I LOVE NYC!

The week after our family vacation, I was lucky enough to go on one more vacation--this time to NYC with my two young, hip, college-aged sisters, Olivia, and Tessa.  I kinda invited myself along after becoming quite jealous while booking all their travel plans for them. They were kind and let me tag along. In the end, they (and especially Tessa) were really glad I decided to come because they (and especially TESSA) were a little nervous about going to NYC alone. I was happy to be their "body guard."

While the trip didn't start out ideally (a cancelled flight, followed by a missed flight due to confusion at the check-in desk, resulting in over 10 hours, including a sleepless night, in the SLC airport) we did eventually make it to the Big Apple, and boy was it ever worth it!! This was definitely one of my most favorite vacations I have ever been on.  If you'd like the play-by-play of the trip, my sister, Olivia, did a fabulous job of documenting it and you can click here to read it.  But since she did such a great job, I'm just going to post some of my favorite pics of the trip and do a little commentary on each.

DAY 1

(well, actually, it was our first day, and the first day using our awesome New York Passes!)

 Bike rental in Central Park was SOOO much fun and a great way to start our day!

 Atop the Empire State Building. Audio Tour was SO worth it. New York Skyride, not so much. 

Just don't do it!

 Twilight Cruise was awesome, but cold. Actually, we were cold most of the time. Oh well. Still a great time. They girls were also glad they had their "bodyguard" on this adventure since a certain Pakistani guy was hitting on them big time!

DAY 2

Started the day just perfectly with a beautiful run in Central Park. We pretty much felt like we were in the movies. 

LOTS of museums, which of course, you can't take a lot of pics in. We went to the MET, the Museum of Natural History, the Bodies Exhibit at Discovery Times Square, and the wax museum, where we made up for the lack of pics at the other museums.

 Just me and Honest Abe

 Walking the Brooklyn Bridge in the rain

 Stopping in Central Park to enjoy a yummy (but overpriced!) kebab.

 Stardust Diner--most fun place to eat!

 By the end of this day, we were pros on the subway!

DAY 3

This day was full of all the emotional stuff, and I think I did as much crying this day as I did laughing the other two days.

 Statue of Liberty--Once again, DO THE AUDIO TOUR!!

On Liberty Island, with Ellis Island (awesome stop--great AUDIO TOUR) and Manhatten in the background.

 9/11 Memorial. So beautiful and touching. My favorite, however, was the Tribute Center, which was a museum that told the story of the World Trade Center, its fall, and the amazing efforts of volunteers afterward. We also learned some about the building of the new World Trade center, which will include 7 buildings. Building number one is complete, and is BEAUTIFUL! Here it is below.

 Manhatteen Temple

A little urban gardening. This is at the base of a high-rise apartment building. Apparently you can rent a space?

The Art Students League of New York, where my great-grandma, Minerva Teichert, studied art. So awesome to stand on those steps!

Although I was only able to stay for three full days, we made the most of those three days! I was a little sad to leave and miss out on the fun things Livi and Tess had planned, but I really missed my husband and kids and was excited to go home too. Awesome vacation! So many memories! Definitely somewhere I'd like to visit again, this time with Tony.

Bryce Canyon Family Vacation

After going on the cruise, Tony and I were super excited to do a short vacation with our kids this time! Two years ago, we went to Northern Arizona/Grand Canyon for spring break and had a blast! We wanted to do something similar but not drive quite as far. After doing a little research online, we (I) decided that Bryce Canyon, Utah, and surrounding areas would be the perfect place!

Just an hour into the drive, the madness began. Brady puked. All over himself. And his carseat. Ugh. We pulled over at the next rest area and I took him into the bathroom and got him cleaned and changed while Tony found a hose and rag and hosed down the car seat. We then put a blanket under Brady to try to keep him somewhat dry and resumed. About thirty minutes late, he did it again. Once again we stopped, took his clothes off of him, removed the now puked on blanket, and buckled him back up. He puked about four more times that day, but not nearly as bad, since there was nothing left in him. I felt horrible for him, having to drive so far when he didn't feel well. And it sure wasn't a pleasant drive for the rest of us with that SMELL!

We still managed to do a few fun things that first day, including stopping for lunch at a park, going to the Anasazi Indian State Park, driving the scenic highway 12 (I highly recommend this drive--gorgeous!!), and cooking out for dinner and playing at a park a block from our hotel in tiny Cannonville, UT. Brady seemed a lot better during late afternoon/evening, but then puked again all over Connor ,Tony, and the comforter in our hotel that night (of course!)

 The entrance to one of the dwellings. Brady thought it was super fun going inside.

 This particular tribe also lived in underground huts, these were really interesting to learn about.

 Mylie was an awesome journal keeper during the trip. She wrote down all kinds of details because she didn't want to forget anything!

 Gotta love the big smile in this pic! This was a fun stop.

That night at the hotel, Mariah helped me do all our nasty laundry in the bathtub, since there's no laundry service in Cannonville. We pretended we were pioneers, and it wasn't so bad. We hung everything up around the bathroom and it was dry in the morning.

Day 2 of our trip was FABULOUS!! Everybody felt good that day, and we did lots of hiking. We started our morning by visiting Kodachrome State Park. We did a fun loop hike there and saw some great scenery.

 Brady had the best ride!

Mariah is a great hiker for just 5 years old! She hiked every step of the way all day long. 

 "The Saddle"--actually we don't know what this formation is called, but that's what our kids named it.

 On the trail...

Shakespeare's Arch 

On top of the world!!

After that hike, we headed to Bryce Canyon National Park. We drove in to the trail head of the hike we decided to do, labeled "Best 3 Mile Hike in the World" in the brochure. There were picnic tables, and we pulled out the cooler there for some lunch. Then we hiked a beautiful loop that took us down into Bryce Canyon. It didn't disappoint! I think it is definitely in the hunt for best 3-mile hike in the world. It was fabulous and we all loved it!!

This was the view from our starting point up top. We loved all the interesting rock formations and agreed that, although not as LARGE, this canyon was probably cooler than the Grand Canyon.

 The kids found GREAT places to pose along the trail!

 After awhile, Brady wanted out of the pack. He wanted to hike, too! And of course, he needed a walking stick. He was adorable walking along the trail like this and sure got a lot of attention from others on the trail.

There were a couple of really narrow places on the hike as well.These were fun and got a lot of OOHs and AAHs from Brady, which was super cute.

After this hike, which took us a couple hours, we were ready for something cold, so we stopped and got popsicles for everybody--even Brady. He loved it!

After the popsicles, Brady fell asleep, so Tony stayed in the van with him while the three other kids and I did one more hike.  We hiked up to a waterfall, which I thought I took a picture of but then didn't have. Also on the hike was a fun little window formation as well as Mossy Cave.

After that, the kids were pretty tired of hiking and just wanted to go play at a park. It was getting close to dinner time anyway, so we headed to a park in the small town of Tropic. It was a super nice park, and we spent a couple hours there playing and eating our cookout, which included hot dogs and s'mores. 

That night, we were all exhausted, and I crashed hard--only to be awoken around midnight by the sounds of...puking! It was Connor this time, and he puked several times throughout the night. Tony joined him. Brady's sickness started coming out the other end, and by morning, we decided to cancel our plans for the day and just get home!  Of course, that was a bummer, since we were going to see a couple more fun things before heading home that day. But even with all the sickness, we were somehow able to still have that one perfect day, and definitely made lots of memories on this trip.

Last-Minute Weekend Cruise

As spontaneous as I'm not, Tony and I actually booked one of those last-minute cruise deals back in April! Tony was stressed, tired, and overwhelmed from his basketball season, and then losing the coaching job, and he really just wanted to get away from it all. He was thinking maybe a weekend to SLC, but I suggested a cruise.  At first, he was hesitant, but then, after I reminded him of the great food and total relaxation we could enjoy, he gave me the go-ahead to book it.  Although the cruise prices for the Bahamas were fantastic, and that has been our favorite cruise destination, the flights were outrageous, and we knew we couldn't spend that kind of money on a whim. So we booked a 3-day cruise out of Long Beach and drove the 11 and a half hours to the port.

Without kids along, the drive really wasn't bad. On the way down, we split it up, driving to Primm, NV, the first day and staying in a cheap hotel there, then on to Long Beach the next day. We got there before noon and were able to board immediately.  We couldn't go to our room for a few hours yet, but the buffet was up and there were lots of places available to relax.

This cruise only had one port, Ensenada, Mexico. There really isn't much special about Ensenada, and we had been there before. We knew that we really wouldn't be experiencing anything new on this cruise, but we still had a great time enjoying the relaxation, the nightly entertainment (one band in particular that was fabulous!), and of course, the food.

We did get off the boat for the day at Ensenada. We didn't want to spend any money, so we just walked around for a bit, checked out the local fish market, went to an old mission that has been converted into a museum and convention center, walked around some more, hiked a huge hill where we could see out over the harbor and all of Ensenada, and finally enjoyed some tacos and horchata from a street vendor. YUM!!

If I were to rank this cruise with our others (we've been on 2 others, and I've been on one more with my mom and her family) it would be last. But it was still good. Just a little too short, not enough ports, and I didn't like Carnival as well as Royal Caribbean or Holland America. However, we are thinking we would do this ship again sometime if we took our kids. It had lots of fun things for kids, including water slides, miniature golf, and even nightly shows geared toward the kids.

The drive home seemed a lot longer, partly because we did it all in one day, partly because we lost a couple hours in construction between Las Vegas, and Mesquite, and partly because when we got to Evanston (just 30 mins from home) the interstate was closed!?! Luckily, Tony knew how to get home on the back dirt roads and we made it home a little after 1am. A long day in the car, but at least we could spend it with each other.

Our Spring (well, the days of it that I've been here anyway)

Last month, I was able to go on three different vacations (which I will blog about shortly). They were awesome, and made the time FLY by much too quickly! But the time that I have been at home has been equally amazing. Here's a short run-down of some of our activities lately:

Connor, Mylie and I were able to attend a session of General Conference at the Conference Center. Tony was going to come with us too, but we had a puking kid, so he stayed home while the three of us went. While we were sad that Tony couldn't come, it was a great experience for us!

Mylie got glasses! She can see now, which is fabulous, and she looks super cute in them too. We also found out that she is color-blind, due to a color-blind dad and a mom who is a carrier and passed it onto this poor girl. Darn. She doesn't really seem to mind, though.

Tony and I had our April date night. We created newspaper clothing for each other. This design for evening wear (made by yours truly) was the clear winner. Complete with bow tie and corsage. Not really our thing, but turned out to be a pretty fun time!

Mylie invited a few friends over for a "salon party." She planned out all the activities, made the invitations, and carried out the party. They had a great time giving each other pedicures, doing each other's hair, eating snow cones, and finally (thanks to the idea from our April date night) having a newspaper clothing fashion show. I was the audience, and it was lots of fun!

Brady has started falling asleep in random places, making for some precious photos. I love these two!

And finally, EASTER! We had a wonderful Easter this year. The kids really got into egg-dying and painting, and other than Brady, they were able to do this quite independently, which I loved! Brady also thought this was pretty fun.

The girls and I went down to the Fort the day before Easter for an egg hunt. Apparently they've been having it for years, but this is the first time for us. They thought it was great fun and got a pretty good loot of candy. I'm sure they'll want to go back next year.

Although the eggs and bunny and candy were all fun, the best part of Easter was the time we took as a family to learn more about and contemplate the atonement of our Savior. Because of Him, we can live again. Because of Him, we can change and become better people. Because of Him, we can be happy. And because of Him, we can be a family forever. I am so grateful and forever indebted to my Savior, Jesus Christ, for the amazing blessings he has given us.

I love this shot of my kids on Easter morning. Their smiles make me smile, and they make me want to be better, for them. I am blessed.