while the hubby's away...

best friends come to play!

last weekend, joe went camping with some friends for their

2nd annual guy's trip!
aka i wasn't invited.

luckily, natalie was able to come spend the weekend with me.

we had so much fun!

we haven't seen each other for almost a year

which is ridiculous and makes me super sad

but it was so nice to see her and catch up

we spent a cold and foggy saturday in the city

we went to the exploratorium

this is just what we'd look like if we combined faces. or had a baby.

stopped by the wharf for some soup in bread bowls

went to alamo park

where the "full-house" house is

and walked around golden gate park

where we got attacked by squirrels
and almost froze to death.

(no pictures of that - we were too terrified of losing toes to document the moment)

we capped off the night with some late-night pizza at gaspare's.

it was great and so so fun.

thanks for coming, nat!

home sweet home

joe and i just got home from a way-too-short visit to utah.

we didn't get to see everyone we wanted to see,

or do everything we wanted to do,

or eat at all the restaurants we so dearly miss

(although i did manage to get in some cafe rio - that was a priority)

but we are learning that's kind of the way it is.

3 days just isn't long enough to do it all

and the visits always seem to go by too fast.

we had such a blast while we were there though!

we flew in thursday night and joe's parents picked us up from the airport.
it was so nice to see some familiar faces and catch up with them for a couple of hours.
[even though it took joe's mom a minute to recognize him with his beard...]

friday was a fun, busy day.
while joe golfed, visited friends, and bachelor-partied,
i enjoyed:
french toast at kneaders
shopping
cafe rio
swimming
[bestie came too, thanks jen!]
dinner at an italian restaurant that i can't remember the name of but it was delish.
and a sleepover at marci's cute apartment that i wish was mine.

colin and kaiti were nice enough to invite us to their beautiful wedding on saturday.
it was fun to celebrate with them and we were able to see so many good friends.

 

keslyn jane was blessed on sunday.

i was so happy we could be there for it!
she's such a sweet baby and so so tiny.
she wore the same dress i wore when i was blessed.
rumor has it that i "filled it out" much better than her.
kids these days...

these two...

mostly, i just spent as much time as i could

doting over my nephews and new niece.

what a relief that kayden and koby still know who i am!

 

it was such a wonderful trip.
big thanks to everyone that makes coming home so worth it!

i kind of feel like all we've done for the last week is watch the olympics - which i love.
but we've also managed to have a pretty fun week away from the tv.

on tuesday we decided to hit up another a's game.

with super cheap tickets, i can see this becoming a regular part of our summer.

it doesn't hurt that the stadium is never full, so we take it upon us to upgrade to better seats each time.
throw in some nachos and popcorn and i am one happy girl!

tonight we stopped by the san rafael farmer's market (per usual)
joe had homemade lasagna
i had himalayan food
and we topped it off with our newest obsession:
shaved ice with organic flavoring.
strawberry and pina colada tonight.

in one week we're off to utah for the weekend!

we'll only be there for a couple of days, but i couldn't be more excited.

i finally get to meet this little one:

[bonus: keslyn will be blessed while we're there which pretty much makes my day.]
PLUS:
watch one of joe's bestie's get married

experience the HOT utah summer

{which will probably make me grateful for the weird, beautiful,

colder-than-i'm-used-to summer i'm enjoying in northern california}
and, most importantly,

catch up with friends and family!