New York and a beautiful new addition

Well this will be the longest post ive ever done, There is good reason for that, One because this blog is a "public" version of my journal that I will print out at the end of the year and keep record of, and two because this was one of the funnest trips ive ever been on and I couldnt leave anything out!! We've been planning this trip for months, the reason.. to celebrate Jeff and Danielle and be a part of their wedding, but what I didnt expect was all of the other things that would come along with it.. Ive always loved my little butt brother in laws and my awesome sis-in -law Kathryn but this trip brought us all closer, I dont know if its bc we were all somewhere without any kids, Im sure that had something to do with it, But it was more than that. You know how some experiences you cant ever come back from... how things wont ever be the same... well this trip was one of those times.. We laughed until our stomaches hurt every single day, several times a day.. You see when the Smith boys and girl get together they love to reminise about stories from their past, all the stories that their mother never knew about {until now} come out and as I sat back and watched it all take place, I realized that this bond goes really deep. That you couldnt break it even if you wanted to. {not that I would ever want to!} just sayin.. And not only that but I came to realize even more fully, that I have the best sister in laws in the world. So there we were, 12 adults going through the adventures of New York and celebrating our newest addition to the family, Danielle, and having the time of our lives! We shared stories, cried together, laughed together, had other bonding moments some not suitable to talk about on the blog {Heidi} and I never wanted it to end. As our plane landed in Salt Lake City, I got a pit in my stomache. Thats never happened to me when Ive gotten home from any vacation. Im going through some kind of a "depression" I cant really explain it, but when I shared my feelings with Kathryn and Heidi, they let me know that the feeling is mutual. So I guess what I got most out of this trip was an even tighter bond to all of my brothers and sisters that you also couldnt break if you wanted to.. and a new gorgeous sister in law whom I absolutly LOVE, and a trip that you couldnt re-do even if you tried. It was perfect.


Time Square at dusk the night we got there.

Rays pizza, a view from all of them..

Rays Pizza, a view from where I sat..

Almost all the girls..LisaMarie, Kathryn, Me, Heidi and Genevieve

Dan and LisaMarie at the Empire State building. We went there the night we got there and it was 10:00 p.m. when they did this tour, I was blown away because in Utah, you cant even find a restaurant open that late unless its IHOP. It was so much fun to be in a city that never sleeps...literally!

Kathryn and Heidi at Sephora, where we all bought something to try and beautify ourselves for the wedding the next day

The wedding dinner, They had it in a park by a lake under these pavillions, it was GORGEOUS and perfect. Very Low key and a perfect place to meet our new family.

The "mommys" of the bride and groom

Smith kids.. Anthony, Kathryn, Gary, Jeff, Dan and Scott

warming up by the fire and making smores

Celebrating with the families

A view from the pavillion

Breakfast with the groom right before the big ceremony!!

Me and my beautiful new sister in law...did I mention that I love her?

The Loch ness monster at the wedding dinner

Our roomie Anth

Our view from our hotel room at the Settlers Inn, gorgeous.

Breakfast before the ceremony

The Settlers Inn, wedding location

Gary and Heidi before the ceremony {dont you think they're starting to look alike??}

Genevieve and Kathryn right before the ceremony, Gen was full of emotion watching her son get married and thinking about her own love of her life Paul. We know he was there also.

Dan and LisaMarie before the ceremony..{open your eyes Dan!} sorry that I only took 1 pic and didnt get his eyes open

Me and Scott before the ceremony

After the ceremony, celebrating in the gardens, Look how happy she is

All the Smith kids minus Julie

Dan, Anth, Kath, Jeff, Scott and Gary

The bride and her parents

The groom and his mom... Paul is there too, you just cant see him, but we could feel him.

All of my awesome sisters!

Beautiful grounds

Me and Kathryn

The round table...this was the hotel lobby in the Settlers Inn and we would re-arrange the furniture into a big circle and laugh some more..

Ground Zero.. although it is just a construction site right now, you can still feel the reverence of that day.

Anth slidding down the stairs at ground zero..he felt the reverence too, he just cant be mature for very long.

This was a replica of the statue of liberty with trinkets and memoribilia from all the people that lost their lives that day..you couldnt help getting choked up with emotion as you looked at it.

Randy enjoying a "real" New York hotdog, not some "panda express one"

Scott and I on Wall Street, {Scott has always had this secret desire to be Gordon Gecko and live that life}

The Bull in Wall Street {some of the boys}

then they realized that posing in front of it wasnt nearly as cool as climbing up on it would be! {I said we were adults, I didnt say we were mature}

Then the asians thought it was great too, so they made Scott stay up there while they got his picture!! {hahahaha, silly american riding on the bull..hahah, stay there, we take picture of you! hahah} Notice how hard Anth is laughing, he's about to fall over backward

Statue of Liberty

Anth, doing some more posing..doesnt he look like the statue?? haha

All of us but Jeff and Danielle

New York subway, this makes you grateful for the cleanliness of our state.

All of us at Rockefeller Center

This is why I love New York, because you can do things like this in the street and not get arrested.

and this...

Scott and I in front of Letterman studio, you have to get a picture of this!

Scott and I got some yummy dessert from a bakery outside of Rockefeller center and just sat and people watched..{everyone had gone home at this point except Scott and I, so we were able to enjoy some alone time in the big city, but we reallly missed everyone!}

Diane Sawyer and Hoda from Good Morning America, Scott and I went to a free Whitney Houston concert in Central Park they were doing for the GMA show

Then we went to Wicked...it was fantabulous..

And last but certainly not least, the deli that we got breakfast in every morning. They served fresh squeezed orange juice and made you omeletts and breakfast sandwiches to order. I wish we had places like this here.