I LOVE NEW YORK

 

 Last week Dan and I and Melissa and Chip, jetted off to New York for five days! Dan and I visited New York a couple of years ago and we thought that going back a second time we would have plenty of time to do all the things we wanted to; however we were surely mistaken. Five days went way to fast and I wasn't ready to come home. (The good news for me is that I get the opportunity to go back in a couple of months with the girls and it will be an entirely different experience!)

We arrived in New York around 6:00 am after taking the red eye, my brilliant husband decided to book our tickets into New Jersey because it supposedly was closer than JFK. Melissa and Chip flew into JFK, so instead of sharing a cab fare, we each booked our own and guess whose cab fare was more money? Ours of course and I will never let Dan hear the end of it. (It gave us a few laughs during the trip)

I can say our trip was full of food! We ate all the time and then we ate some more, always trying someplace new. I have to thank Bill Perry for giving us some helpful tips on where to eat, it was great knowing someone recommended half of the places because there is so much to choose from in New York.

The entire time we were in New York, Dan kept telling us how he wanted "Dunkin Donuts". I would tell him, you are the only one that wants "Dunkin Donuts" and we are not going there for breakfast. I also commented that I thought the street vendors doughnuts were probably better, as a joke. Well on the last day of our trip, we ran right into a Dunkin Donuts shop in the subway terminal. I told Dan that this was his opportunity and he shouldn't give it up. By this time he was kind of over it; however he still purchased the Doughnuts, because he couldn't go all this time talking about it and then not buy them when he had his chance. He was so excited (as you can tell from the pictures); however they were a big let down. We all tried one and they were stale, not a good purchase. I do not recommend it. We had a good laugh regardless.

We started out our trip by seeing an Off-Broadway production called the "Altar Boys!" The story was about a struggling Christian boys band, trying to spread a message of good will. While they mocked boy bands and were a little sac-religious, I thought it was hilarious. We used several one-liners from this production all week. The best part about this production was seeing Neil Haskell from the 3rd season of So You Think You Can Dance! (He was always my favorite)

The same evening we ventured down to Little Italy for dinner. The ambiance and atmosphere was amazing! There must have been 50 restaurants within 3 blocks, all with outdoor seating and lighting. It made for a real relaxing evening. The food was also fantastic, until Melissa found a hair in her lasagna. This kind of spoiled the eating frenzy, so what the heck we finished up our meal with some Gelato.

Canal Street happens to be right at the end of Little Italy, so or course Melissa and I took advantage of finding a nice, new, stylish purse. The craziest thing was we went into a basement of a store and after our purchase, the employee of the store had to radio someone upstairs to let us out. The door was wired shut with all sorts of electronic devices. (Gotta love New York)

On Sunday we went to the Yankees Game. The game was sold out (because it is the last year in at the stadium) so we purchased tickets from a scalper! He called them "Jeter" seats because they were right behind home plate. It was a fun experience, even though the Yankees lost. A-Rod did get a home run, which was exciting.

After the game we rented bicycles and road through Central Park. The jogging loop is about six miles. This was a fabulous way to see the park. I highly recommend it. The only problem for me was about half way through the park I got extremely sick (it was probably the stomach flu), my stomach was in knots and I couldn't move. I became pale and clammy. I couldn't move and after about 45 minutes I realized it wasn't getting any better and that I couldn't ride my bike back. Dan walked me out to a cab and poor Melissa and Chip walked both sets of bikes back to the entrance of the park. I was out the rest of the night!

On Monday we headed off to the US Open. We watched a very exciting match between Rafael Nadal and Sam Querrey. The group of people in our section of the stadium were huge Sam fans and very enthusiastic. We got involved with the chanting and routing for "Sammy Samuri!" He was the American player and also the under dog in the match. We had such a good time, that we purchased tickets for the following day as well.

On Tuesday we had the privilege of watching both Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer play in two different matches. Both of these dominant players struggled a little and the matches went to five sets. Because of this we were at the open for about eight hours. After sitting in these hard seats in the sun for that long, we were all ready to move around and see some other sites of New York. (For the record I loved watching Roger play, he is my favorite player and he went on to win the open title.)

Wednesday morning my parents joined us and we all went out for breakfast. We spent the morning walking around Times Square and Fifth Avenue and eventually made it over to the Rockefeller Center. We rode the elevator to the 67th floor/ Top of the Rock! What a view, I thought it was better than the Empire State Building because you got the view of Central Park as well, which is the heart of New York. We also went back to Central Park and spent some time walking through the park, this time around was a better experience for me. It is absolutely breathtaking, especially in the middle of all the cement New York has to offer. What an amazing commodity they have, it's no wonder it draws so many people there each day. After the park, we finished our trip by seeing Legally Blonde! This was exactly how I wanted to complete our vacation, with a fun, energetic Broadway production. The staging of this production was remarkable and entire cast was phenomenal.

I can't wait to go back. The girls trip is going to be full of shopping (something you cant do a lot of with the guys)

TWILIGHT SERIES FAVORITE

Not only do I want to know what book is every one's favorite, I want to know why. So after you take part in the poll, comment on this post as to why. I think it will be fun to see every one's answer.

I have having a hard time narrowing down my favorite. You can't help love the first book because that is what captivated so many of us to begin with. (Vampires living among us, the Edward and Bella love story and who can forget James! The maliciously wicked vampire who wants to destroy Edward and kill Bella.

When I first read Twilight I wanted to be a vampire too! Who knew the perfect man was Edward the vampire!

Then there was New Moon, although having Edward gone for most of the book, which killed me, I have to say this was my favorite ending. I loved the Volturi, Edward ready to sacrifice himself because he thought Bella was dead and Bella risking her life to save him.

Eclipse was maddening because Bella struggled with her feelings about Jacob. He definitely wasn't my favorite, however the struggle between Edward and Jacob felt quite real. I loved that they came together to defend Bella and destroy Victoria how was out for revenge over her lost love Laurent.

Breaking Dawn was fantastic because, I wanted Bella to become a vampire and have her happy ending with Edward. (Plus she didn't pick Jacob, which would have ruined the entire series for me) Although I wanted more of a fight at the end of the book, I'm glad the entire Cullen family made it out alive and did not have to sacrifice themselves to the Volturi.

Overall I am sad to see the series end. This is the most excited I've been about reading in a long time. I'ts nice to have a series of books that keeps you up all night because it is a page turner and you can't put it down. A series that really capivates you becuase of the characaters. Too bad there aren't any real vampires running around....

BEAR LAKE

We decided to rent a cabin at Bear Lake last weekend. Bear Lake Lodging has a variety of condo's and cabins available and we were able to find one that slept 25 people. More than enough to accommodate my side of the family. We were wanting to go on a camping trip, until we really thought about how much work was involved in camping. A hotel or cabin is much more my style! (I would rather have someone else clean up for me and make my bed while I am on vacation.)


On Friday we went to the North Shore beach. We all think this is the best side of Bear Lake. The shore is shallow, good for kids and there are no rocks. Reagan loved playing in the sand/mud, chasing the seagulls and running out into the water.



The temperature was only 69 degrees on Friday so the water was pretty cold! We rented wave runners and the coldest part was walking out to the machine to ride. The ride itself was awesome. Our Seadoos were fast, we got them up to 64 miles per hour.


That evening my mom put together a family challenge game night. We split up into teams (guys against girls) and had a trivia game about different members of the family. After that we had a crossword challenge to complete. The girls won both games of course because we are the smarter gender. My mom even bought prizes for the winning team, although the girls shared in the winnings with the male species in the family out of pity.

FLIP FLOP PARTY

 Madi had her 10th birthday on August 12th. I think they should call it birth week instead of birthday. It seems the celebrations as a child go on and on and on.

The Friday before her birthday her Nana took her shopping so she could pick out exactly what she wanted for her birthday. Madi really enjoyed spending the time with Nana and being able to shop for clothes! They went to Fashion Place Mall and headed to Limited Too, where everything is in fashion. Madi picked out a darling black glitter skit with a red tank top and white sweater. She also got a pair of shoes. After the Limited Too, they ventured over to Nordstrom where Madi purchased a robe. (She wears it every day) After their shopping excursion, they picked up Grandad and went to dinner. I know Madi felt extremely special and will always remember this one and one time with her Grandparents.

The Sunday before Madi's birthday, we invited my family over for ice cream brownie cake. It was a beautiful night and we enjoyed the weather by playing the bean bag game outdoors. Madi was given some beautiful, hand sewn barbie clothes from her Grammie and Papa and a new book entitled "Daughter of a King". She also received a Justice GC, I-Tunes GC and every ones favorite "money," from her aunts, uncles and great grandparents.

On Madi's actual birthday we took the family to Olive Garden for dinner. It was a short celebration considering the work day and school the next morning. Her favorite presents were tickets to the Carrie Underwood show coming up in November. Madi and I both love Carrie and the guys don't mind her too (considering how beautiful she is) Jaxson likes to call her Carrie Underwear. She also received a new messenger bag for the school year.

The highlight of her birthday had to have been the friend, flip-flop party. Madi and I had been planning this for months. We ordered flip-flop, sun-catcher, picture frames and the girls all got to paint them at the party. We also took every one's picture with Madi at the beginning of the party and had them developed, so the girls could put them in their picture frames. Every girl picked out a pair of flip-flops and ribbon in order to tie their own pair of flip-flops to take home. They turned out super cute and they had a great time listening to the Jonas Brothers while creating their new footwear. (I forgot how noisy twelve, 10 year-olds could be. Wow, they are screamers and I thought little boys were bad!) We ended the party by singing happy birthday with a flip-flop cake. I believe the party was a huge hit. I know Madi had a really good time.

I'm glad it is over... this was a lot of work for mom. But I'd do it any day for my kids!

STEPHENIE MEYER FEVER

August 2nd couldn't have come soon enough for me! Jen, JoLynn, Melissa and I all decided to go to the Breaking Dawn party at Barnes and Noble, Friday night so we could be one of the first to get a copy of Breaking Dawn (The 4th and final chapter of the Twilight series). Because Edward and Bella were going to get married, all the book stores decided to make the party a wedding reception with all the usual wedding festivities. There was an ugly bridesmaid competition, pin the tail on Jacob, tossing of the bouquet, pictures with the bride and groom, etc.

Our fetish with the Twilight series started last fall when everyone started reading. I couldn't go anywhere without running into a friend who was reading it too. I even made Dan find a bookstore in Orlando, while we were on vacation because I finished new Moon and needed to start Eclipse on the airplane ride home. I dreamt about Edward and Bella for weeks and couldn't get the characters out of my side. I think some of us even wished (not even secretly) that we were vampires. Needless to say many us of were excited about Breaking Dawn. Months before the book was to be released we all put our orders in for a copy. When we found out about the book party we thought it would be fun to go. JoLynn even went to get wristbands for copies of our books the day of the party. Our wrist band numbers were in the six hundreds. The book party was bridesmaid attire; however we decided not to attend in our best dresses, although it was fun to watch everyone else. We knew there would be a lot of crazy fans, but I don't think any of us imagined the kind of fans we would run into at the party. There were both Bella and Alice wanna-be's and some of the ugliest dresses I have ever seen. The actors they hired to play the roles of Edward and Bella, definitely got into their roles. Edward was almost creepy, as he couldn't stop undressing Bella with his eyes. Not to mention the make out sessions which happened quite frequently. Well, we had to get involved in the festivities some how so we decided to be the wedding crashers and get in on the pictures. This was truly fun and we all laughed out loud! As Barnes and Noble closed up the book stores and pushed everyone out the door to get ready to bring all the books out for midnight selling, we decided to walk across Jordan Landing and get a drink somewhere. As we passed Deseret Book we realized that they were also opening at midnight to take advantage of the crazed Stephenie Meyer fans and the line here happened to be much shorter than Barnes and Noble. (There were over 1100 people waiting outside of Barnes and Noble). After all was said and done we waited in the Deseret Book line and we had our copies of breaking Dawn by 12:15 after which we headed home to start reading. It was an eventful evening, full of fantastic people watching, good girlfriends and completely worth it!

CAREER MOM AGAIN

Well after much thought and consideration, Dan and I finally came to the conclusion that our family needed another source of income so I headed back to work. It makes me sad to know I won't be home to see the kids off to school or when they return home from school. I worry about who will be loving enough to tolerate my busy, busy toddler Reagan. (Nobody loves that mischievous little girl like I do!) I'm going to miss the days at the pool with the neighborhood girls and play dates with all our crazy kids.

The last few weeks have been an adjustment for the entire family. Dan has taken on the role of Mr. Mom or what we like to call the "Manny". Although he is the most loving father in the world, he can't quite get it together. Bless his heart for trying, but men can't multi-task! The house is a complete wreck, Reagan is totally off schedule, laundry (although clean) has been sitting in the laundry room for days waiting to be folded. I'm so busy getting back into the swing of things, that I haven't been much help at home either. I'm exhausted by the time I get home and now I have to think about dinner and cleaning the house. Lucky for me I prepared and made about 15 freezer meals prior to returning to work. It's a good thing, otherwise we would be eating cereal every night because who wants to cook dinner at 7:00 in a dirty kitchen.

Although all the above seem like I am complaining (which I am), I am truly grateful I have the ability to support my family and that I can keep them happy without having to "Rock their World" with a move from our home, new school, new friends, new ward family, etc. I am also very lucky that my previous company AMC, loves me enough to take me back and offer me the same position of VP after I quit 15 months ago. I do count my blessings and if I have to run around like a chicken with it's head cut off, so be it! Hopefully my kids will forgive me for not being the best mom, will tolerate my mood swings and yelling as we figure out the best way to get it together.

IV'E BEEN TAGGED

3 JOYS:
My Family
My Friends
Movies
3 FEARS:
Loosing one of my children
My kids growing up
Being kidnapped - I have feared this since I was a little girl
3 GOALS:
Lose 15 pounds
Be a better wife and mother
Go on a Mediterranean Cruise
3 CURRENT OBSESSIONS:
Twilight Series
Shopping (it's a sickness)
Anything Chocolate - I have a huge sweet tooth
3 RANDOM SURPRISING FACTS ABOUT ME:
I love to travel- especially anywhere I can layout, get a tan and read a good book
I would love to be motivational speaker
I love parties! (planning, hosting and attending)
3 PEOPLE I TAG:
Melissa
Ali
Becca

WEDDING EXTRAVAGANZA

 

Last night we held a "Wedding Extravaganza" in our basement. We invited some of our close friends to be the honored guests and requested everyone to bring their wedding albums and videos with them. (Thanks Mitch and Kris for the idea!) 

The basement was decorated with white balloons and love songs were playing in the background to set the mood. We had a buffet of reception food including; meatballs, dollar sandwiches, eclairs, chocolate dipped strawberries, temple mints, slush, a cheese plate, fruit skewers and nut cups. We also had a wedding cake to complete the festivities.

The night was spent viewing photographs, watching VHS wedding videos and snacking at the buffet. It is amazing how far technology has come in the last 13 years. The special effects on all of our videos were priceless. My personal favorite was Stoney dancing on Jen's hand. Can I also say that our youth was evident a decade ago. This meaning, more hair for some, smaller clothes sizes, no gray hair, or where we even old enough to be married. The styles have also come along way; big bangs, puffy sleeves, shoulder pads, tux tails, denim shirts and sweater vests are definitely out.
What cute babies most of us were, some of us were sumo babies and others of us had to grow into our stomachs, cheeks and legs. All us of had a great adolescent period (its a good thing we met our spouses after this time in our lives).
The highlight of the evening had to be when Rusty and Stoney cut the cake! Several of us joined in the fun after. The cake was pretty tasty!

We ended the evening with the Newlywed Game. This can sometimes complicate things in a marriage as hidden secrets come out, however I don't think anyone went home on a bad note, which was a good thing. Some of the guys have really learned what to say and what not to say when it comes to their wives. I guess being married for 8 or more years has been a good training session for most. My favorite line of the game was "Make More Budget," which I think all of us girls enjoyed.
We had a great time with tons of laughter, thank to the honored guests who attended...
Mr. & Mrs. Stoney Winterton
Mr. & Mrs. Chip Galloway
Mr. & Mrs. Mitch Maylett
Mr. & Mrs. Rusty Bentley
Mr. & Mrs. Brad Jones
Mr. & Mrs. Ryan Willden

NO MORE CHUCK-E-CHEESE PLEASE

We took our kids to Chuck-E-Cheese Tuesday night and what an experience it was. Dan had promised the kids earlier that month that we would go, (it was a bribe for us to be able to go out without them and have them stay home with the babysitter).

This was not our first experience at Chuck-E-Cheese, but I hope it was our last! We ordered our pizza and tokens ($45.00 later) and proceeded to play games while our dinner was cooking. A 1/3 of the games were broken and then 1/2 of the games that were working, would not work properly, take your token or not spit out any tickets. The whole point of Chuck-E-Cheese is to be able to get prizes with your tickets at the end of the experience so everyone goes home happy!

As our pizza arrived, we realized it was doughy in the middle and sent it back for a new pizza. The kind employees gave us some more tokens for our inconvenience (yeah). When our new pizza arrived, it was still doughy. Rather than send it back again, we ate it anyway. While eating dinner the puppet show came on, it was really exciting, especially when you can't hear it because the volume is set on mute!

After dinner the kids proceeded to spend there tokens, the faster they get rid of them, the quicker we get out of there.

During the middle of the token finale, Jaxson got one of his migraine headaches, but still wanted to turn in his tickets for a prize. He was about to vomit when I sent him to the bathroom and told Dan to follow him in. The great thing about the bathrooms at Chuck-E-Cheese is they have an automatic flushing system. As Jaxson was kneeling over the toilet to throw up, the toilet kept flushing which sprayed toilet water all over his face. Dan had to wash his face off before exiting the bathroom. We then proceeded to turn in his tickets to the ticket machine counter, 3/4 of the way through we noticed the machine was not counting his tickets. At that point I pressed the receipt button, however the ticket machine stopped working completely and would not print a receipt. We went up to the counter and told the prize lady about our experience and she was kind enough to give Jaxson a blow up sword worth 200 tickets and a barf bag for the ride home.

At this point I told Madi we needed to go because Jaxson was not feeling well, she still had tokens to use, so she decided to use the remaining tokens on a basketball game, which actually spit out a lot of tickets. While playing the game, someone knocked over her ticket cup and spilt them all over the floor, all the kids around her decided the tickets were free game and stole them all! When Madison was done playing she realized her tickets were gone and began sobbing. I still had some tickets left over from the other kids and told her she could have them and that it would be OK. (During this time Jaxson was laying down on a bench trying to rest.) She put herself back together and ended up leaving the prize counter happy with a chap stick and candy.

To sum it all up; doughy dinner, malfunctioning games, stingy tickets, broken machines, crying kids, sick kids, toilet water in face and stealing. The only redeeming quality was the nice lady behind the prize counter. I think it was a pretty fun family night. LET'S DO IT AGAIN SOMETIME SOON!

FANTASTIC FRIENDS

Forget the kids and their playgroups, we are all about our friends and neighbors. Dan and I are having the time of our lives right now because so many of you keep us in stitches, not to mention the secret personalities we have uncovered getting to know each of you. We always look forward to a night out amongst friends and the barrel of laughs that comes with it. Some of our favorite memories include:

1. A good old game of OLD MARGARETTE!

2. Good Times!

3. ROCKBAND Junkies and Newbies

4. Do you like good music

5. Would you rather...

6. My Best Friend T-Shirts

7. Yen and Yo

8. I'm going in (swim, swim)

9. Peeing your pants laughing or jumping

10. Anything with Justin Timberlake

11. Guys Night Out

12. Going Dancing in your Pajamas

13. The Perfect Dinner Host (Heidi)

14. People Watching

15. Eddie

16. Sun Tanning Babes

17. Tennis Pro's

18. Twilight Series

19. Temple Cafeteria

20. Cobra

21. Who Got the Deal

22. VIP - Usana Tickets

23. Primary Voices

24. Freezer Meals and Movies

25. BUNCO - Girls Night

26. Foyer Sunday School

27. I'm Just Happy To Be Here

28. Dance Dance Revolution

29. Well Hello Big Dollop!
30. Pedicures, anytime

Needless to say are are extremely lucky to have so many fantastic friends!

Although we laugh a lot, I am extremely grateful to those of you who lift me up when I'm feeling down and those who are always there to lend a helping hand or listening ear. I truly appreciate your kindness and friendship.