More NYC

Standing on the highline bridge with a view of Stark's apartment
(the brown building on the corner).

What is the highline you ask? It is an old train line that was elevated above the city. However, the highline no longer transport trains. The train rails remain, and have been built into a boardwalk; the surrounding narrow area has been converted into an urban garden; and it is now a picturesque way for walkers to experience nature while also getting glimpses of the beautiful cityscape.

At one point in the line there is a bridge over a busy city street. Ampitheater
style seating situated in front of large windows allow you to sit above and view the passing traffic.

Near the end of the line you can walk down the steps and visit Chelsea Market--a hipster indoor mall that's reminiscent of an old train station.  The stores there sell all kinds of things from home decor to clothing to organic groceries that you've never heard of. All at pretty outrageous prices.

We decided to have a progressive lunch that day  (which I totally recommend in a place like New York, it allows you to try lots of fun stuff). First, while at Chelsea Market we went into one of the hipster grocery stores (really, hipster is the key word of this place) and bought some pure orange-banana juice which they had juiced and bottled in-store. Then we went to a sandwich shop and got a roasted cauliflower and eggplant sandwich which we split. Surprisingly, it was super good!

Then we got on the train and headed down to the 9-11 memorial museum. We had preordered tickets (they were actually free that day because it was opening day) and had been given a particular time slot. We were a little early and since our progressive lunch had turned out to be a little too vegetarian for our carnivorous reputations we decided to stop at The Shake Shack (recommended by Matt and Jen and best known for their amazing burgers). 

Robby got a burger which was surprisingly affordable,
but oh so heavenly! As you can see by the look on his face,
there's something about a good burger that boosts him to the level of
happiness where he can't help but go cross-eyed :)

We then headed back to the 9-11 memorial museum. This was an experience that set itself apart from the rest of the trip for me. It was not your typical tourist excursion, but a very sobering experience. Before going inside we took a look at the foundations for the former twin towers. I learned that the new World Trade Center was not built in the same foundations. (In fact, the World Trade Center is no longer "The Twin Tours" as there is now only one sky scraper in the seven-building complex). Instead, both foundations have been converted into memorial waterfalls. Plaques encircle the water features, engraved with the names of each one of the 3000+ victims of that horrific tragedy. Special notes were made for those who had lost their lives as rescue personnel,  I could not think of a truer hero--bolting into the very same buildings that thousands of people are desperately trying to escape from, so that they could, almost inevitably, give their life to save another. . .it gave me an even deeper respect for good people of this country. We would hear more stories about rescuers in video presentations in the museum.  As I read the names on the plaques, it started to sink in that the tragedy that I had witnessed from a 20" TV screen in my eleventh grade class so many years ago. . .was real.  And as I read some of the faceless names, two of them became a little more personal to me--women whose names had written next to theirs "(and her unborn child)". Being five months pregnant myself,  it hit a little close to home and it was hard to keep the tears out of my eyes.

Standing at the base of The World Trade Center, I felt that this building was the very essence of the word "sublime". As the seventh tallest building in the world, it is both awe-inspiring and formidable!

This is a picture of a visual presentation projected onto the wall.
Hundreds of missing people flyers that had been posted around
the scene of the attack. Loved ones desperately hoped for a miracle
to find alive, those who had not yet been found. Seeing the pictures
of people, many of them no older than myself was again, truly sobering.
The most heart-wrenching to me displayed a picture of a young man in a
similar stage of life as my husband and myself--a family man, on all fours,
probably in the living room of his house, playing horsie to his two little girls.
It read "help us find our Dad."

 We were able to view and read about many remnants of the destruction that took place. It was mind-boggling to see things that normally seem so robust, be demolished.

Some of the most impressionable parts of our visit to the museum involved hearing and seeing the experiences of the people who were victims to the tragedy. There were multiple phones that you could pick up to listen to various recordings. Three in particular stood out to me:

1) A voicemail from a man to his wife. It went something like this "Hi honey! I just wanted to let you know, it was just tower one that got hit and I'm in tower two, so I'm just fine. Somebody came over the intercom to tell us that our building is not affected and to just go back to work. So I don't think they'll be letting us off today. I love you!"

As we all know, the second tower was also hit and if you'll remember. . .it collapsed even before the first one. Those people had a chance! But that man along with so many others in that building, lost their lives. So heartbreaking!

2) The phone conversation of a flight attendant on one of the highjacked planes with someone at the control tower. The personnel in the control tower asked her if this was a real highjacking or an exercise. She was calm, composed, and professional and related what was happening on the plane. Two or three men had stabbed people. There was so much chaos and confusion that no one was really clear on who stabbed who. The men had made their way up to the front of the plane. The captain was not responding to calls from the flight crew. That was one of three planes that reached the highjackers' targeted destination. The fourth plane was diverted by courageous crew members and passengers. Those people were heroes by giving their lives while altering the course of the plane that is suspected to have been headed for The White House. There were no survivors from any one of the four planes.

3) Another voicemail from a man to his wife. He said that his building had been hit and that he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to get out. He just repeated the fact that if he didn't make it, he just wanted her to know how much he loved her. I imagine that his wife played that recording over and over again as she did indeed end up losing him.

In addition to these recordings, there were various videos that you could watch that had survivors tell of their experiences. One that stood out to me was simple, yet impactful. The video showed pictures of people waiting to get down the stairs. They were whole, they looked healthy, nothing seemed to be ailing them. Yet some would make it out alive and some would not. And there was little they could do to alter their impending fate.

Attending the 9-11 memorial museum was very impactful for me. As I mentioned, it didn't have the feel of a tourist event, nor should it. It was not a place of leisurely recreation,  it wasn't a place you go to get a good adrenaline rush. It was a sacred, solemn place. It really was a memorial to honor those who lost their lives, to empathize with those who lost their loved ones, and to take pride in the courage, unity, and sacrifice of the American people.

Now, just a warning--I'm going to make an uncouth transition from the heavy yet significant to the light-hearted yet comparably trivial part of our day. If you've read this far, you probably could use an intermission anyway, and it might be a good time to take one to ponder on the magnitude of 9-11 and its impact.

After spending 2.5 to 3 hours in the museum (and we could have spent more because we didn't even see everything) we worked up an appetite again. Robby eagerly suggested we return to The Shake Shack, which we did. Yep, the same restaurant twice in less than 4 hours.

I know it's only two data points, but with our own personal research study, it appears that Shake Shack burgers bring about a cross-eyed condition, at least in Robby. It's a good thing that place isn't out West. Who knows? It might become permanent :)

That evening we went back to Stark's place to pick up our luggage and make our way to our next accomodations in Union City, NJ. When we came in we found this. The chandelier had fallen and the pieces were everywhere. When it happened, Stark and his friend were eating breakfast at the little table right next to where it fell. Yikes! That was a close call!

At Robby's request Stark gave us a private concert--singing  and playing the acoustic guitar and harmonica. It was so fun!

Then we made our way over to Union City. This next place was a nice looking place and was more spacious. This time our hosts were out of town, so we had the place entirely to ourselves. We had been spoiled by Stark, so it was hard to beat the warm welcome he gave us :) After we settled in for a little while and talked to my cousin to get an update on Leila, Heather and Tanner arrived!! It's so great to reunite with family after spending some time apart! They were starving so we walked around the neighborhood and found a little by-the-slice pizza place that was open late. I was still full from our Shake Shack dinner, so I didn't indulge. After hitting the grocery store to get a few things we headed back to the apartment, baked some cookies and called it a night!

NYC Trip-Day 1 (Tuesday)

Tuesday morning Leila's Auntie Jen came over to begin Leila's-fabulous-adventure-of-being-showered-with-attention-by-a-ton-of-people-who-she-loves-and-who-love-her :) Was she sad to see us go? Um. . .no! In fact, she had looked forward to this day with anticipation! We had talked to her for a week about how mommy and daddy were going to New York. We then told her that she would be going to my cousin's house, be taken care of by her Aunt and eventually make her way to Grandma's house where she would stay the last couple of days. After telling her the agenda a few times, she had it down. The conversation went something like this:

"Leila! Where are Mommy and Daddy going?"

"Nort!" (New York)

"Good! And where is Leila going?"

"Teah's house! . . .friends!. . .toys!. . .Grandma's house!"

Then she would randomly tell me throughout the week:

"Mommy go Nort!" (with a very sure-of-herself tone and nod of the head)

"Yep! Mommy's going to New York"

"Daddy go Nort tooooo!?!?!"

"Yep! Daddy's going to New York too!"

"But we'll come back and give you lots of hugs and kisses!!!"

*Disinterested stare*

Here's a sample of what that might look like. . .as if she's saying "mmm hmmm. OK Mom. Does the fun end at that point?"

When we left her with Jen, they came out onto the balcony to wave goodbye. As has been a ritual lately, I yelled up to her "who loves Leila?" to which she confidently replied "Mommy!"

Good! I hope she doesn't forget it :)

We then embarked on our journey, first driving to Nana and Pa's house so that Pa could drive us to the airport and we could leave our car behind. It was nice to start off our trip with hugs from those two!

It was business as usual, flying from Salt Lake to Denver, but then there was a storm warning in Denver and all sorts of airplanes were advised to land at other airports until the storm subsided. This increased our layover by two hours :( But hey! Why complain! I got to spend it with my best friend!

Originally we were planning on arriving at the first apartment at around 11:30pm, but the extended layover pushed that to about 1:30am. We let our host know and he was super nice about it.

We took a taxi out to Chelsea and met Stark! He didn't seem put out at all by our being late. In fact, we were surprised to find out that we weren't even keeping him up! He stayed up and watched a movie and went out on the town at 2am with his friend. He said he does that most nights--stays up until about 4 or 5, then sleeps in until noon. Oh, the exciting night life of a New Yorker!

Left: Robby is standing underneath the loft.
Right: A warm welcome from Stark after a long trip!

Here is our lovely loft bed!

Us and Stark! After spoiling us like he did, the other hosts had big shoes to fill!

Stark was SUPER accommodating! He showed us our room-- with a loft bed, and showed us the little goodies he had gotten for us--little shampoo and conditioner, a chocolate bar, a fruit bowl, a bowl of chips, and a refrigerator full of yummy juices! Free food!? Sold! My mindset is that if you want an extra star when I rate you (whether it be a restaurant, hotel, whatever) you offer me free food! I was one happy  pregnant lady! 

Anyway, we went to bed happy with how our trip had started and excited for the adventure to begin. And we were so tired that if there was any big city noise going on outside, we were too comatose to hear it!

NYC Trip (the intro)

Ever since I was a little girl, I dreamt of visiting New York City! I've always loved big cities, particularly city lights at night and tall sky scrapers. I think this dream was inspired by the many movies I watched as a kid that took place in NYC, or any big city for that matter. I could hardly wait to experience the excitement for myself--lights, broadway, food, crazy traffic, scary people, the whole lot! This May, my dream finally came true! My husband and I, along with my sister-in-law, Heather and her Husband Tanner, spent a week in the big apple!

One of the most exciting elements of our trip was our accommodations. Rather than paying for expensive hotels, we opted to find abodes through airbnb.com. This website allows people who have extra space to rent it out (whether it's one room in their house, an extra apartment, cabin, house boat, tree house, teepee, converted hippy bus etc. (really, those are all on there!) Last year we used this site to find a hostel in Thailand, where we each had our own single beds in a room where there were three additional beds with strangers sleeping in them. It was a great adventure!

This picture (forgive the blurriness) was taken at about 1AM when we arrived at our hostel in Bangkok, Thailand last year. We were shown to our shared room where a snoring stranger lay sleeping on one of the five beds. If you'll notice--there's a beer bottle sitting on his locker (sketchy)! . . .Actually he turned out to be really nice :)

This year, we used airbnb to find 4 different accommodations while we were in NYC. The first was in Chelsea, NY the second in Union City, NJ, the third in New Haven, CT, and the fourth was across the street from the South end of central park (no kidding)! So we stayed in 3 different states on our trip!

Finding sleeping accommodations this way was a fantastic idea for at least a few reasons--first, it allowed us to see how the locals lived, and even meet some of them. Secondly, it meant we had access to a full kitchen everywhere we stayed; and third, it was WAAAY cheaper than a hotel. To give you an idea, our best deal was at the apartment across the street from Central Park. The four of us had a one bedroom apartment plus a sofa bed in the front room for less than $200 night. The JW Marriott just a few doors down offers a similar sized space (1 bedroom plus a sofa bed in the front room) MINUS the kitchen for $899/night! Oh how I love good deals!

Above: This map shows a general idea of where we stayed in NY/NJ.

Below: On one of the days we rented a car and drove to New Haven, CT ( Robby's birthplace). We also stopped by Greenwich, CT (Heather's birthplace) on our way up there (more about that later).

 We got to do/see/eat so much that I think it would be best to break it down into separate blog posts for each day. . .although I admit that's a little optimistic of me--hopefully I'll make time to sit down and write that many blog posts before burning out. But the take-home message is that it was a fantastic trip! It was wonderful to spend so much time with the love of my life and to travel with Heather and Tanner who we don't see often enough!

Mother's Day 2014

This may not have been my first mother's day as a mom, but it was my first "real" mother's day as a mom. You see, last year my husband and I were living it up thousands of miles away from our posterity, in Thailand! So on that particular day I wasn't being much of a mom (at least not in practice).

This is a picture of us last year getting a foot massage at Chatuchak Market in Thailand. . . FYI--Thai massages are the painful (but. . .good) kind of massages, not the relaxing kind :)

In contrast, this year felt like Mother's day in many ways. My daughter, with her almost-two-year-old antics, made it loud and clear during sacrament meeting at church, that I am a mom. When I picked her up from nursery, she proudly handed me a mother's day present--a scribbled "I love you mom" picture.

She thoughtfully personalized the picture by sucking on the edges and crumpling it up a little :)

Normally after church we go straight home and I put Leila down for a nap. But since it was Mother's Day we were planning on going up to my mother-in-law's house, during which time we hoped that the little girl would take her nap. When we left church and approached the car, Leila pointed to the front seat, indicating her desire to play up front. In an effort to kill some time I figured "why not?" So she stood on the front seat while I sat in the back. She thought that was pretty funny!

Hoping to capture her cuteness, I thought of what we could do that would make for an interesting video. Her language abilities seem to be improving exponentially. Every day she is learning one or more words, she uses phrases often and is even starting to speak in broken sentences. Despite these positive indicators, I was still skeptical that she could, or more likely would, say "happy mother's day", but I asked her to say it anyway. She said it wonderfully the very first time! "Happy Mudders Day!" But she whispered it. After I clapped and cheered enthusiastically, her confidence blossomed! She smiled in pride! I asked her to say it again. . .and this was the result:

Oh man!! Of course, I almost died of cuteness overload! Leila just loved the praise I gave her for it, so she just kept saying that sentence over and over (with the word "day" gradually escalating in volume until she was practically yelling it!)

We made it to our destination and Leila was in family heaven. As the only great-grandchild/grandchild/child/niece, she gets copious amounts of attention and she just eats it up!

As always, one of the first orders of business was to play with Auntie "Nat". This time it was coloring with sidewalk chalk. Can you see the discrete little message written in the background?

My sweet little Red Riding Hood with pigtails!

Mothers' Day about marked the half way point in my pregnancy of baby girl #2! What better day to get a baby bump shot?!

And there wouldn't be a Mama's Day without a Papa! (And he's a darned good one too!)

  

Then we got to indulge in a special Mother's Day treat--Hallmark of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It's one of two days a year we get to Skype with our family members who are serving as missionaries! We love you Sister Sarah Parker!


It was a great first "real" Mother's Day! Feeling the love from my little girl, spending time with my wonderful mother-in-law and Nana-in-law, Skyping with my sister-in-law, and talking on the phone with my mom and step-mom. I've sure got a lot of great women in my life!

Gooey Goodness Bars

1. So I've got a rule when it comes to cooking or baking--if you're going to take the time to make food, you might as well make a lot of it! If I'm cooking, I want leftovers so I can be off the hook for cooking for one meal (don't get me wrong, I love cooking but it's nice when you don't always "have" to. And for baking, I want lots (. . . no. Not just so I can gorge myself on a bigger pan of brownies) so I can try a little, make sure my husband has a good-sized portion, and then either have enough to bring to some friends or take with me to a social event. That said, this dessert violates that rule. I generally stay away from recipes that call for a 8/9" pan and gravitate toward recipes that call for a 9x13" pan.
   However, this time I was searching for a recipe to use up my leftover evaporated milk (from making Oatmeal Cookie Cake with Coconut-Pecan Frosting), so I couldn't be too picky. PLUS the vision of chocolate-peanut butter-caramely goodness lured me in. Not to mention, I have a total weakness for layered desserts

Ingredients

• 10oz. caramels, unwrapped (about 34-36)
• 1/3 cup PLUS 1/3 cup evaporated milk, divided
• 1 box (1 lb. 2.25 oz. ) chocolate cake mix
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup- 1 cup mini peanut butter cups (I only used 1/2 cup, but as you can see from the picture, it could use more)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Spray 9- x 9-inch baking pan with cooking spray.
2. Melt caramels in 1/3 cup evaporated milk in medium saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, about 12 minutes; set aside.
3. Microwave Peanut Butter with butter in medium microwave-safe bowl 1 minute or until melted; stir until smooth. Stir in remaining 1/3 cup evaporated milk and cake mix until smooth, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Press 1/2 of the cake mixture into prepared pan. Bake 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven, then spoon on melted caramel mixture. Sprinkle mini peanut butter cups on top of caramel. Flatten pieces of the remaining cake mixture between hands and lie on surface of the caramel layer, the batter does not need to completely cover the caramel. Bake an additional 18 to 23 minutes or until top is set, caramel will still be quite liquidy but will firm up as it cools. Cool on wire rack until room temperature before serving.

Note: I have made recipes similar to this one before and for whatever reason, it never set and it was too gooey (and that's hard to do with a brownie if you ask me), but it was more like brownie batter. If somehow this happens to you, don't dismay! When it's all gooey, this makes an AMAZING ice cream topping--I just put it in a container, stuck it in the fridge, and when I wanted some for ice cream I just microwaved some and poured it on. This lasted a good week without going bad. . .I might have to undercook this on purpose just so I can have a gooey brownie sundae!

(Adapted from: yummly.com--a country crock recipe)

Leila's Favorite Holiday. . .Easter!

Just a couple days before Easter, Leila began to understand the concept of hiding things. She had long become familiar with hiding herself (with peek-a-boo), but hiding other things was a novel idea! It all began when I hid one of her bath toys behind another one and asked her "where is it? Is it hiding?" She looked at me with a sober, yet amazed expression and slowly repeated "hiiiiding!"

After she got out of the Tubby she grabbed her stuffed bunny and threw (yes literally threw) it in her room. Then she ran back to the living room, through her hands in the air, looked around and said "bunny?" She shrugged her shoulders as if to say "I dunno where it is!" Then she said "hiiiiding!" Even though I'm pretty sure she was aware that I had watched her throw the bunny in her room, I followed along. I pretended to look around the apartment for it. When I "found" the bunny I gasped and said "I found the bunny!!!" She laughed excitedly. She liked this new game.

Easter with Grandpa

So when Grandpa hid eggs all around Dean's
beautiful garden, Leila knew exactly what to do!

We celebrated Easter on Saturday this year, so we were out
on a lovely date while Grandpa watched Leila. Meanwhile,
 Leila was  happily searching for hidden eggs to put in her easter basket!

Dean's pet bunnies added to the magic of the occasion as well!

And of course she had to show Grandpa her mad climbing skills!

. . .And Leila loves opening presents! So she enjoyed
the Easter basket Grandpa spoiled her with!

Easter with Nana, Pa, and the Rest of the Clan

As though that wasn't enough fun for one day, we went over to Nana and Pa's house. We had dinner with Nana, Pa, Grandma, Aunt Jenny, Uncle Cal, Nat, Mikey, and Megan! Nana (with Megan's help) put an Easter hunt together for Leila!

Leila couldn't be happier!

She was so proud to show everyone the treasures she discovered.

. . .but there was more to discover than she realized!

With a little help to open the eggs. . .

She found money inside, which she could deposit into either
one of two cute piggy banks that Nana had bought. Whichever
one she liked the best she could keep!

We clapped for her after she put the coins in the piggy
bank--She was pretty pleased with herself!

At some point, Leila must have asked herself, "why look
for Easter eggs when I could look for Easter bunnies?!
I think Leila must have found every bunny Nana had in
the house and congregated them around Grandma.

Leila had a great Easter!

. . .but it's not over yet. . .

Just as we should remember the blessings of Easter every day, not just one Sunday every year, Leila has woke up every day since (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday) and, as usual, announced she was awake. But when Daddy goes to get her, she  says "eggs!" as soon as she sees him. This morning while we lay in bed, we could even hear her yelling the word from her crib. So, like the good Daddy he is, he hides the eggs and they go on an Easter egg hunt again!

The egg thing will probably get old with Leila. But the magic behind a little one discovering things for the first time never gets old!

It's a Girl! (The Sequel)

Finding out the gender of a baby is like Christmas for adults! It's so exciting to find out what you're gonna get. And with this kind of package, you just can't be disappointed with what's inside!

When we were expecting Leila we were sure we were having a boy. Since a boy meant we would be naming him Robert the Fourth, we nicknamed our little fetus "Robertito" (little Robby). We were sure we were having a boy! But we were pleasantly surprised to find out we were expecting a little girl. Though girl or not, just look at her--she's still a little Robby :)

This time, we didn't feel really strongly one way or another. I started out wanting another girl so that Leila would have a little girly friend to play with and bond with. But what I really wanted was a healthy, CALM baby. For soooome reason girl babies don't strike me as being all that calm anymore :) So I started picturing a calm little mini Robby. . .but I really just didn't know! Last time, going in, we would have been surprised to find out it was a girl. This time, we would be surprised to find out it was a boy. . .or a girl! We were just so excited to find out what was in store!

Nervous excitement as we headed into the clinic!

Unveiling the baby bump for the ultrasound tech.

Both this time and last time, part of the surprise was just seeing a picture of a baby come up on the screen. It just doesn't feel real until then--there's really a baby in there!?!?!

Clear as can be--it's another GIRL!!!

After we found out Leila's gender we celebrated by going to Costa Vida! So we kept up the tradition for baby number 2!

As you can tell, Leila is so happy to be getting a little sister! . . .I'm sure it helps that we're feeding her rice too (one of her favorite foods).

"So. . .just to make sure. . . this doesn't change the fact that I'm the cutest little girl in your lives, right Mommy and Daddy?!

Leila decided to celebrate later that day by making a play-doh®  cake, decorated with a bobby pin, some coins, and an attachment to our hand mixer :)

That night we got to share the news (via Google hangout) with my Mom, Nancy; Robby's Mom, Heidi; my brother, Logan; and Robby's sisters, Heather (with Tanner), Natalie (with Mikey), and Megan. Meanwhile, Nana and Pa listened in on the phone. Jen and Matt were in France, our Sister Missionary Sarah was in North Carolina, and neither of our Dad's were able to make it to the hangout, so we called them and told them the good news ahead of time! It was great to share the occasion with everyone!

We're so thrilled to be having another little princess!