Dirty Snow and Narnia

Since getting our new camera, it is so much more fun to post the pictures we take with it. Last week we got some snow on Valentine's Day, and it was pretty at the time but has turned into a mess since, reminding you more of sand than snow. This is me standing at the bus stop waiting for the bus we take to church. My poor knees are freezing because my tights are just too uncomfortable to wear at this point. Luckily it was not too cold today. Tomorrow though we expect "arctic winds"! That might put a damper in our plans to go to Coldstone.

The park (remember our fall picture here?) was much more beautiful than the street, with a relatively clean blanket of snow, unsullied by cars and garbage. We like this lamp post because it reminds us of the one in Narnia.

33 Weeks!

So I've gotten a lot bigger since my last picture! I'm not sure my t-shirt will ever be the same. Other than that not much change except she has become a lot more active lately and I tend to eat a lot! If it's there - I'll eat it. If it's not - I'll bake it. Good times. Helaman and I had given up ice cream before our trip to Hawaii last year, but now we are back on it big time. The past few weekends we have braved temperatures in the teens to go to Coldstone Creamery (no cheap stuff for us, thanks) for our favorite flavors and mix-ins. Yum!

It's cold outside!

The past few days have been very cold, dry and windy in New York. We have yet to have a giant snow dump like last February's record two feet, but even then we didn't see the Hudson River freeze over like it did this week. It's quite a sight today from our living room, and was even more icy a couple days ago when I left for work in 9 degree weather. No jet skiers out this weekend!

Indian Circus adventures

Thought this cartoon sums up the 7th month of pregnancy pretty well!

This weekend we went down to the east village in 20 degree weather (explanation for the red face) for some Indian food with friends at a place that strongly resembles a circus inside, it is really unbelievable. They pack as many people as possible in. We saw some fire department people checking it out and just hoped we'd be able to eat before they shut the place down. We did and it was yummy!

Charlotte's Crib

To celebrate Martin Luther King day this year we carved out a corner of our bedroom and set up Charlotte's bed. Making good use of it now are my old Raggady Ann and Raggady Andy dolls, freshly washed and ready for their new playmate. Special thanks to the grandmas who provided the crib and the bedding to make such a cute area for her! 

28 weeks!

To celebrate my 28th week of pregnancy, I got a really fun shot at the doctor's office. Since Christmas, my belly has really started to show and I'm happy to say that people have been really nice in giving me their seats on the subway as a result. Venturing to Target yesterday, I took a suitcase thinking that I could wheel all the groceries home instead of carrying them by hand. I didn't really take into consideration the 50 stairs to get to the subway platform though! Fortunately a really nice person helped me lift it up to the train, and another person helped me get the suitcase out of the subway when I got to my stop, even though he was going the other way. It made me feel good that there are so many thoughtful people around willing to help a stranger out on a rainy Saturday.

So here is a picture of me today in a dress that Helaman picked out at the Limited last week. 

Christmas time again!

Merry Christmas! We love the Christmas season. This year we lucked out and got a decent sized tree and filled it up with our ornaments. Of course, as you can see, our real Christmas present will arrive on April 6, 2007! In the meantime, little Charlotte is keeping me warm this winter as the wind unleashes its fury on unsuspecting subway riders. She's been amazingly good so far and hasn't made me sick at all, and just loves to kick and bounce around when we are at the movies. Maybe because she is trying to sleep...

We look forward to visiting Arizona which is the place to be during the winter. 

Weekend Fun

On the way to church each week we walk through part of Fort Tryon Park. Lately it's been really pretty so we got a shot in before the leaves are all blown away. In other news, I found a recipe for Jamba Juice's Pumpkin Smash smoothie which we love. At BYU, my roommate Christianne and I collected "buy one get one free" coupons for Jamba out of all our neighbors' recycle bins and enjoyed half price Jambas most of the year. This was one of my favorites. Here is the recipe:

1/4 cup Pumpkin Pie mix
2 cups vanilla frozen yogurt or ice cream
1 cup soy milk
ice

So simple! I had always thought I was getting a healthy treat from Jamba - I guess not with all that ice cream! Oh well, it is a fun fall treat.

Another fun outing we had recently was to the Garden State Mall, 6 miles over the bridge. Heretofore it had seemed inaccessible, but we found a lesser-known mini-bus line going from our bus station to the mall for just $2.50! The best part was they leave every few minutes. They drop you in the parking lot and when you're done, they are usually waiting for you out in the parking lot. Better than a taxi service! And definitely better than driving a car through that maddening traffic. We're just bummed we just found out about this great resource and haven't been using it for the two years we've already been here! 

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! This year we carved a pumpkin named Wolfe

and watched a scary movie.

 

Fall Pumpkin Festival in Boston

Summer's over and fall has blown in quickly. Before it got real cold, we took a little trip to see our friends Aaron and Shara in Boston. We took the Chinatown bus on Friday after work. It is definitely the cheapest way to travel! There was a pumpkin festival in Boston Commons Park which was perfect because we love to carve pumpkins. They provided the pumpkins and people just showed up to carve. Unfortunately, most people focused on the quantity of the pumpkins (they were going for 30,000 this year!) instead of doing quality work. So our pumpkins put them to shame as you can see.

Aaron and H in a pumpkin patch. Working hard! Me and H at Harvard.

It was a fun festival. At Boston Common with George. It was a spectacular sight to see all 30,000 pumpkins lit up. I'm not sure who lit them all, but it must have taken a while! Some had Christmas lights in them, but most were lit with little candles.

Kona, Big Island Adventures

Our next stop was Kona, on the other side of Hawaii, the big island. We traveled up to a ranch which claims it produces 39% of all beef consumed in the US, with over 89,000 head of cattle. We didn't see any cattle, but took advantage of the huge expanses of grassland to ride their ATV fleet, which has replaced horses in rounding up cattle, which makes sense. The ATVs can go anywhere. Up and down very steep hills, through mud and sludge. On one hill, the guy in front of me took a corner too fast and the ATV flipped over on top of him. He was okay though. Helaman, Julie, Leroy and I made it out alive and unhurt, although covered with dirt.

Hilo, Big Island

On Hawaii, we took a tour of some of the volcano sites, a botanical garden and waterfalls.

Kauai

Kauai is the island where they filmed Jurassic Park, because it is sooo green and lush. They say it is always raining on some part of the island, and we got a small dose of it (not too much though!) when we went ziplining through the trees and over the ravines. It was a ton of fun!! At the highest we were 200 feet above ground.

Afterwards, we rented mopeds and once we negotiated our way out of busy traffic, rolled through some great, open countryside and down to some falls with a swimming hole.

Oahu

Our first stop in Oahu was Sea Life Park, where we got to swim with dolphins! Afterward, we checked out the huge turtles and amazing views.

Maui

Our first day of the cruise was spent in Maui, where we went to a luau at the Maui Prince Hotel.

New York News

Mark and Steve came back to New York with us and we wore them out in two days worth of walking around the city! This is all of us at the Brooklyn Bridge (to tired to cross it!) and then on our roof next to the George Washington Bridge.

Virginia Vacation

Last week Helaman and I took the bus from New York to Washington, D.C. and were impressed with the speed (thanks to an aggressive busdriver) and ease of the journey! It beat driving any day. We had a good time in Virginia in the Shenandoah Mountains (pictured) relaxing. It was great to get out of the city for a little while. We did some grass skiing, horseback riding, and pool games.