trick-or-treat

I found this cute trick-or-treat bag at Tangled and True and immediately thought of Shae. This year she is going to be a yadybug (ladybug) for Halloween and I thought a little owl trick-or-treat bag would be perfect for the big night. Finding the material was a little tough out her in NY but once I got everything I had so much fun putting it all together. You can find the quick tutorial here.

** I also wanted to document that I have finally reached my 100th post and I've been blogging for exactly two years. Wahoo!!

weekend drive

Ever since we moved to the east coast we've wanted to go on a fall foliage tour but the timing was never right until this year. We decided if we didn't get away this weekend then we would miss the peak season and we wanted to make sure we were seeing the leaves at their best. After reading several fall foliage tips and some recommendations from friends we planned our route. We knew we would be doing a lot of driving and I know roads can get a little confusing out here in New England so I was worried about getting around. There are only so many different directions you can print off from mapquest, so we decided to splurge and purchase a TomTom (GPS). I must say this is probably the BEST purchase we have made in a long time. We felt that TomTom wasn't a good name for the device seeing how it was a women speaking to us, so Jason went ahead and renamed her Vicki, and she quickly became our new best friend. Usually it's me telling Jason where to go and then I forget to tell him to turn and then we are both mad at each other, but with Vicki telling us where to go, we were able to sit back and enjoy the ride.

I can't begin to tell you how much I loved this trip. I know it was just driving through New England but I can honestly say that it is at the top of my list. The trees were AMAZING. Just driving down the freeway got me excited so you can imagine how I was when we started driving through all the quaint little towns. We were going to go apple picking but then we found the Danbury Railroad Museum that takes you on a train ride to a pumpkin patch and we thought that would be fun. The trains were cute and we got to go on a turntable but the pumpkin patch was nothing special.

We then continued on through New Milford, New Preston, Kent, West Cornwall and Litchfield. As we passed through each little town there was always a cute little church in the center and after a while we began using the steeple as a landmark to reach the center of each town. As we were driving through New Preston we found Lake Waramaug and stopped to take a look. It was breathtaking. The vibrant colors of the trees looked amazing as they reflected off of the glass lake. As we drove around it the weather was perfect and we were able to roll down our windows and enjoy the breeze. For some reason I really wanted to see a covered bridge. I don't know if it's because of the movie Bridges of Madison County, but I've always wanted to see a covered bridge. Jason didn't share my enthusiasm but his attitude soon changed when we drove through it and into to the cute little town of West Cornwall.

After taking several pictures of the bridge and surrounding homes we got back into our zipcar and let Vicki take us to the village of Litchfield. I had read so much about the beautiful Litchfield Hills and couldn't wait to see the leaves. Before we left I made sure I had meals planned ahead and had read about the West Street Grill in Litchfield. It was right on the cute little main street so we stopped and shared a bowl of none other then ... New England Clam Chowder (so appropriate). Litchfield is also home to the first law school in America, Litchfield Law school, which would have been fun to see, but I realized we forgot to see it as we were half way to Bristol. In Bristol we were going to go to the Haunted Graveyard but it looked a little childish so we decided to head back to our hotel and rest after our eventful day.

The next day we drove down to Westport and enjoyed a wonderful brunch on the water as we watched the local fishermen make their daily catch. We then drove up through Weston and Jason was able to see where I nannied. I wouldn't let him drive right up to the house but I showed him where I took the kids and where I did the grocery shopping and he couldn't believe that this is where I lived. We continued on to Greenwich and drove down their cute little main street with it's many shops and restaurants and then headed on to the creepy village of Sleepy Hallow. It's not really creepy but rather cute and very Halloweeny. Can you imagine saying that you attended Sleepy Hallow High? Here we saw the famous Old Dutch Church, saw Washington Irving's grave and crossed the Headless Horseman Bridge. We had planned to take the tour of Kykuit but all the tours were sold out for the day so we'll have to save that for next year.

I don't know if it's God's way of giving us a big bouquet of beautiful colors but the rolling hills of Connecticut are beautiful this time of year. Some of the colors were so vibrant and it was amazing to see sometimes one single tree with three or four different colors. At first I said I missed the beautiful mountains of Utah but after this weekend, I think I will be okay giving up the mountains for all these beautiful trees.

Danbury Railroad Museum




Lake Waramaug





Whistling while enjoying the beauty




The Church Steeples



West Cornwall





The many colors of fall






Sleepy Hallow



And we can't forget good old NYC

lunch buddies

Check out the cuties I had lunch with today.



We had quite an exciting lunch. 3 strollers + 4 kids + 4 adults = a lot of stares in Manhattan. They act like they've never seen a baby before.

Thanks Laurel, Kelli and Elly for coming all the way over to the East side to have lunch with me.

greatest city in the whole wide world

NYC is so much better (sorry Matt & Addy).

troop 527

Bet you never thought you'd see Jason in a scout shirt.



Here he is presenting merrit badges to all his little troopers. Click here to check out their Master Scibe and Historian's blog.

welcome fall

As many others have said, fall is my favorite time of the year. I love when it starts to cool down and I finally get to bust out my cozy sweaters. I know those of you in Utah haven't been able to do this yet due to the random heat wave you're experiencing, but it's cooled off out here on the east coast and I am loving it.

I've always heard that smell is the strongest sense tied to memory and I have to say, I thinks it's true. As soon as September hit I began burning my pumpkin candels and I've already made one round of my favorite pumpkin cookies. The other day I was walking down the street and among many of the random smells I caught a wiff of one that reminded me of all the burning ditches out in Lewiston. This may not be a fall smell to most, but I always new fall was coming when all the farmer's started to burn their ditch banks. There are a few things that I miss about fall in the country. I miss the corn fields, and I love when all the stalks have dried out and every one puts them on their porches for decoration. I miss the carved jack'o lanterns, the trick or treaters running up and down the sidewalks, in fact, I miss the whole ring the doorbell and give out candy part too. I miss my mom's cheesy purple halloween lights on the front porch, putting out all the Halloween candy at the store and I even miss raking all the leaves, jumping in them and then raking them back up again.

But being in the city has it's advantages too. I love walking every where I go and feeling the cool fresh air. It's sometimes sad when you have the convenience of a car that you just jump into and go, you miss out on experiencing the fall air. I love the New England falls. I love all the trees in central park that change this time of year. And I love how all the stores are already preping for the crazy Christmas shoppers

But my favorite thing about fall is everything pumpkin. I love pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin soup, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pancakes and even pumpkin pasta, but most of all ... I LOVE pumpkin cheesecake, especially when it's from Cheesecake Factory. So I was so excited when I found this recipe from Taste and Tell and thought that all of you fall lovers out there might enjoy it too. I'm going to make it this weekend while I'm listening to conference. What's better then having a piece of pumpkin cheesecake while listening to the words of our prophet and his apostles?



Happy Fall!

The Cheesecake Factory Pumpkin Cheesecake
adapted from RecipeZaar

1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
5 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon sugar
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup canned pumpkin
3 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Make the crust by combining the graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter and 1 tbsp sugar in a medium bowl. Stir well enough to coat all of the crumbs with the butter, but not so much as to turn the mixture into paste.

Put foil partway up the outside part of an 8-inch springform pan. Press the crumbs onto the bottom and about two-thirds of the way up the sides of the springform pan. You don't want the crust to form all of the way up the back of each slice of cheesecake. Bake the crust for 5 minutes, then set aside until you are ready to fill it.

In a large mixing bowl combine the cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, and vanilla. Mix with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the pumpkin, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice and continue beating until smooth and creamy. Pour the filling into the pan. Bake for 60-70 minutes. The top will turn a bit darker at this point. Remove from the oven and allow the cheesecake to cool.

When the cheesecake has come to room temperature, put it into the refrigerator.

Caramel Sauce
from Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats who got it from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody who got it from Baking: From My Home to Yours

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1-1/2 tbsp light corn syrup
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

Put the sugar, water and corn syrup in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan, stir just to combine the ingredients and then put the pan over medium-high heat. Heat, without stirring , until the caramel turns deep amber., 5-10 minutes. Lower the heat a bit and, standing back from the saucepan add the cream and butter. When the spatters are less vehement, stir to calm down the caramel and dissolve any lumps.

if you want to destroy my sweater ....

The other day Jason called me and told he got an email from NYU with cheap tickets to to see Weezer, and that the tickets were up front on the side of the stage, so he couldn't pass them up. So we got to add another concert to the list, and had ourselves a very enjoyable evening.

We always have to arrive at the very beggining to see the opening act for the opening act. This time it was Tokoyo Police Club and I have to say, I think we will be seeing more of them in the future. But the real opening act was Angels and Airwaves. I had heard of them and liked what I had heard, so I was excited to see how they sounded live. Well, let's just say I am now in love. My favorite song was "Breathe" (which is playing right now if you have your speakers on) and was actually a very romantic song.

Weezer was great! The lead singer was very entertaining and he even had a little trampoline on stage that he would jump on while singing to the audience. "The Sweater Song" was the best. They even invited the lead singer of Angels and Airwaves to come back on stage to help them out with this one. I'm not very good at identifying artists to a song when I hear it, (this drives Jason crazy) so I was surprised by just how many Weezer songs I knew. I loved this concert, and now I love Weezer and Angels and Airwaves. I'm glad there are so many talented people in this world that enjoy entertaining me!

The lead singer of Angels and Airwaves with Weezer singing "The Sweater Song"


The lead singer


The hot guitar player with his sunglasses


Jumping on the trampoline


Angels and Airwaves



The Drummer


Tokoyo Police Club

esp revisited

Remember back in July when we went to Philly and took a tour of the Eastern State Penitentiary and said that we would definitely be going back to see it as a haunted house? Well last weekend we tagged along with our friends, Bryan and BreAnna (who love scary movies and haunted houses just as much, if not more than us), for a quick trip to the city of brotherly love.

Saturday was a busy day so we weren't able to leave until late afternoon - but as long as we had time to grab a cheese steak before getting scared, we were happy. Luckily the Larson's have a zipcar membership (our next investment) and we were able to find a car last minute. We arrived, stood in the endless line at Jim's Steaks and finally got our cheese steak. I don't know what we were more excited for, the haunted house or the cheese steaks. After we were done devouring our "steaks with wiz" we were off to the ESP.



We pulled up in the trolley and just seeing the prison at night was creepy. They had scary music playing and all the lights in the watchtowers were spinning. I love the excitement of haunted houses, there's just something about knowing that your about to get scared to death, that just makes the adrenaline start to pump. My favorite part was when we were given tiny flashlights that didn't work very well and were told to walk through the cells in the dark. Between the flashlight button not working and the fog in the room it made it very difficult to see what was in store for us ahead. I must say, ESP did a great job at getting us scared and put us in the mood for Halloween. Thanks for a great night, Larson's!

mcknights in manhattan

This post is long overdue but that doesn't mean it's not important.

Over Labor Day weekend Jason and I had the pleasure of entertaining his Uncle Scott and Aunt Alys who flew all the way from Portland to see us. They are HUGE tennis fans so they came to see all their favorites play in the US Open, but more importantly, us. One of our favorite things about living the city is having family and friends come and visit us so we can play tour guides and show them all of our favorite hot spots. Scott and Alys were the perfect visitors and loved (or acted like they loved) every place we took them.

The first night we took them to Po, a little restaurant in the West Village, I know it was no Carmine's but I think they enjoyed it. After dinner we had to take them to Magnolia's bakery so they could try the cupcakes, banana pudding and Scott's favorite - Key Lime cheesecake. I know Magnolia's is known for their cupcakes but they make so many more wonderful goodies then cupcakes. The second night we showed them our apartment and Jason's law buildings and we were hoping to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and take them to Girmaldi's but the line was longer then I have ever seen it, so we headed back across the bridge and settled for Lomardi's.

The next couple of days they hung out at the Open and saw all of the tennis stars. Alys was able to see Federer live and was so excited to see her favorite hunk in action. In fact, they were having so much fun at the Open that they decided to give us their Yankee tickets so they could see more tennis. We sat right behind home plate. It's amazing how much more fun it is when you have good seats (thanks again). We were able to have one last meal (Scott finally got his Carmine's) and a treat with them before they headed back to Portland.




Thank you for coming and seeing us. We had so much fun chatting and laughing with you and we can't wait for you to come back and see us soon.

celebrity enrichment

Our ward has several small enrichment groups and recently started a new food enrichment where each month we try a different type of cuisine at one of the many restaurants in the city. We have the cutest girl in our ward who is a freelance food critic, as well as an amazing chef, who is in charge of this fun little group. Last night was our first activity and she took us to Merkato 55, an African restaurant in the Meat Packing District.

I was talking to my friend, Laurel, as we were waiting outside of the restaurant for the rest of our group to arrive, and all of a sudden she starts hitting me in the arm and signaling with her eyes that someone is coming. At first I was confused and didn't know what she was doing but as I turned Nigel Barker (the hot judge from ANTM) walked past. I had my back to him but from what I did see - he was looking very good. Laurel, on the other hand, made eye-to-eye contact and couldn't stop talking about it for the rest of the night.



We had a wonderful time chatting and getting to know some of the new ladies in the ward and I was loving the African cuisine. As I was chowing down on my baba ganoush (my new favorite), Liesel (the food critic) leaned over and asked me if I knew who Rachel Ray was. I replied with a simple ... "of course" and she then told me to look at the table at the end of ours ... and there she was, in all her glory. Trying not to be annoying I quietly passed the news down the table and everyone was so excited to be seeing their second celebrity of the night. Soon after we spotted her she got up to leave and walked right past our table as we all tried not to stare.



I don't know what it is, but for some reason I get so excited when I see a celebrity and I think all of the ladies shared my enthusiasm. We felt so cool to be dinning amongst celebrities and learned that Thursday night in the Meat Packing District - is the place to be. Hopefully next month our celebrity streak will continue.

favorites

I had so much fun writing about each country we visited. I know they were long but in 20 years I will look back and treasure the memories of this wonderful trip. When I got back I was certain that Stockholm was my favorite, but after writing about each country I'm not sure which I liked best. Each had something unique that I will never forget. I enjoyed taking so many pictures and hope you all enjoyed seeing them. I know I posted a lot but sometimes I just couldn't decide which one I liked best, and believe me, there were a lot that didn't make it on the blog.

Several of you have commented on my posts but I also know there are a lot of you out there reading this who don't comment. So, for all you readers - I'm interested to know what your favorite was? Whether it was a country, a landmark, a story, or just a specific picture, I want to know. Don't be shy ... one of my favorite things about blogging is when I get a comment from someone I never knew read my blog or when I hear from a friend that I haven't talk to in awhile.

Here's a recap of all the countries to help you remember your favorites:

- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Tallinn, Estonia
- St. Petersburg, Russia (day 1 & 2)
- Helsinki, Finland
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Berlin, Germany
- Arhus, Denmark

Or just scroll to the very bottom of the page and start reading.

** I took all of the pictures posted but I have to admit that I did photoshop them a little to make the colors look a little brighter.

arhus, denmark

Our final stop of the cruise was the Viking town of Arhus. We boarded the bus for the last time and first headed through the countryside to Silkeborg where we stopped at the Silkeborg Museum. Here we got to see how the Vikings lived, the clothes they wore and even how the ladies styled their hair. However, the highlight of the museum was the famous Tollund Man.

The Tollund Man is the naturally mummified corpse of a man who lived during the 4th century BC. He was found in 1950 buried in a peat bog on the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark, which preserved his body. Such a find is known as a bog body. Tollund Man, and in particular the head and face, was so well-preserved that at the time of discovery he was mistaken for a recently deceased murder victim. However, in 1950 they were only advanced enough to preserve the head so in the museum they have made a replica of the body that was found with the actual head. I know it sounds kind of creepy but it was amazing to be staring at a body that was over 2,000 years old. From the remains that were found in his stomach, archaeologists believe that the man was killed as a sacrifice to the gods.

After seeing a second female bog body, we left the museum and headed for our second stop, Himmelbjerget. Himmelbjerget, also known as Sky Mountain, is set 455 feet above see level and is known for its dynamic scenery and chain of beautiful blue lakes surrounded by lush forests. On our way to and from Sky Mountain we saw several Christmas tree farms and I felt like I was in the North Pole (with out snow, of course) and I also saw my first thatched roof.

It was a beautiful countryside and although our tour was short that day, it was nice to have one last glance at Denmark's beauty. That night we had our last dinner with our friends who were assigned to our table and saw the final performance by the wonderful singers and dancers of the Eurodam.

The next morning we were up early so that we could listen for them to call our number. We said our last goodbyes to our stateroom and headed to the airport. It was a zoo when we arrived at the airport. Just imagine 300 country bumpkins trying to find their way around a Danish airport.

We finally found the check-in line and after about 40 minutes of standing in line we made it to the front. I checked my bags and was ready for home but the lady said that my mom was not ticketed for the flight, therefore she could not assign her a seat. Apparently, the ticket my mom gave her (the one the travel agency gave my mom) was only an itinerary and she couldn't find her in the system without a ticket number. Immediately I started freaking out and frantically ran around the entire airport looking for one of the three travel agents to come and help my mom. They were no where to be found and I was so upset that I started crying because I'll I could think about was my poor mother being stranded in Copenhagen while the rest of us boarded the plane. Meanwhile, my mother waited patiently by the ticket office hoping that I would come to her rescue. When I couldn't find any one to help I asked the women in the ticket office if there was anything she could do. She said that my mother could buy another ticket to get her home and then get reimbursed for her other ticket later, or I could go stand in another line and try talking to someone else. I was not going to have my mom buying another ticket when I knew she already had one and I was determined to get her on the plane with me, so I went and stood in the other line. After a few minutes I finally got a helpful women that figured out the problem and located my mom's ticket number in less then 5 minutes. She was confused as to why the other women wasn't able to find it but at this point I didn't care. My mom got her ticket and she wasn't seated next to me but that was the least of our worries. We boarded the plane and the nice man sitting next to my mom graciously gave up his seat and TOGETHER we flew to Newark.

We landed and went back through customs and sadly parted ways. I caught a cab, and was never happier to see my tiny apartment. About 3 hours later I received a phone call from my mom who was still in New York. Had we known her flight would be leaving 5 hours late, I would have invited her to come to my place so that she could rest. She finally made it home at 2 in the morning and this time her luggage made it too.

It was so nice for it to be just me and my mom. I learned things about my mom that I never knew before and it was so nice for us to just chat face to face for awhile instead of over the phone. This trip was a once in a life time opportunity. I saw things I know I never would have if it weren't for this cruise. And while it was really busy and I sometimes felt like they were trying to cram way to much in, I am glad that they did. I loved traveling abroad and hope that this trip was the first of many trips out of the country. Sadly, Jason was not home when I got home and I had to wait 3 more days to see him, making it a total of 17 days apart. This was not easy for us and hopefully we won't ever have to be apart for that long again.

The Tullund Man


Sky Mountain



Thatched Roof