Ohhhh myyyyy goooshhhh.....

Summer is definitely here and life is soooo good. I just got back from a bomb California trip with the Lewis'. I'm not used to relaxing vacations but Ann and John sure taught us how to relax and kick back. Our days consisted of sleeping in, laying by the pool, laying by the beach, boogie boarding, playing tennis, reading, reading, reading, eating like kings all day, games all night, repeat. I felt like I was living someone else's life. The Marriott Villa's were delightful. It was really hard to come home.

If you are not enthralled with tennis, you are crazy.

Look at these beautiful men. They are all in the Quarter Finals at Wimbledon.
I end up planning my whole day around their matches. Ugh... I can't get enough.

Best Best Best.

I just returned from THE greatest trip. Ever. I didn't think any trip would compare to my Europe extravaganza with Janelle but NYC blew our minds. My Mom, her sister Terese, her daughter Katie and Janelle and I fell in love with The Big Apple. We wore ourselves out every single day, ate WAAAYY too much and saw everything there is to see. I'm serious, we did it all. It would take forever to document everything but here are a few highlights:

-Finally saw Wicked. LOVED IT.
-Got a high-five from Meredith Vieira on the Today Show and Jimmy Fallon in the the same day.
-Yankees/Redsox game in the Bronx. (Scariest subway ride of our lives. Janelle was wearing a Red Sox hoodie and got chewed out by some sketch Yankee fans.)
-Taking the NBC Studio tour, meeting a real life NBC page, seeing the SNL studio.
-Watch Celebrity Apprentice in our hotel at night knowing that Trump Tower was only minutes away.
-Checking out the Trade Center progress. It was very humbling to be there.
-Riding bikes through Central Park. I love that park with all my heart. I wish you all could meet our bike tour guide. He changed my life.
-Taking a boat ride around Manhattan.
-Watching the sunset from the Top of the Rock. (The top of the Empire State wasn't as good.)
-Taking a Movie Bus tour. (Gnomes, guess what? I went to Dean and Deluca from Felicity. It was great.)
-Went to a wax museum for the first time. Weirdest thing I've ever done. Confusing real humans with wax is super weird and very embarrassing.
-Visiting the Manhattan and Palmyra Temples. Wonderful.
-Joining a gay parade. ...by accident.
-Going to the Met. Going to the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Met. Going through the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Met with Tim Gunn. He was everything I thought he would be.

These pictures are all out of order. Between the 5 of us we had 3,000 pictures. I'm not kidding. I was tired of sorting them so here are a few random ones that I liked.

"I'll be there for you", recognize this?

Do you see the man doing yoga in his underwear in the bottom right corner in the above picture? Priceless.

What you look like after a rainy walk all the way across central park.

NYSE

'One Fine Day' Spot puddle scene spot.

Top of the Rock.

Alexander McQueen exhibit.

Gay pride parade we were forced to join to cross the street.

This song means so much more to me now. Especially now that I know where Jay-Z and Beyonce's apartment is. Everyone should go to New York right now. I mean it. You will love it.

Spring has sprung.

Well Spring is here. Spring brings changes and I am so happy for all of them. This winter season is wearing on me. First change: Dad got released! We weren't sure if it would ever happen. He has been bishop for 5 1/5 years. It is nice and weird to have him around. Last night I went over there to do Janelle's Zumba DVD and he sat at the counter polishing his shoes, probably regretting buying that sub woofer. As soon as 'Drop it Low' came on he couldn't hide the disgust on his face. When the song was over he said, "that is the kind of music you play in a war march to try to annoy the enemy". I'm excited to hear more of his genius comments now that he is home.

Nat ran her SECOND marathon. What a crazy. The gnomes gathered in our usual form. Our posters never make sense but they are made with love. Good work Nat!

I made one final Saint George trip before we move Janelle home. These two years have gone by so fast. She is almost an RN! She is going to be a perfect nurse. Some of her friends got together to play at these pools in Leeds. It was lovely. Oh and guess what gnomes? I saw Dusty there! With his wife! How come I didn't know he was married?

Another change: I started taking accordion lessons again. A guy in my ward is a crazy talented folk musician and is teaching me Celtic style accordion. It's wonderful.

Hitting up the tulip festival means that my job with Gladys is almost over again. These four months FLEW by. I would post a picture of her but she hates them and I decided to respect her wishes. This job is so great. I don't know how I got lucky enough to get hooked up with it. I love this family. I've learned a lot this time around.

Other changes and news: A week from Sunday we leave for New York. I can't even wait. I apply for nursing school next week. Finally. Happy Spring folks! Let's play this summer.

Our thief.

This book and this man are stealing hearts everywhere. I tried to stretch it out as long as I could, I did not want it to end. I managed to squeeze two days out of it. I could not put it down. A couple weeks ago Kylee mentioned that the author, Markus Zusak, was speaking at the Provo Library, and said that Whitney might have an extra ticket. I got so excited. His lecture was wonderful. It was so nice to hear the authors view on the characters and story. I loved hearing that this piece of fiction was filled with real life stories that he had heard, when he was young, from his parents.
Plus, look how dreamy he is...

The line for autographs was ages long. I think every girl, woman and lady in the valley was there, hoping to get an autograph. We lost patience after 4 or so hours of waiting. Only George W. can have that much of my time waiting in a book line. Apparently, he was writing small novels in everyone's book. What a champ.

The dream reading team formulated that night. Whitney, Kylee and I were made to read and discuss books. I don't know why we didn't start a club earlier. Last night was our first official meeting. We discussed Markus Zusak's other book called 'I am the Messenger'. It was such a fun, official book discussion. I was so excited to finally talk about this book. The end had been driving me crazy.

The greatest thing about this club, besides sharing a love for books, is location. Last night we met in Whitney's adorable cottage and drank fake beer and smoked fake cigarettes. (A common trend with Zusak's characters.) Our next meeting will in Kylee's garden, which goes perfectly with our next book. Other locations planned will be the Farm House, pool side this summer and maybe my aunt's cabin if I can pull some strings. I have a good feeling about this club.

To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting. ~Edmund Burke