Merry Christmas to All!!!

As we near the end of another year, we reflect on our blessings from 2010. To all of you who made this year great, thank you!!!

- Expecting our first child--she could arrive any day now!
- London, Paris, Venice, and Rome: Our first trip together to Europe.
- Sixth anniversary.
- Celeste's sister's wedding in June: Especially that it didn't rain on the outdoor wedding.
- Disneyland: We only rode on the pregnancy friendly rides.
- Dragon Boat Festival at Treasure Island.
- Locks of Love: Celeste donated 10 inches and her hair still came to her shoulders.
- Running: Now with Vibram FiveFingers.
- Swimming: The best exercise for a woman great with child.
- Yoga: Matt is getting more flexible, Celeste's belly is starting to get in her way.
- Matt's new job at Google.

As we turn the page to a new year, may we all remember the source of all of our blessings. God bless us, everyone!

From Merry Christmas

From Farm to Pumpkin Pie

We thought it would be fun to show the evolution of our pumpkins that we found at the Farm Fresh to You farm. We picked out three pumpkins from the farm, displayed them in front of our apartment during Halloween, then cooked them up to make a pie. We only needed two cups of pumpkin, but from our three pumpkins we got almost 15 cups. Looks like we'll making some more pies with the leftovers (leftovers are in the freezer). The final pumpkin pie ended up being pretty good! The seeds are great, too, especially the green ones!

From Farm to Pumpkin Pie

Updated Maternity Pictures

Celeste is at 35 weeks! It's amazing how quickly time is going by. We could even have our baby by the end of this month!!! We're very excited.

Maternity Pictures

Aaron & Aimee Visit

We had a great visit with Aaron and Aimee over the weekend. We played tourist with them for a few days and had a lot of fun. We got a pretty good variety of places that we visited--3 different wharfs (San Francisco, Monterey, and Santa Cruz), 2 different hikes (Henry Cowell Redwoods and Point Lobos), 2 times at In-N-Out, dessert at several different places, the cable cars, Lombard Street, and more. If you haven't come visited us lately, see what you could be enjoying. :) You'll also have very good reason to visit us in about two months.

Aaron & Aimee Visit

Maternity Pictures at 30 weeks

We added two additional maternity pictures to Celeste's progressive album. We're 30 weeks down and 10 to go!

Maternity Pictures

Maternity Pictures

We've been taking maternity pictures of Celeste at regular intervals. So far, you can watch the progression from 9 weeks to 15 weeks to 20 weeks to 25 weeks. Our baby has been growing very well and has been very active. Already, it seems that she is doing gymnastics routines inside of Celeste. We sometimes watch Celeste's stomach and see all sorts of movement. It's amazing to think that a little baby is developing in there and we can't wait to see what she looks like. In the meantime, enjoy these cute pictures of Celeste and her bump.

Maternity Pictures

A Special Announcement

It's probably about time we made a more general announcement of some special news that we have. For Fathers' Day, we were visiting our family in Washington after Celeste's sister's wedding. Since we were in Europe for Mothers' Day, we got all of our parents special gifts for the occasion. Here is a video of them opening the gifts.



Our parents were expecting something we bought from Europe. But we surprised them with "Happy Grandfathers' Day" cards for our dads, and pictures of the new grandchild for our moms. We think we got a pretty good reaction.

Since we made the announcement, we found out that we'll be having a girl. We're very excited and can't wait for the new addition to our family!

Celeste's New Do

Celeste decided long ago that she would grow out her hair until she got pregnant. So, a couple weeks ago, she got it cut and donated 10 inches to Locks of Love. It was a really fun event that my company does every year. It's amazing how comparatively short 10 inches of hair is. Celeste still has plenty of hair on top. Click below for photos!

Locks of Love

Europe Trip 2010 (Part 4/4): Rome

Our final stop in Europe was Rome, where our itinerary included the Colosseum, the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, and the Trevi Fountain, among other sites. It was bittersweet to end our two week vacation, but we were happy to get home. We hope you enjoy all of our pictures (click below)!

Rome 2010

Europe Trip 2010 (Part 3/4): Venice

Our third stop in Europe was Venice--the City of Masks. This was probably our favorite stop--a relaxing getaway with a flexible itinerary. During the day, the crowds were larger when the cruise boats made their stops. But at night, it was a romantic getaway, especially when enjoying the moonlight from a quiet gondola ride--a must if you are ever in Venice.

Below is an album of some of our favorite sites, with explanations for the photos. Enjoy!

Venice 2010

Europe Trip 2010 (Part 2/4): Paris

Of all of the cities we visited, we probably took the most pictures when we were in Paris. There are so many cool places, not to mention the many different perspectives of the Eiffel Tower that we captured (don't worry, we didn't share all of them). Our favorite places in Paris: Matt enjoyed the Monet Water Lily paintings at the Orangerie; Celeste enjoyed Notre Dame and the views of Paris from Montparnasse.

Here are some of the pictures from our trip (click below for more pictures).

Paris 2010

Europe Trip 2010 (Part 1/4): London

So instead of compiling all of our Europe pictures into a single album, we decided to upload them by city. Here are some of our favorite places in London, along with some interesting things that we learned. Hope you enjoy them! More on the way.

London 2010

The Colosseum

After doing a few other sites in Rome (including the Sistine Chapel
and St. Peter's Basilica), we had our first glimpse of the Colosseum.
It is kind of fun taking a bus down the street to see what fun things
are on the way. We came around the corner and the Colosseum was
sitting there like we'd seen it in pictures and movies. Tomorrow we'll
do a tour of the full thing. Can't wait.

On to Rome

We finished our wonderful stay in Venice with a memorable moonlit ride
on a gondola. We departed from one of the small canals and snaked our
way along until we went under the Rialto bridge on the Grand Canal.
The water was perfectly smooth and most of the time we felt like the
only boat on the water. The gondolier guided the gondola very well.
Some of the corners we cut pretty closely, and yet we didn't once hit
a wall. Going along the canals was a lot like going along a street--
one narrow canal leading to another, doorways lining the canals with
boats parked in front, city walls going straight up from the water's
surface. It added even more to the surreal feeling of being in Venice.

One thing that was kind of funny is that lots of people took pictures
of us as we passed under bridges, almost as if we were celebrities.
Other than that, we were unknown in the dark canals of the City of
Masks.

Leaving on the train this morning was bittersweet. Hopefully we'll go
back to Venice. But we have more fun adventures in store in Rome.

Venice

We flew in to Venice yesterday and absolutely love it. The city is
absolutely surreal--tiny streets for walking interlaced with canals
filled with boat traffic. It's the perfect town to explore. We took
the water bus down the Grand Canal with an audio tour podcast. We saw
restaurants, churches, hotels, government buildings, and even a fire
station all with porches right to the water.

Our hotel is right near one of the last stops in the Grand Canal and
just a couple blocks from St. Mark's Square (in the picture above). On
the square in the evening, there are three live bands at different
cafes that compete for business. We just enjoyed the music in the
middle of the square and danced under the starlight. This has been a
great place to kick our feet up and relax (we definitely got our
walking in visiting all of the museums in Paris). We've also already
eaten out share of gelato.

The back side of Notre Dame

Enjoying crepes at Notre Dame

Here is Celeste enjoying a real French crepe at the foot of Notre
Dame. Very tasty!

Made it to Paris

We made it to Paris. We've decided that we really liked riding the
high speed train. Right on time, very fast, and dropped us off near a
major metro stop near Notre Dame. Plus it took us under the English
Channel--I think it took about 20 minutes to go through! I've always
heard about going through the tunnel but wasn't sure when (or if) I'd
go through it. A little culture shock in Paris with everything in
French (already one difficult conversation trying to get metro
tickets), but we're excited to be here!

Enjoyed London, Off to Paris

We really enjoyed London. It is amazing how much there is to do versus
what we did. We really enjoyed the British Museum, British Library,
V&A Museum, Westminster Abbey, and other amazing sites. Now our train
is about to leave for Paris. Lots of pictures to post when we get
back. Au revoir!

Our adventure in Europe begins

We started our adventure in Europe yesterday. Wait, it was two days
ago (it feels like we lost a day during our travels). We decided to
pack light using only one carry-on each. Amazingly, I still feel like
I overpacked. When you have the right equipment, it is amazing what
you can fit in your luggage. We got some Rick Steves packing cubes and
then I got the Rick Steves convertible carry-on backpack (Rick Steves
has been a great source for travel tips--he inspired us to do carry-on
only, and I'm glad he did. Travelling so far really has been much
easier). The combination gave me ample room for all of my needs, and a
few extras (like our new camera). Celeste used our roller-bag, and
actually asked to borrow some of my clothes to fill in the gaps (she
has an advantage being able to pack smaller clothes).

We made it to London in safety and have already enjoyed some of the
sights of the city, including Big Ben, the London Eye, Westminster
Abbey, and Hyde park (including Speakers Corner where people stand on
boxes to preach, Pres. Hinckley being one years ago during his
mission). We've also enjoyed the double-decker red buses, hopping on
to random routes to see where it takes us. From the top deck, it
provides a fun tour and experience.

Here is a picture of us with our carry-ons only leaving from San
Francisco. We'll update the blog with higher quality pictures when we
get back. Cheers!

Point Reyes

Celeste and I decided somewhat last minute to do a trip up to Point Reyes. Point Reyes is located North of San Francisco on a part of land that extends into the Pacific Ocean and has gradually been transported North along the San Andres Fault up the California coastline. In fact, during the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, parts of the Point Reyes moved as much as 18 feet, which is evidenced at one point by a fence running perpendicular to the fault and is displaced 16 feet! The Earth is truly an amazing place!

Right now, gray whiles are returning from Baja, Mexico to the North during their annual 10,000 mile migration. Point Reyes is a great spot to watch these whales migrate, but we didn't see any whales during this trip. We did see some baby elephant seals, though. We also hiked along the coast and enjoyed the spectacular views of this amazing place. There are many more places to explore and we plan to come back.

Enjoy some of the pictures that we took!

Point Reyes