Yanks with Mom and Dad

Jack treated Mom and Dad with sweet hookups to our favorite luxury suite at Yankee Stadium-- lobster rolls included!

Thanks for visiting us!  XOXOXO

UN Focus on Faith

Being at the UN had me tearing up, choking up, and dreaming up ways I can get a job there.  It was a great experience, and I had the most handsome tour guide anyone had ever seen!  (It was Jack...)

We took the day to attend a Focus on Faith meeting in April, co-hosted by LDS Charities, featuring a panel of leaders from different faiths, discussing their global efforts to aid in the current refugee crisis.  It was quite inspiring and we were happy to be there to support them in person.

 (we ran into one of Meggy-Eggy's companions out front!)

World peacey things always make me cry!

#RefugeesWelcome

#HarlemRen

We had a wonderful time at the opening reception for the Yale Beinecke Library, featuring their current (excellent!) exhibit on artists from the Harlem Renaissance.

And don't we look just smashing? :)

21 Club and The New York Giants!

As Handsome Hubs likes to say, "There is NOTHING like Christmas in New York City!"

We enjoyed a long weekend in New York earlier this month, which included our beloved annual luncheon at 21 Club with sing-along caroling to music by the Salvation Army brass band.  Always such a lovely time!

Then we went to the Met Museum because there was a Jerusalem exhibit that Linds has been dying to see!  The exhibit included a sketch of the Temple drawn by Maimonides himself!  (BIG DEAL!!)

Of course, Linds had to utilize Prof. Seely's (professor of Ancient Near-Eastern Studies at the BYU Jerusalem Center) secret scholarly advice to "Touch Everything!"

And finally, Linds is now the Executive Director of CASA (court-appointed special advocates) in Connecticut, locally known as Children In Placement, and so she got a chance to accept a donation on behalf of the agency at Sunday's Giants game!  Such an experience!

Hubs, of course, is a huge Giants fan, so his birthday came a little early this year!  Did you hear?  He is 44 TODAY!  XOXOXO!

Yankees (of course) and Apples

Before the Yanks were totally out of the running, we recently enjoyed a beautiful day at Yankee Stadium.  Jack was thrilled to see his favorite Baby Bomber, Gary Sanchez, hit a home run.

Plus I got a photo with some greats-- Bucky Dent and Mickey Rivers.

And fall in Connecticut means beautiful leaves and apple picking!  (And apple cider donuts, but we won't mention those..!)

PLUS, we had the honor of going on a tour of the #HartfordMormonTemple on the very first day it opened to the public.  What a beautiful place!  (And Matthew for the win on this photo:)

Annual-versary: Martha's Vineyard

I think going somewhere at the same time of year, three years in a row, is enough to make it an official annual trip.  So that means we recently returned from our Third-Annual Romantic Anniversary Trip to the Peaceful Island of Martha's Vineyard (working title)!

As before, it was great.  We seem to divide each day into thirds: morning, afternoon, evening.  One of those time slots gets extravagant eating (lobster on lobster with a side of lobster), one gets chilling out in rocking chairs on the porch/on the beach, and one gets doing something active and outdoorsy (biking around the island, kayaking...).  And in between, every day is a treat --ice cream for me (duh) and probably fried shrimp for Hubs.


The day of our actual anniversary, we did a 20 mile bike ride to the amazing South Beach where the waves are big and fun!  I took a float and had a nice tumble in the surf.

Then we had a special dinner at The Dunes, the restaurant at the Winnetu resort- très posh.

Then to get to dinner, we made our way to the Edgartown Yacht Club where the resort sends a water taxi to pick people up.  Honestly, this ride in the harbor and around the south-east of the island was worth the cost of our whole dinner- if was beautiful and we had a great, relaxing time.

When we docked, they then sent a cool, refurbished bus from the 1930s to get us to the restaurant.  The weather was perfect, the view was lovely, our waiter was cool (mom from Ireland + dad from Serbia = indistinguishable accent), the food was delicious, and they even gave us free (SCRUMPTIOUS!) Key Lime Pie to add to our celebration.  Loved, loved, loved!

Here are some more photos:

Blessed to live a charmed life!

Yankees + Star Wars

Yes- it is true!  The New York Yankees embraced their inner Jedi and had their first ever Star Wars Day at Yankee Stadium!

We originally wanted to come because of the hat giveaway-- these just screamed "Christmas Present!" for my family!  But now that we have them, they are so cute we just may not be able to part with them...

It was such a fun time- Star Wars characters, even R2-D2 himself made an appearance, rounding the bases!

When they announced the starting lineup for the opposing team, they played the Imperial March (lol) and when they showed the Yankee on the big screen who was batting next, he would be wearing a Rebel pilot suit.

Lots of John Williams playing, lots of kids in Star Wars shirts, a really good time!

The #EvAnika Wedding

I came up with the # --cuz I'm amazing like that.  Its their celebrity name, fo sho.

Baby Evan married his sweetie pie in July and we went out to Utah to be there.  This was one of those rare trips when we arrived well before the rest of the family, so we had loads of time to live it up in Utah!  If "living it up in Utah" sounds like an oxy moron, we would have totally agreed with you... BEFORE this trip.  Because- WOW!- we had such a surprisingly great time!

Here's some photos from our adventures:

And these were just regular old neighborhood fireworks from our friend's street on the 4th of July!  Utahns KNOW fireworks!  (It helps that aerial fireworks are legal here...)
(( **MY BAD!  Our homie Matthew Marshall actually took this in CT.  But frankly, Utah's fireworks looked just the same... ;)  ))

Jack's absolute highlight!  Riding horses at Maria's family's farm!  Their generosity was unbelievable.  They absolutely treated us like family and we love them!

A wonderful lunch spent with Grandma and Grandpa + our very dear Darius Gray.  Always a beautiful experience to feel his spirit!

Chair lift UP Snowbird in Little Cottonwood Canyon

 Gondola DOWN Snowbird in Little Cottonwood Canyon

So we went on another hike and this happened.  Seems kind of exciting to see a Life Flight helicopter land on a mountainside.  But the truth is, we were both a little traumatized.  An avid hiker passed out on the trail ahead of us, seemingly dying instantly of a heart attack.  CPR was performed for nearly an hour by bystanders and medics who hiked up to reach him, and the team from the helicopter worked on him, too, before pronouncing him dead.  We both relived some memories, and we both were even happier than usual to have each other, to have our health, and to have peace in our hearts.  Not an ideal hike, but we are glad we experienced it together.

Lake Mary, Brighton Trail in Big Cottonwood Canyon

Beautiful view, Rest In Peace, Sir.  You picked a lovely place to cross to the other side.  Honestly, all the way down we were talking about our mutual agreement that we hope our endings are as quick, as painless, and finds us happily doing what we love.

 Moose photo bomb :)

Hmmm...what's that sound?

MOOSE!!

And a super great time and Aunt Becky and Uncle Dave's new house-- including a chance for General Jack to drive his Jeep around town!

The EPIC view from where we stayed with Grandma and Grandpa!

Oh!  Grandma C with her littlest great-grandbaby!

And here's some photos from the wedding:

Bountiful Temple^

My little niecelettes!

An eternity of wedded bliss to you both!  XO!