Welcome Home Rusty

It has been a long time but I am back. On October 4th Ryan and I flew home to Reno to help be the welcoming party. Ryan's little brother Rusty come home from the Chicago Illinois North mission. We are all so excited to have him home.

(Rusty)

(Ryan, Rusty, Kyle, and Kipp)

After the many hugs, pictures, and chatting at the airport we headed over to the church and Rusty was released from being a full time missionary. The whole day gave me flash backs of me coming home from my mission. The part where you have to take your name tag off is by far the hardest part. For me that point made the end of my mission a reality.

(Yummy chili and corn bread lunch)

(Soda)

The rest of the weekend was filled with hanging out, sewing, guitar hero, movies, soccer game, conquering the earthquake at Swensen's, General Conference, yummy food, Bocce, and more hanging out.

(Kyle playing soccer)

(Kipp and Rusty)

(Kipp, Rusty, Kyle, and Ryan)

A wonderful weekend. Welcome home Rusty.

1 Year Anniversary

Today is my 1 year mark at Pershing Square (where I work). It is amazing how time flies. This is sad but this is the first job I have had for over a year so this is a big deal for me.

A music filled weekend

Friday night Ryan and I went to see Once. It is one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. It is a sweet story and the music is amazing. So amazing that we bought the CD on itunes when we got home. In addition to listening to the soundtrack, we also listened to the always entertaining Risky Biscuit Hayseed Hoot, a great folk, bluegrass, and country program broadcast every Saturday morning from good ol' Reno, NV. Check it out if that is your cup of tea. It is often funny and makes Ryan nostalgic for Reno. We also tuned in to NPR's broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion. The city life seems to create a hunger for an old-timey, folksy slice of Americana.

Saturday we went to the Ben Harper concert which was also amazing music. Ben Harper has incredible energy. The concert was at Radio City Music Hall a spectacular venue. We took a few pictures, but not many turned out because it was so dark. But this one is pretty cool. Sunday we went to church and then relaxed the rest of the day. We took a walk Sunday afternoon, and let me tell you that fall is in the air. This weekends weather was perfect, and I am so happy that cooler weather is here.

Trip Home To Reno

The new pool and Kyle's tricks

Happy Birthday

Nicole and Christian cutting the cake

Kipp, Ryan, and Kyle on the patio

The new pool and pool house. The sky is Ryan's favorite color. That blue right before the sky goes black.

Soda

Pyramid Lake Golfing

Pyramid Lake

Weekends are way too short.

Coming soon are pictures from our trip home to Reno but until them I will tell you about this past week and weekend. Last week Ryan started school again and so far so good. I can't believe it is already September and we are moving into the fall. I am a little sad the summer is over but to be honest I am ready for some nice fall weather with hopefully no humidity. Friday night we went to the Whitney Museum of American Art. They had some really cool stuff but we were a little sad because they have a big 60s exhibit so a lot of the permanent stuff was not there. The 60s exhibit was just OK and it was super packed with people. It was so hot and humid this weekend that it made walking around not so pleasant. We had dinner at a Persian restaurant around the corner from our apartment. The food is always really good. Saturday we slept in which was delightful and then headed down to the Apple store on 5th Ave to check out the new fun toys. We really shouldn't go in there because it just makes us want want want. We journeyed down to Union Square and bought some produce at the Green Market. The green markets has to be one of my favorite parts of New York. The produce is just amazing and it is fun to see all the colors and different vegetables and fruits. We relaxed the rest of the afternoon and then branched out and tried a new recipe. We bought poblano peppers at the market and made chiles rellenos They were actually really yummy. Sunday we went to church and had a nice relaxing day. We went for a walk and it was a prefect evening. Now it is Monday again. The weekends are way too short.

Happy Birthday

Happy 30th Birthday Coley!

I am getting back on the blog train with two posts in one day. Last night Ryan and I were walking home from the subway. We walked by Serendipity (the famous restaurant in NYC) and for once it didn't have a wait line a mile long. So we made a spontaneous decision and stopped in. I was a little skeptical at first because people make such a big deal out of it. But the frozen hot chocolate (what they are famous for) is pretty good. The food was not that special and it was super expensive for what it is but the frozen hot chocolate is very interesting. The texture is totally different than anything else and it is super chocolaty. I don't think I would wait for 5 hours for it but I would have it again. So my suggestion is go when there is no line and just have the frozen hot chocolate. (Over Thanksgiving Ryan's family was in the city and we tried to go to Serendipity at midnight but there was a 2 hour wait. Crazy!)

1 Year in New York

We celebrated our one year in New York on September 1st but we were in Reno so I didn't get to post an anniversary note.

Word from New York

Things have picked up a little bit at work which is nice. But I haven't been able to update the blog as frequently. So here is an update for the last few days. Last Wednesday night my company had an early screening of the "Nanny Diaries". It was pretty good but kind of uncomfortable watching it with a bunch of people from New York that have nannies. The best comment was from my bosses wife. After the movie was over she said, "I feel bad for leaving my child at home with the nanny. I better get home, wake him (her son) up and give him a big hug." Thursday night Ryan and I went to dinner with Laurel to say good bye. She was leaving for London on Saturday. We had dinner at Olives and it was amazing. I love ever bit and especially the desert. It was a cookie sampling that we all shared. It consisted of homemade HoHo, nutter butter, chocolate chip, white chocolate mac nut, cookie dough, red velvet cupcake, oatmeal, and three different ice cream scoops. It was to die for. It was a nice evening but it was really sad to say goodbye. I am really going to miss her. But hope to go visit her in London sometime. Saturday the weather in New York was delectable. So Ryan and I took a picnic to the park and enjoyed the evening. We even threw the Frisbee around a little. The weather was mid 70s and sunny, perfect. Since then it has rained like crazy. It has been dark and gloomy and it starting to feel like fall. It is very strange. And that's the news. I will add more pictures soon.

Chatham New York

My boss has a country home in Chatham New York. So on Friday July 27th we took the day off and all drove up there. It was an awesome day and here are a few pictures to document the day.

The house is just spectacular. This is a view from the front.
This is a view from the back from across the pond.

The view (they have a 100 acres)

The door into the master bed room

the view from the dining, through the entry way, past the living room, into the sun room, and ending in a bedroom.

Sun room

stairs up to two bedrooms

living room

dance dance revolution game (Amy and Erika)

Playhouse

tennis court

dock on the pond (Morgan, Amy, Bethany)

Karen (Bill's wife) and Liza (Bill's youngest daughter) (Bill is the main boss)

Morgan, Karen and Saritza

Me, Bethany, Bill, Oliver, Alex, Erika, and AmyBeautiful pool and pool house

Joelle, Erika, and Doreen

Joelle and Morgan

Lucy (Bill's middle daughter) and Bill

Amy and Bethany

I love my new camera. The landscaping was amazing.

It was so peaceful and quiet. Such a nice day away from the city.

Bill's Ferrari

I got to go for a ride. It was crazy!

They have two beautiful sitting area off the back of the house. Both house couches and chairs. One is enclosed with screens and the other one is open air.

They have a row boat on their pond.

Tim

We barbecued steaks and corn and all sat together and had dinner.

It was Joelle's birthday so we celebrated with a Barbie cake. It was perfect

Almost a month later

I am sorry it has been almost a month since I have written. It has been a busy few weeks. A few of the things we did were: a day at the beach, fondue dinner at a restaurant call Dipped, work summer outing in Chatham NY, Ryan worked a part time job for three weeks, dinner at Daniel with my Aunt Vicki and Laurel, drinks at the Peninsula Hotel rooftop for my coworkers birthday (can I get a Sprite please ), and flying to Utah to try and help my Grandma and Grandpa. My Grandfather has Parkinson disease and about a month ago my Grandparents had travels to Logan Utah for a family reunion. While they were there my grandpa feel and broke two vertebrae in his neck. He had been in the ICU for three weeks. The doctors were not sure how much he could take so we went to see him help my Grandma. It has been an emotional rollercoaster and it is hard to see him going through this but he is amazing and I was so happy we went. They finally got him home to California last week but he still has a long road of recovery ahead of him. I am going to give more details about the past month with pictures.