the gals of NY

We had a little birthday lunch for some of the gals at Lourdes'

and it was so fun to all get together. We made homemade pizza, salad and of course had cake and ice cream-- delish!

Raegan, Julie, Lourdes, Me (the giant, I had big sandals on) Afton and Cindy

don't worry, I shared

nothing better than lunch with the gals

close-ups are Afton's favorites :)

A week after this lunch a bunch of us ran a 4-mile race in Central Park

I thought it was going to dump rain on us, but it turned out to be a great day for running-nice and cool, but not too cold! Bob Harper from "The Biggest Loser" was there too, cool eh?

the ladies after the race

Julie, Afton, Cindy, Rachel and Me

our friend Will (Afton's hubby) was so nice to watch my kids during the race- James made a new buddy and invited Will over to our house for a "dance party"... who knows?

my little fans

all the runners- Jeremy was the lone man!

We celebrated our day of fitness with a trip to "Serendipity" for HUGE sundaes and probably double the calories that we burned! It was a a great day in the city and I love these pals. We have always been lucky to have such great friends wherever we go- thanks guys!

Eliza Jo

Announcing...

Eliza Jo

no, no, not mine, but I would love to claim her!

this is actually my sister's baby and I am dying to get my hands on her!! Isn't she so sweet?

Just had to share :)

what a prophet does

Last night at our short little FHE the kids taught us that...

"Thomas O. Monson will never lead us to a stranger's house"

(i think they meant Thomas S. Monson will never lead us astray... but I like their version better.)

dinner with our awesome missionaries last week-- the two sitting with the kids were getting transferred so we had to have one last hurrah with them!

campin' in the Catskills

We went camping a couple of weeks ago and had an adventurous time. We found a great place about 2.5 hours from here and it was beautiful weather and scenery (see below). We did have a dead car battery, dave locked the keys in the car right before jumping in the lake with Zanna and we had to radio a locksmith to come while they just froze in their wet suits, and we got attacked by raccoons that I thought was a bear and it Freaked me out so bad I was shaking. But, other than that it was a weekend I would like to repeat again and again!

Camping at North/South Lake in the Catskills, NY

tin foil dinners

we got in a little late (dave had to check on three campsites before he was satisfied with the perfect site) so of course we were cooking in the dark and everyone was pretty hungry- but they sure did taste good. I ate mine and half of both kids' dinners :)

james first time whittling his roasting stick

s'mores, of course!

we also roasted Starbursts and ate lots of other good camping junk food

the fam

"Kaaterskill Falls" the tallest waterfall in NY State

sportin' the keens for Grandpa Francis

this is the prettiest fungus I've ever seen!

playing tic-tac-toe with rock chalk

the old location of one of "the Grand Hotels of the Catskills"

me being a poser

i was impressed they could all climb this huge boulder

you could see 5 states from this view- it really was breathtaking!

(NY, NJ, CT, MA, VT)

"the narrows"

camping isn't camping without hot dogs

dave finally broke out the telescope- something we've been wanting to do for a long time

this was home for 2 short nights

grateful

I just watched some of the 9/11 Memorial and found myself entranced as family members and volunteers read the names of those who lost their lives. As the pictures, ages and hometowns of the people came across the screen I just got so sad thinking about their lives and how much their families and friends must miss them. One woman read the name of her husband who had lost his life and gave a tribute to him from her and their three children-- i just lost it at this point and sat here crying on the couch as the rest of the names were read. I think living out here in NY, seeing and knowing some of the policeman and firefighters, and even just recognizing many of the hometowns of the victims as made 9/11 more of a reality to me that I didn't quite feel before. I am amazed by the strength of the victims' families and my heart goes out to them. I am grateful for my family and it makes me just want to forget all the petty things in life and appreciate and love each other. I am glad I was able to have this little 'moment' today and will always remember those who lost their lives on this day eight years ago. I am going to get my kids off the bus and give them BIG HUGS...

Finally...our first day of school!

outside our apt. door

little miss kindergarten

who's in Pre-K now? eh?

walking to the car- I did not tell them to do this...they actually do it all the time

in front of the school-- there was a loud jackhammer across the street :)

James' first day at Parkville- we love this little school.

James wanted to walk to his classroom by himself so I let him be a 'big guy' and stood outside the door and listened to him show his teacher all of his new school supplies in his backpack when he walked in... he was very excited and it was fun to spy on him for a minute from the hallway

they came home on the bus as happy as they left

my mom sent a flower cupcake pan so we made first-day-of-school treats when they got home- James wanted to take a picture of me

they didn't quite "pop" right out of the pan (it was a silicone pan) like the directions said, but we had fun decorating them anyway :)

it was a highly successful "first day"

-they were very happy

-I got a lot done in those two hours (it was a short day)

and we ate treats- what could be better?

Here's Zanna's music video on the way to school!

help mom...

the end of Zanna's prayer tonight:

"...and please bless mom that she will find something to do when we go to school and not be sad because she's supposed to be happy when her kids go to school to learn..."

Tomorrow is their first day of school- I am full of mixed emotions and I guess not hiding them very well. I am very excited for them to go to school together, but will miss them terribly as well! I'll keep you posted on how the day goes... for them and me :)

dumplings, tennis and such

A couple weeks ago we had a little surprise visit from Mike (dave's bro) and Amanda (his cute pregnant wife). We went to dinner at Joe's Shanghai Restaurant in Flushing to try their famous soup dumplings and they were worth the drive- even with no A/C!

(to Mandy: if you are reading this I am SO SORRY that we didn't know about this place earlier- you would have loved it and it was 1000 times better than the chinese food we ate in Queens!!)

doesn't mike look good in those aviators? haha:)

dave showing us the slurping technique to get the most out of these delicious soup dumplings

The kids LOVE these guys and we felt pretty lucky that they decided to sleep over and hang out with us for the day. We got some of our favorite pizza for lunch at Gino's the next day and they were on their way-- thanks for coming guys, hopefully we'll see you soon!

Rachel and I hanging out on the North Shore Beach- do you like my sweet, pink, plastic visor?

It was HOT and it's all I had...

Last week we had a girl's beach day at Jones Beach and Julie was awesome at playing with my kids while I had a little nap- sweet castle.

The kids and I went into the city to help a sister in our ward and while we were waiting for her we met Jess for lunch (more pizza) and then headed up to Central Park. We found lots of big sticks and had fun on some new trails we had never been on.

A nice man offered to take our picture.

I was in a bad mood that day so on the way home I also bought two new pairs of shoes- they were on sale and actually comfortable for my bad feet!

Maria Sharapova- so loud, but awesome to watch!

Last Tuesday we got HOOKED UP by my cousin Jess with tickets to the U.S. Open!!

Our cool friends, the Vancours, came and stayed with the kids and we had a GREAT night out!

Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows- it is a beautiful stadium...if you can use the word beautiful for a stadium

We also saw Andy Murray play and win. One of the ball boys fell over the wall when going for a ball and they kept replaying it on the big screen. It was pretty hilarious but the poor kid was mortified!

me, Jess (cuz) and Jess (roommate)

Very cool NY experience and one that I won't forget- thanks Jess!!