NEW YORK!!

Long time no see huh?

I know... I know...

Technically; I got back two weeks ago and I am JUST NOW putting up my blog post??

 Give me a break people!

 I needed a vacation from my vacation!! 

AND after I went through over 600 photos I was in NO mood to get my "post on"

READER BEWARE: MANY LONG BLOG POSTS TO FOLLOW... 

Let's get this party started!!

Hubby and I ~ ON THE PLANE ready to go!!

Oh, where are the kids you ask? They are at G&G Andersen's house.

HECK YEAH we left them... best start to our vacation ever!! 

 Flying into NYC. It was BEAUTIFUL seeing a "bird's eye view" of the city!

We arrived half an hour early to the airport and decided we would be adventurous and take the subway to our hotel. It would have been three times as much to take a cab so we went for it!
I have never been on a subway before, this was very new for me; but I enjoyed it! (as much as you can enjoy a subway ride... I guess)

As we hit our stop we got out, all our luggage in hand and walked up the steps to THIS...

It was almost 11 p.m.

This city truly never sleeps. At least while we were there it never did!!

I was stoked to see the WICKED sign... I was SOOOO looking forward to going to see that!!
We took our luggage and walked to the Hotel. Checked in and decided to eat.

We hit up a local diner, then walked around Central Park.

I never knew how HUGE Central Park was. So neat having a huge park in the middle of a huge city!

It is just as beautiful as you see it in all the movies!

After our little stroll we decided to head back to the hotel and get some rest for the next day.

 Look what we found looking for breakfast! Too bad it was not lunch time huh?

It was raining a little, but was not cold at all. The humidity is NUTS!

As we strolled the streets we saw more of Central Park, The NYC Ballet Building, The shops at Columbus Circle, a Yoga shop with a REAL girl in the window doing Yoga... and wouldn't you know??
We ran into THIS...

The Manhattan Temple (the smaller building with the LONG windows)

We were just walking around and I saw the Angel Moroni.

I said "Matt did you know we were near the temple?"

That was really neat for us. And we found out that they hold church meetings on the third floor of the Temple Building. How different NYC already is for us!!
After that we needed to get ready for BROADWAY!!!

When we were planning our trip we had "Watch a Show on Broadway" on our list of things we wanted to do. We have been hearing great things about the show WICKED for years now. I have wanted to see it, but never got around to going when it was here in California. It worked out PERFECT for us to go because one of my LIFE LONG friends Teal Wicks was playing Elphaba the lead character in NYC!! She had been in the LA, and San Francisco production that I missed, so I KNEW I had to go!! We went early to try to catch her before the show, but she was already in hair and makeup. So I left her a note in the hopes that I would catch her to let her know I was there. Let me just tell you... the show was AMAZING! The writers and actors have CHANGED history with this play. I don't think I will ever watch The Wizard of Oz the same way again!! I'm not going to give too much of the play away, but if you have not seen it, I HIGHLY recommend you do!! So after the show we were trying to find a crew member to help us find Teal. We were kinda walking around the Theatre and saw someone walking across the stage. I asked them if they could help me; and wouldn't you know it, she was looking for us! Teal sent her "swing girl" (the person who does all the costume changes during the show) to find me. We got to go backstage with her, we got to stand ON the stage and see the set and everything about WICKED, but BEST of all....

I got to see TEAL!! It was SO sweet getting to see her. When I was sitting in the theater; and I heard her voice for the first scene I got teary eyed! Not only was I watching an AMAZING show, but the LEAD CHARACTER was one of my BEST FRIENDS growing up!! She ROCKED it! I am so happy and very PROUD of her. We go WAY BACK... to first grade having a crush on the same boy, playing soccer on EVERY TEAM together, enjoying High School and being in Vocal Jazz (Glee Club) together... Man, I LOVE this girl! She and I talked for a while, I got some pictures, had her sign my playbook, and got LOTS of hugs! This MADE my vacation! After that was over I told Matt "OK, That was the highlight of my vacation. We can go home now!" And he laughed. Teal recommended a few places for us to eat, we exchanged phone numbers and she said call her if we need anything! SUCH a sweetheart RIGHT? Same old Teal... LOVE HER!!

How awesome is it that her FACE was on the poster in front of Gershwin Theater??
SOOOOOO AWESOME!! Had to get this picture!
Anywho, After the Awesomeness of WICKED we went back to the hotel, changed clothes (my heals we killing me) and headed for Times Square. On our way we saw THIS...

That's right... Matt's Grill!! So funny that in the same day we saw "OUR NAMES" on restaurants! There were millions of little grills, delis, and shops everywhere! Also everywhere Dunkin' Donuts... Ugh YES PLEASE. (breakfast of champions)

OH, and Check this out. With all the "HOOPLA" around The Book Of Mormon Musical on Broadway look at what our church has in the middle of Times Square. And this picture does not do the HUGENESS of the I Am Mormon.org poster justice. This thing was MASSIVE!! The lady that took our picture asked us if we had seen the play and I said "No, but we are real life Mormons. Wanna touch me?" and she and I laughed.

The humidity was KILLING us so we hit up McDonald's for some dessert. Quick question... Have you had the ROLO SHAKE at McD's yet? UGH! TO DIE FOR... get it! Matt above enjoying my rolo shake in the middle of Times Square.

It was the 4th of July weekend, so the streets were WAY crowded. Obviously not as crowded as New Years, but STILL crowded. We saw the M&M store and decided to check it out. We took a picture to send to Landon and Hailey...

If you read my blog you MAY remember Landon LOVES his "M". So we thought they would like us to send them a picture from the "M" store. My mom said he loved it when he saw it!
On our walk home we got the FULL New York experience and walked by a guy laying on the sidewalk with blood all over. Not sure if he was dead or alive, but we helped flag down the ambulance to the scene of the crime. Luckily a few other people had come upon him first and had already called for help. CRAZY STUFF ~ huh??!!
And that was the end to our VERY LONG first FULL day in NYC.
MANY MORE Blog Posts to come! :)