10th Valenversary

The Mom and Dad had an adventurous, romantic  weekend away without the kids. Uncle Rob and Aunt Jenny took sister and brother while we celebrated our 10th anniversary in NYC. Our Besties, Ricks and Paul, met up with us making for an even more magical time in the Big Apple.
We all stayed at Sanctuary Hotel:
It was a super swanky boutique hotel and I wasn’t sure if we were cool enough to stay there; alas, with free breakfast, chic décor, awesome baby-making music constantly playing in the lobby, friendly service, and the perfect location…we had ourselves a marvelous time.

This is a pic right in the heart of Times Square; and if you can see the street signs, they say 47th and 7th. Our hotel was on 47th and in between 7th and 6th. So we enjoyed quiet, restful nights, all while being super close to everything.

(L)Times Square; the glitz and hustle and bustle of this place. (R) Toys R Us Times Square in front of the giant ferris wheel.  

***Side note, can you see my little blue bag at Toys R Us? It was a ring from Tiffany that my darling hubby bought for me for our 10th. I felt very special.

Saint Patrick’s Cathedral: The largest catholic cathedral in the U.S.

Everything there was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!

  
A major highlight: dinner at Hillstone. Oh, I seriously love their crab cakes.

Here we are at Rockefeller Plaza. We planned ice skating for the last night of the trip. OH, what poor planning that was! We all had major shin-splints by then which prevented us from showing NYC our amazing ice skating skills. SIGH.

Dave in front of the Today Show News Studio:

Statue of Atlas:

Visiting Lady Liberty. We didn’t get to tour her insides since she’s being renovated, but it’s always fun and a little surreal to see her up close.

NYC skyline

Ellis Island was a new place for both of us. Fun fact: it’s estimated that 60% of all Americans today can trace their family history to at least one person who passed through the Port of New York at Ellis Island. I’m not sure that fact fits for me, but for Dave it does. Here’s Dave’s great-grandma’s name on the memorial wall. So neat!Dave standing in what was once the Registry:Below is the Federal Hall National Memorial. Our guidebook cited this building as the place where George Washington took oath as the first prez of the United States. While sort of true, it’s just the site not the actually building where he was sworn in.

If you can read below, inside the building they had a piece of the balcony on display where George Washington stood while taking oath, so that was sort of cool:

Just a block or so away is Ground Zero. The museum and all of the grounds are not yet finished, but the reflecting pools are done and really pretty.

This is St. John’s, a nearby church, that stayed standing after the towers fell. It became a relief center where clergy counseled, love notes from schoolchildren were hung, more than a half million meals were served, and medical workers treated stiff muscles and burned feet.
On the back side, is a cemetery that took more than 2 years to clean up the 9/11 debris.
The American Museum of Natural History:

Fun to see, but nothing special. We were so glad we showed up 45 minutes before closing and got in FREE! It wouldn’t have been worth paying for. Too many empty rooms and hallways (as seen below) for my tastes…
…but we had lots of fun posing for pics:
We also got to do some sealings at the Manhattan Temple. It was a very small temple, but still very pretty.
And, my absolute favorite part of the trip? Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark, at Foxwoods Theatre. It’s a new show, with all the original cast still there and the most amazing stunts, sets, and entertainment ever. Bono certainly outdid himself on this one. We had great seats; loved having Spiderman flying right over the top of us and getting sprayed with webs. So. dang. cool. Anyone would love it.

Dave and I saw Central Park for the first time and we loved that too.

This is Bethesda Fountain, as seen in Home Alone:

And the best find of the trip was the Boathouse in Central Park. A quaint restaurant set right on a lake, with great food and a man that tickled the ivories while we ate. There was something very Disneyesque about that place and we would have eaten every meal there if we could have (except for the one Hillstone meal, of course).
The MET. This place was overwhelmingly large; so much to see. It would have been best had we visited it early on in our trip, which we did not. We were beyond exhausted! A funny thing about the Met: admission is a "suggested" $25 bones per person, which means, you can pay that or absoultely nothing and still get in all the same (minus the stink-eye you receive for paying less). Between Dave and me, I think we paid $21. I was disappointed in myself for not sticking to my guns and paying 5 bucks. Oh, well.

Getting our “Egyptian” on…just moments before entering the Temple of Dendur. That’s right. I’ve been in a real Egyptian temple. Pretty freaking cool

Also cool is this reliquary that supposedly holds Mary Magdalene’s real-life tooth. Hmmm…

Grand Central: the most widely recognizable train terminal room in the world, with its famed Sky Ceiling.

Dave taking it all in

The last night of our trip we did the Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center Building). We had both done The Empire State building before and thought we’d give this place a whirl.As you’re going up and down in the elevators, they glow and have lights flashing. I could have sworn I was on the Tower of Terror. Very fun.

Although it was so cold, I’m so glad we did it at night! It was stunning! I even got to plant one on my sweetheart!

What a way to spend a weekend with the one I love most! I feel so lucky to have found my soul mate, and to have had 10 years of absolute happiness together!

VIP Jazz Tickets

I’m gonna be honest here..I had, quite possibly, the best night of my entire life. It probably doesn’t take the place of my engagement/ wedding nights, becoming a mother for the first time, the moment I met Sean Astin (kidding, sort of)…but it was right up there, people.

Last night my dreamy husband got us Row 1 tickets to the Jazz game, compliments of Trapnell Orthodontists.  The evening commenced with VIP dining in the underground part of the Melta Center. I could hardly contain myself…I mean who actually gets to do this sort of thing?

Dinner consisted of chicken marsala, rice, vegetables, clam chowder, salad, fruits, rolls, and chocolate caramel cake. The food was mediocre, but I saw an old professor I once had a crush on, so all in all, a lovely time.

Next, we got to our seats. Like I said, we were Row 1, but there’s actually Rows A, B, and C in front of us (reserved for wives and other E.V.I.P.’s (extra very important people).

Would you like to see our tickets?

Let’s zoom in on just one of those:

Yep, I felt like a Very Important Person

The game itself was great. I have to admit, I don’t know a single player on the Jazz anymore. After seeing them up close and personal for a couple of hours (ahem), I will say that I know them a little better. For example:

This guy:

Hayward. Don’t like him. Doesn’t share the ball all that much, and always goes for the shot. Couldn’t make a single basket if his life depended on it. And somehow, they play him all the time.

And this guy (left):

Earl Watson. Love him. Short, fast little guy that carries the whole team on his back. Wouldn’t have won the game without him.

So, anyway, at half-time we got to go back to the VIP room for refreshments like nachos, popcorn, cheesecake, chocolate coconut bars, and drinks.

Love me some nachos!

And here’s Dave walking through the tunnel to get back to the game (or to get a closer look at the Jazz girls?)

In the end, the Jazz won. A serious miracle, if you ask me. The first half was pretty pathetic, but in the end they pulled it together, making for a very exciting second half.

But the story doesn’t end there, folks. So here we are leaving the game, walking on the game floor (and being told to stay on the blue part only;) Right after taking these photos, I zipped my little camera into my coat pocket because what more was there to capture, right?

Wrong. Just as we entered the tunnel, guess who came cruising along in a little golf cart? None other than President Monson, himself. I tried hard to refrain from screaming. Really I did. But, as Dave put it, I screamed at him “like he was Jon Bon Jovi.” I probably did. I have a tendency to do that.  But it was just the cherry on top of my ice cream sundae.

Such a memory I will never forget!

Rainbow Snowman

These two cousins decided they would go “snowing.” First item on the agenda: getting dressed and pulling funny faces.

This little boy didn’t realize why he had to wear all that stuffy clothing…

…until he got outside to discover the wonder of snow. So darling, that one.

Second item of business: building a snowman. The mom helped a tad with rolling and stacking the snowman, but the girls handled the rest. They even stained their little hands tie-dying their snowman. He was one colorful man of snow!

Of course, there was also some snow shoveling going on.

Is no one else taken by these kids?

Cole’s agenda differed from the girls’. He used much of his time and energy chasing the neighbors’ cat, Katara:

That darn cat was just too fast for those tiny legs!

And what would a snow day be without snow angels and eating snow?

New Year’s EVE

We rang in 2012 with the SLC crowd at EVE. Our night consisted of the Clark Planetarium, The Art Center, and festivities at the Salt Palace.

Here’s Cole in the “Ball”room at the Salt Palace, showing off a smile of complete and utter joy! They filled the room with, I don’t know, hundreds of balls?—10 foot balls (that knocked Junior over a time or two), and big, medium, and smaller-sized balls. They also had a DJ mixing up some hot jams amidst all the rolling, bouncing and chasing, making this both Cole and Kate’s favorite event of the night.

 

(L) Kate in a cloud (R) Both kids in a jumper

Making “art”

The whole fam with a b"EVE”r

We also went on a vacation that night, as Kate would tell you. Marriott tricked us into booking a night at their hotel, boasting an upgraded concierge level room with access to their lounge of free snacks and free drinks at no extra charge. Well, we were sold! And, of course, a little bothered, too, once we discovered that the Concierge Lounge was CLOSED all weekend long. Pssh.

    

But the pool was nice.

And so was our little veranda.

Also, lovely, was the 6:00am wake-up cry from Cole. Waking up early was actually a nice thing, though. It got us up and at ‘em for the buffet breakfast, and back home and ready on time for church.