Utah Trip

We took a quick trip to Utah to see my cousin Justin speak in church before he went on his mission. I was surprised because I didn't take very many pictures.....it didn't surprise me that most of those pictures were of Connor. We drove up on Saturday, spent Sunday there, and drove home Monday. It was a really quick trip and I am so tired of driving and being in the car. Connor did pretty good for being in his car seat for hours at a time. On our ride home, we were about 15 mins from home and Connor decided he had enough. He didn't want anything but getting out of the car. Jackie tried a bottle, but he just kept screaming. We pulled over and let him get out of the car for a few minuets and got back in the car for the rest of that short drive. We had a great trip and we were glad that we were able to see our family and hope Justin has a great mission!!

Marlene got me, Jackie, and Jenny matching sandals a few years ago. We all happened to bring them on this trip and took a picture to show Marlene how much we love them.

Getting ready to fall back asleep

Peek-a-boo

Holding the bottle by himself

How cute!!

New York City!!

So I haven't posted anything in forever. After working all day, I really don't want to sit in front of the computer any more. I need to check with my manager to see if I can do this from work on my breaks. As most of you may know, I just got back from New York City and had a blast!! We got do do everything that we wanted and packed as much as we could into each day. We got up early and went to bed late. I can't wait to go back again! I experienced many things for the first time.


First time to NYC:

Lori and I on the tour bus around NYC

First trip to the Empire State Building:

View from the top

Janice and I with King Kong at the top of the Empire State Building

First Broadway show!!

Getting ready for the show!!

Yeah!!

First trip to Ellis Island:

Lori, Janice, Sherida, and I at Ellis Island

First time seeing the Statue of Liberty:

Janice, Me, and Lori at the Statue of Liberty

On the boat to Statue of Liberty

Leaving NYC for the Statue of Liberty!

First Carriage ride around Central Park:

Standing in the rain waiting for our carriage ride around Central Park

Our carriage ride

First time to the Manhattan Temple:

Lori and I at the temple

Manhattan Temple

Biggest Sandwich ever!!

Kim trying to eat the sandwich

Can't even pick it up ;)

Big sandwich at the Carnegie Deli

First Subway ride:

Sherida and I on the subway

Kim and Lori on the subway

First Taxi ride:

No we didn't ride in this taxi...but we thought it was cool. Our taxi looked like any other taxi!

So many firsts and I can't wait to go back and experience everything for a second time. The only parts that I did not enjoy was the flight out and the rain on the last day. On our flight to NYC, a lady was having a heart attack and we had to make a emergency stop in Detroit. If any of you know me very well, you know that I do not handle medical emergency situations very well. It is a good think I had drowsy Dramamine in me. I just turned my music up and told Lori to tell me when she was off the plane.

It only rained two days while we were there. The first time it rained we were just leaving the statue of liberty and decided to take the subway back to the hotel instead of the tour bus or walking in the rain. That night we went to Wicked and it rained pretty hard while we were eating dinner, but the weather was great by the time we were done eating and we were able to walk to the theater without umbrellas. The last day in NYC it rained ALL DAY LONG!! The day before was bright and sunny so I thought we would get the sun two days in a row and didn't dress right for the day. I wore the wrong shoes and was soaked clear through. I make squishing noises when I walked. I was ready to get on the plane and get back to the sunny warm weather in Arizona!

All the rest of the trip was wonderful and amazing. We were able to go see two Broadway shows and had pretty good seats for both. We saw Wicked and Phantom of the Opera. I didn't know anything about Wicked and it was exciting to see how everything in that story tied into the Wizard of Oz. Phantom was awesome as well. I wanted to see Mama Mia too, but discounted tickets were all sold out. We also got to see all the sights too, Empire State Building, Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, China Town, and the MET. I took like 200 pictures, so I will try and get more pictures later :)

Grandma and Grandpa Hellewell Memories

Shanna tagged me awhile ago to post memories of Grandma and Grandpa Hellewell. I had a good time thinking of them and some of my favorite memories. I see that I have a lot of the same as both Shanna and Karie.

Making cinnamon rolls
Climbing the cherry tree and having picnics (Grandma would make small bowls of jello and we would throw our cups down when we were done)
Waking up to the Price is Right
Grandpa making pancakes in the shape of animals, people, or whatever we asked for
Shredded wheat cereal and bowls of sugar
Jam and toast
Grandpa not eating anything sweet and saying he was “Sweet enough the way he was.”
Blue room, green room, earwig room
The red couches (now in my apartment…..love them!!)
Grandpa barking like a dog
Grandpa taking naps on the floor
Roasting hot dogs in the backyard
Grandma’s store
Wall to wall beds in the basement
Grandma’s flat pillows and heavy blankets
Grandma’s jam
Grandpa flooding the yard and going swimming in the water
Yard sales
Making blankets
Grandma’s potato salad
Going shopping with Grandma at the dollar store and Kings
Visiting Grandpa and Danny at the shop
Grandma calling me “Little Janny”
Getting together with family for dinner in the backyard
The many Thanksgiving’s- my favorite was when we celebrated Christmas later Thanksgiving night and had Santa come and bring presents. We had Kristen open the door and she was so surprised to see Santa at the door that she jumped.
Playing on the swing in the backyard
Making tents and forts in the basement
Counting down each exit while driving to their house and crying halfway home when we had to leave
One shower to fight over….taking forever for everyone to get ready in the morning
Grandma’s 5 minute showers
Grandpa teaching me how to fold the flag and getting me up early to help him raise the flag then take it down at night

I have so many more. I am so blessed to have such great grandparents and an amazing family. Some of my best memories are with my family. I love you all!

I'm an Aunt!!!

My sister Jackie and her husband James had a baby boy on February 10 and named him Connor James Stone....and he is the cutest ever!! I am really enjoying every minuet that I get to spend with him and can't wait until he is a little older so I can spoil him rotten!! I have a ton of pictures to share with everyone and he just becomes more adorable every day. I know Jackie has posted some pictures on her blog, but I wanted to share a few of the pictures I have taken!!!

The cutest outfit ever!!

Sleeping baby

He looks just like Jackie when she was a baby!

Exciting trip...not!

So I have so many things to put on my blog, I am not sure where to start. In the next few days I will hopefully get everything up and post all the pictures too. The most exciting is I am an aunt finally! Connor James is the cutest little boy ever and I will add pictures in my next post.

Last weekend I flew to Idaho to help my mom go through my grandparents things and clean the house before it was sold. I already knew that it would be hard enough seeing the house empty and finally saying goodbye to the house and all the many memories. The trip started out on the wrong foot from the beginning at the airport and I should have just gone home instead ;)

James took me to the airport a little early because he had an appointment and couldn't take me later. I was ok with it and thought I would just eat lunch at the airport instead of at work. When I got to the airport, I saw that my flight was delayed by an hour...and it just kept getting later. I had a connecting flight in Salt Lake City and knew I wouldn't make it. They ended up changing my flight to connect through Reno instead. I had a long wait at the airport, but I was just happy to make it to Boise. Tom and Shanna picked me up and we went out to dinner at a great restaurant that night.

I tend to forgot that it is winter in other places....I have the air conditioner on in the car in Arizona :) So I was freezing cold in Idaho. Going through grandma's house was really hard, but we had so much to do in such a short time, that it made it easier to sale, divide, and throw away my grandma's things. I slept in the RV with Marlene and had a scary experience that everyone laughed at me about the next morning...but it scared me pretty good. Turns out it was just the garbage can banging against the RV and not people breaking in to the house to steal everything :)

Sounds like a lot happened? There is more...

We were late driving home because we just didn't have everything cleaned yet and sorted. Monday afternoon we left Idaho and drove to Susie's for dinner. We wanted to get as far down the road as possible that night so we left instead of staying the night. We were about 40 minuets away and ran into a snow storm. We pulled off at the nearest exit and slept in the RV until it stopped snowing. We were back on the road Tuesday morning and got another 20 miles down the road and the RV broke down. We were stranded for 6 hours waiting for a tow truck to tow us to the next town....where we waited for another 3 hours while it was being fixed. We finally made it to Mesquite, NV late Tuesday. By this time I had not showered in 2 days because of traveling. The hotel wasn't great, but there was a shower and a bed and we were happy. We finally made it home Wednesday. Jackie and James met us at my parents house with dinner....and Connor :) We are all happy to be home.

Things were crazy...but I have great memorize of this trip that I am sure we will laugh about later....I just don't want to do it again ;) I was glad that I was able to see the house one more time.

Towing the RV

Parked on the side of the road

Update

So I am still here!! I have 4 more weeks left of school and can't wait! I applied for a new position at work, but didn't get it. Instead they gave me a new team from a girl that was just let go and the team was in serious need of some hard work. I wasn't really asked to change teams, but it is hard to tell your manager no when they promise to make you a senior finance counselor in 6 months. I was rewarded with a big raise a few days later, so that helped a little. I have a bunch of picture to post from the past several weeks. I will finish one of my classes this week and will hopefully have more time!! Jenny told me the website for the backgrounds and Jackie showed me how to put it on there along with linking every one's blog to mine. Don't be mad if your name isn't there yet....she just showed me how to do one and I will put the rest on as I learn how. I should really be doing homework right now!!

PS....Shanna, I think you look cute in the pictures...so I am not taking them down :P Love you though!

Kristen and AJ's Wedding

My mom and I were able to fly up to Boise for Kristen and AJ's wedding. We had a good time helping set up for the wedding. We were a little shocked when we got off the airplane and could see our breath on the jet way. We were really cold and I was glad to get back to the warm Arizona weather :) I know Shanna posted some pictures on her blog, but I thought I would share some of the pictures that I took. Shanna has promised to do the same thing for me when I get married, so I say I will get married in July in Arizona to make up for the freezing cold weather in Boise in December ;)

Enjoy the pictures!!

Preparing the Food! Shanna didn't have a hair clip, so she used a plastic bag!

Having so much fun!!

Sexy!!

The cake!

Beautiful bride getting ready!

The ceremony!

The wedding party!

Precious!

The girls the day after the wedding!