To New York & Back

What an Awesome trip we had.  Liz and I had a great retreat for just the two of us.  We flew into JFK and rented a car, which we drove to Maryland.  We stayed the first and second in Newark DE just across the border.  On our drive into Maryland, for the wedding the next morning, we got pulled over in a very predictable spot (same place Liz got a ticket when we lived there).  The officer was very nice, and once he saw my Arizona license he told us he wouldn't give us a ticket.  He did run it just as a precaution because apparently Arizona is the most commonly faked ID.  Ironically we saw one the night before when a college girl, trying to get into the same Pub we were eating at, got busted with a fake Arizona ID.

The wedding for Kayla was very nice.  Kayla is a young lady that I home taught and saw baptized as part of a part member family.  I ordained her younger brother to the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods in the time we lived there.  We have stayed in touch with this great family and we are hopeful they will all return to full activity in church and for Kayla to make it to the temple to be sealed to Will and her boys.

We got to visit Kilby Cream for some delicious ice cream that we loved while we lived there.





                                               

We 

We got some delicious crab cakes and salmon at the hotel restaurant after that.  Desert first became a theme on the trip. 

Sunday morning we went to church and got to reconnect with a lot of members that were part of our lives for the 8 years we lived in Maryland.

The drive back to JFK, to return the car, took us twice as long as the drive to Maryland (about 5 hours) because of the traffic in the city and accidents didn't help.

We got the car returned and caught the metro into the city for our first show.  Beautiful was very good even though we were late getting there because I had the time wrong by an hour.  We missed the first 40 minutes but we made the most of it.  For dinner we at at the Bar & Grill in Bryant Park, not far from our Hotel.

 

On the morning of the 18th we got an early start and went to China Town, Little Italy, and SoHo where we got a Chinese reflexology on our feet and a short shoulder and back rub.  We had a delectable lunch in Little Italy which was very romantic (I had gellato before we had lunch, theme)

CHINA TOWN

             

                       

LITTLE ITALY

                                           

                                      

                                                  

                                 

After the Fashion District in SoHo we made our way to Chelsea's Market to check it out.  It was cool but not spectacular.

Another December 11th

Another December 11th

It's December 11th again so I've been waiting for something especially significant to happen.  It's been a date that seems to frequently have something so this year I've been wondering.

I'm due for a promotion and a raise and I kind of thought, but probably more so hoped that today would be the day.

Regardless of the day I do have a great deal to be thankful for and I might just mention a few of those things here.

I am grateful for my family and especially grateful that we are all in one house with one house payment.  I'm grateful to be with General Motors and to be living so much closer to our families.  Living in the same town as Mikey Olson has been a dream come true.  We've had a lot of fun together and done some pretty cool things.  We are going to see Star Wars opening night less than a week away now (10:30 PM 12/17) We are also going to see it in a theater that GM is reserving so it will only be half full and it will be tons of fun.  On opening night it will be both families but on Friday AM it's just Mike and I.

I'm grateful that our house finally sold and that we got moved to Arizona.  I'm glad we are finally settled in.  I'm grateful for the financial blessings that I have been the recipient of so as to offset the major loss we took on our house in Maryland.  We bought it for $390K in 2008 and had to eventually sell for $339K.  Fortunately we had paid down the majority of the difference but it would have been nice to make a little money and pay off our remaining debt.

I'm grateful for the gospel.  I think the biggest blessing for me about living on the east coast, was the spiritual growth.  There was a great need for us to serve and Elizabeth and I served in several capacities, sometimes more than one at a time.

I'm grateful that our kids have adjusted and that they've made lots of new friends and they are thriving in school.

We are going to make the drive up to Utah for Christmas so immediately we are seeing the benefits of living so much closer.

Liz's sister and her family came and spent Thanksgiving with us and it's just been really great here in Arizona.