My last week of unemployment.

During my 2 and a half months of job searching, I've had to be creative in the ways I fill my time. Exercising, cleaning, writing, reading, crafting, visiting friends on campus, running errands, just totally vegging, and of course, writing cover letter after resume after job application. On repeat.

My mom and I were talking on the phone one day though, and realized that it was the perfect time for her to come down to Utah and visit! No more school and no work yet would mean we could play all day! With timing that could not have been better, my mom flew in on the evening of what happened to be the day I received an offer from my dream job, and I got almost a full week of hanging out with my mom hiking, eating, playing, and reveling in the fact that I no longer had to scour the internet for jobs. SUCH A RELIEF. There are no words. It was so fun to relax and spend time with my mom all day, then do stuff all together when Ryan got home from work.

The week included the following:

• Introducing my mom to Ticket To Ride. We have passed on the addiction. 
• Sugar cookies from Swig
• Art City Trolley
• BYU Creamery & Graham Canyon ice cream
• Morning runs
• Hiking
• Hiking again
• Buying an iPhone 5S for myself, as well as a new couch for our new apartment (yeee!)
• In-N-Out (Mom's request.)
• Walking around campus
• Ticket To Ride some more
• Getting background checks and drug screenings for my job (so fun.)
• Packing for our move(!!!)
• Copious amounts of homemade chocolate chip cookies

The highlight of the week was definitely the hikes we did. First was Bell Canyon, just a few minutes from my new office! It was a cold cold day, and we weren't able to get all the way to the end due to snow, but what we were able to do was absolutely beautiful and a great workout.

Second was Big Baldy, the little mountain that stands below Timp. THIS hike was KILLER. Dang. We hit snow again at the top, but luckily it was hard enough to walk on. The views were incredible. We took the shortcut on the way to the summit, which was literally straight up, then took the regular trail down. Apparently Utah doesn't believe in switchbacks. My calves were feeling this one for days.

At the top! Victorious. And exhausted.

This week was the best. My mom is the perfect mix of everything. She's up for anything, whether it be shopping, couch-testing, interior designing, playing games, and anything else (though usually hiking trumps everything), and she knows pretty much everything so we can talk about birds, geology, books, movies, people, and everything else there is to talk about. I didn't want her week in Provo to end. It was just so FUN to spend so much time together. I'm so thankful for her! I love you Mom!

A weekend in the Needles

Ryan's birthday came and went, and we were chillin at home one night, looking forward to the weekend, when we got a call from my family. The next Kropelnicki Roadtrip Extravaganza was underway, and it was a doozy. I've written about these things before, and a few examples are here, here, and here. Most of them happened during my high school years, though, and never made it onto my blog. The basic criteria are two things: multiple all-nighter drives, and going through at least three states in the process. This particular one would include the necessary three states (Utah, Nevada, and California), two national parks (Canyonlands and Great Basin), and several stops in the Bay Area.

My favorite thing more recently about these trips is Ryan's reaction to them. It is utter, unabashed incredulousness and it makes us Krops just chuckle. [: This has been a way of life for us! Carpe diem! Unfortunately though, due to work, Ryan and I couldn't go on the full-blown week of adventures, but we did get to spend two days in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park with my family.

Canyonlands National Park is divided into three "districts" - Island in the Sky (most easily accessible and touristy), Needles (much more isolated and very undeveloped), and the Maze (extremely undeveloped and purely backcountry). Needles was the perfect destination for the weekend. We hardly saw a soul on the trails, while the rest of America's national parks were bursting at the seams with people taking advantage of President's Day weekend and free access to the parks. It's always been my favorite area of Canyonlands, and it has sentimental value after this dendro trip almost two years ago and the events that ensued the night I got home. [:

Anyways, the weekend was perfect. The weather couldn't have been better, our campsite was BOMB, the stars were breathtaking at night, and we spent every minute hiking and talking and laughing. What better way to spend Valentine's than with red rocks, my cute husband, and family?

Oh and speaking of Valentine's Day - the latest installment in the Krop tradition of magazine cutout Valentines. Always a hoot.

The first look. The final word. From conception to birth.

Wise words indeed.

Our last Utah park: Bryce Canyon

Earlier this week was Ryan's birthday, and I practically tackled him out of happiness when he told me that he wanted to use his day off of work to go to our last of the five national parks in the state of Utah - Bryce Canyon National Park. We've been Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Zion together, and this was our last one! Woo!

 Granted, we still slept in and opened presents and had a fantastically lazy morning before heading off around 10am. It was blissful. For some reason doing things that are perfectly weekend-normal on a WEEK DAY just made it that much better. One of the many reasons we love Ryan's company. Birthdays off should just be the norm!

Driving through Utah, though most people proclaim it boring, is anything but. Each tiny town we passed through and each new mountain range we came to was just so cool. Utah rangeland is stunning and full of the coolest history.

When we got to the park, after flashing our park pass at the ranger's shed like we owned the place, we were happy to see that there were literally six (SIX!!!) cars parked at the visitor center. Late winter and early spring is the time to hit Utah's parks. And it being a Tuesday probably helped as well. [: We saw maybe 30 or 40 people during the entire day. That's my kind of national park experience. Perfect, perfect, perfect.

We strung together a couple of trails to make a big loop through the park. It was Ryan's first time here (my second), and it was so fun to see his awe at the incredible geology of the place! There were patches of ice and snow in the more shaded parts of the trail, as well as a little bit of mud, but nothing too bad at all. We were too happy surrounded by those towering red walls and whimsical hoodoos to complain. Plus, that's what rad boots are for. 

We stopped by C-Stop Pizza, a cute pizza & sandwich restaurant in Panguitch (love those Utah names), on our way out and stuffed our tired and happy selves with greasy breadsticks and great pizza. Overall, a birthday success. We're proud to say we've officially hit every one of Utah's "Mighty 5!"

I love hiking with Ryan. I love being married to Ryan! And speaking of the love of my life, happy 26th, you stud you. You make me the happiest girl on Earth.

(The birthday card I made for Ryan. I was proud. [: )

San Francisco birthday weekend.

The week before my birthday, we decided to plan a spontaneous trip to one of my favorite cities for a weekend birthday extravaganza on a budget. We got Alaska Airlines standby passes thanks to Ryan's dad, and stayed (for CHEAP) about 20 minutes away from the city thanks to AirBnB (seriously you should check out that website right now. It's addictive. Ask Ryan. He's already got a list of places for us to go in Europe).

We didn't have a whole lot of time to plan, but this was my SF bucketlist:

1. Walk through Golden Gate Park (we ended up getting off at the wrong bus stop so I really got my wish with this one. It is HUGE and beautiful!)

2. Spend a day at the California Academy of Science (I. loved. this. place. They had a giant walk-through rainforest dome, dozens of amazing aquarium tanks, a planetarium... I could go on and on. Admission was pricey but we deem it TOTALLY worth it.)

3. Baker Beach (Pretty pretty views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Plus, the first time I had seen the ocean in like six months. Oh man. It was great.)

4. Land's End Point (Lots of cool trails, beautiful ocean views, and some historic sites that Ryan was obsessed with.)

5. Fisherman's Wharf & Pier 39 (Classic tourist site. It was fun to go back here and relive memories of this road trip years ago. The place kind of reminds me of the Seattle Waterfront. Except for of course that Seattle is better because... Seattle.)

6. Drive across the Golden Gate Bridge (Fun to think that the last time I did that was two years ago doing possibly one of the most psychotic and fun things I've ever done - Ragnar.)

7. Muir Woods National Monument (Heaven on earth. Made my lil dendrochronologist heart real happy.)

8. Grandview Park & the 16th Avenue Mosaic Steps (Incredible view and beautiful stairs! Though a lot of them... Man. That was a quad workout.)

9. Drive Lombard Street (We did it twice in a row. Booyah.)

Things not included in the list but ended up happening:

• A flat tire downtown. Changed that bad boy like total bosses. Teamwork.
• Free fireworks show during dinner one night. Like, LEGIT fireworks. They knew it was my birthday.
• Ending up in what we later found out was one of the SF's most famous taverns and turning down the offered alcoholic drinks for a caesar salad and french toast (me looking especially innocent with 'BYU' emblazoned across my chest). I wish I could have gotten a picture of our server's face.
• Totally wasted SF Giants fans all over the place.
• Visiting Ghirardelli Square three separate times and perfecting our look of surprise when walking through the doors and getting the free chocolate ("Oh what's this? For me? Why, I don't know what to say!").  

 

 

 

 

 

Bottom line: birthday weekend was a success. We loved this trip. I love being with Ryan.

My husband spoils me big time.