NYC Girls Trip

Is that me on the Brooklyn Bridge in NYC? YES! Can I tell you about an amazing weekend I had earlier this month? Let me first begin by telling you that I have amazing women in my life. For some reason I have been blessed with really good friends and family. A group of us (10 in total) took a weekend and took NYC by storm. We arrived in NY at like 5:30 AM on Friday! We went to the Today Show and stood outside hoping with all our high hopes to get caught on camera, but because of the earthquake in Japan they didn't come outside the studio. Never mind, we still had fun. AND we can say we went to the Today show. I saw Al thru the window!
This beautiful gal is my sister-in-law Trisha who joined us on the trip. She is really an awesome and fun girl to be with. I was so glad that she came with and by the end of it she swore she didn't think any of us were crazy.
We took a subway to Brooklyn and walked the Brooklyn bridge. Then strolled ourselves over to Little Italy for some amazing lasagna and were harassed in China town.

Of course we went to a BROADWAY show on Friday night! We went to the Broadway Musical, Memphis. Really, really good.
Saturday Morning went to visit Lady Liberty. Let me tell you, she is stunning!

Looking back at NYC from the Island. Can see the Brooklyn bridge in the far distance. You see how long that is? Yes, I walked across the entire thing! I know, it's awesome.
Ellis Island. It was amazing. I love, love, love looking at pictures. In the upper part of the building you can go through room to room seeing the process and actual pictures of what the new immigrants went through. It was interesting.
Inside Ellis Island.
Ellis Island gift shop.
Okay, so this place was incredible, we went there Sat. night after I bought 2 super super super cute purses, ring, and ear rings in China town. It's called "The Stardust Diner." When you go to NY you must go there. The food is yummy, but the service and entertainment is EXCELLENT. The servers are all aspiring Broadway stars. They sing and dance on the tables and through the entire restraunt. It was so neat!
Ordering our food at the Stardust Diner.
As we were getting ready to leave Sunday morning a limo driver asked if we needed a ride. Yes, yes we did. For $35 bucks we rode in style to our bus stop. That's right, we took a limo to the bus stop! It was my first time ever in a limo, and let me tell you, a girl could get use to that!
All in all, it was amazing. I can't wait to go back! Next year? Whose with me?

So for Christmas last year (yes, 2010)...

So for Christmas last year (yes, like 3 or so months ago) I decided that I was going to hand make all of the gifts that I gave to my family members. I know what you are thinking, I bet you learned your lesson. Nope. I enjoyed it. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I am already planning in my mind what I am going to do THIS year.

For my mama, mama-in-law, sister, sister-in-laws, sister-in-laws friend, and nieces I made these super cute slippers. I don't do many things that I think turn out. But these did. I was happy with the final result. What do you think?



I found out how to make them and printed the FREE pattern on Prudent Baby (my new favorite) blog. Here is the tutorial on it: http://www.prudentbaby.com/2010/10/how-to-make-fabric-slippers-with-free.html

For my sweet nephews I made these adorable, and so SEW easy little boy ties. Here is the website that is on the FREE pattern that I printed off. It's www.purlsoho.com I am going to be honest here. I wanted to link you to the actual tutorial that I used but I can't find it anywhere. I originally googled "little boy tie patterns" and that is how I found the above mentioned site. Here are two pics a tie that I made for Marshall. I have made about 20 since then. Here we are getting ready to go to church.


Isn't he cute...waiting so patiently for us to get out the door.

For my brothers, brother-in-law, Dad, and Dad-in-law I struggled. What do you make for guys that they will actually use? So I opted for the fleece with the cut and tied blanket. No pictures cause they just weren't that cool.
As I mentioned before, my mind is already at work with new ideas for Christmas. Any suggestions?

A Trip out West

Holy cow! It's been so long since I have posted anything I almost forgot HOW TO POST!
Sooooo since my last post, stuff has happened, Halloween happened, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, then New Years and Valentines and a bunch of other stuff happened. We had fun doing all that stuff and I took pictures. So I am not going to try to play catchup cause it's too daunting and makes me hate blogging. So I am just going to post a trip Marshall and I enjoyed together.
In January Marshall and I flew out to Utah to for a two week visit! It had almost been TWO YEARS since I had gone back to Utah for a visit. I know, I know, I am ashamed of myself for allowing so much time to have passed. Marsh and I were so excited to visit with family and friends.There is something you should know about my little boy Marshall. He LOVES all animals. Animals sometimes love him. He fell instantly in love with my sister's pets during our visit. Cotton, the friendly feline in the above and below pictures, put up with a lot of LOVE from Marshall.
Marshall LOVED being with his cousin's Ela May and Luke. He had a great time playing imagination, dancing, singing duets on the guitar with Ela and Luke accompanying with the bell and wrestling! I haven't laughed that much in months! The three of them together were a riot! Watching them interact and play reminded me a lot of my childhood with my siblings. Uncle Dave let us come and visit him at Timpview High School and watch the high schoolers wrestle and then Marshall got to join in the fun as well! It was awesome!

Marshall got a "Utah hair" cut at Cookie Cutters in American Fork. It's this awesome little hair cuttery that is just for children. Marshall loved sitting in his own airplane and watched, "The Incredibles" all while getting his hair cut!
I think one of my favorite parts of my trip was spending time with my little sister. She is a really neat person, with such a kind heart. Most people don't know how amazing she is. I am glad that I got to spend some quality time with her.
We had such a great visit with my parents. Marshall absolutely adores his grandparents. He especially loves his grandpa's stories.

We took a day and drove down to visit my Grandma Nielson in St. George. Marshall had met her once before when he was just a year old. As you can imagine he has changed quite a bit. We were able to visit with my Uncle Carl and Aunt Joanne, and Aunt Paula. It was so good to see them all. It had been so long. Grandma Nielson had been so ill with cancer. She passed away about two weeks after I returned. I wasn't able to go back out for the funeral. I was am so very grateful that I was able to see her and say goodbye to her while I was there. She was a wonderful grandmother and I am so grateful for her life.
My dad with his mother.
We also were able to visit Uncle Greg (Mitch's brother) and Aunt Katherine in Provo. We had lunch at Brick Oven and then we stopped by this place called "The Sweet Tooth Fairy" for some cupcakes. Oh my gosh! They were delicious! I have never tasted a cupcake so good before in my life. I ended up buying half a dozen to take home and share with my sis and parents. They were that good! Katherine and Greg let us hang out at their apartment for the afternoon. It was great to see them! We just think they are great!
I had a roommate reunion with two of the greatest girls in the whole wide world. I have to tell you that the two girls below are some of the worlds best kept secrets! I love them! They were my roommates at BYU-Idaho. I think nothing but the very best of them. L to R Katy W. (I know, she is radiant with her pregnancy glow), me (I know what you are thinking - gosh Anna, you picked the ugliest picture of yourself to post with your roommates, well friends, this IS the best picture of me from that night) and Kristen G.
Kristen gave birth to her beautiful baby girl, 45 minutes before this picture was taken. Okay not really but like 4 days earlier. Who looks this good after just having a baby? No one, except Kristen.