April Update! Family Time, National Parks, and More!!

Adam and I have been all over the place last month, and I just didn't get a chance to update. We were able to spend some quality time with Adam's parents during the first few weeks of April before we headed to Utah for more family time! We took a trip out to Jemez on one day (gorgeous weather!) and also visited the Albuquerque BioPark (the botanical gardens and the aquarium).

Battleship Rock in Jemez

Saw a wooden bear!

Tulips and daffodils at the botanical gardens

Japanese garden

We also took Cuba out a few times to throw the ball around. 

Taking a breather with the ball

Cuba with her eye on the ball! 

We drove to Utah from Albuquerque in mid-April, only to arrive in Salt Lake City right as a snowstorm came in. On our first day at Susan's house, we awoke to a nice layer of snow cover (at least a foot!). To enjoy the April snow, Paul, Susan & I had hot chocolate and went snowshoeing in Mill Creek Canyon (Adam stayed at home to bake lemon cupcakes with Jared). We also cooked yummy food (sweet and savory crepes!) and went out to Korean food (if you are in SLC, Myung Ga has delicious bulgogi, cucumber kimchi, and spicy tofu soup!).

During the week we headed up north to see Amy, Kevin and the family. As always, time went by too fast and we weren't able to do everything together that we would love to. Though I did get to fake-eat mudpies made by the nieces!

Mmm, mud cake and mud chip cookies anyone? (notice how nice the weather is...only 2 days after the snows!)

We then spent the following weekend with Susan and Paul again- mostly lounging, reading books, taking some short hikes, and watching movies. It was a super relaxing and nice visit before heading to our next destinations- Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park.

Both parks were absolutely gorgeous. We didn't have our camping gear with us, so we didn't camp but we were able to enjoy the park nonetheless and also attend a lot of ranger programs. We enjoyed seeing all the hoodoo formations in Bryce Canyon- very cool colors and shapes. It was National Park Week so entrance was free, but shockingly it wasn't too busy. Bryce Canyon is a very small park and many of the hiking trails in the south were still snow covered. And as always, click on the photos to see a larger image.

It was a little chilly- good thing we had all weather clothing!

Zion National Park was a little bit more crowded. Adam and I entered from the east entrance, so we had the chance to drive through the tunnels. We did several hikes while in Zion- lots of gorgeous views. We did encounter large crowds on some of the short paved hikes, but on the more moderate ones, it was nice and tranquil!

Adam actually posed for a photo! Hooray!

After enjoying the gorgeous parks, we headed back to California! Susan came down and we celebrated her birthday. We ate, relaxed, watched movies, took walks, chatted, and just spent lots of time together as family, which was amazing. I've been really appreciative of our time between things. If only Andy & Gaby were closer!

This was super early in the morning when Susan and Betty were leaving so we are all a little tired!

We are going to be in California for the next month or so until we.......move to Boulder, CO!! Adam will be going to grad school at CU Boulder this fall. We plan to move to Boulder in July or August (depending on when we can get an apartment), so I will be job searching over the next few months. Wish me luck!! We are going to be moving pretty far from my parents and Betty, so I am glad we have had the past several months to spend with them!

Updates

We just got back from Albuquerque a few weeks ago and headed to Death Valley for a camping trip. It was my first trip to Death Valley, even though Adam and I grew up only 2 hours outside of the national park! Adam's been a handful of times and when Jennifer said she was open to going to Death Valley, it was a done deal. We had a great time- the views were stunning (Jennifer said she was expecting blah desert and instead it was like being on another planet with the surreal landscapes!) and we had a lot of laughs on the trip. From the ordeal of getting the rental car to putting up our tent in what must have been 50mph winds, we have lots of memories from the trip. It was absolutely gorgeous and if you haven't been, you should check it out!!

Yes, we did see a roadrunner!!

After a stopover in Ridgecrest, we headed back to Irvine with Jennifer so that Adam and I could continue our car hunt. Last week we finally decided on a car. We had been looking at used car options but ended up getting a new one. We are now proud owners, once again, of a Toyota Matrix.

In sad news, last week we found out that Adam's dog, Mickie (who is 16 yrs old), had a large growth in her head and today it was confirmed that she has cancer. It's been really hard on Adam because he's worried about her- he was really sad because he doesn't want to think about her hurting or suffering.  And of course, I cried because she is just such a sweet dog and we had just gotten back from spending a month with her and Cuba. We are going to try to make it back out to Albuquerque again (right now Adam's parents said she is acting like herself and seems to be doing ok). I'm hoping that even though she has cancer, that she doesn't have to be put to sleep and that she won't suffer at all during her last months. 

Daytrippin' in Podocarpus

And while I am posting, I might as well update on our past week and post up some photos from our day trip to Zamora to visit the Podocarpus National Park.  Last week was pretty much the same as always- Adam went to the UTPL to visit with some of the engineers up there, had a few meetings at CASMUL and the Tourism Office and I did the same ol' same ol', though it was sad going to all the centers without Eri!

On Monday I finished the scrapbook for Eri and then she came over and had dinner at our house (I made meatloaf and mashed potatoes since she enjoyed that the last time we had a potluck). The next day I went to the Centro Comercial without Eri. It was fine but the kids and I all missed her. Then I met up with Eri on last time for coffee and empanadas de verde at a friend's house while Adam made lasagna with Stacia and Liz. On Thursday I did an origami workshop at a school and had to play Eri's role of standing up in the front demonstrating while some of the CPD staff went around to help the kids- we made dolphins and Santa Claus...I have to go back to the center 2x this week, so we are going to make pistols, boxes, frogs and the kusudama.

Here are a couple page samples from the scrapbook I made Eri. The cover said La Gran Aventura and it was over 30 pages. It was a bit of a last minute crunch because the guy binding it for me didn't have it ready until 3pm and I was still short 10 pages! Yikes!

When the weekend came, Adam and I were glad to take a day trip out to Zamora since we hadn't been up until now. Plus it was nice for Adam and I to spend some alone time since we had volunteers crashing overnight at our house since Monday. We enjoy having volunteers over but sometimes it is nice to have our own time, just the two of us.

This is a row of ants walking along carrying leaves back as food. We saw tons marching along on the trails.

Cascada Poderosa (Powerful Waterfall)

And we saw tons and tons of gorgeous butterflies of all colors and shapes and sizes. I couldn't capture them all but I got a few shots!

View of Zamora from their riverwalk

Ok I have to run. A mosquito is buzzing around my head hoping to get a drink!! I can hear it buzzing!