I Love NYC!

This past weekend Ben and I traveled to the big city – New York – for a wonderful weekend of fun, food and a generally fabulous time. Our home base for the weekend was Natalie’s cute apartment in the beautiful haven of Princeton, NJ. We fell in love with the campus, the town, the green trees and grass (we’ve been living in the desert for a long time!), and all the little stores (especially the ice cream shops!).

We took the train into NYC and thanks to Ben’s amazing navigation skills saw a lot of the city in a short time. We walked through Time Square (once was enough!), strolled through Central Park, window shopped on 5th Avenue, took the Staten Island ferry to see the Statue of Liberty, paid our respects at Ground Zero, saw a game at Yankee Stadium and spent an incredible amount of time waiting in line for, eating, or talking about eating cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery. If you haven’t heard of these addictive little monsters, they are a sugar-addicts worst nightmare. The Magnolia Bakery is a little shop in Greenwich Village that sells the most amazing cupcakes on the planet. There is always a line out the door and they limit how many cupcakes you can purchase at once because the demand is so high! We visited this little gem twice and ended up with a bounty of cupcakes which quickly became the focus of every meal.

NYC Sunset

Paul and Natalie feasting on Greek food

Ben loving Yankee Stadium

We also treated ourselves to a show on Broadway that we’ve wanted to see for some time. Natalie, Paul, Ben and I saw Rent and loved every minute of it. After the show, in true New York style, we went out for a fantastic dinner at 11:30pm at “The Spotted Pig”. Our evening even included a couple celebrity sightings! Ben’s eagle eye spotted Seth Meyers and Andy Samberg of “Saturday Night Live” fame at a little restaurant in the Village. We played it cool (at Ben’s insistence) and didn’t gawk or take any pictures, so you’ll have to take our word for it that we saw them! After this amazing evening (which involved more cupcakes, of course!) we took the train back to Princeton and fell into bed around 3:30am.

Rent!

The Spotted Pig

Fortunately, our last day was very relaxed and included an outdoor lunch with Paul and Natalie in Princeton, and our second ice cream stop of the weekend. The competition was fierce between Natalie and Paul about which ice cream place was better, so Ben and I gladly offered to become judges and sample both offerings!

All in all it was an amazing weekend and a wonderful way to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary!

Happy Mother's Day!

We hope our Moms had a mother's day as lovely as they are!

Ben's Mom

Kara's Mom

We love you and miss you!

Happy Birthday Dad!

I had a lot of fun pulling together some of my favorite pictures that best represent all that is wonderful and amazing about my Dad…his love of adventure, food, fitness, dancing, laughing and all things outdoors. I’m so blessed to have such an openly affectionate, loving, sweet, exciting and hilarious health-nut of a Dad.

He is always up for an adventure, whether is flying with me to Norway to visit Natalie, hiking in the mountains of Arizona, going for a “wild ride” (4-wheelers and grocery carts are equally exciting under his control!) or just going for a walk in the woods behind the house. His love of nature is unfailing…he is just as excited to see a squirrel as a turkey, deer or bear! He is my hero, saving me from scary dogs, rescuing me when I have a flat tire, talking Ben and I through how to unplug the garbage disposal after clogging it with a pound of potato skins and fixing any and every problem I throw his way. He has modeled a commitment to his faith without judgment of others. Most importantly, he loves his family unconditionally and unabashedly.

I couldn’t ask for a more wise, loving, and incredible Dad who I just love to be around. Happy Birthday Dad!

My favorite Dad-o pictures