On Sunday, we went to church and had a relaxing evening at home. We went on a little walk around the neighborhood and had fun playing with Eva.

Monday, we headed over to Hoboken for a little morning exercise. The line at Carlo’s Bake Shop was long like usual (I can’t wait until the tourist season is over so I can walk in like I did early this summer without a wait), so Hannah just got a picture in front instead. With all the eating out and bakeries we went to while she was here, it was probably a good thing the line was so long!

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My favorite place in Hoboken are the piers that go out over the Hudson so you can overlook the city. Such incredible views and it’s always breezy from the river.

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We then mapped out a couple must-sees on Hannah’s list and spent Monday evening in the city. We started off at Mood, a huge fabric store in NYC where they do a lot of filming from Project Runway. I’ve only seen an episode or two, but it is one of Hannah’s favorite shows so she was in heaven. Scranton would be my Mood.

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The dog above is in the show a lot, I hear. So, that was the celebrity Hannah saw while she was in NYC.

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So many buttons! One day I will own a sewing machine. And when I do, I will go back to this place and go crazy! Oh, one last thing about going to Mood. You have to take an elevator to get to the store and it’s from the olden days! There was an elevator man and everything, opening and closing the big metal doors. It made me so nervous feeling him stop the elevator manually. Yikes.

Next stop… Bryant Park. It’s no secret that this is one of my favorite places in the city. It’s just so charming. Eva and Hannah rode the carrousel together and then we read some books in their kid corner.

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Nice face, Eva.

Right next to Bryant Park is the NYC Public Library. One day I will have to go inside, but I don’t want to take Eva and worry about her making noise. I wish I could say I’d like to go in for all the books but let’s be honest. It’s really because I’m a huge Ghostbusters fan.

DSC01309DSC01311A couple blocks east of the library is Grand Station Terminal. Wow. Just wow. I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to see this place. But what an amazing building. The architecture. The ceiling. Just it’s overall grandness. It’s beautiful and the hustle & bustle of the place is so exciting. We met T.J. for dinner there and had dessert at Magnolia’s. Their banana pudding changed my life.

At this point, T.J. took Eva home and Hannah and I walked through Times Square to end our night at the movies. We saw World War Z at a huge AMC right off of Times Square in a building that was once an opera house. I’m a little disappointed we didn’t get to see a musical together, but it was too hard planning it out with Eva. So, seeing an awesome movie in such a neat building made up for it!

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As I mentioned earlier, Hannah-my roommate from college, came to town to visit and to see NYC. We saw a lot while she was here, so I’m going to divide it up into different posts.

First, Saturday. We took the Path to 9th street and had a picnic in Washington Square Park. See those red brick apartments in the back? Have you ever seen I Am Legend with Will Smith? If yes, then they should look awfully familiar!

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I had never been to this park before but I have added it to my “favs” list. There are street musicians and dancers, lots of interesting (crazy) people (we saw a man covered in pigeons and another man who had a pigeon as a pet), and it’s right next to NYU’s campus.

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We made our way through the stores in Soho, walked into one shop and realized I have no idea what fashion is anymore, and walked right out. There are so many stores filled with clothes that look like they’re from the 90s. TOO SOON! Am I right?

We briefly walked through Chinatown – just long enough for Hannah to see gross chickens hanging in a storefront. We then went over to Little Italy so we could devour some legit cannolis. “Best in the city,” they say, and I sure believe them! So good.

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At this point, Eva was in need of a nap. So, T.J. took her home (he was such a good sport during Hannah’s visit… he took Eva so much so we could go out and have fun!) and we took a train to the World Trade Center to see the memorial. We reserved our tickets right on our phone, so we didn’t have to wait in much of a line at all or wait to get in. So, word to the wise… if you visit NYC and want to see the WTC memorial, get your tickets online instead of waiting in line. And don’t bring much with you because you go through security. It was so nice not having to bring Eva and the stroller through security.

This was probably my favorite thing we did during Hannah’s visit because I hadn’t seen it yet. The memorial was beautiful and felt like a sacred place. It’s sometimes hard to think of what happened on 9/11 and to be in the exact place where it happened, it’s unbelievable.

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After the memorial, we had dinner at the Shake Shack, and then walked on the Hudson, through Greenwich Village (one of my most favorite areas of Manhattan… such beautiful tree-lined streets, cobblestone, and brownstones), and ended the night at the high-line.

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Eva turned 20 months on August 8. Time is flying by and Eva will be 2 before we know it! Not much has changed since last month. But I wanted to document this month just like all the others. She is my little drama queen who’s turning into a jokester. We are always laughing around her because Eva is starting to realize she is a funny little girl.

Eva’s vocabulary grows every day. My favorite thing she says is button. Except she calls them “butts.” So, we get in an elevator and she’ll say over and over, “Butt butt butt butt!”

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Likes: BABIES and Baby Dolls, play dough, reading, Mickey, going on walks, slides, pushing her stroller around, gold fish and fruit snacks, balls, trains (choo choos), cottage cheese, playing ghost, bath time, rubbing my back, sleeping in.

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Dislikes: sitting on the potty… guess we’ll try again next month, going out to eat, sharing her mom, the sun visor on her stroller.

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We love you Eva Kay! You are such a sweetie and will always be our darling baby girl!

Nineteen Months
Eighteen Months
Seventeen Months
Sixteen Months
Fifteen Months
Fourteen Months
Thirteen Months
Twelve Months
Eleven Months
Ten Months
Nine Months
Eight Months
Seven Months
Six Months
Five Months
Four Months
Three Months
Two Months
One Month
Two Weeks
One Week

Yesterday I watched the episode of The Office where Michael proposes to Holly. I have seen that episode dozens of times, but I always cry when everyone in the office is lined up with candles. Then I got this brilliant idea to look up marriage proposals on Youtube. After watching a couple of those (and crying my eyes out because they were so cute), I thought… hey, why not cry some more and watch surprise soldier homecomings. They were amazing. I could watch those videos forever.

Here are my favorites:


This one is kind of long, so skip the boring parts. But seeing her face when she figures out the trailer is for her is priceless.


I’m a sucker for flashmob even if they were sooooo 2010. When all of her friends and family come out near the end, that’s when the tears really start flowing.


Alright, is there anything sweeter than this? So cute.


The whole family was surprised, how amazing!


And for the grand finale… A montage of homecoming clips at Christmas. Doesn’t get much better than that. The first clip of the little girl is my favorite.

  • Pretty Little Liars. I just caught up on this show completely. I never thought I’d watch this show because the commercials are always so crazy on ABC Fam. But I have to admit, it is one of my all time favorite shows now.
  • This weather. We have had a whole week of weather in the 70s-80s. Incredible.
  • Clearance sale at Baby Gap. For the past month, I’ve shopped the clearance rack  at Baby Gap little by little. The summer tanks/shirts were $2.79 each today! I bought several for the next couple summers.
  • Baking. I can’t stop baking this week. But don’t worry Mom, they’ve been healthy recipes. Applesauce for the oil, whole wheat and oats, mashed bananas to sweeten. Lots of substitutes going on over here.
  • These high top wedge sneakers. Am I nuts? I’ve wanted wedge sneakers for more than a year now.
  • Instagram letting you use old videos! So, I put this little number on IG last night:

We actually had quite a fun weekend and made the most of our time. On Friday, I met T.J. at Bryant Park and we split a Chipotle burrito. It was such a nice night out, so we just enjoyed the weather, and ran around the park with Eva. We even took her on the carousel-which she loved so much, she cried when it was over. To end the night, since we were close, we just walked through Times Square and got an ice-cream from Mr. Softee. It was crazy busy, but Eva loved the lights and all the creepy characters. One Spiderman TOUCHED HER FACE. I freaked out and about slapped his hand away. Those guys aren’t like the characters at Disneyland.

On Saturday, we went to our church’s BBQ at the Liberty State Park here in Jersey City. It was right on the river across from the Statue of Liberty. The views were incredible (I’ve never been that close to the statue) and we made some new friends.

Sunday, we went to church and then had a few friends of mine from my hometown over for dinner. I hadn’t seen two of them since graduation, so it was so fun catching up and seeing what they’ve been up to. We ended the weekend (and started the week) by watching Shark Week to the wee hours of the night!

Great Weekend in our book! This upcoming weekend will be just as good because Hannah is coming to visit me! #btoml am I right?

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    • Sometimes as a mom, I catch myself comparing myself to other moms. I hate it. I need to do the best I can do and feel good about it.
    • We have had great weather here these past couple of days. 75 and a breeze.
    • I had a Panera’s Cinnamon Crunch Bagel this morning. I haven’t had one of those for years. So delicious. Who cares if it was in the middle of a workout-walk? Not me. Treat yo’self.
    • If you are someone who calls me regularly, I changed your photo to a picture of someone from the office. So now I need you guys to actually call me so I can have a good laugh when I get a call!
    • How about the Bachelorette last night? (***Spoiler alert***)I literally had NO idea that would happen, but surprisingly, I am happy about it. Chris seems like a real person. Not there to become a celeb. But Juan Pablo as the next Bachelor? Not thrilled about that. I guess they chose him because he’s a looker. But he was so boring on the screen! I think they should have brought in someone new or used Arie from last year.
    • Eva learned the word “mine” this week. So, that’s fun.
    • How is it already August?
    • Have you watched this Mumford & Sons video yet…

 

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40% off of clearance prices at Baby Gap. Loaded up on baby gifts.

Eva loves dressing herself. Well, she picks out the clothes and insists I put them on her.

First time out in the city without Eva. I saw a movie and got gelato at Eatily with a girlfriend.

Hamilton Park is the best!

An afternoon in the city. My friend and I walked around Central Park, saw the temple, and walked past Barbara Walters eating Lunch.

This is how Eva eats Hummus.

Primary Activity with Diva Eva

Our new TV!

Cute!

Night Night!

Eva’s room is coming along!

Two summers ago, I went with a friend to a Bachelorette finale party. Those girls turned into my closest friends as we bonded  the next two years over a cheesy television show each week and gossiped about our favorite contestants. On Sunday nights I would be so sad about the weekend being over but then quickly remembered Monday was Bachelor/Bachelorette night (after FHE, of course) and that I’d get to see my girlfriends the next day!

As soon as we moved out here, the new season started and I was so sad about leaving the Bachelorette club. Every monday, we text about missing each other because, let’s face it, watching the show with my husband is not as fun (but to be fair, when I told him to make comments that my girlfriends would make, it’s been pretty funny and he’s actually gotten into the show).

Well, this past Monday’s episode was supposed to be epic. It was part 1 of the finale-which they never break up the finale! So, I knew I had to get together with a bunch of girls to watch the episode. I invited a couple girls in my ward, one of them reserved the theater in her apartment building, and it started again… a new Bachelorette club! I miss my Provo girls but I am so happy (as dumb as all of this sounds) to have a group again to watch the show! Hope they’re as excited as me for the finale next week!

And for those of you who have watched this season (even though it’s been pretty lame), let’s cross our fingers Brooks comes back next week and they tell us Drew will be the next Bachelor!

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