NYC Holiday Update

My parents officially arrived on Monday (for anyone who hasn't heard me giddily babbling on about it)!! Not much to say except that I'm so incredibly happy that they are here and we have already had so much fun! So, I'm just going to post the few pictures we've taken already. Enjoy! 

They flew in on such a beautiful sunny day! After a quick nap (they took a red eye here, which can be difficult) we headed off for a walk through Central Park before dropping me off at work. It seriously was just a perfect day. 

At the turtle pond. Sadly, the turtles must go somewhere for the winter. But there was this awesome look out tower/observatory in the background. 

At the Great Lawn. We were happy that some of the trees still had leaves on them! 

Their adventures began today at Ground Zero, brought them to Grand Central Station (pictured above), then to the Rockefeller Center, and ended with an amazing show! 

Mom at the Top of the Rock (the Rockefeller Center) before the rain really started to come down. 

That storm came in . 

While they were on top, we hung out at the bottom watching the ice skaters (so excited to go!). That construction in the background is for the Christmas Tree! 

Dad with Indiana Jones at FAO Swartz. (Random stop on 5th Avenue before making it back for the show)

Best decision so far, tickets to the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall!! (If you don't know what that is, look it up. It seriously was amazing)

I don't really know how to explain it even. It really is a Christmas Spectacular and just such a great way to start out the Holidays! I'm already getting SO excited for Christmas!

More pictures to come as the week progresses! 

Walk Through the Park

Wes and I have been dying to bring our camera up to the park and take pictures of the beautiful fall leaves. Every time we've been up there we haven't had our cameras and have been forced to try and describe the amazing view across the river. Today we decided to walk through the upper part of the park on our way home from church and snap some shots. Sadly, the trees dropped half, if not more, of their leaves in the last week. Luckily, it was a beautiful sunny day out and a few trees are holding onto their colorful leaves! Here are a few random pictures for your enjoyment.

(this is our church building through the trees)

There is New Jersey. That whole hill side was filled with amazing red and yellows last Sunday. I'm sad that the leaves are falling and the weather is getting colder...

George Washington Bridge

Wonderful Sunday walk home!

Now we are just counting the hours until my parents come!!! T-minus 10 hours! Have a wonderful fall Sunday. 

Just Monkeying Around

Wes and I went to the Bronx Zoo two weekends ago. I have to admit that I LOVE zoo's!! My co-workers laughed that I was still doing "touristy" things but little did they know that a zoo to me is not touristy. I'd go to the Zoo any day no matter how long I've lived somewhere!

I don't have much to say about it except that I had soooo much fun! The animals were actually awake and interactive and the Zoo was a lot bigger than I had originally imagined. I guess I was just assuming it would be like most things in NYC- smashed into a tiny area. We were shockingly surprised with how spread out the zoo actually was and how secluded from the city you felt. It was a great Saturday activity. 

I will try and refrain myself from posting too many pictures. Most of them only contain the animals anyways. Here is to our fun Saturday at the Zoo!!

I was so happy the Lions were actually awake!

These peacocks were just wondering throughout the entire zoo. Made me think of Old Lake Grove area. 

The Giraffes were a little shy, but if you look closely there is a baby with them! 

There were a TON of Tigers. Sadly it was too cold to see the new cubs. 

This baby Zebra was SOOOO hyper. It was hilarious. 

We tried to root this calm bear to jump into the water. He was just enjoying the mist from the waterfall. 

I LOVED the sea lions!!!! They were so hyper and just hilarious. There was one who kept throwing seaweed back and forth to himself. 

Brown Bear, Brown Bear what do you see?

Wes took this....I was not too excited to be in the reptile house.... Esepcially since a snake had recently been "lost" (luckily was found). 

Possibly the ugliest animal at the zoo.....

But pretty closely tied with this guy....

The Lemurs!! The Lemurs and Monkeys were by far the COOLEST part of the zoo. They were just so interactive and hilarious! They have such human behaviors and it made us laugh for so long!!

And for my family here is the awesome picture we really struggled to get, "Baby monkey riding backwards on a pig baby monkey!" 

These monkeys kept fighting over this piece of cardboard. Seriously, I was transfixed with the monkeys!

I liked this guys hair. 

All in all, it was a WONDERFUL day at the Zoo! 

Happy Halloween!

I know I've been really bad about posting. I have a half written post about our awesome trip to the Bronx Zoo sitting in my draft file. I had to post these Halloween pictures when they were the most applicable.

For the first time since being a couple Wes and I actually got into Halloween. We dressed up as something besides basketball players or hippies (which don't really count as they are really just who we are). This year Wes had the best idea come to him about an hour before our ward party. I'll show the pictures before explaining.

Yes, we went as NYC Tourists! Everyone loved it! We actually won the best "Newcomers" award for our costume. We were told that the only thing we were missing was a subway map that we stopped to read in the middle of traffic. We did have our cameras on hand to whip out and photograph our victory (too bad we moved too much and the picture didn't really come out well). It was also funny traveling to the church in our costumes. We had some very funny looks. 

It ended up being a good thing that Wes had our umbrella on hand though since this was what we had to travel to and from the party in: 

It isn't even November!!! The oddest thing about this random snow storm was the destruction. We have seen more destruction from this storm than we did with Hurricane Irene! There are trees broken in half everywhere (you can see some of them in the second photo. That is usually this cute little area full of benches)! The trees were just too heavy since the leaves haven't started to fall yet. Where did these amazing east coast falls I'm always hearing about go?? Luckily, the snow stopped last night and has been melting all day. I'm hoping it'll stay that way for a long time. I'm not ready for winter yet. It is only Halloween. Snow can't be an option until Thanksgiving. 

Hope you all have a wonderful Halloween!!

Haircuts

I can't remember the last time I had a professional haircut. I think it was probably before senior year when I cut off 14 inches to donate. I usually just have whoever is willing cut my hair. Since being married that obligation has fallen to Wes. Not a big deal really since once my hair is dried it is whatever length it wants to be. So Wes cuts my hair and we never have to pay for it to be cut.

Since moving to New York and realizing hair cuts for Wes cost WAY too much money, we had the same idea that if I can cut Wes' hair we could save even more. Neither of us would ever have to pay for professional haircuts again! So, we finally went to Costco and bought a hair cutting kit. I've always thought that cutting boys hair can't be THAT hard. Right? Wrong!

If you haven't already guessed, this first hair cutting experience didn't go as planned... But I have learned some lessons for the next time (and surprisingly there will be a next time!).

1. Don't cut your husbands hair if he actually cares what it ends up looking like. (Which really is the number one reason I'm SHOCKED he ever suggested that I should cut his hair. I think he loves me too much to realize it probably wasn't a good idea...)
2. Don't use the length the barber does. ("I always have a 4 on top, so don't worry. That is the length I want it." WRONG!)
3. Don't let your husband grab the razor and "fix" your "uneven" cutting.
4. Don't look down to see your husbands hair in the tub.... It only makes you realize how much you screwed up.
5. Don't put a mirror in front of your husband while cutting his hair. Just make it a fun surprise!
6. DO cut your husbands hair soon after a co-worker buzzed his head and your husband came home and said, "I want to buzz my head." It is easier to convince him you really didn't mess up!
7. DO follow the instructions and cut little bits of hair when you are first learning...

Oddly enough, we are going to try again once he needs a haircut again (which wont be for a long time...). Here are a before and after picture for your enjoyment.

The Before:

The After: 

(Found out his hair gets soooooo blonde the shorter it is)

So it turned out a LOT shorter than intended... But he has been a wonderful husband and seen the good in it. He no longer has to style it in the morning!! Thats more time to sleep! I'm just glad he hasn't screwed up this bad with my hair :) 

9/11 Memorial

A couple months ago I was sitting in the Harold B. Lee library going insane from too much studying and Wes gmail chatted me to tell me he had got me a surprise. What was it? Tickets to the 9/11 memorial.

This last sunday was our official day to go (it is free to go in, but you have to have tickets right now). For only having the fountains and part of the grounds open it was truly amazing. When you get onto the grounds you can't hear any noise from the city. The water from the fountains drown out all the other noise. It allows for a peaceful silence (with the noise of the water of course) in the middle of a busy loud city. It allows for you to truly take in the immense size of the fountains and to truly remember. There is no way you can't remember while on the grounds. I've been to the war memorials in DC and they are truly touching, but the 9/11 memorial is one of a kind. Here are some photos. 

These fountains mark the base of the towers. They are lined with all the names of those who died. The names are organized by where they died. There is a system where you can search for a name and it will tell you where the name is. They are truly beautiful. You can't see the bottom of the second square. That might've been Wes' favorite part. 

The building in the back will be the official museum. It isn't finished yet. 

I loved how there were flags on almost every piece of construction surrounding the grounds. 

It was touching to see the flowers left. It is obviously a common thing to leave flowers at a memorial but it touched me in a different way. A lot of the people died right where there names are engraved. The people leaving flowers lived through the horror. It is like the Pearl Harbor memorial when you can look down into the water and see the sunken ship. These fountains aren't just beautiful, but they mark where the towers should be standing. 

Underneath the names you can reach down and touch the water. The fountains are supposed to be interactive and it really does its purpose. You can feel the names and you can touch the water. Like I've said, it is a truly beautiful memorial. 

I feel like I've kind of rambled, but it is hard for me to explain what it felt like to be at the memorial. I was young when 9/11 happened and didn't fully understand what happened, but living in New York for just a month has changed that. I was interviewing at a high school just a couple days before the 10th anniversary and I overheard the students talking about 9/11. They would've been so young when it happened but they remembered it all. They were younger than me but because they lived here there was no way they couldn't understand. I hope you can understand a little about how the memorial made us feel despite my poor writing. 

Make it a goal to visit this memorial at some point in your life. Once the tower and the museum are finished it will be truly, truly amazing. I am proud to be an American every day of my life.