Rocky Mountain National Park- Get Excited!

Adam and I took a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park today and it was fabulous!! It is about 45 miles from Boulder and we decided that we'll probably do a lot of day trips to go hiking and photographing (and possibly snowshoeing in the winter). As a result, we picked up a yearlong pass to the park and are excited to go back again sometime in the next week or so for our second visit to the park!

We were only at the park for about 4 hours today and in that short time we saw a couple marmots, a few deer, and a ton of elk! We were primarily on the Old Fall River Road, Alpine Visitor Center and the Trail Ridge Road (since the Bear Lake Road and trails were packed with visitors in the morning and it started raining in the afternoon).  So glad we got an annual pass because we'll be able to back for several more visits and be able to take our time (plus I want to see some big horn sheep)!

Marmot popping out of his hole to say hello!

Colorado- Home Sweet Home

Adam and I have been in Colorado for 3 weeks now! We are slowly finding our way around and getting adjusted, little by little.

Some things we love so far about living in Boulder:

1. The public library is a mile from our house! We already have our library cards! =D
2. The Boulder Creek Path, a running/cycling/walking path, runs right next to our apartment complex and takes us straight to the library and the Farmer's Market
3. Great summer weather! A little warm in the daytime, but overall quite lovely!
4. Sunflower Market is right across the street and a Sprouts is not too far away (aka California's Henry's Markets)
5. There is a large asian market about 10 miles away (yay for 30 varieties of rice and 50 varieties of soy sauce!)
6. Rocky Mountain National Market is an hour away- just picked up our yearlong pass today!
7. Awesome afternoon/evening thunderstorms with crazy lightning and thunder!
8. Our friends, the Schramms, live in Denver, just a hop, skip and jump away!

And there will probably be a lot more to come as we get out a bit more. To be honest, the past couple weeks have been spent at Target, Home Depot, Costco, Goodwill, and of course on Craigslist in search of things to help us settle back into life in our own apartment! I would be more than happy to not see the inside of Target and Costco for a loooong time (but doubtful that it will be that long).

Some things I don't really like so far about Boulder:

1. Mosquitos!
2. Mosquitos!!!
3. Mosquitos!!!!
4. Our apartment has not been well taken care of and the linoleum is NASTY!
5. People run red lights and cyclists don't follow traffic laws.
6. It's too far from our family!

Not too bad of a list huh?

Without further ado, here are some photos of our apartment and the views from some of our windows!! I forgot to take photos of our dining area/living room...and right now it is a bit messy so those will have to wait until another time! =D

Part of our apartment complex- it's graduate and family housing so lots of tricycles and kids' toys are always out and about. Also you can see the playground equipment and the area where you can hangdry clothes.

Our apartment building- looks ok on the outside but needs some help on the inside for sure!! 

Our kitchen with the totally gross linoleum. It has cracks, holes and stains but the housing office told us that it was still considered in good condition (our resident manager had told us it was one of the worst she had seen and encouraged us to ask the office about changing it...I guess the office has low standards!). It looks and feels filthy even after mopping and scrubbing. So we are now a "shoes on when walking on the linoleum" household!

Our kitchen after getting our free microwave on Freecycle (we also scored a free propane tank)! I love  Freecycle!

Our view from the kitchen window (the building next to the playground is the laundry room)

Our bathroom. We tried to pretty it up with a lovely shower curtain!

Not a great shot but this is one of the bedrooms that we are in the process of turning into an office. So far all we have in there is the Expedit shelf that we got in the As Is section at the new Ikea in Denver! Excuse my mess!

View outside of our office room- I was sooo excited when I saw this deer munching on some leaves!

Zoomed out- you can see the deer was right next to the football team's practice field and a walking path

Football practice started today and so we get a sneak peek from our office as well as the patio off of our living room

Lastly, our bedroom. We need to hang up some frames and now that I see this photo, I think we might need some decorative throw pillows. Without that, the bed looks sad! 

More posts to come on my current crafting projects, our trip to South Fork to see Adam's family, and our trip today to Rocky Mountain National Park and Ft. Collins (to visit the New Belgium Brewery).

California Tour

Our last month living in California had us on the go! From Yosemite to San Francisco to Santa Barbara to Orange County...and it was amazingly fun and a great way to bid farewell to living in California for a few years!

After getting back from Taiwan, we had a few days of rest before heading to Yosemite. It was my second trip there, my parents' first, and one of several for Adam. We had an amazing time there- we were blessed with great weather and because of the snowmelt from the winter, we saw some great waterfalls! Unfortunately, I had planned out a detailed itinerary that included a hike on the Yosemite Valley floor and through the meadows but most of it was underwater from all the extra snowmelt!! We had a phenomenal time nonetheless! I did take my parents on a 5 mile hike to the upper Mariposa Grove on accident (meant to just do the lower loop but I wasn't paying attention to the map! Mom and dad were troopers for sure!!).

Mom, Dad and I in front of one of the big sequoia trees (before we really got to hiking!)

Dad showing his exhaustion for the camera! 

At Swinging Bridge in Yosemite- even the bridge was under water! Gorgeous waterfalls though!

From Yosemite, we headed to Sacramento to see my aunt, uncle and cousins. It had been a really long time since we'd gone up to visit them and the last time we saw the family, I'm pretty sure it was at Susan's wedding nearly 5 years ago!! We had a lot of great meals with them, we were able to visit my granparents' burial site, and we were able to catch up because it had been to long!

Mom and Dad with my aunt and uncle

State Capitol

During that same weekend, Susan and Paul were in San Francisco for a pharmacy conference, so of course we also had to head out to SF to see Susan and Paul and celebrate Father's Day with our dad! Unfortunately Betty couldn't come out that weekend but she was there in spirit.

Happy Father's Day!!

Cuong was able to come in and hang out with us! Fun!

Then Adam and I headed out to Victorville to hang out with Sarah and Jeff (Sarah scrapbooked, I cut things out on her Cricut, and Adam and Jeff watched action movies!) and to meet Margaret, Gaby, Catalina and Julienne. They were doing us a gran favor by hauling a Uhaul trailer full of our junk!! It was fun seeing them all again (and of course Catalina asked if Uncle Adam had eaten any seaweed lately!).

The following weekend, Adam and I headed to Orange County. It was a lot of fun- we potlucked, went to the beach, bought avocados and hummus at the Farmer's Market, and had a good time! Jennifer went with me to the Scrapbook Oasis where we got to catch up with Jennifer and Jess (I didn't get any scrapping done but I did buy some cute monster paper!!). Adam and I were also able to head out to Temecula to see Jeff and his wife Heather and we also met up with our friend Minna!

Visiting Jeff and Heather

Betty came down and we ate Chipotle

Seriously, this was ONE burrito that Betty and I shared. It was huuuuge!

As always, Jennifer played hostess to the pot luck quite well, ensuring there was an abundance of goodies, including these vegan chocolate cupcakes (with Joe Joes on top)

We won't be seeing these kinds of sunsets in Colorado!

Ray, Mitch and Adam grilling it up!

Renee, Jennifer, Julie and I (with Ray in the background!)

Our amazing friend Minna!

While Jennifer was at work, Adam and I had all-you-can-meat kbbq at Cham Soot Gol. Super yummy and incredibly filling! Lunchtime is way better because you don't leave smelling like meat sweats!

On our way home we FINALLY saw Alex! We hadn't seen him since last February!

We did go back to Ridgecrest for a few days again, but were off on another weekend trip to Santa Barbara to visit Danny. Again this was full of good times. We cooked, watched movies, explored SB, chatted it up, and had a blast!

Just for us (and if you can't read the sign, it says "Bienvenidos Amigos")

I love farmer's markets

Homemade carnitas tacos with homemade gaucamole and salsa! Yummy!

We made it back into Ridgecrest in time for 4th of July, which we spent with Sarah and Jeff. Who let Sarah be in charge of lighting the fireworks?! Haha. She did a great job and we had a blast hanging with her and her family, as I always do!

And before we knew it we were into our last few days in Ridgecrest. It didn't feel like we were about to move to a new state, so I don't think I took enough photos or spent enough time with my parents. We watched t.v., cooked, baked, and had many coffee breaks together (and Betty also came home again for the weekend so it was FUN TIMES!!!).

And now we are off on new adventures once again! Goodbye California, hello Colorado!

Phew!!

Moving is exhausting!!! We are now Boulderites! We arrived into Boulder on Friday evening and have been slowly packing and settling in. We've been scouring Craigslist for good finds and realizing all the things we wished we hadn't given away before we left for Ecuador, haha!

And of course there is always the mystery of where things went- What happened to my slippers? Did I donate those pair of slacks? Where did my beloved dessert plates go?

Anyway, I'll be posting the photos from Yosemite, SF, Sacramento, last few weeks, and our current digs soon!