Lauren - Top of the Rock, Snowstorm Central Park

We took Lauren on a special date with just Brian and I one day, shortly before and in celebration of her 8th birthday.  I love that Lauren, even at a young age, prefers experiences to physical gifts.  Her birthday request this year was to go to the top of the Rockefeller Center, so we had to make sure it happened.  Brian also used the opportunity to take some pictures for her baptism- can't complain about the backdrop in your baptism pictures when you have this view!  Love this Little Lady so very, very much.

Always doing cartwheels whenever space allows.  We weren't the only ones up here today, but we might as well have been!

Tessa was the lucky one that got to tag along for this birthday date!

We had planned to take baptism pictures a few days before our visit to the Rockefeller Center, and were hit with this crazy snowstorm!  Lauren and Brian still braved the cold and flurries and walked out to Central Park to snap a few pictures.  I looooove how they turned out.

Central Park after a snowfall is something else...even more stunning than it usually is.   Really though, Central Park in each of the four seasons is my favorite.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

For my twin sister's birthday, her husband, Christian, planned a trip for the both of them to NYC!  They stayed with us in our apartment (kicked Kate and Taylor out of their bunk beds), and Rebecca and I got to celebrate our 35th together- something we had not done for too many years.  They were only here for a couple of frreeeezing days, but they made the most of it by getting out and doing lots of fun things.  We joined them one night for a broadway show, "Matilda", and dinner altogether.  This was Christian's first broadway show and I'm pretty sure he was blown away because he mentioned feeling a lot of regret for having waited so long in his life to partake in the broadway magic.  And, "Matilda" is nothing short of magic.  Its one of my favorite shows-- I've seen it 3 times!  We ate dinner at one of our favorite places, Jacob's Pickles, on the UWS and it was delicious, rich and filling, as usual.  I loved having them in town and staying up way too late laughing and catching up.  Also, I don't think I've ever bundled up so much in my life because it was ridiculously cold out while they were here.  They need to come back when you don't have to cover every inch of your body with layers!

Next up, Beau and Amy and their 3 cute boys visited just before Christmas.  We ate a yummy pizza dinner at Patsy's and then saw the Rockettes together to ring in Christmas.  Its a really cute show- my favorite part is at the end when they do a live Nativity, with real animals (even a camel!).  I love that they conclude, even here in NYC, with the true message of Christmas; it brings such a sweet spirit.  Beau and Amy also had great tickets to "Hamilton", so they saw that one night while we babysat and then we met them for a really late dinner at The Smith- always a good choice.  We even made time during their visit to see the gorgeous Angel Christmas Tree at the Met, on the east side of Central Park.  Beau and Amy are some of our very favorite people and we will gladly take any time we get to spend with them!

One of the coolest Christmas decorations in the city are these giant red ornaments at Rockefeller Center.  We also walked down 5th Avenue to see all of the famous festive store-front decor and of course, the ribbon-wrapped Cartier store.  Santa Claus is definitely coming to our town!

Love these girls and love seeing them all dressed up for Christmas!

The Christmas shops in Bryant Park are really cool to browse around because they sell some really unique items.  These pop-up shops spring up all over the city this time of year and its kind of magical.

A couple of weeks before Christmas, we met some friends at the Brick Lane church on Park Avenue for their annual Christmas sing-along and lighting of the trees all down the famed street.  It was such a cool night, as thousands gathered and sang sweet Christmas songs together for over an hour altogether.

We also discovered the sheer magic of snow in NYC...its the BEST!!

For Christmas Eve dinner, we were invited to eat with the Buckner's at their home, along with a few other families and a group of missionaries.  It was a yummy dinner, but the entertainment was what made is extra special.  They have a tradition of putting on a talent show after their dinner, so our girls prepared to sing "If the Savior Stood Beside Me" and the Pelo's (another awesome family from our ward) all sang a few numbers and the Buckner kids played some piano- all so talented and such an incredible Spirit was shared as we ended the evening talking about the birth of Christ. 

These two Pelo sisters are crazy good at singing.  We loooove their family so much!

Because Christmas was on a Sunday this year- which is pretty much the best thing ever- we got up early and all cuddled in our traditional Christmas pajamas, opened a few presents, then got ready for church at 10.  Only sacrament meeting was held, so we made our way over to Columbus Circle for one of the best meetings, which was filled with gorgeous music and beautiful words.  We finished up with our gifts and relaxed around the house to finish off a perfect Christmas.  (Is there anything better than a crackling fire on the TV?!?! ;))

One of Taylor's favorite gifts was this Romo jersey picked out by her Dad.  We were also mildly obsessed with our pencil Christmas tree.  I think its 1 foot at its widest berth and it was the ONLY tree that we could squeeze into our over-stuffed tiny apartment.  It was really perfect though.  

Over the school break, we spent as much time together and outside as we could.  We met our good friends, the Todd's, in Central Park to play some games.  We also made our way to the American Museum of Natural History to see their origami tree- incredible! Man, I just really love Christmastime!!

Manhattan 1st Ward Christmas Pageant

Our ward put on the most magical Christmas pageant ever this year.  Our bishop and his wife organized and put it on, and assigned parts to all of the primary kids that wanted to participate.  The moms bought gorgeous matching feather wings so the girls matched, and then had gold tinsel for all of their halos- it was the perfect touch as they really sparkled up there.  They also wore their own white dresses and it turned out so pretty.  Lauren was a shepherd as well, with her staff and robes.  We have the BEST group of primary kids.   Everyone looked great and the little ones were all so reverent as the narrators (Taylor and two of her friends) spoke and they all sang about the birth of Christ.

After the pageant, typical Israeli food was catered to our building and we all sat on blankets on the floor and ate together.  It was really a unique and lovely Christmas party that definitely brought the true reason we celebrate this season into focus.

The Wise Men ascending the stage.   There is the best little boy, Henry, in our ward that walks with the aid of a walker.  He's been working really hard on getting around without the assistance of it as much as possible.   This was one of the first opportunities that he'd had to walk on his own in front of the ward, and it was such a sweet moment for everyone.  

The angelic angel narrators- Ellie, Taylor and Lauren

This was such a special and well-done Christmas party--huge thanks to our bishop and his wife for pouring themselves into making sure it turned out as gorgeous as it was.  I just can't get over how lucky we are to live in a place where people give so much of themselves for the benefit of others- our ward family is the best.

Thanksgiving with the Sedgwicks

Our first Thanksgiving on the East Coast provided us with a chance to spend the holiday with family!  We LOOOOVE that we live (kind of) close to my sister, Jessica and her 6 kids, as well as her husband, Dave.  We bought tickets on the very (un)fancy Megabus that leaves from 34th Street and drives the 3-4 hours to Baltimore.  Riding on Megabus is never without its glitches, so I purposefully reserved seats for our family and paid a little extra to make sure we were all sitting together on the top of the double-decker buses.  However, when we arrived at our pickup, there were only single-decker buses (making our top-deck seats wholly invalid).  Because we arrived shortly before departure- I mean, sitting outside with 4 kids and all of their STUFF isn't the most enjoyable thing- most of the seats were taken already.  Obviously, we expressed our reserved-seat confusion with their attendants, for which they could do nothing.  We weren't feeling too comfortable with scattering our kids all over with strangers for 4 hours, so we told the attendants our concerns.  They got on the bus and explained the situation to the customers and people shifted around and made space for all of us to sit together in two groups.  Taylor and I sat close and Brian sat with the other 3.  It worked out great and we were really grateful for people's understanding.  We watched a movie and then once that was over, Taylor and I swapped telling each other what we were grateful for the remainder of the ride.  It was a great start to a weekend filled with gratitude and family.

We arrived at the bus drop-off in Baltimore and unloaded all of our stuff onto the sidewalk and waited for Jessica to arrive to drive us the 30 minutes to their home in the suburbs.  She came, we loaded up, and then left.  The Sedgwicks live in a gorgeous part of Maryland, on a big piece of property with zip-lines, fire pits, trees to climb, woods to explore and hills to run down.  We settled in and got stuff going for our big dinner while the kids played and we even snuck some initial zip-line runs in.  We stayed up that night talking and then headed to bed.  Brian was so tired that he fell asleep in his clothes and everything!  He woke up the next morning, anxious to get ready for the day, and couldn't find his luggage anywhere.  We looked and looked, to no avail.  We figured that we must have somehow missed loading it into the car at the bus the day before so we drove quickly back and it was nowhere to be found.  We made some calls to see if it had been picked up by any other busses or people and then realized that it must've been stolen.  Luckily, Brian had his backpack with his nice camera and work laptop inside, so his luggage was filled with clothes and some medicine.  We figured that if someone really wanted to track us down, they could have easily done it, but it never happened.  Brian borrowed some clothes and other essentials for the weekend.

Their property is just amazing...and so are these two cute little girls who also happen to be the cabooses of each family.

Lots of time spent cuddling, relaxing and talking on these couches in their family room.

The kids spent most of their time playing with their cousins in the basement full of fun toys, outside in the woods and on the zip-line.  No bored kids this weekend and plenty of space to spread out! Can't ask for much more! On Thanksgiving morning, the older kids and adults went on a gorgeous run nearby and then came home to cook/bake/eat.  We made a delicious dinner, the kids made the cutest candy turkey favors and it was a really great evening.  There was a little bit of football sprinkled in there as well as a nice talk about all of the things we were deeply grateful for.

The next day we went to see Moana as a family and did a little bit of shopping.  The movie was great and one of Dave's nephews did some of the movie's illustrations, so that was a fun connection to see.  That night we made a fire in their backyard and cooked s'mores.  Dave also took the kids on tractor rides on their beautiful property.  We made some more homemade rolls and ate leftover and watched Dave's favorite, "Man from Snowy River", which he said would change our lives. ;) 

The next day we helped the Sedgwicks clean their ward building- which happened really fast with all of those extra hands!  Afterwards, we went to their famous Amish Market and ate pastries and lunch to our heart's content...donuts, pretzels, hot dogs=yummy!  We then picked up a Christmas tree and brought it home.  While we decorated it, we drank hot chocolate and played music.  Dave then hired all of the kids to pick up sticks in their backyard for 10 cents a pop and that kept them busy and motivated for a long time.  That evening, the parents went to a really nice dinner downtown that was unique and delicious.  We loved it, but mostly loved hanging out and talking!  The next day, after church, we caught our Megabus back to NYC.  It was a great Thanksgiving full of fun memories.  Thanks Sedgwicks for hosting!

Parents in town

My parents came to visit us in early November- it was a gift from my dad to my Mom for her birthday- how awesome is that?!?  We had a lot of fun and spent most of our time outside because the weather and the Fall foliage was amazing here.  They flew in Wednesday night and we stayed up chatting for a while about the recent election results.  Then, we put them up in our very fancy bunk beds (Kate and Taylor kindly vacated their bedroom for grandma and grandpa)- I'll bet they haven't slept in bunk beds since they were little kids! Mom and Dad went for walks in Central Park every day that they were here and we tried to join them as much as possible.  Its proving to be harder than I want to juggle our own family schedules on top of hosting guests and wanting to spend every single moment with them.  

Its currently freezing (snow on the ground included!) in NYC, so I'm looking at these pictures from November with a little bit of jacketless envy. :)  

We had to show my parents the view from our rooftop, which we love...we even enjoyed some banana pudding up here on my mom's birthday, which is becoming a tradition in our family!

We didn't get a picture (mostly because our resident photographer, Brian, had to work and couldn't come) of most of what we did. But, we did a lot!  I love how active and ambitious travelers my parents are!  We wanted to get cronuts at Dominique Ansel, but we thought it best to eat a proper meal first, so we found a highly-rated deli nearby and devoured our HUGE sandwiches outside on a bench in a little charming park in West Village.  Then we walked to the bakery and ate some of the yummiest things of my life.  The cronut was amazing and the chocolate cookie was probably one of the best I've ever had.  After grabbing my kids at school, we all headed downtown to Times Square to try and get discount tickets to a show. We decided on Matilda because I knew they'd love it and it was on offer that night. We bought tickets and then walked to a restaurant for dinner, where we ran into the Sedgwicks!  It was a surprise for my Mom's birthday- we were all in on it, but she was floored when she saw them nonchalantly walking around right by where we were planning on eating. It was so fun!

We ate a yummy Italian dinner and then I raced home to get their baby Jane and my kids settled and then raced back to meet my parents, Dave and Jess and Hannah for our show.  We all loved the show, even though there was a last-act replacement of Matilda herself due to the main character falling ill.  Afterwards, we crossed the street and got some famous cheesecake at Junior's.  The Sedgwicks went back to their hotel and we all went back to our apartment.

I'm so glad the Sedgwicks were in town because we had some important doctor appointments and other things going on that we couldn't miss, so they took over hosting duties and showed my mom around the city on her birthday and made her feel extra special, I'm sure.  We met up later and took the Staten Island Ferry so we could get a great view of the Statue of Liberty- and it was amazing!  We passed Lady Liberty right at sunset and then looked behind us to the lit skyline of Lower Manhattan.  Gorgeous.  Afterwards, I had to race back for church but they all went to the Sea Glass Carousel and then dinner at Chelsea Market.  The Sedgwicks headed home to Maryland that night.

The next day we went to Bryant Park to walk through the Christmas markets there.  We grabbed some lunch and then walked through the gorgeous New York Public Library, where there was a great exhibition on Alexander Hamilton that we all enjoyed.  Later that evening, we even made it to the temple down the street for a beautiful session altogether.  The Manhattan temple is really gorgeous and its even better when you're there with family.

I just think the inside of the library is so stunning.  I love the white marble and the grand architecture.

We rode the subway a lot too- I really feel like the best way to get to know a city is to use their public transportation and its so true here in NYC.

On Sunday we had our ward's primary program, which was so fantastic.  All of the kids were included and had something to speak or sing about.  I loved the message and watching my own sweet kiddos sing their beautiful music. And, I love that my parents got to see it! It was also Kate's first program that she got to watch from the pews, as she turned 12 in June.  

That night, we hosted a dinner group from our ward here in our apartment.  We had 17 people over and it was definitely a tight fit- but nothing that the native New Yorkers present weren't used to!  I'm sure we were more flustered about everyone having a seat than they were.  We had such a good time getting to know the two families better and eating a yummy dinner together.  My dad had to leave mid-meal to rush off to the airport to catch his flight.  My mom stayed for one more day and we squeezed in a really touching visit to the 9/11 Memorial Museum.  I really, really loved it and could have spent many more hours there than what we had.  We met Brian for a quick lunch (he works close to the museum) and then we headed home and got my mom ready to go for her flight later that day.  

I loved having my parents here and celebrating my mom's birthday with her!  

Election Night

This was the coolest night!  We didn't have much invested in the election as far as who won- mostly because we got disconnected from American politics while we lived in London.  But, we decided last-minute (as in 10:30 PM) to head down to Times Square on November 9 to soak in all of the energy from that lively place.  When we got to Times Square, the mood was lively and upbeat as it appeared that Clinton had a lead and would maintain it.  We watched the ABC news anchors reporting through the glass walls and the running poll results being posted all over the surrounding buildings.  The energy really was electric.  We wandered through all of the major broadcasting stations that night and NBC at Rockefeller Center was next.  While there were a lot of people around, you couldn't see much there, but the building itself was very patriotically lit for the occasion.  I love how close everything is to Times Square- we didn't spend much time walking, but were able to see a TON of the action that night.

From NBC, we walked over to Fox News, where the mood and people were entirely different.  I loved watching the famous broadcasters through the glass here on this historic night and trying to see what stations were calling what and seeing the different people all over the city.  It was crazy cool!

We walked to the Hilton, where Trump had set up camp and by now it was clear that he had won the race.  We wanted to be there when he declared the results, so we hung out for a long time right in front of the hotel.  We were told to leave around 12:30 AM, so we went back to Times Square and ABC news, where the mood was decidedly different than it had been earlier that night.  There was a somber acceptance of what was pretty clear by now.  It was eerily quiet. By 1 AM, when we were told that Clinton had gone to bed (or whatever- I can't remember why there was such a huge delay in conceding), we decided to head home ourselves.  We were so tired, but also so grateful that we decided to go out and witness this night.  

Lots of interesting signs and people all over the city that night.

Central Park in the Fall

I don't think I ever remember a Fall being so beautiful.  The colors on the trees in Central Park were really something else- every bright red, bright orange and bright yellow (my favorite!) shade were everywhere.  I loved my morning runs when everything was blanketed in a layer of fog and you could just make out the buildings amongst the colorful trees.  Gorgeous.  Brian took the girls to Central Park one Saturday morning while I was busy.  They had the best time playing soccer, running around and building fairy homes.

The bridges here are my favorite.  I love how they bow up and are so ornate.  Plus, the trees on either side! 

The girls made these cute fairy salads...tomatoes and lettuce in an acorn bowl!

We love living so close to Central Park and just heading over when we need some fresh air and space to run around. It seriously is so stunning in the Fall- you could spend all day walking around and taking it all in.  I love to go to the reservoir for the awesome view of downtown.

There is a market on 65th and Columbus (by our church) every weekend.  They sell all kinds of baked goods, farm fresh produce and our favorite apple cider donuts.  So yummy! We love where we live- so close to everything we need like school, the grocery store, and our church.  We hardly ever have to use the subways because most things are really convenient to get to (or can be had with the click of a button online!).  But, we love getting out and exploring new parts and seeing things in our neighborhood that we haven't discovered yet.  There's always something new to find in New York City and Fall is our favorite season so far!

Halloween in NYC!

Our first Halloween in NYC was pretty awesome.  We had some really cold weather for a day or two and then it warmed up again right around the 31st.  It was perfect to walk around outside in.  69th Street is kind of famous for its Halloween decorations, so we walked up and down, weaving in and out of huge crowds and seeing tons of people from church.  It made our side of town feel like a really small neighborhood- I loved it.  The brownstones were unbelievably decorated- so much so, that they take donations to help offset the cost of it!

My two littler super heroes...love them so much.

Halloween is sort of becoming a week-long holiday with parties to go to well in advance of the actual day.  With my affinity for chocolate, I am not complaining.  Tessa had the cutest Halloween party at our church with her little friends where they played games and ate lots of yummy food.  Then, we had our ward's trunk or treat in our building a couple of nights later.  Seeing as almost no one in our ward actually owns cars, we used the different rooms in the building as our "homes".  Brian and I signed up to man one of the doors and we pulled together some last-minute decorations. It ended up looking really cute (and spooky!).  I wish we would've snapped a pic.  I think the kids went around at least 6 times each and then gave up because we had tons of candy left over.  Again, not complaining. ;) 

Below are the pictures from 69th street, which had been blocked off for the night.  It was so fun to people/costume watch!

After exploring 69th, we went to a friend's building with a few families and went trick-or-treating inside.  This was a new experience for us because it was all indoors.  Families who would like to have trick-or-treaters sign up ahead of time and post a note on their door so you know exactly who has candy and who doesn't.  It makes it pretty easy and definitely safer!  The kids had a ton of fun running around with their friends up and down floors collecting candy.  What a fun first NYC Halloween!