The Night Life

On Thursday night we met up with Brooks' mission companion, Jason and his wife, Tiffany.

It was funny that we planned this trip because before this trip I had only met Tiffany once and that was 9 years ago. But from all the mission stories of Jason (that Brooks told me) you would KNOW someone like that wouldn't marry someone lame.

And Tiff did NOT disappoint. We had a blast.

Before we met up though Brooks and I went to go eat at the BEST place.

It's this little diner that the waiters and waitresses sang Broadway stuff the WHOLE time in hopes that they might get discovered. I guess within the past 6 months, 5 workers actually WERE discovered and made it to Broadway. The talent was AWESOME if you're into the whole $20 for a hamburger thing.

One of the requirements of going to NY for me was Brooks had to take me to Wicked.

Everywhere said it was sold out, but local New Yorkers ASSURED Brooks we could get some at least in the cancellations line the day of. So I put my hesitant trust in their assurances.

Jason and I put our names in the Wicked Lottery to win 2 tickets each for the $25 dollars a ticket. They are for front row seats and there are only 28 available. There ended up being 300+ people there that put their names in the lottery. Well, guess what?!?!

Yep, I TOTALLY WON THEM! I screamed like I was on Price Is Right and wore my "I won the Wicked Lottery" pin all night!!!!!

Here we are on the SECOND row!!!!

It was incredible!!! It was awesome to see their faces so close. I had never seen Wicked before and I was blown away. My only complaint would've been seeing the skin-tight monkey costumes up close. I could've done w/o that.

The next night the boys wanted to go see a Yankee Game in their new stadium and they actually obeyed my orders that they HAD to take at least ONE picture.

Tiff and I went here. (and yes, there were a LOT of people standing there watching me take this picture. I'm a geek)

It was AWESOME! Of course we were farther back but the special effects, voices and costumes were amazing! I mean WHERE else could you see people fly and tap dance on the ceiling except in Mary Poppins??!?!

The shows were DEFINITELY my favorite part of New York City. Hands down!

The MAIN event

The reason we chose NY for our trip was so Brooks and I could visit Palmyra, NY where Joseph Smith Jr. (first prophet of this dispensation) lived for a while.

Here is Hill Cumorah and the monument of Moroni in the back is on the NW side of the hill which is the vicinity where the plates were buried.

And yes, I WAS winded (more like beyond winded) by the time we got to the top.

We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast while we were there......which has a story in itself, but I'll spare the details of the place.

Here is the reconstruction of the Joseph Smith log cabin home he would've lived in in 1820. You can see the white frame house that they moved into later in the back left. Now THAT house is 80+% original.

We also walked through the Sacred Grove in the pouring rain with our umbrellas. But hey, at least we pretty much had the grove to ourselves. Truly incredible.

This place was probably the most fascinating to the both of us.

The hour long tour was SOOOO cool! They showed how things were printed back then. We couldn't help but think how Heavenly Father prepares us and uses everyone when He needs for His purposes whether we're aware of it or not! :)

You can barely see the Palmyra temple back between the trees behind me.

The stained glass in that building was so unique and we were THRILLED to do 2 sessions together. And I mean going through the SAME one at the SAME time without having to swap watching the kids. I think it's been over 7 years since we've been together in a session.

The Sites

Before each day of sites, we would hop on the train (45 min.) to take us downtown New York.

Of course we saw the usual sites..............

(the NY City temple was BEAUTIFUL inside. I'm so glad we got to do another session)

Brooks' favorite was probably the statue of Liberty.

His sweet talking didn't get us to the tour to go up IN the crown though (apparently those tickets have been sold out until next September)

We learned some INCREDIBLE facts about it by tagging along other people's tours (are you surprised?) The skyline of the city was breathtaking.

This is one of those take-the-picture-fast-because-I'm-about-to-get-run-over shots.

The last day Brooks and I spent on the top level of those tour buses. Truly, I think my body was just exhausted the last day from walking, tour-guiding, subway catching (we DID see a rat down in the subway and don't even get me started on their bathrooms)

The last night we spent walking through Central Park and eating in a fancy shmancy restaurant nearby.

(I forgot to mention, Tiff is pregnant too, due a few weeks after me. It was sooooo nice to have someone who wanted snacks and bathroom breaks as often as I did. Not to mention have someone else winded after climbing subway flights of stairs with me!)

It only took Brooks and I 9 hours and 15 minutes to drive home. We had an awesome time and we're already planning our next trip with Jason and Tiff for 3 years from now, this time, WITH the kiddos.

Philly Fun

On our way up New York we stopped in D.C. and stayed with our friends there. Then then next day we stopped by good ol' Philly to see the sites there. Let me FIRST start with what a history buff my husband is and HOW excited he was to go here.

Here he is in front of Liberty Hall (where the Constitution signed/Declaration of Independence read, etc.).

That picture was taken after we found out we couldn't take a tour through Liberty Hall because all the tickets were gone (and also right after I almost broke into tears after seeing how long the women's restroom line). Both of the above experiences shook us up a little. :)

BUT, since Brooks IS the exception to the rule we decided to just go in anyway and ask to join a tour. Surprisingly it was granted because they either saw how excited Brooks was or felt sorry for a pregnant lady.

Now take a GOOD look at the chair in the middle in the back........

THAT chair almost made me husbandless and almost ruined my NY trip.

It is the ACTUAL chair that George Washington sat in.

I'm sure you see where this is headed.

Since G.W. actually SAT in it, Brooks was CONVINCED he had to sit in it too. He even was waiting around until the tour left so he could hop the divider, but through much persuading and begging I convinced him not to (all the while wondering if my pleadings had ANY effect on him whatsoever).

Thankfully I have a little more effect on him then I thought.

Here is the man himself........both of them.

AND you can't visit Philly w/o the Liberty Bell, right?

Oh, and can I just say, THIS girl is NOT used to toll roads. Sheesh. They were EVERYWHERE on the way up to NY. We spend $40 just in TOLL FEES when we finally got there! I kept thinking, that's a tank of GAS and Brooks kept saying, "Forget about it, WE'RE ON VACATION!!!!!"

While the cats are away........

the mice play! And with Grandma (R.A. was here for 4 days) here babysitting them for a whole week, that's EXACTLY what they did. Besides going out for pizza, golfing, and playing in the mud there was a lot of

- PLAYING OUTSIDE

-Bronson's 1st grade awards ceremony

- going to the museum/zoo

-Movie nights

-Picnics

- Reading Time

-Plenty of Attitude

-Fix-it projects

(I just LOVE that I came back to quite a few things done around the house)

-Swimming.........TWICE!

- Sunburns.......of course.

-Making spider webs in the porch

-Snuggle Time

-Surprises!

(after we got home the FIRST thing Camden wanted to show me were the bunny ears R.A. bought and put on top of the TV so now they can watch cartoons! They're just not used to stations around here)

-Concerts

-Artwork

(This particular one Camden did on the porch wall and prevented him from going golfing with R.A. Not only that, he decided to tell R.A. that ALEEYA did it, even though she can't write her letters. I guess he needs to learn the art of drawing like a 2 year old again and THEN blame it on her)

-Going to the baseball game (just the boys and Grandma)

- and my personal fav......... THE HOMECOMING!

I missed these rascals so much and just hugged them all night.

Needless to say, they had a GREAT time while we were gone. (I'm so grateful Pat took so many pictures while I was gone!)

When Daddy's on call

When we saw Brooks at lunch really fast I mentioned something about Brooks being on call that day and the boys overheard. Immediately they yelled, "YAY!"

(Because we usually do different things when he's on call that are out of the norm)

Like...........

-Buying a wading pool that is too big for you car so the kids hide under it the whole way home and think it was the greatest adventure EVER.

- Have a movie night while eating corndogs (one of their favs)

-and make caramel/chocolate/M&M covered apples for Bronson's teachers at school

(while of course, snacking the whole time)

Who know's, you may all do those things EVERY day, but around here, my kids get excited over some little things. I love that about them.

-Oh, and if I don't post anything for a while, there's a GREAT explanation.............

Yep, I'm going there for a week. Just me and Brooks, so ADIOS amigos!!!!!!

RRRRRRRRRRRed

Bronson hasn't ever been able to say his "r" sound. Both Brooks and I had problems with the "r" sound as well, so I thought I would see if we could get the Speech Therapist to work with Bronson at school (because all of our attempts at home have failed). I've been to 2 meetings with them, before his evaluation that took place last May 25th. She called me back for a meeting today to go over the results. Let me FIRST explain that she is very pretty, blonde, happy and VERY nice.

According to her test results he did have a problem with one 1 out of 100 words. Meaning after he said the 99 wrong and she told him how to say it right........he did. To prove it, she even pulled him out of class and asked him to say "red", then "arrow", then "after", and all 3 he said right after concentrating a little.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!? So ALL it took was a pretty blonde pulling him out of class, telling him to talk like a pirate and put the back of his tongue up to the roof of his mouth?!?!!?

I'm just wondering why it never worked with me..........is it because he sees me in the morning right when I wake up? Probably. That would make ME not want to say my "r"s either.

The Battle

I think it's safe to say the brick won.

What do you think?

I need to teach her about WHO (or what) to pick her battles with.

ALREADY?!?!?!?

So many of you probably know this, but I'm a HUGE Biggest Loser fan. We don't have any TV channels, so it says a lot how I will wait a week and watch the (previous weeks') episode to stay up on it.

Anyway, I guess a year ago EXACTLY, I set out on my Biggest Loser journey. And what would make that complete? Well, a "BEFORE" shot, of course.

(I could've TOTALLY won in the finale, huh?)

Yes, I know I had a little on my belly! :)

I just couldn't believe it all day yesterday thinking that I took that picture one year ago on the way to the hospital and NOW my baby girl is

1 YEAR OLD!!!!!!

Crazy!

She had a pretty good day with the constant singing of the Happy Birthday song in both languages sung to her all day.

She LOVED her pink cupcakes.

Look at her face. I just love it!

The highlight? Probably the favorite gift. This baby doll.

She couldn't stop (open mouthed) kissing it. Even this morning when I got her out of bed she was hugging it and saying, "Awwwww".

However, she didn't much like her other gift......a big ol' princess ball. Infact, she was scared to death of it. No biggie, the boys took it over and had fun playing outside with it in the wind.

What birthday would be complete w/o a bath in her BIRTHDAY SUIT?!?!?

Oh, the other highlight?.......THIS.

Let's just say, she had a pretty good day. I hope she remembers it well though because we're on our way to get her shots today. Happy day-after birthday to her!