Stephen & Amanda: utah

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.