Easter... a bit late.

I wanted to include this Easter video... even though it's a bit late. Shane is so cute with our girls. Don't mind my awful laugh! I don't know where I got that from.

Girls' Weekend - NYC BABY!!!

For Mother's Day, my husband sent me on a trip of a lifetime! He sent me to visit my best friend in York, Pennsylvania. (What a great hubby, eh?) We had sooo much fun! I flew stand-by for the first time in my life. My sweet friend gave me one her her buddy passes so I could go! SHE's SO RAD! She's so humble, she didn't want me to tell anyone she did that. I am so blessed to have such great friends! I had a direct flight that changed to three flights to get me there in time at the very last minute! It's a MIRACLE that I got there in time! The flight I was flying on was full, the next flight was delayed so Jetblue sent me to San Francisco, then to Boston, MA and finally to Washington DC where Jessica picked me up.













I saw the sun set in the Pacific Ocean (that's the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz, if you couldn't tell)....
and raise at the Atlantic Ocean in Boston, MA within 8 hours!

Then just a few more hours of flying I finally ended up in Washington DC where Jessica and her kids picked me up!


We spend the day touring Arlington Cemetery and visiting all of the Washington D.C. monuments. I loved the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers!



































The next day, Jessica's friends Kelly & Sue picked us up and we left for THE BIG APPLE!!! We got all dressed up and ate Italian in a really small basement Sooo good! I don't know where they fit the kitchen there! Everything is so cramped in NYC.

















Then we went to see Mary Poppins on Broadway just a few blocks from our hotel! It was the highlight of the trip! I was so impressed with it! My favorite part was when Mary Poppins flew over the audience above us into the lights and reappeared on stage a few minutes later!

Saturday morning we visited the New York City LDS Temple. It was so quiet and peaceful vs being outside in crazy, stinky NYC. Very different.




















Then we ate at Ben Affleck and Rachel Ray's favorite pizza place, Famous Joe's Pizza. Jessica made walk all of Lower Manhattan searching for it! It was worth it! I am now a big fan of flat NYC pizza! Best $2.50 I spent all weekend!

This pic is of Jessica, me, Sue and Kelly braving the NYC subway system. It is soooo dirty and yucky! It smelled like an outhouse and there were crazy people on there preaching, fighting and others in another world! I thought that was just in movies. I had to step over a person sleeping on the stairs! GERMS!!! EWWW!

BOBBY FLAY MESA GRILL!!!















That night we ate at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill! My food was good, I think?! It was so spicy that the orange sauce, I think they said it was a some sort of pepper sauce, burned my mouth. I couldn't taste anything after that. They said it would be spicy... but this would have scared Shane! OUCH!!! It was still a great experience and I would do it again!!!


We visited the World Trade Towers. The girls went shopping across the street, so I joined in a group tour of ground zero. It made 9/11 seem very surreal.
















I loved visiting St. Paul's Chapel and churchyard! Some of the oldest tombs are there. Creepy, I know... but I love this sort of thing!

















Inside they had President George Washington's original pew/chair where he prayed just after winning the election.

There were memorials to the people who lost their lives during 9/11.

The girls had me running all over the place. I stopped to snap a pic of Rockefeller Center and rushed to catch up... I was such a tourist!

My favorite stores!!! World of Disney & a huge Toys R Us. The only place (other than fridge magnets and postcards) where I purchased souvenirs.

Our Last day we stopped at the Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island Immigration Museum. Ellis Island was so touching... I wish we could have spent more time there and learned about our U.S. immigrates. We had lunch with Auguste Bartholdi, the designer of the Statue of Liberty. He told us all about his life and history of his "Lady of Freedom." One of my favorite parts of our trip!

This weekend was so much fun and a great break! We are already planning next year's girl's weekend! I came home to a husband who missed me very much. Which was so nice. But the kids enjoyed their time with dad. I had meals in the fridge for them, but instead, I came home to a fridge full of fast food leftovers! One thing I learned from being in NYC, I am soooo grateful for a yard to raise my two cute girls! My house is giant compared to NYC apartment! A fun place to visit, not to raise a family though. Thanks for a wonderful Mother's Day Shane! And thanks to my in-laws... who I know Shane recruited for hours of help with our kids!