New York Baby!!

My hard working man sold enough insurance to earn an all expense paid trip to New York City courtesy of Auto Owners Insurance.  It was such and incredible trip.   We fit as much as humanly possible into the 4 days we were there.  I have to also acknowledge my mom and dad, Sarah, Jeri and Scott for taking incredible care of our kids while we were away.  We've never left Hank for that many nights since his diabetes diagnosis.  I feel so incredibly lucky and blessed to have so many family members who are willing to take on diabetes and all the challenges that come with it.  They woke up in the night to check him, changed his site, and had better diabetes control than I've been able to have since we've been home!  My kids had a bit of a vacation themselves.  They went fishing, bowling, laser tagging, to a movie, and much more.  It was a great break for all of us.  Now back to New York.  The above picture was taken from our 40th floor hotel room in the heart of Times Square.  Talk about the perfect location!

After settling into our room, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at our hotel and then ventured out to see the sights out our front door.

Times Square

We found our way to a cool little pub nearby. 

After solving some of the worlds biggest problems we decided to call it a night.

The next morning we took a tour of the city.  Everything was paid in advance and very well organized.  There is no way we could have covered that much ground in NYC by ourselves.  Our tour guide was a New Yorker, born and raised, and very knowledgeable about where all the celebrities live.  Major plus!  When he pointed out Jay-Z and Beyonce's apartment, I nearly jumped out of the bus.

I mean, I guess the New York Stock Exchange is pretty cool too.

This is the exact spot where George Washington was sworn in as the first President of the United States.

Who's that sexy man in Federal Hall?

The 911 Memorial was incredible.  Such an impressive site and also extremely sad.  They did such a magnificent job paying tribute to those who lost their lives there.

Next we had lunch at the famed Katz's Deli.  I got slightly scolded by our server for not ordering their famous pastrami sandwich.  The turkey was quite delicious but I guess it's nothing compared to the pastrami.

I tried Randy's sandwich and it was pretty tasty as far as pastrami goes.  They served us cheesecake for dessert that was outstanding.  We definitely got a New York experience.  The pace is fast and furious.  I think people need to chill out a little more in the city.

Our next stop was beautiful Central Park.

The first thing that came to my mind when we saw this bridge was the scene from Enchanted, haha!  The amount of movies filmed at this park is mind blowing.

There was so much going on in the park.  Lots of entertainers, musicians and people just enjoying a little green space in the middle of a humongous city.

Our tour took almost 6 hours so these are just the highlights.  I'm so glad we had the opportunity to see the city in that way.

We came back to the hotel, took a little power nap and then headed to the subway for a Yankee's game.

We may have headed towards Brooklyn instead of the Bronx...little detour.  We finally headed the right way just in time for the game to start.

Randy was pumped and ready to pretend he was the biggest Yankee fan you've ever seen.

The stadium was insane!

We had seats in the third tier so we had a great view of the entire field.  The jumbo tron was one of the biggest I've ever seen, with a crystal clear picture.  As the fan cam went around surprising all the people, I noticed the girl on the screen was wearing the same shirt I was.  Wait a minute, it was me!!!!!  Randy and I totally made the jumbo tron at Yankee Stadium.  Highlight of my life right there.  It was awesome.

I mean, how could they not get us on the jumbo tron?  We're practically famous now.  After the game we accidentally ended up in a not so nice part of town.  Some kind man told us we probably should head back to Manhattan.  Apparently we don't look like we belong in the Bronx!

The next day I was determined to do two things, shop and find a celebrity.  There isn't a better place to do that then SoHo so that's where we headed.  The weather didn't cooperate with us but it really felt like a true New York experience trudging through the streets in the rain.  Randy was a great sport and endured hours of browsing in about 50 different stores.  I found some really tight jeans at the G-Star Raw store and the salesperson talked me into buying them.  They will forever be my New York jeans.  We took refuge at this cool little restaurant.  It looked like the perfect spot to see some celebs but the rain must have kept them indoors.  Later that night, Auto Owners had a dinner reservations for us at the famous Sardi's before our Broadway show.

This group of people ended up being some of our favorite people on the entire trip.  These agents were from Arkansas and boy oh boy did they LOVE Randy.  As we walked into the restaurant, they yelled to us from across the room.  They had been saving us a seat. I have to admit, sometimes I relate to older people better than people my own age.  The guy sitting next to me is Larry and he reminded me so much of Grandpa Karl.

The food was great and the company was even greater.  

The show we chose to see was Once.  The music was awesome.  The cast played their own instruments and provided all the music for the show.  It was a very intimate performance that we both enjoyed very much.

The show was over just before 9 and Randy and I had yet to enjoy the night life in the big city.  We found some people to come with us and check out the scene.  Most of the clubs in New York have a pretty strict dress code so we opted for a more relaxed atmosphere.

This is Chris, poor thing was ready for bed until Randy and I made her and her husband go out with us.  The next picture is totally gross but noteworthy.  Randy snapped this little gem in the men's restroom.

Yep, that's a test strip in the urinal.  It just so happens to be the exact same brand Hank uses.  It kind of made me sad actually.  I hate that Hank is going to have to sneak into a bathroom as an adult and check his blood.  See, I can't escape the beeties, even in NYC!  Anyway back to the party...

We changed locations awhile later and met some other friends at a Karaoke Bar not far from our hotel.

Randy just couldn't help himself.  He couldn't pass up an opportunity to rap "Gangsta's Paradise"!

It was a proud moment for me.  He didn't miss a word!  We even made time to get some pizza at Ray's on our way back to the hotel.  Never mind it was 3:30 a.m., but a night to remember for sure.

As tired as we were the next morning, we had one more day of our trip so we forged onward.  We headed to Rockefeller Center to the Top of the Rock.  It was a gorgeous day, with clear skies so the views were spectacular.  Don't we look well rested?  

 We found ourselves in Bryant Park for lunch.

I'm told that a few years ago, we wouldn't have been found anywhere near this park.  They've really cleaned it up and made it a beautiful space for many to enjoy.  In fact, I would say as a whole, I felt like New York was much safer and cleaner than I imagined it would be.  The people in the city couldn't have been nicer.  Either New Yorker's get a bad rap or we only talked to the nice ones.  The rest of the afternoon was spent searching for the perfect gifts to bring back to our kids.

Later that evening we went on a cruise to the Statue of Liberty.

Although we didn't get to walk around Ellis Island, we got a great view of Lady Liberty.

We were excited!!

We had an incredible dining experience afterwards at the Lighthouse.  There was fantastic food, a great band and lots of dancing.  I even got to cut a rug with my boyfriend Larry.  All the agents loved Randy.  I don't think they've ever seen a conga line at an insurance dinner but they did with our group!  Of course Randy was loving all the attention.

Me and Larry!

When the band got wind of Randy's karaoke skills, they called him and a few other guys up to sing "Red Solo Cup".  Let's just say Randy isn't your typical insurance agent! 

I joke around but Randy really is the most fun traveling partner I could ask for.  We always have such a great time together.  I'm starting to run out of adjectives to describe our trip so I'll wrap it up.  It's pretty obvious we had a blast.  It's going to take me a month to recover, but it was 100% worth it.

Speaking of Randy and I having a blast, we just celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary.  Before we went to New York, we had the pleasure of seeing my girl, Erykah Badu in concert.

Phil has officially deemed this as Randy's "concert face".

She killed it!  I never would have imagined she'd come to Utah once let alone twice in the past 5 years.  I also never would've imagined Randy ever liking any of her songs but he does.  I have definitely influenced his taste in music over our years together.  That's what happens when you spend half of your life with someone.  We are beginning to morph into the same person.  

Randy makes me want to live life to the fullest and have fun in everything I do.  I'm not scared to try new things because I know he loves and supports me no matter what the outcome is.  He gives me the freedom to truly be myself and he loves me for it!  I made the best decision of my life 14 years ago and I am grateful every day for his energy, spirit, and love.  I would be lost without him.  Not to mention we made 3 of the most amazing boys together.  There is no one else I'd rather raise these kids with.  He is an incredible father and human being.  I love you baby!

In case you haven't seen enough pictures of the two of us, here are some little gems we had taken a few weeks ago when we had our family pictures taken.