New York City Day 2

Wednesday April 3, 2013

We had breakfast at the hotel.  It was a warm breakfast with fruit and lots of food.  The line to get food was kind of long but we didn't have to pay for it so it was great!

After breakfast we had a little bit of time before the girls had to be at their dance classes so they all decided to go to Forever 21 pretty much across the street from the hotel.  This store was HUGE!  The girls looked so cute wearing their Dance Company gear. 

  

They have an NYC taxi inside Forever 21??? 

The walk to the dance theater was about 10 blocks so about one mile.  These dancers were so excited to dance at a school that they had heard so much about! 

We snuck a couple of pictures of them dancing before they told us we were not allowed to take pictures.  This was a jazz class.  From our point of view the girls did great but they felt so unmatched to the ability of the dancers there.  While the girls danced we (the moms) just talked and hung out for a while.  We were thinking that seeing Wicked on Broadway would be pretty wicked!

This is a picture with the instructor.  He told us "they did great! They definitely had a workout and then some."

Pictures outside the studio!  I just have to point out how perfect and effortless S looks.

We had a little time between classes.  We looked up the Soup Man from Seinfeld and it was only a couple blocks away so we went over there.  Once there we realized that you had to order your soup but there was no place to sit. We were cold and we needed a place to sit so we just took pictures and went to another soup place where we could be warm.  So NO SOUP FOR YOU! 

Back outside Alvin Alley. 

While the girls danced at the African Dance class we walked up to Julliard to get our tickets for a Repertoire that they were having.  We were planning on going tonight but it was pretty much sold out so we got tickets for Friday and now we had Wednesday night open.... What to do???  Wicked???  We decided to see if we could get tickets.

The New York City LDS Temple is right across the street from the Lincoln Center and Julliard.  What a beautiful sight among all the chaos of the city.  We went in and just looked at the chapel area.  Once inside it was like being in any chapel in Utah.  Quiet and peaceful and it even had a gym inside.

I took a picture through the window.  Then they told us to come in.  I was ready to video when they told me that it wasn't allowed.  But at least we got to watch their African dance.

Then we went to the box office to see about Wicked tickets and they had some awesome seats available.  So we splurged and bought them.  Pricey but it was worth every penny!!!  Amazing show!!!

We got a picture together! 

After the show we went to the M&M store.   

Times Square never gets old! 

Amount walked Wednesday = 5.1 miles

New York City Day 1

Tuesday April 2, 2013

S and I had the opportunity to go to NYC with some of the girls from the High School Dance Company.  There were 5 girls and 5 moms that went.  I am so grateful for a supportive husband that understands the importance of these special bonding times with my daughters.  He takes time off work to be with the other children and doesn't complain about the extra work that must be done when I'm not here.  I love him so much and some day we will take this trip together!

Anyways, we left on Tuesday morning.  We all met at the airport and we were off to NYC!  This is the first of many pictures we took of the five beautiful young women!

Emily, Sid, Tiana, Gibson, & Michelle

We rented a private van to take us to and from the airport.

This was the view from our first room. We stayed at the Marriott Marquis on Times Square.  We had three rooms.  All the girls were in one room and the moms shared 2 rooms.  We ended up switching rooms with the girls so that they would be closer to the moms but that meant giving up our awesome view!

We had tickets to see Newsies on Tuesday and we didn't know where to go for dinner so the girls asked the concierge and they recommended this little Italian Restaurant called "Tratoria Dopo Teatro".  The food was delicious!

Then we had to rush to get to Newsies on time but we made it!  The hard part at first was just getting oriented to which direction to go. After all there were no mountains to tell us east or west?

After the show... one thing we were not prepared for was the cold weather.  I should have know that its always cold in NYC but I guess I was hoping it would be warmer.  

Some of the cast members came out to sign autographs and the girls were in heaven!

I love this picture!  Times Square at night! It was freezing but we had to get some pictures.  We told the girls we would go to the hotel to change and come back out but once inside and we warmed up the moms were too tired to go back out.  Sorry girls.  It wasn't a trick to get you in we were just tired and cold.

It was a wonderful first day in NYC. I had never been there for longer than a day so this was an awesome, fun trip for me.  And to spend five days with my amazing and beautiful daughter was priceless!

One of the moms had a FitBit that kept track of the miles we walked so I will post it at the end of each day.

Amount walked on Tuesday = 3.3 miles

Easter 2013

March 30-31, 2013

On Saturday morning we went to Smiths (Grocery Store) early in the morning because they were having an Easter Egg Hunt and breakfast.  It wasn't so much an Easter Egg Hunt as it was a Easter Mega Gathering of candy!  There was candy just thrown all over the floor.  G was able to fill her entire bucket and then some.  Even CR got some candy since it was just there.  There were only like 20 eggs per age group and G didn't get one so she was kind of sad for that but she made it up with candy!

We came home and had a real breakfast before we went out again.  G got a bike from the Easter bunny.

Then we went to the city's Easter Egg Hunt and that was like a real Hunt with Eggs and lots of kids out in the field.  It's crazy because all the eggs are gone within 2 minutes with all the kids that participate.

We try to do the Easter Egg Hunt and bunny thing on Saturday so that on Sunday we can focus on the resurrection of Jesus Christ (the true meaning of Easter).  

The older kids have made it tradition to do an Easter Egg Hunt for the younger kids when we get together for Easter Dinner.  I'm never sure if I want to do it because I want to focus more on the Savior but I think the tradition is set that I can't change it.  I guess it's fun and the kids know that it's the older kids hiding the eggs so it's ok.  Either way I wanted to try and tie it to Christ so I put homemade puzzle pieces of the Resurrected  Christ in some of the eggs but it was a flop.  I wanted the kids to find the puzzle pieces in the eggs and put the puzzle together and remember Jesus Christ.  In retrospect, there were way too many puzzle pieces and they curled up inside the eggs and the kids just lost interest.  Next time I'm going to try and buy a puzzle and maybe it would work better.  We learn from our mistakes right??? (Hardest things to learn in life!)

On a side note... G loves her cousin Tay.  She would do anything for him.  It looks like in this picture she is helping him get some more eggs.  I guess since she doesn't have a little sibling she has taken on the job of big cousin.

The "little kids"

 The "big kids" (Disclaimer:  I don't know what happened to Shay but he's right below the big kids and almost out of the little kids anyways.)

The boys (we found Shay :)

The entire family here for Easter dinner.

The 7 B's

C is used to modeling now and she wanted to show off her AWESOME high heal shoes and herself!

Beautiful K!

I didn't get a picture of S but I thought this one was cute!

 The M cousins

Happy Easter! May we always remember Jesus Christ our Savior.  If it wasn't for his sacrifice and resurrection we would never be able to return and live with our Heavenly Father and have eternal families!

March Memories 2013

On Saturday, March 2 the girls, my  mom and I threw a baby shower for Z.  It was all decorated all cute but we forgot to take pictures.  

The chocolate fountain is always a favorite!

 And on Thursday, March 14th... Zuri was born.  She is beautiful and perfect in every way.  I'm glad there is finally another baby in the family to hold!

CR is taking theater this semester and they performed the play "Once Upon a Grapevine".  He was the wolf.

 

He did an awesome job!

This is a small clip of the play.

Random crazy picture.

We can't get enough of little Z that we had to stop by on Saturday and see her again!  And K was with us and she wanted to see her.  Unfortunately K had a cold so she didn't even get to hold her.

The District Spelling Bee was on Thursday, March 21.  We were rooting for CR and he studied but not too much.  We never really helped him much this year we just left it up to him.

Well, he didn't do too well... he got out on the first round.  His word was catkin (a slim, cylindrical flower cluster, with inconspicuous or no petals).  The word comes from Dutch and so he made an educated guess that it started with a K. 50/50 chance.  It was wrong.  Oh well no big deal since he won last year.

I like this picture because the beauty of family is that they love you no matter what!!!

S's bridge for physics.  She and KC worked really hard to get it ready.  No all nighter this time.  And it held 300 pounds in class!!!  Awesome job S!!!

I finally discovered why G likes to wear these frog footy pajamas so much... they help her slide down the stairs so much better than regular clothes or pajamas.

G has lost 5 teeth in about a month!  At this rate she will be toothless soon!  She's kind of proud of her accomplishment!

Art's Day at the elementary school.