wedding pictures

A short introduction to us. We dated for a year and then we were engaged for awhile and then we got married in the Mount Timpanogos LDS Temple in *American Fork, Utah, in April 2011. Here is what we looked like in wedding clothes.

cute kids we know

Lots of people visit blogs for the pictures of children. We don't have any of those, so here are some pictures of kids we spend a reasonable amount of time around, are related to, or just who most definitely love us.

 

anniversary stuff

When I was in elementary school, our family had a membership to a local science center in Iowa. I loved science centers when I was little because they were basically huge playgrounds. My favorite thing was the laser light show of "Peter and the Wolf." Since then, I've never been able to find planetariums that do the same kind of show, but I still like planetariums. Anyway, the Chabot Science Center has a pretty cool adult-night-special-rates thing, so we went to that to celebrate our anniversary. Observe:

This is a shuttle that astronauts spent more than 24 hours in. Officially worse than long car trips.

Legos. We were instructed to make a space elevator that stretched to the ceiling. Jon, being an engineer, designed a base that actually would have supported the height, but we didn't stick around to see how the rest of it turned out. The volunteers helping out with it were pretty impressed, though. Another hilarious engineer moment: They have a lab where you can take broken stuff and the volunteers will take it apart to see if they can fix it. We happened by that room and there were people from Jon's company who were there as volunteers. They had just fixed some lady's shredder which happened to be the same model as a broken one they have at work, so the guys were all excited that now they think they can fix the work shredder too.

Bill Nye the Science Guy's Environment Lab or something. Jon is generating PURE ENERGY FROM A BICYCLE. 

I am generating pure energy from a hot air balloon?

Trying to fix stuff in hypothetical zero-G:

Pictures in the planetarium (before the show started, thanks):

We also got to do the super cool Mission to Mars thing, where you put on space clothes and fulfill special tasks to fix failing equipment and check oxygen levels and stuff in a simulated space shuttle. IT'S SO AWESOME. I got to participate in the exact same exhibit when I was little (it's a traveling thing), so it was basically amazing. The best part is the airlock to get in. I felt like Sam on Stargate, except that I don't actually know physics or math. I have pictures somewhere.

A few weeks before our science center trip, we had a party to celebrate our Anniversary-of-the-Day-We-Met date. Our friend Corene made these super cute celebratory confetti favors for everyone, but we forgot to use them until after most people had gone home. They did not, however, go to waste. Here is us, after the science center:

Maker Faire

I heard about the Maker Faire on NPR about a year and a half ago, and immediately thought of Jon. He wants to have summer projects with our kids (when we have them) where he helps them make pretty much whatever they want. (I am kind of jealous of our kids. I'll have to see if I can get in on that action.)

I am not as technical about it, but I also sometimes prefer making things to buying them. I don't do arduinos, but if I see something expensive that looks within my grasp to make, I'd way rather make it. (As evidenced by my bookshelf, which was way, way harder to make than I expected, but still awesome.) for example, I like my fingerless gloves but I want some blue ones that are softer. That would take forever to find, but it's pretty easy to find soft blue yarn and learn how to knit them. (Current project.) I don't like making things just for the sake of doing it (see: crafts), but I sometimes like using my own means of production to get things I want.

Anyway, the point is we both like making stuff, so we went to the Maker Faire. It was fun to watch Jon get excited about things, and it was fun to see all the tools that are out there. My personal favorite was the station that showcased how to make your own haunted house stuff (i.e., how to make a plastic skeleton look like it's actually been pulled from a body, etc. AWESOME).

Jon, making a circuit out of blocks:

 Me, with umbrellas that were maybe conducting electricity?

 STATIC:

 Lots of hanging metal strings:

 Let's make this, Jon. Maybe in the kitchen:

 A giant dinosaur that breathed fire:

 Giant bicycles:

 DAVE EGGERS SPOKE AND I HEARD HIM. (This was awesome in general, but he was talking about very local things, not anything he's published or anything. He wants to start a maker coop downtown in SF and was looking for input.):

A CNC machine. Like 3D printing, but cooler - instead of spitting out a melted thing to harden in the shape you want, it carves what you design into whatever material you use (I am pretty sure). Jon taught me the basics of SolidWorks once, so now I TOTALLY know how to design a box with a hole in it.

Aaaand, here is my Halloween stuff! Just a fraction of it.

I am pretty sure our posts won't usually be this picture-heavy, but since I'm posting off of what we have pictures of for these intro ones ... that's what you get. haha. Here are a couple videos we took at the Maker Faire. First, a glowy, mobile robot shark:

And a Tesla coil light show:

We know you all want to come with us next year.

Naia

This is a shameless plug for our favorite gelato place, Naia. Go there. We like the kiwi and the strawberry sorbetto the best, but if you're feeling really adventurous, they also have olive oil, roasted corn, and rose.

SUPERMOON

Sometimes we have adventures, like finding good places to see the supermoon awhile back. First, we went to the coast to see the sunset, and then we found a place with gaps in the mountains to see the moon when it rose. We went way up the coast, through Marin County (which was gorgeous) about an hour and a half, where there would be less light pollution. (Jon's idea.)

It was cold. but gorgeous. And we read some of "The Hobbit." It was like camping. (p.s. I love my car.) We might go back sometime when the moon itself isn't causing the light pollution, so we can see the stars.

maiden voyage (get it? DIRIGIBLES?)

I sorta feel like I should backpost the last year, but I'm totally not going to. Still, to get the blog going, I might post about a few of our favorite things we've done since we got married. To start, here is a picture of us. Yay!