Funny Conversation

Today Payton and I were talking about how big he is getting. He never fails to crack me up. :)

(me) "Yep, pretty soon you'll be old enough to get baptized"

(Payton) "What, I can't I will drown!"

"No you won't, you've seen baptisms before."

"oh yeah"

"Someday you'll go on a mission and then you can get married in the temple."

"Who am I gonna marry?"

"I don't know, a girl you meet someday."

"I could marry Halle."

"No, she's your sister."

"Well, I could marry you!"

"No, I'm your mom and I'm already married to daddy."

"Well, who in the heck am I gonna marry then! Come on Halle, Will you marry me please?"

Luckily I told him he didn't have to worry about it for sometime. He is still growing though and he only needs to worry about getting some shorts that fit. :)

oh yeah, we've moved.

Since our parents were so kind to come help us move, we thought it only fair to show them a good time. After a fun but rainy day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Central Park, Andy and our parents went to see 'Wicked'. This is a favorite of ours and I'm so glad they were able to see it. The kids and I headed home at the worst time of course, evening traffic. It only took us 1 hr and 45 min but we had our 'Wicked' CD and they sang 'Popular' most of the way.

The next day,(after graduation) our good friends took the kids so we could go on the dinner cruise down the Manhattan East River. It was a 4 hr event and it was amazing. The food was yummy and the views just beautiful. That's really the best way to see the city. Unfortunately, you need a dang nice camera, which I don't have, to get a good night picture. Someday....

Throgs Neck Bridge

The ship crew announced a big 'hooray' to Andy for his graduation that day.

Mom and Dad Gold :)

We couldn't talk them into dancing on the upper deck, but it was still a lot of fun.

Such good little helpers! (with our friend Jack)

We loaded, cleaned and handed over the keys. The guy came to pick up the truck and we just stood there. Now homeless, with a suitcase and our car. :) We had a yummy Indian dinner and before we got out of the restaurant, a huge rain storm hit. So glad we didn't have to move in that! We then headed to DC for the weekend before heading on down to Texas. I'll post those pics soon cause that was a whole other adventure! Nothing with us is ever boring, especially on a road trip. :)

Daddy's Graduation!!

Hard to believe that we are done with school. Yes, 'we'. Andy did most of the school work, but it was definitely a family effort. The kids will tell you, "daddy has to get a job". :) cracks me up. Halle is so proud of her daddy. She keeps saying, "he's all done with school!!" The kids went one year with only seeing their dad on Saturday's and Sunday's. The second year, we dragged them all over NY, getting up early, staying up late, sitting in traffic, buses, subways, missing friends, parties, activities, etc to get daddy where he needed to be. They are real troopers!!

Daddy and his other little PA. Payton has also earned numerous hours giving dolls, Shrek, and teddy bears check-ups, surgeries, and personal care. Luckily, he's stopped 'cutting' babies to get them 'born.'

If you want and interesting conversation, just visit with these two. Andy and Grandma Lori (my mom). Mom is a nurse and these two love discussing all the 'gross and exciting' medical stories they can. Half the time I have no idea what they are talking about. Mom hates to fly and came out MANY times to help us and visit.

I told you my man looks good in his white coat. I'm SO PROUD of him and all the hard work he's done. (Of course he couldn't have done it without me) They should give out a wife's diploma? JK :) No one better tell me that PA's don't do a lot. Cause ya'll have no idea. He has worked Hard!

Andy and his parents. I know they join me in being so happy and proud of Andy. There is NO way we could have made it through these last few years without both our parents' help. They have all done more than we can ever give thanks enough for. We are so grateful to have such wonderful family support and love. We owe you all so much! Thankyou! Thankyou! Thankyou!

Andy graduated from St. John's University. Though we wish there would have been air conditioning in the building, it was a very nice ceremony. I think it lasted 30 min. Short, sweet and to the point. If only they could all be like that. We also made some really good friends in school and will miss them and their 'crazy' antics. :)

We did it! It was worth every minute, yahoo!!!

Fun Day at Central Park

One thing we wanted to do before leaving NY was take the kids on a carriage ride through Central Park. I actually enjoy just walking through the park but this is much easier and nicer with the kids. The horses' name was Murphy, a brown paint Clydesdale.

Dad and mini me

Best pic I got. All she wanted to do was eat her ice cream!

Once again, burying Payton in the sand. :) We were having fun at the park until we noticed the DARK clouds quickly coming toward us. Our car was parked in lower Manhattan since the day was supposed to start out differently. (note: make sure museums aren't closed on the day you're going) We took the subway back downtown and me, being the smarty I am, messed up and we got off early. Oops! We had about a mile to walk and the clouds kept coming. We were half way there and the rain came down..Ya know, like the song, and the floods came up..yep, POURING! Andy and I each had a kid in a single stroller. We decided to just run for it and took off. We got splashed, jumped through monstrous puddles and hid under window canopy's. Everyone looked at us and laughed cause we, including the kids, were all laughing while getting soaked. This is how we looked when we finally got to the car lot.

By the way, when we pulled out of the lot. It had stopped raining.......

Girls Night Out

I loved being able to say, "lets have a girls night out and go to the city". This girls night out, we headed to NYC for the ballet. It was 3 short ballets with stories I don't think I could explain since, I mostly only understood the last. However, it was awesome and only cost $20! Made me wish I could dance again. We did do a little dancing but certainly not up to that calibre.
After the show, we had a nice stroll to Magnolia Bakery for some yummy sweets. That might not be on the diet if one is wishing to be a ballerina but it was delish!
The ride home was crazy-fun. Can honestly say I've never jammed like that in a mini-van before. Thanks girls for a fab night!

Mel, Rachel, Julie, Kris, Lourdes

mmm goood....

Coming soon to a theater near you..
Kris, Julie, Lourdes, Mel, Rachel, Rachel

Lourdes doing her "latin style" ballet moves. Hot!

So you think you can dance?

Catch'n Up

I haven't been able to get to my pictures until now so I wanted to catch up on a few things before I get to our current excitement. :)
A while ago we went to visit our friends and help them weed their garden. There was a lot of mud on the ground since NY had gotten rain almost every day for two weeks!! Andy kept getting after Payton to stay clear from the mud. Payton was being a good boy listening but accidentally dropped his ball and crossed the mud to get it and just like a clip from funniest home videos, he flew up in the air and landed on his butt. Andy didn't see what happened but turned to see him stuck in the mud. Took a minute to explain how funny it really was so he didn't get in trouble. :) Had to drive home so Payton got sprayed off and couldn't stop laughing.

One of the nice things about living in NY is that if you want to get rid of something, you just leave in on the sidewalk. We've scooped up a lot of fun toys that way. Halle has really been wanting a scooter and sure enough, a neighbor threw one out.

Our neighbor, Steven, who lives below us. He is so funny and cute. We play with him about every day. I feel a little bad for his parents cause it's hard to keep my kids in line all the time. Every time we go outside, Halle and Payton just say, "Steven, come out and play!" He runs to the window and then I guess talks him mom into letting him come out. Or, if I'm going downstairs to do laundry, Halle just yells under his door. "Steven, I see your feet, come play!" So embarrassing! Luckily they are really nice. He doesn't speak much English at all but we have a great time.

Our other daily activity is to go the the park across the street. We have a REALLY nice park. This side is the beach park and we love burying each other in the sand.

These are the outdoor toys we've gotten from the neighbors, all FREE of course. What a loot!

I also had a birthday in May. Dang, I really need to catch up. It was one of my best birthdays. Andy and the kids brought me breakfast in bed, made a cake, and sang Happy Birthday. We had a fun day just playing outside in the water and at the park. We had a yummy lunch on the pier with 'Uncle Mike' and a great girls night with my friend Raegan. So glad the day was fun and I was able to forget how old I'm getting!!