writing my story

Last night for the Relief Society Birthday Party the lesson was focused on preserving our families history and they had several women talk about the different ways we can record our history (i.e., scrapbooking, keeping a journal, blogging, working on family genealogy and creating photo books).

After enrichment I came home feeling like I needed to do more to tell my story. I have loved looking back and reading my high school journals and sometimes I have even looked back at my first few posts just to remember what we did when we first moved to NY. I will admit I can be a bit cheesy when I write on my blog but hopefully some day my children will appreciate it and love hearing about my life(Who knows, maybe they will think I'm cool because I kept a blog). But I realized that I'm not writing enough and that my family is missing out on parts of my life. So I am making a goal to write more, not just for my future family but for me, so that I don't forget all of our adventures.

When I got home my new Ensign was sitting on the coffee table. I love when I get the Ensign, I usually spend the night reading the first presidency message and other articles. Ironically I opened the Ensign and the first article I saw was titled "My Journal, My Testimony" by Salli Hollenzer. I was thrilled, after such a wonderful lesson at enrichment and now this article I new that this was something that I needed to start doing.

In the article Salli quotes President Spencer W. Kimball as saying, "begin today and write ... your goings and your comings, your deeper thoughts, your achievements, and your failures, your associations and your triumphs, your impressions and your testimonies. We hope you will do this, ... for this is what the Lord has commanded, and those who keep a personal journal are more likely to keep the Lord in remembrance in their daily lives."

I loved this quote. It's so inspiring and amazing to think that when I am pondering my thoughts and feelings and trying to put them on paper I do have the Lord in my thoughts and it helps me to realize how grateful I am for all that I have been given. It truly is a testimony builder for me.

I just wanted to share this amazing quote with all of you so that maybe it will motivate you to start writing your own story.

Thanks to all the enrichment sisters for such a wonderful evening.

mystic, ct

Last week was Jason's spring break and because I had to work, he stayed home and studied. So we decided we needed to have a little break before the finals frenzy begins so we planned an Easter weekend getaway to Mystic. We didn't know much about Mystic, other than the fact that everyone in the ward has been there, so it had to be cool. We just wanted to rent a car and get out of the city, a place were no honking cabs could be heard and a view of something other than buildings. Mystic was just that.

I got off of work a little early on Friday and we were off. I was a little nervous to navigate us out of the city but it was quite easy and luckily there was no traffic. It was so fun to drive through Connecticut and remember the nanny days. I haven't been back since I nannied so there was a lot of things I had forgotten.

After 2 1/2 hours we had finally reached Mystic, and of course, our first stop on the list was the infamous, Mystic Pizza. The restaurant was completely different from the movie. They had all the pictures from the movie on the walls and of course the movie was playing on all the TV’s throughout the restaurant. Sadly the pizza wasn't what it was in the movie so we were a little disappointed, obviously it was missing the secret ingredient in the sauce. I think we've been spoiled with all the NY pizza and now no other kind of pizza tastes as good.



The next day we relaxed, ate breakfast and got our tickets to the Mystic Aquarium. Now you're probably thinking it's quite childish for two adults to go to the aquarium without children, but if you know Jason and his obsession with anything that has to do with the ocean then you will know that it was more like one adult and one child going to the aquarium. We had such a good time, it's not tourist season in Mystic yet so there weren't any crowds to fight (something we have become quite good at since moving to NY). We got to watch them feed the whales, play with the sea lions and Jason got to touch his first sting ray.




After our adventures at the aquarium we went to Main Street and explored all the little shops. The Mystic River runs right through the center of town and in the middle of Main Street they have a giant drawbridge. We walked around town, got some ice cream, walked up and down the river and then we decided to go for a drive. Why walk when you can drive, right? (As you can see we took full advantage of having a car)




It was so fun to drive around. Mystic is this picture perfect little town that you always see in the movies and wish you could live there. We checked out all the big homes along the river and I even spotted a few I wouldn't mind living in one day. That night we ate dinner at the S&P Oyster Co. and had the BEST seafood I have ever had. Our lobster bisque was the best we've ever had and our scallops were amazing. We were seated right by the windows that overlooked the river and we had a nice, quiet romantic dinner.

One of the homes I loved.


The next morning our hotel hosted a large Easter brunch with everything you could imagine. After stuffing ourselves we walked around the little seaport village they call the Mystic seaport. It's a museum that runs along the river that is literally a little town that they have preserved from the late 1800's. We got to see the little stores and homes of all the people who lived in the village, the shipyard, how ropes are made and we even got to climb aboard a few of the whaling ships and check out the sleeping arrangements. I think there's a reason why people were shorter back in those days; tall people could have never lived on one of those ships for months at a time. In fact, Jason was getting claustrophobic after 5 minutes.

The Seaport Museum




We had such a nice weekend relaxing in Mystic and would recommend it to any of you New Yorkers who are looking for a quick getaway.

kelli's shower

On Saturday I helped host a baby shower for my friend Kelli Granum. She is having a girl so we decided a pink theme would be appropriate. It was held in the basement of my building. It's a little dark and drab so to cheer things up we covered everything with pink. I made pink and white Martha Stewart tissue pom-poms (thanks Jill), we had a variety of pink foods and drinks and we placed different shades of pink flowers around the room to soften things up. There are so many things you can do with pink and it was so fun decorating and seeing it all come together. We are so excited for Bryan and Kelli and we can't wait to meet baby Granum!!

I know I'm posting a lot of pictures but there are a lot of you who wanted to see them.

go red for women and new beginnings

Last Friday I was able to attend the Go Red for Women luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria as a guest at the KPMG table, thanks Stacey!! At first I thought it would be just a boring lunch but decided to go because I knew it would be fancy if it was at the Waldorf. Well little did I know it was going to be much better then just lunch.



So we arrived, checked our coats and walked into the grand ballroom that was decorated red, of course. The center pieces were beautiful and made everything look so elegant. When we walked in there were about 50 tables and I was certain ours would be towards the back. I was wrong; our table was front and center. Now I don't know if the table location depends on the amount of the donation but I have to say, KPMG picked a good spot.

We sat down and our food was already there waiting for us. As we began to eat the MC welcomed all of as well as the two special guests, Martha Stewart and Tim Gunn. Yes that is right I was sitting one table away from Tim and two away from Martha. I did see and talk to Tim on our flight home from Houston last October but it's always fun to see him looking so sharp in his fancy suits.

Martha was the Honorary Guest and she gave a very nice speech. She talked about the American Heart Association, the Health Center she justed opened and her mother. She looked so nice and was cracking quite a few jokes.




(This is a picture I found of last years dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria)

After the lunch was over we were going to ask Tim who wins Project Runway, Christan or Gillian? But he was cornered by someone more important. We were a little bummed but were surprised with a wonderful goodie bag filled with little gifts. We got a copy of Martha's body + soul magazine, a book by one of the doctors that spoke, Steve Madden flip-flops, a Coach key chain and many more little surprises. I really felt like a movie star when they get there little goodie bags from all the designers at the Oscars. Thank you KPMG, for a wonderful afternoon!

Friday night was our YW's New Beginnings and it was such a wonderful night. I was a little worried that the program wasn't going to work but everything worked out perfectly and we had a very spiritual evening. Each YW contributed, Jenny gave a wonderful talk on her favorite value and Lisa played a beautiful musical number on her violin. The bishop ended with a wonderful message on New Beginnings and I hope it inspires the girls to start working on there personal progress.

I took a picture but I will post it later.

did you know?

My aunt sent me this list with so many helpful tips, so I thought I would pass it along.
Jason tried reheating pizza on the skillet and it really tasted like he had just ordered it. It was so much better then reheating it in the microwave and my mom said after reading the list she went and washed her lint filter but I guess we'll have to wait a while to see if it prevents her from burnging the house down.
I'm excited to try out all the helpful tips. They may not work, but I guess it never hurts to try.

Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little "stringy things" off of it. That's how the primates do it.

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.
Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andesmints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simple chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream.

And.
1. Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

2. Easy Deviled Eggs
Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

3. Expanding Frosting
When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

4. Reheating refrigerated bread
To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

5. Newspaper weeds away start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

6. Broken Glass
Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

7. No More Mosquitoes
Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

8. Squirrel Away!
To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

9. Flexible vacuum
To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

10. Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and -- ta da! -- static is gone.

11. Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

12. Foggy Windshield?
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

13. Reopening envelope
If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

14. Conditioner
Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair...

15. Goodbye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2" with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

16. Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it "home," can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

17. INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS
The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean.

(I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.)
He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink, ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material - I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like.well,...the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free -- that nice fragrance too, you know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box, well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to catch fire & potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (& to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out & wash it with hot soapy water & an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I'd share!
Note: I went to my dryer & tested my screen by running water on it. The water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water & a nylon brush & I had it done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it the water ran right Thru the screen! There wasn't any pudding at all! That repairman knew what he was talking about!

happy valentine's day

I love Valentine’s Day, not for the flowers, balloons or gifts but that, for one day, we are able to remember the ones we love and how much they mean to us. It's the one day when everyone seems to be just a little bit nicer. Already at work I have had several people tell me "Happy Valentine's Day" and I love it. How can that not make your day a little brighter? I hope you all have a wonderful day and take the time to remember all the ones you love.

And to my own husband I would like to say that I love you more then you will ever know. These last 5 years have been amazing (I can't believe we've been together that long)!! We've done so much and I have loved every minute. I'm so proud of you and all you do, you know what you want and you always work so hard to make sure that you get it. I know these next few years are going to be quite an adventure and I'm so happy that I get to be by your side through it all. Love you!!

For your enjoyment, I have added a few of my favorite love songs to the bottom of the blog. I know some are cheesy, some are a little too country and others are kind of old but who cares ... it's Valentine's.

new york friends

When we first moved to the city I was really homesick. Jason was studying and I had no job and no one to talk to. I didn't know what I was going to do and I felt so lost and alone in this big city. The one thing that has helped me to love and appreciate living in this wonderful city is the friends that I have made while I've been out here.

There is something about the women in our ward and how we all seem to be there for one another that has made the transition to a big city that much easier. Every week at church I have friends ask me how my week is going. If I ever need anything I have ten friends volunteering to help me and if I'm feeling lonely because Jason's finals are approaching and he's constantly studying I always know that there will be an invitation to watch a favorite show or go out to dinner.

I have an amazing book club that I am so grateful to be apart of were each month I get together with some of the finest women I know. We have the greatest discussions and after each meeting I truly walk away feeling like each woman will be a forever friend. Along with book club I get together with a stamp club and we make cute cards each month, discuss motherhood and just laugh. These women have scared me so much that sometimes I don't think I can handle childbirth but at the same time have helped me to realize just how doable having a baby in the city can be. Each are amazing mothers and I hope I can follow their examples when I'm ready to have my own children.

But the one thing I love most about my friends in the city is how we all need each other. With busy husbands working late nights and weekends and other husbands traveling or studying sometimes we only have each other. I just want to say thank you to all of the friends I have made. Each of you have touched my life in one way or another and I know we will always be friends.

Speaking of friends, this past weekend we had a fun filled Saturday night with friends. We went to Bennihanna's, a first for Jason and I, with Bryan and Kelli, Joe and Megan, and Laurel and Brad; where we were entertained by our chef while he creatively cooked our food in front of us. After dinner we went back to our apartment and had birthday cake for Bryan's birthday, Happy Birthday Bryan, and played a mean game of wii tennis. My favorite of course was just visiting and laughing. We had a wonderful night, thanks guys!!

go giants!!

Last night, as most of you know, the NY Giants beat the New England Patriots. Now, I enjoy the superbowl, I like having friends over and enjoying good food, I enjoy watching the funny commercials and sometimes even the half time show but I never knew a football game could be so important to some many people. This was such a huge upset and the fact that the Giants ruined the chances of the Patriots finishing with a perfect season makes the victory that much sweeter. I will admit I didn't really watch the game but it has been amazing to be apart of the win last night.

Immediately after their victory all the Giants fans of Manhattan began screaming from their apartment windows, hundreds of cabs honked their horns and some fans even ran up and down the streets screaming. Today at work there is constant chatter of the victory and no work is being done.

It's so exciting to be apart of a winning team. Unfortunately the Jazz have never made it far enough so I never knew what it was like ... maybe this year!

Tomorrow there will be a parade for the Giants up 5th Avenue and hopefully I'll get a chance to go and take pictures so you all can see our winning team.

Correction: The parade is going to be downtown at 11 am so I'm not going to be able to see it ... sorry-no pictures. Thanks for the info Chris.

President Gordon B. Hinckley

Thank you for being such a good example to us all ...

(You can scroll down to the bottom of the page to stop the music)

Also, My friend, Elise Soukup, writes for Newsweek and this is an article she wrote on the future of the church.

happy birthday shae!!

Yesterday was Shae's birthday. We weren't able to go to the party but we were kind of dissapointed to hear that she only nibbled at her cake ... we were hoping she would put her face in it. Shae is the cutist little girl, she's loves to say hi, dance to grandma's loud music, pull funny faces at the camera and is bravely walking from one standing object to the next. We loved seeing her at Christmas and we can't wait till we get to see her again. Each time we see her she has grown and her little personality is more developed. We can't wait for the day when she will get to talk to us over the phone. We love you Shae!!

christmas in review

I know Christmas and New Year's have already come and gone and I'm way behind on the posting but I'm starting my new year's resolutions a little late this year, so lets hope I can do better. After going home and talking with family and friends I realized that a lot of you check our blog you just never comment. So I will try to do a better job for all of you silent stalkers out there.

Our Christmas was wonderful. Jason turned in his last final the day before we left so on Friday we were able to enjoy the lights of the city before we headed out of town. After a long day of flying (remind me never to book a flight with layovers again) we arrived in Utah to a beautiful winter wonderland. Last year when we went home there was no snow and I felt a little cheated. It snows in New York but after the fifty million cabs drive through it it just doesn't look as nice. So this year I was so happy to see Utah the way it should be at Christmas.

We spent Christmas eve and Christmas day going back and forth between families. We are so grateful they all live so close so we can enjoy the special day with everyone. The highlights of Christmas this year was watching Shea open all of her presents from grandpa and grandma (3/4 of the presents under the tree were hers), the Wii was a HUGE hit and worth the pain of having to lug it from NY to Utah and back again and Nicole and Josh's wedding. Unfortunately we had a little scare when grandpa Larry had a heart attack the day after Nicole's wedding but we were all so glad that we were able to be there for him and happy to hear that the recovery is going well.

Now I know the real reason everyone checks the blog is to see the pictures and this year I took a bunch ... enjoy!!

Grandpa and Shea


Shea pulling a funny face while riding her new zebra


The boys playing a mean game of Wii Tennis (Trevor was the champion)


Mitch and Griffin being rockstars


Nicole and Josh after they just came out of the temple


The Twins


The McKnights


Jason's family


The whole family


The girls


The boys


Sisters


Temple Square





Grandpa and Shea again


Shea's smiles



Ricky rocking out