I spy.../ El jardin, los murcielagos y la quincia~nera.

One of my most favorite things to do in St. George is to sit out on our front porch at dusk. A few weeks ago we discovered that there is a large community of bats that fly over our apartment. I don't know why I am so excited about it, but it is so cool to me. I love to sit and chat with Jamir while eating pineapple in the warm breeze. 

Nos gusta en las tardes salir a patio y charlar. Hace poco nos dimos cuenta que lo que pensabamos que eran pajaros volando en el atardecer resultaron ser murcielagos. Hay bastantes y Amy intento tomar fotos, haber si los pueden ver. 

Lleve a Amy a su primer quincia~nera. En St. George hay una gran cantidad de latinos y tenemos la fortuna de ser amigos de varios y de ser invitados al quincia~nera. Estuvo padrisimo, me puso nostalgico por pensar en mi pais, pero feliz tambien por que la cultura latina no conoce fronteras. Mi parte favorita fue el baile al final.

Our garden is growing! It almost died a couple weeks ago due to lack of drainage which Jamir quickly fixed.

Cheesy, but I like to take pics of good memories. Also, I'm wearing my pj's. Don't judge.

Beautiful sunset. Can you spot the bat?

There are actually a couple bats in this pic. They move so fast it is impossible to catch them.

 Last week I attended my first quinceanera. Jamir was in one growing up and explained what was happening. It was fun! Free dinner and dancing, heck yes! I am becoming a true Latina :)

Sunny St. George/ Soleado San Jorge

Just some random picks from around here. The weather has been really nice the past week. Jamir and I think our bodies are getting used to the warm weather because it was a high of 97 last Sunday and it felt normal. 

The red rocks that Jamir loves. We were trying to find a rock climbing area, but got lost and found these beauties.

Me encantan las rocas rojas que estan por todos lados en St George. La temperatura empieza a subir, pero nos estamos acostumbrando. Aqui estan fotos de las rocas y de una actividad a la que fuimos a usar armas, dispare como 15 diferente tipos de armas que perteneces a amigos del tio de Amy (el tio Phil (Fil)). 

Shooting guns with Uncle Phil's friends. They had a lot! His friends had come for some camping at Baker Reservoir and we got to see the Meadows Massacre and eat really good pot roast. It was good to catch up with Phil.

Sniping the poor ground squirrels 

I thought this was cute. There is a cute pie shop in Veyo. Named after the volcanoes that used to be there. We had some at the camp out and had to buy one for ourselves.

Growing up in Elko where nothing grows, I'm so excited to see pretty flowers everywhere even on the trees. The rose bushes grow really big!

On a Sunday walk. The sunset was pretty, but hidden in this pic.

Wildcat/ pi~nata de pascua de este a~no un gato montes

I know it's a little late, but I wanted to show our pinata we did for Easter. It's a wildcat...although towards the end we both thought it looked like the pink panther (only red). Instead of a ton of candy we put little gifts inside and Jamir got me a mini tripod that you can bend and hang so when we go hiking I don't have to find a rock to put the camera on. Perfect. And he got some skinny ties.

Amy tiene una tradicion de haceer pi~natas para el dia de pascua. Este a~no hicimos un gato montes. Parte de la tradicion es darnos peque~nos obsequios. A Amy le regale un tripie portatil para que podamos tomar fotos cuando vayamos a actividades como escalar o nadar. Amy me regalo corbatas, de esas delgaditas, ya que la mayoria de mis corbatas estan pasadas de moda.

The cat is cleaning himself

He split right between the eyes

Short trip to Zion/ Viaje al parque nacional Zion

We had a long weekend so we decided to Zion National Park. We were able to do some hikes that we didn't do last time like Hidden Canyon trail (both our favorite) and Watchman Trail. The Hidden Canyon trail was so pretty. It started very steep but then went to a "secret" (as in not many people go that far because the signs say you have to scramble) sandy, cool area with lots of moss and greens. 

It was fun to have a short stay where we didn't feel too stinky when we got home. My favorite part was Jamir cooking pancakes, eggs and sausages in the morning. Why does it taste so much better while camping?

The last part of hidden canyon trail

Isn't that wall cool? 

This trail was like Angel's Landing because it has steep drop offs with chains to hold onto.

Jamir decided to take a bath in the freezing cold river. Crazy boy.

He sure felt better after though 

On the Archaeology trail. Sorry I didn't take pics of the Watchman trail. 

After a hot climb we relaxed by the river. I think in the summer we will swim in it because the beach is sandy and the water is calm.

Santa Clara

We got to spend some time rock climbing near the Santa Clara river. Jamir had bought me rock climbing shoes so we needed to try them out. It was nice to be by the water. Later we stopped to eat hamburgers at a park and tour the Jacob Hamblin home. If you are wondering who he was you are not alone. Basically what Jamir and I got out of it was that he was a good Mormon settler and his house was one of the few still standing. But it was still interesting. 

It was a nice hot day. We are enjoying the warm weather before it become too hot!

Hamblin home 

A lot of parks in St George have a splash pad like this. It makes up for not having a water park.

Playing in the river

I love the red rocks behind us.

And we found a swing by the rock climbing site. It was hard not to run into the trees.

Emily's Wedding

We took a little tip to Draper for Emily Elwood's wedding. It was fun the see some families (and of course Sarah) from Elko and chat a bit. Emily looked beautiful. It is nice to be close to where we can go up to Provo whenever we want. It made us appreciate the warmth of St George though!

All the Elwood girls

Super classy chuck-a-rama. It was a good idea with all the kids and buffet! :)

Jamir the builder/Jamir el constructor

We are starting our garden and Jamir decided to make a large planter. We found some free pallets and he made a rustic container for our tomatoes. We would make Pinterest proud.

No tenemos un jardín en nuestro apartamento, pero le prometí a Amy que tendríamos uno así que conseguimos madera y le construí un pequeño jardín. Vamos a plantar tomates, chiles, albaca y melones.

The Serrano peppers ready to be pplanted
 Estos son los chiles.

Finished

A little update/ Un breve reporte

We've been pretty busy the last week. Jamir's family came to visit for the weekend and Mama Lopez stayed the rest of the week. We showed them just the little bit we know about St George including the lookout, rock climbing, and Red Cliffs Recreation Area. I was impressed that Mama and Papa both did the rappelling without fear! And Kenia and Josue were adventurous with the rock climbing. It was a little rainy weekend, but still nice enough to do some hiking.

En español: hemos estado muy ocupados la semana pasada. Mi familia vino a visitarnos el pasado fin de semana y les dimos el tour de lo hasta ahora conocemos de nuestra nueva ciudad de St George, o en español San Jorge. Los llevamos a escalar y a rapelear, mis papas lo hicieron sin ninguna dificultad o miedo! 

I wanted a better picture here since the one I have is cut off. 

We went  to Little Women at the Brigham Young Playhouse. I have noticed there is a big group of actors here. I think it is because of Tuachan. It was a cute production, but there definitely a "type" to actors. We are definitely going to be seeing some shows over at Tuachan and at Dixie.

También fuimos a un teatro local a ver "mujercitas". Hay varios actores por acá ya que hay una escuela de artes y actuación que se llama Tuachan. Vamos a ir a muchas mas producciones teatrales en el futuro.

I am also in the young women's and Jamir is in the young men's. So far it is fun and I hope to make them feel the same happiness from the gospel that I do. Our rama is great. We had callings within the first week and the branch president has had us over many times for popusas and cake. Jamir also is the unofficial ward pianist :) He says he is using a little help from above like he did on his mission.

Amy esta en la organización de mujeres jóvenes y yo con los hombres jóvenes de nuestra congregación. Ha sido muy divertido y esperamos poder hacer sentir a los jóvenes la felicidad que nosotros sentimos al vivir el evangelio. Disfrutamos mucho convivir con los miembros de nuestra congregación, el presidente de la rama o obispo nos dio asignaciones nuestra primera semana y también nos ha invitado a su casa varias veces a comer pastel y popusas.

I'm hoping to eventually make them feel more confident. They act like I'm throwing knives at them when I take their picture. Amy espera que las jóvenes sean menos tímidas con ella.

 And my boss is letting me do the more expensive arrangements at work now.  I just want to learn everything I can before I move to something else.

El jefe de la floreria donde trabaja Amy le permite hacer los arreglos mas caros. Amy quiere aprender lo mas que pueda mientras tiene la oportunidad.

A fancy dance we set up for. 

And last weekend we took a little hike on Chuckwalla trail. Surprisingly it is already getting hot here. It's been really pleasant, but the trail was set against rocks, so it warmed up pretty fast. We love it here so far. We have everything we need and living in a studio apartment has really made me appreciate all the things we have. 

Este fin de semana fuimos a una reserva que se llama "chuckwalla". Es increíble que ya esta haciendo calor por acá. 

We have to wear our BYU shirts proudly here. There is a little rivalry from the people here and "up north"
Aquí estamos orgullosamente usando nuestras playeras de BYU. Parece ser que existe una rivalidad de universidades y personas muy vivida entre el sur y el norte del estado