new york, new york

For my big Four-O, John took me to New York City this past week. We invited John's twin Tom and his wife Julie to go with us. We had a fantastic time and came home with lots of stories to tell (and some great buys from China Town - love my $10 Gucci watch!). It was pretty cold, but at least it was dry. So we all bundled up and took on The Big Apple for 4 days!

The Brooklyn Bridge

These are the cables that Spiderman swings on - pretty cool, eh?!

Yes, this is me and my bud, David Hyde Pierce (from Frasier).

We were just hangin' out together in NYC.

Okay, I guess I'll tell the truth now. I don't really know David, he was the star of the Broadway show CURTAINS that we saw. It was so dang fun! It is a comedy/musical/murder mystery. John now claims that it is his all-time favorite Broadway show (and he's seen a lot of the big ones!).

David Hyde Pierce was awesome in this show, and he and the other cast members came out after and signed our Playbills (for those of us brave enough to wait and shiver in the cold by the stage door). Great fun!

Click here to see a 30 second sample of the show, or here to see a 3 minute sample of the show. (Of course you would need to see the entire show to love it like we did!)

We also went to another Broadway show - 'The 39 Steps'. It is also a comedy murder mystery that is a spoof on Alfred Hitchcock's movie of the same name - very funny!

On top of the Rockefeller Building with Central Park in the background.

John and The Empire State Building.

John was so GREAT at navigating us through the subways. We would have been lost without him!

Ice skating in Central Park.

I love this photo (even though you can't get the whole idea from it). On Sunday we attended church in Manhattan (the ward building is right in the temple - very cool!). Since no one drives cars there, they all walk and take the subway, strollers and all! So down two long halls of the church it was like a stroller parking lot! All the strollers were just lined up against the walls. It was quite a sight!

As I was taking some photos of the strollers, this woman walked by and I started talking with her. I found out that she also grew up in Ogden, Utah (like me) and when she asked where I had lived in Ogden and I told her, she got a funny look on her face and said, "That's the street my husband grew up on!". To make a long story not quite so long, it turns out that her husband is Richard who grew up right next door to me! I was dying! She slipped into a classroom and brought him out. I had not seen Richard since he was 10-years-old! It was surreal. And very fun. He is in New York attending Columbia University.

Me and Richard.

Julie and me on the subway. What a great way to get around!

The Statue of Liberty

Some views of the statue that you normally don't get to see.

Me and my sweetie, and the Manhattan skyline.

China Town. Julie and I were wanting to look at some Coach purses, but we didn't see any in the vendor's booths. We finally asked one of the Chinese vendors and he quickly whisked us away to this locked door (while looking over his shoulder for police!). He unlocked the door and there in front of us was this scary staircase. As we went up I wondered if we would ever come back down! At the top was a "secret" room full of purses. "They are real Coach!", we were assured. Ya, real Coach for $20! What a deal.

Julie on 'the staircase' showing off her newly purchased goods.

Tom and Julie devouring TOTALLY yummy potstickers in China Town! (yes, eating was a favorite thing for us to do on this trip. I've decided that New York City has no bad food! Well, there's probably some, but WE didn't have any of it.)

Manhattan police officers on horseback in Times Square.

We stayed at the Marriott Marquis Hotel right in Times Square. We had an amazing view from our room. Here is what we saw by night...

....and by day!

Okay, I am a true fan of the Today Show so I couldn't visit New York without going to the show! So armed with my homemade sign, John and I got up early Monday morning and headed over to Rockefeller Plaza. Matt Lauer had to leave early. Boo hoo. Then Ann was in Africa on assignment, but we did see Meredith, Al, Natalie, and Hota.

There I am with my neon birthday sign!

Anyone who watches the Today Show regularly knows this guy! This is Lenny. He is at the Today Show every single day. He shook my hand and wished me a happy birthday :)

The Today Show Plaza.

Looking through the window as they are filming a segment inside the studio.

John is such a trooper! Willing to stand outside in the cold wind for 2 1/2 hours for his wife. I asked him, "Do you think I am a nerd because going to the Today Show is a major highlight of my New York trip?". He graciously told me that I'm not too much of a nerd and that he actually had fun himself!

Me and Natalie Morales (Today Show co-host).

(Note to self: Maryanne, the next time you go 4 days with insufficient sleep, then you go out into the cold New York City wind with WET hair and very little make-up, just remember to NOT have your photo taken with the beautiful Natalie Morales. Sigh.....

Natalie and Hota Kotb filming right in front of us.

This is kind of a fun picture. They are filming Hota with me and John in the background, so John took a photo of the monitor! (I am on the right of her in the white coat and John is next to me in the green jacket. Did anyone out there see us on tv (besides our kids)??

Again, those who watch the Today show will know who this is! He is one of the camera men and they will occasionally show him. They call him....FABIO!

Hota and Natalie doing a segment in the plaza about Arctic animals. They also brought out the most humongous snake I have ever seen! So stinkin' scary.

Julie, me, and our twins! (My sign was two-sided.)

This is at the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art), and I am standing next to one of van Gogh's originals of "The Postman".

The REAL Starry Night!

At the Fifth Avenue subway station.

All good things must come to an end - boarding the subway to go back to the airport.

Caution: Reality straight ahead!

(Isn't it tough going back to the 'real' life?!)

good-bye, my youth

This sums up what happened to me on Sunday......sigh.

(Sent to me by my good and sympathetic friend Lynette.)

sweethearts

Last weekend was our high school's "Sweetheart" dance. Raegan went with her good friend Chase. It was HIS first date as he had turned 16 only a few days before the dance.



Raegan's dress was originally sleeveless so I sewed some sleeves into it, and it turned out great! Although I had procrastinated doing so until a couple hours before they were to be to dinner (two hours is enough time to sew some sleeves, isn't it?! Apparently not enough time for me!) I was still sewing on it 20 minutes AFTER they were supposed to meet their group of friends. Let's just say it was a little....intense!

After the dance they all came back to our house and immediately made Raegan give an impromptu harp concert.

The kids couldn't figure out what the "little door" was, but soon discovered that it was a slide that leads to our basement. They loved it! Even a few of the girls went down - dresses and all!

Going down the slide - WHEE!

Popcorn and M & M's? Check.

Swedish Fish? Check.

Good movie to watch? Check.

All twelve kids gathered in our theater. (Why is Chase the only one wearing a white shirt and all the others are black?? Am I behind on a trend here?)

Boy, do these dances ever remind me of good ol' Ogden High School dances. (I'm quite happy that I am past that stage in my life!)

an extra hug

(Matthew at 7 months old with his dad at the lake, taken by my talented brother Layne.)

I had such a roller-coaster ride of a morning that I thought I should sit down, take a deep breath, and write about it.

I walked Matthew to the bus stop at about 8:00 a.m., watched him get on the bus, and looked at him through the window as it drove away. "One down, one to go," I thought, as I still needed to get Adam off to pre-school.

After dropping Adam off at his school, I drove straight to Costco for some shopping. I was just pulling into the parking lot when my cel phone rang (9:45 a.m.). It was Raegan (she was still at home because she didn't have class today until about 10:00).

Raegan: "Did Matthew go to school today?"

Me: "Yes, why?"

Raegan: "Well, his school just called and they said he is not there."

Me: "What?! That's impossible. I watched him get on the bus!"

So I hung up with her and immediately called the school office. The secretary confirmed to me that he was indeed NOT there. I explained that he had to be there! Where else would he be?! She said that she would send someone back down to his class to check again, but in the meantime could I hold on the line and she would call the transportation office to see if maybe he just didn't get off the bus. "Obsurd!", I thought. There is NO WAY that Matthew would just NOT get off the bus when it arrived at the school. Unless he was unconcious! We got disconnected when she placed me on hold, so she called me back a few minutes later (as I sat in my car waiting, having a good sized heart attack).

Secretary: "Maryanne? We found him. He IS in his classroom. They have a substitute and she was just a little confused."

Understandable. What a relief! So I got out of my car and went inside to the return desk to return some things (always things to return to Costco!). About 5 minutes later my phone rang. It was the school secretary, again.

Secretary: "Maryanne, I'm sorry, there was a mistake before. We thought that Matthew was in his class but he is not. We had him confused with another boy. Your son Matthew is not in class. He is not here in school!"

At that moment I almost dropped my phone, and I literally thought I was going to throw up. At this point it had been 2 hours since school started. I told the Costco employee that was helping me that my son was missing and that I needed to go. She said, "Oh my goodness. Go! Go! Go!".

I ran (or floated) to my car. Once I got in I called my sister-in-law (who's son is also in the same class). She said she would immediately get over to the school to see what was going on. I was driving like a bat out of ____ to get to the school, but I was 10-15 minutes away. (Looking back I don't think that someone in my condition should have been driving.) I called John at work and what a miracle HE answered the phone! (That rarely, if ever, happens as he is always with a patient.) Through panic and tears I told him what was happening. As I was basically freaking out to John, the school beeped in on the other line. I quickly switched over.

"Maryanne, this is Matthew's teacher. I just went into my classroom and Matthew IS there! He has been there the entire time. I saw him and spoke to him. There was some obvious confusion going on here and I appologize! But you don't need to worry anymore. Matthew is fine!"

It took me about 20 minutes after that to stop shaking and to get the feeling back in my extremeties.

That feeling that you have, the feeling when your child is missing, is the most inexplainable, SICKENING feeling possible. I can't imagine what parents go through who's children really are missing. I had a taste of it this morning and I don't ever want to taste that again. It's terrifying what goes through your mind in such a short amount of time.

So.....Matthew will get an extra hug tonight, or two, actually probably about 100 extra hugs, as will all my kids.

still thinking of President Hinckley....

I love this picture video of President Hinckley with the music of one of my favorite singers. (Okay, fine, my favorite singer!) The song is very fitting to such an inspirational man.

salt lake city temple

goodbye our friend

This morning we got up early and went to the Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City to attend the viewing of President Hinckley. It was an amazing experience. The best way I can describe it is like this; if there is anyone who doubts anything in the church, whether it be doctrine or whether President Hinckley is a prophet of God, then enter that room where we saw him today and I don't think those doubts will, or can, remain. I feel like my testimony increased a thousand fold.

As we were walking up to the building, Matthew reminded me that he has never seen the prophet in person. We try to take every opportunity we can to take our children to see him, and our girls have seen him many times, but since Matthew is only 7, and they request that no one under 8 attend conferences, etc., it is true that this was Matthew's first time to see President Hinckley. The first, and the last......for a while.

It was an open casket viewing. President Hinckley looked wonderful, but you could tell that his spirit was gone. He looked so peaceful.

The Conference Center had many photos; several of him and his wife, Marjorie, and more with his children and grand-children. There was one of him visiting a Primary last year. I loved that and thought how wonderful that would be to have the prophet visit OUR Primary!

There were beautiful bouquets of flowers from his family. One in particular really touched me. It was from his great-grandchildren. It was a very large and beautiful bouquet of multi-colored roses. The tag hanging from it read:

Dear Grandpa,
We will always be grateful, be smart, be clean, be true, be humble, be prayerful....because we love you.
Love, your great-grandchildren


Haylie and Matthew in the Conference Center after seeing the prophet. They are looking out a window that has a waterfall on the outside.


The Conference Center where the viewing was held and where the funeral will be held tomorrow. We were lucky to get there when the wait was short. Brooke and Raegan went down later in the day after school and waited 5 1/2 hours to get in. Early estimates say that over 50,000 people went through in the past 2 days.

The viewing was originally going to be in the Church Administration Offices. It seemed so appropriate that they changed it to the Conference Center. It was President Hinckley who received the inspiration for the Conference Center. It is because of him that this remarkable building is there. So it seemed fitting that not only his funeral should be held there, but his viewing as well.

It was the most gorgeous snowy day today. Here are a few pictures I took at Temple Square.

(this sign hung on a house across from the Conference Center)

....'til we meet again.