*Akira to the Moon*: Trip to Utah

My youngest sister, Annie, and her husband, Brandon, were expecting their first baby in April, so (most of) the family decided to rendez-vouz in Salt Lake City to see the newest addition to the Sturgis/Dayton clan. Even my mom flew over from Japan to spend a few weeks with grandchild, Lucy Mei. Lucy was born without incident, and besides a slight scare with her losing a bit of weight shortly after her arrival, she is now completely happy and healthy. Annie and Brandon seems to not be getting as much sleep as they would like, but have adjusted well to the new family member.

Everyone in my immediate family was there in Utah to see the new baby, with the exception of my dad, who stayed back in Japan since he recently started a new part-time gig teaching English at a nearby high school. Annie and Brandon (and the rest of us!) are planning a trip out to Japan at the end of the summer, so hopefully my dad will get his fill of the new grandchild shortly.

Here are some pics of the trip in no particular order.

Mike Q and I decided to take a quick trip to our old stomping grounds in Provo, UT at Brigham Young University. We wanted to see the new Hinckley Alumni Center which was dedicated recently. It was a gorgeous building and a great addition to the beautiful campus.

The Hinckley Alumni Center

A friends of Mike's (and mine, of course!) from Washington DC had recently moved back to Salt Lake City so we decided to meet up with him and go fly-fishing - my newest obsession! Eagle, was a great guide, as always, and took us up through the Provo Canyons and into the middle Provo River. This picture doesn't do the scenery justice. As usual, Eagle caught the most fish, Mike netted one, and I reeled in zero, and got really wet.

The is the view from Emily and Jared's neighbothood. I miss waking up to those Rocky Mountains.

Maya and me outside of Em and Jared's house.

Gettin goofy at the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point.

Working on the garden plot that Emily "rented" for the summer. This goes without saying if you know my mother, but Emily definitely got the gardening bug from my mom's side of the family

For much of the three weeks that my mom was in town, she took care of most of the cooking and cleaning, so Annie and Brandon could devote as much time to Lucy as possible.