she's 2!

Yes, that's right ... this cutie is 2 today. She is such a big girl; I talked to her on Sunday and when I asked her when her birthday was and she told me ... "in two days". I know I am her aunt, but this girl is honestly the smartest 2 year old I know. Everything she does makes us laugh and we are so happy she is apart of our family.

We gave her a NYC counting book for Christmas and Nicole told us that she reads it to her everynight and that right when she picks it up Shae yells "thats where Jason and Sheena live - in New York!", we are so happy she hasn't forgotten us. But my favorite is when I'm talking to her and we are saying goodbye and she says, "I love you, Sheena". That, and each time we give her a hug and she gives us a kiss to follow, just melts our hearts.

Happy Birthday, Shae! We love you!

number 44

Yesterday I sat in the pantry on the 22nd floor of our building with 40+ of my coworkers gathered around as we watched Barack Obama be sworn in as our 44th President. I thought it was a special moment for our country and something I might never experience again. As we all sat in the crowded room I couldn't help but notice the reverence in the room and among the crowds in DC. I was touched by how many times God was mentioned and happy to know that it is he who are country was founded on and that he hasn't been forgotten. I enjoyed the program and thought Obama delivered a very inspiring speech, although I think I could have done without the rhyming conclusion of Rev. Lowery's benediction (and when white will embrace what is right - a little inappropriate don't you think?).



My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many.

it's freezing ...

and there is nothing to do. So I thought I'd add my love songs to the blog to help you get excited for Valentine's Day (that is less than a month away). I don't know what it is about 80's love songs, but they are my favorite. And of course, it wouldn't be Valentine's without a few classic country love songs in the mix. Enjoy!

P.S. Did you see the plane that crashed into the Hudson yesterday? Crazy.

a little behind

I realize we are almost halfway through January and I am just now getting around to posting about Christmas, but it's taken me a little longer to get back into the swing of things this year (not a great way to start 2009).

We had a wonderful time seeing friends and family while in Utah. After being away for so long it's nice to have some time with the ones we love and catch up and talk about the good old days. We spent our time going back and forth between our parents homes with different family parties and dinners and rang in the New Year with old friends. I was a slacker with the camera this year and only took pictures of Shae opening presents.

She was once again the star of the show at my parent’s house. Everything was centered around this little girl and we just couldn't get enough of her. Our favorites were all the hugs and kisses she loved to give us each time she saw us. My favorite was the excitement of Christmas morning. She is still too young to understand who Santa is but she does know that he brings her presents. My dad was dead set on her knowing who was coming so the days leading up to Christmas were spent coaching her with questions on who was coming. He would continue to ask her who was coming and then she knew she was supposed to say Santa. My favorite was Christmas Eve when we were all gathered around the table and my dad asked Shea who was coming and she paused as we all stared at her, waiting to hear her response. After a few seconds she blurted out ... ummm Jason! It was hilarious, and she thought she was so funny when we all told her Jason was coming but there was someone else coming too.

I just want to thank all of our family and friends for making time to spend with us and our wonderful families for spending so much time entertaining us while we were home.

Shae and Papa - waiting for Santa to come


Christmas Morning


Talking to Cinderella on her new princess phone


Wearing all her new presents


Enjoying the paper more than the presents

simply spectacular

Last night was my third time seeing the Rocketts and it continues to get better and better each time I see it. From the march of the toy soldiers to the live nativity -it is the perfect show to put me in the Christmas spirit. Jason and I were able to enjoy the lights before we went and it was a perfect night. The snow was falling and the city was twinkling - just how I like it.






We are leaving for Utah on Saturday and I was so excited to hear that there is snow on the ground. There really is nothing like a white Christmas. This will probably be my last post before Christmas so I want to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas. I hope it's filled with love, laughter and family.


The Rockefeller Christmas tree

girls weekend

Last weekend my sister-in-law, Nicole, and her friend, Jessi, came to town to check out the city at Christmas and they were nice enough to let me tag along while Jason was busy preping for finals. They were the funnest visitors ... everything I showed them they loved and everything they tried was the best they'd ever had. We had a busy schedule but they were such troopers as they braved the ice cold NY wind.

Here's a recap of all that we did and saw in the short time they were here:

Thursday
- Rockefeller Center
- Del Frisco's
- Christmas Spectacular

Friday
- World Trade Center/Statue of Liberty
- China Town
- Little Italy
- Magnolia Bakery cupcakes
- Hairspray

Saturday
- Shop, Shop, SHOP
- 34th st. (H&M and Macy's), 5th Ave., Times Square
- Holiday shops at Bryant Park
- Department store windows
- Dylan's Candy Bar & Serendipity

Sunday
- Sunday Brunch at Sarabeth's
- Central Park
- FAO Schwartz
- Brooklyn Bridge & NYC Pizza

Thanks for coming and playing with me in the city, maybe next year we can convince everyone to come and see us at this magical time of the year.

thanksgiving in a box

Once again we received our smoked turkey from Theurer's Quality Meats and it was perfect. From the moment we opened the box we could smell it's smoky goodness. This, above all other packages, is our favorite surprise that comes in the mail. It is a tradition in our family to always have smoked turkey and I can honestly say it wouldn't feel like Thanksgiving without it. Once you've had it smoked, you can never go back. So thank you mom and dad, for making our Thanksgiving Day complete - we've been eating smoked turkey sandwiches all week.

Because Thanksgiving was a week later this year and Jason's finals are a week earlier, he has been feeling the weight of finals a little bit earlier this year. So we decided to take it easy and have a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving together. I start to feel a little neglected this time of the year so it was so nice to have him all to myself for once. I know I'm a sell out, but this year we changed things up a bit and went to a restaurant for the big meal. It was so nice not to have to plan out a menu and stress over the details. I did, however, make a few of the traditional items that you just have to have and we enjoyed them all weekend long.

For dinner we went to Sarabeth's at Central Park South. It was wonderful and they had everything a traditional meal would have, so we didn't miss anything. Because we were right by the park we decided to take advantage of our time and see a little more of the park. It is amazing that I have lived here for 2 1/2 years and I still see something new each time I go. We have never been on a carriage ride through the park and we usually try to avoid the tourist traps (because heaven forbid someone mistake us for a tourist) but I enjoyed our relaxing trip and thankfully our horse didn't have Beefarino on his Thanksgiving menu (Seinfeld joke).

After dinner we went to Four Christmases and then headed home to watch our classic Christmas favorites - Christmas Vacation and Home Alone. Although I missed seeing family it was nice to have a day with just the two of us. My favorite thing of all the many NYC things I love, is to simply walk around the city seeing all the amazing sites while holding hands and it was so nice to be able to take time to reflect and remember all that we are thankful for in this amazing city.

a good day

Yesterday our church was held at the Hammerstein Ballroom for a special stake conference for Jeffrey R. Holland and I was truly touched by his words. I was excited for a little change of venue, and only in New York can you attend church in a grand ballroom, but it wasn't the venue that made it such a good day.

I have always loved Elder Hollands talks and he is Jason's favorite speaker at conference, but yesterday he seemed to know just what I have been struggling with and he said just what I needed to hear. He touched on the tough times we are experiencing with the financial crisis here in NY and how so many in our stake have been effected, as well as the recent protests against our church. His words were bold and straight forward as he told us all that we need to be stronger in these tough times but the part I loved the most was when he asked us all if he could give us a special blessing, expressing how much he would love to bless us all individually but couldn't. It was amazing to listen as he blessed the men, woman and children of the Manhattan stake along with the others who weren't in attendance. This was something I have never seen before and I truly felt the spirit in that beautiful hall. I am so grateful for good days.

grandma's lil' helper

As you can see, they start them out young in my family. Shae has been helping at the store so my mom decided to make an apron just her size and put her to work. She put pockets on her apron and Shae quickly learned that they are perfect for hiding little treats.

sytycd

Last night I ventured over to New Jersey with three of my friends for the So You Think You Can Dance concert. This was my second time seeing the show with these ladies and we had a great evening seeing our favorite dances. While Newark was no Atlantic City we still had a wonderful time but we are keeping our fingers crossed that maybe next year they will bring it back to the city.



Once again we were amongst several hundred teenage girls but we had two very enthusiastic moms behind us that kept us entertained. The dances were amazing and the crowd went wild when they announced the Bleeding Love dance with Chelsea and Mark (especially Laurel). We were a little disappointed that we didn't get to see the Bride and Groom dance with Chelsea and Mark and a few other routines, and thought they could have left out some of the cheesiness, but I was happy to see that Utah was well represented with 3 of the dancers from my home state (what can I say, we know how to move). I had another great night with the girls, thank you for arranging it all, Kyndra. It was 4-real!!

decision 08

Because I use this blog as a journal I wanted to post last night's historical event. I will admit I don't really get into politics as much as I probably should, but for the first time I tried to really listen to both sides and express my opinions. As I listened I was sometimes disappointed in both sides for decisions they had made and things that were said and I was often confussed as to who I would vote for. Last night America made it's decision and it was a very special moment for our country to elect the first African American as our 44th president. I was touched by both Obama and McCain's speeches and after all the debating and arguing I was once again, proud to be an American. I hope this change will bring our country closer together in these hard times and it will be interesting to see what President Obama will do to make those changes.


"If there is anyone out there who doubts that America is a place where anything is possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
Young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled, Americans have sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of red states and blue states. We have been and always will be the United States of America.
It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America."


"Let there be no reason now for Americans to fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on Earth. I pledge to him to do all in my power to help him lead us. We fought as hard as we could, the failure is mine--not yours ... I'm so deeply grateful to you ... Today, I was a candidate for the highest office in the country I love so much, and tonight, I remain her servant."

live from new york it's ....

Yes, that's right, Jason and I were at Saturday Night Live this weekend and got to see the McCain/Fey duo in action.

I have to say, this experience was by far the coolest thing I have ever done in New York. In order to get tickets to SNL you have to send an email to NBC during the month of August and your name is picked from a lottery. This was the third time I had sent in my info and I guess it was a charm. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. I was a little disappointed that Amy Poehler had her baby last week but seeing Tina Fey as Sarah Palin more then made up for it. We figured one of the presidential candidates would be making an appearance and a couple of weeks ago there were rumors that Obama would be on the show but it wasn't until Friday morning that we found out that John McCain (The Maverick) would be on.

We arrived early and stood in line for 2 hours before the show even began but going early paid off when we got seats right in the middle. Because John McCain was there we had to go through very tight security and the studio was crawling with the secret service. When we sat down we could already guess some of the skits we would be seeing. Directly in front of us was the set for The View and over on the side was the Target set, which Jason was very excited to see, Kristin Wig is his favorite and especially when she does her Target skits.

The host for the night was Ben Affleck and the special musical guest was David Cook. I have to say, Ben did a great job. I loved his Alec Baldwin impersonation but thought Keith Olbermann was a little overbearing (which is exactly how he really is). As soon as Ben would finish a skit there was a woman immediately by his side dragging him away to prepare for the next skit. It was very interesting to attend SNL and see what goes on behind the scenes. As we were watching a skit on one side of the stage the crew was busy putting together a set on the other side. But what I thought was most interesting was how they test their material on the audience during the dress rehearsal and if it doesn't go well they cut it from the live show. There were several things we saw that didn't make it. In fact, during the Weekend Update one of the stories Seth Meyers told wasn't that funny and he remarked that he could read the audience like a book and that one would be for dress rehersal only. We noticed little things like Ben's hat from the Target scene was missing to a whole skit was cut out. At first I was a little disappointed that I didn't get tickets for the live show but I am really glad we got to go to the dress rehearsal, we were able to see more skits and then watch the live show and see how they changed it.
My favorite's of the evening were the McCain/Palin skit, The View with Alec Baldwin, The Weekend Update (especially the voting machine malfunction song) and the Target skit.


We laughed the entire night and we even think we personally got a wave from John and Cindy after the show.

For Halloween we attended the Greenwich Village parade for a third year in a row and while there were some pretty crazy costumes, this year I felt like people just weren't as creative as they have been in the past. Everything was pretty much a repeat from last year, there were way to many jokers and every female with long brown hair was Sarah Palin (not original at all). There were a few that Jason and I felt like we needed to close our eyes but I was able to get some pictures of a couple of good ones.
We thought this Joker looked cool sitting on top of the phone booth


Yes, that's a man





Us at the parade


** Now that it's November, Sheena's Christmas Playlist is officially back on the blog. Enjoy!

pretty woman

People's reactions to opera the first time they see it is very dramatic - they either love it or they hate it. If they love it, they will always love it. If they don't, they may learn to appreciate it but it will never become part of their soul.
- Richard Gere, Pretty Woman


Last weekend Jason and I had our first experience at the opera and we loved it (I wouldn't say Jason LOVED it, but he did enjoy it). We saw Madamme Butterfly and it was very dramatic, tragic and moving. It was a simple opera (I think this is why we enjoyed it so much) but the final scene with Butterfly and Pinkerton nearly brought me to tears.

Jason surprised me with a romantic dinner at Benjamin and then we were off to the opera. The whole night felt like a movie ... I met Jason after work at the restaurant and there he was standing outside the restaurant all dressed up in his suit and coat, and then as we walked into The Met with all of it's beautiful chandeliers, but our favorite was when we went to find our seats and realized we would be sitting in our own private box. At this moment ... I felt like I was Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.

From the moment the crystal chandeliers were raised I was enthralled. In our box we had subtitle monitors in front of us and it was so fun to be able to read what was being sung to us in Italian. I knew the story of Madamme Butterfly but it was so amazing to see the production live, and especially at The Met. The sets were beautiful and I loved the scene after Pinkerton marries Butterfly and they are outside under the moonlight.

After the show ended we decided we needed to go to Del Frisco's for our favorite lemon cake. It was a perfect way to end our enchanted evening.

Inside The Met


The crystal chandeliers


On Saturday the birthday festivities continued with another pretty woman, but this time she was a lot less pretty and a lot more woman. Jason and I attended the annual Halloween party in the Mercer party room as Dog the Bounty Hunter and his wife Beth. Now if you've seen the show you know exactly what I mean when I say a LOT more woman. We were quite the site and we had some good laughs. It's always fun to see everyone's costumes and I love how creative everyone is. This year the Larson's blew us all away with their creativity when they showed up as their Mii's from Nintendo Wii. I have never seen anyone get into Halloween like these two and I have to admit I had been looking forward to seeing their costumes all day.

We had fun watching the guys rock out to rockband, enjoyed wonderful soup and Halloween treats and played BreAnna's Halloween version of CatchPhrase.

The bounty hunters - Dog and Beth (check out Jason's tattoo)


The real deal (How did we do?)


The group shot




Sunday we went to church, relaxed and Jason surprised me with some cupcakes (the NY birthday cake). Thank you for all of the birthday wishes, I had a wonderful birthday weekend.

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