Zion National Park

The Young Women in our ward were not able to have their normally scheduled Girls camp with the stake due to yucky weather. So, instead, our ward planned a 2 day girls camp at Zion then the Young Men joined them for the last day/night. I took Parker to Cedar City for a much needed adjustment on his braces during the "girls" part of the camp. Ryan took out trailor to Zion with the girls to help with the cooking and such. This is Sophie traveling to Cedar with Parker and I...she's such a good car companion.

We made it to Zion and joined the rest of the group (I have no idea why I didn't take any pictures..I need to get better at that) Miranda had to come home early on Saturday for rehearsal, so we gave Sharron and Mckay a ride too. We stopped at the Zion sign and took a few pictures... Miranda and Mckay were not very cooperative posing for photos...

Miranda didn't do much better posing by herself...

 I guess the mom's will have to show them how it's done!

They had a fabulous time at Zion.  We really need to plan a family trip there...it's so beautiful!

NYC Day 4

It's been a crazy- fun-filled 3 days in NYC so far....but it's not over yet! We woke up early to the hustle and bustle of Times Square....

And took a taxi to see the Statue of Liberty... We hopped in line and they had this fabulous sculpture in the water..

The ferry ride was short but fun...

It was crazy to see the Statue get bigger and bigger as we got closer

We did your typical sight seeing around the statue.  We were too late to get tickets to climb inside, but it was still amazing just to be there!

We found a quiet place to have a lunch and just enjoyed each other's company.

 Isn't she a cutie :)
After the Ferry ride back to the main-land we walked a few blocks to the sight of Ground Zero.
It was a somber feeling but amazing that they are already re-building on the site.

 We walked to Wall Street and the New York Stock exchange...

 We just happened to run into this quaint little shop along the way :)

 While making our way back to the Taxi pick up spot, we ran into this cute little guy....
He he he... Miranda didn't understand why I had her pose in the back instead of the front of the Bull!
But she was a good sport about it. 

 After a brief rest back at the Hotel, we headed off to see Wicked! 

 The theater was amazing and we again, had Perfect seats!

The girl who played Elpheba was the same one we saw in Los Angeles!

It was the perfect ending to a perfect day!

NYC Day 2

After our first "get acquainted" day with NYC, I planned out the rest of the week to hopefully utilize the time we had there.  This is how Day 2 went...
   We started out early in the morning and headed to Rockefeller Center to go to the top of "the Rock"
It had a fabulous central view of the entire city 72 stories high!

 From there we went to the taping of the Today show.  They were just finishing and so we just caught a glimpse of Ann Curry.

 We saw the beautiful St. Patricks cathedral on our way up 5th Avenue. 

   Our next stop was FAO Schwartz the famously HUGE toy store!  We were able to play on the Giant piano used in the movie BIG with Tom Hanks.  

They had awesome Lego displays as well that Miranda loved.

   We finally found the Apple Store.  Told Parker we would check it out for him.  He told us it was a giant glass block building.  But it was being worked on so they had all the glass covered. 
but they did have a glass Staircase & Elevator

 This place was HUGE....a true computer geek delight :)

  From there we strolled through Central Park.  It was so beautiful...crazy how it is just right in the middle of town. 

We walked from 60th street to 84th street (we started at 45th street)  where we spent 2 hours in the Metropolitan Museum.  It was crazy huge and full of amazing stuff.  I'm surprised we found our way out of that maze. 

 Our Knights in shining armor!

After the Met, we crossed Central Park to the West side and hit the Museum of Natural History.
We were both anxious to see if it was like in the movie, but it wasn't

 It did give us a good chance to cool off and rest our tired feet during the imax show :)

Then we headed back South towards Time Square and our hotel.  Our feet were KILLING us!  But then...up ahead we saw....

 The Angel Moroni sticking up in the sky ....  The Manhattan Temple is right in the middle of town!

It was crazy to see it there among all the buildings.  It was so beautiful though!

 From there we stopped for a great dinner and a much deserved treat :)

Smore and Lemon coconut cupcakes!

We made it back to Times Square just in time to see The Naked Cowboy :)

It just wouldn't have been New York without seeing him.
FINALLY....back to the Hotel!

We rested a little then regrouped to head over to our first show.... Catch Me if you Can!
Miranda and I loved the show a ton!  We had front row seats!  We could reach up and trip them if we wanted to (he he).  The orchestra was onstage so there was nothing between us and the stage. 
After the show we headed to Stage Door to wait for any actors coming out to give autographs.
We saw.... Norbert Leo Butz who won a Tony for his role as the detective in the show.

Then we saw Aaron Tveit who is the lead role in the show. Miranda is certain that he is her soul mate and plans to marry him someday :)

It was late...we were tired ...we had another BIG day ahead of us tomorrow so back to the hotel and bed!
It was a totally Amazing 2nd day!

Here's a slideshow of the day as well (some are the same photos)