NYC at Christmastime

I know this post is a little late, but I still wanted to share some pictures from our trip to NYC last weekend. We had a blast checking out the city at Christmas and, especially, seeing Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

We set out for the city with some friends on Saturday morning. It was a quick 4 hour drive to the city from Ithaca, followed by a slower and less pleasant 1 hour drive through the Lincoln Tunnel. Jonathan and I found an amazing deal on a hotel on Hotels.com, so we stopped there briefly before setting out. We went to Times Square for a quick look around and then decided to go check out Macy's. It was utter and complete craziness.

I have never before been in a store that had to hire people to regulate foot traffic on the escalators. It was totally packed. Jonathan and I had to split up because he hadn't done any Christmas shopping yet. This seemed logical at the time, but was a big mistake. After an hour or so inside, we decided to go outside and admire the windows. I have absolutely no desire to ever enter that store during the holidays again.

I would, however, go back and see the window displays again. They were lovely, even if the street was packed too.

That evening we had tickets to see the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular with the friends we went to the city with. Radio City Music Hall is beautiful and the show was a lot of fun.

We went off on our own again after the Christmas Spectacular and decided to check out Rockefellar Center. The decorations there were also really nice and this next picture would be perfect if someone would Photoshop that one guy out of it! We looked at the skating rink (which was tiny!) and saw a pretty cool light display on Saks, which was just across the street.
The following day was pretty rainy in the morning, but luckily cleared up in the early afternoon. We took a stroll through Central Park and then spent several hours at the Metropolitain Museum of Art.

We both really liked the displays of armor at the Met. They even had one of Henry VIII's suits of armor.

We then walked (a long, long, long way) down Fifth Avenue to look at some of the famous stores down there. This was one of my favorite parts of our whole trip.

Below is one of the window displays at Bergdorf Goodman. All of their window's were really impessive.

My favorite part about Fifth Avenue was going into Tiffany's. We went to every floor in the place. I don't think Jonathan enjoyed it as much as I did.

On our last full day, Jonathan and I split up initailly so that he could do a little Christmas shopping. I went to Grand Central Station first to look at their Christmas market and then headed to the New York Public Library. It was so beautiful in there. Jonathan and I met back up at the library and headed back down Fifth Avenue to FAO Schwarz. FAO was also crazy, but in a much more managable way than Macy's was. We checked out all the toys, candy (this toy soldier was made entirely of candy!), and the big piano from the movie "Big" and headed back out to get some lunch.

After lunch, it was time for the big event and the reason for our trip. Conan. We were running late, so we had to rush to get to NBC Studios, but it ended up not being a big deal. We weren't allowed to take any pictures in the studio, so I don't have one to post, but it was definatly the highlight of our trip.

After Conan we went and ate dinner in Little Italy and then headed back to the hotel. I was pretty tired after three full days in the city, but we had so much fun!

O Christmas Tree!

So, we chopped down our Christmas tree this weekend. I have never gone to chop down a tree before, but it was so much fun. On Saturday we headed out, with my friend Tracie who was here visiting, to a local tree farm. When we arrived the man who owned it gave us a saw, a tarp to drag our choice back on, and showed us a map of his property before we set out. It was nice because there was no snow at our house, but out in the boonies, where the farm was, there was maybe six inches or a foot, so it felt much more Christmas-y.

It was so hard to decide on a tree. We kept finding good ones, so we kept flip flopping. Finally we found one that was a good height and shape, so we settled on that one. It's not too tall (since our ceilings aren't that tall) so it had a little trunk and Jonathan made short work of the actual sawing.

Once it was down, we tried dragging it back to the car on the tarp the man had given us, but it turns out that is not the easiest way to trasport a relatively small and light-weight tree. Jonathan and Tracie just ended up carrying it most of the way and it was much faster. The best thing about being pregnant, though, is no one expects you to help carry the tree back to the car. :)

The owner of the farm had several bailers and wrapped up our tree for us and sent us on our merry way. Now we've just got to get it decorated so I can post a picture of that....

Our belated pumpkins

We carved our pumpkins in the middle of October and I never posted a picture. So, here they are!
Jonathan carved Two-Face and I did a witch. Although it should be noted that I totally cheated and printed a template off the internet. I am not that skilled at pumpkin carving.

I hope he does the string dance...

I am so excited because today I was able to book tickets for Jonathan and I to go see Late Night with Conan O'Brien in December! Ever since we arrived in New York we've been wanting to go to a taping and now the opportunity has finally arrived. Seeing NYC at Christmas was also on our to-do list, so we're killing two birds with one stone. I am so excited! Come on December!

Friends don't let friends watch 'Cloverfield'

So, for Halloween we decided to watch Cloverfield because it was really the only scary movie we could get our hands on. It is awful. Really, really lame. Not scary, not funny, not entertaining, not exciting, just the longest and most painful 84 minutes of your life.

DO NOT BOTHER WATCHING THIS MOVIE

At the Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend, in between college football games, Jonathan and I made a trip to the pumpkin patch. I had never actually gone to pick pumpkins before and it was so much fun.



There were so many pumpkins to choose from, so it was difficult to decide on one. Finally we each decided and ended up picking much bigger pumpkins than we had intended.

In the end, we ended up with 40 pounds worth of pumpkin. :) We haven't carved them yet, but we will this week and I am excited for the pumpkin seeds. And I found a recipe for pumpkin seed brittle I think I will try....

The Best Recipe Website

So, as of late, I've been spending a lot of time on http://allrecipes.com/. I love this website. It is excellent because other people review the recipes, so you have more of an idea about what you're getting into before you're elbow deep in some questionable concoction. Today for dinner I made the "Savory Crescent Chicken." They were so good.

Okay, so the picture might look a little questionable, but trust me, they were delicious, and easy. When I went to make them, however, I realized I had run out of a few things, so I had to use my improvisational skills. Instead of adding onions, like the recipes says (because I had somehow run out without noticing) I used part of a green pepper I had left over. I also added four strips of bacon because bacon makes everything better. When everything had cooled down I made the filling, adding about a tablespoon of French mustard and some shredded cheddar to a cream cheese/butter/milk mixture. You then just wrap pre-made croissants around the filling and bake. When they came out they were so cheesy and delicious. I will definitely make them again. Next time, I'm sure they'll be a little prettier.

There's my little rant about dinner. I love it when I take a chance on a recipe and it comes out so good. Check out All Recipes. It rocks.

Other delicious things I've made from All Recipes:

It's Chili by George!!

World's Best Lasagna

Chicken and Spinach Ravioli

Chicken Enchiladas V

Michael's Foccacia Bread

Mexican Style Shredded Pork

Halfway there!!

Today I am 20 weeks pregnant. Only 20 more weeks to go! Yay!

New Ultrasound Pictures :)

Here are some pictures of our precious little one. It was so fun getting to see him yesterday ( I can finally say HIM! ) So far, everything is on track, so that is a big relief. Without further ado, here are the pictures...

He was all curled up in a ball (his knees are above his head.) I think he must have been sleeping because the ultrasound tech kept trying to get him to move, but he just wasn't having it.

This is a good picture of his little leg and foot.

Oh man, I can't believe I'm almost halfway done with my pregnancy. I'm barely even showing! No one who doesn't already know I'm expecting has even said anything to me. It's nice knowing what kind of baby to expect, though. Even if it has made me even more impatient. Anyway, it was a good appointment and I can't wait to meet him.

Hooray!

Myspace Comments

Blue or Pink?

In a few days Jonathan and I are going to find out the sex of the baby! We are (well I know I am at least) so excited. I feel like the time since my last doctor's appointment has gone pretty quickly, but now I have been thinking about this ultrasound a lot so it feels like it's taking a long time to get here. We continue to struggle with names (and by struggle I mean disagree), but I think it will be easier to make a decision once we know what sort of baby to expect. The ultrasound is Tuesday, so there will be a new post here with the results (providing the baby cooperates) Tuesday night! In the mean time, I've added a poll on the right for you to guess if the baby will be a boy or girl. I wish I had found that feature earlier... :)

Our New Apartment

We've had a few requests (all from the same person) for these pictures, so here they are. This is our new apartment.... (minus the bathrooms, because while I was taking these pictures I thought to myself, who would want to see pictures of our bathrooms?...)

Let's Go Blue!

This weekend Jonathan and I took a little trip to Ann Arbor with some friends for the Michigan-Utah football game. It was a lot of fun because Jonathan is a huge Michigan football fan. We had some time before kickoff to wander around the campus, which is really nice. The highlight, was though, definitely the game.



The "Big House" is just that BIG. There were over 108 thousand people in the stadium during the game and it felt like it. We were really packed in there. That wouldn't have been so bad, except for the fact that we were sitting in the Utah section and cheering for Michigan, so we felt a little like strangers in a strange land sitting cheek to cheek with all the Utah fans.

The game was good, even though Michigan lost. We cheered our hearts out and had a blast.

Niagara Falls

Following some advice from my very wise sister-in-law, I'm not really going to write anything on this post. We went to Niagara Falls yesterday. It was fun. Here are the pictures... :)

Our Big News...

So, as most of you know already, we have some very exciting news. In February our little family is going to get a little bit bigger! We are going to have a baby! He/she is due February 18th. I have been waiting to write this post until after we had our first ultrasound and we had it today! Here is a picture of our little one (don't be alarmed, Jonathan added the "The baby," not a serial killer):

Precious, huh? I'm only about 11 weeks along and it's so cool he/she looks so much like a little person already. It was so cool seeing him/her on the ultrasound because they were moving all around. He/she measures about 4 cm, which is right on track for 11 weeks. After the ultrasound we also got to hear his/her heartbeat. I had really been looking forward to this part, but I was scared at first because the lady had a really hard time finding the heartbeat. Finally, we were able to hear it. It was about 170 bpm. It was awesome. :)

For those of you who don't know, you don't find out the sex until about 20 weeks, so you'll all have to deal with the him/her business for a bit longer.

As for me, I am doing fine. I have been really tired, and despite a little nausea I haven't thrown up or anything, so that's nice. I will be out of the first trimester soon and should feel even better after that.

I'm adding a few pregnancy related things to the blog. A ticker so you will always know how far along I am and a weekly picture to see how I'm changing. We've already taken a few, but there aren't too many changes yet, at least not that you can see in the pictures, hopefully soon.

Our New Home

I am the worst blogger in the world. It's been a month. Shame on me. :) Anyway, I thought I should at least post some pictures of our new home and send a quick update, so I can stop feeling guilty.



Jonathan and I are really enjoying our new home. First of all there is the campus. When we first got it here we were both so impressed. It is so old and beautiful. There are so many cool buildings. It looks like it came right out of a movie.

Then there is the natural areas, which are breathtaking. There are several waterfalls very close to us with great hiking and swimming. We have been trying to take advantage during the summer because we've been told that won't really be much of an option during the winter.


There are also a lot of festivals, a farmer's market, and lots of other things to do outside. We're within easy driving distance to so many cool things, we've got a list of places we'd like to go this summer while we have the time.


We are both really happy with our choice to move here and I'm sure we'll really enjoy the next three years. And I will do a better job keeping the blog updated!

The Exodus

After a long and arduous journey, we finally arrived in New York. There were some fun surprises...

(Blowout #1)

and some more definitely-becoming-less-fun surprises

(Blowout #2)

...But, all in all, the voyage afforded us the opportunity to visit a variety of states and view their scenic freeways. We began our journey in Washington (of course), before traveling through...

...Idaho (we may not have been in Idaho long enough to actually take a picture)

...Montana

...Wyoming

(Where we ran into some minor car trouble)

But we were able to spend some time getting to know the good people of Buffalo, Wyoming

...and we're back on the road again to South Dakota

...Minnesota

...Wisconsin

...we did, however, stop long enough to score ourselves some good old Wisconsin cheddar

...then off to Illinois

(Please feel the pain of our Chicago traffic nightmare)

but while the traffic may have received a big thumbs down, the Chicago cuisine...

definitely got a big thumbs up

...Indiana

not forgetting, of course, to swing by and take a peek at the important Indiana sites

...Ohio

While in Ohio, we were able to visit the Kirtland Temple and other nearby Church sites

Above: Kirtland Temple and Hillary (on right)

Above: Whitney General Store with Hillary and Jonathan (centered)

...and back on the road to Pennsylvania

...before finally arriving

where we were, naturally, welcomed with open arms

and let's do that one more time

But, in the end, we arrived safely at our destination. All in all, it turned out to be, at the very least, a memorable adventure that we will not be repeating in the near future.