New York New York

I wanted to post some pics of my amazing trip to NYC with a bunch of amazing friends. I posted about it briefly but I didn't do it justice...

We started with lunch at Eataly. Andy took a
Dartmouth bus and the rest of us flew in.  

Friends united!!!

We stopped to pay Theodore Roosevelt's house a visit.

Empire State Building...I didn't realize I was so disturbed by heights. Now is a good time to talk about my attire. I loved my boots which are Merrill's...they make the best shoes from running to hiking to snow boots. My jacket is an REI jacket and I had on a columbia sweater jacket underneath. I didn't realize I would need both jackets the entire time but I'm sure glad I listened to my instincts on that one cause it was COOOOLD but very little lines and therefore we were able to make the most of our NYC trip.

Then off to the Temple. Here is a local missionary...of wait, that's Autumn in her missionary
clothes...she went to Russia on her mission so her missionary clothes came in handy due to cold weather;) After the Temple we ate down the street at a Crepery place. You don't realize how good food is until you haven't eaten in over 8 hours and it's freezin' outside...the food was outstanding...so hot...I am craving it now!!!

Friday started out with a boat ride to see the Statue of liberty. We went all the way to the crown. I led the way up the spiral staircase (arguing with a man that was trying to go down the stairs that led up...(he wouldn't listen to simple directions...he was so hardheaded) anyways, I led the way and we got up to the top in record time...I wasn't even thinking about the height issues I was having and once I got to the last few steps I hear the "Liberty" employee explain that if you turn and look you will see the face of the statue...it hit me at that moment where I was and how high "up" I was...so I kept on walking straight down...I didn't sit and look at the view, I just kept on going. Talk about spooky wooky!

Here is a picture of her arm from the crown. The camera is being help out of one of the openings in the crown. It gives my stomach butterflies just thinking about it. Pretty cool pic!

                  

                          The 'old' foot

Ellis Island. I learned so much on this trip...there was so much info.
We didn't have enough time to read everything, there was too much to do.

                   
the 'old' face

9/11 Memorial. I thought this was interesting. Andy stated that she didn't like the memorial at all...it seemed dark and depressing, kind-of gave off a hopeless feeling. I felt similar because the water flows down into a pit...it was depressing. It would of had a different vibe if there was a tall wall and water flowing from it but I think the memorial attained it's purpose, 9/11 was a horrible event and a memorial doesn't necessarily have to portray a feeling of happiness or beauty...nothing good has come from the event and it's a dramatic reminder of what we suffered...dark and depressing captured the event well (in my opinion).

We ended the day with Once. I really liked how the play was staged. It was interesting
cause the orchestra was lined around the scene, on stage. The scene never changed,
really. The vocals were amazing! Weird storyline though.

Saturday morning we headed to go to a coveted breakfast spot that was famous for their blueberry pancakes but the wait was waaaay too long so we headed over to Katz's, famous from a scene from 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'. 

One of Mindy's friends from college had an art exhibit going on, so we made a stop. I felt pretty cool, BTW.

We stopped by a 'Tenament' museum. Basically a tenament is building that housed a
bunch of people in very small living quarters back when everyone was migrating over to the U.S.A.
It was very interesting.

Guggenheim, a must. Then we hit up the 'Met'. (I don't have a pic of that on hand).

A stop by Serendipity (NYC). I was sadly disappointed, Serendipity Las Vegas is far superior!

Newsies!!! I grew up watching this and it was awesome to see it in NYC.

Daylan's Candy Bar...coolest place EVER!!! I have
never seen so much candy in one place in my life.
I can't wait to take my kids to one of her stores!!!

We were in town the week before the Superbowl.
These entertainers got a BIG tip from us. We sang
some Stevie Wonder and laughed. It was great!

We visited the Lego store one night...not sure why the pic is sideways.

Magnolia Bakery. Ohhh La La. I could eat all of this. A must stop if you go to NYC.

We went to a brunch Sunday morning at Norma's (reservations only). It was pretty good food. it was one of the few meals we were able to sit and relax and enjoy. I didn't picture my entree cause it seriously looked gross, but it was yummm!

Thank you friends for making NYC so memorable.

I think the next girls trip will be San Fran!!! Can't wait!

Catching Up

I can't believe how fast time has gone by. So much has happened in the last few months. Here's a recap:

Justin's surgery in December went great. The tumor in his left ear was removed with no further damage to his hearing. The recovery was fast and he is back to his normal self. With some hearing loss I need to come up with a way to communicate with him without yelling because it seems to be the only way to get his attention. I guess I need to get my lazy butt up and walk over to him and ask for his attention...what a workout!

It was so nice to have my mom and mother in law around to help out while Justin had surgery. Family and friends were so nice to us. We had so many people bringing us food and goodies...we felt so loved and blessed.

                                                We thought Justin's scare looked like a peace sign.

 Justin had to be transported to PHX children's hospital after surgery via Ambulance (which costs $900 for a 2 mile trip?!?!?!) because the hospital where the surgery was performed doesn't have a pieds unit.

Enjoying some video games while recovering in the hospital!

Christmas was good. It was weird not having family around and I had some holiday blues because of that but the kids had fun. Everything we bought for Justin that wasn't a transformer we either exchanged for a transformer or put it in my closet to give to Logan as a gift for his birthday. Logan loves to build so he is happy to take any legos Justin doesn't want.

Jason broke his knee a few days after Christmas chasing a toy down the stairs. Poor guy cracked his patella right down the middle. He is doing light duty in a cubicle and can't wait to get on full duty in a few weeks. No surgery just a brace at first but he hasn't used that since a week or so after the accident.

 We decided to start a tradition of eating lots of Jamon through the holidays. Yummy! Here is Logan with his Santa attire he crafted at preschool!

 We all got Seahawks gear for Christmas. Go hawks! wonder if the Broncos got the memo that they were supposed to be playing in the Super Bowl this year...looked like they slept right through that one! Wowsers!!!

 Justin joined the First Tee. Here he is with a famour golfer (I can't remember his name???) who was paralyzed in an accident. They are at the PGA Match Play tourney in Tucson.

 Jason is such a dedicated father. He always makes time to be with his boys.

That leads us to March...my birthday. Part of my birthday was a trip to NYC with some friends. We had a great time and were able to visit every place you would want to visit in NYC and also got to see two plays, Newsies (childhood favorite) and Once (different but super good). We had a very packed agenda, it was seriously awesome!  The NYC trip was in January so when my actual birthday rolled around in March I had to celebrate again so I spent the day eating out with friends and then the afternoon at the hospital for Justin's MRI (more about that later).

My birthday cake was red velvet with carmel buttercream frosting...so delish!

We also headed up to PHX for a spring training game. We always like to see the Mariners when spring training rolls around.

A stop at kneaders was a must...they have two locations in PHX now. I joked with Jason that 'us mormon's like our carbs'. Kneaders follows the building of temples so I'm expecting to see one in Tucson in the coming years:)

 


 I hike with the fam up on Superstition mtn. We saw some petrogyphs (sp). Pretty cool.

Christopher and Susie met us at Cafe Rio the night before then came hiking with us. Luv these craies. Poor Susie stubbed her toe and it wasn't pretty! Ouch!        A pic with my honey!

 Logan fell a total of 4 times. He scrapped up both knees hands and an elbow. We is always in a hurry to get around....except for when I ask him to hurry and do something (hmmmm, interesting).

This is out of order but I'm tired and want to go to bed so...this is Alexandra. She is a foreign exchange student from France. We love, love , love her and I secretly hope she decides to stay here forever. She is amazing with the kids and such a pleasant addition in our home. SHe is 18 and a senior in high school. She finished high school in France last year but is enjoying attending her senior year again and is getting all A's. Super smart girl...I couldn't even do that living in my native land. She loves sweets and has baked us some yummy desserts. She is always happy, I feel bad sometimes cause I'm such a sour patch in the morning....she just smiles and is cheerful. I don't know how she does it but she is so patient. I have yet to find a flaw, not that I'm looking but jeeezzzz, she's great.

In these pics we are at the Gilbert Temple open house. Rumor has it that a Temple this size hasn't been built for 17 years. It's seriously HUGE!!! It was an amazing sight...the chandeliers were breathe taking and the spirit was so strong. 

We met with the doctor today about Justin's MRI results...just a few things going on but I will update more on that in a few weeks!!! Next adventure...Hawaii!!!