New Mexico

I had one more trip for work the last week of April to Valencia County, NM. I flew to Albuquerque on Easter, and was there for a week with my boss, Jen. Valencia County may be the most God-foresaken county in America, but we had a lot of fun while we were there. One night we went up to Old Town Albuquerque and walked around and had dinner. We ate that an amazing Mexican restaurant that is in the oldest building in Albuquerque. Here are a couple pictures of Old Town.


Another night we went back up to Albuquerque and took a tram to the top of Sandia Peak and ate at a restaurant up there. It was soooo windy and freezing! Good thing I was wearing shorts and flips flops! :)


This is a blurry view of Albuquerque from the top of Sandia Peak.

Our greatest find in New Mexico was this restaurant in Los Lunas. This old mansion was built in the 1870s in Los Lunas, and now they have converted it into a restaurant. The food there was unbelievable. I decided it was definitely in the top 5 meals I've ever eaten on NAVTEQ's dime. It was so good we went there twice. Haha! And I got the exact same dish both times...steak, coconut shrimp, baked potato, and grilled zuccini. If I'm ever back in New Mexico, I will definitely be making a trip to the Luna Mansion!

So that was my trip to New Mexico. We had equipment problems and 90% of the roads there are unpaved which makes for very slow and bumpy driving, but the food and fun were awesome!

Bucket List #83 - Go Snowshoeing Under a Full Moon = Complete

I finally got around to crossing another item off my bucket list!! I researched this in mid-March to find out when the next full moon would happen. April 18th was the day...now the weather just had to cooperate. Well, you know it didn't! It rained all day long. Boo! A lot of the group bailed because of the weather, but there were a few troopers that braved the rain and snow and late hour. It was possibly the funnest time of 2011 so far. Thanks Olivia, Brett, and Brian for such a fun time!

I had a huge internal debate on whether to cross this off my bucket list or not. There was a pretty decent cloud cover for our entire hike, so we didn't really snowshoe by moonlight. However, there was a break in the clouds for about 5 seconds and the moon appeared (blurry picture below) . I'm counting it! I'll just have to do again next winter! You know the moon was out and bright and amazing the whole drive home too!

Running, Birthday, and Tucson

I am a runner. Weirdest thing of my life! A few weeks ago, Brett, Olivia, Heather, and I set off on a run. When we got back to Olivia's house, we measured how long we had run....6 miles. What? Since when do I just up and run 6 miles for fun? It still blows my mind! I sort of love it! This whole running thing started with just Brett and I running a couple of miles at Sugar House park on Saturday mornings. Then Olivia started joining us, and we started sticking a little closer to home and running along the Jordan River Parkway. And more and more people keep wanting to join us. Come one, come all! We just keep running farther and farther. So we've decided to train for a half marathon later this summer. I may have just lost my mind! Our Saturday morning runs have also turned into big yummy post-run breakfasts. Brett is our chef, and Olivia and I chip in wherever he needs us.A couple of weekends ago, we celebrated Deeds birthday at Texas Roadhouse. So dang delicious! Deeds loves him some bread and the rolls and Texas Roadhouse are about as good as bread gets!
I might just be in love with this little kid! He cracks me up every minute! Lovin' him some milk at Texas Roadhouse.
Here is the rest of the Grossen clan. Someday you will get to enjoy the food at Texas Roadhouse, my little Sophie bug! For now, it's bland baby food.
Then we headed back to the Grossen's for presents, cake, and ice cream.
I got Deeds a home sausage making kit. So killer funny! He loved it! Now I just need to purchase him a meat grinder so he can actually make them. Possible Christmas present?!
Then I was off on another trip for work to Tucson. It was quite possibly the best week of work in my life. The weather was amazing. Two of the days I got to walk around the University of Arizona campus and map pedestrian walkways. That probably sounds boring to most, but I was in heaven and getting a tan in the process! On our last day there, we swung out to Saguaro National Park to see all the huge cacti. So weird to see mountains covered in cacti!

And I just had to include this picture because we are so dang cute. This is me with my friends, Olivia and Tricia, and Tricia's mom. Tricia was nice enough to invite me down to her family dinner last Sunday. Holy food heaven! And her family is sort of amazing! I'm so grateful for all my adventures and the most awesome people to share them with!

That's what I've been up to lately. I have one more post to go to be completely caught up. Stay tuned...another item checked off my bucket list!