Merry Marathon Eve!

I love the Fall in New York City. It's beautiful, and one of my favorite NYC events takes place every November--the NYC marathon. In fact, I just gave my informative speech for my public speaking class on the NYC ING Marathon. Nate and I were walking through the park tonight and we saw everything prepped for the the marathon. It made me so excited for tomorrow! One day I will run it, for now I just enjoy being one of the 2 million spectators that line the streets of New York City.

Tonight, we had a mini photo session just for fun with a good friend. Then, we had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in the city, Sarabeth's. We have the velvety tomato soup, decadent hot chocolate with whipped cream, and cookies to go. The cloud cookies are my favorite! It was a perfect night out. We returned home to resume our studies; speeches about dragons, oil changes, and foreign languages, while Nate stuffed his brain full of more CPA knowledge for his upcoming test. I'm so proud of him and can't wait until we're all done spending our Saturdays studying.

On day 6 of gratitude month I am grateful for many things: My beautiful mother who surprised me with a new willow tree statue today just because. My upcoming internship with the Church Public and International Affairs Office. I'm pretty stoked to work in such a pretty part of town; Lincoln Center melts my heart. Also, I'm grateful for date night :) Mostly, I'm grateful for the beautiful Autumn season, especially here. It was nice to get out tonight after a full day of studies.

Good Luck marathoners!!

Truly Scrumptious!!

There is a darling song called "Truly Scrumptious" in the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I absolutely love the movie. It takes me back to my childhood. My mom introduced me to the sweetest musicals. I love my mama! She and my sister-in-law Brianne, have started a new venture...

Selling Scentsy candles & decor...they're delicious! Please take a looksie:

https://trulyscrumptious.scentsy.us/Home

ENJOY!!!

Brent & Kate's Wedding

On April 24, 2010 Nate's younger brother Brent, was the last of the three brothers to seal the deal. Brent and Kate were married in the Salt Lake Temple. I drove up from St. George with my mom, and Nate flew into SLC for the weekend and met us. We had such a good time being with all of his family. The wedding was so much fun! The lunch-in was my favorite part (besides the temple of course) because all of the Lauritzen boys got all mushy gushy and told cute stories about each other and how much they loved one another. I love Nate's family! They're such good examples for us. We are so happy that the family is complete now and it will only keep growing from here. I was so thankful that I could spend the weekend with my mama. She's the best! Love you Mom. We have lots of memories from this trip. Good times with Grandma Carol, a little miracle involving the hotel service, a memorable performance by the Lauritzen boys themselves, and surprise visits from friends. (More pictures to come!!) We're so happy for Brent and Kate and can't wait to spend more time with everyone together.

Hello Goodbye March

Anne Hathaway

Madonna

Valentino

March has been crazy to say the least. Nate's parents came the last week in Feb. through the first week of March. We had a great time with them. They stayed with us for a few days and then they stayed at a hotel the last couple of days and enjoyed themselves inside from the cold while Nate and I worked. We had fun going to visit them both nights. They spoiled us for sure. My favorite part was watching the Bachelor in bed with them. I'd never seen it before but we couldn't miss the finale. It was a good week for them to visit because Nate got off at a decent hour most nights.

The next couple of weeks went by. Then, on the 13th my mom and brothers Jake and Josh came to visit. It was a long trip for them, but it kind of needed to be because Nate and I worked a lot while they were here and we did most of our fun stuff with them on the weekends. They loved the city, didn't love our 5 flights of stairs, but the stairs are good for us all. We spent most of our time in Time Square or 5th Ave near 59th st where FAO Schwarz is. Jake and Josh loved that store and Jake picked up a new hobby while he was here..Myachi or something. Like a hand hakki-sack. We went ice skating in Central Park, saw Shrek on Broadway, gave Nate a mini surprise b-day (nothing tops Nate's surprise party last year with all of his friends...but we tried to make it special for him), and on his birthday we went to the Olive Garden. That night we took a different way home, accidentally got off the subway a stop early and ended up back at the plaza hotel by 59th and 5th ave again where I said we spent a lot of our time. It was nearly midnight when I noticed Oprah's friend Gale King standing across the street from us waiting to get into her car. Then Nate noticed all of the paparazzi and we went over to see what was going on. We stood around for a bit and different people kept coming out. Rumor was that Madonna and Gwen Staffani were inside. Sure enough we saw Madonna, Anne Hathaway, Valentino, and lots of models and stars that we weren't as familiar with. Nate turned into a paparazzi and he was even comparing his pictures with all of them. It was hilarious! He enjoyed himself "thoroughly!" Anyone who knows Nate knows that "thoroughly" is one of his favorite words that he uses a little too often. My mom and I just laughed as Nate suddenly mustered up enough energy to stalk famous people and get autographs of Russian models that he didn't even know. (and he won't let me throw away that model's autograph...like he knows her? She said "ooh Nathan!" with her accent and it bothered me because she liked the attention a lot! hehe But Anne Hathaway is a doll! And Valentino really is tan! holy moly. We had fun. Josh was bored out of his mind, but waited patiently. He isn't pictured too much above but he was so cute and fun to be with while he was here. Jake and Josh had their brotherly moments, but that's life. Josh loved loved China Town! He bought tons of stuff. Jake & I on the other hand weren't such fans but for different reasons. Some dumb China woman kicked me out of her store very rudely because I couldn't decided fast enough what I wanted.

Overall, we were very blessed to have our families come to visit! We've been in the city almost 8 months. Time flies when you are having fun!...well not all of this time has flown but we're growing and learning a lot. This week I had a couple of days off because the Gibsons went to Puerto Rico. I can't wait to see Sadie in the morning and see how their trip was. I finally went and got my pedicure that they gave me for my b-day. It was fun! I'd never had one before. How lame am I?

This upcoming weekend my cousin Kristen is moving to Pennsylvania to nanny so we are planning a weekend get away to go visit her and my aunt and uncle. IT should be fun to rent a car and take a roadtrip. I love Nathan! He's a sweetheart. We've enjoyed our weekend together.