utah family and friends

we love the bay area, but definitely miss our family and friends in utah.  we have 19 nieces and nephews (all on stephen's side) and it saddens me how fast they grow up!  we hope that someday baby stephen can live close to his cousins so they will be friends like stephen is with his cousins.  here are pictures with some of the friends and family members we were able to visit.

 baby stephen with cousin penelope

 here i am with baby jane

 my brother, aaron, babysat for us one evening.

 baby stephen in the "bed" his cousin katherine made for him.  he loves his cousins katherine and penelope!

 swimming with cousin max

 elizabeth and katherine at stephen's brother's house.

 with one of my college roommates, staci and her cute daughter ivy.

 ivy and baby stephen

 jane and baby jane

 with stephen's cousins michelle and deborah, both of them are expecting!  and they have another sister (laura) who is pregnant as well.

 with baby jane at a real salt lake game.

 brother-in-law dave shallenberger and baby jane. (there are 4 daves/davids in the family, it can get confusing)

 baby suzanne! my newest niece.

 baby stephen with uncle aaron again.  watching the ducks south of byu campus

 Baby stephen's fellow quarter-asian friend, Leo. at a bbq hosted by richard bingham

 cute penny, leo, and stephen.

 stephen and his cousins levi and joseph in Justin's backyard for an outdoor movie night.

 cousin's at outdoor movie night.  love their dress-ups.

 auntie heidi and baby stephen.

 I took these cute kids out for ice cream.  my sister in law melissa's kids.

 stephen swinging with his cousin penelope.

 grandpa art, stephen, and aaron.

 Stephen and stephen with daddy stephen's grandparents

swimming with cousins levi and joseph.

natural history museum of utah

I have always loved natural history museums.  as a geology major at the university of utah i went to the old natural history museum for a homework assignment.  I found myself reading every sign and placard in the museum.  my favorite section was always the rocks, minerals, and gems.  the old museum on president's circle was nice, but drab compared to the museum's collections.  I was excited when i heard the university was building a new museum above research park.  The site of the building is breathtaking.  The architecture of the building complements the view nicely.  

The building was designed by Ennead architects, a firm i have never heard of.  It reminds me a lot of  dominus winery and the de young museums both designed by herzog and de meuron because the facades are meant to blend into the landscape.  They also used copper on the exterior similar to the de young museum.  

 I couldn't get a good picture of the facade, but you can find one via google.

 amazing view of the salt lake valley

 baby stephen slept in the stroller most of the time!  it was wonderful.

 this  may or may not be evidence of evolution....

 i loved that the museum storage had glass walls so we could view the amazing items not on display.

 glass floors in the dinosaur exhibit.

so cheesy.

grandma jane's

baby stephen has become quite the seasoned traveler.  last month we went to Utah for a couple of weeks to visit our family and friends.  it was a nice trip.  we were happy to be hosted by stephen's parents.  Stephen's mom, Jane is an amazing gardner!  I am completely in love with her house.  

 we got earphones for baby stephen, he didnt love them.

 baby stephen loved picking these yellow flowers.  Sorry jane!

 we came just in time to see the peonies bloom!  they were gorgeous.

 oops! (look at those irises!)

 baby stephen LOVES to swing.  he fell asleep on my chest while i swung with him.

 another great part of staying at grandma' jane's house is spending time with my cute nieces and nephews when they visit!

 baby Levi also loved the swing.  Daniel is a great big brother and babysitter.

 Will baby stephen be a musician like his dad?

 car-watching, a favorite pastime at Grandma' jane's.

 Baby stephen is not a fan of crawling on grass. but look at that ivy on her house!

 more car watching.  i think he spotted some fine ladies.

 getting ready to go to church with Grandma and Grandpa!

We love grandma Jane! Thanks for being the best hostess and mother-in-law

briones regional park

While working in Lafayette, many of my clients told me I needed to visit Briones regional park.  Ever since we had baby stephen I have not had the desire to go too far from home.  I always worry I will forget to bring something, that baby stephen will be sad the whole time, or i just don't feel like lugging around a bunch of baby stuff, not to mention a giant baby who is over twice my height already.

But over memorial day weekend, we had an itch that only a hike could scratch.  we read online about briones wheel chair accessible trails and decided that our uppababy vista stroller could handle the job.  although baby stephen only made it a mile in the stroller, we had an enjoyable time.

 happy camper. loved these yellow plants.  my friend calls these mustard plants but i'm not sure what they really are.

 beautiful rolling hills!  we even saw some cattle.

 the grass looks highly-flamable

 we had to carry him in the ergo carrier on the way back to our car.  i loved the purple thistle.

we saw these huge vultures on the way back

mission district

one of our favorite area's in san francisco is the mission district.  it is known as the hipster district in san francisco.  i definitely do not consider myself a hipster, but i can't resist the amazing restaurants and shops in the area, and of course, mission dolores park.

we first discovered the mission district in 2009 on our honeymoon.  as per usual, we planned our trip to san francisco around art museums, shopping, restaurants, and architecture. stephen read about a restaurant called delfina pizzaria in GQ magazine and had to try it.  ever since then it has become one of our favorite places to dine in the city.  we also love tartine and bi rite.  

while food is very important to us, parks have become a new priority when exploring a new area.  mission dolores park does not disappoint!  it has an awesome play ground that even adults can enjoy, amazing views of the city, and plenty of crazy san franciscians that make for good people watching.

 the mission is known for street art and murals.  i love this building.

baby stevo at the playgroud at mission dolores park

the park can be crowded on the weekends.  we love laying out a blanket and enjoying the view of the city.

oakland museum of california

Stephen and I have lived in the bay area over two years and we are still checking places off of our list to visit.  Recently, we went to the Oakland Museum of California.  We went in the middle of the day on a week day and it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves.

 The museum entrance. The museum was renovated in 2010.  I didnt get a great shot of the exterior.  I loved how the museum incorporated indoor, outdoor, and gallery space.  It is definitely worth googling. The architect who re-designed the museum, Mark Cavagnero, is said to have preserved the feel and concept of the original architect, Kevin Roche.  It really is a beautiful building.

 Loved this Viola Frey statue.  You can find another one of her statues, ethnic man, at the UMFA

 Going to a museum with a baby can be challenging.  He lasted about 15 minutes then we decided to lay out a blanket and let him crawl around outside while we took turns looking at the exhibits.

 These toys were on display as part of the weCustomize exhibit.  The museum allowed visitors to create these toys by re-constructing pieces from other toys.

 Loved this map that showed the diversity of the museum visitors.

 Hung Liu's exhibit was by far my favorite at the museum.  They didn't allow photography in the gallery, unfortunately, but you can find much of her work online.  Liu is a chinese-american artist whose works are personal, political, and very emotional.  My favorite part of the exhibit is a series of paintings she did after her mother's death.  She painted 51 small paintings within 49 days of her mother's passing.  I cannot even try to describe the emotion i felt when i looked at the series.

Museum rules were pretty humorous

Hand-Cranked drum set in the weCreate exhibit.  

Overall, we had a great time at the museum.  The museum had a great mix of history, fine art, and interaction.  It made me appreciate all the talent and amazing things we have in the state!