back in the bay!! (!!!!!!!)

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i don’t think i can really explain how happy it made my heart to be back in the san francisco bay area. i feel something there that i truly feel no where else on earth – a particular brand of adoration and belonging that is so, so sweet. moving to san francisco was a huge leap of faith, my time living in the city and on the peninsula was a wild learning adventure, and it was in that part of the world that i found my true love. i grew up in utah, but i grew up in northern california.

…and that spot on earth just so happens to be stunningly beautiful, richly fascinating, and full of colourful character. gosh, i love the bay area.

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after a pretty pleasant ten hour airplane ride (that moses is a champ! … and check out the spectacular scenery as we flew over greenland! ^^), we headed straight to my uncle chris and aunt hedy’s beautiful home in fremont. we love these people so so much. we shared a lovely meal, and enjoyed catching up until our jetlagged eyelids just couldn’t stay open any longer. we visited for a little bit in the morning before chris and hedy took off for church (and snapped this photo of them with little mo <<).

since we were attending church meetings in palo alto that didn’t start until the afternoon, we drove from chris and hedy’s across the bay bridge and then the golden gate bridge to one of our shared most beloved spots –  the marin headlands overlook. it was the most stunning, sparkling, spring day and we were bursting with delight. after a little while of soaking it in, we drove to palo alto. we stopped by a few special spots around town, and then it was so fun to see old friends at church. IMG_9868IMG_9875IMG_9881IMG_9887IMG_5061
^^ before we got married, ian lived in both of these next-door houses (at different times). i lived around the corner. it was so fun to reminisce on alllll the memories we have in that neighborhood. ^^
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^^ and here we are outside the tiny little studio apartment we shared when we were first married (they were doing some kind of improvement work on the outside, which doesn’t usually look like that!). that was such a random place but we grew to love it so, so fondly. ^^
after church, we had a gettogether (at one of our favourite outdoor spaces in palo alto) with a bunch of friends. since we were in the area only a few days, we just told all our friends to come by during a chunk of time in the evening to say hey. it was so great to see so many chums and introduce them to moses and catch up on their lives. we are so blessed to have so many good people in our lives.
we spent most of monday in san francisco. there’s so many beloved places i would have loved to go to, but we kept it simple and just did the world’s best bike route (across the golden gate bridge) and then went to my “secret rooftop” – a random place i often visited throughout my time living in the bay area. the weather was out-of-this-world amazing and we had such a fun day together. i decided to limit picture taking and just enjoy … but here’s a few shots we did get…
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^^ ^^ ^^ (the ferry ride with our bikes after cruising down into sausalito) ^^ ^^ ^^
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when we got back to palo alto, we stopped at two of the most special-to-us places in town:
(1) gamble gardens – where we had a lot of defining moments during our courtship, and (2) yogurtland – because we were obsessed and went there all the time when we lived in p.a.
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we spent tuesday morning at stanford before we headed to the airport to fly to utah. moses wore some of his stanford paraphernalia* and his dad thoroughly enjoyed showing his little son around his alma mater.
*when ian was born, his dad was a law student at stanford. baby ian was dressed in cardinal clothes, which his mom kept  in a box for 31 years (and meanwhile, grown ian attended staford himself). now, baby moses wears the same stanford threads. it’s so special and sweet!
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^^ this spot is exactly where we took our engagement picture! can you tell ian got a bit of sun biking the bridge the day before? ;) ^^
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i really did leave my heart in san francisco! (and palo alto, and at stanford…)

Comments

  1. Found the photo of Ian, at Stanford, I believe, where he was standing on concrete, while throwing Moses up into the air, rather disturbing. Hope Ian takes better precautions, if he must play with Moses in this sort of high adrenbaline way. Your other photos, as usual, are first rate--it is easy to see why you adore the SF Bay Area.

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  2. Related to the photos of Ian throwing Moses up into the air (and catching him), there seems to be some data, although largely anecdotal, about the impact of this form of play, on babies brains. You might want to look over this data, and some of it's controversial connection to shaken baby syndrome. Moses seems like a happy baby, who may adore his daddy throwing him up into the air, but I just hope, no stone is left unturned, when it comes down to your child's safety. You and your husband obviously adore your son--it's just that one of your photos (of Ian throwing Moses up into the air by the light brick structure with lots of green foilage) looked unsafe and unsettling.

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    1. I think it's an optical illusion. If you notice Ian's arms are tucked down, when he threw the baby into the air his arms would have beeen extended to practically the height of the baby. In other words the baby wasn't as far up in the air as the picture suggests.

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  3. I thought the same thing - why do that? Why risk it on concrete just for a stupid photo op? Does this family truly think that they are charmed (or protected) and that they can do whatever idiotic things they want with no consequences? How very very irresponsible.

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  4. i need to squeeze that baby so badly!!! love you!

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  5. i'm sorry to those who were disturbed looking at the photo of ian tossing moses up at stanford. your concern is totally valid and i can see how it could make you feel unsettled! ian and i both feel this activity is (in most circumstances) safe - kms is right that ian's tucked in hands in that particular picture makes moses look much higher than he actually is :) , and ian obviously wouldn't do something like this unless he felt verrrry secure that he would catch the baby just fine every time. every parent decides to take different risks with their children (most parents take a big risk every single time they put their children in a car - and also at playgrounds, with babysitters, etc etc). we absolutely don't think we are charmed or protected any more than any other family - we just do what we personally feel is right, and allow every other parent that prerogative! your comments did make me reflect on that a bit more though, and think about different things we should or shouldn't do, so thanks for that.

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