New York Minute(s)

Oh. My.

How does a girl describe it? Two days coming and going, and then three completely packed days in Manhattan. Exhilerating, breath-taking, smelly, romantic, fast-paced, relaxed, awe-inspiring....Magical. Seriously. We took a ridiculous number of pictures. Mostly for the kids--only partially for this blog. Here are some highlights and then, if you wish, indulge yourself {or, rather, me} and sweep through a NYC slide show below... Our hotel, smack dab in Times Square, was above the Hershey Store.

Harbor Cruise passing Lady Liberty herself.

{And me, wearing my NYC scarf that I bartered for in Chinatown--great story. Ask me sometime.}

This is a mural that we saw on our Double Decker Bus Tour. Wow, right? The tourguide said to take a picture 'cause it is soon going to be painted over. {And if you'll notice, the two towers that are in the middle of N}

Top of the Panic Attack Building, aka Empire State Building. {Chrysler Bldg behind us}

We rented bikes and rode through Central Park--best decision. We LOVED it! We found this gorgeous arch somewhere in the hidden paths of the park, and an obliging Aussie took our photo.

Belvedere Castle in the Park. "Rapunzel, Rapunzel..."

"Dum-Dum want Gum-Gum." Night at the Museum, anyone? We will not soon forget the uproar of screams from our kids when they saw me in this picture. I am famous.

Manhattan LDS Temple across the street from Julliard and the Met. It's quite a sight, in the middle of the hustle and bustle.

Our First Show ON BROADWAY!!!

"Phantom". We'd both seen this one years ago, in other cities, but there's something special about it here.

There were tears.

Enough said.

This is the ceiling of John's Pizzeria {thanks for the tip, cousin Becca} where we ate before Phantom. The restaurant used to be a church. Honestly? I'm dying.

Yes, I played a stirring rendition of "Heart and Soul" that will echo through the corridors of FAO Schwartz for years to come.

Couldn't stay away from Central Park--we went by way of horse and carriage on this day.

After the ride with our Irish driver, Steve exhibited his fine one-armed-extension-photography-skills while capturing us, statue at the edge of the Park and the Plaza Hotel. Nice.

This lovely little haunt was on my Top 3 places I wanted to go in New York--Serendipity. This place was sweet...and so was their famous Frrrrozen Hot Chocolate.

Mary Poppins on Broadway--exceeded our already high expectations. Wow. I want to cry just thinking about it...

Dinner in Times Square at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company--

Steve's personal dream come true. Can you see that part of the menu is on a ping-pong paddle? It's all about the details.

The final show of the trip--the Broadway revival of West Side Story. Did I mention there were tears?

Back with our kiddos, and not a moment too soon. Time away makes us love them even more.{They're holding mini-Statue of Liberty's--per specific request. Trevor still thinks that New York made these just for them.}

In the carriage.

Steve, you are a rock star in my book. Thank you for taking me to this magical place and for the memories we made together. And, bonus! You're really fun to be with 24/7. Let's do it again sometime.

Click HERE to see the slide show.

Mental excercise.

My children sustain me.

They do this while I am in aerobics.

When we are lifting weights and the instructor is counting down repetitions, and I

just.

don't.

think.

I can do.

one.

more...

...with those last four lifts, I think of my kids:

Paige {pant}

Trevor {grunt}

Preston {GRUNT}

and Gavin {sigh of relief}


Truly, this works.
Plus, I'd feel really bad if I didn't finish and left one of them out.

Spring Sports Finale

This last weekend the kids finished their sports for the season. The boys had their last kickball game at the Peoria Sports Complex where the pros do spring training. The boys thought it was so awesome. They even displayed all the kids names {for some reason, it didn't take when I took the pic of Preston's name}.

So here are our Royal Blue T-Rex Cardinals {Steve let them pick the name}:

Coach Daddy is the best, seriously. He is so phenomenal with little kids.

****************

Paige finished strong with volleyball. She scored 5 points at one turn up to serve!! She is a great server and isn't afraid of the ball. {My camera died so not a lot of pics!}

{wierd, but cool.}

Go Lady Tigers!

Cousins!

This past weekend my brother and his family came down from California to visit. The kids had a blast with their cousins and we got some great photo ops:

Trev, Elijah, and Pres

And there are their twins, Rachel and Lauren.

Paige & Elijah getting their groove on.

Swimming in our backyard in the 100 degree heat!

Aunt Becca and Gav

Preston attacking Uncle Jared while he traces Lauren.

My little brother and I before they left.

Trevor's Preschool Graduation

These little people are so adorable. Trevor looked forward to this occasion with much anticipation.

Doing their Mexican Hat Dance song.

Thank you Miss Jaimi--you're awesome!

My first landscape.

I painted this.

What d'ya think?

I painted it for my friend's bedroom re-do, below. Now I wish I had a copy for my house, too! Now I'm not afraid to start that mural for my boys' room...

Bedroom Re-do

A few weeks ago, I had a blast helping my friend spruce up her master bedroom. Here is a before:

And after some chocolate paint and a few warm touches:

{We still have more to add up there.}

Mother's Day

Me and my peeps on Mother's Day with my stash.

{yes, that is a scrub brush--it was on my list, along with salad spinner--I'm officially a mom}

Currently...

...I am typing with sore, paint-covered fore-arms. Another one of my spontaneous painting projects: I just painted an accent wall in our guest room with some left-over paint and I love, love it. Steve came home from Young Men's and I had the roller in hand. His response, "Your late-night energy astounds me."

...I am listening to my husband yelling at the TV for someone to "help protect the pilot!" in the movie, "Snakes on a Plane". Seriously. This is true.

...I am going through the list of things to do before my little bro and his family come to visit tomorrow. Sheets, towels, mop....

...I am wanting to set up my dearest friend from the "Y" days on a date with Steve's cousin...

...I am debating if we go see "Stomp" in NYC. Already have "Mary Poppins" tickets, but heard Stomp is awesome, too. Ooh, or maybe "West Side Story"...

...I want to bake my delicious, no-fail chocolate chip cookies. See? Late-night energy.

...I am thankful for Paige's 2nd grade teacher. They are studying fairy-tales and she sent home a permission slip for the kids to watch Shrek (PG) in the classroom next week. I have never seen any of these movies all the way through, but have seen enough that we don't let our kids watch them--crude, rude dudes and way-too-adult humor. {I apologize if you're a fan, but we're on my blog, so there it is.} So, I emailed teacher and said that Paige would sit out...I found out Paige was the only one who would've been excluded and my mommy-guilt set in heavily...well, in the end, teacher decided she didn't want Paige to miss out so she changed the movie all-together.

This is when I know Heavenly Father cares about the tiny sparrow that falls, about the tiny details of our lives: See, my Paigie was sad, and I felt sad about her being left-out. But in the end, after trying to stick to what my gut told me {aka the Spirit}, He blessed us both with a happier outcome.

...I need to stop typing so I can watch the recorded A. Idol and see who is in the Finale!

Me. In a 4x3 box.

This was the biggest waste of time...and also fun. 'Cause we all know wasting time can be much fun sometimes. 'Specially when it's all about you, you, and you. Here's how:

step 1: go to flickr.com
setp 2: in another window open http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php
step 3: choose 4 columns, 3 rows
step 4: answer the following questions in the search bar of flicker. pick your favorite photo and paste it into your mosaic.

step 5: when done, SAVE your mosaic before you do anything else or you will lose it.

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your nickname.

What do you look like when placed in a box?

P.S.: For those who did not have the pleasure of sitting through Humanities 101, my #11 is "The Thinker" by Rodin. No, I do not describe myself as a disrobed, ochre-colored man.

P.S.dos: Let me forewarn you about questionable photographs that you may or may not encounter as you type in perfectly innocent answers to the above questions. {Thanks for nothin', Flickr}.