Bubba's Happ, well, not so happy 4th birthday...

Ugh! This picture really makes my stomach hurt. This is his owie after getting a 4 wheeler for his birthday.
This is Bubba super happy in his new jacket GG made for him! Before his big owie after getting a 4 wheeler for his birthday. This is Bubba getting ready to ride his 4 wheeler before his owie after getting a 4 wheeler for his birthday.

The one good thing about this day, we all gained a stronger testimony in the power and comfort of the Priesthood.

NEW YORK!!

Lexi and I are going to New York, we are G O I N G to New York! NEW YORK!! We are going to see Wicked, In the Heights, Mary Poppins, and Guys and Dolls! Plus, we are going to see as much of New York as we possibly can!

We are going to New York!

We head to the airport around noon. We find out that we do get to sit by each other on the flight.

We play the in flight trivia game and watch Monk. We can't sleep. Way too excited for that.

We get into NY at about 11:00 maybe 10:00 I don't really know, and I don't really care...

We are staying at the Double Tree.

It is right smack dab in the middle of Time Square. We get out of the van from the airport and we are completely awe struck! The lights, the Broadway show billboards everywhere. The ball that drops-every new years eve...

We get into our room. We write down everything we want to do and see.

We can't sleep, but we have to, we plan on being up by 6:00a.m. and it is already 3:00a.m.

The adventure begins...

New York: Day 4

Today we decided that we hadn't been on the subway yet or that we hadn't been in a Taxi either. We picked the subway first, the subway that we wanted wasn't running so we had to get on a subway and then take it to a main sub station and then switch and get onto a different one. It was intense. It was scary. It was all that and more. We ended up getting off in Harlem. We were wondering why everyone on the subway was looking at us so weird. We wanted to find the Temple. Turns out it is really close to Central Park and also the Museum. Hence, the Taxi!

Like everything else in NY, the Temple is built UP. There is no room to build out, so everything is 10 stories high. It is hard to find, but we did it. That was awesome. I said to Lexi, "We have to know where it is just incase we are stuck here or something bad happens, this is where we would want to get to and FAST." It just so happens that part of the Julliard Campus is across the street from the Temple so we got to see that too. We then went to the Museum of Natural History. That is where the movie "Night at the Museum" is filmed. Again, HUGE!
We were seeing "Mary Poppins" as a Matinee, it was very good and very cute. I enjoyed it, Lexi, not so much.
After the show we went to Macys. Macy's is an ENTIRE city block. No joke. It is 9 stories. I have never seen anything like it, in all my life. Alexis went to all 9 floors, just so she could say she did. hee hee. We finish all of our shopping! Bringing home some fun things...hee hee
We fouind the Ed Sullivan Theatre:

Then for our last show we saw W I C K E D !! It was Amazing, Magnificent, Incredible. I loved it so much. If I only saw that one show, I would have been satisfied with my trip. I didn't want the show to end. Alexis was 2nd row center! Me right next to her. It was FABULOUS!!

Nicole Parker played Elphaba:
I have no words to describe how good she is.Alli Mauzey played Galinda or Glinda (without the Ga) The cemistry between the two leads was something to see. I truly have never seen anything like it. I can't decide which one I liked better.

I loved the fun part of Glinda, but Elphaba won your heart. I would really LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to see them again. The same cast, I mean. I sat there and bawled like a baby during the last number. So sad it was over, so touched by the whole thing. I turned to Lexi and I was so embarrassed! I had no control over my emotions at all. We both just sunk down in our seats and said we were NEVER leaving. We were going to set up camp there and live there and watch the show over and over and over and over and over and over...you get the idea.

The trip changed me, changed something inside me...I am not afraid anymore. I used to live my life in such fear, but it is gone. I walked the streets of NY, I figured things out, it was the most amazing thing! I loved every minute. I am glad Lexi was with me too. I hope I can do something similar to this with all of my girls!

New York: Day 3

The next morning we got up and decided to get on one of the tour buses so that we could see more of the sites. We took the bus for a little while and decided that wasn't the way we wanted to see NY. We really couldn't get off the bus when we wanted to. We took it to Ground Zero and then got off the bus. Ground zero was very somber--even still. There was so much hussle and bussle until you were close to it--then there was a silence. We were both surprised at how quiet everyone was while walking by the construction site. This was not the best part of the trip, we were far from our hotel and we weren't sure where we were, where we were going or how we were going to get there. So we found water and walked along the edge for a mile or two. (Lexi would probably say 20) We saw Battery Park and the Ground Zero monument.

We finally came to Ellis Island and the Staten Island Ferry. So we jumped on. The Ferry gets you pretty close to the Statue of Liberty, but not close enough in my opinion. I would love to take a different Ferry and actually go to the island. I think that if I ever get back to New York that that is one thing I want to do. Seeing the Statue of Liberty was AWESOME! Something I have wanted to do my whole life. I am so glad that I was able to fufill this dream.
We had a hot dog from one of the carts because I said I wanted a NY hot dog and we had to cross it off the list. We decided not to get back on the bus to go back to the hotel, instead we decided to walk. That was a long walk. It was at least 5 miles back. We saw a lot, but my legs were getting tired after yesterdays adventures. But it was fun, we saw a guy filming something, we don't know what, but we took a picture anyways...
We walked to the Empire State Building and decided to go up to the top. There are really long lines and a whole lot of people in there. The Building was fun to see, but I don't think I would ever go to the top again. It took about 2 hours to get to the top. Just standing in lines and then we were only at the top for like 10 minutes and then the long wait down. There were a lot of people so it was hard to see much anyway, and it was expensive. Something funny that happened, we were talking to this family, they had a baby girl with them. The employees were letting them go through the line, to get down, a lot faster than anyone else. When they asked them how many in their party--they said 5. They had included Lexi and I with them so were able to get out of there really fast. It had Lexi and I laughing for quite a while. We could definately see a lot from up top. This is where the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade starts. That was fun. We found the Chrysler Building. "I want it to shine like the top of the Chrysler Building" (Annie) We drove past Madison Square Garden on our bus ride to Staten Island.

We barely made it back in time for our next show. We grabbed some Philly Cheese steaks from a vendor cart on the road. And gobbled them down.

We saw "Guys and Dolls" The costumes were great and the set was incredible. I wouldn't say I could recommend the show. Especially if young kids were going to watch it. It is a little on the skanky side. It was good, but not great. The way they moved from set to set was pretty amazing, one of the best that I have seen.
On our way home we saw this guy making the most incredible paintings with only spray paint and a few tools. Mostly a spackle thingy...we watched him for a long time.

Today was Shirsten's 18th birthday, so we had lots of fun desserts to sample and sat around and visited with everyone. Then it was off to bed.

New York: Day 2

We got up at 6:00 in the morning and headed to Rockefeller Center to watch the "Today" show.
There was a men's choir from a College there, that was pretty fun. We saw Matt Lauer, Ann Curry and Natalie Morales through the glass. Al Roker wasn't there, someone else came out onto the plaza so we left because we were cold and tired and hungry.
We went back to our Hotel, after finding food to see if anyone was ready to see NY. We decided to check out the things right by our Hotel. We stayed at the DoubleTree right in Time Square. Right on Broadway, in the middle of ALL the action. The ball that drops at the beginning of each new year was always in sight. SO FUN!! So, we went to the M& M store. Talk about big, it was 3 stories high.

Next we ventured to Central Park. We figured we could find it because we could see Columbus Circle from our Hotel room. That was awesome, I recommend that to anyone who visits NY. Go to Central Park and take the bike tour. You get to see the whole thing and have someone explain all of the history and see where a lot of movies are filmed. The whole new money on the west side and old money on the east side (or vise versa) was pretty interesting. We saw where a lot of famous people live, like, Brad and Angelia, Tom Cruise, Richard Gere, Madonna, I can't remember them all...but there were A LOT!! The old money: The Rockefeller, Carnegie...

We walked around this area for quite awhile. We went to F.A.O Schartz TOY STORE. Again, it is HUGE! This is where the piano on "Big" is located. I can't even explain the size. It was 3 stories but it was also like half a city block. BIG BIG STORE! The soldier at the enterance soluted us. That was pretty fun. We walked back up 5th avenue to our hotel and bought Chris and Brianne something so that we could say that we purchased something on 5th. ha ha
Later that night we went and saw "In the Heights" it is a new musical that won a lot of Tony's last year. It was SO good. I loved it, it made me want to get up and dance. Well, actually I wanted to learn to dance and then get up and dance. The lead girl was absolutely amazing! Mesmorizing even. We got back to our Hotel and crashed--ready to get up and start another busy day.

What a GREAT DAY!!!

New York: Day 5

TIRED, EXAUSTED AND YET NEW!

This has been the best trip it was so much fun. I am so glad I got to spend time with Lexi and see NY with her.
I am ready to go home and see my family.

We get up early, get to the airport, in a LIMO, and fly home.
Alexis and I play the trivia game on the plane the whole way home.
We stop to eat at Marie Callendars on the way home with Lauri and Denali, Maren and Tamsen and Rilee, and Demaris.

HOME--My girls and my boys! Yeah!

THINGS I'VE LEARNED ABOUT NEW YORK:
1. It stinks really bad!
2. The sewers really do steam.
3. The people there are really friendly, except the one begger who growled at me.
4. There is garbage EVERYWHERE.
5. It was fun to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

THAT WAS A TRIP OF A LIFE TIME!!

Here is Camille at school,
she borrowed Karsyn's car.

It was the Indy 500. They go around the school and learn about different places.

It was very cute. There were some amazing cars and planes and army tanks.

Thank you Karsyn for letting Millie use your car--she absolutely loved it!

6 Things that I love:

1. I love my Heavenly Father. I know that He is there for me and that He answers my prayers. I know that He has a plan for me and that he wants me to return to Him. I know that He sent His son to die for me and that even if I was the only person on the earth, He still would have done it.
2. I love Chris. I didn't know I could be so happy! I didn't know I would still be as madly in love with him today (our 19th anniversary) as the day I met him. He is my best friend and favorite person to be with. I knew on our first date that I would marry him.
3. I love my children. I hope the best for them--ALWAYS! I would die for them in an instant! I would do anything for them and yet, I still feel that I always fall short of meeting their needs.
They are all very good, honest, happy children and I am very happy about the things they choose and the people that they are. They are huge examples to me and they teach me a lot.
4. I love my family. My parents, parents-in-law, sisters, sister-in-laws, brothers, brother-in-laws, cousins, nephews, neices, aunts, uncles, grandparents, I love them all! I wish that I had closer relationships with some, but I still love them. I love getting together and sharing our lives and learning life lessons. I love that my children love their Grandparents and that their grandparents love them. I love that they want to spend time with their cousins and they miss them when they are apart.
5. I love the scriptures. I love to read them and learn from them. I love to spend time studying certain topics and I love to read them with my family. I know that--that is where the TRUTH is.
6. I love all the other people in my life...my friends, my visiting teachers, teachees, my ward, my neighbors, my co-workers. I expecially love Audra today, because she is moving. I am so sad about that, but I am grateful for the chance to have gotten to know her (and hopefully she will move back in a few years) we have done SO much together, the Trek, sewing, (ok, ok, she mostly sewed and I mostly watched) canning, walking, visiting, laughing, crying, going to the Temple together. She is a great friend.
Anyways, there is my list. I will tag--whoever wants to be tagged...

GABE LEE

Whitney, you are right! First of all, Gabe is Celeste's brother. He is absolutely adorable! He is just as nice as he is cute too! He was in the singing group last year and this year he made the BYU Young Ambassadors Anyways, he was at the play and he was near the piano. He was so fun to watch, watching her. He would put his hand on his mouth, he would laugh, he would say her lines with her and sing the songs. When she was crying on the piano, he was trying SO hard to peek at her to see if she was ok. It was super cute to watch him and see the love and support that he has for her.
If you want to see him, you can go to youtube and watch him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb4aS2ffHXM

At the beginning he is all the way to the right. He sings the 3rd verse.
It goes Morgan, Austin, Joseph is singing, Craig, Jacob, and then Gabe. Then Craig sings, then Gabe.

Also, Gabe and Celeste both have perfect pitch...they got it from their dad.

Celeste

That was a good question Kat, so I decided to answer it for everyone. Celeste played "Jo" in the play.
The sad thing is...Celeste's real father died during rehersals. This made the cast get really close though. There were a couple of situations that were hard.
Alexis didn't want to tell her to let her go and let her die.
The aunt didn't want to say the line, "You're what happens when a girl has no father."
Alexis would come home from rehersals and just cry. She said it was very emotional. But she was really glad that she was able to be a support to Celeste during this hard time.
It has been a great experience for all of these kids to work through this together.
The cast came over here last night--to celebrate. It was their last performance--they are a great bunch of kids and VERY talented.