Romantic Getaway to NYC

Jason has spent (and will continue to spend) quite a bit of time traveling the second half of this year, so we took some of those racked-up airline points he accrued and headed to Manhattan, just the two of us! Our great friends, Zach and Sara, cared for our kiddos for the weekend so we could get away, because that's the kind of people that they are, and our kids just LOVE them!

Note, since we were vacationing in November, we probably would have gone to Florida if it weren't for the stinkin' Zika virus and the fact that, as a pregnant woman, I, or Jason for that matter, am not supposed to get any mosquito bites or else this kid could be born with a tiny head. NYC has always been on my bucket list. So many of the chick-lit books I read are based there, and so many movies show it, that it's a good place to go at least once, and with the weather only in the 40's in November, it was worth it!

This is the view from our hotel room (32nd floor)

We got pretty good at walking and taking the subway

We visited the 9/11 Memorial, but didn't wait in the 2 hour line to go to the museum. Did I mention this was Veteran's Day weekend?

A panoramic shot from the island that houses the Statue of Liberty

View of Manhattan from the Statue

OK, if you have had more than a 30 minute long conversation with me in the last few months, there's a good chance that you know my recent OBSESSION with Hamilton, the musical. SOOOOO GOOD! We would have loved to go, but tickets ranged from $750-$1350 per person to get in, and we tried the broadway lottery to no avail (they commonly have 10,000 entries for each show's lottery, and only have 21 winners). Imagine our surprise when we were walking down Broadway and came across Trinity Church where Alexander Hamilton was buried! As we were walking around the graveyard outside the church, you could hear people humming Hamilton songs, just like me.

Jason loves old churches too, so the visit wasn't a total bust for him :)

Times Square!

Central Park!

The Manhattan LDS temple!

And more of Central Park! What a beautiful place to visit in the fall!

Fugett Fall Follies

Raising two creative and fun-focused boys in the fall is a joy. Also, highly entertaining. Here are a few things that filled up our autumn season:

Walks in the park. I just thought this picture was too cute to leave out! Nothing like boys on a dock overlooking a lake!

Scarborough Rocks! This year Tanner's school had an ongoing painted rock hunt. We hunted the park for painted rocks, then took them home and found our own rocks to paint and re-hide. These are the ones they painted and re-hid. 

I took Sam to his very first dance party (hosted at the brand-new-temporary Indian Creek Library). This is what he did the entire time. (Yes, that is me in the blue skirt). To be fair, there were a lot of pretty little toddler girls dancing up a storm, so poor Sam was probably intimidated beyond belief. I could not get him to dance no matter what I did.

Tanner's first school pictures! They turned out so nice!

I went on a weekend cruise to Ensenada, Mexico with my mom and sister Natalie. More on that later.

Scarborough had a color run! You know, those runs where they spray you with chalk dust and you get super messy?! Well, truth be told, we didn't run. But we did get sno-cones!

Karyn (Jason's oldest sister) went through the temple for the first time! What a special day that was.

I knew I couldn't keep the kids from Chuck-E-Cheese forever, and no they ask to go back at least once a week.  .  .

Took Sam to the pumpkin patch! Gah, this kid is so photogenic!

Took the kids to Scheels (it's a sporting good store with a terrifying ferris wheel right in the middle. This is us on the very top of it).

I attended the second annual mom's outing at Ironwood Retreat in Leawood. It was a freezing cabin with no heat where we spent the night. Kelly Andrews organized it, her husband Charles cooked for us, and we stayed up late giggling and talking about motherhood and the challenges and blessings it grants us. Others in photo- left to right: Greisy Ogzewalla, me, Faith Wagner, Emalee Thompson, Leslee Soellner, and Kelly Andrews.

I don't even remember, but Tanner discovered my knee-high boots and had to use them in his superhero costume for like a week until he started causing irreparable damage to them. They're off-limits now. I guess I have to learn lessons the hard way sometimes too.

Halloween Houses!

Sam's Halloween class party (he's the one in the black SWAT costume)

Can't see us too well but this is us at the annual Trunk-or-treat at the church (note, now Sam is a warrior- last year's costume)

Tanner's Halloween class party (he's the policeman on the bottom row)

Cop and robber for trick-or-treating! (yes, this is Sam's 3rd costume for the year)

Waiting to go trick-or-treating with cousin Charlie (the minion)