PB&J Wedding

Peter & Jen

Taylor, Kysa, Me, Nathan

Katie, Marianne, Kim and short Me

The girls with Rosie

Jen, her neices, sister and SILs

Over looking the reception area

Decorating the car

Nathan and I have been so excited for Peter and Jen's wedding. We flew out to Salt Lake City together just the two of us and getting to just sit together for hours on a plane undisturbed by children was such a treat (another one of those sentences I never thought I'd write). Peter is Nathan's cousin and he and Jen have been a part of our children's lives pretty much since they were born and even more so because we have all been living out in VA near each other.

When we first got to SLC a car picked us up and took us out to the car auction because Nathan's bro. Taylor who buys cars from there to sell at his car lot in Boise- had thoughtfully offered us one of the cars he had purchased so that we would have a car for the weekend before he drove it home. So we get the paper work in order in like 2 min. and Nathan commented "well that was easy" (famous last words) and go out back to this sprawling car lot to get the car. Long story short, can't find the car until 45 min later after walking, driving and having others drive around looking, the car was located. So exhausted (having been up since 3:30 am Eastern time) we open the doors to put our bags in the car and are totally shocked with how dirty, grimey, gross the car is. Now, I know that many auction cars come this way and Taylor's shop has them spiffy-ed up in no time but I was too tired to deal at the moment. So we get in the car, go to turn it on and...it's dead. We go back inside and without batting an eye an employer points us to a corner full of dollies with batteries and jumper cables attached, so apparently this happens regularly. Nathan jumps the car and we are on our way. The comedy continued for us when the AC was less than cooling, the car was on Empty and a giant moth was flying all over the inside of the car and we could not get it out. We even decided to leave the car running while we put gas in it so we didn't get stranded there. It was quite the comical adventure.


After we rested for a bit we went and met with our very favorite friends the Furni (again, that is the plural version of the name, lol) who recently moved down to the area. Of course we didn't get near enough time hanging out with them, never do...then we headed back to the hotel where the Bell/Jensen party went on until late. Seriously, there couldn't be a more fun group of people, Nathan and I always feel so blessed to be a part of it.


So Saturday afternoon we headed over to the beautiful Salt Lake Temple. Are you ready for the best story ever??? We were in a waiting room before the wedding when I decided I needed to use the RR. Nathan walked out into the hall with me and we asked a temple worker (who are there to answer these types of questions) where the nearest RR was. He was kind of distracted as he was helping someone else too and he motioned down the hall. Seeing a doorway a little ways down I hurried that direction. As I turn into the doorway a man had been hurrying down the stairs and with our combined momentum we about ran into each other, both took a step in the same direction trying to avoid the collision but ended up totally running into each other. The handsome man whose face is literally right above mine, says kindly "Excuse me, sorry" in a German accent and is on his way. I stood there and could not believe it... I just did a chest bump with Elder Uchtdorf! This was confirmed as I turned back around (realizing this obviously wasn't the RR) and headed back down the hall, Nathan was like, "Hey, Elder Uchtdorf just walked by!" and I was like, "yeah, I just ran into him...literally."


Anyway, the wedding ceremony was beautiful. Peter's grandfather married them and he had so much good advice for PB&J that I wish I could have sat there and taken notes. It truly was beautiful. Later we all headed up to Midway to this unbelievable mansion on a hill where the reception was. I don't think I have ever had dinner surrounded by such beautiful scenery. And before the night was over we decorated the car and filled it with balloons. It really was so much fun....and over far too quickly. Congrats PB&J!!!!!

Poor Guy!

Well, Nathan and I are back. We went to S.L.C. for Peter & Jen's wedding. It was such a great weekend and I will have lot's of pics to come but for now I have to post this picture of Nathan's eyes. Poor guy has been trying to fight off a terrible cold for almost a week now. After feeling so crummy, yesterday his eyes both turned blood shot and green goop started draining out of them...that can't be good. So anyway, Nathan has an appointment this afternoon so, as Kohen put it, "The Doctor can get the fwog outta his mouth". That's good cuz no one likes a frog in there!

Alyssa Turns 2!!!

Aly J. officially turns 2 today! No, I'm not that amazing of a blogger to already have this posted, we had the party on Monday. Aly walked around all day repeating, "Ah-yee Bursday!!" translation: "Aly, Birthday" pretty cute. The Bell's came over for dinner with us then we opened presents. She knows what a gift is now so it was really fun watching her open them. Of course we sang her the Happy Birthday song as well as one in Indonesian, a Bell tradition that we have grown accustomed to living here by them. Aly loves both songs and Marianne took video of her loving everyone singing to her... I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty proud of the Baby Einstein Cookie Cake I made. Aly was really cute trying to blow out the candles. She was making a lot of sound but no air was coming out, lol, so Nathan and I eventually gave her a little help. Anyway, Happy Birthday AlyCat!

Going Away Party

Some of our friends were kind enough to have a going away party for us this past weekend. The party was great though I wish the theme would have been something other than 'Farewell' :( The plan was to have this bbq in our friend's back yard but about 45 minutes before the party was to start the heavens parted and let loose. The Ramsey's were so great though, they invited all of us indoors even with all of our kidlings. That was super nice because let's face it, inviting a bunch of families over for an outdoor bbq is quite different than inviting a bunch of families to run around inside of your house for several hours. Since it was raining out they couldn't put up the giant Moon Bounce for the kids out back so the men folk decided it would be awesome to put it up inside...and that is exactly what they did, it was awesome and the kids went nuts over it.
Eventually things settled down and the kids all went and watched a movie in the theatre room while the husbands played pool and us girls got to sit around and chat.
We have made so many awesome friends here and met such amazing people. I am so sad to have to just turn around and leave already...it really stinks. At any rate, thanks guys for such a fun evening and for supporting us as we get ready to head out.

"Yips"

A friend gave Aly a chapstick and the girl couldn't be more thrilled. There was pretty much no actual chapstick left which of course is fine with me. Aly doesn't seem to notice though, because in a matter of days she has developed the addiction that comes with habitual chapstick use. She calls the chapstick her 'lips' but pronounces it "Yips" and she is constantly asking for her "yips", inviting you to try her "yips", and shouting at anyone who tries to take her "yips". Well, it's understandable, really. Cuz it's important for a girl to keep her lips moisturized...even if it is all in her head.

Aly being Aly

Aly has discovered her last name -mainly because that is what she hears when she is into mischief so often. But she says it so dang cute! I was trying to capture it one day but she only says it in a weird voice and super fast, too busy doing other silly stuff for your enjoyment. And in the second video she is being a frog or a 'Ribbit' as Kohen calls them. Anyway she is being wacky, enjoy!

Kennedy's 1st Graduation

Kennedy had her very first of what I know will be many graduations. Granted, this was her preschool graduation, but it could not have been any cuter. Kennedy has gone to a Preschool at a high school (Briar Woods, where the Bell twins rock Varsity B-ball and V-ball, go Falcons!!) there is the main teacher and then a bunch of high school teacher aides. So the kids get a ton of one on one attention which is great but they have quite the set up for a preschool, complete with a jungle gym right outside the door.

They have gone all out for everything else this year so I don't know why I was so surprised at the graduation ceremony. But the 'graduating' students who will be moving on to Kindergarten next year all wore real caps and gowns fit to their little size and they each got called up for a diploma. And what is a graduation without throwing your hats? It was super cute. Then there was a big BBQ and all of the h.s. students are there to help so someone took Kenna and another took Kohen to get their food and I hardly knew what to do with myself just getting my own food- that was a treat.

Then they had a big ol' treat bag and a framed collage of pictures they had taken throughout the year during different activities which is a really sweet way to help remember her year there. There was a ton of 'congratulations graduate' type stuff in Kenna's bag, my favorite being the Graduate Bobble Head that had Kennedy's picture on the face, so funny. She has truly been spoiled this year. But barely missing the cut off for Kindergarten this last year, she is so looking forward to getting to go this year. I hope she continues to love learning as much as she has this year!

Tub of Laughs

Update from last post: Today when Kennedy got out of the car for school the little girl who had her party last friday was getting out of hers and the first words out of Kennedy's mouth to her were a sincere, "How was your birthday!!". As I drove away I was so proud of her. I never told her to do that, but I was so impressed that she did. Sweet girl...

Okay, two funny things that cracked up Nathan and I lately.

1. One of Kohen's responsibilities every morning is that he takes out a bag of diapers to the garbage in the garage. The other morning the kids and I were all going downstairs together to leave. Kohen was carrying his usual bag-o-diapers and on our way out when I saw another bag with a few diapers in it (no idea where it came from or where my perfect diaper disposal system broke down but I am guessing it started with my 3 yr old) I handed it to a willing Kennedy to carry down. Kohen turns to Kennedy and excitedly says, "you have a bag too?! Let's do a 'cheers'!" and so right there on the stairs my cuties -who have always been big fans of 'cheers!' at the dinner table for some reason- happily did a 'cheers!' with their bag-o-diapers. Boy is that ever Nathan's ridiculously positive attitude shining through in his son, I love it.

I didn't realize both of these had to do with chores, it sounds like we are doing them all of the time, but if you could only see through the computer right now at the mess that is our home...I swear, every item we own is out of it's place and lingering on any available surface...Serenity Now!

#2. Saturday I was working in the kitchen while the older two were doing their Sat. chores. I had swept up a pile in the kitchen and it is Kohen's job to vacuum it up. When Kennedy got out the dust buster she walked by the pile and without saying anything she vacuumed it up. When I went upstairs a few minutes later I told her how proud I was that she did that for Kohen just to be nice. Thinking of a line we like from the movie Robots I said, "It's like 'See a need, Fill a need' and that's exactly what you did, thank you." and Kennedy says, "Well, 'See a need Fill a need' is from Robots. I like to just call it 'service'."

A Little Rant On A Saturday

The hardest thing for me as a parent (so far) is to see my children in pain. Yesterday when I picked up Kennedy from school she asked if we had gotten an 'inbitation' in the mail from a certain friend in our ward who is also at her preschool. When I told her we hadn't she burst into tears, and not the fake kind either. I knew what the problem was. She had been telling me about the birthday party this little girl was going to have off and on for about 2 months. And Kennedy was sobbing because 'the birthday party is today and I didn't get an inbitation!' It broke my heart to see her so sad. It was a good opportunity to discuss how we can't all go to everything, though.

We had talked about it a little while ago when there was another church friend whose party she didn't get invited to but whose party details she had been told all about. Get this, her mother walked around church and into Kenna's classroom handing out (what I assume were) invitations to some kids/parents. When we didn't get one I preemptively took the opportunity to explain to Kennedy about party's. Even though inside I was thinking how uncouth that Mother had been flaunting the party (unintentionally I am sure) in front of uninvited kids. Of course you can't have every child to a party, and I certainly don't expect young kids not to talk about parties they are excited for. I do however, hope that the parents would at least attempt to be discreet. Anyway, yesterday I reminded Kenna of how party's work and tried to console her and tell her that even though she hadn't been invited it doesn't mean that her friend dislikes her etc. And again, this rant isn't about my child not being invited to something so much as her pain at being left out, which I know inevitably happens in life.

I always used to think parents in movies and stuff who talked about wanting to just 'take the pain away' from their children were cheesy. But that is exactly how I felt yesterday- my sweet little girl in the back seat of the car just sobbing while listing off all of the fun party activities she would be missing out on. I had the weirdest pull of feelings going on inside of me. Wishing so fervently that there was some way I could completely take this emotional pain from my child, and yet at the same time being grateful there wasn't actually a way because I know how important it is to have these experiences and to learn and grow.

Anyway, I took her with me to go see some friend's new baby. They used to be Kennedy's awesome Sunday school teachers and they named their new daughter Kennedy as well so it helped Kenna to forget the other stuff. Brooke (the Mom) and I were looking at baby Kennedy's cord and my Kennedy was totally taken aback by the whole thing. Oh, if you could only have seen the look on her face...That night when I was putting her to bed she was asking questions about belly buttons and the cords on the baby and then she put an end to the conversation by telling me, "Mom, let's not talk about baby belly-buttons anymore...it weirds me out."

Parks and Pools

So they didn't lie. I'm impressed. When Nathan and I were looking to build a Van Metre townhouse in our neighborhood they tried to sell us this one townhouse that a couple had built that was totally pimped out and then the couple decided to get divorced and so they were backing out of the house. So of course the Van Metre people are itching to move this townhouse. One of their selling points was that they were going to build a 'Tot Lot' right across from it. Fast forward two years, we now live 4 houses down and when Van Metre tossed up another row of townhouses where this supposed Tot Lot was going to be, I got cynical. "They totally lied to us trying to dump that one townhouse on us! Remember the one Honey?" I probably brought this up a half dozen times since we moved in. If I am being honest it had more to do with me being bummed that there wasn't a park a couple houses down.


Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I notice some trucks and workers doing something over there behind the townhouses where our road dead-ends. So the kids and I decided to go check the last peanuts we left for the squirrels over there about a month ago and it was such a fun surprise to see them discover this new playground! They had a million questions about when "Bob the builder" (aka: any construction worker) had come and built a park. (please note Kohen's outfit: Cowboy hat, Spiderman dress up, belt to hold his sword which has been duct taped several times, and his new 3 sizes too big galoshes/fireman boots...)


Then on Saturday Nathan was home and the 3 pools we have access to opened up. It was a balmy 70 degrees with a nice cool breeze but no amount of convincing was keeping the kidlings from going to the pool.

It was cold. Kennedy was bummed cuz she really wanted to practice diving down but it was just too cold. We went over to the kiddie pool and since it was the first day and we were the only ones in there I felt fairly certain that the urine to water ratio was probably still in our favor. Check out Kohen behind Aly below...that is not what I would look like if I had to submerge myself into chilly water. But alas, Kohen is an optimist like his father.

Nathan was a good sport to get in with the kids but I thought it was really funny when they were playing Ring Around The Rosie and no one, not even Kohen, was willing to fall down at the end.

Two randoms:

I was getting the kids all ready for bed the other night, Kohen got frustrated and shouted at me and I quickly skimmed through my archives-of-scoldings-past and pulled out a classic from my younger years. I came back with a solid, "Hey, that's disrespectful to talk to me in that voice. You can tell me what you need to in a different voice but not that one. Not in this house." (Not in this house? I don't know, it just sorta came out! Don't judge until you've been without husband/Dad help for several weeks!) So Kohen, who generally doesn't get too worked up about stuff thinks about what I said and comes back with, "Fine! Then I'll just go back to our old house!"

Another time the kids were playing and Kennedy comes and tells me, "Mom, we need to have a few more kids before we can really play Cinderella." I've heard a lot of reasons to expand ones family, but this one was new :)

So You Think...

I could literally not be ANY more excited that my favorite show has started again. Seriously. I have waited all year for this. Tell me you saw the last performer tonight "Robert"....It was insane...INSANE. Tell me I'm not the only one who saw it...

A Few Randoms For A Bored Reader

So I have a few updates about what we have been up to though to say anything other than "not much" would be exaggerating.

Let's see, Kennedy went to a birthday party on Saturday where they got to do Tie Dye T-shirts. She about drove me nuts while we had to let the colors set that first 24hrs. I read the directions to her probably 4 times to calm her fears that I wasn't just neglecting the shirt and messing it up, I was following directions. She is so VERY proud of this shirt. She tried to make the middle look like a heart which it actually does resemble. I don't know exactly how I am going to get it off of her...

Aly is almost 2 right? So you may be wondering why her pacifier is in her mouth though she is obviously not in her bed. Well, I discovered a couple of days ago that she is getting in all four of her Eyeteeth (aka cuspids...I think) which explained some of her crabiness and why she was being picky about food etc. She kept going upstairs and pulling her blanket and pacifier out of her crib and after taking it away a few times I made the tooth discovery and figured, 4 teeth coming in at once? have your pacifier and blanket.

I don't think I have mentioned much about Kohen and his bloody noses. None of which were caused by me by the way, except for that one time Kohen called for me in his bedroom after I had put him down and I opened the door and kacked him in the nose cuz he was standing right behind it...Make sure you add that to my application for Mother of the Year. But other than that he gets them if his nose gets whacked but mostly for no reason at all. So this morning we went in, having finally decided to cauterize the blood vessels causing the problem. Kohen was great, of course, we all know dealing with pain is not a problem for him. They did numb the nostril and his eyes watered when they did it but he has acted totally normal today since then. Hopefully it worked and we didn't get the inside of his nose seared for no good reason.

The Scoop

Alright. Nathan has been out of town with work and so I am back to my single-mom status...boo for that. And for some reason I have felt completely indifferent towards posting since he's been gone. It doesn't really make a whole lot of sense because I usually post about things that happen while he is at work but...Anyway, we will see him for a bit this weekend which will be great.

So The Scoop- for anyone who hasn't caught wind of it yet- is that we are moving. Yup, Nathan got a new job (very similar to what he was doing before we moved from Boise) and we will be moving to Northern California by the end of the summer. Moving again? FTL, But moving back to the West Coast, FTW! We will be in the Walnut Creek area and hopefully Nathan will be able to wrap up his job here by mid-summer so we can head out to Cali. after that. The kicker is that when we go to Boise this summer at the end of June, Nathan will leave the kids and I there and so we will pretty much be moving at the end of June...I am so in denial...

Baby Love

This post is just me pausing for a sentimental moment. Look how big my baby is. And cute. But don't be fooled by how serene she looks here- remember the camera shutter opens and closes in less than a second which is about as long as Aly sits still these days. Just in the last few weeks she has become a little busy-body getting into something new while I am literally cleaning up her last exploratory adventure. She has sampled the water from each of the four toilets in our home but seems to prefer the the basement bathroom blend the most...or maybe it's just that she can grab a cup from the play kitchen and sip at her leisure whilst I check her other hot spots looking for her but hardly wanting to know what I am going to find.
And when she has really gotten into some great mischief, like finding a stray crayon to color a wall with, she does this pleased-with-myself gallop as she makes her gettaway. I love that little gallop but I fear what has inspired it. So when I see it, I try to just enjoy it for a moment before going on the hunt for her latest ground zero.
Aly is talking up a storm. It might just be average but it is more than Kohen or Kennedy were talking at this age. When I was changing her diaper the other day she covered her eyes and started counting like for hide and go seek ; "un, tu, see, sor, sive, sicks, sebun, ate, nine, ten! elebun, welve, sir-teen, sor-teen, sifteen, sicks-teen..." I could not believe it!!! I only had to prompt her at nine and I thought for sure she was done at 'ten!' but then she got serious again and kept on with 'elebun...'. Oh, another favorite is that she calls Kenna 'Tenna' which is probably just cute to me but hey, this is my blog so deal ;) Anyway, I love this little Wild-Thing.

A Few Gems From Kennedy

My dear sweet Kennedy...like most 5 year olds she is very observant and lately she has had some real gems.

She and Kohen were playing with the soccer ball and Kennedy was getting seriously frustrated so she came to me to plead her case:

Kennedy: Mom! Kohen wants to play football with his feet- but you are supposed to play with your hands!
Me: Okay, well I can see why that would be frustrating for you because you want to play soccer. But did you know in other countries they call soccer, football? So in a way you guys are both right.
Kennedy: (pause) But we're not in THAT country. We're in THIS country!



Then I was wearing a brand new shirt from American Eagle yesterday. Kennedy was all excited about the movie we got for Friday Night Movie Night, Swiss Family Robinson (which she called 'Family Swiss Robinhood'...cute) when she stopped mid-sentence and asked what was on my shirt. I looked down wondering what kid had slopped on me and not seeing anything I asked her what she meant and she pointed to the bird thats kind of printed on the shirt. (above) Realizing now what she meant I told her I thought it was a picture of an Eagle. She looks at me doubtfully and says, "I think it's throw up from when Aly ate bananas."......So now no matter how I look at it, my new favoritest shirt is kind of tainted because I think she is right...it totally looks like a baby spit up on me. Out of the mouth of babes, right? Pun intended.

Kill Me Now!

The same afternoon that Nathan washed the cars, I went to get in the van to run an errand and as I walked around the back I stopped short when I saw this:

Wondering how dust had covered the van so quickly -and on a freshly washed car- no less, I leaned forward to get a closer look. It's not dust...It's pollen. Okay, that would explain why I have been literally dying of allergies lately. The car was covered in pollen from the time Nathan dried it off and pulled it into the garage! I am sniffin and snottin like nobody's business. I sometimes have sneeze attacks where I sneeze 20 plus times in a matter of a couple of minutes. If it happens when I am driving I have to pull over. I actually took a picture of myself after one of these sneeze attacks but I just couldn't bring myself to post it with my red and watery eyes and swollen nose. I've given up on wearing make-up because if I do it will only be a matter of minutes before I look like I just got kicked off the Bachelor- mascara all running down my face. I have all the medicine and I do Nasal Rinses which are usually totally helpful, but the last week or so...no luck. I guess it is the price we pay for living in such a beautiful, lush, green area...k, even that's not a good enough excuse. Needless to say, I am really looking forward to all of this rain in the forecast.

Trader Joe's Disaster

I have been wanting to go check out a store called Trader Joe's for a while now. It is 15 minutes away and a smaller grocery store with all sorts of organic products and when I went I didn't want to take the children with me. But this morning I needed out of the house and so I ignored that little voice in my head that said 'you're nuts' and took all 3 kids anyway.

We found the store easily and though the carts were smaller I put Aly in the front, Kohen in the back and trusted Kennedy to walk by me. I could tell right away there would be little chance for reading labels and delving into the treasures that are surely at Trader Joes. I started to just grab a few things that caught my eye like Organic Veggie Tortilla Chips, Organic White Cheddar Corn Puffs, and some salmon. Each child was constantly asking me things and asking when they could eat the things I was putting in the cart and Aly was trying desperately to eat the Cheddar Puffs through it's plastic bag (any chance the bag is organic???) and, "can we have this?" -Red Wine- and, "why does that lady have so much stuff in her cart?" - probably because she isn't shopping with kids!... I was ready to get outta there 15 minutes after we made our entrance.

So we are checking out and an intimidatingly silent African-American woman with dreadlocks is our checker. I take Kohen out of the back of the cart to make room for the 2 bags and ask him to please hold on to the side of the cart while I pay. A moment later I sense movement and I turn in time to watch the cart tip over with Kohen hanging on the side and Aly and the groceries still in it. I guess the least Kohen could do for tipping the cart was break it's fall with his shin, poor little guy. A nice mom behind me came to my aid helping calm a scared Aly while I comforted Kohen. The scary checker lady never moved or said anything to me, let alone offer any help. She just stood there impatiently waiting for me to pay. Thoroughly embarrassed I left the store with my organic-loving tail between my legs, carrying one crying child and consoling another as I tried to push the stupid little cart out to the van.

I couldn't help but feel like I had just gotten my trash kicked by karma. When I was about Kohen's age I too was once hanging on the side of the cart while my mom checked out at the store and I tipped over the cart dumping my little sister onto the floor and giving the back of my mom's legs some heinous bruises from where the cart landed on them...I mean seriously, what are the chances!? Maybe that Mom-Curse: "I hope you have a child just like you!!!" really works, though I am pretty sure my mom didn't start saying that until I was quite a bit older and sassier. At any rate, Kohen has a huge blue and purple goose-egg bruise on his shin but luckily that is the only injury. He humbly told me he was 'Sorry' several times on the way home and I think this traumatic event might have possibly cured Kohen of hanging on the side of the cart...though I'm not holding my breath.

Small Misunderstanding

At lunch today after working all morning together doing Saturday chores Kennedy was whinning at me to turn the t.v. on. Irritated with her whinning I kindly informed them:

Me: Look guys, the warmer it gets outside? the more I'm going to kick ya outside.

Kohen: *gasp!* That'll hurt!!!

_____________________________________________________________

And then we have Kennedy's quote of the day outside with her dad:
"Hey look dad, there is some bird poop right there...They should have bathrooms in their nests."

Cowboy-Spiderman's Latest Weapon

Look what Kohen wandered upstairs carrying all nonchalantly. Ahhh! was my initial reaction but after securing the area I did what any good blogger would do...grab the camera. I know Kohen didn't know he had picked up lighter fluid *sheesh!*- I think he just saw the flames on the package and thought- 'yes, this looks like fun...' He seemed a bit surprised that I was taking a picture of his newest find. He's looking down at it like "what did I miss?" -umm, try the warning that says 'keep out of reach of children' for starters. Nathan was going on an overnighter with the scouts and had all of his stuff out and packed up ready for when he got home from work. (that is my disclaimer should Child Protective Services happen upon our blog). Question: why are boys so inherently attracted to dangerous/poisonous/deadly things?! Anyway, since we avoided burning our house down via liquid accelerant today- I think we will consider it a happy ending.

WICKED!!!!!

I have been looking forward to this quick trip up to New York with a couple of my friends for a long time. Mostly because we were going up to see Wicked on Broadway!!! At the last minute one of my friends couldn't go :( she has a new baby who suddenly refused a bottle. So I called my cousin Shelly to see if she wanted/could go and I was so excited when after a little figuring she was able to come!

The car drive was great and went a lot like this: yack, yack, yack, yack, yack yack, yack! A lot of talking. And the closer we got to New York the more excited I was to see the great New Jersey Turnpike. I of course knew it was 'great' because Simon and Garfunkel sang about it in a song, "counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike, they've all come to look for America". So I sat up in my seat and paid attention as we approached but after going through a toll it all just looked like your run of the mill freeways. So I asked Christy, "so where is this turnpike?" and she says, "that was it." I frantically started taking pictures out the back window but the illusion was speeding away faster than we were. Shelly took a picture of me giving my "that was it?!", look which I feel illustrates the moment well.

When we arrived in N.Y. we walked around the Times Square area and Rockefeller Center and did a bit of shopping before we went and fell asleep for a couple of hours in our room -which we were all grateful for, having been up since the wee hours of the morning. Then we got ready and had a great dinner before going to....

WICKED!!! I was so giddy and excited. I could whip out a bunch of descriptive words to describe the show but I feel like they would fall so short. AMAZING!!!! SO AMAZING!!!! It was so entertaining and the voices these people have...it just isn't normal...or fair. Seeing this musical will forever be a highlight of my life. Seriously.

After the show it was late but we changed and walked a block over to Times Square and grabbed a hot chocolate as we took in the sights. One of which was...wait for it...my first celebrity sighting, Carly Smithson from American Idol. Well, actually Erica saw her first and she and Christy were freaking out. It was hilarious. But Carly and her tatted-up husband were very cool. Shelly generously offered to take a picture for us and I was really glad Erica insisted Carly's husband be in the picture too. As we were walking away in shock, Shelly patiently asks, "Okay. Now who was that?" No wonder she was so willing to take the picture! She hasn't been watching American Idol this season! Thinking of the scene we made through Shelly's eyes makes me laugh even now. She must have been wondering why were freaking out over those two. Funny.

It was really a great trip and I have to thank Nathan for encouraging, helping, and supporting me to be able to go. He was great- they were even on time to church! Kennedy's quote of the day was, "Dad, it's okay that my hair is ugly. You're just not a good doer. But that's okay." She said this regarding the braid that Nathan attempted which was down-graded to her hair down with a barrette in it. Aly and Kohen's hair though...not bad. Not bad at all.