The Big Apple! New York City!

After visiting Elisa's sister, Jessica, and her husband, Bryan, in Washington DC, the four of us took the train up to New York City. While there we took in all the sights and sounds of the Big Apple. We rode around the city on a double-decker tour bus, visited Times Square, took a walk through Central Park, and saw the Empire State Building and Ground Zero. Plus we visited China Town and Little Italy, and got some great New York pizza at Bella Napoli's. We also ate at the world famous Carnegie Deli - one pastrami sandwich fed all four of us! Then we got some New York style cheesecake that was out-of-this-world good. One of our favorite places to visit was the FAO Schwartz toy store, where we played on the giant piano just like the movie BIG. Next, we went to the Hershey's and M&M's stores in Times Square. Probably the highlight of the trip was seeing Phantom of the Opera on Broadway - unbelievable!

Nation's Capital

During Jake's recent break between semesters we went up to visit my sister Jessica, and her husband in Washington D.C. While we were there we took in all of the sites including the monuments, memorials, museums, and the White House. We also had a wonderful trip to the D.C. LDS Temple, and visited great Great Falls national park. It was really nice to visit my sister and I can't believe the next time I see her she will have a little baby!

Beach Trip

We got to head down to the beautiful beaches of South Alabama and Florida. Our friends, the Brownings, as well as their Vietnamese neighbors Nam, Nhung, and Emily went with us on the trip. We all stayed together in a condo on the beach and had lots of fun adventures! While touring the coast we went crab hunting at midnight, visited the Naval Aviation Museum, took a dolphin tour in the Gulf, spent hours on the white sandy beach, and battled some awesome waves. We even saw some sting rays jumping up out of the water! It is so nice living so close to the beach!

Ward Campout

Jake and I had a blast at the ward campout. Jake and Sam performed a "Flight of the Concords Song" at the talent show around the campfire. We all played football and soccer and just hung out with friends. We all stayed up late chatting around the fire and eating s'mores. We loved playing with all the little kids in the ward. We had so much fun that night that we forgot to take pictures ourselves (so we put pictures of some of the kids that we got from their parents here on the blog). In the morning, several of us went for a "polar bear dip" in the lake. I proved my toughness by being the only girl that went on the morning dip! Woo woo!

Auburn City Fest

Elisa and I volunteered at the local spring party for the entire city - the Auburn City Fest. We supervised kids as they played on giant inflatables, watched the lumberjack competition, and helped kids on the pony ride. City Fest is a great tradition in Auburn that is completely free to the community and is a great family activity. Elisa absolutely loved all of the local crafts and art, and I definitely thought the ax throwing contest was pretty cool!