Flickr picture update!

Pictures on my flickr site are fixed now from my San Francisco post.

Flickr and I do not get along...arrgh. You guys are so polite for not saying anything about it being totally messed up!

-Emily :)

Helena's Days of Summer

Helena's really starting to get to be a fun age. I can already tell the terrible two's will be a constant negotiation, but man, I have to say she keeps getting cuter. :)

Here's Helena utilizing the new backyard. She enjoys emptying the pool more than actually swimming in it.

Miss Attitude showing off her penchant for Hershey's kisses and her most recent accomplishment of two ponytails utilizing some actual 'back of the head' hair.

Eating chocolate cake at dinner this past weekend.

It's hard to take a pic of Helena without food on her face since the only time she really sits still is when she's eating and strapped down. Here she's exhibiting part of the full cup of refried beans she ate for dinner. Yes, my kid won't eat any fruit but applesauce and bananas, but refried beans are always a go!

As I was uploading the pic above, this one below was right next to it in my computer files and I realized that we took this almost a year ago today. Definitely less hair, teeth and a little paler than last summer. I can't believe she's going to be two in just a couple of months.

-Emily :)

P.S. -- Thanks for snapping a couple of these, Aunt Mariann!

Wine in the Family

While in Northern California, we stopped and had brunch with Ash's Aunt Deb & Uncle Bob, cousin Lisa and her husband Brandon and 2nd cousin Anthony. Ash's uncle is an official vinter and we had the privilege of asking him all sorts of burning questions about grape farming and wine. Their winery is called Broman Cellars, and man, it's good stuff. We definitely made sure to arrange to send some back to Utah (Thanks for helping us break the law, Lisa!). Our late morning wine tasting also went well with the fabulous breakfast casserole Deb made.

It was neat to finally see their property and small vineyard. We're definitely going to go back and visit in the near future since they are one of our few 'western state' realatives!

Some pics from our visit:

Bob's "Scientific Tasting Table" in the winery office- at least that's what I'm going to call it. I'm sure he'd call it something else. ;) As a layperson, I thought it was pretty cool. Kind of reminds me of making perfume.
Lisa & Deb in the vineyard.

Cabernet grape vines on their property.

A lotus flower blooming in their backyard pond. I had a great time shooting all of the fabulous flowers around their house.

California is so beautiful and so diverse. I can't wait to go back!

-Emily :)

San Francisco

Ash & I spent a couple of days in San Francisco on our vacation. It's been a few years since I've visited a really big, congested city and I have to say it kind of startled me. I hate to admit it, but it did. I just can't imagine living there...so many people on a peninsula that's just 7 miles across.

When we first arrived we had lunch at our hotel since we were starving after it took way too long to 'park' our rental car -- a Hummer we got in a surprise upgrade. Hummers evidently aren't popular rental options in Cali. In the hall of our hotel, I'm pretty sure I saw Brittanya from Rock of Love Bus checking in. Random, I know...

After my celebrity sighting, we headed on a walk through Chinatown, snacked on a sweet curry bun and bought a Hello Kitty backpack for Helena and then had some drinks at a random spot.

Then we headed over to check out Lombard Street (the crookedest street in the world) and then went over to Fisherman's Wharf where we stopped in a little shop for a wine tasting. It turned out to be really great -- our host was super nice and even clued us in on a great local sushi place to have dinner at. That's us, getting the recommends from the locals a la Rachel Ray. Ha!

The other afternoon we were there we hit up the Ferry Building and shopped a bit in Union Square.

I got some great pics while we were there as well: Check them out!

-Emily :)

Whew...I'm back!

After 3 weeks of non-stop traveling, we're back in the swing of things. I'm currently downloading 200+ pictures I took on all of our adventures and plan to post about everything over the next week or so. Needless to say, our vacation was desperately needed and really, really fun. I will say I don't need to drink for awhile, however. Two weddings on back to back weekends was rough on my liver.

Nate & LeighAnn's wedding was nothing short of spectacular. The setting was idyllic and it was great to whoop it up with all of my old work friends. And I think that's the only wedding Ash & I both got teary eyed at. Might have been the wine...but damn those two are just so cute together.

San Francisco was great, too.

As was our our visit to Ash's Aunt Deb's house/vineyard in Napa.

Helena had a great time visiting my family in Burrton. So much so she started calling my sister and brother-in-law "mom and dad." Man, doesn't take her long to adjust.

After we hooked up with Helena in Kansas City we had a whirlwind weekend there visiting friends and family and attending Phil & Dana's wedding, which will come with its own set of stories. Here's Helena and Ash's cousin Brendan playing in the pool together.

And finally, I headed out for the public radio development conference in San Diego last week.

So, that's what we've been up to, in a very brief nutshell. More to come!! Hopefully I haven't lost all of my readers!

Congrats to our newly wedded friends who were gladly the catalyst for all of our travels!

-Emily :)