They are married! We had a wonderful time celebrating with William and NaKya on Saturday, May 5th in St. George, Utah. The weather was perfect, the temple grounds stunning, the bride and groom radiant, and many friends and family traveled to offer their support. We are thrilled to add NaKya to our family and pray that she will feel loved and welcomed into our circle. They are off on a honeymoon to Orlando, Florida and a Disney cruise...no doubt loving the start of their new life together. We will continue to celebrate here in Dallas with an open house next Friday...I will post more later...just wanted to post one of my favorite pictures of the day:)

One Happy Dog

Smudge loves car rides:) Sometimes I take her to drop Grant off at school in the morning...this picture makes us smile:)

Our "Working Vacation"

Bill and I truly would like to take a vacation after our Spring Break trip to NYC. We had a great time...it was just tiring...LOTS of walking...I never really miss my house when I am away on a trip, but this time I did. I missed the wide open spaces of where we live here in the great state of Texas! We packed in the excitement and adventure and kept pretty busy...Garrett and Christine saw 6 Broadway shows! Grant, Bill and I saw 4...we did see a New York Knicks game and Bill and Grant went to the Big East Conference Basketball Championship game in Madison Square Garden...the Knicks game was there too. We visited Ellis Island and saw Ground Zero. We bought 2-day passes on the double decker sight-seeing buses and had a great time seeing a ton of Manhattan and some of Brooklyn that way...2 downtown loops, one uptown loop and a night loop that took us over the Brooklyn Bridge and into Brooklyn. We walked around SoHo, which we learned stands for SOuth of HOuston Street. I never knew that. We attended church at the Manhattan 1st Ward which is housed in the same building as the Temple...Bill and Christine saw a taping of David Letterman. We all went to a taping of Kelly! Live...that was fun. We ate too much...but I figured the walking offset that...not...:( There were many other things we saw and did...museums, Rockefeller Plaza, Nintendo World, Central Park, FAO Swartz, Stage Deli, etc, etc, etc...It was a great trip...but one we won't be doing again any time soon...:) Although our hotel room was on the 10th floor, we could still hear the traffic loud and clear...we would much rather hear the sound of the ocean:)
Here are some pictures of our adventures...
Our ride to The Salisbury Hotel on 57th Street and 7th Avenue.

Times Square

Front row seats to see "How to Succeed In Business..." with Nick Jonas and Beau Bridges. Our favorite show. We all loved it!

Headed down and out to Brooklyn on a cold Saturday...on the subway.

Church just off of Central Park West...

Hard Rock Cafe Times Square

Loving the New York night time...it was cool and there was tons of energy.

Outside the David Letterman studio...a fun father/daughter memory:)

The Empire State Building lit green for St. Patrick's Day

The Brooklyn Bridge

The family...after seeing downtown and Brooklyn from the top of the bus...a wonderful ride.

Only in New York...a baby grand piano in a fast food joint:) We had lunch in the financial district and "enjoyed" being serenaded by the pianist at McDonald's.

Construction going on at Ground Zero...we couldn't get too close:( You had to have free passes downloaded from the internet...bummer...we were clueless.

Ellis Island

Live! with Kelly Ripa and her co-host for the day Michael Strahan(sp) former NY Giant football player...one big dude!

Fun hats at FAO Swartz

NY Knicks vs Portland TrailBlazers...Madison Square Garden...great fun watching Jeremy Lin #17 and the Knicks win by 42 points!

Yes, I was there too...

Leaving the Garden...what a fun night in the city with 2 of my favorite guys.

American Museum of Natural History(It took a while to get there...turned the wrong way out of the subway...walking, walking...grumbling, grumbling...walked through Central Park and finally arrived---all smiles---NOT! The joys of travel...:)

Rockefeller Plaza

Heaven...I mean Nintendo World!

Grant's birthday lunch at Planet Hollywood...Happy #14!

The M&M store in Times Square...yummo.

Headed to the airport in Newark...they are pooped! Spring Break in NYC...check!

I love chairs:)

I found this at the local thrift shop for a few dollars...like 4:) I thought it had potential.

This is what it looks like now. Not my best work...the fabric situation was tricky. But a definite improvement.

Because of Him

I have been thinking a lot lately about myself, my life and who I am becoming. I have come to understand that all of the GOOD that I am is because of my Savior, Jesus Christ. The not-so-good is a work in progress and can become good if I allow His atoning sacrifice to work in my life. I get so busy with the daily grind that I often don't stop to think about what I need to be doing to improve on the less than good parts of me. I am trying to recognize the areas that need improving so that I can be an affective instrument in the Lord's hands...I want to do His work. And I believe that deep down, we all do:)

Dreaming...

I am dreaming of traveling...so what's new? I have a few places on the calendar...they aren't all far-away, dreamy places...but they are going to be awesome! Next week I head to Kentucky for some girlfriend time...lots of talking...my favorite thing to do with Jennie:) A few days after my return from the state that invented the "tooth brush"...because if it had been invented anywhere else, it would have been the "teeth brush"...:) (one of my favorite jokes), the family (minus William), heads to the Big Apple! It has been several years since we took the kids, so we are overdue:) We already have tickets to a Knicks game and we are planning on seeing a few Broadway shows...Grant wants to eat at the original Grimaldi's pizza place near the Brooklyn Bridge and we want to see the progress on the Ground Zero Memorial...we will not have trouble finding things to keep ourselves entertained...we LOVE an adventure. Unfortunately William has spring break the week before us so isn't able to travel with us. He has planned a "guys" road trip to LA and Disneyland during his spring break...it will be a great opportunity for him to have some "guy" fun before he settles down into married life...marriage is when the adventure for him really begins!
Our/My adventures further down the line...
Utah*William and NaKya's wedding...May
Disney Fantasy...June
Utah*Moving Christine to SUU...late June
Utah*Garrett to Theatre Camp...late July
Florida Keys...September
I think I am a little "heavy" on the Utah thing and a little "light" on the beach thing...maybe Grant and I will have to make a trip to California after we drop Garrett off at BYU Theatre Camp:) How grateful am I that I am able to go, go, go...a charmed life indeed.

Projects

Ok, so I just finished a project that made me smile! Most of the time things that I make tend to fall short of what I had envisioned. This time I was completely satisfied. I love to shop for furniture that needs a make-over. A few days ago I saw something on Pinterest that I thought I could tackle...making a bench out of a coffee table. I had seen an atrocious table at the local thrift store that I thought would work perfectly. I really should have taken a "before" picture, but then why would I do that,when rarely do projects turn out well enough to tell anyone about:) So, an "after" shot will have to do. We are always looking for chairs when people come over...this will help some. Also, we aren't small people, so the sturdy table(now bench) is perfect for our family.

Also, a few weeks ago, I refinished a table(something I picked up from the same thrift store in town)...made a simple runner and voila! Nothing fancy...just trying to keep myself busy and out of trouble---or the Looney Bin:)