I've Been........

BUSY!!!

Kendalyn moved down to our basement about 5 months ago and her walls were in desperate need of some COLOR!! It was so sterile, and now - well, it has some real personality! She picked out the color and we found this great bookcase and pink bins at IKEA - love it... I am still a little hesitant about how bright it is, but I think it will just take some getting used to. In the meantime, she absolutely LOVES it and I love that...

A FABULOUS FIRST DAY

The Girls
Bongos (aka: Adri)
Little Miss Skinny Jeans (Kendalyn LOVES them)
Today was the first day of school and it was SO great to be back on a schedule, although I am feeling the "tired" effects about now. I LOVE that suddenly, my kids are jumping out of bed, making them, and getting dressed all enthusiastically and if you can believe it (I barely can) no fighting - hurray for school days!!! Kendalyn started 3rd grade this year (that's right - I'm getting old) and she LOVED it and loves her teacher too. Adri had a "meet and greet" with her teacher who is amazing and really nice, but doesn't officially start until next Monday(boo)- it didn't stop her from thinking that is was her first day and wearing her "first day" outfit - oh well, she did look super cute.
So, all in all, a successful first day to a hopefully successful year....

I HEART My Sister!!

So, my cute sister Cindy just left back to Minnesota and I am seriously missing her! We honestly have the BEST time together and I just LOVE being with her. My kids absolutely adore their "Aunt Cinny" and she adores them even more I think. We always have tons of laughs - and I mean TONS, and I am SO glad I have such a fun sister.
Here are some funny pics of our week together and maybe they are only funny to us - who knows!! We went through THE best carwash ever - it was even free, we also saw some super yucky fashion trends that I hope go away VERY soon, we bought four containers of Ice Cream - it really wasn't all for us, we watched Empire Records - a SUPER great movie from our teenage years, and we saw Julie and Juila - a great flick! Anyway - lots of fun - MISS YOU CIND!!!

-Empire Records - I don't know why this pic is SO small
-The "yucky" silver leggings
-At Chucky Cheese it seems I am better at Ski Ball than Cinders
-Yucky STIRRUP trend
-In THE best carwash ever - okay, it helped that it was FREE90FREE
-At WINGERS celebrating my bro. Brent's B-day - worst waitress I think I have ever had

Ticket to Ride - 177 - SERIOUSLY!!!

Our Routes
Me and Cinders
My "nice" 177
Cindy - trying to look mad
Brent and Spence ALSO trying to look mad
Brent - always making us laugh

So, I just had to post this - I cannot believe I have beaten my two (yes, TWO) previous high scores on this game - it is INSANE!! Now, I am SURE someone has gotten much higher than this, but I personally have never seen or heard about higher and we have played this game ALOT! My first highest score was a 169 (see older post) and last Sunday night I pulled off a 171 - AMAZING.. You have to be incredibly LUCKY to get this score, which I was each of the 3 times - hee hee.. Anyway, we got some nice photos I thought:)

Timpanogos Cave

This year the 24th was completely different for our fam. We usually go to Idaho and celebrate up there with the big parade and fireworks, but this year we stayed here and just kind of did our own thing.
Spence had never been to the cave before, and I had been with my family but I think it may have been about 15 years ago (I still think it is crazy that I can say something was 15 years ago and I was like 15 - ugh) and I remember it being really fun - so we decided to go up. We got there and ended up having to wait for a bit, but we just went to Cabela's (Spence's dream store) and then took the kids to lunch. We stared hiking around 12:30pm and the kids did great. Spence had Grady in the backpack and the girls drank water about every 10 seconds with only the occasional complaints. They loved being in the cave and it was fun to see it all again for me. Grady was a bit of a struggle, but once he got back on the trail we were good. Good thing there was an outhouse at the top as well, because you can imagine where all of that water they were drinking went:) All in all, a really fun day and definitely something we will do again..

So Long PRIVATE!!

I was getting SUPER annoyed at having a private blog - I know, I made a HUGE deal about the danger and bad things about not being private, but I find it super annoying not to have it updated on the blog roll. Seriously blogger - you need to figure that one out! Anyway, I think you might have to re-add me to your blog roll(if you want to:) so that my blog will show when last updated! Thanks...

NYC - LOVE this Place...

Okay, it's taken me a few days, but here is New York '09!! We honestly had THE BEST TIME! We saw shows, went to live tapings of shows and to be really honest - ATE our way through the city. I have been compiling a "list" of things to do in NY for the last two years through the help of my brother Brent (lived there for a few years) and through blogging, the Food Network, Travel Channel, and other web sites. The last time we went, we did all of the really touristy things, but this time, it was pure city stuff (along with a few touristy things). We crossed off almost everything on the list - it was great. We took a ton of pics, so I will do it by day - it is super long so keep scrolling - enjoy - and if you ever go, call me for a copy of the "list"!!

Monday

On the Plane - Spence thinks I'm a little picture crazy - but I always have blogging on the mind..

The famous Shake Shack - in Madison Square Park..
Yep - super yum!!
Me, hiding a spot on my shirt that I spilled ice cream on - just keeping it real folks
In front of the Flat Iron Building - so unique..
After our fab meal we just walked around the Village for awile. We saw a movie being shot - no idea what it was, but it had kids and a ton of balloons. Great shops and tons of people watching to do.

Tuesday

This is Madame Tussauds Wax Museum which we had a blast at. I know it's weird, but I have always wanted to go - can you tell who they all are???








David Letterman - okay, this picture is from two years ago but Spence didn't seem to see the need in taking yet another pic (slacker)..We had a great show with Sasha Baron Cohen on it - he was not in character. Rob Thomas was supposed to be on, but cancelled at the last minute - boo - we were sad, but it was still fun.

Wicked - loved it, loved it, loved it!!! This was my third time and Spence's second time and it was by far my favorite - the cast was so AMAZING..

Wednesday

Regis and Kelly - super fun and we had front row seats! We were only on t.v. for a brief second, and you could only see hair - but still... They did another taping after the first and it will air August 25th - set your tivos, because this time we are on..




Katz's Deli - we saw it featured on the travel channel and decided we couldn't pass it up. Pastrami on thin bread with spicy mustard - YUM!!


Grand Central Station - it is really beautiful and crazy busy..

Serendipity - yes it lives up to all of the hype - it was FABULOUS! Spence went against the grain and ordered the pina colada instead, but he LOVED it, he actually can't stop talking about it. My Frozen Hot Chocolate was absolutely the best I have ever had - definitely a hot spot though, go between 3 and 5 to avoid LONG lines...



The Apollo Theatre was a last minute but very fun idea from Brent. We went with his old roomate, Mike Mathews (we love him and have known him awhile) and his date Abby. The Apollo is in Harlem (just a bit scary for us:) and it is where Chris Rock and a few other comedians got there start. Michael Jackson also performed there, so you can imagine the craziness surrounding the theatre. There was a wall of tribute outside and I signed it - too funny. Anyway, it was Amateur Night, and people get up to perform (sing, dance, poetry, rap) and you can either cheer them on if you like them, or boo them off - it was hilarious and so fun!


The Mickael Jackson Memorial - I just had to get pics of this.
More lovin for MJ..