Little City. Big City.

Since Larry moved me to what may be the littlest 'city' in America, he decided he'd better take me to the biggest city in America for a little get away. When a couple here, Derek and Carly, extended an invitation for us to join them on their trip, we jumped at the chance. Larry is a wise man because it was exactly what I needed to lift my spirits from the moving, resettling and adjusting to rural life. We had a blast! Carly's brother plays football for the University of Pennsylvania and entertained us at a Yale vs Penn game at Yale. He scored the first touchdown and Penn went on to beat Yale. Here, Derek and Carly pose with Jeff after the game. Of course, we knew to consult my sister Lisa, a former NYC resident, as to what we should do on our trip. She suggested Food Tasting Tours. She was spot on with this recommendation, as it was a highlight of our trip.
This is Larry with Curt, our tour guide from the tour we took of the MeatPacking District. He was an amazing guy, full of energy, great one liners, and tons of interesting info and insights about the area. We also really loved all the food we tasted.
As part of the tour, Curt insisted we go to the Iron Chef's restaurant, Morimoto, to experience their state of the art bathrooms and see the amazing decor. Since Carly's brother loves the Iron Chef, we headed back to the restaurant to share dinner with him. I enjoy eating out and like to think I am fairly adventurous in what I will order, but this was a little out of my comfort zone. It was a fun experience, though.
This solid wall of bottles is at Morimoto's.Other fun things we did: the food tour of Greenwich Village--also incredibly awesome. . . A sunset sailing tour where we saw the Manhattan skyline from the water and went out around the Statue of Liberty. . .. . . Meeting up with Michael and Lisa (friends from our new town who were also back there). . . Attending Stake Conference at the Manhattan Stake. Shopping. Eating. Walking. Crazy car rides. Site seeing. Laughing. Visiting. Having a great time.
I finally got to join the American Girl Doll Club after years of going to the store with my sisters and friends but never having my own daughter to by a doll for. So I went in and found a doll that looks just like Chloe. We left the American Girl store and walked down 5th Avenue past Saks, where we noticed that every window display was dedicated to Chloe.My only regret: not bringing our own camera due to fear of it getting lost or stolen. So, thanks to Derek and Carly for helping us supplement the pictures taken with my cell phone.

Chase as QB

Okay, so it took Chase's 3rd game for us to remember the sd card for the camera! Larry got these shots of Chase's last game. He plays Quarterback on Offense and Cornerback on defense. Here, he (#15) pitches the ball to #20.

Here, he passes the ball to #81--which resulted in a TD,

Here, he runs it himself getting it within 2 yds. of th goal line.

He also did a great job in defense and got an amazing tackle.


This is one of the pictures I found on the card when downloading Chase's game pics. Apparently, last Sunday morning the kids all dressed up in Royal Knights gear and took pictures of themselves with the timer setting. Funny kids.

Way to go, Caleb!

Caleb has definitely started his second grade year at a new school with a bang! A week ago the school called to tell me that his reading teacher had submitted his name for a Gold Dot. Apparently the staff is encouraged to notice when a student does something extraordinary and turn in their name. All of the Gold Dot recipient's names are then put into a drawing and the one retrieved wins a loot of goodies. Turns out Caleb was the winner! Then this Thursday, I got another call saying that Caleb was going to be surprised with an award that his classroom teacher nominated him for. His teacher honored him for showing strong character in Leadership. We are so proud of Caleb and that he is going out of his way to do good things.