,

Bryant Park + NYC Library

On April Fools Day, these ladies and I took our kids into the city for a picnic lunch at Bryant Park. The plan was to let them run around the lawn, but unfortunately it wasn’t open yet for the season. But Eva and Grayson still had fun chasing each other around the pavement, and riding the carousel. Before we left, Eva crossed the rope and ran as fast as she could across the lawn. I tried to get her to come back to me, but she just kept running. So, there I went. Chasing my child around the lawn while all of Bryant Park watched. It was so embarrassing. As if we weren’t enough of a spectacle enough as young moms in the city with all our kids. But we all had a good laugh.

Screen Shot 2014-04-01 at 6.12.31 PM

Afterwards, we went to the children’s exhibit at the library. You should click here to read about the exhibit because it was SO interesting and beautiful!

The ABC of It is an examination of why children’s books are important: what and how they teach children, and what they reveal about the societies that produced them. Through a dynamic array of objects and activities, the exhibition celebrates the extraordinary richness, artistry, and diversity of children’s literature across cultures and time.

Screen Shot 2014-04-01 at 6.12.48 PM Screen Shot 2014-04-01 at 6.12.42 PM Screen Shot 2014-04-01 at 6.12.37 PMTo end the afternoon, we braved a long line at Magnolia’s to get some banana pudding and cupcakes. Yum! It was our first afternoon out in the city together since October, so it got us VERY excited for the warm weather and SUMMER! Woo too!

/0 Comments/by
, ,

A Quarter of a Century with The Piano Guys

Growing up, my Birthday was always a HUGE deal. Well, to me it was, I mean. My parents also always made sure we had a fun day. Either we had a birthday party with friends, or went somewhere special as a family.

Fast forward to about three years ago when I was graduating from BYU, having a birthday, and realized a birthday just marked another year that blew by and I’m officially getting old. In the scheme of things, I’m still so young, I know! But if there’s one thing I know for certain is that the days can be long, but the years are SO SHORT! I wrote the date, “2004” on a check a month ago, for goodness sake! I’m not a freshman in high school anymore… I’m a mom in New Jersey!

Anyway, that was a meaningless rant. This year for my birthday, I hadn’t planned anything special or made any requests for the day, but then I came across the concert schedule for The Piano Guys and saw they were in NYC on my actual birthday. Well, T.J. bought us tickets (I thought they were sold out so that was a fun surprise) and we made a fun night out of it by having dinner next door at The Brooklyn Diner.

The Piano Guys were absolutely INCREDIBLE. I’ve always been a fan of theirs on YouTube, but seeing them in perfect was so fun! The music was beautiful, I cried about a dozen times out of excitement, and laughed at all of their corny Mormon jokes. It was fun to have a bit of the Mormon culture out here for a night!

Screen Shot 2014-04-01 at 6.11.56 PM Screen Shot 2014-04-01 at 6.11.49 PM

So many friends and family wished me a Happy Birthday and sent fun packages/gifts. I really appreciate it, you all. I love you guys so much!

Here’s a sweet video from the Piano Guys:

 

/1 Comment/by

A Saturday in Central Park

The first week of March, we had a beautiful day so we went to Central Park and played for a couple of hours. It was so fun to run around the park with Eva and T.J. We also did the carousel there. We were trying to round up cash for a ticket, but didn’t think we had enough so I said, “Sorry Eva, we don’t have enough money to go today.” And then, Eva pulled out a couple of quarters from her pocket and said, “But I have coins!” It was such a surprise, and of course 100% adorable/hilarious! Finally that girl helped to chip in for this expensive NYC life… hah!

Screen Shot 2014-04-01 at 6.09.47 PM Screen Shot 2014-04-01 at 6.09.53 PM

/1 Comment/by

SoHo Stroll

A couple weeks ago, we had a warm Saturday and ventured into the city as a family. We walked through Washington Square Park and then explored a couple streets and stores of SoHo.

It’s always stressful for me trying to find a place to eat in the city with Eva because of her stroller. If a place is busy, there’s no place to put the stroller and people sometimes seem annoyed when you bring a toddler into a restaurant (depending on the place). But we found a little place called Galli on Mercer Street. There was no one in there, I guess we came before the lunch rush. And the food was really tasty!

Screen Shot 2014-03-11 at 5.36.07 PMScreen Shot 2014-03-11 at 5.36.57 PMScreen Shot 2014-03-11 at 5.36.48 PM

We promised Eva we would take her to the park and swing, so on the way home we stopped at the Hoboken stop and walked over to the Newport Greene, only to find it was already closed for the day. Who closes a park at 5 pm? Maybe it was because snow still covered the whole place. But it sure was a disappointment and we had to tell Eva the swings were broken because nothing else would ease her sadness. White lies are okay, right? At lease the view from the park made it all worth it! Look how blue the sky was that day! Eek… I can’t wait for summer!

/1 Comment/by

Come on Spring!

Last week, we had a day or two of warmer weather and I had to get out and take advantage of the partly-sunny/non-snowy day! I didn’t want to spend much money and goodness knows it costs an arm and a leg for most things in NYC, so we opted for an exploration/park day instead. Eva loved not having the rain/wind cover over the stroller because we could talk and look at everything around us on the walk. I’m so happy that she does much better in the stroller now. She still has times where she wants to get out and run, but that’s okay… she’s a toddler and needs to get exercise anyway!

We went on a long walk down through Wall Street and to the very southern tip of Manhattan, then up and along the path along the Hudson river. We ended up at a park, still covered in snow, but the swings and slides were still fun for Eva!

To end the mommy-daughter date, we had lunch at a French bakery and treated ourself to some macarons… my favorite!

It was such nice and simple day in the city that it made me so excited for the warmer weather when we can do this all the time! I can’t believe we’ve already made it through (almost) February! The worst is over!

Screen Shot 2014-02-21 at 5.19.30 PM

/1 Comment/by

A Saturday in the City

 

Last week I was so sick of being stuck in the apartment so T.J. and I took Eva into the city for lunch and for a museum visit. It was still pretty snowy outside, but it was so neat to see the city in snow!

Screen Shot 2014-02-16 at 7.02.39 PM Screen Shot 2014-02-16 at 7.02.31 PMOf course, you can’t go to the Natural History Museum without visiting Shake Shack next door.

 

/0 Comments/by
,

Date Night at Chelsea Market

Last weekend, I did a little babysitting swap with my friend so T.J. and I could go out on a date and then she and her husband could have a night out as well. It worked out really well and so hopefully we can keep it up in the future! Free babysitting and a night out? The best.

The funny thing about NYC is that sometimes I get this mentality of Go Big or Go Home. I feel like when we have outings with Eva we really have to take advantage of the city and all it has to offer or we might as well just be back at home. But there’s SO much to do and so many places to eat that oftentimes I get overwhelmed! I want to try new things and restaurants, but spending money on a place I’m unsure about it always tricky. We also are on a budget, so even though we would love to go see a show every date night, it’s unrealistic for us right now.

So, after stressing out about where to eat and trying to find something awesome to do in the city, we decided to just keep it simple and go to my favorite taco place at Chelsea Market (to be fair, I haven’t tried too many other taco places in the city, but this one is really delicious!). After dinner, we walked around the market, got some treats, star-searched (last time we were there, Blake Lively was in front of me in line), and rummaged through a little sample store where T.J. let me buy a new button-up.

In the end, it was just good to go out and be a couple again. Being a mom is amazing but sometimes I forget I’m first and foremost a wife. It was nice to be with my hubby for some uninterrupted time!

Screen Shot 2014-02-04 at 4.35.54 PM Screen Shot 2014-02-04 at 4.36.03 PM

/0 Comments/by
,

Macy’s Santaland

Santaland at Macy’s was so neat! There wasn’t much of a line since we went late on a weekday, so we got to enjoy all the setup but didn’t have to deal with a crowd!

The best part was that they have probably 10-20 rooms at the end of line (which is all decorated and adorable) that all have Santas in them. It makes the line go much faster, but the kids can’t see that there is more than one Santa there! It was such a cool idea, and fun to be in a room with Santa by ourselves!

Santa asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I felt like Ralphie in the Christmas Story, when Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas and, tongue-tied he said he wanted a football. I was put on the spot and didn’t know what to say, so I said a car. Gotta dream big, right?

A football! Wake up, stupid!

Screen Shot 2013-12-12 at 6.11.56 PM Screen Shot 2013-12-12 at 6.12.03 PM Screen Shot 2013-12-12 at 6.19.19 PM Screen Shot 2013-12-12 at 6.19.29 PM Screen Shot 2013-12-12 at 6.19.40 PM

/0 Comments/by

J&J Christmas Party

T.J.’s work party was last Wednesday and he really wanted Eva and I to come. Since we hadn’t been to his work since his internship, I thought it would be a good chance to meet some of his coworkers and his bosses. But guys, he works on 12th avenue. That’s like as far west as you can get in NYC. The train stops at 6th avenue, and it’s a pain to take busses. I thought about taking a cab, but Eva was warm and doing well in her stroller. So, I made the long trek over to his office in the cold! It was good exercise, at least. After such a long walk, I was so excited to get to the party and have some fun!

But as I was getting closer to his office, T.J. called me to say that the party wasn’t exactly how he imagined it. We were expecting sugar cookies, casual conversation, and games. Sort of like his happy hours at work each Friday. But it was swanky! Loud music, dark room, fancy outfits, lots of little fancy appetizers (that actually were really good), and no children. They invited families, but in NYC usually a family consists of just two people. So, we stuck out when Eva and I walked in the room. People literally were pointing at us. But not in a bad way, they just never see children and were amazed to see a toddler at their party. Their lifestyles are so different than ours! I felt like I was wearing a big sign around my neck saying, “Hi, we’re the Mormons from Utah!” when Eva was on my hip and I was holding a diet coke. I really didn’t care, but it was funny to feel so out of the norm.

Screen Shot 2013-12-12 at 6.11.48 PM

I was imagining the party to be sort of like this:

the-office-classy-christmas-01 the-office off_top_dwight-xmas_01 Office-Christmas-the-office-14784422-500-284

But it turned out to be more like this:

office-party1154234_1229359023555_fullthe-office-classy-christmas-09

After mingling for a little bit, we decided to get out of there and visit Santaland instead. Santaland beats any work party, any day!

 

/1 Comment/by
,

A Day with the Rental Car

After DC, we didn’t have to return the car until the following evening since they were closed on Sunday. I took advantage of having the car by taking my friend to get drinks at Sonic, something I used to do all the time back in Provo. I just love Sonic Happy Hour! We then thought it would be fun to go to Trader Joe’s, which was about 15 minutes away in NJ.

We started to follow the directions and all of a sudden realized we were heading towards the Lincoln tunnel, which takes you into the city and costs a hefty toll of $13! We kept thinking, “Oh I’m sure it will have us exit before the tunnel!” But no, there were no turnoffs and no way to escape. We were going into the city and it was felt like a nightmare! No, it felt like we had just gotten on a roller coaster, were going up the hill and decided we didn’t want to go on it anymore! But there was nothing we could do. We had to finish the ride. We had to go into Manhattan.

Once we were over there, we decided to make the $13 worth it. We found a T.J.’s near by on the Upper West Side, and actually found street parking fairly easily. All in all, it was okay and I did fine driving (just don’t ask Ashley about the details of my driving). But it was a fun adventure!

Screen Shot 2013-12-12 at 4.54.21 PM Screen Shot 2013-12-12 at 4.54.14 PM

Sidenote: Eva did not nap AT ALL on our drive to or from DC. 6 hours there, 9 hours back. Nothing. But not even one hour in the car coming home from NYC and she felt asleep and took a long nap! I had to sit in the parking garage for a while so she could get a good snooze in!

 

/0 Comments/by