New York City

Our trip to New York was amazing. We had so much fun (except for the blisters that formed on the bottom of my feet from so much walking!). I uploaded some of my favorite pictures from the trip.

Here we are with the New York skyline in the background. We were standing on the observation deck of the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island. We took the ferry out to the island first thing in the morning so we would have enough time to see Liberty Island and Ellis Island and be back before the David Letterman Show started.





This is me, Jon, Robin and Denise inside the Hello Deli with Rupert Gee. It's located on the corner by the Late Show. Dave has used Rupert and his store in some of his shows before. It was fun to go there while Rupert was there and actually get a picture taken with him.This is inside of FAO Schwartz. It's a HUGE toy store in New York. This is the piano like the one that they used in the movie Big. It's the biggest piano I've ever played. I even played a song!

On top of the Empire State Building you can see forever! It's a great view. This is a picture of us at the top. Also there's a picture of the scenery looking south from the top of the Empire State Building. You can see the Statue of Liberty out on Liberty Island in the distance.

We were pretty close to the Hudson River from our hotel. So, one afternoon Jon and I went on a walk to see the river's edge. Here is Jon studying the sights and enjoying the smells of NYC.
We found the Hard Rock Cafe, among many other famous shops, and decided to take a picture inside.
On our way to see the Statue of Liberty we stopped by the World Trade Center site to look around. It's a huge construction project. This is part of the memorial wall on the side of the fire station right across the street where many of the firefighters worked who lost their lives.
"New York City Fire Department. Members who made the supreme sacrifice in the performance of duty at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001."
Central Park is HUGE! We only saw a small portion of it. You could spend all day looking at everything in the park, but we just got to see a bit of it. It was a nice relaxing place to walk around.
The temple is really close to Central park. We were so excited to go to a session there. We even got to meet a man at the recommend desk who knew Jon's grandpa Lanier from when they were kids. It's a small world, even in a big city. We had a fun trip, but we're glad to be home now. The flight was exhausting and I'm glad to rest and relax today. Leah was happy to get her "New York baby". Caleb wanted a piece of the Statue of Liberty, so we got him a Statue figure. Alex asked for some lotion from New York. We got him a small lotion and then got him a bear from New York. They were happy to see us. It's nice to enjoy my kids after a few days away. I'm happy to see them and to spend time with them. Jon got right back into the swing of things and went in to work today. Back to life...back to reality.

New York City, Here We Come!

So, we've decided to use our buddy passes and get away this week anyway. We're going to New York City for 4 days. It's a totally different feel to the vacation. Rather than a relaxing time by the beach in Hawaii we'll be sight-seeing in the fast-paced over-crowded New York. I'm excited to see it though. We still plan on going to Hawaii in the fall with the other buddy passes we have saved up, but for now we're off to see the City that Never Sleeps! We leave bright and early Monday morning so I thought I'd post about where we're going before we get too busy getting ready to go.

It's Aloha Friday!!...Umm...or NOT!

So, I had today all planned out. It was going to be fabulous. I made Jon a cute card that said,

"Congratulations on becoming a Certified Welder. Lets get away together to celebrate. Join me for a fun-filled adventure to Honolulu, HI April 14-17."

I was planning to bring in some Hawaiian pizza, Hawaiian punch, and put a lei on Jon when I gave him his card and surprised him with a trip to Hawaii. So, that was all nice and dandy until I got a phone call at 6:30am this morning from Jon's Aunt (who works for Delta and was nice enough to let us buy some buddy passes for our air fare to Hawaii) and she told us that the flight coming home was totally booked, or actually OVER booked. We'd be stuck in Hawaii for who knows how long if we actually went.

I know, that doesn't sound half bad. Being stuck in Hawaii isn't the worst thing that could happen to us, but my mom and dad being stuck with watching our kids for the extra time might not be very fun for them (or their work schedules).

So, we're NOT going to Hawaii after all. I'm totally bummed. Darn that Aloha Airlines that had to go out of business! That's why all of Delta's flights are over-booked. Oh well. There's always next time. We still have the tickets and we will be able to go in August or September. So, now Jon has the week off and we're deciding whether or not to go somewhere else or just have him go to work like normal. Any suggestions??

How Many Jonathan Lanier's Are there?

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There are 33 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

How Many Angela Lanier's are there?

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There are 50 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

What a great weekend!

Besides being able to hear the Prophet and other leaders of the church we were able to visit with Shane, Katie and Braydon. They came up for 2 weeks from Las Vegas. Conference was so great. Braydon was at our house for the Saturday sessions. We had fun coloring ties of the different speakers, doing word searches, etc.

I had a demo and a class to teach Saturday night. It was great to get back into teaching my classes. I feel like it's been too long! I really enjoy it and I'm glad my class filled up and I'm back teaching every Saturday again. Ladies Night Out was also going on at Roberts that night. So, since my mom, Katie and her mom and sisters were coming to Ladies Night Out I went with them after I got done with my class. I have always loved going to Ladie's Night Out at Roberts and got excited to win prizes and look around, but this time it was different. I found that I didn't like staying there even longer after I had been there since 3pm! I'm glad we didn't stay too long before we went to some other stores. That night we went back to my mom and dad's and we were going to play games. We actually only ended up playing one game because we were having too much fun on Playlist bringing back old memories of Jr. High and High School. After we finally stopped our karaoke party we played "Acquire" until 2am. It's a game Jon's grandparents had for years and they gave it to us. Jon taught us how to play and it was pretty fun.

Sunday we were at my mom and dad's house for conference. She printed off some bingo boards for the kids so it would keep them entertained. I think it turned out to be the adult activity. We were all "helping" our kids listen for words and they ended up going and doing something else while we were all still playing bingo for them. I think over all it helped them to listen to what was being said. I really appreciated the talk that was specifically for the small children. They were told to help their mothers by cleaning their rooms, doing the dishes, and doing other things without being asked. It was just what needed to be said!

Today we went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. It was a cute movie. The kids really liked it, and that's all they've been talking about ever since.

April Fool's Day

Look how excited my kids are to eat their dinner of meatloaf, carrots, mashed potatoes and gravy! They were hoping it was an "April Fool's Joke" that we were having meatloaf. They were wrong...we really WERE having meatloaf. What they didn't realize is that the meatloaf was made out of a no-bake cookie, the carrots were marzipan, and the mashed potatoes and gravy was ice cream and caramel sauce. They were pleasantly surprised. We made sure to tell them (like any good parent) to finish up all their dinner so they could have dessert.

So, dessert time came around and it is the first time I have ever heard Alex say, "I don't want any dessert today. I'm full." Whatever, kid...you just wanted to get out of having to eat REAL meatloaf, carrots, mashed potatoes and gravy. We denied their requests for seconds on their dinner and told them to just eat more dessert if they were still hungry.

Happy April Fool's Day!!