My husband is the best

No. Really. I'm normally not one of those "I have the best life" bloggers, but my husband just made my night. As I prepare for two cookie exchange parties, I came to a panic mid recipe when the just-purchased-yesterday ground ginger was nowhere to be found. The hubs not only searched our house for it, he quickly put on his shoes and grabbed the keys to head out the door to the nearest Walmart. I guess he could tell it was one of those nights. To me--that equates to amazing.

And for you viewing pleasure, my flour, salt and baking powder mixture waiting for its friend ginger to join.

Happily Ever After

I can't believe it has been 3 years since our wedding.  I feel like it should either be 10 years, or 1, but not 3.  It seems so long ago, yet so close at the same time.

I have loved the past 3 years with Colby and all of the adventures it has brought--finishing up at BYU, driving across the country with a U-haul to a state we knew little about, moving into a new apartment far form family, starting new jobs, promotions, building a house, having visitors, jaw surgery, fun vacations, new church callings.

As we ate dinner tonight we discussed all we have been through and thought forward a few years realizing what this conversation could be in 10 years.  Grad school complete, kids in school, living who knows where and happy about it all.

Colby, I love you and am convinced I became the smartest woman in the world the day I said "yes" to you.  You are perfect--and perfect for me. Thanks for everything.  Happy Anniversary.

xoxo-always and forever

I *Heart* NY, Day 3

Day 3 was a lot of fun for me, because I spent the majrity of it with one of my best friends, who was a previous college roommate, Jessi.  She is living in New Jersey, so came over for the day.  We walked 5th avenue a bit, went to the Flat Iron district and ate at Shakeshack, and shopped in Chinatown area.  It was rainy, but it didn't stop us from having fun!  After we saw her off, we finished the day by walking over the brooklyn bridge.  This was one of my favorite things from the whole trip.  The view was breathtaking, and with the fog, it looked as if the skyscrapers were being sucked up by the clouds.  We ate at Grimaldi's pizza, one of the only remain coal, brick-oven pizzarias in the area, after waiting in line an hour. Yes. An hour. And it was very worth it.  It was family style seating, so when two people left from one of the large long tables, we went and filled in those seats, sharing elbow room with the people on both sides of us.  The pizza was delicious and it was such a fun atmosphere.  It was a good mix of locals and adventurous tourists.  We ended up eating around 10, and made it back to Lynne's well after midnight.  Again, we had a great day, followed by a great night's sleep. :)

And yes, I know food was a theme of the day here as well. 

reuniting after 2.5 years

Colby and me on 5th Avenue

Flatiron Building

Shakeshack-Delicious burgers, concretes, fries and Lemonade

Walking across Brooklyn Bridge toward Brooklyn

Delicious pizza at Grimaldis.  Excuse the misted upon hair. 

 In Brooklyn, with Downtown Manhattan Financial District and the Brooklyn Bridge in the background

Crashed...

The Big Apple-Day 2

After a good night's rest, we woke up and headed out for day 2, NYC.

I have always had a love for bagels and was determined to find the best bagel in the City.  Per a few recommendations, we headed to Ess-A-Bagels. This place was delicious.  I mean how could it not be--they literally put a quarter pound of cream cheese on each bagel.  His-- Everything Bagel with plain cream cheese, Hers--Cinnamon raisin with cinnamon apple cream cheese.  We split them and decided i ordered the winner.  We headed over past St. Patrick's cathedral to the Rockefeller center and went to the top.  The view was amazing.  You get a much shorter line and better view of central park here than from the Empire State Building, for those wondering...

We skipped lunch and went straight for world famous magnolia's cupcakes for dessert.  Colby won the ordering contest here--Pistachio cupcake over my dark chocolate with caramel frosting.  We went up toward the Met and stopped in central park to enjoy our cupcakes.  We hurried through the Egyptian Era, Impressionism and Modern art displays at the museum and jumped on a bus to make it to our reservation at DB Bistro.  (Are you sensing a pattern...our day revolved around food).  I ate the most expensive, but more importantly delicious, hamburger I had ever had.  Colby ordered the same thing per Lynne's recommendation.  When looking at the menu, I never would have guessed that Lynne would have ordered the burger, but after eating, I now understand.  We had started off with great breads and appetizers, and finished off with a creme brule and passion fruit sorbet dessert.  All of it was to.die.for.good.

We wrapped the night up with Mary Poppin's.  It was such a cute musical and the first experience Colby had watching one.  He really enjoyed it as well.  We were right at Time's Square and didn't want to miss the nightlife there, so wandered around like zombies before heading back and crashing for yet another wonderful good night's sleep.  Lynne had already left for Connecticut, so it was just us at her place. We will have to head over to Connecticut with her next time.

In New York, Concrete Jungles Where Dreams Are Made Of

I considered putting our whole trip in one post, but that seemed way too overwhelming to pick the key points from the trip.  I enjoyed parts of each day and want to document all of it.  I hesitated, worrying that all (3...4...) the people who read this blog would get board of it, but then I remembered it is MY blog and it is for storing my memories.  So, here is the first of several NYC posts. :)

 Day 1 of New York City:

We arrived Wednesday night and took a taxi into Manhatten to Lynne's gorgeous appartment (seriously, it was decorated as if staged for a magazine shoot) in Midtown, right by the NY Public Library--great location.  We chatted for a bit, the hit the sack to rest up for our busy day ahead.

Thursday morning we got up and rush across the island for the circle line tour.  I absolutely loved it--possibly one of my favorite parts of the trips.  We went on a boat that took us around the whole island.  I would have rather been nowhere than on the water at this point, as temperatures were over 100*.  I slipped into the restroom to take off my undershirt/camisole...way too hot for that. So, excuse my slight immodesty. It was a great tour because we learned about the layout of the island, enjoyed some much needed Vitamin D, and cruised past Lady Liberty herself.  

We spent the afternoon in the financial district, with a pit stop at Grand Central.  We saw Wall Street, Ground Zero, Battery Park, etc.  We waited around until the stock market closed and people watched as all the bankers left for home.  There were swarms of them.  It was a sight to see.

We stopped by the apartment briefly, then headed to Salute, an amazing Italian restaurant just up the street.  Colby convinced me to try Calamari for the first time.  Not so bad.  Interestling texture though and caused all kinds of weird thought in my head about the creatures of the deep seas.

All in all, we really enjoyed day 1, and needless to say, slept very well that night.

Here are some photos from the day:

On the Circle Line Tour making our way up the East River

Wall Street and the Financial District

Ground Zero

Park on the banks of the Hudson River

Idaho

Just returned from one of my favorite places, St. Anthony, Idaho.  It was a much needed vacation.  i loved taking Colby to see where I spent many summer vacations and being able to spend time with my family (and take a quick trip on over to Wyoming to see Colby's family).

We usually spend most of our time playing in the river be it jumping off the city bridge, floating through the channel or playing at the sandbar.  Due to extremely high water, we had minimal time in the river, but easily found other activities to keep us entertained.  Between games, eating, yard work chatting and river time, we had a perfect week.  Here is a glimpse of what we did all week.

raft the Teton river

$5 tickets for the HP midnight showing at the St. Anthony Roxy Theatre

 Floating from the Del Rio down the Snake

Mexi-Train (other days were filled with Settlers and Carcassonne)

 Yard work, a given when staying at the family house--we redid the back terrace

Banana Hot Fudge Shakes and Caramel Malts from Falls Drug

Overflowing Channel--took a raincheck on this activity this year

Breathtaking Moon each night

a little farm work in Wyoming

A visit to the cemetery to see Kelly's headstone

"Is this one fair game"--Colby hoping for the bow hat.

The nearly complete terrace

Hanging out in the yard

Post float down to the sandbar and over the orange netting

Ultimate Croquet

Family Photo

'Til next time...

missing you all already!

C Family Father's Day Photos

As excited as I am to post about our Fabulous trip to NYC, I am also excited the get a photo shoot from yesterday up.  A family asked me to takes photos for a fun Father's Day tradition they have.  Head over to my photography blog to check it out.  Be sure to let me know what you think! :)

Katie Heiner Photography Blog