Yellowstone in May

Well today we went to Yellowstone for the first time since moving to Idaho. We had been to one waterfall last fall but that was just inside the park and we didn't see any of the other sites so today was the day. It wasn't the greatest weather wise, but it turned out alright. There was also still a considerable amount of snow in the park. Some of the roads are still closed, but I got a good preview of some things that we can do this summer when our parents come to see us :-) We started out about 8am and got to the park around 10. We stopped and looked at a ton of gysers. They have nice little paths around the gysers so you can see the different kinds. I thought it was amazing! I didn't realize there were so many of them. Then of course we stopped to see Old Faithful. There are a lot of trails around there to walk around and see the sights. We got to see Old Faithful go off. Pretty neat! The Old Faithful Inn is very cool to walk around in as well. The whole lobby is made of beautiful wood. After Old Faithful we drove to see some waterfalls. On the way we also saw tons of buffalo. They like to take over the road in many spots so it was fun to see them up so close. We even got to see a baby buffalo. We were done with the waterfalls around 5 so we drove into West Yellowstone to have some dinner before heading back to Idaho Falls. We had a great day and it was nice to get outside for the second weekend in a row!
We only have two more weekends after this one before we are in our new house! It is crazy how fast time is going by. We have already been married for 2 months :-)

Baby buffalo

hot spring

Buffalo taking over the road.

small gyser

Jason in front of Castle Gyser

Me in front of Old Faithful

My attempt to capture Old Faithful going off but
I stopped because I wanted to see it without the camera in front of my face.

Still lots and lots of snow around.

Upper Falls on Yellowston River

Lower Falls on Yellowstone River

The Yellowstone River



Buffalo in the road take 2



Another small gyser

                                     

Sunset on the drive back to Idaho Falls.

Spring

Easter went well. The ham turned out good and we had some potatoes, black eyed peas, fruit and dessert to go with it. I did alright playing the flute at my friends service. It made me want to play more, who knows maybe one day I will try out for the symphony here. (maybe after some months of good practice.)  Jason left last Monday for a conference in Albuquerque, NM. He got back late Thursday night. He said he had a good time and got to hear some good talks. I also went to a public hearing on Thursday about the budget cuts in our district. It's not looking good for a lot of people. It is sad it comes to cutting so many things. As of right now I think I am still ok with my job. Special Education is federally funded so it hasn't been affected too much. 

We are still finalizing some things with our house and getting all the paperwork filled out. We still plan to close on May 24th so we will keep you all informed. 

Yesterday it started to feel like spring a little bit. It was about 52 and once you got walking around it felt nice with the sun. We went out to see Shoshone Falls which is near Twin Falls, ID about 3 hours away. They call the Shoshone Falls the "Niagara of the West."  It was neat to see. With all the run off from the melting snow there was a lot of water flowing over. We spent a couple hours walking around there; there was a trail the followed the Snake River up aways. After Shoshone Falls we drove another 40 minutes to get to Balanced Rock. It is just on the side of rt 30. It is a big rock that looks like it is balancing. We hiked up to it and took some pictures. Then we drove by Thousand Springs, which is an area where the water is coming out of the Aquifers through the canyon walls. It was all pretty neat to see and it was a great day for driving. On the way back to Idaho Falls we stopped in Pocatello to have some dinner at a small Greek restaurant. 

Today we have just been relaxing and doing the usual...grocery shopping, gym and watching some tv. We were going to go outside, but it started to rain/snow. I'm hoping that is is almost done with that; however people keep saying it isn't nice until July. We will see. Until next time :-)

Snake River on the drive to Shoshone Falls

The Falls

There were many rainbows throughout the day.

Someone took this for us.

Good view from the walk up Snake River

Some small falls from runoff

Balanced Rock...kinda looks like Africa

We climbed up to the rock and this is the view

Balanced Rock up close

Self timer picture with Balanced rock haha

Aquifers coming out of the canyon walls.

Some of the Aquifers in Thousand Springs

Lots of windmills throughout Idaho. Some on the drive home.

Sunset on the drive back to Idaho Falls

April is almost over!

Since our last update we have been very busy. We have been enjoying the sun when it comes out from behind the clouds, even though it has been pretty windy. Last weekend we got to spend some time with friends. We went to a birthday cookout and I got to hang out with a friend from school. Jason and I also started our house search and after looking at about 12 houses we found one that we really liked. Surprisingly the sellers accepted our first offer!! The home inspection was yesterday and everything went well. Only a few minor cosmetic things to fix and we are good to go :-) We are very excited about the prospect of having more space to ourselves and not having neighbors below or above us. The kitties won't know what to do with all the space! The house is about 3200sq feet. It is one story with the basement completely finished. It has 6 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. Sooo we are expecting visitors to help occupy some space hehe. The closing date is May 24th so we hope to move most of our stuff over memorial day weekend.
This weekend so far we have colored easter eggs, spent the afternoon in the sun, walking around the falls and watching all the birds. Everyone likes to bring bread to feed the birds so they are everywhere. We also went to an outdoor sale this morning where there was some used outdoor things. We ended up buying a couple sleeping bags and a backpack for me. Jason hopes that he can get me to go backpacking at least once this summer with him.  It just isn't helping that the backpacks come with bells to scare off the bears...not a fan of bears or mountain lions so we will see.
Tomorrow we are heading to church (after I find the eggs Jason hides for me of course haha) and I am helping out a friend and playing my flute for her service in the early afternoon. It has been nice to get my flute back out and do some playing. We are making an easter dinner and hoping to have a relaxing afternoon. I can't believe April is almost over. I only have one month left of school and can't wait to have the summer to decorate and organize the new house.
Below are some pictures in no specific order.

Our eggs. Can't really see the designs very well. We used colored
pencils because we didn't have any crayons. Next year I will
buy crayons haha.

Jason trying out one of the new sleeping bags!

Sporting the new backpack. Thinking...how could this really be fun lol.

My easter table set up. We are having one friend over to join us tomorrow.

We used neon food coloring this year.

The back of our new house!

And the front. YES it does have a three car garage!!!

One of the living areas, but picture it without the nice furniture....

another view of the same space

another living room area

the dining table is in the middle of the two living spaces above.
It is all open so when you are standing in the kitchen you can see everything.

The kitchen. you can see down the hallway. There are two bedrooms and a bathroom
along with the master bedroom and bath. 

Master bedroom. That bathroom has a large jetted tub :-) I know where I will be.

Basement living room. Then down that hall are three bedrooms and a bathroom.

March Update

We had a nice relaxing March after the wedding.  Melissa had her birthday, and I happened to have that Friday off so I made her a chocolate cake with some of the new tools we received as wedding gifts.  All from scratch no boxes in use here at the Harp household haha.  I also got Melissa a new Willow Tree figurine, and a bottle of Argentinian Carmenere, a wine we both like.  All in all the cake was pretty good and I think Melissa had a pretty good birthday.  

Melissa's Birthday Presents

She blew all the candles out in one blow

Happy 27th Melissa!

We also made our second batch of home brew beer this past month.  It is a wheat beer that is partially grain and partially wheat malt extract.  First we steeped 5 pounds of wheat in steeping bags and home made steeping bags made of cheese cloth.  Then we added 3 more pounds of dark wheat liquid malt extract, and the hops.  Here are some pictures of that.

Note taking is important in home brewing in case you ever want to try to repeat a  batch.

Here's the grains steeping in the pot.  You can
 also see the Liquid malt extract in the can on the back burner.  

Here are the hops going into the wort.
 They foam quite a bit when they are first added.

Unfortunately there wasn't any snow left
on the ground to help cool off the wort, so
we just had to make do with watter in the
bath tub.  

During the first week in April, Melissa was on spring break and we went down to my home town of Canyon for a Wedding shower there.  We flew out of Salt Lake City and Melissa got some good pictures of the Wasatch on the way to the airport.  We also flew through Las Vegas.  Who could resist slot machines in the airport to pass your layover?

More of the Wasatch

Wasatch Range on the way to
Salt Lake City

Slot machines in the Las Vegas Airport

We had a lot of fun at the shower on Sunday.  We got lots of great gifts and gift cards, and we are so thankful that everyone was so generous to us.  Later in the week we went down to the canyon (Palo Duro Canyon State Park) and hiked the lighthouse trail.  This is probably the most popular and famous hikes in the park out to a rock formation that looks like a lighthouse of course.  

Capitol Peak on the way to the Lighthouse

The path on the way up
to the Lighthouse

The Lighthouse

One of our many attempts to get it all in the picture

Lighthouse Closeup

Melissa by the Lighthouse

Jason by the Lighthouse

The "nub" between the Lighthouse
and the canyon wall

Jason hanging out.

We just got our wedding pictures (http://www.rossweddings.com/index2.php or https://vando.imagequix.com/list.html?id=H93E19A ) so Melissa will be busy making our wedding scrapbook. Our new project will be looking for a house. We looked at a couple this weekend and we know it is going to be a very hard decision. We will keep you updated on our search. Until next time.