breather for us!!! Shout out to my MIL for staying with the kids, grocery shopping for us, and holdin down the fort while we got away!!