more of san fran

such an interesting city. downtown felt more like the east coast than the west coast. the buildings were so high-reaching that we often didn't have cell phone reception. it was busy, crazy, dirty. then we walked a couple of miles and we saw things like this...

alcatraz

it was really cold.

lombard street - apparently this is the curviest street in the world.

some lovely building art

and last, but not least, the attractive man i was able to spend my trip in san fran with!

china town - san fran style

we took a little trip to san fran. it was fun. christian was presenting at a conference. he did a wonderful job. i know because i snuck in to listen. sneaky, sneaky. christian indulged me, by spending some time in chinatown. it was feichang hao.

my uncle kip gave me a hat like this when i was a little tyke.

he brought it back to me from his mission in taiwan.

putting this on made me feel like a little kid again.

christian has a hat like this at home.

his brother, pete, brought it back for him from his mission in taiwan.

as you can tell by his face, he likes it.

china town in san fran seemed pretty legit.

smells. sounds. chaos.

i kept having flashbacks of my mission.

and i loved it.

tada!

more san fran pictures to come...

happy valentines day!

a little late, but this was our romantic valentine's dinner. we went to the coppermill restaurant. at 5:00 pm. with all of the 75 year old couples in town. it was a great night. we went so we could eat the pulled pork that we didn't get to eat at our wedding luncheon because it was so busy. turns out, they don't have the pulled pork on the restaurant menu, only on the banquet menu. oh well. we still have a really fun time. we laugh about how romantic it was.

mtn. dew

christian and charlie serenading me on a friday night brought back memories of when christian and i were dating. "bluegrass sunday" was part of our weekly routine.

hi diddly di, me pot o' gold

growing up, my mom used to always make corned beef and cabbage for st. patrick's day. i always loved that tradition. since i am not as together as my mother. and, since i didn't have the forethought to get all the fixins for such a delectable irish feast, we didn't have corned beef and cabbage today. instead, we went big this year and started our own tradition - shamrock shakes from mcdonald's! this ice cream treat had nothing to do with taste, and everything to do with tradition. after all, with a name like erin, a st. patty's day tradition should probably be mandatory.

brightening up a gloomy month

"i bowled!"

- jack petersen

let's face it, february can be kind of a gloomy month...especially in utah.

there is an inversion, it is cold, it get's dark early in the evening.

in order to cheer us up in february, my dad and both my in-laws were

born in february. it is nice to have something to celebrate!

we weren't able to celebrate with mel and sandy this year,

so we celebrated in our hearts for them.

we went bowling to celebrate my dad's birthday!

on his last frame, he did his behind-the-back-between-the-legs bowl.

it was as fun to watch as a 31 year old, as it was as a 6 year old.

and, it definitely brightened up my february!

valentine's bowling ball arrangement - chance or destiny?

handsome devil

aren't they an attractive couple?

happy new year!

new year's eve 2011

enjoying a little sparkling cider.

barely staying awake until midnight.

looks like another good year ahead.

keeping the christmas spirit alive

vroom, vroom!

lance helped all my dad and christian's wildest christmas dreams come true.

christmas morning

christmas night

and, on to new years!

pillow pets

i recognize that i should have posted my christmas chronicles eons ago. i'm running late on this one. which is generally the story of my life. just a little late.

this was just so entertaining, i figured posting it late was better than not posting it at all.

witnessing my nephews open their christmas presents from nana and papa was a delight. the best part, when spencer opened his grand finale gift - a dinosaur pillow pet. i had heard that pillow pets were all the rage these days, but i had no idea.

he pulled the pillow pet out of the box, looked at it and exclaimed "it's the thing i wanted in the whole wide world!" then, he ran over to his brother and excitedly announced,

"jack, it's my lucky day!"

then, he hugged his new found friend.

a boy and his dinosaur brought a new level of joy to our hearts.

'twas the night before christmas

home for the holidays.

christmas eve consisted of:

dinner

peanut butter balls and egg nog

watching the nativity video and spending time with loved ones.

and, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.