I was here

On Thursday at 6:30pm I pulled out of the driveway (with tears streaming down my face like any good wife and mother) and drove two hours to stay with some friends (don't you love it when you see friends you haven't seen in years and it's as though nothing has changed?? it was awesome seeing them). Went to sleep at 12:30am with the light on. And my clothes. Woke up at 4:30am, snatched a muffin from their freezer and then drove 30 minutes to the airport. Parked in the economy parking lot, got on a shuttle and rode to the airport. I enjoyed getting my tickets printed, waiting in line, going through security and mozying to my gate totally kid free. Got a sandwich and ate it while watching CNN talk about an "underwear bomber" (heh heh heh). Then I got on the plane and started the flying part of my journey. For 11 hours. But it was amazing. I read a book, listened to my ipod that Zach had loaded for me with all of our favorite songs, crocheted some washcloths and took some pictures out the windows:

Washington D.C. Temple from the plane

Fun side story: While getting on the plane in D.C. a man came up to the man standing behind me and asked if he could take his picture. After the other guy walked away I turned to the man behind me and joked that he hadn't asked to take MY picture, which we laughed about. But I felt bad that I had no idea who this man was. Everyone on the plane knew who he was and I felt like I was walking through a small town as we walked through the plane and everyone was saying "Hi Mr. -----!! Congratulations!" I couldn't make out the name they were saying, but I didn't recognize him at all. Finally I turned around and said, "Now I'm feeling bad that I don't know who you are." So he asked where I was from and when I said, Utah, he said, "That's why. I'm the Senator of New York." Uh..... sheepish much?? I had one of these moments (0:30), but thankfully not outloud.

Anyway, flying by myself was amazing. It was a vacation in itself (that is, on the way there. on the way home? not so much...). So I landed, was picked up by my three, beautiful traveling partners and was whisked away to this amazing place:

NEW YORK CITY!!!

Me and Mom

Erin, Juli and Me

There are not enough words to describe the giddiness between me, my sisters and my mom as we arrived in the city. Lots and lots of laughing. Laughing at the fact that we were all together. Laughing that we were in NEW YORK CITY. Laughing that we had left 12 children motherless for the weekend. The entire time I kept thinking, "Dangit, I'm out really late. I should probably head home." What a mom.

I have to apologize though - We were all so excited to be there and to be together that we didn't take many good pictures. But that's good. We were too busy enjoying ourselves to document things. That's the sign of a good time. :)

Juli, begging for free kettle corn in Bryant Park.

Juli has a friend that lives in New Jersey that came over to show us around that first night. She took us to this amazing resturant in Korea Town and ordered this meal for us. It was one of the best meals of my entire life. I could have eaten all night.

Erin and Juli trying to look like New Yorkers. Nice, ladies.

We rode the subway a ton, but never quite got the hang of it. I think it would take a few more days to feel confident that the train we had gotten on would actually take us where we intended on going. But it was so much fun and the people watching was fantastic.

The reason we went to New York was because our cousin Tara is getting married (on New Year's in the Bahamas.... ) and was having a bridal shower. She had no idea we were coming and cried like a baby when she saw us. And then we all started crying too. It was awesome. I hadn't seen Tara since she surprised me at me and Zach's wedding almost 8 years ago! It was so good to see her. And the bridal shower was incredible. Persian food (TONS of it. YUM.), a belly dancer, and more cousins we hadn't seen in forever to visit with. So much fun.

Us with Tara. She's absolutely stunning.

Us with our Uncle Noshin, Tara's father. I hadn't seen him since I was probably 10.

Us with our cousin Eric and his new wife Paula. They were so fun to talk to.

The other thing that was a must on my list of things to do in NYC:

Mood.

I'm a Project Runway nerd, so I HAD to visit Mood. It's a 40,000 square foot fabric store with every type of fabric imaginable. It was totally overwhelming, but so amazing to see in person. Erin bought me some yardage that I picked out (as payment for giving her a massage the night before) so I'll hopefully make something out of that soon.

And that's about it! Well, not really. That's a small snipit of all the fun we had. But everything else is just a bunch of inside jokes and giggling. It ended too soon. But I'm hoping that we'll start a new tradition of a girl's trip every once in a while. Every other year maybe?? And next time Mandi and Taya (our brother's wives) need to come too!!

Thank you for this amazing trip ladies!!!! I still can't believe we did it!