Taylor and I had a great opportunity to go pick my brother Brady up from his mission and spend a week in NY with him, my mom, sister Michelle, and brother Jordan. It was busy but truly amazing. We took the red eye flight Wed night to Syracuse and met Brady at the airport. My mom squealed when she saw him… it was pretty touching. We met his mission pres and his wife and then picked up our luggage, rented the mini van, and headed to Palmyra. We went to the Hill Cumorah visitor center first which was amazing, the Joseph Smith movie was great, and then the walk up to the monument at the top of the Hill Cumorah was beautiful. It rained on and off while we were there, but nothing that ruined our visit. We went to the Smith complex and took the tour through the log and frame homes, then walked through the Sacred Grove. It was gorgeous and the spirit was amazing. We then went to the Palmyra temple, Jordan did baptisms while the rest of us did initiatories. It was such a cute little temple. We then went to dinner then crashed.

Friday we got up and drove to Niagara Falls… can I just say ‘wonder of the world’. We rode the maid of the mist boat with our lovely blue poncho’s, walked up the stairway right by the falls, walked over to the other two lookouts on the US side, went to lunch at Hard Rock, checked in our hotel, then went to Canada. That sounds so funny. We took more pictures from the Canada side, did the Journey behind the Falls and then walked to the center of town for dinner. We found the funnest ride called the ‘Pile Drive’ at some little WWF attraction… It shoots you up like the big shot on the top of the Stratosphere or the rocket at Lagoon and then goes to the top of the ride and then falls like the re-entry ride at Lagoon. It was totally AWESOME! The view of the falls from up there was spectacular too! We stuck around for the fireworks over the falls that night, then went back to the US.

Saturday, we met some cute senior missionaries that Brady wanted to visit and then drove to Coopertown. As we arrived, the All Star Game just got out at Doubleday Field, so we were able to see the field and get some pictures. Then we went to the Baseball Hall of Fame and realized that it was inductee weekend. So we went to dinner and then hung out with the massive crowds to see the 3 players being inducted into the 2009 Hall of Fame. We got to see Jim Rice, Rickey Henderson, Willie Mays, and other famous baseball players as they arrived that evening. Then we had a fiasco with our hotel… who had overbooked and given away our pre-paid rooms. We couldn’t find any hotel rooms in over a 90 mile radius, so at 11 pm Brady called a member family who let us stay with them. They were wonderful.

We went to church in Oneonta, visited a lady that Brady wanted us to meet, then headed to NYC. We drove the Brooklyn Bridge, got pizza at Grimaldi’s, drove in downtown Manhattan with the crazy taxi drivers in the downpouring rain, then played cards in our hotel room.

Monday we figured out the Subway, saw ground zero and plans for the new WTC, went to Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty, got some dinner, and then went to the Mets game where we got to see a GRAND SLAM in the 8th inning! It was so fun! After the game we went to Times Square and got yummy cheesecake/pastires at a cute little bakery.

Tuesday we went to Central Park, the Manhattan temple, Rockefeller Plaza, shopping on 5th ave, and then went to Wicked on Broadway. Wicked was spectacular… we were on the second row so we got to see the amazing details of the costuming, dancing, and acting. There was one part where Glinda was singing in a spotlight that happened to be lighting up Taylor too (as he was on the end of the row), and she was totally looking at him and singing to him. Pretty cute!

Wed, we went to Greenwich Village, Canal Street, and went and saw the Intrepid (fighter aircraft carrier) that was parked in the Hudson. Then we took a taxi to Newark Airport and hung out there as the downpour of rain was delaying our flight 3 times. We finally got home about 9:30 pm. When our kids got to the airport with grandma & papa, the twins wouldn’t have anything to do with Taylor or I. Cole was great, Brighton warmed up within a few minutes, Hallie soon wanted dad, but wouldn’t have anything to do with me until morning.

It was hard to leave my kids that long, but it was a wonderful experience. Thursday we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open house. We saw a painting of the sacred grove that I was explaining to Cole that mommy and daddy were just there. He then proceded to ask everyone around us if they wanted to go see the ‘grove of trees’… pretty cute!