The City that Never Sleeps... seriously I don't think it does!

Well I know that this is the moment that everyone has been waiting for!! I just want to warn you if you have not already I would go to the bathroom, get a drink and if your hungry maybe something to eat cause there is a LOAD of pictures! But I promise it is all worth it.

We left for New York on August 14th the plane was supposed to leave at 4:50 p.m. my dad didn't get home from work until 3:50 p.m.! Ya we were stressed however our plane was late and we ended up not leaving SLC until 6:30 which means we didn't get into NYC until almost 1:00 in the morning. We were all so tired! Dad, Mom, and Me on the airplane!
Jordy, Jenna, and JD.
So on Friday night we had tickets to the Phantom of the Opera. It was really good. However it started to rain as we were walking to the theater. We didn't have umbrellas so we hid under a store front pondering this dilemma. When some man walked by selling umbrellas we bought four and let the boys suffer. However J.D. couldn't take it anymore so he found another man selling umbrellas bought one and we continued on our journey. Well we finally made it to the theater with one wet dad. Mom bought him a sweatshirt from the "gift shop" she was cold so she bought herself one. Well we really looked like tourists because here are parents were walking down Times Square hand in hand with matching Phantom of the Opera sweatshirts on. Oh did I mention that the Phantoms face glows in the dark! Ha Ha

Here we are waiting to get seated at the Hard Rock Cafe in NYC!
TIMES SQUARE!!!
The girls and one of New York's Finest! Jenna asked him to pretend like he was arresting her. But he couldn't do that!
This guy was AMAZING. He was just seating there singing away!
Me, Dad(wearing his Phantom sweatshirt), and Jordy on the subway!

CENTRAL PARK
Here we are in front of something that was in some movie. I just can't remember what it is or what movie it was in!
Look familiar... It should it is the fountain from FRIENDS!
This guy and one of his friends peddled their hearts out as they showed us around Central Park!
Here we are in our Pedi-Taxi's! Yes we really fit three in one! It was CRAZY!


Dad and his girls at the Top of the Rockefeller Center!
Mom and Jake
The view from the Top of the Rock!
This was probably the best Ice Cream I have ever eatin! And to think that we bought from a man selling it outside of a truck!

In front of the American Girl Doll Store!
The Hudson River is our back drop!
The view from our Tour Boat on the Hudson!
This picture says it all. After touring all day long and walking, walking, and doing some more walking we finally caught a bus back to the city. J.D. took this opportunity to take a nap!
Land of the Free.... Home of the Brave

Pictures from inside/outside of the Statue of Liberty Museum
The girls at the top of the Statue of Liberty

Ellis Island
This was probably one of my favorite stops of the trip! It was the World Trade Center Museum. It was a very special place!

Ok so after five days touring the city we headed upstate to visit Church History sites and also go to Niagara Falls. It was a long drive which I had to drive the whole way. But we made it there in one piece and very quickly! At the beginning of the day I never thought we were going to make it there cause dad started to freak out because we had brought to much stuff and couldn't fit in the rental car!
Here we are in the same room that the Angel Moroni came to Joseph Smith! It had an amazing feeling.
The girls in front of the Sacred Grove

Pictures taken in and around the Sacred Grove and the Smith Family Farm
In front of a statue of the First Vision
The Grandin Building. This is where the Book of Mormon was printed for the first time!
The Peter Whitmere Farm
The Family in front of the Whitmere home

The Hill Cumorah
Ok so this picture s really funny. We were trying to take a girls picture but when we looked closely in the background we noticed that the boys popped out of behind the monument to be in the picture as well.
The FALLS!
We had just rode Maid of the Mist. We got soaked!
At the Cave of the Winds

Mom and Dad
Dad doesn't he look goofy!
Jenna and Jordynn conquered the Hurricane deck!
Looks like we survived the Caves!
Here are the cute shoes that we had to where to go and hike the caves!

Well after two hours of putting the post together it is all done! I hope that you all enjoyed reading this post and looking at all of the pictures! Sorry it took so long to get them all posted!

oh my its KYLE KORVER!

Ok so whoever says that dreams come true at Disneyland has never been to the Salt Lake International Airport! On Thursday August 14th we were flying out to New York! While we were waiting to go through security I noticed this VERY ATTRACTIVE guy standing behind us. I could only see his profile and I did notice that he was very tall. Well all of a sudden he looked at me face on and my jaw felt to the GROUND. All I could say was ohmyitskylekorver. Yes I know that is one long word but I seriously said it without taking a breath. I was in SHOCK. I have never just seen a Jazz basketball player out and about; let alone at the airport. Well we waited for him to pass through security and then my mom asked him if we could get our picture taken with him. He said yes and then he smiled and then my heart melted like butter when left out in the car on a Arizona summer day. Ya it melted that fast. It was a great start to a great trip. I have LOADS of pictures to go through and two blogs to put them on. So... be patient and in time I will share all of the fun things that we did!

NEW YORK HERE WE COME!

Well the time has finally come we are headed to New York! Check back in a couple of weeks for great pictures! We are going to be in the city for 5 days. We are going to do some shopping, Broadway attending, and Manhattan Temple sessioning! After those 5 days we are headed upstate to go visit some Church sites and also Niagara Falls! I am so excited!

EFY SESSION 10 A -SHALL KNOW-

Well I hope that you all are ready for LOADS of pictures. This is no joke! I have finally gotten around to updating the blog with my last session of EFY! Every session was great but there was just something so WONDERFUL and AMAZING about this session I can't even describe it! My girls (I had TEN) were WONDERFUL I loved everyone of them so much! Everyone got along and there was no complaining and wonderful goals that we set and accomplished. It truly was a great way to end my summer job! I can't wait until next year to do it all over! This is Brother and Sister Knowlton. They are both from Kaysville! YAY. Brother Knowlton said that you can't take a picture of a personality so it doesn't really matter what you look like in a picture! He was a great session director and I learned so MUCH from him and his wife!
The company Shall Know! Our company name comes from the scripture John 7:17. We had a total of 30 youth. There were twenty girls and ten guys. I loved them all!
This is Jess Thayne and me Jess Whitaker! She is a great counselor! Not to mention she also has a great name. We were in the same B.C. group during session 7A and it got a little confusing so for that week I became Jessa to everyone!

The EFY Roller Coaster! During EFY sometimes you have to wait for awhile so games have been invented to keep the kids occupied! The picture above is proof of that! The youth had a great time with this one! There is also the race car and Eric D. Stokes even made up an Indiana Jones one!
Games night is always so much fun. This year we played Noah's Arc, Tree/Log/Bridge, Pioneer Trail, Tunnel Run, and of course the ever anticipated Cheer Off!
Pizza night is a great way to end games night. This is the night that true bonding takes place! There is all sorts of girl talk that goes on it is amazing what these girls have already been through and they are only between the ages of 14-15! I guess now is a good time to tell the names of my girls that way even I won't forget them. On the couches going left to right we have Kenzie, Emilee, Kelsie, Samy, Maddie, Rachel, Kacy. And on the floor we have Megan, ME, Cattie, and Ashlyn!
SERVICE we love SERVICE! This year we made hats for babies! It was loads of fun and the youth were really good at it. Well OK some struggled but at least they tried right! The rule of thumb was to keep it LOOSE!

Here we all are on the annual taking of pictures right before the banquet! It is a fun way to end the week!
The co-co's! It is always interesting to see the personalities of the counselors that you get put with. Some you enjoy others you wish would just take a hike! But it is all good! Derrick and Tina were wonderful! I love the bottom two pictures you seriously are so tired by the end of the week that all you want to do is just crash!
Here is the final Business meeting of the week! They wanted me to where my David Archuletta shirt! This shows some major hometown PRIDE! In the pictures are Sarah (she was a counselor in my b.c. group), then there is Megan Fillmore she was the coordinator for the A team, then Katie and Cara are in the bottom two pictures. Katie was my b.c. my last week and Cara was my b.c. my second week!
This is the end I told there was a lot of pictures! This picture is a true showing of just how tired one gets during EFY however you never let the YOUTH see it! This week is all about them and showing them just how wonderful the Gospel is! Do you like the dark circles under my EYES! Hope you enjoyed this!