washington dc & new york!

last week, craig, my mom and dad, and i went back east. our first stop was washington dc. i hadnt been there since i was 12 and craig had NEVER been there. so it was very fun to visit all the great monuments. as soon as we landed and checked in to our hotel, we walked over to the white house. it was gorgeous.

this is how incredibly stupid we are: the whole time we were taking pictures here we thought it was the front of the white house..... until we walked around to the other side. wow.

after the white house, we went to dinner at founding farmers. it was insane. its one of those restaurants that serves classic, american dishes with a twist. i got a milk shake and chicken pot pie. i cant stop thinking about how amazing it all was!

after dinner we walked over to the lincoln monument. from the steps, you can see the reflection pool and the washington monument. it was all so incredibly beautiful.

dark group shot.

craig, me and lincoln!

on our walk back to our hotel it started RAINING! like rrrrreal rain. it was fun... but only because i knew it was a once in a life time thing. :)

the next morning we drove over to mount vernon (the home of george washington). it was very interesting. we loved walking through the house (seeing the actual bed george washington died in).

the house is on a hill overlooking the potomac. as george washington said "no estate in United America is more pleasantly situated than this....".

that night we walked around georgetown. i tried georgetown cupcakes. meh.

the next morning we started the four hour drive up to new york. we had to keep our eyes peeled for the first waffle house.... my dad's favorite! :)

when we got to new york we wasted no time getting our subway pass and fooling around down on the tracks.

then we went down to soho to shop and have dinner. i LOVE this place. the grilled corn is to die for.

of course, we made our way over to momofuku to snarf down some crack pie and corn cookies. 

after momofuku we went up to the top of the empire state building. that never gets old.

my mom actually wasted money in one of those telescope thingys to try and see a party that was going on at the top of another building.

the next morning, craig and i had a breakfast of champions: magnolia's banana pudding.

after walking around greenwich village for a while, we met up with my parents at chelsea market.

we ate our lobster rolls at highline park.

view from highline.

after chelsea, we headed up to 5th avenue for shopping and a carriage ride around central park. 

that night we had an AMAZING barbeque dinner. the warm barbeque potato chips with blue cheese and bacon dip was delicious. and they had a pumpkin cupcake with maple frosting that was so good we went back and ordered more! 

after dinner we rode the staten island ferry to see the statue of liberty. one of my favorite ny traditions.

the next morning we went over to the flat iron district to have city bakery's hot chocolate. it never disappoints. especially with the homemade marshmallow.

then, my parents went to the natural history museum while craig and i went over to explore brooklyn. i might have gotten us a little lost (wouldnt be a trip over to brooklyn if i didnt....) and we wound up in MAJOR hasidic jewish territory. honestly, for a solid two miles, these are the only humans we saw. interesting. but also got a tad creepy.

once we got down to familiar territory (dumbo) we had amazing whoopie pies (we earned them after that journey!) at this very cool bakery and then we saw this moss graffiti. i loved it.

craig, me and the williamsburg bridge.

then.... GRIMALDIS! i seriously love this place. it IS worth the hype/wait. when we walked up to what apparently is now the old location and saw it all boarded up i almost cried. but then we realized they moved a few doors down to a bigger location. deeeeeeeelicious.

after dinner we decided to walk back to manhattan on the brooklyn bridge. very cool. except for the bicyclists. hate bicyclists.

view from the brooklyn bridge.

as if we hadnt eaten enough that day, craig and i decided to run to the burger joint (this weird little burger dive thats hidden behind the front desk at a very swanky hotel). apparently it had just been voted the best burger in ny that day so the wait was especially long. its surprising to me that it is still such a hot topic seeing as how its been around for ten years and ny usually gets bored of restaurants quickly. 

then next morning, another healthy breakfast.

and before we left manhattan we went down to see the world trade center memorial. i LOVE the freedom tower. just ask craig. no matter where we were in the city, if i saw the it i yelled, "LOOK! there's the freedom tower!".

the fountains, where the two towers once stood, are called "reflecting absence". its such a beautiful and perfect way to capture the 9/11 memorial. 

being able to experience the 9/11 memorial with craig and my parents was the perfect way to cap off a wonderful trip to dc and new york. i had such a great week that wouldnt have been possible without grandma cheri and grandpa rod taking care of sully and tagg. we are very lucky.

tagg and sully

tagg is four and a half now. he is very glad to be back at school and loves to play with his friends. his favorite colors are turpoise (turquoise) and orange (EVERYTHING has to be turpoise and orange). and he is already planning the details of his fifth birthday!

sully turned two last month and is quite the crazy guy. a couple of days ago i was kissing his belly when he said to me, "we're fighting!". he is learning new words every day and LOVES to copy his brother. 

bean girls

megan brought her sweet little girls over yesterday so i could take a few pictures of them. they were very good girls. lexi was in love with the camera!

emery was such a trouper (suckers and treats didnt hurt!) and even posed with baby sister for a few shots.

i have this same exact shot with tagg when he was a baby. i love their big, bright eyes at that age.

sweet emery. 

las vegas

last weekend, i rendezvoused with jocelyn in las vegas. it was a great little weekend away. although, knowing that tucker will be arriving there next week (he is serving a mission in death valley) in the 105 degree weather makes me nervous! 

the first morning, jocelyn's friend, kassie, came over with her little girl. we played in the pool and had a mini dance party. i was SO glad to finally meet kassie. it turned out to be a great jocelyn's-worlds-colliding moment! :)

for lunch we had cafe rio and nielson's frozen custard. i loved the frozen custard machine.

then jocelyn took me to an amazing fabric store. i'm already making a circle quilt with all my great new fabric.

that night, we watched project runway with jocelyn's mom. she's quite hip.

the next day was SO freaking hot so we grabbed snowcones with jocelyn's niece.

i got to meet tucker for the first time! he is very cute and sleeps thru the night like a champ.

after lucy and tucker went to bed, we went out for dessert. thats the strip waaaaaay behind us.

the next day was sunday. we went to church then lounged around and played on the ipad.

that night, kassie had us over for dessert. her mom's backyard was amazing. i loved it. we ate a delicious caramel apple dessert and looked thru their high school year books. very fun.

this was from the first night, when we went out for a great dinner with all of jocelyn's vegas friends.  as usual, i had a fantastic time playing with jocelyn during my visit. cant wait to do it again!

labor day at the river

we thought it would fun/different to drive out to the country (about a 15 minute drive) and play by the river. we brought the kite, bats and balls and treats. 

sully was such a good boy and kept his hat on! look at that chipped tooth. its kind of intense. but in a cute way, right? :)

i basically have my own baseball team. only a few more boys to go......

when we were finished playing at the park, we walked across a huge suspension bridge over the river. 

tagg was really hoping to see a bear picking blackberries near the river (i read that there have been sightings at the park we were at!).

tagg was very proud of the rocks he found. i am very proud (now that i am looking at this picture) of how full my hair looks in this freaking bun! i have super thin hair but that bun looks legit. :)

craig, supervising the skipping of rocks situation.

my boys found a friend at the river (please ignore the fact that sully is trying to chuck a rock at the dog's head). it was a gorgeous day at the river (so glad grandma and grandpa smith met up with us!).