Easter

Ugh! No real photos from Easter this year. I guess that means we were just enjoying each other's company! We hosted dinner and had both Grandmas, Allie & Zac for dinner. Tradition ham with cheesy potato casserole and green beans.

After dinner, we decorated sugar cookies with everyone.




And ate a fancy little cake Grandma Susan brought, and a traditional Italian Easter Pie.


Earlier in the day, Grandma Cope and Lexi decoupaged eggs (just like Martha did on her show that mom & I attended the week before). We cut out little pictures from magazines and glued to our heart's content.

Macy's Flower Show

During Spring Break this year, Matt's mom was able to come out and spend several days with us. It was so nice to have her here and we were able to do lots of fun things. Extra special thanks to Allie for lending us her car for the week!

The first thing we did, on a rainy Saturday, was head down to Macy's (the largest Department Store in the world, apparently) for their annual Flower Show. Flowers flowers everywhere. And packed with people, too. But the displays really were amazing and we even met the Florist of the Day who had made an amazing tree trunk topped with oversize mushroom caps and decorated with hidden gems like fairies and butterflies. Of course the girls loved it. And they gave us their card and told us to contact them if we wanted good seats at the Rose Parade in Pasadena in 2011. That's the same day as Lexi's 7th birthday, so we might actually have to think about going! :)

Mama's Birthday

For my mother's birthday this year I requested tickets to the Martha Stewart Show. We went last year at this time and it was lots of fun. And, thankfully, my request was fulfilled, so my sister Allie, mom & I saw the show on April 7. Emeril Lagasse was one of the guests and gave us a saucepan from his line of cookware (by All-Clad- which are all the pots I already have and LOVE). We also saw Rupert Everett who spent some time planting flowers with Martha. I find it really fascinating to attend a taping because you see all that goes on behind the scenes. Like the fact that Martha doesn't look up at her directors often enough and has them scrambling and waving their arms and shaking cue cards furiously trying to get her attention. I also got a cookbook during the commercial break for being such an enthusiastic audience member. Boo yah.

After the show, we took mom to lunch at Elmo. Happy Birthday, Mom! We're glad you were born!

Hace Diez Anos

10 years ago, while I was serving as missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Madrid Temple was dedicated. It was a glorious time. All of the members and missionaries from all over Spain had the opportunity to attend the dedication. So during this past General Conference weekend, my mission presidents (along with lots of help from some of our missionaries) put together a reunion and tried to find all of our missionaries. I was able to fly out to Utah for the event and it was a most wonderful time. The experiences you have & the circumstances in which you find yourselves bond you to fellow missionaries in a way that is different from any other relationship. I love these people. It makes me (joyfully) cry to think about them. I love Spain and the miracles I saw there. It was a large part of my life that shaped me & I think about it almost everyday, if only for a brief moment.

Many thanks to Erin for watching Ella during the Hermanas luncheon. And to Lari for putting me up & lending me a car. And to Liz for picking me up at the airport. And to Richard & Joan for taking me back to the airport. And to all the elderes y hermanas that made the extra effort to be there. It was so fantastic to be with you all again! Until we meet again....

Hermanas at the luncheon



Kari, me & Anfissa


Me & Jamie


me & Hillary


The group of Elders & Hermanas I went to Spain with- and ended up serving with (almost) all fo them at some point. Haven't seen this whole group together since a mission council I went to in 1999.


Me & Presidente Clate Mask, and Kari


Kari, Hermana Mask, me & Nici (with her 4th baby)


Nanci (who also married a man who served in Bilboa at the same time Matt was there).


Ella just climbed up on Hermana Mask's lap (maybe the chocolate was influential?)


me & Rebecca- my MTC comp.

More Utah Photos

Other fun things I did while on my whirlwind trip to Utah:

Ice Cream at the BYU Creamery with Liz!






Breakfast with Angie (sadly, no photo! How did I forget that?!)

Dinner with Byron & Erin (who I set up on a date years ago at BYU!) at Cafe Rio. Ella fell in love with Erin and wanted to go home with her! The last time I saw them was when they came to NY for my mission homecoming. It was so great to see them again after all these years.


Breakfast with Grandma Cope (who was in Utah for her mission reunion also!) and Sheridan (my neighbor in NYC who is back in Utah now- we miss you!) at Flour Girls and Dough Boys.



A conference session at Liz's apartment






And Ella waiting to board the plane in SLC. We had to walk out onto the tarmac and climb the stairs into the plane. Wish Lexi had been there for that experience!

Turn off the TV

Next week is TV-Turnoff week. Some of you know that we don't own a tv. It's really not that bad of a situation to find yourselves in. Try it out!

Cheese Crack

Fairly often we host a game night with several of our friends from the singles ward. We can always count on Marcus to bring a smattering of cheese from the East Village Cheese Shop including some type of Boursin, which we affectionately call cheese crack because it's so good it's addicting. This is a video from Ella's first taste of the stuff:

The Zoo (again)

This time we spent the afternoon at the Central Park Zoo with Grandma Susan, Aunt Allie & Zac.

Then we strolled across Central Park to the Shake Shack for dinner. On our way we encountered some pretty serious roller skaters and their bike.

Little Artists

The little girls like to lay on the floor together and draw.

First Snow Day

The NYC Department of Education finally decided to have a snow day. The first one in 5 years (at least!) This morning, Matt was in the shower and I was getting breakfast ready for the girls. I turned on NPR to listen to the news whilst I worked and then all of the sudden they announce that NYC public schools are closed today. It was a brief announcement and so at first I thought I had heard wrong. I ran into the bathroom to tell Matt the news, and he too was immediately skeptical. We called 311, which confirmed the rumor. Then loaded up the computer and logged on to the DOE website to see the same announcement. We were SHOCKED. It snowed all morning and then we took the girls to the playground later in the afternoon. The city actually hosts sledding & hot chocolate in many of the city parks on a snow day (providing sleds & hot drinks for free), but we weren't too ambitious to make it out to the event. Just enjoyed a lazy day at home watching the snow fall. I'm sure we won't have another school day like this for 5 more years.

Birthday

My day. It's a little awkward (for me, anyway) to plan your own party, but somehow things just sort of materialized this day. We had planned all week to go to Chuck E Cheese at some point, and decided to do it with some friends. Turned out the best day also happened to be my birthday, so we asked a few more to join us and voila! A little party. Thanks, Aubrey, for baking some delish cupcakes. And thanks to Kendra (not me, the other one) for the fabulous sewing book by one of my favorite designers, Amy Butler (did I mention it's autographed?) But mostly, thanks for spending time with us!

Stella & Ella riding in a car

Stella, Addie & Ella on a roller coaster

Matt took me out for dinner (Shake Shack!) & a movie (Doubt) in the evening. Thanks to Aunt Allie for babysitting! The next day we headed up to my mother's house where we girls went out for manis & pedis, and had a fabulous dinner & incredible brownie & ice cream cake. And mom bought me a new dress. Watch for it!

Baby Powder

In your face, baby.



(she did this to herself during a diaper change session)

Drawing Lessons at Pepsi

Can't remember exactly when this happened- but we had the chance to go to Pepsi to take a drawing lesson. Subject matter: Pepsi products. You may have noticed by now that Pepsi has a new logo. Many of their product's packaging has changed. The kids could enter their drawings in a contest and the winners were to be featured in the Pepsi Shareholders annual report.

Alexis chose to draw a Sierra Mist can.
Here she is getting some pointers on perspective from the teacher.

Drawing with Grandma looking on.

Ella just sat and patiently ate snacks almost the entire time we were there...

The USS Intrepid

Every February, the public schools get a week off. Legend has it that years ago when it cost so much money to heat the building, the Department of Education decided to close the schools for a week in the middle of the winter in order to save on heating costs. Whatever the reason, it's always nice to have Matt & Alexis home with us! On the first day of the break we went with Aunt Allie to explore the USS Intrepid.

The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum is one of America’s leading historic, cultural and educational institutions. Opened in 1982, the Museum has welcomed more than 10 million visitors. The Museum is centered on the aircraft carrier Intrepid (CVS-11), one of the most successful ships in US history, and now a national historic landmark and one of the most unique attractions in New York City. In 1943, Intrepid was commissioned and served proudly in World War II. She went on to serve as one of the primary recovery vessels for NASA, three tours of duty off Vietnam, and submarine surveillance in the North Atlantic during the Cold War.

It was recently refurbished and they were having Kids Week with extra exciting activities- including a puppet show, face painting, crafts and a visit from Mr. Met (although we only saw him walk by).

Valentines

Lexi and I made some chocolate lollipops to give to all her friends at school for Valentine's Day. We were lucky to get some valentines in Lexi's High Five magazine (a publication from the people behind Highlights), so we paired them together for a cute little treat.





And this is how I found Ella a little while later...

Wacky Week

This week Lexi's school participated in Wacky Week- every day was a different theme and allowed them to be a little wacky.... Luckily, her teacher took many photos and I was able to download some of them for our posterity:

Mon: Pajama Day
Everyone got to wear their pajamas and bring a stuffed animal to school- Lexi chose to wear the nightgown I made her for Christmas.



Tues: Twin Day
The teacher assigned pairs of twins (and 2 sets of triplets) and we got in contact with the other parents to plan out something to wear. I wanted to base it on clothes that we both probably already owned (what a cheapskate I am!), but in the end we opted to peruse Old Navy and found some adorable dresses that the girls fell in love with.




Wed: Professional Day
This was the day to dress up as what you want to be when you grow up. Alexis has been enamoured with the idea of being a paleontologist since she was 3. So, she wore a dinosaur shirt, jeans, and I made her a little utility belt where she stuck her tools- a paintbrush & toothbrush (for sweeping away dirt), a hammer, & a magnifying glass. She also wore one of my sunhats- a khaki gardener's type.



Thurs: Inside Out Day
This was the day to wear your clothes inside out, but Alexis absolutely refused. She thinks that's so weird.

Fri: Friendship Day (wear red for Valentine's Day)
No pictures of this day, either, but Alexis wore a red dress that she got from Grandma Susan a while ago. She loves it and was so happy to have a reason to wear it to school.

And this is the class while getting ready to go home at the end of the day: