Lawson Baby Shower

Janet and Tim are having baby boy #2 any day now. So, the girls in our small group decided to throw her a little shower. We all chipped in and gave Janet a gift certificate to a spa and money to go out on a date with Tim. We were able to pull off the surprise, which was a bonus.


Of course at a baby shower you play games. Here we are trying to see how big around Janet was with squares of toilet paper. I ended up winning!

Bethany did a great job baking and decorating the cake.

New Desk

When Matt and I moved into our apartment we were borrowing the previous renter's desk. It was a great desk, but eventually they came back for it (which I don't blame them for doing). So Matt began looking on craigslist for a new desk and eventually found one. We also got rid of our old filing cabinet (from ALCS) as Matt got a new one from Stanford. Our office is organized and we love it that way!

Banana Slug

Matt and I were hiking one Sunday afternoon and I nearly stepped on this, banana slug. I had heard about banana slugs before, but had never seen one. It was huge and bright yellow, as you can see from the picture. I guess one always needs to watch where you're walking!

Muir Woods

Jacki and Keith came to visit San Francisco. The first afternoon they flew in, we drove to Muir Woods to see the Redwoods. We hiked through the forest for about 4 miles. The trees were amazing.

On the way to Muir Woods we stopped off at IN-N-Out burger for lunch. The day was already starting out right!
Redwood trees are amazing. Ironically right before we went to Muir Woods my students studied about Redwood trees as it is one of the California ecosystems. Here is a collage of all the pictures I took.


See how wide Redwoods can get.

Here is a picture of Jacki taking pictures. We both took so many pictures during our hike. We had a blast laughing all the way.
After hiking we continued to drive north to Mount Tamalpais. The road was incredibly windy, but the view from the top was amazing. We looked out over Marin County hills, San Francisco bay and cities of the East bay.

Hoover Dam and Red Rock Canyon
Here are the pictures we took when we ventured off the strip for a day. We rented a car and drove to the Hoover Dam and then on to Red Rock Canyon. The Hoover Dam was so impressive especially since it was built in 1937. They were also in the process of building a bypass bridge. This was super cool since you could see it in the process. We drove over the dam which was neat.





Here is Matt standing on the Nevada side of the dam.
Here is Matt standing on the Arizona side of the dam.
Behind us you can see the bypass bridge that is being built.
We visited Red Rock Canyons after the Hoover Dam. There was a 13 mile drive that took you through the park. We had wanted to do some hiking, but were not prepared for the crazy weather. There were some serious winds and we were not dressed properly. Still it was beautiful to see.

Spring Break 2009 in Las Vegas
Matt and I went to Vegas for spring break. It was one of the places on our list to visit while living on the west coast. It was a place I had never been before, but Matt had. As a kid Matt used to stop in Vegas with his family on the drive from San Diego to Salt Lake. We got a fantastic package deal including flight, three nights at Treasure Island and Cirque Du Soleil tickets. We also took a day to drive to the Hoover Dam and Red Rock Canyon. It was nice to get a break from the noise and smoke from the strip.


We saw Cirque Du Soleil Mystere. It was amazing! I loved all the acrobatics - tumbling, trampoline, trapeze, handstands. It was all awesome! I can't wait to go to another show!We spent a lot of time walking the strip and going through each casino. We walked about 6 miles each day. It was funny to see all the escalators completely full and stairs empty. Matt and I noticed that no one was taking the stairs and found that so hilarious considering all the food and alcohol that was being consumed. We made a pact to take the stairs every time there was an option. People were looking at us weird, but oh well. Here are some highlights from the strip.

This was the Cirque Du Soleil Beatles exhibit in the Mirage hotel. It was so much fun to walk on my hands down the hallway.

I loved the floors and ceilings of the Bellagio, Wynn and Venetian.
Here I am sitting on a replica of the Trevi fountain. I told Matt that I still want to take him to the real one in Rome.

I love ice cream! We actually never got to have dessert at this place because each night when we walked by it we were so full, but anyways the statue was fun.


One of the places we ate was called Stripburger. It had some yummy sweet potato fries, but they were not better than the Counter fries here in Palo Alto.

This is a big part of what Vegas is about. I cannot imagine eating the buffet food all day long. Yuck. We enjoyed a breakfast buffet our last morning in Vegas at the Mirage. It was great - omelettes and fresh fruit. We even timed the buffet just right and they opened up lunch. I got gelato!
Our last night in Vegas we ate at a restaurant and were seated at table number 27. This is a great number for us because our dating anniversary is March 27th, Matt's birthday is April 27th and my birthday is May 27th. Matt also would like for me to note he was drinking Stone IPA in this picture.