Christmas and Disneyland

This Holiday was the best!

Steven and I got to go to Disneyland, Visit with family and hang out with great friends!

Of course the highlight of our month was in fact Disneyland!

We had such a wonderful time together and of course what is more magical than Disneyland? Well thats Disneyland in December!

We were so excited for the fireworks, parades, Santa, Lights, and of course they make it snow every night! I couldn't even wait!

We drove to California to find this waiting for us....

Rain

We tried to stay as positive as we could but it was real hard! We spent our first day in Universal Studios and got to me some great characters! They had a little place where they had snow, but they didn't hold their tree lighting ceremony :(

We spent the other two days in Disney and it was a tad bit miserable... No fireworks, No making it snow,No Parades, No Santa... It was very sad! We made the most of it though by riding all our favorite rides and enjoying the Christmas things that were still open!

Steven has the best hookups ever... His uncle designed fountains and put one in Disney world (as well as the one at Bellagio) So he has a membership at this super secret restaurant in the Disneyland park and we got to go eat there! It's called Club 33 and nobody even knows this place exists and we were so glad to get out if the rain! The next time you go to Disneyland, walk down the New Orleans square street, and look to your left right after the exit of the Pirates ride. Its this completely unmarked door except for the number 33. They do such a good job of hiding it because all the little shops around it are numbered as if it was just part of the street! The cute thing is, its called club 33 because thats what Walt's house address was! I took pictures of the square from inside the restaurant as well as where it is hidden in the square! It was such amazing food and did I mention lunch cost $72? But not to worry! Because with your reservation to this marvelous restaurant you actually get into the park for free. Such an awesome deal! and we had a blast!

The best ride that changed for Christmas was the Haunted Mansion. They changed it into the Nightmare Before Christmas! I tried real hard to take some pictures of the ride but they didn't really work... Steven really enjoyed it though! (Thats a lot for him because he HATES that movie.) It's a Small World was also changed. It was so cute! and once again, Steven said it was actually bearable!

We also saw this amazing show called World Of Color which is now at California Adventures and we highly recommend you see it!

Even thought we were wet the entire time we still had such a good time and we just loved spending time together away from school and work!

This was the last view of Disney we saw before we left. :)

I wasn't so great about taking pictures of Christmas day. We had such a great day though! Steven is so good to me... He got me a PHONE and a SEWING MACHINE! I got him lame clothes... We had a blast seeing the family and traveling all over Utah just like the movie Four Christmases. We are so lucky to have such an amazing family too!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

What a Weekend.

We had such a great weekend!

There was THANKSGIVING at Grandma Fletchers.

BLACK FRIDAY shopping!!!

Football Games.

Jazz Games.

and a whole lot of hanging out!

We had a LOT of people at Grandma's!

GO UTES!!

(This game was actually pretty awful. Super Super cold, nobody scored a point, and it was slow for 3 and a half ours of the game! but we are happy they won.)

At the beginning of the holiday weekend my step dad Jared had a brain operation because eleven years ago he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and every year he gets it checked out. This year they said it actually was growing and they needed to do a biopsy to see what further action they needed to take. We felt so bad for him because his tumor is actually the size of a large pear right now. The surgery went great and he was real loopy for a few days. They still don't know what needs to happen, they are thinking either Chemotherapy, or Radiation. We'll keep everyone posted!

If you want to hear the full story you can check out my family's blog at stoddfamily.blogspot.com

Steven has started an internship with the Jazz, but he calls it a job. I guess if your getting paid to do it! He loves it so much! I'm kinda sad because I get bored when he goes to the games but I'm super happy for him! This was after the Jazz vs. Lakers Game.

GO JAZZ!!!

Why?

Oh just why couldn't we experience New York like this?

This is literally ten steps away from where a worked...

We went when it was Hot and muggy and Humid....

I can't complain though! We still had the best Summer of our lives!!!

Happy Happy Halloweeny!

OK. I know this is a little bit late

(well, a lot a bit late)

But I still have to post some cute pictures of Halloween! Because it's my favorite holiday, I become obsessed with the decorations, candy and of course Halloween costumes! My grandma had a family get together with everyone in their costumes and it was so much fun! Steven and I didn't really have any costumes until like the day before, and at the last minute, Steve decided to be a Ute fan. (Sooo original. I know... ;) We had a ton of fun though and its so good to see my family!

Also my little cousin Chelsea's birthday is Halloween day so we went to her house for a cute little birthday party. Her mom made as many spooky foods as she could come up with and she actually did a fantastic job!

So what we have here: The wicked witch of the west with the house that fell on her, mummy pizzas, Witch fingers, Devils eyeballs (deviled eggs) and a watermelon brain!

Well, needless to say, I am very sad my favorite holiday has come and gone again. But now we get to look forward to CHRISTMAS! Yay!

(I'm helping my mom decorate this week! She likes to start really early :)

Fall is in the Air

There is nothing better than Fall....

...Bright colors
...Warm smells
...crisp leaves
...Amazing treats
...Scarves
...Tights
And one of my favorites,
...The decorations!!

I can't even begin to explain how much I love Halloween Decorations.
I could honestly say I love decorating for Halloween more than I love decorating our Christmas tree! And of course I am blessed with the smallest apartment known to man, so I have very little decoration room.
I had to share all of the wonderful little things about Halloween that get me so excited to see fall come around every year!

So I love anything Halloween when its accompanying dessert :) I had to get those candy corn kisses! and they are actually fantastic! (actually just white chocolate)

I am obsessed with my Mom's jewelry and she always makes the cutest seasonal bangles! My most favorite bangle of all is her Halloween one!

She sells her jewelry to Randee & Co. and it is literally the cutest decoration shop EVER! You have to go visit if you haven't been. (thats where the Frankenstien came from)

We made that cute little wreath out of sparkly tulle and I had the greatest idea to make cute little pins out if it! And that is how those pins came to be.


I'm super excited that we made these and I can't wait to wear mine to pieces!

Sealed with a Kiss

Well... like every good story, ours is ending here... We spent this amazing summer in New York and it's finally over. We had such a great last week though. I'll recap some fun things we did and finally end this summer of crazy blogging! :) I have loved every minute of it.

So I quit my job about 4 days before we left and that gave us time to play! We started off our adventures with a trip to Hurricane Harbor. It's a waterpark in New Jersey that is connected with Six Flags. Now I don't know if any of you have ever seen the show America's Scariest Waterslides? But at least two of them are here at Hurricane Harbor! It was so much fun spending a day in the sun at an ACTUAL waterpark! Sorry Lagoona Beach... You don't compare to those other guys out there! It was sure funny though because we were in the midst of all these kids! ha We were the only 20 something year olds without children there... OH Well! The best slide was called the Tornado. Just picture a toilet bowl (sorry thats the only thing I can think of) And picture a 4 man tube flying donw 7 stories into this giant toilet bowl almost swirling around until you get shot out of the bottom! Sounds fun right? :)
Sorry this is the only pic I have of Hurricane Harbor... Lame I know. But its the crazy slide!

We also went to Madame Tussauds was museum. One of the greatest museums in New York ;) Ok I have a confession... That was the ONLY museum we visited.... Woops...

But really! It was so much fun! For those of you who don't know what Madame Tussauds is, it is a full on wax museum of nothing but celebrities. And they look so real! Steve loved taking pictures of the figures faces (like right up in their face) and the picture almost freaks you out because they look so real! We got some excellent pictures.

That pic of me and that old woman, well thats Madme Tussaud herself! In all her 4 foot glory.

Our one last hooray happened when we actually were put on TV! :) (Secretly that was my goal in coming to New York. Well ok... it was actually to see a celebrity, but since Madame Tussauds was the closest thing I could get to a celeb, I decided to change my outlook on this whole goal thing...)

So Steven had one last event with the Times Square Alliance which was called Kiss-in. To give a little background story, After the WWII America got the word that the war had just ended and people decided to gather in the middle of Times Square and just celebrate the great event. One very iconic moment of this celebration was when a random sailor made a very cute kiss on a young nurse. Somehow the media obtained this photo and it is now one of the my symbolic moments in time.

Now in 2010, 65 years after this moment took place, the members of the Times Square Alliance decided to reenact this amazing event by putting up a 25 foot statue of this couples kiss and have a group of people all dressed up to celebrate and reenact the kiss. The first 250 couples received a sailors hat and a rose. Maybelline New York was there putting lipstick on women getting ready to pucker up!

Steven and I were just laying low and helping out with the event, and as soon as the kiss was ready to start a friend suggested we sneak in and they would take a couple of pictures to remember Steve's last event. We jumped in, Kissed, and later found out we were front and center on like 3 TV news casts that weekend! We couldn't believe it! We even had professional photographers send the TSA (Times Square Alliance) Their favorite pictures of the event, and which ones would look best on their web page to display the event, and ours was one they chose!

We were famous.
The ACTUAL picture the media had of us.

Some good TSA buddies. The one in the center with green glasses is Rueban. That was the man Steve worked for most of the time. The girl is Bridgette, the other intern. The girl in the top looking so happy to get her picture taken is Michelle. Love you Michelle :)

The rest of the weekend we were so happy that was how New York would remember us by. We actually spent the weekend with a good friend we were able to get close to over the summer. Her name is Michelle and she was so sweet to let us stay at her place before our plane took off. Those last few days were pretty much just spent resting up and catching up on our last minute things.

We were very sad to leave our life of fortune and fame... (well at least a minute on TV) But we knew life was waiting for us back home. So we packed up (our two 75 lb bags.. thats rigt. and we didn't even have to pay extra for them!) and headed home. Now of course this was one of our most memorable experiences in probably our entire life until now. But we vowed we would one day return and call NYC our home again. :)

We love you New York!!

Massachusetts In the Summer

We decided that before we headed back to Utah that we needed to explore this beautiful New England country side! So we set off in search of Boston the weekend before we left. We drove down with two girls from Steven's work. One was another internship (Bridgette) doing exactly the same thing as Steve, and the other one worked in the marketing department with them as a full time employee (Michelle).

We had so much fun spending our little weekend up in the big MA. We got to see Boston, which is one of America's oldest cities. We did the famous "Duck Tour" which means you take these old army boat/buses on a tour around the city. Once you are done seeing the sights on land, you just drive strait up to the water and hop on in! It was half duck half car. One of the best ways to see the city though! We walked down some romantic streets with some of the most beautiful homes I have ever seen! Lots of the streets were made of brick and had that old time feel. We walked around some really old churches and got to see the cute little shops of Boston. We of course had to have some New England clam chowder when we were there so we headed to a place that was almost like Red Lobster. The clam chowder was to DIE FOR! so good.


The next day we headed up a few miles to the great Salem. It was so hilarious because this town wasn't your average Disneyland, but there were people flocking there like you would not believe! All they had was some cemeteries of the people who were involved with the Salem witch trials, and a bunch of witchy shops trying to get you to buy spells and potions. The best of all of these shops is called HEX. You walk in and all it is is a shop filled with voodoo dolls, special healing rocks, power casting candles, and of course some Ouija crap. These people actually believed in all of this stuff too! We were just minding our own business smelling some of the candles (because it was really the only thing we knew what it was!) and this lady comes over and says "Don't you dare touch the pregnancy candle!!" She then explained to us that she once picked it up and smelled it and she became pregnant within the week. What a crazy! haha We had such a great time just delighting in these people! One of our friends Michelle decided to get a physic reading by the most famous lady in all of Salem. She wears silver literally up both arms because she says it protects her. We could have sworn she was a witch!


After we had enough of the crazy witch people we decided to get some more... you guessed it... Clam Chowder! We went to this breathtaking little pier and ate at Capt.'s grill. Once again the chowder was a winner. I have never been anywhere on the East coast so to visit a place as beautiful as Boston was just amazing. There were so many cute fishing piers and just beautiful scenery! We were a little bummed we didn't visit in the fall because many say it is the most beautiful sight they have ever seen! We were just glad to get a little taste of it though. We had so much fun road tripping with our friends and would love to do it again!

Mother Knows Best

So my Mom came out to visit us in New York and we had so much fun! We saved lots of our touristy things for her so it was nice to finally get to see these fun things! We literally did so much stuff that it took up 300 pictures.... or maybe thats just cuz my mom went a little crazy? haha so I'll be doing the summing up version!

Her First Night in the Big Apple

She flew in pretty late that first night so we didn't have a whole lot of time to do much. But what we did do was take her right away to Times Square. It really is the most magical place in New York and she loved it! We went to the fun restaurant Bubba Gump Shrimp and had the BEST shrimp in the world! It was super pricy but so much fun!


Second day filled with Grass, Tiffany's, and a big sandwich...

It is kinda funny that we decided to do Central Park first because usually we liked to hit the park when we were sick of seeing only buildings but it was the best place to put it. She was in love with the park and we were pretty proud of ourselves because we felt we had finally conquered this ridiculously huge patch of land and were able to show her all the perfect spots! We then took her down 5th Avenue which is much more "First Day" in New York. She loved all the amazing shops because unlike us, she hadn't been to Vegas 8 hundred times and wasn't used to seeing Louis Vuitton every other weekend ;) It's pretty funny, because people expect 5th Avenue to be literally the most glamorous street in America, but to be honest its not that cool. There are tourists everywhere and its just a bunch of shops... So sorry for you 5th Avenue dreamers, I just wanted to let you know its not that cool. haha We then headed to the most iconic deli in New York. The Carnegie Delicatessen. Or Carnegie Deli for short :) My mom and I had to share a sandwich because they were so huge! (and a really crazy thing... two sandwiches for lunch still cost us $50!!... Thats NY for you)

The best part about her first full day in New York was we got to see the two most iconic shows on Broadway! Our matinee was the Phantom of the Opera. Soo good! My mom was so happy to see that show as her first broadway experience. Steven and I had already seen in earlier in the summer but it was still great to see it again! The show we saw at night was Wicked! We were especially excited to see this show because we had been patiently waiting all summer long to see this show! We had kinda crappy seats but it was so amazing! Glinda was actually the same girl who played Glinda in the Salt Lake performance my mom and I saw a year ago! She was super cute. Anyway we knew that after her first day, no other shows could compare!


Third day Broadway in Bryant park and Top of the Rock

So Thursday afternoons in the Summer are Broadway in Bryant park days. They have about 4 shows featured and the stars actually come out and sing their songs for you! They don't dress up or actually perform but you get to hear the music which is half of the magic! We got to see a peek at the Lion King, the Addams Family, Next to Normal, and of course Wicked! It was so fun to see them sing again and this time we could actually record it! (and don't worry my mom had her video camera out the entire time... haha) After that we took a trip up the street to visit Radio City Music Hall and the Rockefeller Center. We were able to snag a tour of the NBC Studios which was so fun because we got to see the set of some pretty sweet shows! The best one was Saturday Night Live. They said this is literally the most impossible show to get in! They say people line up Friday morning! After the tours we went to the Top of the Rock. Which basically means take an elevator ride to the 65th floor and step out on to the balcony to get some excellent views of Central Park! It was weird to be up that high and the city looked so amazing! That night we got tickets to La Cage. Steven and I had already seen it but it was so hilarious we had such a great time!

This was our Elphaba

.....This is a man :).....

Fourth day with Lady Liberty, Brooklyn pizza and a Historical Monument

We thought we were being clever by waking up somewhat early and going down to see the statue of Liberty, but I guess we didn't get there early enough! We had to wait in line about an hour just to get on the ferry! But it was of course worth it. We got to go to Liberty island, where yes you guessed it, the Statue of Liberty was! Then we took the ferry again over to Ellis island, which is the place that all immigrants used to come through to get into America. Both places were so amazing and very patriotic. My mom loved Ellis island a little more than Steven and I but it was still amazing to see the big rooms people had to wait in for sometimes weeks just to become a part of this free land.


After visiting the islands we headed over across the Brooklyn Bridge. There is this cute little pizzeria over there called Grimaldi's Pizzeria and there is always about an hour long wait out in the blazing heat! We had eaten there before but it literally is the greatest pizza in the world. It almost looks gross, but I think thats what makes it so good :) We then went to the Brooklyn Ice Cream factory and had the best Ice Cream ever!
on the Brooklyn Bridge!


We then went back across the bridge (by this time we were pretty much DONE walking!) We went down to the spot where the Twin Towers used to be. My mom was so in love with this spot! I felt so bad because when we got there the cute little chapel was closed and so was the little memorial store. she did get to see the actual site and she bought two little books on the buildings and Septemer 11. We found out that there will be two "footprints" where the original towers were. Which means two square waterfall memorials will mark the spot where those first towers were. The other spot will actually be filled with what will soon be the tallest building in America whien it is done!


What will be the tallest building in America when its done!Ground Zero spot
After we had a taste of the financial district we walked up to Little Italy! It was so cute because on weekend nights they block off the street and bring out all their tables to cover the sidewalks and everyone just walks right donw the middle of the street! We got my mom her first Canoli (which she loved) and took her to Rice to Riches! Steven and I were of course so excited about this... but after my mom had a taste or two she decided it wasn't exactly for her... what a shame. The french toast flavor is still my favorite!

Last day filled with Chicago, Canal, Mamma Mia! and some midnight sight seeing

We spent our last day mostly taking it easy. (especially after that crazy day we had before!) We went and got Chicago and Mamma Mia! tickets. After that we took a little trip down to Canal Street. Which is China Town for all of you who don't know what I'm talking about :) Canal is the bartering street of America! You can buy fake watches, purses, DVD's and pretty much anything else imaginable. You can barter with anyone and they will most likely make a great deal with you! My mom got some cute purses for my sisters and got some cute fake Tiffany bracelets! We had such a great time trying to talk down the ladies. My mom didn't really know the ropes in the beginning so we had to practice a few times until she finally got the purses she wanted! She also found a man who spray paints on hats and shirts and got one for Brooklyn, Halle and Mitch! They turned out super cute!


Our two shows for the day were first, Chicago. My personal favorite. :) The cast was completely different so it was fun to see it again! And our last show of her trip was Mamma Mia. She was sooo excited to see this one! We loved the music and were having a great time! Steven didn't quite understand what all the fuss was about but we didn't care because we really enjoyed it! I was super bummed though because I was actually sick all week long and didn't even have a voice to sing along! :( but it was still worth it!


At the very end of her trip we took her up to the top of the Empire State Building. We were so excited to finally go up to the top because we had been waiting the entire summer! The observatory was open until 2 am but we went up around midnight. The sights were breathtaking! It was so amazing to be able to look out and know exactly what we were looking at! It felt almost romantic to be up so high in the air with all of the beautiful city lights twinkling below us. (maybe just like sleepless in Seattle?)

My mom left for the airport at 6:20 on Sunday morning! We were super sad to see her go but we knew we only had two weeks to go before we would see her again. We were sure glad to play tour guides for the weekend and show her around this beautiful city we have come to love!

She's my Yankee Doodle Sweetheart

So living in New York of course means you get to see all the great sights and shows, but it also means getting to go to one of America's most famous past times....

A New York Yankees Baseball Game

$70 worth of food, two happy fans, one lost game and a helmet full of ice cream later...

Who wouldn't love it? :)

a Weekend in the Nation's Capitol

Steven and I of course had to plan a trip down to D.C. for a weekend because we figured we were so close and it would be worth it to see where all of our country's magic happens. So we planned to take a bus out on Thursday night and only stayed until Saturday night. Now I know that sounds a bit weird, but that was the cheapest way to go.

We had such a good time! It was ridiculously hot and humid there but other than that it was amazing. We say almost everything we wanted to see including the Smithsonian museums of Air and Space, Natural History, American History and the Holocaust Museum. We saw how money is made and what the new $100 bill will look like (coming out in Feb. 2011) we even got to visit the Arlington National Cemetery where Pres. Kennedy is buried along with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We visited the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Monument, the Korean War Monument and the WWII Monument. We got to tour through our Nation's Capitol building, which was really beautiful and very insightful. We didn't, however get to see the White House. Now I know most people would go see the White House as their first stop, but we literally just didn't have enough time to fit it in. We did get to catch a glimpse of it on our bus tour and that was good enough for us. :)

We took a cab ride over to the most quaint town in all of America, Georgetown. We decided to go take a look because Steven is really thinking of attending Georgetown for his grad program (which is Sports Marketing) We loved seeing the sights and the beautiful old-time buildings, but unfortunately didn't even get to see the Georgetown Campus. We realized we may have planned too short of a vacation, but we still felt it was worth it! We did get to see this cute little bakery called D.C. Cupcakes that had a mile long line out the door! We didn't understand why all of these people where waiting until we turned on the TV that night to TLC when up pops D.C. Cupcakes! ha we had no idea we were at a famous bakery! But all in all Georgetown was so beautiful. I would live there in a heartbeat.

Such a fun weekend we had running from monument to museum. I think everyone should visit D.C. at least once in their life! And maybe make sure to add the White House to the list of must-sees ;)