the nutcraker

I went to The Nutcraker with these lovely ladies last night at the Lincoln Center and had a wonderful time.  I love Christmas time, to bad it doesn't last a little longer.  Thanks, Lizzie!

i'll be home

Since moving to New York there is something about this time of year that always makes me miss Utah.  I don't know if it's the Christmas memories or how different growing up in a small town is to living in a big city but I always get teary eyed when I hear the song I'll Be Home for Christmas.  I love the version by Rascal Flatts but I love watching the video even more.  It shows all of my favorite Christmas spots in the city (Saks' snowflakes and the stars in Time Warner) and while I'm missing Utah it makes me realize just how much I love this amazing city and that it is my home.  So while I love calling NY my home, my parents home will always be the place were so many Christmas memories were created. 

some turkey and a little 311

Jason and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving. This year we decided that it wasn't worth it to go to a restaurant and we could make a much better meal at home. So Jason told me he would help, we put together a menu of all of our favorites, and started cooking. It did help that my parents sent us a smoked turkey again so we didn't have to fuss over trying to figure that one out. But I have to say, I was very impressed with how everything turned out and that we were able to have it hot and ready to eat all at the same time. It was so nice to just sleep in, enjoy the parade on TV, watch Christmas movies and enjoy this wonderful holiday as a family of two. That evening we went to our friends for some amazing homemade pie and enjoyed spending time with some of our NY friends.

We went to the parade our first year in NY and swore we would never go again, but I really wanted to see them blowing up the balloons the night before and since we are within walking distance, we decided to go have a look. They line the balloons up around the Museum of Natural History and then they line up the crowds and you can walk around the block and see all of the balloons almost fully inflated. We thought if we went late that we might avoid the crowds but I am finally realizing that avoiding the crowds around the holidays is not possible. In fact, there were so many people that we were getting claustrophobic and ended up jumping the line after one block. But it was fun to see just how massive the balloons are up close and we even got to see the return of Spiderman.

The day after Thanksgiving we did a little shopping later in the afternoon and then prepared for another crazy evening with 311. This is now the 6th time I have seen them in concert and according to Jason, won't be the last. They played in Central Park this summer but it was the day before Jason took the bar so he couldn't go. So you can imagine how excited he was when I called and told him that 311 was playing at the Hammerstein Ballroom.

The last time we were at the Hammerstein Ballroom was to hear Elder Holland speak to our stake so I knew this experience would be slightly different then the first go around, to say the least. I actually preferred seeing 311 in an enclosed smaller space. We were on the front row and it made the experience so much more enjoyable then last time. If you don't remember, last year I was in the middle of several mosh pits and kept getting slammed and stepped on by a bunch of drunk/high kids. This year all of that was going on behind me and I was able to just hang on to the fence that stood between me and the stage, and enjoy the music. Every once in a while there would be a crowd surfer that would have to get out of the crowd but I had my little protector (Jason) to graciously lift them over my head so I wouldn't get smashed.

This was by far my favorite 311 concert and I will say the only way to see 311 is from the front row. I was so close that I even got my hand touched by Peanut (the base player). So I guess it's finally official - I am a fan, and Jason couldn't be more proud:)

in the spirit of thanksgiving

What are you thankful for?  Mormon Messages hit the streets of NY.

halloween

I'm a little late on posting about our Halloween, but we've had a few other exciting announcements so Halloween had to wait.

Because Halloween was on a Saturday this year we decided we wanted to rent a car and get out of the city.  Last year we visited the ESP in Philly and Jason was determined to find a haunted house to top it.  He thought for sure there had to be some great ones around the NY area, so he did a little research and found that one of the top haunted houses in the country was just a short 2 hour drive outside of the city.  After learning this we then saw the Headless Horseman Hayride on the Travel Channels top 10 haunted houses and after seeing that, we knew we had to go.  So we loaded up on Saturday morning and headed for the tiny town of Ulster Park, NY.

Well, before heading straight to Ulster Park we drove through West Point, NY and got a glance of the academy, stopped in New Paltz and did some apple picking (well we bought apples, cider and donuts at least) and then we headed up to the Catskills for a nice foliage drive.  Once again, we enjoyed the open road with all the beautiful fall leaves while Vicky told us where to go.
The haunted house said they would have to close if it was raining and it had been a drizzly morning so we were worried we had gone all that way for nothing, but the rain went away just long enough for us to get a good scare.  The Headless Horseman Hayride was located in the middle of nowhere and after going through it we knew why.  The scream park, as they call it, was complete with a hayride, corn maze and three haunted houses.  At first I thought they were going to be cheesy but once we loaded the hayride with our feet dangling over the trailer we knew we were in for a real treat.  The one thing we loved about this haunted house was that everything was big.  The props, the characters, the houses and they even had a huge horse with a headless man on top that ran up to us when we were on the hayride.  Most haunted houses use a lot of props but all of the venues at this park were filled with characters that come up and scared us.  Jason was in heaven, of course, and it was so nice to get out of the city and see the beautiful New England trees.

We were sad that we didn't get a chance to dress up this year and missed having the Larsen's Halloween party.   Jason had planned if we did have a party to go as Jon & Kate plus 8 but after seeing many Jon & Kate's around we realized that idea wasn't too original.  I guess we'll just have to think of something good for next year.

the results are in ...

And he PASSED!!  Jason just called and reported that he passed the bar. Apparently he knew yesterday that the results would be posted today but he was to nervous to tell me.  He snuck out at work and checked the results and when he called me he was so nervous on the phone I thought for sure someone had died.

I am so proud of Jason, it has been a long road and the anticipation of waiting for the results has been hard.  I knew he would pass and I am so proud of him, all of his hard work has finally paid off!

first day on the job

The day we have been waiting over 3 years for has finally come.  This morning, for the first time ever, Jason and I got to ride the subway to work together.  I've always seen those couples that ride the subway and then kiss and go their seperate ways once the have arrived at their desintation and this morning, I finally got to experience this.  I will say he was really nervous to begin his first day of work in the real world but he looked like a lawyer in his new suit and I was so proud as we said our goodbyes and I sent him on his way.  After more years than I want to think off, school is finally over and Jason has started his career.  Now, I guess you could say, our adult lives have officially begun:)

nyc marathon

My beautiful, amazing friend Megan ran the NYC marathon yesterday and we went to see her in action.  We saw her around mile 24 and she looked AMAZING!  I didn't really know what to expect and the anticipation of seeing her running up one of the many hills in Central Park made us so nervous.  We didn't want to miss her and we were so excited to see her.  Once we finally spotted her she looked incredible.  Some runners were about to die but Megan was her same old peppy self.  She stopped long enough for a hug and a photo but by just looking at her, you would never think she had just ran 24 miles.  It was very inspiring to watch the runners pass and we loved cheering them on.  It was such a fun NYC event and I am so glad I got to see Megan experience it.  Way to go, Megan!!

the blaze

Two weeks ago we visited the Van Corlandt Manor for "The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze" where we saw more than 4,000 jack o'lanterns.  It was quite the site, and a must if you live in the area, but we were a little disappointed and felt a little cheated when we looked closely and noticed several of the jack o'lanterns were in fact - plastic.  This observation didn't ruin the evening and we were still amazed by all the many pumpkins and the creative scenes they created with them.  It more than made up for missing out on the Cache Valley Pumpkin Walk and it put us in the Halloween spirit to help us get ready for this weekend - I can't wait!!

you can take the girl out of the country ...

I know sometimes we say we have it all here in the big city, but the one thing we are missing out on is country music.  Did you know that there is not a single country station that can be picked up on public radio here?  So the seldom times I do hear a random country song playing in the background I am always reminded of Utah.  Honestly, whenever I hear a country song come on it takes me back to summertime in Lewiston, 4th of July, the Cache County fair and working at the store (where country is always playing).  I don't know if it's because I never hear it anymore, so I immediately think of Utah, but I love when a song comes on and I am suddenly thinking of good old Cache Valley.

We love taking advantage of being so close to Madison Square Garden and Jason always surprises me with a good concert.  As an early birthday present this year he gave me tickets to none other than the hotest man in country music, Mr. Keith Urban.  It also helped that Sugarland was opening for them and I love their lead singer (and her accent).

Thursday night was the big night and it did not disapoint.  Sugarland was incredible and after seeing them live I love them even more.  Jason was enjoying the music but wasn't completely satisfied until after they sang "Stay".  I usually don't really like the opening act, but I must say, Sugarland was almost better than Keith.

Then Keith came out and I was mesmerized.  Okay, I wasn't really liking him at first because the music was so loud I could barely hear him singing.  But then he sat down with his guitar and sang all the good old songs I love.  I also like that he's not too twangy and that pretty much all of his songs are about love.  Jason wasn't really feeling it like I was, but I enjoyed swaying back and forth (by myself) to the music while Keith serenaded me.  My favorite part of the night was when Keith announced that his beautiful wife had accompanied him to the concert and that this was the first time on his tour that he would be singing his new song "Thank you".  He wrote it for Nicole and I just discovered it a few days before the concert and had been listening to it non stop.  I was hoping Nicole would come out on stage and grace us with her presence, but she chose to stay in the back while Keith sang to her.  I was a little disappointed that I only got a quick shot of her on the jumbo tron; but I will say, the smartest thing she ever did was get rid of crazy Tom and marry Keith.

Thank you for the early present, babe - even though you didn't enjoy it as much as I did:)

Here is his new song Thank You (sorry for the cheesy video)

family time

A few weeks ago Jason flew to UT to spend some quality time with friends and family before he starts work in November. After visiting everyone in Lewiston his family headed up to Park City for some fun. Most of their time in Park City was spent hot tubbing and swimming but they did go on the Alpine slide a few times. It was nice to have him back in NY but he enjoyed spending some time with everyone in UT.

girls weekend

Last weekend my mom, sister-in-law and niece came all the way from Utah to play with me for the weekend. This was Shae's first visit to the big city and I think she loved it. She was the best little trooper and never complained, even when she missed a nap or two.

My mom and Nicole have seen all of the touristy cites so most of our time was spent discovering new parts of Central Park, going on the row boats, seeing the big toy stores and walking arount the UWS. Shae got to see her firt musical while they were here, we tried for Lion King tickets but they were all sold out, but Shae loves Shrek so we got tickets to the musical and she was mesmerized the entire time.

I took them to all of my new favorite places to eat on the UWS and we did a lot of shopping, but most of all I enjoyed just visting with the girls and playing with Shae. The first few nights she would get a little homesick at night and say she wanted to go home but on their last night we were out and Nicole told Shae it was time to go home and she said "mom we can't go home, we are living at Sheena's house". She says the funniest things. But of all the many things we did, Shae's favorites were riding in the taxis, pushing the elevator buttons and taking the subway.

I had so much fun with the girls and hopefully we can start a new tradition of having a girls weekend in NYC.








- Sorry they are blurry.

tallest man

I walk by the Today show on my way to work each morning, and this morning I just happened to walk by the tallest man in the world. He was on the Today show and was just leaving when I passed him. At first I thought it was a man on stilts but then I realized it was all his legs, he almost doubled me in size (not really, but it felt like it). He stands at over 8 feet tall and wears a size 22 shoe. He was on the Today show to receive his award for being the newest tallest man in the world for the Guiness Book of World records.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

vma's

When we first moved to the city the VMA's were here and I remember watching the pre-show and thinking "This is just down the street, I could be there seeing all of these celebrities in person", so when I learned they were returning to the big apple this year, I was not going to be sitting in my apartment again (I love award shows). So we loaded up our camera and headed to Radio City.



We were in for a big surprise when we arrived and saw that we couldn't even get close to the front to see the red carpet (apparently a few other people had the same idea we did). So we hung out across from the back door with several other fans, hoping that somebody would come out before the show began. Lucky us, just after we arrived out came Lady Gaga in her crazy feather dress, mask wearing get up. She walked out the back door, got into a limo and drove around the block and got out on the red carpet. After that we knew we weren't going to see anyone else so we went home and watched the rest on tv.

I was glad we at least got to see the weirdest dressed celeb of the evening but I will never try to go to the red carpet again.

I thought the VMA's were pretty good ....

- Loved Jay-Z's NY song
- Wish I could move like Beyonce
- Felt bad for cute little Taylor Swift
- Think Lady Gaga is psycho
- HATE Kanye and wish he would go away

it's here

Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address. - Tom Hanks, You've Got Mail



The weather has dropped and it is officially turning into fall. School started today in NY and I sometimes secretly wish I could go back to the days when I was packing up my school supplies, setting out my clothes and laying awake in anticipation of the day to come. And how cool would it be to start school on 09-09-09?

labor day weekend

Due to Jason's studying schedule the last two months, we feel like we've had a shortened summer and because Labor Day signifies the end of summer, we decided to go out with a bang.

I had a four day weekend at work so we started the weekend on Thursday night at the US Open where we saw Sharapova and Roddick cream their opponents. The girls left a little early but right after we left Jason and Bryan worked their way to the front row and got to see Andy up close.

Andy in action


Jason sitting courtside


The rest of the weekend was spent soaking up the sun in Southampton with the Granum's, Megan, Laurel and Avery. The weather was perfect, and of course, the Hampton's was beautiful.

Kelli, Kenzie and me

We had so much fun hanging out with this little cutie who kept referring to Jason as "Baby"


Jason and Bryan


Me, Megan, Laurel and Kelli



Jason has been wanting to go to Six Flags since we moved here so we finally made it to Six Flags Great Adventure and got to ride all of the big coasters - several times. Lagoon is the only amusement park I've been to besides Disney and I have to say, Six Flags puts Lagoon to shame. But it also brought back some fond memories of my summers at Lagoon.

Finally, we ended the weekend hanging out with some friends in Central Park and enjoying Patsy's pizza and Pinkberry. It was the perfect weekend to mark the end of summer, now we are ready for fall!

aruba, jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya

We loved Aruba! We new that it was a small island but we were very surprised when we walked off the plane and there was only 1 small terminal. The weather was nice and hot the whole time we were there but thanks to the constant trade winds we had a nice breeze to keep us cool. We loved how friendly everyone was and we were greeted with many BonBini's when we arrived (welcome in Aruba).

Because it was such a small island we learned our way around pretty quickly. A few days we rented a car and discovered different parts of the island. Our favorite was finding the local snorkel spots that weren't over crowded with tourists. Baby beach was a fun little find, it was on the other end of the island but it was very shallow, enough that you could sit or lay on your back on the sand in the water.

Our hotel was in downtown Oranjestad, the Capital of Aruba, and had a few brightly painted buildings filled with jewelry shops, restaurants and souvenir shops. You can clearly see that everything on the island is geared toward tourism and they treat their tourists like royalty. Everyone was so nice, but Jason learned, that much like South America, they take their time in Aruba and would get very frustrated when things weren't done as quickly as they are here in NY. We loved this cute little island and would agree that it is in fact - One Happy Island!

Baby Beach
California Lighthouse

Boca Catalina


Downtown Oranjestad


The view of the pool from our room

The marina across from our hotel

just another day in paradise

Our hotel was located on the marina side of the island so they had a private island to make up for their lack of beach, and it did just that. They provided a boat that would pull into the lobby of our hotel and take us to the island.

This was definitely our favorite part of Aruba. The island was just what I imagined a tropical paradise to be, complete with pink flamingos. We planned this trip hoping to relax and for Jason to unwind after the bar and I don't think there could have been anything more perfect to help him do this. It had everything we needed; palm trees, lounge chairs, ample fish for snorkeling, a cafe and tennis court. Our favorite was to wake up early and be the first ones on the island. We would play a little tennis before it got to hot and then cool off with a little snorkeling and then some reading and sun bathing.

The island was sectioned off creating a lagoon so you wouldn't drift out to sea. There were tons of huge blue parrot fish you could see while snorkeling and we learned that if you went outside of the rocks into the open water there was a ship wreck with lots of fish. This quickly became Jason's favorite spot, the visibility went on forever and there were tons of beautiful tropical fish swimming around for us to see.

I get nervous when I snorkel but I loved when we would venture outside of our safe lagooned waters and Jason would hold my hand as we swam around and discovered new fish.

There were iguanas and lizards wandering around but the highlight was watching the flamingos. It was fun to see their vibrant pink feathers and watch them wonder around in the water.

Feeding the flamingos







Around the island









Blue parrot fish

Jason snorkeling

Jason on the boat


Leaving the island