Move Update

Well our house sold and we're handing it over on June 20 which is just next week. We'll be in Portland Saturday for a wedding and then the rest of the week in Issaquah preparing for movers to come take our things away on Wednesday. They'll be putting our things in storage and about one week later we'll have posession of our new home!! Hopefully everything goes as planned. We have a building inspection on Friday for our new home, and if that checks out we'll be set. Here are a few pictures of the new home. They had tons online so I didn't take many pictures, but they've already taken the house off the market. I'll take more during the inspection on Friday to post. We love the large back yard and it's adorable street apeal. The house is located south of the University of Utah which is an area with lots of amenities that will be very close. I.e. parks, shops, eateries and lots of other families and neighbors to meet (since we don't know very many people here). One of the main criteria was to have both a living room (without Jeffrey toys) and a rec room which is in the basement which will be kid mania. :) The house has lots of old character from 1948. A few changes, since we were a little under our house budget, will be to remove the current garage and add a slightly larger garage to the back of the property to store our boat. It's important for us to keep the same feel of the neighborhood with the garage so it doesn't stick out like a soar thumb. John's trying to talk me into using 10 foot garage doors, but I haven't agreed. It seems really big. Trying to keep him in check. :) We'll also eventually tackle the kitchen, but this won't happen right away. Well have four bedrooms and plenty of room for out of town guests!!

Daddy Mt Bikes

Memorial Day weekend, John was in a 24 hour Mt Bike Race with his good buddy Earl. It was just outside of Spokane and each lap was about 14 miles. Each person on the team rotated riding and by the end of the race each team member had gone about three times each. I caught John finishing his third lap of the race. Woohooo!!

Jeffrey and Logan (Earl and Megan's little one)

Us Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Descendents - Geneology

New York, New York

As many know, I just returned from a three day trip to New York. I've never been to The Big Apple and it was everything I expected and more. I went with my good friend Leah for our 30th birthday and a little mommy vacation. We stayed with her sister Tera in mid-Manhatten. We were minutes from everything and Tera did a wonderful job planning our experiences for the visit.

We took the redeye on Wednesday evening and arrived earlier Thursday morning. Leah and I braved the subway during rush hour that morning into the city. We arrived at Tera's (a few blocks from Central Park and the Time Warner building), slept for a few hours and then hit the streets. We first walked around most of the Southern part of Central Park. We finished the Central Park tour at the Metropolitan Museum and took a one hour "highlights" tour. My favorite part was the paintings done by Monet and Van Gough. It was amazing to see such familiar pieces of art that close. After the museum, we walked back on Madison Ave. Lots of highend shops, boutiques and beautiful brown stone homes. We only went into a few shops, but the most famous was Tiffany's (the one from Breakfast At Tiffany's). Tera and Adam then took us to a Mexican dinner a few blocks from their apartment. They had yummy guacamole that they made right at your table - avacado is one of my favorite!! We stayed up late, and ended the evening at a bar right below their apartment called Kennedy.

Leah at a fountain in Central Park.

Part of the Metropolitan Museum. Isn't it beautiful!!

One of the rooms we toured at the museum, and one of my favorites.

The next morning Leah and I caught a cab to the piers where we went on a three hour boat tour, The Harbour Tour. It was a great way to see the different areas of Manhatten, the vastness of the city and the different bouroughs. The tour guide gave lots of current and historical information about everything and the boat also swung by the Statue of Liberty. Smaller then I thought it was going to be. It was also interesting to see how the statue seemed more off the coast of New Jersey then New York. It was very rainy and windy that day, so most of my pictures didn't turn out trying to peak out the window. After the tour, we took a bus to Time Square. Probably one of the busiest parts to New York while we were there. We didn't get much time here, we needed to go and change for dinner and the play we had that evening. We had dinner at Thalia. Very yummy and then headed over to see the Broadway play, Avenue Q. Very halarious play. The characters were puppets with human problems that lived on Avenue Q - they were trying to find their purpose in life. Here's a peak at some of the play:

http://www.broadwayworld.com/videoinfo.cfm?showid=37

After the play, Leah and I walked back and arrived at Tera and Adam's drenched from all the rain. :) The next day's weather was much better. :)


We had Tera with us the next day and started at Rockefeller Center. While there, we went to the "Top of the Rock" which was top of the Rockefeller Center Building. It was a gourgeous view and one of the highlights! Next we met Tera's friends in the meat packing district for a Champagne brunch. I tell ya eating and drinking is the main event while in New York - there's plenty of it!! Of course, another wonderful meal with great company. For the rest of the day we trecked through the many other parts of Manhatten such as Greenwich Village, SOHO, NOHO, China Town, and Little Italy. So much to see, I really want to go back and spend some time in some of these places.

Top of the Rock with Leah and Tera

Little Italy

Finally we made our way down to the southern end of Manhatten, where we saw the Twin Tower's site (very sombering), and the financial district and the NYSE. The subway was underconstruction there so we took a combination of buses and subways to find our way back to Tera's. I'm so glad I was traveling with Tera and Leah - they were so good with directions and figuring out the transporation systems. I eventually caught onto some, but they were really quick with it. :)

Later that night we went out to dinner with Tera. Again, very yummy. It was a place where you order a few entree's and then share. So we had 6-7 dishes between the three of us (that's what was recommended) but I think we would have been good with 5. We finally ended our NY fun at Kennedy's next to Tera's again. I had the best time visiting with the two of them until the wee hours of the morning. It's true, NY never sleeps!! :) Tera/Leah, thanks again for the great experience!! You both are such wonderful friends and loved experiencing NY with you!!

More New York, New York

The blog won't allow me to post more then a few pictures at a time, so here are a few more from the trip:

View out of the Time Warner building while we had a cup of coffee and danish one morning.

On the boat

Leah in Time Square

View from the Top of the Rock at Central Park

Last of New York

For more photos, check out Leah's blog. There's a link to hers under "My Favorite Sites".

Leah and Tera, Little Italy

Leah and I, New York Stock Exchange

Last evening in New York. We had great fun! Thanks again!

Jeffrey Photo Shots

Just the other week we attended a Little Gym open house as a family. While we were there they were taking pictures. She caught the most wonderful images of Jeffrey!! I love his facial expressions! My scanner isn't top notch, but here are the images we purchased from her. They really do capture Jeffrey's facial expression far better then I could have with my little digital camera.