The story of MY life: January 2010

This is a long post. . .be warned.
Over the summer I went down to Arizona to live with my sister, Mari, and her family. They were going to upstate New York for my nieces cousin's baptism. While they were there, they were planning on going to the Palmyra Temple with family. They figured if they wanted to do that, they needed someone to come "nanny" all the little kiddo's so all the adults could be together in the temple. So of course I jumped at the opportunity! :o)
It was a fun trip with lots to do and little time, but SO worth it! We spent most of our time in upstate with my brother-in-law, Paul's, family. Between the baptism, going and seeing some church sites, spending time together, running into friends from Utah, and late night games; it was fun had by all! We were able to go down to the city for a day. Word of advice: one day to see New York City, is NOT enough. I definitely want to go back and spend more time there (both in the city and upstate)!

Paul reading to one of his nephews

While we were at the family's house, I ended up making buddies with two of the cutest little kids ever! When we went to Palmyra we were able to go to the Smith Family Farm, the Sacred Grove, and the Hill Cumorah Pageant. Being in the grove where Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, was breath-taking. It amazed me, that with all the people that were there, it was yet still so peaceful.

That grandma had to be in her late 80's, drivin that tractor like it was nothin! I hope I'm that cool when I'm that old!

The Log Home, and Chris and I with the Temple behind us, and some pretty flowers on the property

After we left the farm we got to the hill just before they closed it off to the public (so they could get ready for the show), so we hiked all the way up. It's no easy hill to climb! Those cute lil kids that I was such good buddies with. . .they hiked up that hill all by themselves (ok, so they didn't totally hike, they more of ran)! With all these other adventures the plan of letting the adults go to the temple and me nanny, didn't exactly happen. So I got to go to New York and not have to work :) haha

At the top of Hill Cumorah looking down to where you sit for the pageant. And a few of the lil girls at the monument at the top

These are some pictures of us killin' some time before the pageant:

And yes, while we went down to the city, the transportation of choice was none other than the good 'ol subway. I know I'm weird, but I totally thought that the smell down there reminded me of Disneyland, when you're on the train, and you go through the part where they have the Grand Canyon.

Yea for the Metro Card!

When we went down to the City we got passes to go into the Statue of Liberty, which was AWESOME! I want to go back and try and get tickets to go into the crown next time. Since 9-11, security is intense! We stood in line for hours, to go through security like 6 different times. It was crazy! But definitely worth it!

Christina waiting to go through the first security check point to go over the the island

The ferry ride over, with the Brooklyn Bridge behind me.

Yeah!! We're there!

Me and Sarah killin' time on the island

Those long lines will make ya go crazy!

Inside the star platform, they have a lil museum with replicas of the actual size of different parts of the statue

These are what the inside look like walking all the stairs to get to the base of the Statue

These are pictures taken from the base of the Statue

On the ferry ride, we stopped at Ellis Island. We didn't go explore there due to a lack of time :( Maybe next time?!

Then Mari and I went to go check out Ground Zero, and the memorial at St. Paul's Chapel; while Paul took the girls to go get some really yummy lunch. Yes, we did get lost. But it wasn't totally our fault. The subway is under construction so we kinda just had to figure it out on our own. haha We finally made it to our destination and the memorial there at the church was unreal! I wish I could put into words how amazing it is. We tried looking into where Ground Zero is, but they had it all boarded up because of the construction.

After we left there, we met up with Paul and the girls for lunch! mmm! They brought us food from Peanut Butter and Co. I highly recommend trying this lil place out! We couldn't decide on what to get so we got a few different sandwiches and shared the yumminess. :) We tried the Elvis (A grilled peanut Butter sandwich, stuffed with bananas and honey), the Peanut Butter BLT (that one's kinda self expanitory), Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Sandwich (Cinnamon-Raisin Peanut Butter and vanilla cream cheese, stuffed with crisp apple slices), and I think we had a regular peanut butter and jelly sandwich somewhere in there too. Surprisingly they were all REALLY good!

After we sat in the park and ate our peanut butter sandwiches, we met up with Paul's family to go to a Museum. We didn't have too much time to spend at the museum, so we were practically running to see all the things we all wanted to see. It was still a lot of fun! Then we went and played at one of the playgrounds and the castle in Central Park.

"Hey dumb-dumb, me want gum, gum!"

They didn't believe me that I could cross the monkey bars! I totally proved them wrong! :)

Some of the fam just chillin on the park bench

These are my two lil buddies! So stinkin CUTE!

After that, the boys took all the little kids back to the hotel, and us girls stayed out for a night out on the town :) haha I had lots of recommendations to go check out Serendipity, and that it was a must, to try the Frozen Hot Chocolate! Our reservations weren't till later so we killed some time by finding the Manhattan Temple

and walking through Central Park. We also stopped at a huge candy store!! We didn't totally know where we were going, and 4 girls walking so random side streets in New York is a little intimidating. Needless to say, we found our way to Serendipity! I do have to say that the Frozen Hot Chocolate is a must try! And I highly recommend using the bathrooms. They're pretty cool! Tiny! But cool!
It was late and we were all tired and didn't want to miss the bus back to Jersey, to our hotel, so we decided to head back. Which was another adventure. . .we didn't know for sure which bus to get on. Then we didn't know which stop was ours. haha But no worries, all the people on the bus were really nice and helped us get to where we needed to go! haha

haha We had a race to see who could finish their Frozen Hot Chocolate first. . .the waiter said we made pretty music! haha

There are some better pictures of all of us in the bathroom, I'm just not sure who has those pictures. AND you totally pull the string to flush the toilet! SO COOL!! (I'm one to be amused easily)

So a little unknown fact about me: I'm terrified of bridges. Guess, what?! They are all over back there! I am amazed by how incredible these structures are. I'd just rather look at them from a distance :)

The next morning we had to leave to catch our flight in Connecticut. We decided to check out a beach on the way to the airport. It definitely wasn't like the California beaches I'm used to. But it was still amazing!

I had such a fun time on this trip! And I can't wait to go back! Thanks, Mari and Paul for taking me! You guys are the bestest! Love you!

So I realized that a couple posts down, I totally forgot that I'd said I'd update ya'll on my volleyball team, and I haven't done that yet. In fact I haven't blogged in a while. So Is, you should be proud that I'm updating this sucker! haha

A year ago this last fall, I had some of my Laurels talk me into trying to coach their club volleyball team. Which I ended up doing and I'm so grateful I did. I learned so much from my girls, it was unreal. I think that season was more about helping them and me grow up, rather than anything else. We had a few bumps in the road and a couple girls decided they didn't want to play any more. :( They were greatly missed the last half of the season. But all in all the team pulled through and we only continued to improve up until the final game. I don't think those girls realize how much of an impact they truly had on me and I will forever be grateful to all of them!

One of my favorite things about this team is that they loved to get together and have parties! They are crazy. haha There was NEVER a dull moment with them!