Abigail's Senior Photos

Abigail was very excited to have her senior photos taken.  Scheduling the session took some finagling – Abigail had only 40 minutes to get ready after attending something at the high school, then she needed to drive down to Auburn, take pictures and then get back to Snoqualmie in time to volunteer for the middle school volleyball team.  I was stressing as she was taking much longer than expected to get ready and out the door. That’s probably one reason why she decided to go alone.  Ha.  They turned out fantastic!

Weekend in the Big Apple {Sept 12-14}

At the end of May my friend Addy reached out to me to see if I would be interested in going to NYC in September to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child with her and Jen Gibbs. A girl’s weekend?  In NYC?  Of course!

I had a pretty full month already planned with Labor Day weekend, Ashley visiting, and a girls trip to Austin – but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.  I looked into getting tickets to Harry Potter last summer when we were in London, but they weren’t impossible to get a hold of. I hadn’t read the book, but my friends advised me to not read it and just go into the show with fresh, unbiased eyes.  

Our fourth fell through so Addy invited her sister to join us from Utah and she was the perfect travel companion.  We took a red eye on Wednesday, September 11th and only had two nights in NYC. I was really bummed we weren’t staying longer, but in the end it worked out just fine and we were able to fit in lots of fun.  Addy was diagnosed with breast cancer in July so this trip ended up being a much needed get away between her mastectomy and starting chemotherapy.  I had a list of must-eats in hand and we were ready to fit in as much fun as we could.

Welcome to New York!

and NYC traffic

After dropping off our bags at the hotel we had breakfast at Sarabeth’s where I made the mistake to order an omelet!  An omelet at a NYC bakery!  I deserved to be disappointed.  

We walked along the High Line…

Ordered cookies at a couple different cookie shops…

We had dinner at a delicious Italian restaurant – Bond 45 – the atmosphere was really beautiful. And then it was time for the theatre.  The Cursed Child is a two part show – one show each of the evenings we were there.

For dessert we treated ourselves to cheesecake at Juniors – a NYC must!

For breakfast on Day 2 we went to Max Brenner’s Chocolate Bar – the name says everything you need to know.  The hot chocolate was amazing!  And I loved their hug mugs – really a delightful, warming hot cocoa experience.  

The food was fantastic as well.  Jen and I shared a burrito and crepe – savory & sweet.  Win-win.

The last time I was in New York was in 2008 so I haven’t been since the World Trade Center towers have been rebuilt and the memorial established.  The Oculus was pretty impressive.

We didn’t’ have time to go through the 9/11 museum – it’s on my must-see list for sure though next time.  Walking around the memorial was very somber.  The design of the memorial is beautifully done and a inspired way to demonstrated the footprint of the buildings destroyed.  

After a little shopping for the other ladies we ventured along the Brooklyn Bridge – a first for me.

Addy was ready to head back to the hotel to rest; however, I couldn’t let any time go to waste and was ready to head to Soho for some sightseeing and delicious eats on my own. Jen decided to join me.

We had dinner tonight at Joe’s Pizza – yum and the coolest theatre turned restaurant!

And then Part 2 of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child…

So what did I think of the show?  Not my favorite. Not even close.  The other ladies LOVED it.  I was entertained but wouldn’t need to see it again. I didn’t really connect to the main characters (Harry & Draco’s sons).  Glad to have seen it but really could rave about it like the rest of my travel companions.

Tonight’s after theatre treat was Carlo’s Bakery.

Breakfast this morning was amazing – Jacob’s Pickles had come highly recommended and didn’t disappoint!  We got lucky the entire weekend with arriving at restaurants right before the “rush” we never had to wait long to be seated but when we were leaving it was always packed.

We decided to bike around Central Park – it was so fun and a great way to see Central Park somewhat quickly.  There was a huge chess tournament at the Bethesda Fountain.

After biking treat – gelato!

Before we knew it it was time to head to the airport for our flight home.  Such a fun weekend!

Covenant Path 50/20

Four years ago the Snoqualmie Falls (SnoFalls) ward, which we attended at the time, put on a Father and Sons 50/20 adventure to celebrate the Restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood.  Jason was only 8 at the time and Justin wasn’t too interested in it so it wasn’t something we were involved in.  They’ve done it once or twice since.  This year they invited our ward to participate with them.  Brother Willis puts it together and is quite passionate about it – he is also our ward high councilman so we got to benefit from his hard work and expertise.  This time it was open to all youth and their parents.  I thought it sounded like a neat experience and Jason was interested (the girls only somewhat) – Justin not at all. Anyhow, life got busy and we didn’t attend any of the preparation walks or think too much about it.  Then when we found out Ashley would be in town that weekend I pretty much dismissed my participation.  Carly still wanted to go because she had friends doing it and Abigail bailed. However, as the event neared I really felt like I should be a part of it even if just for a few hours. Carly started walking at the beginning on Friday at 4pm and walked until Saturday morning.   Sometime between 2-4am he crawled inside someone’s car and called it good. She walked 30 miles!  The group keeps a pretty slow pace so that everyone stays together, but that amount of walking, especially in the middle of the night is tough.  I was so impressed.  I didn’t get much sleep that night because I kept texting Carly to see if she was still walking or if she needed me to come pick her up.

There were lots of youth at the beginning

Not nearly as many youth in the middle of the night

Jason and I met up with the group at the church in Issaquah on Saturday morning at 8:30am however they were running late so we drove over to the McDonalds (2.5 miles away – at mile 38.5) and met up with them there.  Jason had a game that afternoon so he could only walk until around noon and then Justin picked him up for his game.  

The pit stops along the way where lifesaving

I only intended to stay a few hours at most, but one of my close friends Andrea was attempting the whole walk and was struggling after walking all night.  I workout at the gym with Andrea and I know first hand how strong and determined she is so to see her struggling was tough and I knew I couldn’t leave her. You can’t imagine how challenging this event is unless you’ve been there to see it.  She was emotionally, physically and mentally spent.  I walked along side her for the remaining 12 miles and did my best to support, distract and encourage her to the finish.  It was emotional for us both and I was so, so grateful to have been there with her.  Because of the slower pace near the end the walkers actually ended up walking 22 hours instead of 20 – wow!  Only 9 people completed the entire 50 miles.  Andrea was the only woman!  So proud of her!

I look ridiculous in this photo, but I was so proud of Andrea and the other finishers.

At the finish line they asked everyone that had walked to get in a picture.  Obviously, there are lots of people missing that stopped earlier.  Andrea isn’t pictured here because her feet were so blistered and torn up that she couldn’t walk another foot.

All loaded up in her car and ready to crash so the other finishers came to her for the photo.

So grateful for everyone who helped organize and pull off this event.  It was an incredible experience to be a part of and I know that my being there on Saturday was precisely where I needed to be that day.