Hurray!

Stephen and I are happy to announce we are having a baby boy! My due date is May 12th.

Christmas!

Stephen and I are soooo excited for Christmas. We have been in California for almost 6 months now and are ready to go home to see our friends and family. We are planning to go to Utah twice this December, for Stephen's sister's wedding and for Christmas.

Here is a picture of our Christmas tree

Lately

I have not done a very good job at keeping my blog updated. Since I posted last a lot of things have changed. Stephen has started school and we have had a lot less time to travel around and do sightseeing. September has been a busy month for us so far.

On Labor day Stephen and I took a 12 mile hike in Big Basin State park. It was so beautiful. We saw a lot of red wood trees and four different waterfalls.

Here is Stephen inside a redwood tree.

We are really fortunate that we are just a 25 minute BART ride into San Francisco. Stephen and I have gone into the city a few different times to go to dinner, art exhibits and shopping.

Here is stephen in Chinatown

Stephen's Uncle is the mission president of the Santa Rosa, CA mission. His daughter got married in September and we were so happy to be invited and to have family come out for the wedding. Stephen's parents, his brother, and sister in-law came out for the weekend. We spent a day at the wedding and with the family, then the other three days sight seeing.

Here is Stephen and his brother David. We tried to get them to stand close together for the photo but were unsuccessful.

Stephen and I at Bodega Bay.

Stephen and I in Armstrong Woods.

Jane, Brandy and I at fisherman's warf

Stephen and I at the oakland temple for the wedding.

Stephen and his class went to Point Bonita to check out the site for one of his projects. He really liked it and took me there a few days later. It is a really beautiful part of the coastline that divides the bay from the pacific ocean.

Here is stephen looking at the Pacific side of point Bonita.

Earlier this week my roommate from my friend Megan and I went to Alcatraz Island for a tour of the prison. It was interesting to learn more about the prison. And apparently after the prison was shut down, a group of Native Americans claimed it as "indian land." That is why "indians welcome" is posted throughout the island.

Overall, the last month has been a lot of fun. It still hasn't sunk in that we will be in Berkeley for the next 3 years. I still feel like I am on vacation. But we definitely do miss our family and friends.

Santa Cruz & Monterey

Stephen and I have been having fun doing touristy things on my day off. Last week we drove to Monterey which is about two hours away from us. We did the 17 mile drive around Pebble Beach and saw the beautiful ocean, cliffs, cyprus trees, and golf courses.

Here I am with the Lone Cyprus, the symbol of Pebble Beach

Here is stephen walking along the cliffs and pointing at something

There is a big fat seal laying on the cliffs

After the 17 mile drive we drove into Monterey to have lunch at a yummy seafood restaurant. After lunch we went to see Cannery Row, a part of Monterey that was famous for its sardine factories. Stephen wanted to see it after reading John Stinebeck's book, Cannery Row, that was inspired by the place.

On our way home we drove through Santa Cruz to Natural Arches state park. It was beautiful! We are loving being in California.

Dominus Winery

Stephen and I went on an architecture tour of Dominus winery today. It is a beautiful winery in the small town of Yountville in Napa Valley. The winery is typically closed to the public for tours and tastings, but they do give small architecture tours once a month to groups no larger than 20. According to our hostess, most tours are attended by architects or students of architecture because the building was designed by famous swiss architects Herzog and De Meuron, the same architects who designed the De Young museum in San Francisco and Prada building in Tokyo that I have written about in this blog. They also designed the bird's nest in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

Most of the technical information about the building went over my head, but I did enjoy the scenery of the winery and the design of the building. Here are some pictures.

The arch of the building draws your eye to the winery.

The building's facade is meant to blend in with the scenery

the building is surrounded by wire cages filled with rocks

this door is supposed to make you feel like you are inside a wine bottle

french oak barrels, this room is kept cool by the thick cement walls and rock exterior of the building, no air conditioning is required.

Plants

Stephen and I have been moved in to our apartment for almost a month now, but we are still busy doing some finishing touches. Last week Stephen was busy shopping for plants that would work on our small balcony. Our balcony faces north and doesn't get much sun, so he had to do some research to see what plants would be the best for us. I don't know the names of any of the plants besides the herbs, but i do love having them right outside our window!

Sunday Funday

Every sunday since we moved here we have gone on day trips in the bay area after church. there are so many places that have been preserved for us to explore. here are some pictures.

This past sunday we went to Point Reyes National Seashore, the area is known for its wildflowers, ranches, seals and as a great place to whale watch.

Plants + The Beach

Big Slug + 1 Dollar Bill

lighthouse

beautiful seashore

our first visitors!!

This weekend Stephen's Mom and Sister came to visit. We had only been gone 2 weeks but we were very excited to have our first visitors! Here are some of the things we did....

Visited the beach on the west coast of san francisco.
saw the picasso exhibit at the de young museum.
drove across the bay bridge in fog.
took a walk at muir woods.
had lunch at alice water's restaurant chez panisse.
visited a cathedral in san francisco
had breakfast in the ferry building at fisherman's warf
grocery shopping at the farmer's market.

it was lots of fun and we were sad to see them leave.

Unpacking

We made it to California Tuesday afternoon. It was a loooonng drive. I have driven to California before, but not for a few years. The drive was pretty boring from SLC to Reno, mostly just ranges and basins. Driving through the Truckee/Tahoe area was the most beautiful. We rolled down the windows so we could smell the pine trees.

Most of our things didn't arrive until Wednesday. Although our apartment is almost twice the size of our last one, there is a lot less storage space.

Here is our new couch and some of our things waiting to be unpacked.

Here is our kitchen with a ton of boxes.

The hallway leading to our bedrooms, bathroom, and study area

Stephen has his priorities for unpacking.

On Thursday we went to the DMV to get our Drivers Licenses and new plates. Look how gross the front of our car is from all the bugs we hit on the way.

After running errands and unpacking we decided to head into San Francisco for Dinner. We are only about 15 min away.

Our drive across the Bay Bridge

Our first stop in San Francisco was to the store of one of Stephen's favorite designers, Paul Smith. We have been to 8 of his stores in 5 different cities here and in Japan.

After Paul Smith we went to Pizzeria Delfina, a delicious pizza place we went to during our first trip to San Francisco for our Honeymoon. The wait was long, but it was worth it.

Fourth of July Fun

We had a bitter-sweet Fourth of July this year. We woke up early in the morning to finish some last minute packing then went over to my brother's in-laws for a BBQ. It was nice of them to invite us. After that I said goodbye to my family and we headed over to Stephen's brother David's house for swimming and another BBQ.

Most of Stephen's family came and a few other relatives. After dinner we lit fireworks in front of David's house. It is nice that they changed the firework law this year. We could see fireworks across the valley and it also saved David a trip to Wyoming.

Here are Olivia and Jon Jon covering their ears. during the fireworks.

Cute Penelope was scared.

She wasn't scared after she got a cupcake

The goods.

We spent some good quality time with our newest nephew Joseph.

Joseph is a little big for his age.

We ended the night by saying goodbye to all of Stephen's family. I have moved a few times before this, but not for longer than the summer so it was a lot harder saying goodbye this time.