the little move before the big move. . .

 we were sad to move out of our little yellow house a couple

of weekends ago.

logan's parents are kindly letting us shack up with them

for a few months before we make the big move

to texas in july.

i would have loved to live in our little house until making the

big move, but there's not a whole lot you can do when your lease us up!

until we make the big move were are trying to enjoy the beginnings 

of spring here in provo.

recent activitires have included frozen yogurt at the park

and attending my niece's spring preschool performance.

as excited as i am about moving out of utah in a few 

short months, i can't help but feel a little scared at times.

i have absolutely loved being so close to family and there

are a lot of people that we will miss once we move.

however, i know that texas will bring new adventures & opportunities

& i can't wait to explore a new city and meet new friends. 

until then, we are going to try and live it up in little old provo :)

nyc. . .

logan & i went to the big apple last week

for a fun spring break vacation to visit my sister and her husband.

it. was. awesome.

everything was perfect with the exception of my sister

getting strep throat while we were there :(

while she was quarantined in her apartment, logan & i

had fun exploring the city.

we made a trip to the 9/11 memorial that is just a few

blocks away from my sister's place.

it was really amazing seeing the two huge memorial pools

where the two towers used to stand.

they had the names of all the victims etched into the sides

of the fountains, and the giant freedom tower being

constructed on the site is HUUUGE.

we went to a store right around ground zero called century 21.

it is basically like a nordstrom rack on steroids.

i could tell logan was slightly overwhelmed as we entered the mad house.

however, after a few minutes, logan was thriving right along

side of all the other crazed shoppers searching for a deal.

he quickly accumulated a small wardrobe for himself to try on.

don't let logan fool you-he says he hates shopping but

the man is a sucker for a good deal.

we ended up making two more trips to century 21 just for logan :)

a trip to nyc wouldn't be complete without a visit to

times square & rockefeller center.

i think times square is actually a little more exciting at night

when everything seems bigger and brighter, but we still

managed to have a grand old time in the middle of the day.

we quickly made some friends as we wandered around.

they acted so excited to see us as they posed for multiple pictures.

as soon as the pictures were taken they also waved there cute little

bags on our faces and insisted on being compensated.

we gave them $2 and quickly went on our merry way.

on our flight to nyc logan saw a commercial for this huge

car show that was happening that weekend.

he got super excited about it and made me promise we would go.

i wasn't too thrilled at the idea-who would want to

be stuck inside looking at cars when we are

in new york?

i have to admit, it was actually pretty cool & there

were some pretty amazing cars there.

needless to say, logan was in heaven.

i also had some fun of my own checking out the new beetle.

i seriously had to wait in like for like 10 minutes just

to sit inside and take a picture-i guess everyone else

loves the new beetle as much as me!

the other highlight of the car show was getting to take a

picture with the kia soul mascot- the hamster.

was i embarrassed to take this pic?

not at all :)

since logan got to choose the car show- i got to choose the

art museum we went to.

we ended up only having time to go to one, but since i had

already been to the Met before, i wanted to check out the MoMA this time.

going to the museum was probably my favorite part of our trip.

i LOVE seeing works of art that i've only seen/studied in books.

the highlights included works by van gogh, mondrian, pollock & warhol.

there were also works from picasso, matisse, rothko and monet that i loved.

trying to take a picture of monet's 'water lillies' was a little

frustrating because 1. it's huge and 2. the camera could

not capture how amazing the colors really are.

oh well!

besides seeing cars and paintings, we ate AMAZING food.

and we at a lot of it.

i guess it was a good thing my sister let us use two of

her passes to a spinning class at Soul Cycle (which i could

write an entire post about because it was SO intense).

you can read my sister's post here & get the general idea.

we burned a lot of calories that day.

plus we did a lot of walking the whole times so it all balances

out in the end, right?

i hope so.

our fave place to eat for a quick bite was Shake Shack.

i'm pretty sure it's only an east coast thing- but let me just

tell you we are missing out here in the west.

the burgers are SO fresh and the fries are delicious!

not to mention their shakes which are divine.

we ate there twice but if we had one here in UT you can

bet your bottom dollar i'd be there like every day.

another fave place was grimaldi's pizza.

we took a ferry ride over to brooklyn just to eat it.

we had to wait in line for about 25-30 minutes but it was

totally worth the wait.

we met up with my dear friend hannah who is about to graduate

from FIT and become a famous textile designer :)

after dinner we walked across the brooklyn bridge

back into manhattan.

i also had the privilege of seeing another dear friend

of mine who just so happened to be in the city the same

weekend as me.

katie was in town competing in a duathalon that she ended up taking

3rd place in for her division!

needless to say, our reunion on the steps of anthropologie

was nothing short of magical.

other eats included lemon ricotta pancakes at sarabeths's

which i literally didn't take a picture of because the second

they were brought to me i scarfed them down.

cupcakes from magnolia bakery as well as georgetown cupcakes.

i prefer georgetown cupcakes but that's just me :)

we kept it classy and ate gyro's along the hudson river.

that tiny object to the right of logan's cute face

is indeed the statue of liberty.

we ate the best mexican food i've ever had at la esquina.

the cochinita pivil (sweet pork tacos) were spectacular.

but the crowning food-moment of our nyc experience

had to be the cookies from levain bakery.

honestly-i can't tell you how good they are.

you really have to try one for yourself but i can assure you

that after you have, you will also be a believer.

they are thick and dense and warm and baked to perfection.

this was logan's actual reaction is he took his cookie out and looked

at it up close for the first time.

i made him keep it in the bag until we found the perfect spot

in central park to sit and enjoy them.

the neighborhood around levain bakery is also to die for.

i love brownstones.

our trip to nyc was pretty spectacular.

we enjoyed all the big moments and everything else in between.

we would love to go back soon.

hope you feel better SJ-thanks again!

4 years and counting. . .

2 weekends ago logan & i went to salt lake

& ran in a 5k my mom helps plan each year.

this is the 4th year in a row i have done the race.

check out last year's experience here.

ironically, my mom has been out of town each year

at the time of the actual race.

this year she was lucky enough to be in town, so we were

able to run the race together for the first time!

in case you didn't know, my mom is basically amazing

and she LOVES to run.

she and my dad have competed in marathons

from St. George to Boston.

basically, my mom is legit.

my mom is so legit that i was actually quite nervous

at the prospect that she would be running the race

this year and could potentially (and most likely)

kick my butt.

long story short- she did :)

logan & i got to the start of the race like all of

the other participats: a bus picked us up

at the east high school track and took us to the top

of the hill where the race started.

did my mom take the bus with us?

no.

she decided to run about 2 miles to the start.

nbd.

before the race started my mom was talking to a bunch

of the people in the crowd that she knew.

logan & i entertained ourselves by taking pictures

of the 2 oldest men i think i've ever seen at the start

of a race.

don't you love how the man on the right is going

to run the race in his nicely ironed khaki pants?

classic.

the race started and my mom was nowhere to be found.

logan & i were running at a pretty fast pace

& i was feeling pretty good.

then, out of the corner of my eye, i spotted my mom.

she was pounding that pavement, taking off like a little pink fairy

in her white and pink lulu lemon jacket.

i hatched a brilliant plan to run right behind her, so i could

keep her pace and then pass her right at the last

minute as we crossed the finish line.

i thought i was genius for the first mile or so, but then

my mom started to speed up.

not only did she speed up, but she took off.

i could not keep up with my own mother.

she left logan & i in the dust.

i'm sure logan could have kept up with her, but i asked

him to run with me & he obliged like a good husband.

needless to say, by the end of the race i could see my mom standing

at the finish line.

logan & i finished in about 25 minutes-a minute

slower than my time last year and about 3 minutes

slower than my mom.

we stuck around to see the official times & to check

and see if we placed.

i am proud to say that my mom came in 1st place

for her age division.

her age division will not be disclosed, but let's just

say she is "over-the-hill".

i might not be able to beat my own mother in a 5k, but

at least I beat Keith- age 70.