The Adventures of Karl and Allie

100 Days to Go, Baby Update, A Call for Help!

2012-02-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

I am sure that no one is watching my baby countdown clock as closely as I am.
Well, for whatever it is worth, I only have 100 days to go.

So I thought it would be an opportunity to talk about how it is going.

First some statistics on me and the baby.

Due date: May 19th, 2012
Weeks pregnant: 25 week and 5 days
Weight gained: 15 pounds
Measurement of my Uterus: As of my last Dr. Appointment, 24 inches (probably more now.)
Gender: Female, for both of us :)

Other things going on:

1. We bought a Crib:
Grandma Denny will be happy to know about this. :) It is really funny, at thanksgiving time, we visited with her, and was talked about how we couldn't decided on what to do about a crib. Then she got really sick. We thought we were going to loose her. By early January she was doing much better. But I still hadn't spoken to her. We went up to the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake to see her, and I knew we had her back when the first question she asked us was: "So, have you guys finally decided what you are going to do about your crib?"

Yes Grandma. We got one, for a good price from Sears. It isn't fancy, but I really like it. It is pretty and will last us a few babies. Check out the picture:

We still haven't set it up yet, so I don't have a picture of my own. :) Also, we are not planning on getting a changing table. My mom never used one that I can remember, so if it is good enough for her...Any thoughts anyone?

2. We have cleaned and painted a shelf we found my the dumpster at our complex. We painted it one of our baby room colors.
I have decided after all that our baby room colors are:
turquoise and mustard/golden yellow
Something like this:

This is the best picture that I could find. I like it because it shows that these colors can be super cute and feminine, with out being super princess pink.

3. We have started filling the second bedroom up with baby things. What kind of things?

We have a dresser in there, which is completely empty. We bought a rocking chair at IEKA in the as is section. We have moved all kids books on to the new shelf, and it is actually really surprising how many books I have collected over the years. We have put all 4 of the stuffed animals we have in the house in there on the shelf too. (Two of them were gifts for Christmas, after Karl's mom found out we were pregnant.) And of course all the 4 toys we have too: two dollar store ninjas Karl bought as a joke, a slinky, and a ball. I think we are all set.
Seriously though, I am having a hard time imagining all the stuff that is about to come our way.

Betsy lent me this HUGE book about what are the MUST HAVE baby things, and most of it is not only stuff I have never heard of, or thought of, but stuff I am not even sure I want. Any thoughts moms out there?

Things I currently own:
Crib
Shelf
Dresser
Some toys (as listed above)
Some books
8 baby blankets (Thanks Mama Hite)
A Hiking Baby Carrier (Thanks Mom)
A Baby Bullet (Thanks Nitsy)
Two pairs of Baby socks
One onesie
One Pair of baby Leggings

I mean, what is left?

The only thing I know we will definitely still need to get, because we have to, is a car seat. In fact, Betsy said she would lend us one of hers. (I guess that is the fun thing about having two babies, you get two of everything! ;) ) We have decided to to diapers on amazon, and I am already signed up of amazon mom.

4. I guess the big questions that is still not decided on: to work or not to work, that is the question. I love my job so much that it will be really hard to leave. But in all honesty, when I think of anyone else taking care of my baby, it breaks my heart and I start to get those famous pregnancy tears, and well, I know what I am going to do.

5. Next week I go in to take the dreaded Gestational Diabetes test, and I know I am going to be positive. I heard on pregtastic that if you are going to get it, there is really nothing you can do about it. And I am already at high risk because of my PCOS, so I will keep you posted, but don't be surprised when I am positive.

6. Birthing plan, Deliberately choosing not to have more than this:

Try for natural. But whatever happens happens. Karl is my Doula.
This is an educated choice. I have done my research, and for now, I just feel like, knowing myself, this is the best plan I can have. There are too many things to be stressed about, and this baby is going to do what she wants in the end.

7. We are going to Cabo San Lucas in a couple of weeks, one last trip...

8. My beloved friend Krysta is throwing me a baby shower probably in March sometime...I have no idea what to register for. What to register for, WHERE to register...

So with less than 15 weeks to go, this is where I am. I am due to have a baby in 3 months from the 19th.

So, I am opening myself to you experienced moms out there...what do I have to do?

Our Day in Springville

2012-02-05T08:56:00.000-08:00

I love Saturdays. They are the best. Especially when they are spent with good friends. Karl spent the morning with Zac at the Provo Bike Collective, fixing his up is FX, trying to build it into a fixed gear. Krysta and I hung out and did laundry, it was a great morning.

We had decided earlier that week we would bike out to Springville for Zac's sister's Birthday.

I have been having some pelvic aches, which my doctor said is totally normal, all be it painful, which is exacerbated by physical activity. So, I decided to sit this ride out at the last minute, and Krysta decided to keep me company. So I brought along our new camera to take some pics of the day.

The weather was unseasonably warm. It mean, it is only February 4th.

It was 40 degrees. And when you are riding 10 miles, it is really warm.

The gang.

Krysta and I stopped to wiat for them to catch up, and we met these sweet horses. She said it made her miss home. Her parents keep horses, among many other animals like chickens, and last time we visited there was a cow.

Did I mention miss Karen was there too. She loves to ride with her dad.

I mean, that's love.

Here is the birthday girl:

Miss Cassidy Whitmore!

So we met up a the Art City Trolly Car Restaurant. The food was great and we had a really nice time. All of our riders were a little tired.

After a delicious lunch, where Zac knew one of the big wigs at the place, who gave us a free piece of cheese cake, we headed out to see what else Springville had to offer.

They just got a brand new library, so we checked it out.

It was a really great place. The kid area was super cool. Karen and I sat down and read a book.

There was some interactive art on the wall, Karl had really good time there.

After the library closed less than a half hour after we arrived, we decided to go and visit the Springville Museum of Art.

I had been there once before on a field trip with Heritage.

It really is a great museum. Half of it was closed, they were setting up a new exhibit, but there was still lots to see.

Karl was pointing out here that the frame was also painted.

Karen and I found this great corridor of portraits, which was one of my favorite areas of the place.

There was also a large exhibit of Sovit art, which made me miss Albania, which we all of course loved.

Very powerful stuff.

I love the style of this one.

Defiantly worth a revisit.

We were loosing light, so we started heading home.

We stopped to take a few final pictures.

You know, I don't care what people say about Utah Valley, it is a beautiful place.

There they are!

We came home, hung out, watch the first Twilight movie, laugh our heads off, and went to bed. It was a really great day.

I love having good friends that you can just be with, be who you are, and enjoy things.

Peking Acrobats

2012-02-05T08:35:00.000-08:00

So MONTHS ago, we were watching an episode of Sherlock, the new BBC series that remakes Sherlock Holms stories in modern times...:)

Anyway we were watching this show and it had some Chinese acrobats doing what they do. It was right before Karl and I were going to go to New York, and we thought, "Hey, if there are Chinese acrobats in London, they must be in New York too." So we looked it up, and we couldn't really find anything. We found this world renowned acrobat troop called the Peking Acrobats that was doing a US tour though, so we looked at their website, and wouldn't you know it, one of their stops was Provo Utah. At BYU of all places!

We went to BYU's website, and tickets didn't go on sale until December 5. Which was the day we bought our tickets. Karl gave them to me for Christmas, along with a "fancy dinner of your choice."

Well Friday night, the performance FINALLY came!

We were really excited.

Now, as you can imagine, picutres during the performance, but Karl snuck one right before the show started.

Our seats were spectacular!

We were on the upper balcony, on the front row in the middle.

And what a show!

I have tried to find words to describe what we saw, and the best I can do is to get some pics online to help me.

First, let me explain the apparent philosophy of this group. Take something crazy, show it to me simple, then take it to a place beyond what seems possible or plausible.

Like these girls spinning plates. They came out dancing, each spinning 10 plates.

Then they started jumping onto each other's backs and heads and then finally this:

Nuts.

That was just the beginning.

There were these dancing Dragons, which were cute, but then the all got up on that red ball, TOGETHER.

Then there was the bike trick.

This started out really simple. You know, a girl doing spin tricks on a sweet fixed gear. You know, wheelys, head stands, normal stuff. Then there were something like 12 kids balancing on it riding in a circle, with fans.

Hands down the most exciting event was the stair stacking:

This is about the last thing this guy does. And it really doesn't look that exciting, and it really started out slow. A few guys bringing out a table, and slowly butting four bottles onto it. Then a chair. Then the kid gets on top of all of it. 10 feet feet of the stage at that point. Meah.

Then another chair, he smiles. We wait. 5 chairs later the guy is sharing my airspace in the balcony, and he and I are seeing eye to eye. It was NUTS! Then he started doing acrobatics...I seriously thought he was going to die.

So, if the Peking Acrobats ever come to your town, YOU HAVE TO GO. They are amazing!

Worth the wait!

For our fancy dinner, I picked PF Changs. I was just in the mood. :)

Leah's Birthday Visit

2012-02-05T08:23:00.000-08:00

So last Sunday was our lovely Leah's birthday. Happy Birthday Leah. I love you so much and I am so glad that Branny married you! Thanks for being so awesome and making my brother so happy.

Anyway, we ened up doing a video chat with Branny, Leah, Mom and Dad.

I took a few pictures of the screen throughout the conversation, and they were all so funny, that I had to post them.

Leah and Dad, looking very close.

Branny's new facial hair. I looks amazing. This is the moment where dad was telling Brandon he got it about 30 years too late.

Then Belle ended up jumping on. It was really funny, and the the conversation was a little less fluid with so many different views, but it was still really cool to be "together."

Sorry mom.

Everyone is really serious here.

There was a moment where Chels showed all of us the view from her balcony. It was pretty amazing. She said that she had seen humpback whales earlier that week from the same window.

We all started eating, and it had been an hour, so we ended up saying goodbye.

I love you all. That was really fun, we should do it again soon!

Cycling Shorts

2012-01-29T14:39:00.000-08:00

So the Provo Bicycle Collective had an awesomely fun event last night!

Cycling Shorts

Short Films and Fun At the Provo Bicycle Collective

This was the announcement pick on Facebook, pretty awesome, right?

We biked over in the freezing cold.

I was good for me. I haven't been on a bike in a while. It was a little colder than normal, since we were in our church cloths. (We had the adult session of our stake conference right after it was over, so as you will see, we came dressed.)

Can you see Karl's amazing new bike???

Like the Hippy's that our friends are, drinks for the night, were provided by a dumpster diving job:

They were only a month over due...

Then, Vegan Friendly, Air Popped popcorn!

Everyone got some!

People started to shuffle in...

It is always fun to be around other bike people. We were talking to our friend Mike about Karl's new bike, and he was geeking out about it just as much as us!

Then, the video presentation began:

the films were seriously amazing!

It was like a mini bicycle Bannf. The shorts spanned from funny music videos to informative bike infrastructure from Holland to children gone wrong on bikes.

Mike during intermission, in a shirt he made himself:

Another highlight of the night:

A 100 year old track bike one of the patron's brought!

This was seriously such a fun event!

I can't wait for another night just like this!

Grandma's 74th Birthday

2012-01-29T14:28:00.000-08:00

December was a weird month.

I never blogged about it, because it was just to hard at the time, but my wonderful grandmother, Denny Barainca, was really sick.

So sick, that the doctors told us that she would probably not make it through the night, then later she would not make it a couple of days. Blessedly, SHE MADE IT!

It has been a ROUGH couple of months.

So, when Grandma celebrated her 74th birthday yesterday, you can believe that we were all ready to have a party!

Also, cool thing was that the night before her birthday, she was moved out of the hospital, and into a Rehabilitation Center closer to her home in Sandy!

When Karl and I arrived, there were already some beautiful familiar faces there:

Grandpa and Grandma of course!

They were able to move Grandma Denny out of her bed and into a chair! Which she was super excited about! AND, we were all moved out of her room into this nice common area where we could sit and celebrate!

Other face you may know:

Kelsea and Heather

Kels and I got Grandma these flowers and some balloons too. I brought her that cupcake from the Provo Bakery.

Heather had the most amazingly sweet stroke of Genies niceness!

Look what she made Grandma:

Number Cookies!

Let me explain:

Growing up, every year for my birhtday, Grandma would send each of us a box of cookies all the way to California. Number cookies, of the age we were turning that year. Heather got the cookies too, growing up here in Utah.

It was actually really funny. Heather said it was REALLY hard to do, and it changed her whole perspective on what Grandma had done for her dozens of Grandkids all those years.

The Ballons. Blue and Yellow, Grandma's favorite colors.

My mom sent a box too, which Heather helped Grandma open:

It was a beautiful soft blue blanket. Grandma loved it.

She read the card too.

Karl and I kept busy...

There were lots of vistor that morning:

Eventally the WHOLE Suker clan showed up! (Jared and his kids came right as we were leaving the parking lot) :) Randy's Fiance, Mary was there too. I found out they are getting married next week! Congratulations you too!

Janet came, fashionably late ; )

Loaded down with millions of things to make sure Grandma was a comfortable as possible.

You can tell she loves her so much!

Through all of this, Janet has been such a rock! Thank you so much Aunt Janet for being our link and go to for everything! We love you!

Nate and his new (old) Girlfriend Liz were there too!

We all sat and chatted. It was really nice to be there together, with Grandma, looking so good!

Happy Birthday Grandma! I love you so much!

My you have many more happy happy birthdays!!!

Happy Chinese New Year 2012

2012-01-28T06:48:00.000-08:00

Happy Year of the Dragon!!!

To Celebrate, we went out to:

I love this place. The food is so fresh, the Boba Smoothies are amazing, and the prices are super reasonable.

So I got the top two pictures from the internet, I only took 8 picture that night, and these are them...I will tell the story of what we did. We ordered, I of course got a Mango Boba Smoothie (so did Krysta.) :)

We also got these amazing chicken pot stickers, and well as pork and they were SOOO good too. We sat down and just chatted as we waited for our food. Karl and I took our inevitable shot:

But I was squinting, so we tried again.

Karen didn't miss a beat, and she decided to photo bomb us:

She was being HILARIOUS that night. She was asking if we knew how to use chop sticks, and Karl said, sure, see:

She of course thought that was HILARIOUS, and then proceeded to ask me to take a million pictures of her.

"Take another one Pipps!"

"Another one"

He mom said, that's enough.

Karen then proceeded to count all the Panda's in the tree. I think that there were 13...?

Then I said, "lets take one of the Whitmore's!"

Karen LOVED that idea...but she was still a little wired:

Zac was also pulling a face, so we did a do over.

Final shot!

So funny story surrounding the dinner:

It was SNOWING/SLEETING and so it was super wet outside. Poor Zac had ridden his bike to meet us there, and was soaked! He got there early and was just about to leave when we arrived.

Thanks for sticking it out Zac!

Other consequences of the snow:

No Fireworks

Karl and I finished out laundry, and went to bed...

I am 5 months pregnant you know, I am tired all of the time!

I guess we are just getting ready to having a baby. :)

Happy New Year!

May you have Health and Happiness this coming year!

What We've Been Up to...

2012-01-22T09:13:00.000-08:00

So although I have been lacking greatly in blogging this month, we have been doing stuff...

Like New Year...

We went out to Indian food with our Family here

We have been playing a shamefully huge amount of video games...and I still haven't passed Zelda, Skyward sword.

We thankfully got some reprieve from all of that when one of our favorite bands, Tiny Home, came into town, and gave us a sweet sweet show. It was so good. I am also planning on getting those videos onto You Tube, we will see what happens.

Sonja and Gabe...

Singing to my heart.

Karen and Me and Karl, having a great time. Zac and Krysta were also there...ALSO people in the kitchen washing dishes super loudly.

Picture!!!

The last couple of weekends we have been searching for a new bike for Karl...after months of research...and weeks of driving around...

On our last stop...we found it:

I will let Karl describe his new bike:

It is a Cannondale CAADX from last season. It's a really cool aluminum frame with a carbon fork and a rock solid wheelset. It normally has Shimano Tiagra shifters and derailleurs, but the shop is going to swap in SRAM Rival everything and customizing the crank and cassette to my specs. They're also replacing the handlebars with some cooler ones and putting on legit lime green grip tape.

I'm Back...

Last bit of news:

It finally SNOWED!!

Happy Winter!

It's a Baby!

2012-01-03T07:34:00.000-08:00

If you took the 15 minutes it takes to watch the video, or if you have talked to one of us, or if you have been on to Facebook at all recently...you know: It's a girl!

That knowledge is honestly only secondary to the comfort that all signs are go, everything looks good. She is so wonderful, it is odd that I can love someone so much, without ever really meeting them. After all of this, I am finally really letting myself get excited.

Everyone is reacting differently. Karl was the first one to notice her short leg proportions and slightly larger head, as Hite characteristics. Karen keeps coming up to my belly and asking to say hi to her baby sister. My mom is excited to know what colors to buy for the quilt she will be making. Krysta and I are going to go and check out Hospitals soon, to see if I want to change my delivery plan, and I am even thinking of getting a Doula after a conversation over Sri Lankan food yesterday.

It is all starting to hit me, my life will never be the same, and I can't wait!

Christmas Memories

2011-12-30T09:15:00.000-08:00

Prepare for a long post:

Not as long as it could be, for one reason or another, I have been super unmotivated to take pictures, so these are basically ALL of my pictures from Christmas time this year.

So, pre Christmas preparations.

Our decorations are up, but the Whitmores got this sweet Christmas tree, a little later in the month, and we helped them get it set up:

We love Christmas. Have you ever noticed the you are more in love during the Holiday's?

Poor Karl. I just love him too much.

Here is the Whitmore Family, Christmas 2011.

The tree Christmas tree the dumpster dove for... and their decorations, of bike parts. Very Green.

And very Chisrmasy, and I loved it. Isn't is so rad? It came together very well.

Later that night, we went out to the Riverwoods, and checked out the Christmas lights.

Krysta and Me. I love Krysta!

Have you ever noticed you remember how much you love the people in your life?

Those blue trees were seriously cool.

Flash forward a week:

We made it to the Valley, and it was a few days before I thought to take a picture:

This is who it was that inspired me. Asher.

Things that you missed.

Leah and Brandon were there. Krytsin and Chelsea were also there. They let us stay in the big room.

We stayed up late talking. It was wonderful.

We went to the Price Center in Calexico, Forever 21 too, and generally enjoyed one another.

Then Mom and I went to San Diego to visit Maryn and go shopping, while the girls and Brandon and Leah went to Salvation Mountain. Betsy and Nick came into town then too, with the boys, of course. Which brings up to this point, Christmas eve:

Did I mention Judah?

I got to do this:

And Grandma Hite got to so this:

Oh my gosh, I am in love with these kids!

So we sat down and had the Traditional Hite family Christmas Eve program. The group was small this year, only Just mom and dad...

The Reddoch's...

The food...

And us!

Good times were had by all of course!

There were presents, and jokes "that's why you always bring your own stockings" and good times had by all.

Here is Asher with my present for him...

I can tell he loves it and is being enriched... developmentally.

Oh yeah, Baby's first Christmas!!! They loved it!

Karl's favorite gift this year, that is proudly being displayed in our living room:

A trebuchet:

My favorite gift...all the time Judah did this to me:

Now. The Pipkin's also know how to party:

As to our tradition, dad, read us the littlest angel...which we love.

Then of course we had breakfast...little smoky crescents.

Which Chelsea and Karl loved.

Leah, Maryn, and Krystin...All looking so beautiful.

The group minus Me, Dad, and Branny.

Mom and Dad

The girls, waiting to open presents...

Christmas day was great.

We all went to church together, saw everyone from days of yore, and I wore a maternity dress Betsy lent me...

Other Highlights of our trip:

Grandma Neal came to visit.

Maryn gave everyone a hair cut

Um...

Mexican food, laughing and talking and games...

I don't remember where we were going when we took this picture...but I love it because we were together.

I spent a bunch of time recording our families, it was was pretty fun too. I learned a bunch about everyone.

The trip home was uneventful, outside of the flat tire we got going to Needles.

Then home again home again...to see California again some time far away.

Karen's 4th Birthday!

2011-12-29T09:03:00.000-08:00

Karen Turned Four!!!

This story is actually the second birthday party she had this year. The first one was us, Krysta's Mom and Dad, and of course the Provo Whitmores. We opened presents, and had chili cheese dogs, with red velvet cupcakes.

Good times.

Then we had the party, where Karen invited all of her friends:

We all met up at Nickel City, and had a room all to ourselves, and had a great time!

Who did Karen invite? A bunch of adults...

It was a great time with tons of fun!

We all won tickets, and gave them all to Karen.

In the end, we had over 2500 tickets.

After hours of gathering and counting tickets Karen went to the counter and got the first thing that her heart desired:

A Hello Kitty Doll.

It took a while for Karen to select all of her prizes:

In the end:

Karl and Karen with their "lazer fingers"

It was a really great party!

Happy Birthday Kare Bear!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-15T09:49:00.001-08:00

My friend Emily Dixon had this on her Wall. It made me laugh and smile, and I just loved it.
Merry Christmas, and Enjoy.

The Pictures!

2011-12-11T18:20:00.000-08:00

No Need for comments. Just enjoy!

A Day In Portland

2011-11-30T17:18:00.000-08:00

So, the last day of our trip was spent out of Hilsboro.

First stop: The Portland Temple!

We did the work for Karl's brother Craig.

The group.

One last one of us, and a handicap parking lot sign.

Next was FINALLY lunch, I was STARVING!

Brandon and Leah met us there for lunch!

Check it out!

We also finally met Penny!

We headed down town and walked around the Saturday market, and had some Voodoo donuts.

Our selections.

University of Oregon, in a Voodoo Donut, that she ate the head off of.

Brandon and Leah.

We broke apart, and head over to the University of Portland, or right down the street.

We had pudding on the rice.

We ate pudding, and laughed!

Yeah, it was great to be together again.

We all headed out to Hilsboro, and hung out together.

Picture Day

2011-11-29T17:05:00.000-08:00

On Friday we up early again, with the babies.

Poor Gabi was able to sleep through it...and she was RIGHT in the action!

It took hours, but we were all ready by 2:00 PM and on our way to the park!

Pics of everyone!

Karl and Me!

Caitlin and her Boyfriend Scott.

The lighting was pretty crazy, it was either totally harsh, or nice and soft. Still, Danielle looks great!

Rexburg Hite Family!

It was pretty cold, but Mom and Dad didn't mind.

Zach and Caitlin.

Getting the baby's attention was tricky for the pictures.

Zach and Danielle!

Gabi waiting to get into the Grand kids pic.

More shots!

Nick and Asher!

Some of us!

Some more of the Rexburg Hites!

I love this one of Zack and Ethan. I took it, yeah, I'm good!

Us waiting for the "real Hites" took some pictures.

Then the boys:

Then us alone again!

We started to head over to another location!

I got to hold Judah...

One for old times sake.

A last one at the park.

Second location:

The rest of the day was spent resting, and watching the kids play in the kitchen.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-28T16:54:00.000-08:00

So we flew into Portland and met Dad at the airport, and headed out to Hilsboro. When we got to Malia's house we were dead tired, but couldn't help but stay up and talk to everyone. We passed out around 1:30 AM, Portland time, meaning 2:30 our time.

I was up by 6:00 AM PST, when Zack, Danielle, and the adorable Ethan got up for the day. So, I was up.
Over the next couple of hours everyone else got up, and we deiced to go to Mexican for breakfast. Malia said there was this place in town:

Muchos Gracias that was a perfect idea for Thanksgiving breakfast. It was unfortunatly closed, and after one other stop we made it here:

We were able to chat and reconnect
Zack, Danielle, and Ethan!!

Ethan!

Mom and Dad

Gabi and Malia

And of course us!

The group:

The rest of the day flew by, making food and chatting!

Nick, Betsy, Asher, and Judah arrived!

It massed up the space in the oven (sorry Malia!!) but I was able to make twice baked potatoes.

After that, I was even able feed Ethan!

More Pictures!

(I love the boys hands in this picture.)

Then we got to feed the twins!

Dinner was on, then Martanelli's was out...

Pictures of the table

It was at this point that we decided to tell the family that we were pregnant!
How did we do it?
Well, Caitlin asked if we had heard that Robin (A character from one of our favorite shows How I Met Your Mother) was preganat. We agreed that it was nuts, then Karl said,
"You know what else is nuts? Allison is 15 weeks pregnant!"
It took a second for the news to set in...

Then there was the reaction.
It was also at this moment that Judah decided to be super duper cute!

I have been really weird about food lately. All I wanted was Mashed Potatoes, and I also had a twice baked potato before dinner.

Then ofcourse, there was that awesome time that Asher came and hung out with us!

Caitlin found our camera.

Then Gabi displayed her carefully selected thanksgiving day sweater!

We spent the night a home, playing Things and laughing!

Celebrating the Fall

2011-11-20T16:35:00.000-08:00

So much has been going on. I have been busy and super tired this year, and have been a total slacker about taking pictures, which breaks my heart. I guess I can paint you a picture with words for a couple of things that we did this fall, although pictures are available for some of the awesome things we did!

First thing to mention is that Halloween came and went. We carved Pumpkins with the Provo Bike Collective. We hoped to win a cash prize to go towards the Collective. We did win something:
Krysta's ET themed pumpkin won Most Artistically Carved, and My Sharro won...a participant certificate.

We failed to win the grand prize, $100 buck, that went to a lady who painted Starry Night onto a pumpkin. Come on. We did both win I-Tunes gift cards (Krysta's was for more than mine) which we donated to the collective.

I serve as the second counselor in the Primary Presidency, and we had our Program. It was Karen's first program too. She was amazing. You could hear her voice in the back of the Chapel as she belted out Praise to the the Man. She knew EVERY word, and she was having a ball!

The Primary and the Youth put on the Ward Halloween Party. I had been sick and super busy at work, so I just ran home between and grabbed my Abe Lincoln beard hat, and Abe Lincoln tee shirt. We set up, directed people, I ran the fishing booth for a while, where I gave out some home made play dough. (Made by the amazing Rachel Rice, in the color or Gold fish, on purpose.) We cleaned up. The kids were amazing and adorable, and the best part of the night.

For Halloween proper, both Karl and I had company parties. I was still really sick, so I dug up my angel costume, white cloths, and warm shoes. Karl was a human Pez dispenser. He wore a shirt that said PEZ on it. Out of his neck came a rectangle piece of pez, with blood, all around the edges. He made it himself. That night, we planed on taking a ride, but rather, we came home late from work, and went to bed. I feel myself getting older, which makes me a little sad.

Dia De Los Muertos, two days later. Krysta and Karen came over, we went out to Cafe Rio for dinner. We made home made stamps of sugar skulls again. This year, mine was an Owl. Krysta's was a raccoon. Karl made shirt that said, "Dia De Los Muertos is my Favorite Rapper." If you don't know the reference, that good.

Bonfire Night or Guy Fox day, overlapped with Alicia's birthday:

To Celebrate, we smashed our Halloween pumpkins in the street, and shot off a bunch of fireworks.

Alicia didn't have a pumpkin, so she used this partially rotted Honey Due.

The street was really gross, even after we attempted to clean up.

11/11/11
Veteran's Day

Day before:
They had a speaker come to Heritage, and speak to the kids. A man named "Lucky" Larry Chesley. My dad read us his book when I was still living at home. I was defiantly in high school. This is the second time he has come, but this time there was a noted difference, I actually got to meet him.

This was seriously one of the coolest things that I have ever done.
I mentioned to my boss Ben that my dad read us his book when I was a kid. Ben then, invited me to go to lunch with them.
We went to this place called La Jolla Groves in the River Woods. Some how I was seated right next to the man himself.
It was so cool. He had come to Heritage because he knew our Chaplin as a girl, and was close friends with her family.
When I first me Larry Chesley, he said, "Hi, I'm Lucky." As though I didn't know exactly who he was. You may know I am terrible around any level of Celebrity.
But that day I did great. Lucky and Judy were in Provo on a visit, from their 4TH mission. So I guess I should call them Elder and Sister Chesley. Their lives have been filled with tragedy, yet, they are both so positive, so optimistic. Judy is his third wife. His first wife divorced him while he was a POW in Vietnam. His second wife was killed along with their youngest child (a 6 month old baby) when the car they were driving in was hit by a train. Lucky was there on the scene, moments after it happened, the first to respond. He described the scene, and his lost family, in terrifying detail. What was additionally sad, was that he had 7 other children at home.

Judy had known their family for year, she had been frieds with his wife. She was widow and single mother of two, when Lucky came knocking. He knew right away she was going to be his wife. He explained that he knew that whoever he married, would be someone his beloved wife would personally approve of, when he saw Judy, he had his confirmation. It wasn't so simple for Judy, she laughed as she described that it took some convincing for her to finally give in. It was so fun to watch this couple tell their story. They had been together longer than I have been alive.

It was humbling being with them. They were both such shining examples of Latter Day Saints. I have so many stories from that day, but the thing I remember the most is the feeling that I had when I was with them, happiness, and peace.

Me, Lucky, and Judy.

The week went by, another Saturday.
But with it came one of our favorite fall events:
CRANKSGIVING!!!
Where bike lovers and concerned citizens bike around to all the different Grocery stores in the area, buying different things, to donate to the Food Bank.

The group was big this year.
Karl was cute as ever.

One stop, outside of Macey's. Karen with a Balloon.

Me, waiting with the bikes.

Me and Karl.

A couple of new friends:

Jenna and Noah
Shots of the Group:

Karl going hands free:

You see, it started to get even colder.

Karen and Karl, buying food for the needy.

Realizing we lost a few (We found out later, that we left them at Macey's) Oops.

The final haul!!!

On one of the work Benches at the Collective.
The group, Celebrating.

That night our friends, Susie and Jordan, had their wedding reception.

These two are hilarious.
They cut their cake with a hatchet.

The Provo Bike Group.

Karl and Allie.

What else...
Harry Potter 7.2 came in the mail on Blue ray. That was great.

This week was rough. We went to work every morning at 4:30 AM. We had to get up by 3:45 in order to be ready on time, and there by 4:30. Karl had to go in to do European support for a week. I was able to clear it with Ben, and came in early too. It's just easier to be on the same schedule. We were able to visit my grandma though, which was really great, I have missed her.
It's over, the weekend has been gloriously slow, filled with family phone calls and naps.
This week, getting ready for Thanksgiving, in Portlandia!!!

1 Year Without a Thyroid

2011-11-04T15:58:00.000-07:00

I think that I knew it had been about a year, when I realized that my friend Alicia's birthday was coming up. I was in recovery during her birthday last year, and miss it. Also, I missed my work's annual Boutique last year too. Which I ended up attending yesterday, and today. But what really drove it home was something else that happened today.

I got an email notification around 12:30. Someone had commented on my blog. I love when people comment on my blog. It's cool to think that people read it. I know, it's self involved narcissistic attitude, but still it's cool to see people are reading.

What made this even cooler was that it was from an anonymous writer, and it was from a post I wrote on November 8, 2010. About my thyroid surgery.

See the post:

http://akhite.blogspot.com/2010/11/thyriodectamy.html

The comment was:

"Anonymous said...

I did not see any swelling on your neck before the surgery and no adam's apple as well :)"

"Who wrote this," I wondered to myself. Then it made me want to see the post. Then it forced me to remember, what day did I get my Thyriodectamy? I check google calendar. It was November 4th. Then it hit me, and said it out loud to my coworker Kyle, "I had my thyroid removed a year ago today."

"Wow," was his simple reply. His wife is also living life with out a thyroid, and he and I talk about the consequences of such an existence. The quick realization made me think over all that has happened in the past year. It's been great. Way better than the year that lead up to the surgery.

Stupidly, one of my primary concerns before getting the surgery was what my scar would look like. Here is a shot of it the day the bandeges cam off:

and one I took just a few minutes ago:

Not too shabby. I often don't even notice it anymore.

As far as the rest, getting my meds under control has been easy. I have had a great set of doctors and have become a bit of an expert myself.

So a year later, I am glad I did it. No more need to look back.

2011-11-01T10:01:00.000-07:00

Now that it is officially November, I am gearing up for the long winter, and the inevitable extra dark nights and hours upon end spent inside the apartment. So, when I saw the following video last week, life seemed brighter:

WARNING:
My Nerd will be showing.

Yes, if you didn't know I love Zelda.
I have passed everyone since Ocarina of Time.

When I was grounded for 6 months my sophomore year of high school for getting a D in French, it was my only friend. We got it for Christmas, and I played it often. After the disappointment that was Majora's Mask, I wasn't too hopeful about Twilight Princess, then it totally delivered!

I have been wondering if there would be a new Zelda soon, but it wasn't until Karl showed me this video last week, that I new the glory that was about it be mine.
It is per-ordered, and it will come with a golden Wii Mote. I am stoked!

It couldn't have come at a better moment for me!

The Robot &/or the Robo Boogie

2011-10-24T19:45:00.000-07:00

Karl found this adorable baby robot who just learned how to ride a bike.

Happy Valley Derby Darlings

2011-10-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

They are "Rollier than you"

Yes, we went to the Ladies Roller Derby of Utah Valley!

It took us a while to find the place, because every time we looked it up, it said the address was a Food 4 Less. Which it turned out it was, a closed down food for less, they had converted into a Derby rink. Now, I hate to see any business fail, BUT I worked at Food 4 Less, and it was THE WORST job I ever had. So, sufficed to say, that I was a little bit satisfied that it was a closed food for less.

Sweet signs on the way in:

The Utah Valley Legue logo:

I bought a tee shirt.

I was really excited to go! We had wanted to do this for years. We were told the match started at 6:00, so we arrived at 5:30, and no one was there. We were worried. But around 6:30 people started to show up, and we got started at 7.

We read the rules and did our best to figure out what was going on:

It was actually a private event, for friends and family. We were there to support a friend from Bike polo. The is Lexi:

Her Derby name is Triple Lexxx

Her number is 700c (like the tire size.)

For this event the league was divided into two teams:

The Zombies

(Our team, cuz that was where Lexi was playing)

And the Vampires:

It was seriously so much fun! I lost my voice from screaming.

Here is Karl trying to explain:

It is a fast paced game, with a ton of violence and drama.

Karen loved it!

Until she didn't anymore.

We made to half time, where I won a CD in the Raffle!

We left after a few Jams, and headed home, exhausted and...edified. This league was really fun, because it was totally family friendly. No Alcohol, cursing or bad music. It was great!

Getting things Done

2011-10-16T17:27:00.000-07:00

It has been as relatively uneventful week.

Karl and I have both been so crazy busy at work, that most of our free time has been spent watching TV and sleeping. We baby sat a friend's little boy this week, as well as kept busy with our callings. The Primary program is coming up next Sunday, and we have done everything that Saturday morning came with a welcome sleep in.

But, I couldn't sleep.

So I got up and started to clear out the second bedroom. Karl got up a couple hours later, we worked on it together, went to Guru's for breakfast and took a huge load of stuff to the DI. We had set with our friend Alicia, to meet up with us, but it took us a while to be able to meet up.

To take our Christmas Card.

We had kind of a negative response from our card last year:

I love this picture.

Apparently, people didn't get it. They didn't understand why we were in the middle of the street. We thought that it was so funny. So we thought, this year we could try to pose on a spot that was just as different. On the roof of our apartment building.

We also wanted to incorporate the same green chair.

The unfortunate thing was that by 4:00 PM, the light was a little harsh.

We struggled to get our eyes open.

Another problem was getting the chair up there. Getting up there our selves was tricky enough we had to hand the chair up to the roof from a balcony. This was all complicated by the fact that the roof was partially covered by alge water run off from the swamp coolers.

This one even spawned a plant.

Here are some of our rejects of the day:

I am actually really excited about the one the we picked. It is cool.

We sent it to Costco, for printing, so look in your mail boxes, after thanks giving, for what we came up with in the end.

Also, thanks so much to Alicia! For:
A. Taking our picture, on the hot sweaty roof.

B. Coming up with fun poses.

C. Risking life, limb, towel and chair so that this photo shoot could happen.

D. For not charing us a dime.

Love you!

I found Something Funny

2011-10-11T10:10:00.000-07:00

I somehow deleted all of the blogs that I follow.

So in an effort to get all of them up again, I stated searching for then online.
Here is the first link I found for Malia Hite.
Enjoy.

The Last FUFFUR of the Season

2011-10-09T08:44:00.000-07:00

So it is the last Fun Fun Underground Race of the season.

The group was a little smaller than usual, but that is probably because the whether has dropped about 20 degrees this week!

The usual group, with a few new additions.

Three heats, this time. There goes Dillon!

Jordan, apparently asleep on the job.

Zac speeding through the trees!

There were some crashes:

A few upsets:

And generally a great time had by all.

Zac even dressed up for the occasion:

He had mud all up is front and back!

Final race!

It was getting dark, but the boys did it!

We started to loose light by the end.

They were really flying.

Final results!

There is a promise for a race when it snows, be there or be square!

Pumpkin Time, Jakers 2011

2011-10-09T08:32:00.000-07:00

So it is finally Ocober, and it is time to get pumpkins. Where do we go to get pumpkins?

Jaker's pumpkin patch of course!

This will be year FOUR.

A quick highlight reel:

Year one:

Karen was one, and the pumpkin we got that year was a big as she was.

Year Two:

Brandon and Leah actually introduced us to Jaker's, and brought us out the first time. We headed out together again.

Year three:

We biked out to Springville, had that crazy adventure with no breakfast.

Year four!

Was Monday, and we went straight from work.

I was still in my work cloths.

Karen was really excited.

We usually get HUGE pumpkins, but this year we got a bunch of smaller pumpkins, rather that a couple big pumpkins.

Krysta and her score!

They have had this corn pit the last couple of years, but Karen was really excited about it this time:

Corn angel!

We ended up buying $18 worth of pumpkins...I got a little excited. Our door step looks AWESOME!

Conference Weekend

2011-10-09T08:28:00.000-07:00

I love General Conference.

If you are a follower of our blog you know that we celebrate general conference in the fall with

OCTOBER FEST!

We started it off with some delicious cinnamon rolls, Cinnabon style from Costco. We only bought 6, we were all totally stuffed, Zac had the extra one.

Then conference began.

President Monsen arrived late, escorted by a body guard. Weird right? The times they are a changing.

When president Monson did arrive, he announced 6 new temples!

One in Paris, and one in our very own town!

It will be in the place where our very own tabernacle used to stand.

It hasn't even been a year since this:

It used to look like this inside. I attended firesides and Stake conferences. It was so sad when the old girl burnt down.

So above is before,

This is after:

I guess the plan is to restore it closer to it's orignal design.

Artist redering.

I used to work in the Provo temple, and have attended many times :) It is the busiest temple in the church, and so town really could use another temple. I am pretty sure we will be in the temple district, as we are only 3 blocks away!

Conference was, as always, totally uplifting.

As was lunch, Suflaces!

Karl tired roasting the meet, like they do at real suflace places. It turned out great!

Never too much slace kosi.

SMILE!

I was so content, I forgot to take any more pictures during the rest of conference. I must document the rest of the meals. Dinner was a delicious Salad. Krysta, Karen and I went to the park and got pedicures while the boys went to priesthood.

For breakfast Krysta made Monkey Bread. Conference, then Lunch: Homemade chicken noodle soup, extra home made noodles, in bread bowls. Conference, then Roast mashed potatoes and salad, with carrots. OOOHHHH, I love conference.

We vidoe chatted with Brandon during lunch, then between conference ending and dinner:

Chatting with Nephews and everyone!

I talked to my mom, and the day ended.

Until April.

My First Ever Business Trip

2011-09-30T08:23:00.000-07:00

So I am a big kid now.

I was send on my first ever business trip. Spolier alert, it was terrible and I never want to go again! Mostly, because I am so codependant that I missed Karl so bad the whole time.

We stayed at a hotel neat the LAX Airport. A Holiday Inn Express. It turned out to be ok.

Here was my view of Englewood in the morning. More on Englewood later.

We got in kind of late on Tuesday evening. But we were both starving and I was able to find an Islands near our hotel. I had these amazing pork tacos and spinach artichoke dip. Kyle had the fish tacos, and loved them.

We woke up early to get to our meeting in Downtown LA.

The drive there was...interesting.

I just kept thinking, we aren't in Kansas anymore.

For example:

The trip had it's perks too. I drove passed and saw with my own eyes the General offices and distribution center of my beloved See's Candies. So that's something.

The city rose through the morning haze as we finally made it.

It took us nearly an hour and a half to dirve 15 miles. Cool.

Where were we going?

LAUSD. Los Angeles Unified School District.

It was nuts. I couldn't believe that it was a school district office.

We attended a crazy meeting, that I don't think was confidential, but I don't feel comfortable sharing any details just in case.

Many hours later, we found ourselves here:

This is Manhattan Beach, a mile down the road from our second appointment. We stopped for lunch at this little Italian place call the bottle Inn.

Right on the beach.

Oh, this is Kyle Russon. He is the kid that I work with every day, and we went on this trip together.

We had our meeting, battled traffic some more, and them made it back to the hotel, only to do more work until late.

I was, of course starving, but not feeling too well, so instead of going somewhere cool, we went to somewhere easy: Jack in the Box. It was just a couple of blocks from our Hotel, and I haven't eaten there in years. Not really thinking that we were doing anything dangerous, we headed over and went in.

My first sign that something wasn't normal was the place itself. I thought, something is different, then I saw it. From the sealing to the counter, there was 3 inch think bullet proof plexi-glass. As I was thinking, "Yikes, they must have had some problems with being held up," I notice a young man come in behind me. He would not stop staring at me. So I tried to ignore him. Kyle and I nervously ordered. While I waited for Kyle to finish, the young man adressed me:

"Red head huh?"

"Yeah," I replied trying to seem like I was so cool and not totally nervous.

"Red head and don't care!" He almost yelled at me, laughing a little as he said it.

"Ha, ha, yeah, thanks" I tried to smile back, thinking "Why am I thanking him?"

He continued to stare at me.

Kyle finished and we took our seats, which there were very few of in that particular place. One other gentalman set eating and talking on his cell phone. I tried to start a casual conversation with Kyle, ignoring the kid still staring at us. We talked about the meetings we had that day, when suddenly the kid starts yelling. It took me a minute to realize, it wasn't at me, but at one of the kids behind the counter, working in the kitchen.

"What are you smiling at? Huh, (Expletive) What?"

The manager approached the counter and asked if he could help him.

The kid yells curses and accuses the store, and demands a refund.

The maneger can't get the money out of the till fast enough.

The kid keeps cursing making threats and accusations, about racism, etc.

Meanwhile, I try to keep up my conversation with Kyle. Kyle struggles to get a word out, mostly because what is happening is so loud and distracting.

The kid takes his money and runs out the door and across the street.

We both still try to act like, yeah that was totally normal for us. Then a HUGE black escalade drives up, and two guys who seriously look like they were the models for the HOMIES walk in. Total cholos. Nice guys, but it was really crazy. They seriously looked just like this:

We finished our food, and got back to out hotel.

I realized I have grown soft in Utah. :)

The next morning, it was time to check out. :)

As we left the hotel, I passed this wine glass that had been set on top of a fire extinguisher since we arrived. I wonder how long it had been there.

We turned in our rental car, and made it to our terminal, which miraculously had a Ruby's Diner in it! We had burgers and shakes, and got ready to get on the plane.

Best part of the trip:

Seeing Utah Valley from the window.

Also realizing from the shadow of the air plane on the ground we were almost home.

Well, that and the new friends we had made at Jack in the Box.

Bike Times, A Quick Note

2011-09-25T17:55:00.000-07:00

Just a note about what is going on with bikes in Provo.

Last weekend, we had some bike advocates from Portland. They came and taught about things we can do in our community to make things more bike friendly.

Here is Ellie, she is presenting a talk called, Bikenomics.

All week this week has been bike to school week. Zach and Krysta have been busting their butts getting the word out there, and fixing bikes at events all week. It all culminated with the Bike & Roll event in down town provo, where they closed down two blocks to cars on center street.

Here we are, watching bike polo in front of Station 22.

Yes, that is B Money, attending the event!

More Bike polo...

Smiling...

About bikes...

Harvest Time!

2011-09-25T17:46:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again:

Our garden is overflowing, the rode side orchards are selling fresh veggies and produce.

Here we are Harvesting!

We planted ONE zucchini plant and one yellow squash.

They both became HUGE! We pulled them out and at the beginning of September.

Karen and Karl, watched us work.

I had to go and get another bowl.

What would we do with all of those tomatoes?

Salsa making party!!!

Onion.

Ohh so good.

BUT even after all of that salsa, we still had all that Zucchini!

Not to worry!

We made Zucchini bread! We gave it to all of the families we visit teach and home teach.

Then, the pieceta reistance, something I have wanted to do for years...Can Peaches.

So on Saturday morning, we headed over to Allred Orchards, and bought four boxes of peaches.

We cleaned everything...

Sterilized everything.

Blanched the peaches, and cut them.

Then we put them in the sterilized jars, and added our homemade syrup.

HOURS later, we were still there.

My hands had never been so wrinkled from being wet. But, we were making some progress.

We were done.

We started at 10, and were done around 7 PM. What did we have to show for it?

40 large jars, and 9 little jars of fresh home made canned peaches.

My food storage has been infused.

We are still going to make some peach fruit leather, and can some tomatoes. After that, the skys the limit.

Luchador's in Provo

2011-09-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

The build up to this was years in the making.

I guess it started on my first trip to Mexicali. I think I was in the 4th grade. I remember we were walking to the market place, and we passed these posters glued on to the walls of these masked men. They were professional wrestlers. Flash forward to Freshman year of high school, when my brother Cameron's best friend was into WWF. He would come over, what seemed like every morning, and give us the breakdown on all of the drama of the world of pro wrestling. Then, in 2006, Nacho Libre clinched it. I wanted to go to see a Mexican Wrestling match. We found out this event was in Provo a couple of years ago. We have wanted to go, and even once drove by and saw the event happening and couldn't make it. Finally, we were trying to go and see a Mexican Wrestling match while we were in New York, and weren't able to make it work out.

It was on the Provo City Court house steps.

This is what we discovered...

The best part of it was the characters:

Le Mirgra, I think.

He fought:

El Azteca.

El Azteca was the hero, I mean he threw a piñata into the crowd.

(He ended up hitting a baby in the face, but the baby loved it.)

Guess who won?

Yeah.

Next was El Seceleto:

Yeah he was the villan. He was yelling at little kids.

The good guy, whose name I never caught.

Muscles, I feel. All I remember his muscles.

It didn't got well for El Seceleto...

Then there was this young man...

It got a little homoerotic.

And really crazy. These two were probably the most fit of anyone else we saw so their stunts were nuts.

On top of it all, I saw this girl:

A Hernandez girl. Whose name is Jessica? I know she didn't know my name either.

But it was fun to see her.

Another this checked off of my bucket list.

9/11, Where were you?

2011-09-11T17:34:00.000-07:00

It was my second day of the fall semester of school at BYU-Idaho.

In fact it was the first semester that it became BYU-I. The summer term before, it was still Ricks.
A Tuesday morning, I was on my way to my weights class in the Hart building.
I passed two girls in the hall, they looked worried, and I didn't think much of it until one of the girls said, "they think it might be terrorists."
That's weird.
I went into the weight room.
The TV was on, and everyone was quiet.
The news caster was talking about how a plane had crashed into the tower, there was no confirmation about what had caused it.
The teacher struggled to get class started, when we all watched in awe as on live TV we watched a plane crash into the second tower.

Class was over. We all sat and watched the first tower fall. It happened so fast. I remember the news caster was speechless, which never happens.

I went home. It was a slow school day, and I had laundry on the schedule, so I did it. My roommate Rachel had left her alarm clock, radio on in our room. It was a sports news station, but they were talking about the attacks too. The man said, "This morning we woke up and thought we had the most important interview available [Micheal Jordan had announced that he was coming out of retirement(again) to them the day before] but who cares now."

There was a ward activity, where we were supposed to compete with other ward in field races. We all met out on the Arbor Cove lawn, our Bishop arrived and told us it was canceled. It happened and it was so far away, and our activity was canceled.

The next week Elder Henry B Eyering was coming to make Ricks Officaly BYU-I, for devotionals you could usually walk in and wait, but there were bomb dogs, and armed police men, it was weird.

The images were EVERYWHERE that first week. I kept crying, every time I though of it. I didn't even know anyone there, why was I so sad?

It doesn't feel like ten years ago, it just happened, right? Still, it is hard to remember what life was like before body scanners, and 9/11.

What do you remember?
Where were you?

I am actually really curious. I have never spoken to any of my friends or family about it before.

Please comment.

PS: 11/4/11 I just heard this great podcast, from This American Life:

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/445/ten-years-in

I think it does a great job of looking over the way America and it's people have changed over the past 10 years. Check it out.

The Girls, Cam and Kelly

2011-09-04T18:08:00.000-07:00

So my little sister and her awesome friend Kanisha came into town on Friday afternoon.

I got off of work a little early and we met up for lunch.

We went to Mountain West Burrito and caught up on life.

After lunch we headed over to the DI, and Chelsea and Kanish found just what they had been looking for:

Electronic Bikes. For $200, no less, that was a steal.

We found many other treasures which we will review later. I almost bought a jewelry box, Krysta got me a plate, and I got a sweet new trunk.

I got separated from the group and when I found them again this is what I found.

The girl taking to a dirty man. I mean his face, hair, and clothing were very dirty.

Out is the parking lot, the girls tell the story.

Still, it was a fun trip.

Karen got a Wolveren mask.

Kanish's trunk.

A painting that I let Chelsea have...

I loved being with my little sister. It is so weird that she is getting so grown up.

She will be 20(!!!) in December. Crazy.

Kanisha left on a date, and we all got on bikes and went off to the the lake. Chelsea had never been our favorite local ride before, and her comment to me was, "Kanisha is missing out."

Us at the lake.

Karl throwing rocks while I was trying to take a picture of him.

Krysta, Zac, Karen and Graham were also with us. It started to get late, and we headed back, trying to beat the light. There is a part of the path that is under construction. We had to drag our bikes under the freeway, in the dark. It was a little scary.

We got home, and took Chelsea to Five Guys. We took her to Five Guys because she said she wanted Inn and Out, and we had to show her this was better.

After dinner, we went to Inn and Out. We got Chelsea the fries that she was craving and chocolate shakes too. While we were there the crazies were out again. The Red Bull girls showed up and handed out what else, Red Bull, two sets of people yelled the F word at each other, then the Maverick Truck showed up...no less than 6 sweet bro's fell out.

When we got home it was 11, and I was pooped, but Chelsea invited a friend she met in Boise over and we chatted with him for a while. Kanisha and her date Preston showed up and the kids left to watch Back to the Future.

Karl and I went to bed, it was 12:30, we were dead.

I woke up the next morning at 9:30 and I was totally pooped.

But the girls had shared all of their busy day plans with me so I didn't want them to miss anything. We were up and ready before 11:00.

We went to Breakfast at the Roll Up, a crepe restaurant that their friend opened with her summer sales money.

Karl and I waiting for our Breakfast.

I had a breakfast "Meat Lovers" crepe with eggs cheese, ham, bacon and sausage. It was like a breakfast burrito.

Karl had "The Southwest Chicken." It had chipotle sause, bacon and chick.

Both very good.

Kanisha had Basil tomato soup. It came out in a owl bowl:

cute.

We also had to try this:

Chelsea had berry cheese cake.

We drove up to SLC, met Cam. We went and visited Grandma Denny, and chatted for a while with her. It is always nice to be with my grandma.

We went to the gateway next and checked out the Brazilian Festival:

Really crowded and loud.

We looked around at the mall for a little while, then went over to have street tacos.

We parted ways with Kanisha at this point, then we drove around Salt Lake with Cam as our guide.

We somehow found ourselves at this place called Sensations. Chelsea and I mixed our own perfumes, and both got one called Pomegranate and Rain.

We headed back to Kelly and Cam's place.

We just spent the evening talking and hanging out.

It was nice to be with family.

We're Producers! It's no big deal...

2011-09-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

Howdy, Y'all.

Brother-in-law Nick (husband of Betsy) is filming a really cool looking scifi movie for his masters program.

He and his cute twins are begging funds for set-building and so forth. We paid up and hope he can get all the ~~urine~~ funding that he needs. So read the following note with some cool incentives for contribution:

Dear friends, family and colleagues,

As many of you know, my husband Nick has just started his final year of grad school for film production at San Diego State University. As part of his program he is producing a short thesis film called Space Garden. This is an important project as he will be able to submit the film to film festivals, as well as put it on his professional reel (used for finding work after his graduation in the Spring). Even though he will be shooting this film with school equipment and in the school's studio there are still a lot of costs involved, which we will be personally responsible for. As we're not exactly flush with cash right now due to raising twins while financing grad school we're reaching out to you for help. Nick is using Kickstarter to raise funds for his film. We're getting closer to the end of the fund raising period, so I thought I would make a plea to you all for any help you can offer. Below you will find a link to Nick's Kickstarter page:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nickreddoch/space-garden-graduate-film-thesis

If you are willing and able we would really appreciate your contribution. Kickstarter allows donations starting at just $1. A donation of $5 or more will get you a special thanks in the film's credits. There are other rewards for higher contribution levels. However, since I know you personally, I will go so far as to entice you with a special incentive not available to the general public: If you donate $50 or more, and you live within a 50 mile radius of Oceanside, me and the twins will deliver you a delicious plate of homemade cookies! If you live outside of that area you will have to settle for my undying love forever.

If you can't donate just click on the link to enjoy a video of Nick with our twins (it's really cute).

Please feel free to forward the Kickstarter link, or post it to your Facebook, Twitter or blog. Any and all exposure is helpful.

I hope all is well with you. Thanks in advance for your help.

Betsy, Nick, Judah & Asher

Coming Home

2011-08-31T20:55:00.000-07:00

We loved every bit of NYC, but we love being home even more.
Last week flew by.
It was rough coming back to work.

When Friday rolled around we were totally spent. It was August 26th however.
That's right, 5 years baby!
This week we discovered something called a Boba smoothie.
We had one to share before dinner.

We found this place during the week when we met for lunch. We thought they might have Dim Sum there. They didn't but they had something that was quite good too:

It is a creamy smoothy with huge tapioca balls in the bottom.
Chelsea said that she has had it in Hawaii.
Then for dinner we went out to Texas Road House:

Steak, Steak, and Steak.
We slept in that morning, for the first time...ever.
We got up early and went the Farmers Market.
We bought nectarines, and pears, and lunch:

Arepa

We biked to the Mall after that.
We shopped the sales at the Gap, then went and saw Planet of the Apes. We gave it an A.
Great acting, great visual effects, great movie.
We biked home, rather carefully at this point. We were weighed down with fruit, and new cloths.
We got home just in time to meet the Whitmores and go to Provello.
It was fun. We biked from the beginning of the Provo Parkway trail to Lion's park.
It was basically a bicycle sit in.

As it got dark we road home.
We ran over to Green Panda for another Boba Shake and dinner.
We watched Avatar, finished the series in fact.
Then went to bed.
Good day.

New Furniture

2011-08-29T21:15:00.000-07:00

So the picture below is a chair that Karl and I bought in Rexburg at the DI when we were first married.
Funny story.
We were at home and a friend of ours came over. John and Kristy Rider, and their daughter, Riley Rose Rider. She was so cute. ANYWAY. They said, we were just at the DI and saw a chair that we thought you would like. She described it. At the time we were buy up all the orange furniture we could get. We rushed down to the store.
Miraculously, it was still there.
We stuffed it into the back of our tiny car, it came with us when we moved her 3 years ago.
The top was destroyed one day in a mishap of orange soda and my over vigorous scrubbing.
It sat for the past couple of years with a red and blue robot blanket on top of it.
Now this week, we actually gave it away.
To a good home I think:
To Graham:

Why would we give it away, after so many years of loyal service?
We got a new chair.
With a pretty good story too.
It was a claim from a dumpster dive.
Why would someone throw away such a nice chair?
Well, it lived through a Jewelry store fire on University ave and 500 north. It smelled like fire, so they through it out.
Krysta and Alicia found it.
Krysta wanted it, so she kept it on her balcony all summer, getting the stink out.
Then for some reason, she gave up on it, once it was finally safe to bring inside!

Now it sits in our living room.
Te Dua Motra!

Day Ten, Fare Thee Well NYC

2011-08-21T22:09:00.000-07:00

I of course couldn't sleep.
I wish I could come back here anytime I wanted. Just for a few days, you know?
So we wouldn't feel so rushed and desperate. Desperate to see everything.
As fare as every living, living here? Probably not.

We stopped at a Papaya dog shop for breakfast.

Breakfast and a show.

We were both so tired.

The Hell's Kitchen Market was open again.
We stopped by to check it out on our way back to the hotel.

We grabbed out luggage, and were back on the subway.

The train ride was a long one, almost an hour.
When we first got on, there wasn't really anyone on the train. We reminisced about our trip.

Check out all my new rings.
Karl liked the lion the best.

The train jolted at just the right moment.

We were at the air port a few hours early.
Early enough to both take a nap. Wake up, just in time to realize that we were waiting at the wrong terminal. To Run across the airport, and get on a plain.

We watched The Proposal and held hands.

The captian announced that we were beginning our decent. I looked out the window and what did I see?
Provo!
You can see the Y and everything!

It felt really good to be home.
Then we had some wonderful friends waiting for us when we got there.

Karen insisted that she help with our bags. AS did her father and mother.
The ride home was somehow one of the best parts of the whole trip.
Sharing a great experience with the one's you love.
Everything was just spilling out of us.
Home sweet home.

Day Nine

2011-08-20T21:26:00.000-07:00

The first morning in our hotel room, we woke up and turned on the news.
There was a on about how they close Park Avenue on Saturdays.
We wanted to go, but were so busy we didn't make it.
Not again.
We were looking for a bike rental place, we found ourselves at Grand Central Station again.

It was so weird, so quiet, so wonderful! Except it felt like I am Legend all over again.

As it got later, more and more people appeared. There were free bike rentals advertized, but the lines were SUPER long!

The Route:

People doing Ti Chi

People on bikes everywhere!

Across the street from the Mac cube and FAO Schwarz we met a guy attracting tourist to come and rent bikes. He said he was paid, so we didn't have to tip him. He picked up a banana peel out of the gutter on our way. He may have been from like the Sudan. He may have been one of the lost boy. He was very helpful. We made it.

Another amazing t-shirt.

And we were off! It was seriously amazing.

The further south we got, the more crowded the streets became.

Old Chinese grandma on a sweet bike.

There were cool event stations all the way to the Brooklyn Bridge.
Families!

There were these sweet men building a huge sandcastle of the Brooklyn bridge.

The NYC Courthouse. I have never seen the whole building before. Dang, it is HUGE!

Sand boxes for the kids.

We were having a total blast!

So, we just turned around and went back.

This time we made a stop at Madison Square Park.
The the Flat Iron Building.

The whole thing:

It is a place I have always wanted to see.

Ever since the Never Ending Story...

We Couldn't stop smiling.

We just wend straight down 5th avenue and found ourselves at:

Washington Square Park.
Again really cool. You could see the house that the guy on I Am Legend lived in.

We asked a passing group of speed walkers to take this one for us.

Back on the bikes, I saw something that made me miss home:

Almost there again. Have I said this? That the Met Life Building used to be the Pan Am building?

Waldorf Astoria

We sadly had to get off, our 2 hours were up.

We had tickets for wicked at 2:00, so we spent the next hour shopping and eating.
Then we were off to 8th and 51st.
The Gershwin Theater.
Wicked.

The place was green and decked out.
The walls covered in murals.

We stopped and looked at the merchandise:
this shirt, $40.

This shirt, a water bottle, and a magnet, $70.

I bought an $8 magnet.
Worth it.
We also got a sour apple flavor drink. With a pretty sweet cup, $5. It seemed so reasonable, we had to buy it!

I just couldn't stop smiling! Despite the fact that the tickets were $96 a piece, and that Karl was TOTALLY dragging his feet about going, WORTH IT!

As the showtime drew nearer, even Karl got excited.

And the show?
AMAZING!!!!
Our Cast
http://www.broadway.com/shows/wicked/cast/
We loved it.

Well after that I could die.
But one more this first:

That's right, real Italian. By a real Italian.

We ate a ton of bread with Olive Oil and balsamic vinegar, just like in Albania.
We had Calamari. Karl Veil Parmesan and I went traditional.
I had a HUGE plate of Spaghetti and meatballs.
It was amazing. Again.

It was about 7:00 at this point, and we saddly realized we were going to be home in less than 24 hours, so we started to wonder around, to get things we knew we couldn't get at home:
Like a bodega sandwich.
Where a guy in a greasy white apron slices the meat and cheese in front of you.

Amazingly at this place I also found Kinder Eggs:

Karl ate his sandwich:

I ate my egg:

There is a process:
Unwrap:

Then split.
Build your toy, by following the directions.

I got a race car. Karl got a little lady Chihuahua in purse.

We turned in early, packed, and got ready to leave.

Eight

2011-08-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

Our second Friday in New York was interesting.
Our metro cards were out of money, and our city card was finished. So we were off to do things we hadn't taken time to do before.
For example, I finally took a picture out of our hotel Window. We stayed a a Comfort Inn on 39th and 8th Ave. We were on the 18th floor. It was a TALL SKINNY SQUARE building 22 storied up, that seemed small compared to other buildings around it.
Here is a panoramic view:

That building right there is the New York Times new building

The billboards a block away are spillover from time square, that is how close we were!

That seemingly huge parking structure is the Port Authority Bus station.

That weird green building, is a publishing company...I can't read the sign right now.

Our view down, my knee.

In preparation to our trip we watched tons of New York shows and movies to know what to look out for. This is a place that I wouldn't have thought about if it weren't for Ghost Busters.

The New York City Public Library.
Also highlighted in Breakfast at Tiffany's
Also, it is in Bryant Park, where fashion week takes place. And Project Runway.

Lion.

I was continually tripping because all I could do was look up. The skyline, and things happening in front of me were so captivating.
We found an Urban Outfitters while we were looking around in that area. I bought $10 worth of nail polish. It was cool to find another store that sold Toms, but there weren't any that I liked, so we moved on.

You can see a low lying building coming up in the distance.
This is the ceiling of the this building:
Constellations and stars and astrology paintings.

What is it?
Grand Central Station:

It was really dark in there, and difficult to take pictures.
We actually went in to jump on a subway.
You see it was noon, and we had still not had any food.
I found the address of a place I wanted to eat, but it was all the way across town, and I was getting crancky. We found this food cart that sold falafel. I had really wanted to try them, so on our way to lunch we stopped for some sustenance .
Karl says this is the best food cart in Manhattan.

I agree, this falafel warp was SOOOO good. Karl got a Gyro. Which he said it was the best Gyro that he had ever had before.
(Random info: See the tag that this man is wearing? All the vendors have to wear these permits. You can't just start selling food on the street. Which I thought was cool. They have to answer to help codes and inspectors and everything.

After eating, we finally found the place we were looking for.
One of the things I really wanted to do while we were in the city was eat Albanian food. Albanian's have their style of Gyro, Suflace, which is good, and not quite the same as a Gyro. The one thing that I miss so much is Byrek. So we found this place that we called ahead and everything.

We checked out the menu, and something caught my eye.

We ordered Spinach and Beef Byreck. I got a glass of Yogurt, which was called dhal, in Albania. Karl also order a sandwich, Boringly
Appetizers were peta bread hummus dipping sauce.
The place was really cool. It was just as much a wine bar as anything.

Karl made sure to find a seat right under the vent.

The Dhal came.

I made Karl try some.

We started on our appetizer. And the Byrek came:

I was so freaking excited!

I had a really great food.

And I was happy.

More Dhal.

And more...

And more...

I was getting really full, and that glass was HUGE! This was actually one of the best glasses I ever had. In Albania it was always warmer, and more sour tasting. This was very "tart" as karl described it.

We finished dinner and went out to continue to explore the city.
We found this sweet bike shop on the West side.

We shopped around, and just wandered.
The sky got dark really quickly, and we were forced into this TINY dollar store for a bit of shelter.

We were both soaking wet. We bought a cheap umbrella, and ran back to the hotel. We napped and showered and dried off.
By the time we woke up, you guessed it, we were hungry again.
At the begining of our trip we found this sweet little bodega around the corner, and we ate here a few times.

It is called Mike's Deli. Seriously delicious sandwiches and a GREAT hamburger.

Karl wanted pizza, so we got some here:

After we ate we found this little shop called Joey's and bought a ton of sweet Jewelry.

We hit the hay after a slower day.

One full day left...

Day Seven...

2011-08-18T20:45:00.000-07:00

Got got up late, and jumped on the subway to Brooklyn.

We had a couple of stops that we wanted to hit while we were there.

First, The Brooklyn Museum.

Famed to be the largest Museum in the country, although I just don't think that can be right.

Before we went through we stopped down in the cafe for Brunch.
Here I go again on anther weird east coast rant:
Where is all the yellow mustard?

It was no where to be seen!

All they had was brown mustard. From the hot dog cart our side of the MoMa, to the Soft pretzel guy at Pier 18 to this little eatery in Brooklyn-all they have is Golden's Mustard, which is brown! It turns out yellow mustard is a west thing, or something.

This Museeum was very well organized with clear area's and exhibits.
Like this guy, in American art.

Ok, I don't think this picture does my new favorite painting justice:
Albert Bierstadt's
"A Storm in the Rocky Mountains, Mt Rosalie"
After doing some research I found out it is a mountain in Colorado now called Mt. Evans. Bierstadt named it for the woman he would later marry.
I also read that he was not the first person to paint some of these landscapes, but he was the most famous. He was a German-American, who traveled all over the west during the 1800's painting these landscapes.

The painting is as large as one of the walls in my apartment, and as you walk towards it it was as if you were there, in the Rocky Mountains, my home for the past 10 years. I FELT something as I "regarded" this painting. I will own a copy some day.

Another great piece of bike art.

It feels really American somehow.

Speaking of bike:

This room was really cool. It was a collection of art that was not cool enough to be displayed in an exhibit, bit you could look at it in a drawer.

This one was in there too, for some reason...Zac.

Karl likes TEXTURED art. He wanted to touch everything.

This felt like Provello.

Then we got to the Feminist Art exhibit.

This one is called Gathered.
The idea is that if that all the famous ladies in history sat together, what would their "flowers" look like, I guess.
Here is Emily Dixon's Flower:

This exhibit made me think of Brandon, Leah and Tacos.

Then there was another really cool Avatar of Vishnu section too.

He is always blue.

Little Princess!

I wonder what his friends said.

Then we went into the Mummy Chamber.
Karl was really excited.

Some of the artifacts were so delicate you could only view them for small portions of time under a flap.

Monet:

After the Museum, we walked right over to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.
A HUGE park.
Here is the Japanese Koi pond.

It was so wonderful.
So quiet and beautiful.

Next we found the Brooklyn Celebratory Walk, he found Carl Sagan.

GDB...he he.

We found a huge umbrella tree:

Looks like other people found it before too...

I don't think that I have mentioned how terribly hot it was that day.
Then we found the green houses.
SWEAT!

There was a whole room of Bonsai trees.

Rain forest room... of solid water.

As we headed out, we passed the children's garden.

The gate:
I love this picture of Karl.

The subway platform we found was outside, and it left one feeling like they were in some post apocalyptic world.

We passed over the Manhattan Bridge again.

We rented bikes again and found ourselves back in central park.
There were street performers.
Hard core begging for money, and jumping over people.

The bike I was on this time was TERRIBLE!
I was sad.

Us by the reservoir.

We turned in our bikes, and headed back into the back to the boat house to have a romantic row boat ride.

The Rules

The day was warm, but it was really beautiful.

Karl got in first, and took the ores.

It took no time at all to get to Bethesda fountain.

Karl started to talk to the girls sitting on the edge of the lake...

Boat house.

We saw a turtle warming himself on a log.

We floated under this tree.

The west side began to be just visible over the horizon.

Under another Bridge.

There were so many boats on the water,

Karl had sent the $12 bucks, he wanted to see every nook and cranny of the lake.
Even under this bridge, that went to nowhere.

It was dark and shallow under there. It felt like somewhere a New York Alligator would live. The ores pushed up black sludge...

I was really scared.

The algae in the water was Bright Green.

Still very beautiful.

Karl rowed us the whole time, an hour later the poor guy had blisters on both of his hands and a sweaty shirt to show for it.

We found the Tavern on the green, but it was closed for the day.

There were still a couple of food trucks out though. We ate a Pera, a Turkish place. We had hummis and peta with these really great french fries, just like in Albania with oregano on them.

We sat at that table on the far left and ate. We watched the people go by and people play in the "sheep's pasture" right across the way.

It was still early, but we were both getting really tired.

We hopped on a bus,

At Columbus Square.

We went back to time square, bought a purse. We found these other little shops went shopping some more. We had heard that there were great places to eat in "the village" so we headed south to Greenwich Village. After dinner, we headed home, and went to Sleep.
Karl tells us about it:

Sweet Six

2011-08-17T21:14:00.000-07:00

Oh what beautiful morning oh what a beautiful day, I have a beautiful feeling, everything's going my way!

Back down to the subway!

I guess I can take this moment to express our feelings about the subway. First, Metro cards are freeking amazing. Seriously, they are such a great deal, unless you are paying ride per ride. $30 bucks each and we have unlimited rides for a week on any bus, subway or shuttle we can imagine. If I lived here I would just sell our car, buy a couple of folding bikes with the money, and ride on the subway.

Now having said that there are some drawbacks to public transit as well. The first thing that comes to mind is the fact that, at least during the time we were there, it was like a blazing sweaty humid inferno down there. And the lower you traveled, the hotter it seemed to get. Karl joked it was because we were getting closer to the center of the earth. Funny. No mostly it was because the lower you got the less ventilation there was. When we were out in China town we we had to take three very long and steep escalators to get down to our platform. I had no idea that there were so many layers of train all stacked up on one another.

Today we weren't going too far:

We took the A train to 81st street, got on a cross town bus that road us across Central Park and dropped us off:
At the Metropolitan Museum of Art

First fun fact:

Did you know that this museum is actually IN Central Park? Yes it faces the street, but the building is in Central Park. We passed it on our epic bike ride yesterday. We were both puzzled as to what it could be. We found out.

We are huge How I Met Your Mother fans, and the character Ted is always talking about this place. Although he never names it. They just show shots of the building. So we were excited to see what all the fuss was about.

Just as a heads up, Ted was right. This place was AMAZING!

We started in Ancient Roman Art.

Just walking into this room was completely overwhelming. Karl, who generally mocks art, and is constantly looking for ways to make fun of it was speechless. His first comment after moments of silence was, "I didn't even know this much Ancient Roman art still existed in the the world, let alone all in one place."

This didn't stop him from having a little fun:

This one's for Zac Whitmore. He knows what we are talking about.

Some kind of old Saint?

The detail...

In my World Civ class in college my teacher said that we were constantly finding that civilizations were "much more advanced than we previously thought." Maybe that was what was so breath taking. It all seemed so new, so modern, yet it was all thousands of years old. BC stuff.

My ancestors left me an awesome nose.

This was cool. I have a picture just like this one, next to a head just like this one in Albania. Except the head in Albania is WAY bigger.

Man (Zeus actually)

Woman.

There were artifacts of every kind from ancient coffins with amaznig detail:

to Ancient Roman, Door Knockers. ;)

Perseus Slays Medusa. I have seen pictures of this one all my life.

Ugolino della Gherardesca and his Children

From Dante's Inferno.

He was a traitor to Italy, and he was in the second ring of hell to pay for it. So starving his children, who were also there for some reason, begged him to eat them.

From the book, and Wikipedia:

'Father our pain', they said,

'Will lessen if you eat us you are the one

Who clothed us with this wretched flesh: we plead

For you to be the one who strips it away'.

(Canto XXXIII, ln. 56–59)

… And I,

Already going blind, groped over my brood

Calling to them, though I had watched them die,

For two long days. And then the hunger had more

Power than even sorrow over me

(Canto XXXIII, ln. 70-73)^[

Very emotional, and powerful. We spent a bunch of time here. I love this staue of this woman below. I have been her so often this last little while.

These statues were actually in a gallery that connected us to another portion of the Museum, European art.
This makes me think of my mom, for some reason.

This portion of the Museum was as Karl put it, "an engineering and architectural feat" They had whole victorian style houses IN the museum. With original walls, and floors, and everything.

Check out this room. Amazing! There were whole stone terraces, and a little farther down the way:

The sculture is awesome, but the gate behind it was actually moved here from Italy I think! Just the SCALE of this place, the things they have in one collection.

We moved on into gothic styles.

We found ourselves at some stairs that said, "Modern art" and ran smack into another Picasso:

And this one, which Karl immediately declared his favorite painting.

I think that modern art can either be super accesible, or really incomprehensible.

This group of youth, considering this bike part sculpture.

I seriously wanted to sit down on the bench.

Then we found some interactive art, and spent a while here:

And one together now:

Then we found Vincent again.

"it looks like uncle Marshall"

This painting is so much better up close.

This one makes me think of my Mom too.

This is a copy I think.

Still very beautiful.

Karl said he didn't like Impressionist paintings all that much. I do though.

But honestly, not as much as lanscapes. That is something that I discovered about myself on this trip. I LOVE LANSCAPES. Like this one:

Heroic Landscape with Rainbow
by Joseph Anton Koch (German, Obergibeln bei Elbigenalp 1768–1839 Rome)

The colors, and the perspective. It is like being outdoors, but inside warm and safe.

At this point we were getting really beat. We started on our way out, the realized that we miss a whole section.

Egypt.

We are both really glad we took another look, because if we were astounded by what Rome had to offer, Egypt gave, and then some.

Like this actual Egyptian structure, that somehow is inside a building in New York:

You got to walk around in it.

Then there is of course:

Also, on I Am Legend it showed him fishing in this pond, but there were no fish to be seen here.

It was at this point that Karl all of the sudden got really obsessed about seeing a mummy.

Close. There is a body in there.

And in here:

We left, entirely satisfied with our experience. It was the first place we have been that both of us said, if we came back to New York, we would definitely do that again. It is the kind of place that is best to have a membership to. You can just go and experience it if you are blue, or if you just need a break. Seriously so cool.

Outside of the Met, I bought some scarves. The museum gift shop solt t-shirts for $59, so I passed and got these instead.

We walked a few blocks and found ourselves here:

The Guggenheim
From inside:

This was the first place that was strictly no pictures. From top to bottom, it is one comprehensive statement. It isn't a collection of different art, it is art itself. The current exhibit was Lee Ufan, Making Infinity.
Lee Ufan: Marking Infinity
Check out the link if you are interested. It really makes the whole thing make more sense, and it shows most of the images from the exhibit.

The idea is this Korean man's idea of mand connection between himself and surroundings.

It was very modern.

We found this sweet Frank Lloyd Wright Reading room.

I found a book,

I am in the Guggenheim reading about the Guggenheim!

Karl Reading, right before a lady yelled at my for taking a picture.

Down in the gift shop, Karl found a block friend.

Karl eating a Gyro out side.

Me looking at terrible art, and eating a Kanish. Which was terrible by the way. It tasted like ketchup and curry.

Our hearts and minds full of art and culture we made out way to the Financial district to get on a clipper.

Yes that is a little boat. There is this random little marina there, and our New York Pass had this place on it. We have never been on this type of sail boat together, and it seemed like a romantic kind of anniversary thing to do together.

Back onto the Hudson we go! We headed out to the bay again.

Our first daytime view of the Satue of liberty. We decided not to take the trip to the Island. This was better. A guy served us drinks, and we let the cool breeze wash over us.

My foot had been killing me all day, still I couldn't resist getting up to the front of the boat!

There were only about 25 of us on board. It was nice, peaceful and quiet.

Ellis Island. The Golden Gateway or Island of Tears.

I smell a Christmas Card.

We left the boat, and were walking again. On our way back to midtown we passed the World Trade Center construction site, and say a picture of the "artificially lite waterfalls."

The square in the middle is a dry area where victims families can go an remember their loved ones. According to our water taxi tour guide. She was a certified tour guide.

Once we were back in midtown, we went where I have been wanting to go since we decided to take this trip:

The Empire State Building.

This building is famous for it's beautiful architecture and art deco feel, and for CRAZY long lines to get to the top. We came at a good time, right as people were starting to go to dinner. So we only waited an hour to get to the top.

Me made a little detour on our way up to the New York Sky Ride:

Here is how it was advertized:

This is what it was actually like:

This thing needs a serious upgrade. It was laughable. If it wasn't part of our pass, I would have passed. Still, it makes a great story.

We got back in line for another half hour, and then:

We were at the top.

It was not like it looked in the movies. It is way smaller for starters.

We found a part in the crowd and got to take in another New York Sunset.

I love Karl.

The Chrysler building.

More views of the city.

After years of wishing, months of anticipation, and hours of waiting in line, we did it. We made it to the top. After 20 min of walking around, we were ready to go.

It started to get so crowded that walking was a luxury that many could not expect.

After that we went shopping! We visited H&M for the fist time, and both got some sweet new looks. Then we visited Macy's. The worlds largest store.

At first glace it was just like the Macy's in Utah.

Then we saw the Escalators, they were made of wood!

We took them 8 floors up and then 8 floors down again.

It turned out it was just like any other Macy's, just freaking enormous.
It was 9:00 at this point and we were starving. In an effort to try and find an Albanian place we accidentally found this cute little French place instead.

It was called Serge's and it was named after it's owner and chef, Serge.

He was French, and was not going to apologize for it.

I ordered Mussels and Karl got pasta.

There was delicious bread, and I had a Creme Caramel for dessert.

Other highlights:

They thought we were weird when we didn't order coffee or wine.

Serge greeted us as we came in, told us the specials, helped us order, and asked us where we were from. When we told him Utah, he had no idea, so we said it was near Las Vegas. He said that he went there last year and was not that impressed. The only thing that he liked about it was that he was "a cigar smoker." That he could smoke a cigar where ever he wanted.

We were totally beat.

We walked home and CRASHED!

On the Fifth Day

2011-08-16T05:38:00.000-07:00

Today was so great. Still, how does the saying go, "the best laid plans, never come to fruition" or something. We always seem to end up not exactly quite where we wanted to be. Today we wanted to take the water Taxi to the south part of the Island. We got there and they weren't leaving for another hour. So, next door was the Intrepid:

Do I look bummed out?It's becasue I am. The lines at this place were nuts. We were about to get onto the submarine, we were the next people to get in, and we were told we had to wait anther 20 min. So we ditched it and went to wait for the water taxi instead. We did learn some interesting things about this boat while we were there. It was called unsinkable, because it had been bombed, and kamakisied, and never sank. It is retired, but was used on 9/11 as a medical hospital. This is the ship that will smith putted off of in I am Legend. It is a historic New York landmark, cool, but we weren't too bummed that we missed the big tour.

So, the water taxi arrived:

and at first it seemed pretty cool. We got some sweet seats on the upper deck:

Then our tour guide who was full of incorrect facts like, "one 9/11 they took our freedom away" and it is costomary for you to tip your captain ;) and finally, that she was a certified tour guide, so she couldn't lie.
The view of the city was pretty cool though, the same as the night tour, but during the day:

The intrepid from the water
Cool thing about the blocks, you can see from one side of the island to another, all the way down:

Tower #1 coming up. There will only be one tower instead of two, and there will be two "artificially lit waterfalls" exactly where the towers used to stand.

The taxi dropped us off at Battery park:
Where we rented some bikes!
They were Trek 7300's they were really great, except the fact that the kids running the place didn't know anything about bikes.

Which we learned a mile down the road:

When Karl got a pinch flat because his tube wasn't inflated enough:

We walked the bikes back to Battery Park, and Karl pumped it up himself.

We jumped on the bikes, fresh tires ready to go, and before we knew it we were at the Brooklyn Bridge.

The ride was really, just, amazing!
Plus, the ride across is really far. It was actually really nice not to have to walk all that way.

Look at all that Cable.
One of us! Those Helmets are so dorky.

Here we were, almost to the other side:

We got over to Brooklyn and and turned around. We headed over to the Manhattan Bridge. We passed the Watch Tower campus. We made it on to the bridge:

It was still really cool, just a totally different type of bridge, not kept up at all:

But still really cool.

A view of China town from the bridge:

The Arch De Triumph, as you enter Manhattan.

We biked up the city. Through SoHo, and China town, until we were back in mid town.

When we were on 11th and 45, and man reached out into the street and grabbed my chest and arm. It was awful.
We finally made it to Central Park.

We sat down and ate some cereal that we got from the hotel at breakfast.

We shared Cheerios with the birds too.

Central Park was seriously amazing. Everything was so green. The buildings disappeared and it was just trees.

We found Bethesda Fountain. Years ago Karl came here with his sister Malia and his girlfriend at the time. They took a picture that looked like this:

Enough of that, we took a Karl and Allie Picture:

It really was a beautiful place.

Facing it was Bethesda Terrace:
I took this picture. This boy and his dad were begging for money. At least he had his skateboard.

Back on the bikes we biked up to 100th Ave, then headed to the Hudson River Greenway.

We took the Greenway back to the water taxi, turned in our bikes, and took the taxi to Pier 18.
This was our route:

In all, 17.2 miles. It was GREAT!
On Pier 18 we walked around, as saw some old counting houses and then caught:
Bodies:
I have wanted to see this exhibit since forever, and it just happened to be in New York, and on the New York Pass.

No Pictures in the Exhibit of course. I found this one online:

Karl and I played this game where you connect a sensor to your head, and you see who can be more relaxed. Surpisingly, I won. I used meditating techniques I learned in my world religions class. Thanks Brother Purse. Karl said that he let me win. Yeah right. I am just more centered than him.
More merchandise:

For dinner we had Mexican:

I told Karl he looked too sad. But he wasn't.
Then the food came:

Yum:

Here there is a place that sells discounted tickets for Broadway shows. We found some great tickets for Zarkana, a circ de sole show that was showing at none other than:
Radio City Music Hall

Yeah! We were so excited!

We got inside, and there were players from the show everywhere.

Suddenly from above, this guy started crowing:

Then this girl started yapping.

Then this guy crept up behind me.

We found our seats, which were really great, and took in the room. It was breathtaking.

One last shot together before the show started.

It was seriously so cool!
Below is the Trailer, and it shows some of the coolest parts.

Zarkana by Cirque du Soleil Extended Trailer Vidéo fandegarou sélectionnée dans Musique

It was an attack on the visually and auditory senses. I wished I could pause it for a moment, to be able to better take in what was happening. Seriously just amazing!

We stopped at a Mr. Freezy's Truck and walked home.

We walked through time square and saw:

The Naked Cowboy!
I wondered, why does he come? Does someone pay him. How long has he been doing this?
We made it home, around midnight.
Sleep...umm.

Dim Sum Day 4

2011-08-15T23:15:00.000-07:00

Dim Sum

Chinese Meal that involves small individual portions of food, usually food is punched around on carts by sever in a small steamer baskets or on small plates. These buns, dumplings, meats, and desserts are all different, and a great little bites of goodness. Each a wonderful mouthful of something new and different.

Today was a Dim Sum day, we took many great smallish tastes of several of the Cities delights.

We started the day early, and headed down the block to a Barber Shop and got Karl a real New York Barber Shop hair cut.

Here is one of the Barbers outside of the shop.

Karl got right into the chair, and what can I say, the guy knew what he was doing. While I waited I watched what I could only guess were well produced Israeli music videos.

Here's my boy looking all clean and new, and ready for adventure.

After that we went straight down to the Time Square Discovery Zone to see two great exhibits:

The Harry Potter Exhibt

The Pompeii Exibit

I have imagined what it would be like to see these human form ever since I heard the story as a kid. I have been looking forward to this ever since I found out the exhibit was in New York.

First Harry Potter

As you can imagine, there were no camera's allowed in the exhibit, so I will paint you a picture with words. It was ser awesome! Imagine that!

There was a girl with a terrible fake British accent sorting kids with a sorting hat, costumes from all the films, interactive Mandrake plants you could pull and they would scream, Hagrid's hut, Quittich balls to through, every wand for each wizard from all the films. It was so fun, then we got to the gift shop:

Karl here considering Lord Voldemorts wand. Avadacadvra!

Me here with Hermione Granger's Wand, Expeliarmous!

The Marauders Map. No names moving or on the map at all! Useless!

Dumbledore's Army, I wish.

I almost got this one, but I just couldn't spend $30 on a tee shirt.

Scabbers!

Baby Nimbus 2000!

Really, the whole shop was full of stuff like this, even Tom Riddles diary.

Next we went to to Pomeii, the Exhibit. Again no pictures, and I will tell you now that the

gift shop was no where near as exciting. But that didn't matter because the exhibit was WAY more exciting. You enter and watch a film all about Pompeii. It explains that there were about 25,000 people who lived there. It was a beautiful place to live and as far as Roman cities, it was as clean and as technologically advanced as anything else in the age.

Then they let you into these rooms full of artifacts from the city. Mostly little bronze statues of Roman Gods. But there were coins, and Wall murals that had been brought over from Pompeii. There was even a fountain, that had sea shells and mosaic tile. You may have heard of the famous Pompeii brother rooms, they had one of those too. Very interesting.

Next you went into another video presentation room, where they basically go through the day the volcano exploded. It all seemed so slow. With in 24 hours, the whole town was completely covered. As the last huge cloud of ahs covers the town, the video screen opend up, the walls part, and you are guided in to see a huge room with the bodies of stone.

It was so crzay. There was the man in the image above, leaning on his elbow. One minute away, lounging, another just dead. There were several that were from the same place, a garden home. People lined across stairs, a family of four, including a little baby. The little girl, maybe three, was the most impressive one. He face, teeth, and tunic were still visible. There was a young girl, who tried to cover her face with her dress. A dog, who climbed up, and go stuck, a pig, a couple holding each other. There was a house of bones, left in a town 4 miles away. 18 people cramped into basement for refuge.

It was startling, and fascinating, and amazing all at the same time.

We walked through more artifacts of Ancient Roman life. Pots, tables, heaters, plumbing, oil lamps, jewelry.

If you are in town, go and see it.

Ok, after that we took a short walk over to Madame Trussauds wax museum!

This was a nice light place to go after all of that sadness.

I think you will recognize most of these people, enjoy.

Ghetto Booty herself!

A really bad George Cloony

I am a vampire!

Oh Leo, how I loved thee.

Shakira Shakira!

Karl and I are both in love with him. Karl call him his "man crush"

This is my "dead crush"

Oh, he is touching me!

More fun in the big city:

I never felt so short and so tall at the same time!

Bieber!

Hulk, love Allison.

and Karl.

Check out how tall we are...

We jumped on the subway grabbed a quick breakfast:

Then we were off to the MoMA.

Brandon, you were right, it is called the MoMA. The building even says it.

This place is filled with Famous works of art.

This one made me think of mom somehow. Monet. Did you know that this in one of 80 water lilly paintings he completed in his lifetime?

There was of course tons of Picasso. It was weird,seen so many of these in print, it was like it wasn't real in front of me.

While we approached this one, Karl loudly exclaimed, this one is like a deathly hollow. I blushed as a bunch of pretentious people looked out way. He didn't know it was Picasso's Musicians.

At that point I realized that he was there for me. He realized at that point, he was going to have to try a little harder. Which he did. We talked about the regarding things.

Here is me, practicing:

This was one of my favorite of the day. I would put this in my home.

Then there was number one:

It was som massive in real life.

Then Van Gogh

Brandon, Starry Night!

I thought of you as we took this picture.

It's ok Branny, the painting I came to see was Girl Before a Mirror, and it was not in town that day for me. I guess that is just what happened when you go to the MoMA.

Naked Ladies :)

This one, I walked by at first, it is so tiny.

Persistance of Time.

Andy Warhol had several there too. This is one I had never seen before.

Much of it was SUPER abstract and really odd, and some off putting. Of course there were bikes, with stools for steering wheels:

It was amazing, that wasn't even HALF of the pictures we took, or the things we saw.

We ate lunch at the Terrace Cafe:

Elf food. Worst $30 I ever spent.

Karl loved it.

We were off. After a quick change and rest at the hotel, we went down to the south of the Island to see the New World Trade Center, and the 9/11 memorial.

We went into a Museeum, that is a part of a Fire station. I didn't really take any pictures, it was too emotional. I have forgotten how much it effected me. I cried, it was awful reliving that time. But good to remember, I guess.

Here is a picture of the new tower that will be completed.

We tried to see the reflecting pools, but they are not open yet. :(

So we walked down the greenway along the Hudson.

Karl said this was his favorite thing he had done in the city yet.

You can't tell, but this is what was behind us:

Two blocks over is wall street, and Broadway. And the Bull:

Karl observed that the places where people rub a lot seem golden...

Yikes.

Well, it was still early, and we hadn't really eaten, so we tired to make it to China Town for dinner. Never get on the Subway if you don't know where it takes you. That is the lesson I learned tonight. Karl and I got on an E train, took it 2 miles too far, and got on the bus, the in the wrong direction, then off again, then on again. Then after 2 miles of walking, in the now dark city, we were in China Town.

I didn't feel right about taking pictures, we were the only none Asian people around and it was a little scary. Karl kept saying he would keep me safe from the Tirads, which kept making me feel super unsafe.

We finally stopped for dinner at a place called Dim Sum Go Go.

It was the perfect end to out Dim Sum Day.

Oh so good.

The Pork Bun's were my favorite!

For Dessert we had Coconut cake.

It was like if jello and rice pudding had a coconut flavored baby.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring in the big city!