A lot has happened since our post last month!  Let's see if I can recap the happenings...
Brad and I flew to PA where we got to spend time with our parents and work on some wedding things.  We took care of some the major things, while also spending time on some of the minor details.  I think we're in good shape heading into the last five months before the wedding.

After my trip to PA, my two best friends, Katie and Sarah flew into SLC to celebrate my bacheloretteness for a weekend.  It was a fun filled weekend and Katie and Sarah were extremely thoughtful in planning festivities.  Not only did we enjoy each other's company just by having a girls weekend, but they took me out for high tea at the Grand Hotel and planned a fly fishing float trip on the lower Provo River!  We were quite successful as fisherwomen - as we all were able to catch some trout!  We celebrated the super moon and ate at some of SLC's staple restaurants.  I'm glad to be moving to the southwest, so I'm not too far away from these amazing friends!
**Kindness to Brad for heading out of town for a camping/fishing trip of his own, so I could host a girls weekend at our house.**

The main course of our "high tea."

Sunset on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. 

Hiking to get a view of the Super Moon!

It was hard to capture a good photo of the moon, but it was definitely bright and large!

The next week, I signed up to take a beginner fly fishing class.  I had two night classes and then we had a Saturday morning class on the middle Provo River.  The class was informative (although a little overwhelming with how much information was given to me) and I gained some skills from it.  I didn't catch anything during my last class, but practiced my casting (a lot!).  After my fishing class ended, Brad and I headed to the airport for a (really) quick trip to Albuquerque.  During the week, we had come across one house in particular and a few other ones that would potentially be ideal for renting.  They were all listed under the same property management company which had informed us there was some traffic surrounding the house we were interested in.  Basically, we knew we had to get down there to check it out and fortunately, we got there in time to rent it.  The house is located in Corrales, a rural community about 20 minutes outside of Albuquerque.  Our house is on one acre of land and is not far from the Rio Grande River which is especially important to us, since there will be more greenery in the area.  There are trails up along the river which will be perfect for running and the whole community is based around horses and farming.  There is a wonderful farmer's markers on the weekends as well as specific horse parking areas so you can ride into town for a beer or dinner.  We won't be housing horses on our property, but we will hopefully have chickens (since there is a very cool chicken coop already installed) and we put down a deposit with a Labrador breeder.  Brad and I are both so excited to live in Corrales and start this next phase of our life together.  We will have two extra bedrooms for hosting guests AND a hot tub, so if that doesn't entice you to come visit us, then hopefully these pictures of our home below will!

A view of the sunrise from our yard.

Our cozy living room.

Kitchen

HOT TUB!

Hot air balloons are always around in ABQ, but we will have great views of the festival in October!

A view of the Sandia Mountains from the Rio Grande.

After we got our housing situation squared away, we planned a weekend trip down to Southern Utah.  We headed down to Capitol Reef National Park on Friday night and made it to our campsite right before the sunset.  Our ride down was definitely memorable.  There were several rain storms across the landscape, so we kept seeing rainbows everywhere.  Some of them were really vivid!  Unfortunately, I couldn't capture any really good photos of the rainbows with my iPhone, but you can still see them.  We even saw a double rainbow! We had amazing picturesque views of the Cathedral Valley as the sun went down and despite the wind and cold it was a great campsite.  Even though we were essentially in the desert, our campsite was at 7200+ feet, so there was actually still snow in some areas!  On Saturday, we drove down into the Cathedral Valley on a rocky, dirt road (good thing Brad has a Jeep) and checked out the main part of the park.  We went on an awesome hike that had a great view of a gorge and then had lunch next to the Fremont River.  After lunch, we left the park to go to Fish Lake National Forest to fish on the Fremont.  Brad seemed to catch a fish every time his fly hit the water.  Me, on the other hand, struggled a bit.  I did have several strikes, so I think my casting has improved, but I was not able to hook a fish (**disclaimer: we're fishing on barbless hooks which makes fly fishing that much harder).

Cool rain clouds in the distance and a rainbow to the left.

Another pretty rainbow.

Cathedral Valley at Sunset.

Sunset again.  This view is from our campsite.

This campsite is hard to get to, but totally worth it.

Sunrise! (Brad and I are early risers)

To our left is the Temple of the Moon and behind us is the Temple of the Sun.

Another shot of the Temple of the Sun.

Brad tries to wear colors that blend into the environment when we hike.

View of the gorge from the top of our hike.

The swath of green is provided by the Fremont River.

Another view from our hike.

View of the red rock from our lunch spot.

So, that is basically our last month.  The weather is getting really warm here and the outdoor pool is open which is awesome.  Hopefully, we'll be able to fit in some more fishing adventures and camping trips before we leave Utah.  In the next few weeks, Brad and I will be organizing our moves.  We have a storage unit in Providence, items at our parent's houses and stuff in SLC.  When this move is over, it will be nice to have everything in one place!  Brad will wrap up his fellowship at the end of July and then we'll spend a few weeks on the East Coast with friends and family.  We'll keep you posted with more updates soon! 

Nos estamos moviendo a Albuquerque!

I know it has been awhile since Brad and I last posted, but we were waiting for the official offer letter to come in the mail so we can share our good news!  So, if you can't read our Spanish title, our good news is that Brad has accepted a job at the University of New Mexico, so we will be moving to Albuquerque in August!  It will be a big change to move to the high desert region for us (especially since we're both East Coasters), but we are excited for all that Albuquerque has to offer.  We look forward to immersing ourselves in the Hispanic (learning the Spanish language) and Native American cultures, training at altitude, finally getting a dog, and sampling the southwestern cuisine (green sauce!).  Taos will be two hours away, so we can still get plenty of skiing in and Albuquerque has excellent roads for cycling.  Also, there is great fly fishing in NM, so I look forward to gaining more skills in that area.  Overall, Brad and I are so happy to be moving to on to a new adventure even if it will be very far from our families and friends.  That being said, we welcome anyone that wants to take a trip to visit us!!

In other news, as the weather warms up, Brad and I have been able to cross off some items on our "To Do" list.  We took our mountain bikes out to Antelope Island (a large island in the middle of the Great Salt Lake) for a nice trail ride.  Biking on Antelope Island felt like we were in a foreign country.  It was so weird to see the Wasatch Mountains in the distance, yet be surrounded by water.  The trails on the island are perfect for mountain biking.  We had a great ride and got to see a lot of the wildlife that inhabits the island.  There were a lot of buffalo roaming about...

We saw some antelope (we think) taking cover in the shade...

And we had beautiful views of the snow covered Wasatch Mountains...

And here are a few more pictures of our Antelope Island adventure...

The next day was Easter, so after having brunch and our own Easter egg hunt we went up to Solitude to ski for our last time.  It was a gorgeous day on the slopes (mid 50's and sunny).  We had several good runs on some groomers and then celebrated our last day of skiing with some burgers on the grill. 

While it was a great day spent outside, I learned my lesson of how important it is to apply sunscreen when you're at 8000 ft in elevation.  I had an embarrassing raccoon appearance for the next 3-4 days!

The next weekend, we took a trip to the Uinta Mountain Range and took a hike to Diamond Fork Hot Springs.  It was an easy 2 mile hike that led us to some amazing hot springs.  There were several man-made pools that have been formed, so we soaked in some hot springs while watching a lovely waterfall.  It was a great experience and although we were quite smelly (sulphur), we enjoyed our hike and our soak.

The first two pools that we came across.  These were cooler than the pools near the falls.

Another view of the lower pools.

A view of the falls.  The other pools were to the left and much hotter.  You can see the steam rising.

As Spring continues in Salt Lake City, we look forward to taking the ski rack off the car and adding some bike racks, stocking up on some sunscreen, and prepping the grill.  We also have some trips planned.  We will be visiting PA soon to see our parents and work on some wedding stuff.  We will also need to fly to Albuquerque to find a rental property.  And last but not least, we will be going to San Diego since Brad's abstract was accepted at the AOFAS summer meeting!  We will continue to update our blog as we make more progress on our move to Albuquerque and explore more areas of Utah (especially Southern Utah!).  Please stay tuned!

Weeeee'rrrreeee Back!

Hello Dear Friends,
      Brad and I are back to updating our blog.  Since our last posting at the end of the September we've been really busy, but we didn't have much to update on ourselves.  We were both busy with our jobs and we both had some busy weeks of travelling.  So now we'll only update you on the important and fun stuff and leave out all the boring details of our daily life.  :)
     The main focus of our lives right now is figuring out where we will be moving after our stint in Salt Lake.  We have really settled into the city here and we will be sorry to leave our home for the past year, but that doesn't mean we won't be back.  Right now, Brad is in the process of finishing up with his interviews.  He has gone on several second interviews and he has one more to complete.  We think we have narrowed it down to two potential positions - one on the East Coast and one in the West.  Once Brad signs his contract, we will let you know where our next home will be located.  They are both excellent locations that are full of things to do, so you can definitely plan to pack your bags and come for a visit/mini vacation next year!  We will be so happy to host you!
     So here are some of the recent highlights of 2012:

 - We finally made it to Southern Utah.  We went to Arches National Park and had a fantastic time.  We can't wait to head back down there when the weather gets warmer for a camping and mountain bike trip in parks like Zion, Bryce, Moab, and Capitol Reef.  Utah is truly a spectacular state and for all of you that never considered visiting here - reconsider!!



This is a view of Delicate Arch - the famous arch on Utah license plates.



Another view of Delicate Arch

A view from underneath Window Arch

We saw these amazing petroglyphs on our hike.

This awesome family insisted they take a picture of us under an arch and in view of an arch!

Brad had an interview in Albuquerque, so I was able to meet him there after I got off work on a Friday and we spent the weekend there.  I had a great run in the high desert and we also visited Santa Fe.  Pictures below are from my run:

I saw coyotes at the start of my run!

The beautiful Rio Grande River.

Of course, I had to take a picture of tumbleweed!

Brad and I also had the opportunity to experience San Francisco together.  Brad was invited to present his research on a poster and during a talk at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.  His poster won "Best Poster" for the foot and ankle section of the conference and I am very proud of him!!  We had some down time to explore the city together and I also got to see the city on my own.  On my first morning in San Francisco, I ran through Chinatown down to the water and pier area.  What an amazing run I had!  I came across sea lions that were the cutest things ever.  Some slept on rafts while others played King of the Mountain.  They were so playful and adorable especially when they made barking noises.  I was so happy to have witnessed these animals.  I also got to run through a farmer's market and sampled orange slices and then I ran through an artist festival.  I am truly impressed with the city of San Francisco!  We did plenty of tourist activities since neither of us had been to the city before.  We indulged in sushi and dim sum.  We also rented bikes and rode over the Golden Gate Bridge into Sausalito where we took the ferry back to San Francisco.  The following pictures are from our adventures:



We are about to embark on the Golden Gate Bridge.



The bridge was really crowded with runners and bikers, but we found room to stop and take a picture.

When we looked down into the water, we saw porpoises and sea lions swimming!

A view of the bridge from the ferry.

Sausalito in the background.

The grid pattern of SFO!

A view of Alcatraz from the ferry.

View of Alcatraz from the many hills of SFO.

The painted ladies...

.

I visited Telegraph Hill but didn't see any parrots, but we did on Lombard Street!

Lombard Street!

Adorable sleeping sea lion!

Sea Lion Colony

Morning yoga for a sea lion

Entrance to Chinatown

Haight/Ashbury Intersection

B

Former residence of The Grateful Dead



While travelling can be exhausting, we have really enjoyed our opportunities to see different areas.  Brad and I recently counted how many states we have visited together and the number is actually 27!  We were able to cross off a lot of states from our cross country trips.  Other than travelling, Brad and I have been trying to get up to ski more often.  This isn't a great winter for snow for the SLC area, but more storms have been rolling in and dumping a few feet of snow.  We try to ski at least one day every weekend, but it's been hard since we were out of town a lot.  Fortunately, the month of March tends to be a very snowy month for the Wasatch Mountains, so we are hoping to get in more downhill skiing, cross country skiing, and some snowshoe hikes in as well!

  Our goal is to update our blog more often, now that our lives are getting ready to change again.  We hope you will all stay tuned and follow along with our adventures!

 - Jill and Brad