Happy Birthday Connor!!

Can you believe it? This little man is 3!

Connor has been waiting for his birthday to come... and finally it was his turn for a special day - all his own. Decorations for him... a birthday chair for him... presents for him... and cake for him... he was in heaven.

Originally Connor told me he wanted pancakes and smoothies for his special birthday breakfast, but once he woke up that morning .. he changed his mind. No pancakes... "I want breakfast." Breakfast to Connor = cereal. So the menu changed. Abigail and Dallin weren't too thrilled with the change, but Connor reassured them... "We still get smoothies." So.. birthday breakfast... "Dog Food (Cracklin' Oat Bran)" and Smoothies.

After breakfast we opened a few presents .. played with them for a bit ...

Then we packed up and headed to the largest urban zoo in the nation... The Bronx Zoo. I think Connor had just as much fun on the subway as he did at the zoo. He LOVES riding the subway. We had a fun filled day with lots of walking and lots of animals. Some of our favorites included the Asia Monorail and the Gorilla Refuge.

One of our favorite animals of the day... the TIGER.

Asia Monorail... so neat!

Waiting in line for the Dora and Diego 4D movie.

Not sure Owen enjoyed the water splashing in his face.

"The Bug Carousel"

We sat down to watch a short film about the gorillas... and this is what happened to Connor. Poor kid... he was all tuckered out.

Part of our cute little family

Heading home after a fabulous day at the zoo.

One the way home we stopped for some dinner and headed to Crumbs Bakery for some NYC cupcakes. We ended up with quite a variety.

Connor was pretty excited about his cupcakes and candles.

Happy Birthday Connor!

We hope all your birthday wishes come true!

It was a great day. Fun for all.

I still can't believe our Connor is 3 years old! He is such a fun and spirited little guy.

We love you Connor.

The 3 Amigos

Everyone is enjoying "Tummy-Time" at our house (apartment).

Owen

4 months old

Firsts...

Hooray for Owen! He is finally on his way to a wonderful world full of amazing tastes and the joy that comes from those tastes.

First attempt at rice cereal:

Getting excited....

Not really sure ... maybe this isn't what he had in mind.

Owen struggles a bit with keeping the cereal in his mouth. But with some practice .. hopefully.. he will get better. We know he is ready for something more than just breast milk. He has sucked cucumbers and apples and couldn't get enough of both.

Happy Birthday Dallin!

Dallin was SOOOOO EXCITED to have a birthday. Lucky for him he got two days of celebration. When your birthday is on Sunday, there is a fun activity day and a birthday day. So... to celebrate Dallin's day we headed to the Natural History Museum. WOW! What a museum! This place is huge! We will definitely be going back (I am sure a lot when it is snowing).

We spent most of our time on the 4th floor. The floor of DINOSAURS. The boys were so excited. Actually, I think John and I love museums more than anyone. :) I was really impressed that the museum had an app that you could download that allowed you to take a variety of personal tours throughout the museum. We decided to take a medium length tour to catch some of the major highlights.

Along the way... we met up with these guys.. MaryAnn and Stephen! We were so excited to have visitors. Stephen was here in NYC interviewing for Med school. We can't wait to see where he ends up. And yes... this picture is out of place. This was actually taken on Sunday, but they did meet up with us at the museum :).

It was fun to watch the kids remember the movie "Night at the Museum" and find the various characters amongst the exhibits.

After the Museum, we headed through Central Park to find some lunch. Lucky for us there is a Shake Shack not too far from the museum. Yum! Yes .. they really are that good.

After some serious discussion, we convinced Stephen and MaryAnn to check out of their hotel (in New Jersey.. way too far from the city) and come stay with us. While they were off getting their suitcases, we took Dallin for one final birthday stop.

Dallin LOVES legos and he was more than excited to pick out his present.

Sunday (Dallin's real Birthday) we awoke early. Church starts at 9am... so this mom had to crawl out of bed at 6am to get the birthday breakfast started... Gorilla Bread. Good thing he loved it and was so grateful.

After church it was present time.

In some ways Sunday birthdays are the best. It is nice to have the time to just sit and enjoy each other. Here are the boys (John, Dallin, and Connor) putting together some lego masterpieces together. I love Father-Son time. So cute.

After opening presents, we took MaryAnn and Stephen down to the Staten Island Ferry to catch a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. (We really did have fun with these two)

Dallin was just thrilled to be able to carry his candy along for the ride (thank you MaryAnn and Stephen). While riding along we met another women visiting NYC with her daughter who also was having a birthday this month. She was so sweet. She learned it was Dallin's birthday and gathered her kids around to sing to him.... soon there was quite a group singing and wishing Dallin a happy birthday. I think his favorite part was when she whipped out $5 and said "Happy Birthday!" He was grinning from ear to ear!

That evening we blew out the candles, cut and devoured the most delicious chocolate cake ever. So glad Dallin wanted the Black out Cake. It was fabulous.

Too bad I took the cake out of the fridge too soon... some of the frosting had begun to melt down the side of the cake. At least we knew it was really made out of butter :).

Dallin is such a sweet, fun loving boy. We love his happy-go-lucky attitude. He is always thinking of others. He may give me a heart-attack on a daily basis (always trying something crazy- he climbs on anything and everything)... but I sure do love this little guy.

Happy 5th Birthday Dallin!

We love you!

Brooklyn Bridge

We started with a great plan.

The kids and I would ride the subway downtown ... meet John after work at 6pm ... walk across the Brooklyn Bridge ... and enjoy Grimaldi's Pizza in Brooklyn ... walk back across and head home.

Plans don't always work out the way you plan.

Poor John didn't get off of work when he planned.

The kids and I were anxiously waiting and walking around the block for John to arrive.

Luckily I had packed some trail mix in the bag. The kids were starving.

We finally started across the Brooklyn Bridge around 7pm (an hour past our meeting time).

The bridge was amazing. Cars traveling underneath you. Pedestrians and bikes on top.

I love history and learning about the place where you live. This bridge is truly amazing. It took 13 years to build and was finally completed in 1883. It is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. It is amazing to see the workmanship that has lasted more than 125 years.

Not the best picture I have ever taken, but you get the idea. I still need to learn how to take better shots at night.

View of Manhattan from the bridge.

Family Shot

It doesn't take long to cross the bridge .. only about 20 mins. But it really is a must-do when you come to NYC.

Once on the other side we found our way to Grimaldi's, which is really just under the Bridge on the Brooklyn side. Grimaldi's is known (very well known) for its authentic NYC pizza. When we got there the line for a table was down the sidewalk. We kept trying to figure out how long the wait would be, but the gentleman at the door wouldn't say. "Some people eat slow, some people eat fast." So ... we figured we had come this far and everyone was starving... so we would wait it out. After about an hour we were able to squeeze into a table meant for four.

[Side note: in NYC restaurants seating is tight! Very tight! When I say table for four.. I mean a table with four place settings. You are touching elbows with the people sitting next to you in your party and the people sitting next to you not in your party. :) We were just crossing our fingers the kids could sit in their seats well enough not to disturb everyone else in the restaurant. ]

By this time it was way past bedtime and Connor was long gone. He had fallen asleep in John's arms. So there we were sitting at this small table... John holding sleeping Connor and me holding sleeping Owen. But when the food finally arrived at our table around 9:15pm we were thrilled. It was that good. The ingredients were so fresh. The kids weren't as excited about the authentic ingredients as mom and dad, but they sleepily finished their plates :).

When we finally left the restaurant it was close to 10pm. We were planning to walk back across the bridge, but with one heavy sleeping child in arms and two others ready to crash, we decided it was best to take a taxi home. The kids were SO excited. They love taxis.

Even though the night didn't go exactly as planned, it was still a night to remember.

We loved walking the bridge.

We loved the pizza.

And we loved spending time together.

General Conference

I was shocked when I realized that General Conference starts at 11am on the East Coast. WOW... that is late! So after a lazy morning, we decided to pack a lunch and head to a public park not too far from home (on 115th street.. that's about 18 blocks from home). The best part about the park, besides the playground and turf soccer field, was the Wi-fi connection. We ate our picnic and listened on the computer to conference. It was great! Mouths were full... so they had to listen :). After they were done eating we turned them loose in the playground and John and I were actually able to listen to the rest of Conference. SO nice.

John taking a break to play some ball with Connor.

Owen fast asleep in his stroller, while being blocked from the wind.

The troops

Sunday we watched Conference at home, but took a field trip between sessions to visit the Temple on the West side of town. It was really interesting to see such a place of peace in the midst of all the craziness that NYC sidewalks and shopping bring.