NYC 2010

We are back and "resting" from our vacation full of fun and good times which equal good memories! We didn't just spend our time in NYC this time. We took a few days to enjoy a lot of New York in general. We drove A LOT! 1700 miles to be exact from our house up to Intercourse, PA, Rochester, to Niagara Falls (Canada side) Palmyra then to NYC and back home. We also took the "scenic" route all over to see the most of our beautiful country, and I will tell you that New York, is a very beautiful state. I also love driving through Pennsylvania. I will tell you that almost, almost every home in Penn has a BEAUTIFUL GARDEN. You know I love gardening and I loved looking at the amazing gardens around the homes in Penn State.

Our first day driving we made a stop to our favorite little Amish village in Intercourse PA, the Kitchen Kettle Village. Matt had to get his fav popcorn from Pappy's Popcorn and I had to get some jams and salsas from the Kitchen Kettle store. The next day we went to Niagara Falls and enjoyed a wonderful day there getting soaked by the falls on the Maid of the Mist and Behind the Falls attractions on a hot and steamy day. The next day we went to Palmyra to see all the church Historical sites and the Hill cumorah Pageant. We also had a visit to the local Hospital because of a mishap with Matt, his toe and our luggage. He is fine but it was just a little too blue for our comfort. Anyhew! I had fun pointing out to Matt what I was when I was in the pageant 9 years ago. We really enjoyed the pageant.

The next day we drove to NYC I actually drove in the city and parked at La Guardia, then into the city for us. Matt took me on more romantic evenings than we have had in a long time. He went out of his way and found 2 of the 3 romantic dinners before he even came home from Afghanistan. We had dinner at 21 Club in Manhattan which was AMAZING, the next night at Barbetta's and then the 3rd night on a Yacht that sailed around the Bay and seeing the sites. Also made a stop at Serendipity 3 for AMAZING desserts, and had a wonderful Bike ride thru Central Park. We rented bikes and road all the way around the park. It was great.

We had great food everyday and I am so glad that we went and can't wait to go back to the city. So here are a few pix after our trip. Sorry for the short snipit of info here but we had way too much fun for me to really write it all down.

~Archer, on the way to the Kennel. He was pouting!~

~Our secret place we found on the way to Niagara Falls. Us in front of Lake Erie.~

~Maid of the Mist~

~The American Side of the Falls~

~The view from our table at lunch.~

~The constant rainbow from the falls! Great pix with the flag~

~Lunch with a view~

~Journey Behind the Falls!~

~That is where we were on the Maid of the Mist~

~The Hill Cumorah Pageant stage~

~Serendipity 3. The frozen Hot Chocolate.~

~The view from our Hotel, Marriott East side~

~Matt in front of our hotel~

~Bike riding in Central Park~

~Date Night!!!~

~View from the Yacht!~

~Park in Dumbo, Brooklyn. (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass)

~We went on 2 pizza tours this trip and this is from the second one. Matt loves this place.~

~The Pizza before Matt~

~After Matt~

~Second pizza joint on the tour, Before!~

~After. Not my fav kind of pizza I liked the first one better personally!~

~Coney Island~

A Little Longer

I know I haven't been writing that much as of late, however, my life has not been that full of fun stuff to share. My best friend has been gone and I have been either at the gym or at home teaching, both of which I have noticed that people don't want to hear about all the time. Anyhew, I just wanted to put a little bug out there that I am alive and very well. Matt will be home in less than 30 days, finally, and I am sure that next month I will have plenty to blog about after our 2.5 week trip to NY.

But for those of you who don't know. I have been going to they gym like a mad woman. I go for 2 to 3 hours a day, depending on the day and if I have training. I am doing at least 2 hours of cardio on the elliptical everyday but Sunday. I have finally made some head way with losing "pounds", but more importantly I have lost inches, and a lot of them. As of today my trainer, yes my personal trainer whom I have been working with since November, advised me not to send Matt and more pix or to tell him how my progress is going so that he will be surprised when he sees me. I look so different now. Anyhew you will see in another month how much I lost and how good I look. It has taken a lot of work and effort on my part and I am proud of what I have accomplished. That's all for now folks!

Beautiful Spring Time

Hey, you remember me? It has been a long while huh? Well I need to get better at this and not have so much time between posts. Today I taught my first Relief Society lesson, and well, everyone enjoyed it. I got a lot of laughs, comments, and well wishes. They seemed to enjoy it and surprise, I ran out of time. I thought I was going to be luck to finish in time, but I actually couldn't finish it and had to end earlier than I wanted to because we had to save time for testimonies.

This Sat is my studio's 3rd Spring Recital, YAY!!! I am so excited to get it done and over with. The kids are ready, I'm ready and excited for it to finally be done.

I am getting a roomie! Yep, one of my old students, an adult. She lives with her sister and bro-in-law with their family. Well the family is moving but about a month before she is done teaching at a local public school in C-ville. So for that month she is going to live with me and keep me company. It will be nice. She will move out about a week before Matt gets home, which is now less than 2 months away, finally.

Other than that everything seems to be going well. I have been busy in the garden and enjoying all the beautiful spring time pleasures from last year that I planted. Here are a few pictures from my garden. A couple of new additions, I planted 2 blueberry bushes and they are coming in very well, the pix don't do them justice. Also I am going to have about 500 strawberries again. Oh and my carrots and CORN are sprouting. Enjoy the pix!

~My phlox, I love it.~

~My new Wisteria. This puppy is going to grow huge and climb all over my pergola.~

~My strawberry patch. I have a couple of ones that are already red and beautiful. 1 month early~

~Carrots, for my husband!~

~I was curious if I could actually grow Corn. I have 8 stalks coming in~

Myrna M. Birchett 12/12/1919-3/23/2010

I know, I know. My parents keep reminding me that it has been forever since I have posted on here. They are right but I didn't have anything that was really worth posting about until this last week, and I have been avoiding writing this because it seems to make everything more finalized with me.

My dear, sweet grandmother, Myrna Birchett, passed away on March 23, 2010 just after midnight, in Chandler, AZ. This date is exactly 15 years from when her husband, Robert Birchett, passed away, and it was also my brother's birthday. That is right, both grandparents, whom my brother and I were closest to growing up both passed away on his birthday. My brother is okay with Grandma passing on his birthday, because she is in a much better place now. Anyhew my grandmother was so special to me, not just because she was the GREATEST GRANDMA EVER, but because she was a very close friend of mine. As many of you know I lived with her a few times, and I grew up only 3 blocks away from her house, so I was there a lot as a child. I was living with Grandma, when I met Matt up until I married him, then I moved back in with her during the summer of '05 while I was finishing up my degree at ASU.

My fondest memories of my Grandmother were of her praying every night and praying for every single child, grandchild, and great grandchild, and never missing one of them. Of her stuffing me to the gills with her microwave omelets with ham, green chilies and cheese with a splash of milk, which I still make them that way, sans the microwave and on the stove. Her love for cinnamon swirl toast and hot chocolate every morning while she read the newspaper. Always doing the crossword puzzles in PEN which I still try to do even to this day. Her teaching me canasta, gin rummy, speed, and solitaire and never letting me win just cause I was a kid, and I did learn to beat her and we would laugh over how long if finally took me to win a hand against her. I loved talking with her and calling her on the phone over the past few years just to see how she was doing, and her always asking when I was coming home to see her. The way she fattened up Archer when we were there, (I went out of town to visit Matt for 2 weeks and came home and Archer had to have gained at least 5 pounds.) The way that Grandma always loved my best friends and invited them into her home lovingly and fed us. I loved playing my piano for her and she always thought I played so perfectly, hence while playing at the Funeral I was so nervous because she would really know when I messed up now.

Anyhew, I have many, many more memories of my Grandmother. I will miss you so much Grandma!

~The last photo of Myrna taken. Date taken Sat. March 20th~

To My Valentine

Well my second Valentine's Day with out my Valentine, but that doesn't mean he didn't treat me right. He sent me 100 mini rose's and a dozen of my fav, Dark Velvety Red Roses, oh and he bought me a panini press, but doesn't know it yet. I love that man so much. He is soooo amazingly wonderful and takes such good care of me and Archer. He sacrifices so much for me, such as working 17+ hours a day right now trying to help us save up for our future family. I am so thankful that I met him, fell in love with him, and married him and continue to fall in love with him each and every time he calls me. I look forward to the days of just us and no work this summer when he returns and also for our first BIG trip together this coming January. I look forward to spending the rest of my life and all eternity with him. He is my best friend and always makes me laugh when I am feeling sad or upset. He has no want for anything except to make me happy. I could not have asked for a better man in my life. I LOVE YOU MATT!

I will get pix up of the flowers when I find the connector thingy to the computer. Anyhew, sending you all my love from afar and hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day.

Rebecca

Snow X3-Part Deux

Ok I know you are getting tired of all of my snow posting, you should see my facebook account, it is all snow, anyhew, we are getting snow AGAIN. ARGH! I am so tired of snow. I haven't even finished digging out my driveway from this last weekend. I have a good reason, other than being upset about all the snow dumping on us. Our power went out for this snow storm for 36 hours. I stayed home and braved the cold, and boy was it cold. I read 3 books in 1.5 days and worked on some of my mom's Christmas gift, read a lot out of my scriptures and slept. My neighbors bought a generator Sunday and had me and a few other neighbors over for an amazing dinner in the dark. I am sooo thankful for the friends who checked in on me and for my parents dealing with all my calls. So everyone cross your fingers hoping we don't lose power again. I am actually ready for spring, and for once I am actually missing Arizona and the warm weather they are starting to get now. I will post pix soon.

Snow X3

So I guess third times a charm, because we are having our 3rd big snow storm roll through here today and tomorrow. The "all knowing" weather man has predicted our area to receive up to 24 inches of snow, we shall see about how much we receive but they were correct in the time that the snow would start falling, pretty much 8am right on the dot. And to note, the snow hasn't melted all the way from the last storm last week. So we should have maybe 3-4 feet of snow on the grass by the end of this. CRAZY!

This is soooo not fair. When Matt leaves we get slammed with snow. He has only had to shovel the driveway 1 time since we moved to VA. Well at least I will get a good workout. I did get my own shovel this time and won't have to borrow one from the neighbors. See you on the flip side and post some pix when we get them.