New York Trip #1

I decided that since I changed our main picture to a picture from New York I should probably blog about it. I have officially finished my online class and my mom and I packed the entire apartment yesterday so I decided I can take a little break to blog. I'll begin with the first trip to New York (which was June 16th...) and blog about my 4th of July trip after. 

This first trip was exciting because it was my first time ever going to New York! If you want some advice, don't fly into New York at midnight if you've never been and take a shuttle bus to an apartment you have no idea where it is...just saying. It was a little shocking to say the least. When I flew into La Guardia I swore we were going to land in the Hudson! Wes made fun of me, but if you ever fly into that airport, you'll understand what I mean. I then struggled to find the shuttle place but eventually made it. Unfortunately, the driver decided not to go straight across into Manhattan and drop me off first but he he decided to go clear down to the southern part of Manhattan and drive through every part of it before dropping me off last at around 1:30 am...I wasn't very happy about that decision when Wes explained his apartment is practically just across the bridge from La Guardia! Like I said, it was quiet the first impression. 

But everything after that, and by that I mean once I reached Wes, was perfect. 

The next day we started our sight seeing at Times Square. Wes showed me his office building and I walked down the street in awe of the craziness. I actually really like Times Square. I love the bustle and entertainment of it. 

We rushed through Times Square to make it to the ferry for the Statue of Liberty! It was seriously beautiful.  I could spend an entire day on Ellis Island just reading everything they have there. We probably would've if I hadn't got so hungry and drained. Wes just let me get overly excited and read everything I wanted to. I'm like my mom in the fact that I just want to know everything museums offer me! Here are some pictures. 

This picture was taken completely level. I was SO nervous the boat was going to tip over!

This is the main room in Ellis Island where so many people passed through to come to America. 

Can you tell that we were getting super tired by then? And very very very hungry. 

After Ellis Island we planned to head straight to lunch but got really distracted when we walked into the filming of Men in Black 3! Needless to say, it took us a lot longer till we made it to lunch. Here are some pictures of our distractions. 

Tommy Lee Jones just relaxing. 

If you look closely, that is Will Smith. He waved at me! 

This was down at the financial district and was so gross...

Ground Zero (Wes is an amazing husband and already got us tickets for the opening of it in September!) 

We FINALLY got food after waiting probably an extra 30-45 minutes in line for the famous Shake Shack. I know it is supposed to be a shack but....they should make it bigger. It was really good though. 

On our way home we decided that we'd stop at Times Square again and walk up to Columbus Station (I might be remembering that name wrong). We got very very distracted in Toys R Us....here are some more pictures! 

Coolest box of Nerds ever! 

I wish I knew children in New York so I could have an excuse to ride the Toys R Us ferris wheel! And yes that is IN the store. 

So one time I had this dream that Wes died and came back as Thor...so I made him take this picture. I can totally see the resemblance. 

For Sunday we went to Central Park. It is seriously so beautiful and I love that you truly can't hear the city noise once you get like 2 feet into the park! We saw some of the funniest things. Again...here are some pictures! 

This was a huge group of roller skaters just having the time of their lives. My favorite was the older man in all red spandex who spent most of his time changing his cassette player in his fanny pack. 

Wes enjoyed this man who kept trying to balance all 3 water bottles on his head. 

My personal favorite, the turtle pond! Especially as we watched this little turtle eat the moss off the massive turtle. It was hilarious. 

Sadly this trip was only two days, but I had a blast and am so excited to eventually move their with Wes. I was mainly happy to just be with him again, but it was also fun to see New York. Wes has just fallen in love with the city and I loved being there with him in the city he loves so much. Hopefully I'll post my second trip here soon!

A short trip to Oregon

My summer has mainly consisted of living in the library, but I was able to get out of Prove for two weekends. I originally wanted to blog about my Oregon trip on my way to New York (I got to visit Wes finally!!!!), but sadly no airport I was in had internet. I felt like I was in Italy again. I'll begin with my trip to Oregon and then New York.

My really good friend from lacrosse was getting married in Salem so my roommate (not Wes), another teammate, and actually my  brother Andrew decided to go home for the wedding. Alisha and her adorable family also decided to go home so we could all see each other before I move to New York. It was a fun packed two days before I had to make it back to Provo for finals. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Saturday morning we got to go to the Rose Festival! I realized I hadn't been in years. I was so much fun and these kids are just the cutest!! (I'm not using their names anymore. It is a newer thing. Parents don't use their children's names on blogs, so I'll do the same for my nieces and nephews)

Each kid (Coops sister's kids were there too) got 4 rides. They could choose any 4 that they wanted to do. I think I might be to blame for having the kids go on the roller-coaster. I was trying to make J and M realize that rides aren't really scary. It turned out to be a great thing for everyone...minus M. 

Can you see her holding on for her life? I don't think she moved the whole ride. 

J had a blast though! 

M originally had all her 4 rides planned out, but after the roller-coaster she kind of was anti rides and demanded she go on this one...a little lame but it did help her regain some confidence.

Both girls knew right away that they did want to do go on the Carousel. But who wouldn't? It was adorable because they'd wave like they were princesses every time around. 

Poor Buddy, this is what happens when you have two older sisters. But I still think he is adorable and he was such a trooper. 

This was the ride Andrew chose. 

And he won! 

For the last ride, I took all the kids on the Ferris Wheel. From the very beginning this was J's number one ride she wanted to go on. She is really getting braver! 

That is us. Can't you tell? I'm pretty sure this is when one of the girls said, "is that a spider?" I was afraid all of the children were going to jump out. 

M came home with us. She literally was jumping up and down all day practically shaking with excitement. She keep yelling, "this is the most exciting day ever!!"

This is my aunt Patti and uncle Jim's dog. He is HUGE! Which still might be an understatement. 

Isn't Buddy just adorable?

I love this! I love how they are just starring at each other. 

After the exhausting, but super fun time at the Rose festival, I booked it down to Salem for Taylre's beautiful wedding. Sadly I didn't take any pictures but here is one. 

We clean up nicely for lacrosse girls! :) 

Sadly, I had to go back to Provo. But once I was back it meant all I had to do was survive finals and then I was off to New York!!!! 

You might be asking what is Wes up to? He is LOVING New York. He has fully jumped into city mode and is just having a blast. He really loves his job. And the best part about this summer is he has a great apartment with AC! After being in New York for only a weekend....I can't imagine trying to survive New York's summer without AC. He is amazing. I'm so proud of him! I have a ton of pictures from last weekend, but I really should do some homework. I'll post about New York a little bit later. It'll be a nice study break! 

A little review

Since Wes left last Sunday to start work in New York I've decided I'll review all of the fun things we did these last few months. It'll be a better way for me to take a break from studying than my mindless tv watching that I've adopted since Wes has left. So here is a little catch up of our fun doings. 

Way back in February we decided to celebrate our 6 month anniversary by finally going to the Nickel Arcade! We have wanted to go pretty much since we started dating (which is almost two years ago!!) and decided that our 6 months was a perfect time to go. Here are a couple of fun pictures.

6 months of marriage and couldn't be happier!

Throughout the semester I continued to travel for lacrosse tournaments, which I wont bore anyone with. Pretty much, we ended ranked 8th in the nation but got cheated out of going to National. I had a wonderful last year of lacrosse. We had horrible heart breaking games but I love my teammates and had wonderful experiences with them. It'll be extremely weird not playing any sports. I have never not been an athlete. 

Wes had a wonderful internship at a local advertising company (see previous post about his Burger Brackentology). Everyone loved him and he really enjoyed the projects he was in charge of. 

Come April we were joined by lots of family!! We were actually blessed with beautiful weather and were not going to miss the chance to play outside. It was a great excuse for us to pull out our Bocce ball set and we instantly fell in LOVE! Here are some pictures from our intense matches. 

My parents really kicked our butts. I had to put this picture of Lenora up because just imagine the sound that comes along with that swing and increase the pitch 4 octaves and you might be near it!

We REALLY get into Bocce ball...especially when Andrew throws the ball the entire length of the park.

Yes, this would be ANOTHER day of Bocce ball. 

And again. Yes, we even played in the dark. 

The real reason everyone was in Provo was not for the epic Bocce ball battles but for graduation. Wes officially graduated and had his last classes at BYU and I walked with him to celebrate my graduation that will finally come in August! Here are a few pictures, or maybe a little more than a few :)

We began the festivities at Wes' athletes banquet. Wes and Trevor were both high jumpers for BYU's track and field team. Trevor and Burgundy have been our great friends and we wish them well in Chicago!

We began with the massive graduation ceremony in the Marriott Center on Thursday. It was massive and long but a great experience to be a part of. 

The next day was the Communications ceremony. The white tassel is for a BA and the yellow is for a BS. I'm graduating in athletic training but chose to walk with Wes instead of separately and I'm glad I chose to do that. It was really fun going through graduation together. Here are some more pictures! 

We were blessed to have so much family there to support us. 

Yay we made it!

I still can't really believe that we are done with school. That might be because I'm still in classes, but it is super odd that Wes is done with classes and working already! Wes had about three weeks of nothing before he left for New York.

I on the other hand, started classes the Tuesday after graduation. I also started my last clinical assignment with the BYU Men's soccer team. They have practice at 7 am, but despite the time, I really have loved working with them. 

While Wes was waiting for New York we decided to do a couple of things in Utah before we moved. We finally went through the Salt Lake Temple which was such a fun experience. We also went to a Real Salt Lake game. My friend is interning as an athletic trainer for them and got us great tickets (thanks again Ashley!). We had a great time despite the 0-0 tie. Again, here are some pictures. 

We had other fun dates before he left, but apparently I stopped bringing my camera so that is the end of the review.

Now I'm just going to soccer and classes all day long. I'm becoming very good friends with the Harold B. Lee library. Wes is in New York being all grown up and he already loves his job and is fully back in New York mode. I get to go and visit him in two weeks!! I'll hopefully take a lot of pictures then.

You are now fully updated on the life of the Collett's.