Start spreadin' the news...

I hope the title of this post puts a little show tune in your head that's been in mine for a solid 5 days now... and I haven't even tried to get it out. That's right, New York, New York! We got home Sunday night, well Monday morning technically... after waiting on the runway at JFK for a solid 2 hours, we finally made it into SLC at around midnight and got to Jason's parents house a bit after 1 AM. Of course we had to sneak into where our girls were sleeping to peer at 'em both for a good long minute... to size up the fattening that had occurred since we'd left them and to splendor in their delectable nature while slumbering... Then we gave 'em imaginary squeezes before we collapsed exhausted into bed ourselves.(and of course we snuck into Gma and Gpa's bedroom to stare at them sleep for a bit as well... but don't tell them that).

What a few days! Honeywell Security flew us out for a "partner appreciation" few days of bliss and indulgence. And lemme tell ya, we were indulged! It was my first time visiting the Big Apple and I really have never seen anything quite so splendid as New York City. Splendid, overwhelming, awesome, terrifying, magnificent, claustrophobic, thrilling, fascinating and inspiring. I kept looking around at all the hoards of people thinking, I can't believe all you people LIVE here! I can't believe this is your every day life! And then I would remember my little tiny crumpled-little-fisted baby sister Vanessa who will be moving to Manhattan this very summer... and was overcome with awe and solemnity and amazement. I really admire her. She sortof astonishes me; her and her big city thick skin. But not really. I mostly think she's insane. But in a good way. Oh shut up, you!

I also realized that while I revel very much in my doses of adventure, I think I might be a small town girl at heart. I don't mean small town as in 1200 people. I do like to be within a reasonable driving distance from a major airport. But I like my Utah open roads. And our .6 acre that didn't cost 10 mil. I mostly realized this when we were riding on the Subway and I got all bulgy-eyed and short of breath because I was POSITIVE that at any minute I was going to be witnessing a stabbing or a shooting. I knew it was about to happen. I just knew it. Well folks, thank goodness it didn't! Don't ever believe me if I tell you I received a revelation that I'm to be the next prophet or something. Because I'll probably realize it was just hormones later on. But that's how sure I was that someone was going to suffer a painful and horrifying death in my immediate vicinity on that subway ride. Later I realized it was just indigestion. Chili cheese fries will do it every time. Phew!

Thankfully I didn't witness a stabbing or a shooting, but I did see two hot dog vendors screaming and all up in each other's faces. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but I think it was something along the lines of, THAT'S MY MUSTARD!! AND WHERE'D YOU GET THAT SWEET RELISH!? That was pretty invigorating. I grabbed my honey's hand and walked away quickly. And I did see a Taxi cab run into the side of a building and completely shatter the glass window of a Starbucks. (Really, Jason took these pics, I didn't even pull them off the internet. We had just walked away from this corner about 20 seconds prior.) Everyone was okay. I'm first aid certified you know, so I had to throw some elbows to make sure. No big deal.

Poor guy is standing there having to deal with just running into the side of a building and people are running up posing by him and all that shattered glass for pictures. Thumbs up and smiling. I think I may have even seen a few people ask him if he wouldn't mind posing for a pic with them. And then I saw a guy ask him if he wouldn't mind getting back into his car, backing it up, and running into the building again... he was mad he didn't catch it on film the first time. Okay, that last one didn't happen. But you can imagine what it'd be like if it did, right? Right??

Oh and if you're living in New York and reading this, you think you're better than me just because I said I didn't know if I could hack it? You think I'm weak? Think you're better than me, Nessa?? You don't even know what I deal with living in Provo. You don't even know me. I'm gonna try growing raspberries for the very first time this summer, so don't act like you know adventure and I don't.

At any rate, I loved this city!! We stayed right across from Ground zero, I took this pic from our hotel room. Do you see the footprints of the original towers? They'll be memorial pools shortly. Seeing all of this construction and the building of the new world trade center made me so emotional. I was a blurry-eyed mess. Just walking around the area made me want to hug the construction workers and thank them. When I was missing my homeland while serving my LDS mission in Paraguay I used to get in the shower and belt out the national anthem with big tears streaming down my face. It made me want to do that again. The new tower they are building will be 1776 feet high. Wonderfully fitting, isn't it?? (The Empire State Building is some 1450 feet.) It will be a beautiful monstrous beacon to the world. I love this country so much.

Brooklyn Bridge:

China town:

St. Paul's church, where George Washington prayed after his inauguration:

Hardly any of these headstones are legible now, but the dates you can make out are all from the late 1700s. It was a sacred place to be, wondering about all of those lives and what life must have been like for all of those freedom loving people.

The second night there we went on a dinner cruise around Manhattan. Loved every. single. minute.

See the red white and blue Empire State Building? Jason and I re-watched Sleepless in Seattle a few week ago, so seeing that building made me feel all gooey inside.

Love that lady:

We caught a ferry out to Liberty Island and Ellis Island as well. Ellis Island was another tear jerker for me. Especially thinking about those mommies with their small babies making the voyage. They risked so much to come here.

This sculpture was salvaged from the twin towers. It was created to symbolize world peace. Damaged but not destroyed.

Here's the Wall Street charging bull. I was amazed at the number of people, americans and foreigners alike, gathered around the back side of this bull taking turns to get a picture with its testes. I love capitalism too, trust me. But I think maybe we love it in a different way. Or maybe they just love rocky mountain oysters. P.S. Sorry for using the word testes just now, it's an abhorrent word. Pretty much any word you wanna use referring to those... abhorrent.

Had to get a little bit of NYC shopping in there. Check out this D&G beauty, retailed at around $2300. Jason can't wait to wear it to church on Sunday.

Yankee Stadium! And even better, Yankees vs. Red sox game. This pic was pretty early on in the game, but that game was sold out for months. We were spoiled.

The next day we made our way uptown to 5th Ave and headed into FAO Schwarz. I would have stayed here the entire day. I took so many pictures in this place I didn't even know what to do with myself. I've never seen so much dollhouse loot in my life. Here are the pics I'll narrow it down to, because I was so mystified and smitten in the doll house section, being a dollhouse owner myself all my life:

Look at that miniature furniture. Look at the wee little' lamps and rugs and mini burberry bags, (top middle). It set something off inside of me. Didn't you read Indian in the cupboard when you were a kid? Oh man. It's all very magical. And I just kept thinking, My mom would have a fit here. Jason had to drag me away kicking and screaming. I'm gonna have an insane collection of these little miniatures someday. It's in my blood.

And don't even get me started with the Harry Potter section. A counter that says, "Quality Quiddich supplies"?? Another that says, "Flourish and Blotts?" Forget about it.

Jason picked out his birthday present this year too. A Barbie foosball table!! For only 25,000 bucks! He's SO excited to set this up at his office. The guys should all really love it.

Times Square: This place was mind boggling to me. Plus, it was all foggy and you couldn't even really see the top of the sky scrapers. Mystical, right? Tripped me out.

We even walked over and got a slice of pizza from our very favorite authentic New York pizza place, Sbarro.

And just before heading back to the airport, had to stop in at Serendipity's for the legendary frozen hot chocolate. The peanut butter one will be stuff my dreams are made of for weeks.

Stop judging my double jointed thumbs. Just stop it. That's not even as far back as they curl. Another day, another blogpost. Wait for that one. I don't wanna talk it up, but it's gonna blow your mind.

Okay, I've got to go. Scarlett should be waking up from her AM nap any minute now. Even though she's probably sick of me because I haven't been able to stop kissing her cherubic cheeks ever since we got home. It might not be so bad if I didn't kiss them with such force and such intensity but I can't help myself. They both get extra mauled for being such good girls while we were away. We pulled out their pictures no less than 3700 times. We're those parents, folks. And not ashamed.

New York, ya treated us real nice! Real real nice! We hope ta see ya again soon someday. Real soon. Thinkin' about our time together makes me giddy all over again.