New York City ~ April 25-29, 2012 (Part One)

NEW YORK CITY!!!  I cannot believe it finally happened, I got to go to NYC.  We earned a trip at work to go to NYC.  We all worked really hard last year and met our goal to make this possible!  It was totally worth all the hard work over the past year.  It was so fun to be able to go with my friends from work who are so wonderful.  We all get along soooo well that there was no drama and ALL FUN!  It was awesome!  NYC is always somewhere I've wanted to go but never have had the nerve to plan a trip there because it was so foreign to me...but now that I have been there I would totally plan a trip to go back!  And I cannot wait to do just that!  One day I WILL go back...it will happen.  I can't wait! 

There are no words to describe how much I loved this trip!  I was in awe most of the time at all the buildings and the amount of people there and the traffic (I could NEVER drive there) and all the history...it blew my mind.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to go and experience NYC.  It was incredible!  And waaaayyyy too short.  That being said, we made every single minute worth it.  We packed in so many things and walked so much, there was never a dull moment.  I have made so many great memories.  I wish I could put into words all that we did and saw, but I just can't...luckily a picture says a thousand words, so I am set!!!  I have plenty of pictures to say what I just can't...like 1,497 of them...but don't worry, I won't make you suffer through that!!!  Let the picture fest begin: (hopefully they end up in some kind of order of events!)
Wednesday April 25, 2012
Packed and ready to go! We all had to work half-day before we headed out...

Waiting at the hotel to get into our rooms: Me, Loree, Breanne and Ashley

Loree and My room!  It was wonderful...

Dr. Layton and Dr. Wimmer had these gift boxes in our rooms for us :)

Thursday April 26, 2012

We stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel at Times Square (it was about 1-2 blocks off Times Square), it was incredible!

This guy was awesome!  He sold us our tour bus passes and helped us out a ton!

Dr. Layton, Breanne, Loree, Me, Ashley, Wendy, Tour Bus Guy, Ginger, Kanoi

Theresa, Krista

I had to take this one for Landen :) (the first of many...though the others ones mostly revolve around American Chopper motorcycles...he was quite jealous...)

Our Hotel:

Coolest parking garage ever...though I don't know exactly how it works...

On the tour bus ready to see the city: Kanoi, Me, Wendy, Loree, Jeff, Theresa, Ginger

Manhattan New York Temple

I loved how it was just right smack dab in the middle of the city!!!  So amazing!  I wish I could have gone so badly but time did not allow that opportunity this trip.  Our tour guide was pretty funny.  He said: "On your right you will see the Mormon church. The main church is in Salt Lake City, Utah but this is their church in the East..."  Well, kinda...but it was neat that he pointed it out!

Central Park!  This is the tunnel/bridge in Home Alone 2 and Elf...

We took a carriage ride around Central Park.  If I were to go back I would totally rent bikes and ride through the park and that way I could see a lot more of the park.

We saw the missionaries and they were pretty excited when we yelled out, "Hi, Elders!"

Tavern on the Green...wish it hadn't closed down.

And this was the main reason for the carriage ride...Jeff proposed to Theresa on the ride!!!  Wohoo!

She's engaged!!!!!!!!

Not gonna lie...the horse made me a little nervous...he was staring me down...

That night it was misting/raining, but I loved how the mist just engulfed the buildings:

Thursday night Ginger and I went to see Wicked!!!  She was so kind to go with me even though she had already seen it.  And a big thanks to Mom and Dad for helping me buy my ticket (it was my birthday present)!!!  It was absolutely incredible.  Brought me to tears.  I loved it so much and was so amazed the entire time!  I cannot wait to see it again!!!  And apparently it was illegal to take the picture of the stage...oops...

I just loved these flower stands on the street :)

Okay, so for these next 2 pictures I was not there in person because I was watching Wicked, but I HAD to include them because they were the funniest thing ever!!!  This started the embarrassment of Wendy :)  We all laughed sooooo hard about this picture!!!  That is sooo NOT Wendy, which made it one of the funniest parts of our trip.  I wish I could have been there to witness this, but I'm so glad I got to at least share in the memory!  Naked Cowboy at Times Square:

After I got back from Wicked I met up with some of the other girls (and Jeff, he was such a trooper and took care of all us girls all week!) and we went to get some food here. They went for the hot dogs, but I just got chicken fingers...I'm lame, I know...I'm just picky about my hot dogs...but it was good all the same! Perfect end to the day.

Kailee's Going on a Mission!

You know you are getting old when someone you used to babysit is going on a mission!  What?!  I can't believe Kailee is old enough to be going on a mission!  It blows my mind.  But I am so excited for her and so proud of her for making this decision.  Jacksonville, FL will be one lucky mission to have her! 

To help her prepare to leave we were able to go pick her and all of her stuff up in Rexburg and bring it to her grandparents in Sandy.  It was a fun, quick roadtrip!  We drove up Friday night.  On the way we stopped for dinner in Pocatello and one of our friends, Tyson, met up with us to say hi.  It was fun to see him for a few minutes :)  We stayed with one of Landen's friends and her husband, Kirsten and Eric.  They were so super kind to put us up for the night!  We had fun chatting and catching up, then we had cupcakes and popcorn and watched "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" which was pretty cool.  We had such a great time with them! 

Saturday morning we headed over to Kailee's and packed up the car...which was seriously a miracle that we got everything in!  I love how the Lord blesses his missionaries, even in the small ways.  We had one stuffed car, but we made it!  It was so fun to talk and catch up with Kailee and try to answer her questions about a mission.  My throat hurt from talking so much! HA!  On the way back we stopped in Ogden and met up with Tiva and Ryan for lunch at Cafe Rio...yum!  Always a good time to see them.

Then we headed down to Salt Lake City to do a session at the Salt Lake Temple.  It was so wonderful to be in the temple with Kailee.  She's so grown up!  It was a great session.  I love being in the temple, it is the best place on earth.   Afterward we walked around for a little while, the grounds were so beautiful with all the tulips blooming.  I love spring!  It was such a great day and I'm so glad we were able to spend time with Kailee and help her out!  She is like my little sister and I love her so much!  Good luck Sister Jensen! 

So, this is Kailee's temple bag that was made for her...she LOVES it, can't you tell?!  HA! 



"Landen, it's a sign!!!"

"Landen, it's a sign!!!"  These are the exact words I spoke when I saw this at Target:

Can you guess what I was referring to? 

I told him it was a sign that we needed to have a baby (since I collected frog stuff and he is a drummer)...and he reacted a little different than normal.  So the rest of the night I kept antagonizing him about it.  Long story short, we decided it is time to have a baby.  So we will see...it's kinda crazy to think about!  Ah!

Natalie's Baby Shower

One of my friends at work, Natalie, is about to have a little boy to be named Corbin.  We are so excited for her and decided to throw her a little shower at work.  It was fun to get together and celebrate!  And we have some very talented girls that made some awesome decorations/gifts:

Natalie with her daughter, Cami, and niece, Sophia...they were great helpers!

Loree made this awesome diaper and receiving blanket trike:

Dee made this "Money Tree" where we tied cash and small gifts:

Theresa is an amazing cake decorator and made this:

It was so much fun to spend time with the girls :)

Some of my favorite girls!

There is this new picture sharing app called Instagram...and I love it!  I captured a few pictures today of 2 of my favorite girls, Rylie and Maya.  I love their cuteness.

I got his little chick that you could wind up and it would hop around...and I figured the kids would love it...and I was right!  Rylie LOVED it!  Fun was had by all.

A Breakfast Date

Landen and I decided to go out to breakfast this morning...and it was delicious!  I love IHOP.

Conference Weekend April 2012

For General Conference weekend we headed up to Newton.  It's always great to go up there!  Conference was amazing as usual.  I always come away knowing that I need to be better and do better. It is always a good feeling though.  I got a little project to keep myself awake, because let's be honest, sometimes it is hard...and if you sit there and say you've never struggled staying awake stop lying to yourself! HA!

Lately I've been needing to do a puzzle. Seriously.  When my mom asked what I wanted for my birthday I asked for a puzzle...how old am I?!  But, I didn't take it with me up to Newton, so we bought one to do during Conference.  It was so fun!  We didn't realize how hard that red part would be, but we finally finished.  Then we pulled out one of Adri's to do.  It was a fun weekend together!

Hazel Mae kept me company when I wasn't puzzling...

Here is my Birthday puzzle I did later that week: