Kelli and Merit Come to Visit!

Kelli and Merit have talked about wanting to come and visit us since they got married and we were so excited when they told us a few months ago that they were coming at the end of March! We love visitors. I love when people are able to visualize where we live and know places we are talking about when we Skype and talk on the phone. Merit had never been to NYC either and I love being a part of people's first experience in the city because it is such a magical place. Grandpa Kent and Uncle Birtley are both coming in a couple weeks and it will be both of their first times also. So exciting! I hope they like it as much as Merit!

Disclaimer: I am very disappointed about the lack of pictures I took. :(

Before they headed to the big city, we had to take them to our traditional first attraction:

They loved it as much as everyone else!

That night we went to Valencia's, of course, and enjoyed our favorite Norwalk restaurant.

The next day, these two were very brave and headed into the city for a day to themselves. We missed them, but are so glad they were able to see and do a lot! 

They took the train in the day they went, but it was much more cost effective for us to drive in when we all went the next day...the only problem is that we have a five seat car.

I got thinking, and I know Brian is always up for a little adventure, so I sent him and Thad in on the train (since he has his train pass and kids under 5 are free) and Kelli, Merit, Wes and I drove to town...I mean, the city.

We parked and waited for them over on the east side near the U.N. and it was a fun sight to see Dad and Thad happily coming to meet us.

Thad was taking five quick little steps to Brian's one and it was just the cutest.

I didn't get him waving, but he loved seeing Kelli, Merit and I waiting for him.

He is such a fun kid and loved riding the train in with Dad. 

Kelli and Merit pretty much gave us free reign to plan this day. I tried to think of some things I want to cross off my NYC to-do list, and I have always wanted to check out the U.N. We headed over there were able to capture this great view of the Chrysler Building.

As we approached the U.N. we were kind of disappointed because the flags weren't out. 

I mostly just wanted to see the flags.

Oh well. 

It was a cool building and I'm glad I don't have to wonder anymore. 

We were pretty frozen at this point so stopped to get a New York slice.

We don't even know what this place was called, but Brian and I decided it was some of the best pizza we have had in NYC! 

It was so funny, we told Thad to run and scare all the birds. He would start running towards them, but get fixated on just one. It would just run away from him instead of fly away, so Kelli tried to guide him toward the crowd. 

It didn't really work out, but he is still cute. 

We made our way toward Central Park and stopped at some fun places along the way:

Pinkberry

Best frozen treat ever. In my opinion. 

Dylan's Candy Bar

 F.A.O Schwartz 

We sure love our tough super hero!

Central Park 

Central Park is always a blast (Thad had fun. I promise. He just hates taking pictures.), but we were excited to get out of the cold (it was about 42 degrees with a nice little wind chill) and hustled over to Shake Shack on the Upper West Side.

I don't have a picture, but it was delish!!

We took the subway back to the car and train because it was just too darn cold to make the trek!

Thad was excited again.

On Sunday we had an hour drive to Stake Conference.

We didn't want Wes to fall asleep on the way home, so Kelli and Merit did their best to keep him awake. He was pumped, as you can tell, and they got the job done! 

We got that baby home and got him a nice, long nap before heading into the city AGAIN!

I have wanted to do family pictures in the city the whole time we have lived here and this Sunday worked out to be the perfect day.

Thad was excited about pictures this day and I'm sure I will soon have some great photos to share.

They ended their stay just hanging out and introducing Thad to Temple Run, a game on the iPhone. He loved it and loved playing with Merit any chance he got.

We are so glad these awesome peeps came to visit us. We sure had a blast and are so excited to spend more time with them this summer!

Kelli sent me a thank you card this week and mentioned some of the best memories from this trip that I don't want to forget:

-Brian pulling over on the way to our house after picking them up from their red-eye for Kelli to barf on the side of the road.

-Thad saying "Excuse me" every other second.

-Wes and his hippo toothed smile.

St. Patrick's Celebrations

We had some fun with St. Patrick's Day this year, and celebrated two different days with different friends. We had not seen the Farr girls for quite a while because we had both been sick, and Thad also wasn't going to be able to attend Sophie's birthday party the week following St. Patrick's Day. We decided to have an early St. Patty's celebration to make sure we got some friend time in before the rest of the month got too busy!

The leprechauns left us a delicious lunch to start off our green afternoon! 

After lunch we did some fun activities while we waited for Clara to wake up to do the scavenger hunt-

This boy is just as happy as can be and was pleased as punch just to hang out and observe the fun!

Thad gave Sophie her present early since he wouldn't be able to attend the party.

She was so excited to get an early birthday present, as you can see!

And finally -- time for the hunt!

Sophie is so animated, just like her mom, and her scared face here cracks me up!

I might be a little scared as a five year old too, heading into my dungeon basement. 

They found the first clue right away and got started hunting!

Jackpot:

Wes loved his windmill. A lot.

Nothing to top off a scavenger hunt like a basket push-pull!

We are so glad we have such fun friends to do fun things with and don't mind hanging out in our disaster of a basement. 

What a lucky day!

A few days later, the actual holiday occurred and before our fun dinner that evening, Thad was able to give his very first Primary talk:
You Can't Play Tag with a Turtle

I have heard about this talk always from Brian. It was his very first Primary talk (along with Todd, Kelli and Kayci), and he had to memorize it. When Teresa gave it to Brian last year for Father's Day, Brian was so happy and we have been so excited since we got it for Thad to have to opportunity to share it in Primary.

When Thad entered Sunbeams I decided I would start practicing with him so that whenever he was asked, he would be ready and we wouldn't have to stress about getting it done in one week.

He caught on super quick and was ready long before he was asked.

St. Patty's Day ended up being his lucky day and he performed it perfectly. All the little kids laughed because of the funny things the animals were doing and I thought Thad might freeze up, but he just chuckled along with them and moved right along. 

Such a proud moment for Brian and I to see our sweet 4-year old do so well.

After church we FINALLY had the Russes over for dinner.

Sometimes it makes me sad that we didn't utilize more of our Sundays over the past three years to have dinner with fun friends like these. 

 Thad.Lila.Abby.Zack.

Alex

We definitely got into the spirit of St. Patrick's Day this year and are so glad we could have two memorable days with our amazing friends.

To top off the evening, we were able the watch America's Funniest Home Videos because Johnny accidentally took their keys with him to a stake priesthood meeting he and Brian attended.

Emily didn't realize this until all her kids had shoes and coats on, so they just took a seat and waited for their dad to get back.

As you can see Wes and Abby did not mind one bit. 

It melts my heart to see how sweet Abby is with him. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

An Afternoon in Chelsea

Yesterday we woke up and it was a BEAUTIFUL Saturday morning. It was particularly refreshing after a long week of gloomy skies and a pretty nasty snow storm on Friday. As we talked about the day, Brian asked if we should go into the city, and with our move coming up in about seven weeks, I answered with a resounding yes! I wanted to do something we have never done because our days are numbered, so we decided to head in and check out the Chelsea area of NYC and the Highline walkway there is quite the attraction. It is an old railway line that ran down the west side of the city. The Farrs and the Edwards also joined us and that made the afternoon that much better as our time with them is also running out.

We hit some yucky traffic heading toward the George Washington Bridge, so Thad took the smart route and napped through it. Wes was a little jealous.

As soon as we got to the Highline, we came across this fun "amphitheater" that looks over 10th Avenue.  

I was surprised Thad wasn't a little more apprehensive about playing near the glass. He loved it! 

Wes loved it too.  

In fact...

All the kids loved it!!

They were mostly hoping they could catch a glimpse of some celebs.

As we finally got a good start on our walk down the Highline, it was a really neat atmosphere with some beautiful views of the city.

Thad thought the integrated train tracks were pretty cool:

And I thought it was pretty cool that he held my hand a lot of the time.

Please don't get big, Thad. I want you to want to hold my hand for a long, long time.

We tried to get a shot of our family, but not everybody was that into it. This is the best we could do.

  

We did manage to get some good shots of the these cute kids!

Thad and Sophie loved going up each bench and jumping off at the other end.

Man, we're going to miss her. 

I posed for a shot with my girlfriends, and then Tracy yelled, "Glamour shot!" 

And this is what we came up with!

We should probably be models.

 And this girl, I sure am going to miss her when the time comes to say goodbye.

We started out our east coast journeys together and have grown and learned a lot over the past three years. New jobs, more kids and far away families have given us the opportunity to create a unique relationship that I will cherish forever.

After our wonderful walk down the Highline, we headed down 10th Avenue to the park for the kids to get some play time.

I loved this mural we saw along the way.

After the park, we headed to get a delicious burger.

The sweet potato fries were AWESOME too.

I got a picture of each family, but it was the end of the evening and no one seemed too excited about it - 

 The Farrs

 The Edwards

 The Monsens

We sat around and chatted for a while and the kids were actually pretty darn good!

Towards the end, it called for some sucker action.

And Wes was introduced to his first sucker experience.

He caught on pretty darn quick. 

 I'm pretty sure I didn't allow Thad this sweet little pleasure until after he was two.

I've loosened up a bit, and it was totally worth it!

He was quiet for about 15 minutes and I only had to use two wipes to keep things in check.

This will probably be a more common occurrence around these parts. 

I'm so glad we made the trek into the city yesterday afternoon. 

Good company, good food, good friends.

Not much can beat that.

What an awesome afternoon in Chelsea!