The End...

of the semester. What a great time of year. It seems like many friends start climbing out of their caves for the respite from school. Funny because it's also a time of year when I start thinking about going back for a masters degree. I'll keep thinking about that.

A BIG congratulations goes out to my friends that are graduating!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Shannon Candice Metzler!



Chris Cartwright!


Paul Fisk!

What an accomplishment! You deserve to celebrate! I know that it's been a work in progress for all of you and that there have been many challenges that you have overcome getting to where you are today. I hate to sound like your mother, but I'm SO proud of you!! It's been a great pleasure having you as friends over the years. Here's to many more! Let's party!!

Playing Catch-up

Isn't it amazing how you can rely on something so much that when it's gone life has to be re-evaluated. Not having the internet and my computer these last couple weeks has been incredibly difficult for both work and play. Luckily while the computer situation is being resolved I've been able to use the U's computer to get some work done. As for all other things web, it's a game of catch-up.

Our dear friends Kari and Brett have left good old SLC for "bigger and better" things. It's sad, but I'm sure becoming a river guide in Canada and pursuing a jewelry career will be fun adventures for them. We wish them all the best! Thanks for all the wonderful fond memories.

This last weekend was my first rafting trip of the season. It was great! We went on the Dolores river in Colorado between Slick Rock and Bedrock. It is a section of river that doesn't always get enough water to raft. The last raftable year was 2005. It's a little gem hidden southeast of Moab. The first day was very much like the San Juan a wide open canyon. The river flows through private lands before reaching wilderness.

It was a duo- birthday bash for Chris and Trent the first night. With everything including a delicious homemade cheesecake by Katie.

Trent had a fun little ride in Chris' "mini me"

Duff man joined us on the river the second day.

The last camp had everything, including a horse for Trent to ride. :)There are many more pictures of the trip here

Spring...?

Okay, so it's been a crazy few weeks. Sure the weather has been insane, ranging from summer-ishly warm to chilly with snow, but that's not all. Life has been full of changes, as the season tends to bring. Trent and I have moved into a new place, started rafting for the season, purchased tickets to Peru, continued with work and school and are now getting used to all of it. I had a friend start a mini-web-search for me while in the midst of the craziness because I lost touch with the outside world. Buried under all my own happenings she thought something bad had happened to me. Whoops. Well things are good. I haven't died... we just don't have internet at our house and my computer is on the fritz.

The new place has been "spring-shui'd", as Stephanee has named it. Most our items have found their new homes on shelves, in corners or under the floor--we have a basement! Trent is very excited about this, as am I. The third night he inflated the raft, turned on Latin music, opened a beer and enjoyed a coupel hours in his boat down there. I would have joined him but I was having fun organizing which cabinet the dishes will live in and figuring out the best angle for the TV. HAHA... gotta love moving... well other than the part where you have to drive between the two places and lug all the stuff you've accumulated over the years to and from the car. Oh, and the cleaning isn't fun either. Oh another thing I'm not fond of is finding places for the stuff you don't want or need anymore then moving it. Anyone need an old TV, bed and other miscellaneous items?

California- Part 3

The Pinnacles

What a great little treasure in the middle of nowhere California. My parents have been hiking in this area for years now. The pictures my Dad has taken have been amazing, but unfortunately they just don't capture all the beauty because there is too much to capture. He is able to get 10 times more of it than I'm able to. Here are a couple of his wonderful shots of the Pinnacles.

(Can you see the face?)

You can check out more of his great photos through the link on the right titled "My Dad's Pics"

Here are my photos.

I did learn how to use the macro on my camera, getting a few sweet flower shots.One day I hope to have the talent (and gear) he has for photography.

It's fun getting two points of view, isn't it?


The Hike

was beautiful


and tricky at times.

We had a nice stop for lunch.

Here's a video of the view from the top.

Since it's not very often the five of us can get together, we took a few family photos. Mikey added some comedy to the shoot.

The trip down was much easier than the trek up. What was nice is that there is a loop, so you don't have to trace your steps until the end of the trail. A tunnel has been cut out of one section. We acted like kids trying to hold our breath through it's entirety. What a challenge... the picture below doesn't give you a good sense of it's length.


We had to get one more group shot in before we ended our hike.
Yummy Mexican Food

Of course we were hungry after the hike so we stopped at Guadalajara in King City for some tasty authentic south of the boarder grub. Once again, in my state of hunger I forgot to take pictures of the actual food. But here's one of Jess and Dave eying the many options on the menu.

San Fransisco
After dropping off Mikey and having a nice night of rest at my parents we started our way home. My parents were kind enough to join us on a section of the trip between KC and my Aunt's outside Sacramento. It was the beginning of my dad's spring break which they were going to spend in San Fransisco. We made a quick stop into SF so my dad could check into their condo. This is it:
Berkeley
After our short stop in SF we sped (if that's what you call driving on a packed freeway) to Berkeley. Dave has been thinking about graduate school and Berkeley is one of the possibilities. So we took a nice stroll on the campus up to the tower.
In this picture I think Jess is contemplating what it would be like to live in CA.
Davis
From Berkeley to Sacramento the traffic was horrible and the pangs in our stomach weren't going to stop before we arrived at Aunt Judy's so we stopped in Davis. What a cute little town! They even have bikes for anyone to ride ;)


Easter
We arrived in Auburn after a couple more hours on the road. I love my Aunts house, it's up in the mountains between Sacramento and Tahoe. Here's one of my favorite views from her house that my dad took a few years ago.

It was Easter morning when we had to bid adue to everyone. (Motoko, Jess, Judy and me)

As always, it was great seeing Judy and Scott. I'm excited to see them again in December.

It was time to make our final leg of the journey home. But before heading out there was something that had to be finalized.

We had told my dad that we thought omeone had broken into his car. He immediately became cross and had to check out the situation.

Instead of stealing something out of the car, there was something left behind.He seemed to settle down a little, but was still not sure what to think of things.
My mom on the other hand was ecstatic that Jess had invited the Easter Bunny into their car to leave a little treat.

The drive home was somewhat uneventful, as the drive through Nevada tends to be, other than Dave learning to drive a manual transmission car and Jess winning $200 on the $1 slots! What a absolutely enjoyable spring break!! Sorry to drag the trip on for a month of blogs, but hey, what's vacation good for if you can't enjoy it for a long time? :) Can't wait until the next trip!