10 Things We Love About NYC

Disclaimer....This is long so we don't forget our great memories and adventures.

Number 10: The American Museum of Natural History
Although this place was absolutely enormous, we somehow breezed through in about an hour. This doesn't mean we didn't fully enjoy it, we were just tired beyond description that day and Justin & I are both somewhat A.D.D.-ish. We probably could have spent weeks there and still not seen everything. Awesome! This is the museum that Night at the Museum was filmed in. We recognized several of the exhibits.


Number 9: Culture
This is something Utah is definitely lacking. We loved Little Italy, Chinatown, Greenwich, the diverse group of people, restaurants, and activities.

Number 8: Time Square
How can you not love seeing the traditional time square. It is so much better in person and is a place you can always find something fun going on.

Number 7: Central Park
What a great place to...relax? We had fun riding the carousel and walking around. However, this was our first day in NY and I had gotten 1 1/2 hours of sleep the night before on the plane & Justin had gotten Zero. Also, I wasn't used to walking EVERYWHERE I go. So I was slightly exhausted and getting all sorts of nasty blisters. We kept going though because we just didn't want to miss out on one dang thing! Love Justin's enthusiasm in the center pic.


Number 6: Crowded Streets
I'm a total city girl and Justin loves it too, so we couldn't have been happier than on the streets wandering around jam packed alleys & walkways! We also loved the crowds of people, lights, honking taxi's and random character sightings. We saw the tin man, Elmo & Spidey. Justin & I are thinking about quitting our jobs.


Number 5: The Subway
What fun entertainment they were for us. We got to see a breakdance show and apparently you don't have to be very good to make a large sum of money doing this. You just have to have a super ripped African American guy walk around the circle holding a bucket for money and you have yourself a great job. One guy challenged the dancers and lets just say he got booed. We also loved the diversity and variety of people found while riding the subways and the music while waiting. Asian music, playing drums on buckets-my personal favorite, guitar, etc. It was a full fledged show.

Number 4: The Criminals
We loved them all! The illegal purses being discretely sold from a card to the more visible ones who sell them in huge laundry sheets and then ditch them to run from the police. I only wish I was a quicker shot for some great pics. I especially loved the guy who stopped to steal several purses from the illegal purse sellers while they were being cuffed. He looked at us, ran around the corner to shove them in a bag. We were just glad he wasn't worried about us being witnesses to the crime.

Number 3: Broadways
We saw two Off-broadways since our top choice Wicked was sold out. We tried to get into the Conan O'brien show, but arrived in the big apple just one hour too late to snag some tics. We opted to do the standby thing but our lucky numbers 96 & 97 were just too high. Oh well, were always looking for excuses to go back.

The Fantasticks was fantastic for the first half and then got a little too bizarre & abstract for us the second half. The talent was phenomenal though.

Altar Boyz was completely horrid the first 20 minutes. It was basically a show mocking boy bands which we thought would be right up our alley. It took a little while to get used to their style, but once we did the latter part of the show was pretty hilarious. The boyz sang and danced to topics like abstinence and other religious values. They sang songs like "Girl, you make me want to wait" and "Church Ruelz".


Number 2: Shopping, Shopping, & More Shopping!
Since all the NY stores are magnified by 20, you can pretty much find about anything you want there. That is why I was in heaven when it came to shopping. Filene's Basement was my favorite place to shop. We found it our last day there and so we only had an hour. I could have spent much longer there. A must for all you shoppers out there!





Finally the TOP Thing Justin and I Love About NYC: THE FOOD!!!!!! Luckily my friend Amy is from NY and gave us all the real New York Favorites instead of all the trendy tourist spots.

Carnegie Deli: is for the die hard meat lovers out there. What you get is an ultra- thin slice of rye bread and seriously about 6 inches of freshly sliced meat of your choice. I got to try one of the easterners favorite- egg cream soda (selzer, whole milk & chocolate) very interesting to say the least. They are also famous for their incredible cheesecakes.

Lombardi's: 1st pizzaria in the US. Still use coal ovens and use fresh mozarella cheese. Amazing pizza! We learned a pie is the same thing as a pizza in NY.

Max Brenner-Chocolates by the Bald Man: If you love chocolate there could be NOTHING better! The only place I have been where the dessert menu is 8 times the size of the food menu and where you can even order chocolate soup. I love this place!!!

Amy Ruth's: My personal favorite!!!!! Unfortunately for Justin, I went with my fun friend Amy so he had to miss out on this one of a kind outing. Amy Ruth's is located in Harlem and upon arrival it was very evident that, besides one other girl in a packed restaurant, we were the only white people in sight. The ambiance was perfect, the music, the ladies and men wearing sunday dress & hats, and the food of course was downright incredible! This place was an authentic soul food restaraunt which served everything from Waffles with Catfish, fried okra, pork chops, grits, fried chicken to bread pudding and rum de rum cake. I had a waffle with fried apples and a homeade biscuit on the side. My mouth is still watering!

Screamin' Good Times!

We celebrated Halloween in sooooo many ways. I have to admit I'm a bit relieved we are done with all the fun! Overall this year we did a playgroup party, the pumpkin patch, Caden's Preschool party, my class party, My mother-in-law's class party, Cornbellies, my Halloween dance party, and then trick-or-treating with my parents, and my brother's family. This is actually a lot less than we usually do, but Caden and I still had plenty of opportunities to change costumes which we both loved. Caden started out as a race car driver then somehow suckered me in to getting him another costume, Bumblebee (Or as Caden says Buzzybee) the transformer. I think I mostly gave in because I got his race car costume on clearance last year for only 3 dollars and so I guess I decided it would be more fun for him to have the chance to pick his own. The funny thing is that he only wore his transformer costume for about an hour at our playgroup party, so go figure. As far as the other costuming went, I got to wear my awesome 80's unitard and a rockin Elvis jumpsuit and I'm not entirely sure what Justin's costume was supposed to be, but it was scary, trust me. PS... I am so loving that Caden thought he needed a guitar to accessorize his race car suit!

Catastrophic Cupcakes

Every now and then (maybe more than that) I just can't get it together no matter how hard I try. Well, today was just one of those days and I was feeling a little discouraged about all the things I didn't do that I wanted or needed to do. Caden & I didn't get out of our neglected and laundry ridden house (and our jammies) until precisely 3:40 pm and I had a bajamillion things left to do. Being a working-stay at home mom adds a lot of extra to-do's especially at the end of the month and around the holidays for me, both of which are tomorrow. Anyways, with all the crazy little things I had to do, and between the annoyance of running out of ink in the middle of printing, Caden refusing to nap resulting in ultra intensified hyperness, and no extra time to make dinner, somehow I decided to make some Halloween cupcakes. I feel like I should produce a fake cheesy Cheshire grin for the word cupcakes and how I feel about them right now. So anyways, I guess I was all shaky and worn at the end of the day and so maybe you could say I wasn't as "stable" as I normally would be wink-wink (ok, I admit, this whole ordeal really just has to do with coordination. I'm just embarrassed to admit that I could possibly have another incident involving my flailing bodily maneuvers and kitchen confusion). However, since those of you who know me will attest that this is really just a regular occurence for me, I will just proudly claim my clumsiness and sad kitchen skills. So, in the end this one takes the cake (or cupcake-hee hee). Just take a moment to visualize the whole scene. Here I am calmly mixing my cupcake batter first on low for 30 seconds timed exactly as the box says. Then, I read that I should mix for 2 minutes on medium speed. I am sooo carefully trying my darndest to do this in ABSOLUTE perfection! I even scraped a few times like it says. Well, I believe it was the scraping that finally did me in. SOMEHOW my scraper lost control (do you like how I blame the scraper) and got caught in the beaters resulting in the mixer flying out of my left hand, over the bowl and into the sink. My right hand was also stuck in the beaters and it was beating the heck out of my index finger. I managed to pry my fingers out and turn off the mixer. I was so shocked about the whole thing and I really just wanted to see if I was bleeding to death underneath so I brilliantly turned on the sink and soaked my finger AND the whole mixer underwater. I then had a chance to look around and see the damage. Batter was EVERYWHERE!!! all over the floor, counter, cupboards, sink, and me. I just didn't know what to do so first I started bawling (my finger was after all still throbbing) then I burst into uncontrollable laughter. I really wish I had a picture of the scene, but my sweet husband came to my rescue so quickly that it was cleaned up, mixer and all, before I ever had a chance to reveal the evidence. What a day! We did eat dinner tonight in case you were wondering-we went out for pizza, ahh the joys of pizza night!!!! PHEW!!!!! That was a long post!

The Sweetest Things

Someone sent me this video portraying Christs birth, life & death and I thought it was so beautiful and is a great reminder about what is really important in life. Caden & I watched it this afternoon and his whole demeaner was instantly serene. I asked him how he felt when he watched it and he said, "Good, the Holy Ghost's inside of me". It just doesn't get any cuter or sweeter than that in my opinion. If you want to view the video click HERE. I am so glad Caden is starting to internalize things of a spiritual nature. He loves Jesus so much and ever since I showed him a picture depicting Jesus holding a "lamby" he loves Him even more. Caden also loves his scriptures especially the Book of Mormon. He will often get his set out and bring it to me in the mornings and tell me he wants to read it to me. He will then proceed to tell me about Nephi and how he is righteous and how the wicked guys killed the bad guys and drove a race car in a race with a broken car and had to get gas etc. Hey, at least he's trying and learning something. We sure love our cute Caden!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

A big juicy thanks to Courtney the "Dancing Queen" providing us gals with a great night of girls only dancing and flash dance fun! I consider myself lucky that I got to have a dance off with everyone under the most cacklicious of circumstances! Make sure to take close look at Hanes Her Way and her fanciful footwork & toe tappin' stretches! "Oh What a feelin"! We have some greaties here in our area! The only way it could have been any better is if ALL my friends could have been here!

It's Been a While Since I Laughed This Hard

About a month to be exact, at Lagoon, so I thought I'd share the fun. It's my new favorite website: Cake Wrecks. The title reveals it all: "When professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong". Justin landed upon it the other night and maybe we were just tired, but I'm telling you we couldn't have been more delighted with what we found. Absolutely absurd! For all you cake decorators out there~Beware! Make sure you take a look at the category section or the fan favorites on the right hand side for your full entertainment. The commentary is witty and entirely fantastic!!! Well worth your time!

Perhaps We Took Our Bubble Painting a Bit Too Far?

But we sure had fun doing it!!!! Plus we got a good laugh from the questionable noises the bubbles produced and from the Boobah jiggles we discovered the bubbles made if you shook them a little (Yeah Caden watches Boobah~We're not ashamed!). Anyways....Our art creation was absolutely worth it for us, especially since I am forever a Full On fan of letting loose and getting messy with Caden. I highly recommend the same for anyone else who wants to have an unusually entertaining time!
I think Caden looks very charming in this picture minus the mud skids. It was actually quite the feat to get him to take a fall picture for me. There are just so dang many fun things to do at the pumpkin patch that you have to click fast if you want a decent pic.
This just looks way too real! Go Farmer Fred! I'm can't recall what the grumpy face is all about. Chances are he wasn't interested in another picture.

A Place Unlike Any Other

Almost a million years ago, well maybe a month ago, we went really far away to this antartica-looking place.

Only it wasn't snow on the ground, but it was salt, and it was really sticky and it got all over the car after we got back in and wouldn't go away. Then we kept driving and finally arrived in the lovely town of Wendover. We knew we were there when we came upon La Joya wedding reception center (Let me know if your looking for a center and I'll jot down the details for you).

It has great security AND for your convenience a pasty pink mobile home right around the corner...a romantic honeymoon dream!

So in case your were wondering, we actually drove out there for the air show. We love air shows and have been trying to find one (somewhat locally) for a LONG time! Finally we saw a commercial advertising one the day before~and so naturally we headed out in the morning. The jets were AMAZING!!!!! Did I ever mention I am obsessed with jets. I really am oBsEsSeD! They are such fun, speedy, suspenseful and exciting little machines---I love them screeching by me!!! They had so much power they set off all the car alarms each time they whizzed by.

Caden loved the side show, which was a car display, more than any of the aircraft. He also was rather fond of the huge plane that gasses the other planes and I have no idea what it is called---but they let him check it out and pretend to drive it so it really got him revved up. This is the "gasser plane"...
Justin's FAVORITE part was the dollar off coupons we got at Burger King. Especially since the first words that came out of his mouth when we got to the air show were "We drove clear out here for THIS"! Good times, Good times!

I just realized...

That I just announced to all my friends and family that I was best represented by a stripper. I haven't ever watched all of this movie. I guess the kicker should have been the name "Esmerelllllda". Woo!

Who Am I?

You Are Esmerelda!

Mysterious and passionate. You are a survivor. Even though life has swung you some difficult situations you have a strong intuition that gets you through. Also, you have the capacity to sympathize and relate to a variety of different people.

Justin Is Jasmine :-)

Which Disney Princess Are You?

The Big Kahuna!

Today is Justin's & my five year anniversary and since I just had a little surgery I was expecting it to be very different than our oh so luxurious honeymoon to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. BUT.....I got to thinking and realized things really haven't changed much in the adventures of our lives together.

Our Honeymoon: We went deep sea fishing, our boat starts sinking.....Fast!!! A pelican tries pecking at me and trying to steal my lunch.

Today: I feel like I am the sinking boat, Caden was pecking at me trying to eat all my food.

Our Honeymoon: We go on a two hour road trip on roads washed out from a recent hurricane to the middle of nowhere, we get lost and get our rental car buried about a foot high in the sand, we have no water with us and the town we finally arrive at has not yet received their rations from the red cross. They have plenty of beer though.

Today: Hmmm, a little trickier. Well, we drove all over town today while I am a bit dehydrated (see next section), I am wishing I had a beer to numb the pains each bump causes to my recovering body. J/K.

Our Honeymoon: We ordered lemonade since we are in Mexico and it is not advised to drink their water. We soon feel like geniouses when we realize lemonade requires water to be made. We spent the next day indoors if you get the picture.

Today: I spent some time indoors. I guess one of the medications they gave me produces undesirable effects. Sorry for the visual if your touchy about that kind of thing.

Our Honeymoon: We watched this guy try and put on his scuba flippers before going out to sea. He fell over repeatedly, but just wouldn't give up. We nicknamed him Scuba Steve.

Today: I look like Scuba Steve trying to wobble around. I guess I'm supposed to be healed by now, but I'm beginning to wonder.

Our Honeymoon: We came back from our sinking boat trip and our rental car had been "moved"---no crashed into. We had parked in an area that apparently opens up into a road during the day. Since we had arrived before the crack of dawn we were not aware of this and instead of giving us a ticket or towing us or something normal that they would do here in the US. Someone just decided to drive right into our car and push it out of the way. Nice.

Today: Well, luckily we weren't actually in a wreck, but for some reason I felt like a wreck today. I felt much better yesterday, and tonight I have actually been doing really well, but for the record, this morning I was a wreck.

Our Honeymoon: Even though there were many moments of panic and fear for our lives, we laughed our way through it and loved every ounce-- especially of the lemonade.

Today: We are still laughing and always will be about our many exciting adventures of the past, present and yet to come!

I love you Just, and am glad you still love me even as an invalid! We rock forever!

Kick Some Crash!

Try as I may, I just can't seem to keep our blog updated. I guess that is good because it means we are busy having too much fun. But, since this is really the only journal I keep these days I am still going to post our pictures of the demolition derby we went to with our friends a few weeks ago. I have never been to a derby before so wasn't really sure what it would entail. As you can see in the picture it's pretty much a bunch of crappy cars smashing each other to pieces. It is extremely entertaining and even more entertaining is the crowd it draws out!!! We got to watch 40 year olds making out like it was prom night, then there was the frozen t-shirt contest, enough said there, especially when many of the contestants were much too old to be baring their skin, and of course to top it off, the toilet seat toss. And then Caden who has been ANTI potty in every way, shape or form, all of a sudden decides he needs to go to the bathroom and of course they only have outhouses. I tried to blow him off several times, and Justin even told him to go in his diaper of all things, but he just wouldn't stop begging and to no avail we (I) would end up taking him to The "Biffy". I was really hoping this wouldn't ruin our chances of ever having him potty trained. But, being a boy, he of course loved every minute of it, and even asked me if he could linger around and look at his potty afterwards. Gross, no, you just can't stick around in that thing! As much as we loved Sharky and "Green Car" we are glad Captain Crunch won. Our friends brought their girls who weren't so sure about the whole derby thing, but I guess having a pink car made it all worth it.

Thrifty Mama

I love a good Thrifty experience! I don't know quite what it is that excites me about it so much, but I think it gives me a strange sort of high. It empowers me. I had this feeling especially after today while at the DI. It had been way too long since I had been there or any other thrifty place. In fact, it had been so long that I had forgotten how much I enjoy the moth-ballish antiseptic smell, the grabby customers snatching things directly from my basket and the greasy hangers. So, while we were there Caden out of the blue says "The guy on T.V. told us that we need to 'Come on down' today and buy a car for $199 dollars. He then continued with, "Muuuooom, the guy told us too!" I was blown away and a bit taken back by the impact commercials are obviously having on our children, at least mine? Well, Mr. commercial man and all the other people selling me your trash. I can buy junk at the DI for a lot less....$6.50 to be exact, and I don't have to go through buyers remorse. Of course, I have to admit I am still a bit consumerish sometimes and a sucker for toys too, so naturally we still ended up shopping (for Caden obviously) and he was in Hog heaven when I told him he could pick whatever he wanted today. I guess the good news is that I don't cave in to every commercial and I am sometimes frugal. Here are our fantastic finds from our little outing.

Oh the Places We Go

These pictures depict the places and ways we spend much of our time these days. It seems school is all a buzz at our house. Justin is thrilled to be studying after a nice long day of work, grad school & swim class.
Caden was slightly apprehensive about going to his new preschool class the first day. I don't have a 3 year old curriculum so Caden goes to his own little class twice a week and has been loving it so far. The first day (post picture moments) he came home ecstatic to tell me all about his new friends & his class. In his words he said "Mom, come sit down by me, I want to tell you all about my day!" So stinking cute! Then he proceeded to tell me all about something to do with a train, a game, a story, and painting. I am so happy he loves it! I am also happy his teacher was kind enough to let him still attend since he isn't potty trained as I had planned. It was a long and tiresome summer trying to achieve a diaper free life, but he is just not ready nor interested. He has become pretty proficient in the number 2 department, but nothing official. His laptop in the fourth pic. was something he worked hard to earn by going numba 2 in the potty several days. He loves to "going to work" with his laptop, going to his "dot com website" and "working online". I love to hear kids interpretations of the things adults do. FYI: Thrifty I may be, but I DO generally make a point of buying Caden articles of clothing that fit him and are stain free, I promise! This is his special shirt he was to wear the first day and it is the only size that was offered.


As for me, this is where I have been spending more time since I have started up another fun year of preschool. I have downsized to only one class twice a week with 2 hr. sessions, from previously having 2 classes. I have already noticed a huge difference in such a small change. There is much less prep work and set up for just one class which works out great for me and Caden. We love to play together & we get some extra time this year which has been really fun!

Cackles Forever...

How high would you think my expectations of Lagoon are? Well, since I grew up in Utah and we hardly let a year pass by without going to Lagoon at least once, I have EXCEPTIONALLY high demands of what a day at Lagoon should be. Well these were far and beyond surpassed last week! I went with some really FUN girls and had some very memorable bonding moments (It's nearly impossible not to bond riding the Music Express)! I knew it had been a great time when I came home with whiplash, a few drool stains, a raspy voice, sore stomach muscles from laughing, inspiration for a new and improved hair makeover (see below -this is kind of what I am envisioning), and of course some great friends & memories. I just don't think I'll ever be the same. Go Rasputia & Norbit! Love at first sight.

Caden to the Rescue...

This happened a while ago, but I thought I better post the story of how Caden saves the day so I can always cherish his tender moment. So, one day Caden happily comes in the room telling me this horrifying story of how his pickup truck caught on fire but the people are o.k. Whew, what a relief! He insisted on me coming to investigate. Well, I decided I had better humor him and go see what he had dreamed up this time. What I found on the scene was his green pickup truck full to the brim with the "water" that his "hose" had put out. I'll let you leave the rest of the story to your imagination. Good job Caden for a job well done... You are so awesome!