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los angeles

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

A couple of weeks ago we took a quick trip to California when Jacob had some time off from his rotation. Jacob’s been talking about taking the baby to the beach since…well, before she was born! I’ve never really been to LA so we thought it would be a fun trip.

(I was really paranoid about getting sand in my new [to me] camera and it’s pretty heavy so a lot of these pictures were taken on my point and shoot. Then that started acting up and we took pictures on the video camera, hence the quality.)

We left for LA around 8:30 PM. The only way I was ok with making this drive was if we drove at night so Addie would sleep! I knew that traffic from Vegas to LA was bad on Sundays but we’d been watching this traffic site and it didn’t seem too bad. Little did we know that the night is the WORST! We were stopped/crawling for 2+ hours between Baker and Barstow. Addie woke a few times on the trip but I got her back to sleep fairly easily. It was the worst in the stopped traffic because we weren’t moving enough to lull her. We were originally supposed to get in around 1 AM but didn’t get to our hotel until almost 3 AM. Ugh! And then when we got in our room Addie woke up and wanted to play. I didn’t get her down until after 4 AM. We stayed at the Radisson in Culver City for a great price (thank you Priceline.)


Lounging in the hotel.

So we had a late start Monday morning. We went to Venice Beach. Jacob wanted to lift weights at the famous muscle beach, where Arnold Schwarzenegger used to lift weights. They have weight lifting competitions and iron man competitions there sometimes now. You pay a fee and then you can go in and lift.

Venice Beach is a hippie dump. The boardwalk had a Marijuana doctor and this kid was sitting next to me at Muscle Beach rolling a joint. And we saw Harry Perry.

It was cloudy and kind of chilly the whole time we were there. We were surprised because 10 minutes away from the beach at our hotel it was bright and sunny. It was too cold for Addie to get wet so besides playing in the sand a little with Jacob I kept her in the Ergo to stay warm. And still somehow she managed to have sand in every crevice of her body (and down my shirt.)

She was pretty much in the Ergo almost the entire trip. I don’t love the print but it’s a great carrier. I got it for almost half price at babysteals before she was born.

We went back to the hotel and showered/changed. Then we decided to go downtown to the The Grove and Farmer’s Market. We were going at rush hour so we went on city streets and really had no traffic problems. Addie even fell asleep. We were maybe a mile away when we got to a road closed off. So we went around and another road was closed off. We finally found a way and 3 cars back from the intersection the police closed it off too. It reminded me of when we lived in New York and Obama was in town and just as I said that to Jacob, Emily texted to say that Obama was in town around the Grove and they were shutting off like a 6 block radius of traffic. Ugh! They can’t say what street he’ll be on so there was no way to know how to get around. And there were lots of roads closed that didn’t need to be. We just gave up and drove as far away from there as possible. Good thing because we heard on the news that traffic was backed up for hours and hours!

After we drove away we decided to go to the Santa Monica pier instead. We went to the 3rd Street Promenade to park and get some food. I had Addie in the Ergo and because of the way she was sitting her diaper leaked (just pee, whew!) all over my lap. And then she spit up down my front while in the carrier so I was a mess. It was really cold out there too (they had heat lamps on in the outdoor eating areas!) so we had to go buy a sweater which covered both of us and covered up my messy clothes. We had fun walking around and sharing a little food from a bunch of different places. Jacob loved the Korean BBQ truck. By the time we walked down to the pier around 9 PM Addie was pretty sleepy and we were exhausted (and I was sunburned!) so we didn’t spend much time there before going home. Addie slept a lot better that night. I think we wore her out.

We checked out of our hotel on Tuesday around 11. Then we went downtown to The Grove and Farmer’s Market. We loved the Farmer’s Market! For lunch we shared a little bit of food from a bunch of the vendors. We shared a french dip sandwich and fresh pineapple lemonade and a slice of pizza from Patsys (the best pizza we’ve had since NY) etc. We could have stayed longer but we had to get over to Grauman’s Chinese Theater to get the hop on hop off tour. The tour wasn’t great. It was mostly “That’s a club that a celebrity used to own.” and “That’s where OJ Simpson lived” and “Here’s another famous shopping area!” And it was REALLY hot. Addie was in the Ergo and slept for most of it. The loop that went out to Santa Monica was nice and cool and when we got back to the city it had cooled a little. But by then Addie was tired and sick of being in the carrier so she got cranky. We were passing her back and forth trying to keep her from screaming. I couldn’t wait to get off the bus!

After the tour I sat in the car and pumped while Jacob walked around with Addie. Then we decided to go to Milk, a restaurant recommended by Caroline. She’d recommended several restaurants but we hadn’t been able to go to any. Milk was delicious. We shared a really yummy turkey BLTC and the Milkie Way Malt. They took forever for the malt to come and we were ready to go so when Jacob went in to ask he ended up getting a free peanut butter brownie too and he loved it.

The drive home went really well. We made great time. Addie slept the whole way.

It was a fantastic first family trip!

P.S. Addie’s bonnet is from this etsy shop courtesy of my mom. The quality of the bonnet is fantastic and we get lots of compliments. Just be aware that the shipping time was SLOW, slower than the projected time and the communication wasn’t great. It came over a month after I ordered it. But it’s darling!

Posted in Family, Travel | 5 Comments »

utah part 3

Sunday, August 15th, 2010

Yes, there are still more photos from Utah. And they’re mostly of Addie being cute because we mostly spent the month admiring her adorableness.

This is how Addie sits in the Bumbo. Every time.

We stayed with Auntie Heidi for a couple of days.

Addie spent lots of time each day holding on to her toes.

She did do some work though. (This photo was for Jacob and his beloved highlighters.)

She fell in love with water bottles. (These ones are blurry but I’m posting them for my mom’s sake.)

And generally looked cute.

We were lucky to be in town for my cousin Marianne’s wedding. The night before the wedding we went to the family dinner at the Dock of the Bay restaurant at Deer Creek Reservoir. All of my mom’s sisters were there so it was fun to see them and for Addie to meet them. Here are a couple of photos from the evening from my Dad and one from Heidi.

Marianne’s wedding was July 31st. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to go since I had only gotten half way through the renewal of my recommend before we went to Utah. But with some phone calls we got it solved and Jacob over nighted it to me in Utah just in time. Shareka came to the Draper temple and waited outside with Addie so I could attend the sealing with my family. (Thanks again Shareka!) It was a lovely wedding and I was so happy to be there. Because of lugging all the baby stuff I didn’t take any photos at the wedding but here’s one my dad took of the cute couple leaving the temple.

Addie was all tuckered out. And a shot of the shoes because I love them and they don’t fit anymore.

Then we went to lunch at Smashburger (yum!). Addie told Grandpa she’d had enough pictures.

Asleep.

Awake.

Then we went to Provo and hung out at Heidi’s until the reception. My friend Julie stopped by so we could meet each other’s babies. Aunt Linda and Uncle Mark came over to see Julie too because Julie used to be in their ward in Iowa.

The reception was amazing. Aunt Nette did such an awesome job with all the details. The most impressive part was the green candy buffet.

We couldn’t stay long at the reception because Mom, Addie and I were heading straight home to Henderson. Addie still hates her car seat so it’s easier to drive at night when she falls asleep.

“You want to drive at what hour of the night!?!”

“Ok. You guys are crazy.”

She was a little fussy for the first hour but fell asleep when the sun went down and slept the rest of the way. We got in about 1:00 AM (I think?? I can’t remember!)

Thanks for a great July, family! We miss you!

Posted in Adelaide, Family, Travel | 8 Comments »

2009 in review

Friday, January 1st, 2010

Here’s a little look back at this whirlwind of a year 2009. I can’t believe it’s been a year since I wrote last year’s review.

January

- We returned to our little apartment in Harlem after a Christmas break in Utah.
- Witnessed the pride and excitement of the inauguration in Harlem. I’ve never seen people so happy about politics!


- Got called to teach the 4 year old Primary class at church. What an adventure! I loved that calling.
- Went to Chinatown to see the Chinese New Year festivities.

February

- Loved a visit from Lori, Paul and Emmett on Valentine’s Day.


- Had a very uneventful Valentine’s Day night. Jacob was busy studying for a test. We ordered heart shaped pizza from Papa Johns (authentic NY pizza, you know!) and rented a movie.
- Enjoyed a visit from my SIL Heather and her kids from PA. We spent the day visiting FAO Schwartz, seeing the carriages at Central Park, and eating McDonalds; a perfect day for the kids.
- Started enjoying Saturday night “Dessert Nights” around Manhattan. So fun to try new things.
- Assisted my friend Kiasa with some of her science themed birthday parties including one for Design Mom Gabrielle Blair’s daughter. Kiasa does a fantastic job and I loved working with her.

March

- Got a fabulous haircut from Rubi. I love that haircut.


- Celebrated Jacob’s 25th birthday. He was busy with school and didn’t want to do anything special so we celebrated quietly at home.

- Saw one of my favorite old musicals Guys and Dolls with Jacob.
- Had our bathroom ripped apart because of a consistent leak. It was never put back together completely before we moved!

- Took a trip to Washington, DC! We loved seeing all the sights and visiting some museums. The American History Museum was my favorite. I injured my ankle while we were there which really slowed me down. But we had a fantastic time!

April

- Enjoyed Conference weekend (although by myself since, as usual, Jacob was studying like a mad man.)
- Got locked in the bathroom while home alone.
- Spent a week in San Francisco with Heidi. It was so fun to go on a trip just me and my sister. We had a wonderful time seeing the city and relaxing. Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 here.


- Started taking care of this adorable creature (and 2 other kids on days I didn’t have her.)

- Decided to transfer to Jacob’s school in Las Vegas. This decision was insanely bittersweet.

May

- Jacob finished his first year of medical school. Woohoo!
- Made a trip to PA for niece Ariel’s baptism and visit with the Lauberts, Miners, and Jacob’s parents.


- Jacob’s parents coming back to Manhattan with us to spend the day. Jacob had a blast playing tour guide.
- Celebrated our 3 year anniversary with dinner, a movie, a stay in a nice hotel in midtown, breakfast at Max Brenner and a visit to the Strand before I had to work the next day.

June

- Made a quick, impromptu trip to Philadelphia. This may be my favorite trip of the year because Jacob was out of school so he was totally stress free! And I love the early American history in Philadelphia.


- Explored the High Line. Perhaps the coolest park in the city.

- Saw Anne Hathaway and Audra McDonald in Twelfth Night in Central Park. LOVED this.
- Finally experienced fried chicken and waffles at Amy Ruth’s. We give it two thumbs up!
- Went to Las Vegas to find an apartment.
- Had lunchtime dates around town with Jacob when I was taking care of Puff. They were good buddies.

- Basically went some place fun in the city everyday.

July

- Had a fun 4th of July BBQ with our neighbors and then went to the Hudson to watch the fireworks.


- Enjoyed the NY Philharmonic concert in Central Park.

- Had a visit from my brother, Ian, for a couple of days. I was working so Jacob played tour guide. They enjoyed a city tour and a Mets game, among other things. We introduced Ian to the delicious NY food, including truck food (hello Dessert Truck, we love you.)
- Saw Blithe Spirit starring Rupert Everett, Angela Lansbury, and Christine Ebersole.
- Enjoyed another visit from my SIL Heather and the kids. We had an overpriced and underwhelming lunch at Mars 2012 (but the kids had fun!) and then went to the Heckschler Playground in Central Park to play in the water.

- Went to the beach with Jenn, Norris and Puff.

- Saw In the Heights with Jenn.
- Reluctantly packed our meager belongings into a mini van (Jacob is MAGIC!) and moved across the country. We stopped along the way to see my SIL Erin and my Grammy and my parents.


- Bought a car- a 2005 Toyota Corolla.

August

- Spent a few days in Wisconsin for the big family reunion with Jacob’s siblings.
- Jacob started school again.
- I went to Utah for a week to help Heidi get ready for school.
- Totaled our 2 week old car in a car accident on the way home from Utah when Jacob came to pick me up. We were very, very lucky that we walked away with only minor bumps, bruises, and cuts.


- Found out (2 days after the accident) that we had a bun in the oven. Expected arrival: April 2010. I started getting sick immediately.

- Enjoyed a visit from Emily and baby Charlie for a few days. She helped me set up the apartment and she made me some curtains!
- Celebrated my 25th birthday with surprise tickets from Jacob to see Jersey Boys at the Palazzo.

September

- Went to Utah for a long weekend. Got to see Laura and go to Delia’s baby blessing.
- Spent most of the month sick on the couch.
- Jacob had his first “block week” of tests.
- After a month of rental cars (for which we are still waiting to be reimbursed from the other insurance company) we finally got the money from our insurance company to buy another car: an 02 Honda CRV.
- Took a quick trip to Cali to see the Sheets and the Ames. Spent a fantastic day at the beach.

October

- Continued being sick and exhausted. Hence the extreme lack of blogging…or doing much of anything.
- Enjoyed General Conference weekend.
- Had a fun visit from some of “the buddies” (Lori, Paul and Emmett, Mike, Jeff) for the BYU/UNLV game. Lots of Rock Band was played and Jacob barbecued before the game.


- Had a visit from my friend Amy from college and her son Landon. She’s pregnant too so we mostly laid around the apartment and ate Sour Patch Kids, which was my craving that week (and one of the few pregnancy cravings I’ve had at all.)

- Took another weekend trip home to Utah over Heidi’s Fall Break. We saw the Odyssey Dance show “Thriller”, the play “Curtains” and the movie “Bright Star.” Soaked up all the fall weather I could since it was still pretty warm in Vegas.

- Jacob had another “block week” of tests.
- Went to the ward Trunk or Treat and then celebrated Halloween at home with Tortilla Soup and renting Coraline. Mom sent me this t-shirt which I considered my costume.

November

- Slowly started feeling a little bit better.
- Found out we’re having a baby GIRL!


- I went to Utah the weekend before Thanksgiving and Jacob joined me the day before the holiday. We had a great time with my family and Grammy was in town, which is always interesting!

December

- Celebrated Sinterklaas Eve with my first attempt at the Dutch dinner and presents from Sinterklaas.
- Jacob had his semester finals.
- I hosted a Christmas Cookie Exchange for some of the wives that were in town during finals week.
- Went to Utah on the 18th for the family Christmas party at Aunt Nette’s house. Had a yummy dinner of appetizers and had the traditional White Elephant gift exchange.


- Had a fantastic Christmas with the family where the baby was incredibly spoiled.

- Celebrated NYE at home just the two of us with Chinese food (tradition!) and renting 500 Days of Summer. We watched the fireworks on the strip from our window.

In summary, we’ve had a crazy year. We’ve had plenty of “downs” but the “ups” have been so fantastic that it was all worth it. When all is said and done I know I’ll look back at 2009 as one of our best years. A year ago I never would have expected we’d start the year living in NYC and end it living in Las Vegas. If I’ve learned anything this year it’s that the Lord has a better plan for us than we have for ourselves, even if sometimes we don’t understand it.

I can’t wait to see what 2010 has in store for us, especially with the arrival of our baby girl in the spring. So much to look forward to.

Posted in Family, Jacob and Me, Medical School, New York, Pregnancy, Travel, Vegas | 12 Comments »

a weekend in Utah

Friday, September 25th, 2009

Home sweet home! Back in July Southwest was having an awesome fare sale that I just had to take advantage of. I booked myself three weekend trips home to Utah during the fall, my absolute favorite season, especially in Utah. My first trip was a couple weekends ago. I lucked out on this visit because the weather was GORGEOUS while I was there. I was eating it up. Especially when it rained all day my last day and we saw some incredible rainbows on the way to the airport. It was painful to leave for still too hot Vegas.

Mom and I went to Heidi’s classroom on Friday. I love visiting Heidi at school, especially now when I’m missing the classroom so much. We helped her do some paperwork and then I worked with some of her low readers. They were a hoot! One of them informed me that I have too many wrinkles !!! The best part of the day was when Mom and I discovered the reading response one of her students wrote about New Moon! (Follow the link if you want to read it.) After school we went to dinner at Brick Oven, which I’d been craving for a few weeks.

On Saturday, Heidi and I met up in SLC to see the movie Adam. I liked it a lot more than I expected. Plus it takes place in NYC so I was eating up all the autumn scenes. I miss NYC so much!

My bff Laura is in Utah this month transitioning from living in Alaska to Colorado so it worked out perfectly that I was able to visit while she was in town. And, lucky me, she decided to schedule her daughter Delia’s baby blessing so that I could attend. It has always broken my heart that I couldn’t be with her when her babies were born, so I count it a special blessing that even though they were both born in Alaska I was able to attend their blessings in Utah. Laura invited me over early to cuddle the baby and chat. It was a really lovely day. I was hoping to get some nice photos of Delia in her blessing gown like I did with Kellie but Delia’s a major mama’s girl and wasn’t so interested in posing for a photo shoot! So this photo of us will have to do.

(Laura’s babes always have a very concerned look at this age. But trust me, she has a radiant little smile!)

Mom and I spent the day together on Monday doing some shopping and having a lunch of comfort food at Marie Calendar’s. It was such a nice visit and I can’t wait until my October visit!

P.S. The photo of Delia and me was shot by Laura on my new Canon 40d camera! Dad upgraded to the 50d and passed his 40d down to me. Thanks Dad! I’m excited to get a chance to practice with it some more when we visit the Sheets and Ames in Cali this weekend. More photos soon!

Posted in Fabulous Friends, Family, Travel | 4 Comments »

philadelphia

Saturday, June 13th, 2009

We made a quick trip to Philadelphia last week! We wanted to take advantage of the other Bolt Bus route we hadn’t tried yet. I love all the early American history so I knew I would enjoy it, which I did!

We left on Friday afternoon. When we arrived it was pouring rain. We hung out in the hotel waiting for it to clear up and Jacob got us some food from the Reading Terminal Market across the street. Once it finally stopped raining enough to go out, it was after 5 and all the sights were closed. We spent the evening walking around the neighborhood and ended up having dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. I’d never had any interest in eating at a HRC, but it was the only restaurant nearby and we had a discount from the Philadelphia Passes we’d purchased. The food was better than I expected and we had fun watching music videos of 80s hair bands.

Saturday morning we started off with a hop on/hop off tour. It’s probably the worst hop on/hop off tour of any city I’ve visited but there’s only one or two companies to choose from in Philly.


The view from outside our hotel.


Beautiful City Hall with the 37 foot statue of William Penn on top. When it was built it was supposed to be the world’s tallest building but when it was finished it had been surpassed by the Eiffel Tower. It was, however, the world’s tallest habitable building. The statue of Penn is the tallest statue atop a building in the world.


Jacob on the tour.


Philadelphia Art Museum. The front of the building is where the famous scene from Rocky takes place. They were setting up for an event on the stairs so I didn’t get a good picture.


Philadelphia commissioned a copy of this statue from artist Emmanuel Frémiet. He sent the original and made one with revised proportions for the Luxemborg in Paris. Although he preferred his revised version, the original is worth more.


Statue of Lincoln. It’s not exactly accurate since Lincoln is holding his pen in his right hand and he is a lefty!


Another view of City Hall. Our tour guide pointed out that the statue looks different from this angle. If you can’t tell, the scroll in his hand looks like something else. I wouldn’t have shared that with you but it’s a big Philadelphia joke. And it’s pretty funny.


The liberty bell!


Independence Hall (we toured the inside on Sunday)

Saturday afternoon we took the Ducks Tour, which was part of our pass. It duplicated some of the hop on/hop off tour but also visited some other places. And of course, it splashed into the Delaware River too!


Not exactly historical… Larry Fine of the 3 Stooges was born in this building. Philadelphia has some amazing murals, I wish we could have gone on the mural tour.


Benjamin Franklin bridge


Us on the Ducks tour. Jacob’s lips are red because we’d just eaten some Water Ice!

That night we visited the Franklin Institute. We got there too late to see any of the regular museum but we got late night admission to the Star Trek and Galileo exhibition. Jacob was so excited about the Star Trek stuff! He only likes Next Generation though, for the record. He always tells people that. I wasn’t very interested but it was fun to see him enjoying the exhibit. Here’s some pictures of him. He was especially excited to get a picture on the “the bridge” in the captain’s chair. Too bad it was too dark to get a decent picture of this exciting moment.

We had dinner at a delicious restaurant right across the street from the “Friendship Gate” entrance to Chinatown. It was called Szechuan Tasty House if you are ever in Philly and want to check it out.


Sunday morning we took the audio walking tour. It was pretty hot and humid that morning so we didn’t do the whole thing, just the interesting parts! Then we got to take the tour of Independence Hall. So amazing to be in the building where the Declaration of Independence was signed, the second Continental Congress took place and the Constitution was signed. This room has been restored but the chair at the front is the original chair that George Washington sat in during the Continental Congress.


We stopped by Benjamin Franklin’s grave to leave a penny for good luck.


We stopped in quickly at the oldest Quaker Meetinghouse still in use in Philadelphia. It was small but my ancestors were Quakers so I wanted to check it out.

In the afternoon we visited the National Constitution Center, which is a fantastic museum even though it doesn’t contain the original Constitution. They do a beautiful 20 minute production about the history of the country and the Constitution. And they have a fantastic interactive exhibit of American history from the beginning of the country until the present day. And they have a room with full-size statues of the signers of the Constitution, which Jacob thought was awesome. We were in a rush but I could have stayed all afternoon!

We attempted to tour the Masonic Temple but it was closed.

Instead we made a quick trip back to the Franklin and caught the last show at the planetarium.

Then we rushed over to Sonny’s so Jacob could get his fourth or fifth cheesesteak of the weekend! He loved comparing them. We heard that Sonny’s made a good one so we got it and zipped to our bus just in time. It’s only a 2 hour ride back to New York and the view is really nice. It was such a fun trip!

Posted in Travel | 7 Comments »

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