Brebbie and Jecky

Zion National Park, etc.

A few weekends ago Jack and I went on a road trip from Santa Fe, NM to Zion National Park, Utah. We camped for 4 days and 3 nights and had a blast. The beauty of the landscape was breathtaking and the hikes we enjoyed were strenuous yet extremely fun! We car camped inside Zion National Park alongside a beautiful river that we were thankful to enjoy on one of the hot summer days.  While in the park we enjoyed the Angel's Landing Hike, The Narrows Hike and the Observation Point Hike. All 3 were pretty strenuous but well worth it for the views, the coolness factor and the exhilaration of the hike. After exploring Zion we trekked on over to Bryce Canyon National Park for some quick look sees and then it was back to NM for us...but not before an exciting adventure off roading on a dirt road...40 miles of it...through thick mud, steep cliff drop offs and numerous wash-outs. Thrilling...so much so that I only could snap before and after pics because the rest of the time I was white knuckling! Jack handled it beautifully and got us safely through...then after 45 minutes of washing thick, concrete like mud out of our wheel wells it was back on the road high-tailing it home. Fantastic trip.

Lowthers and Galloways take on NM and CO!

Last week was super fun getting to spend time with Brian and Debbie in town. We crammed in a bunch of things on their whirlwind tour of the west. We did everything from site see in the Jemez Mountains, to tour Jack’s and my work places, to eat ginormous burgers at Bobcat Bite, hike to the top of our ski hill in Santa Fe, act like tourists and play around in the Plaza, chill with some awesome pizza from Il Vicino in some smashing outdoor seating, to site-seeing in Ouray, CO before running a 1/2 marathon at 7800’, to taking the long way home down winding roads with spectacular views, to confusing our friends at church when Debbie and I sat next to each other, to hanging out with the awesome Weavers and hiking through the mountain right out their front door, to sharing some crazy good Asian food from our favorite Jinja, to cliff jumping in Abiquiu Lake to playing a rousing game of Settlers, to finding fun Native American made jewelry at a fantastic deal, to taking some really fun self-timer photos and videos….all in all it was a great visit from wonderful family. Brebbie ran their race well and didn’t let the elevation affect them in the slightest. We enjoyed wearing matching outfits and learning that eating green chile the day before the race probably wasn’t the best idea (ahemwon’tnameanynamesbrianahem)!! Thankful for family and thankful for time to get to spend with them. We love having guests so…pack your bags and head west young man (or woman) and give ol’ Jack and me a visit (unless of course you’re on the west coast, then head east!)!!  

PS- head on over to Debbie and Brian's blog for pictures!!

Sssssurprise Guesssst

I was procrastinating cleaning today and decided to check out the new flowers blooming in the little pond-thingy on our back patio. As I was about to open the sliding glass door to step out I saw him....just sitting there. I almost freaked...then frantically ran around looking for the camera...all I can say is...yuck and eeeeek.

Not sure how long he laid there...I was thankful when I saw him slither away, however I didn't get to see where he went so I decided not to go outside on the back patio today...and I had even planned to sit out there and do some reading. Shucks.