Names 2017!

Oh hai, blog. Baby names happened!! On Twitter. I also had a baby of my own. You should probably just follow me on Twitter ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Christmas 2016

En route to my parents' place for Christmas! Penny has become a nervous traveler, and brand name Thundershirts are $$$, so we treated her to a makeshift one crudely fashioned from an Ace bandage. It worked!

White Christmas! It basically snowed the entire time.

Car, why you look like a shark?

Can't be bothered to rotate this. Jon and Penny being cute and cozy.

Sure wish my eyes were open in this picture, but I love it nonetheless.

Wearing all the Christmas presents!

Jon: "My dog is too short for Idaho"

Tolerating one another

OMG we spent a night in West Yellowstone then took a snowcoach into the park the next day, which was one of the best things I've ever done. Can't recommend Yellowstone in the winter enough. It was magical.

Tree entombed in ice. Everything in the most geothermally active areas of the park is covered in rime frost.

We started to grow frost in our hair/fur hoods/hats during this stop.

My friend Christa saw this picture and said "I'm sorry, I thought you said you were going to Yellowstone, not Narnia."

Snapped this on a drive-by. Pretty proud of it.

Old Faithful in the winter is more steam than water. Still beautiful. And we happened to park MINUTES before it went off - a first for me. I don't think I've ever waited less than 45 minutes.

LOVE this picture. Even though you can't see the rainbow halos that were encircling our heads. (Like I said....magical.)

Obsessed with this picture

It felt like we had the whole park to ourselves.

Spent a night or two at Annie's before the long drive home. Catch Phrase is always a must there...

Me: "Secret blank!"

Annie: "Garden!"

Me: "No, more Mormon than that."

Annie: "...temple?"

Me: "No, I said 'secret,' not 'sacred.'"

Best friends from high school reunited!!

Me, Jon, Owen, and Marty aka Giant Penny, looking a lot like a family

Christmas this year is in Phoenix!! I can't imagine there's anyone who reads my blog who doesn't also follow me on either Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook, but we're expecting a baby girl the beginning of December!

NYC 2016

Check me out! Blogging! A trip that happened ten months ago! This medium might be dead but it's still the best way to dump a ton of photos in one place that my family can enjoy. (Facebook need not apply.)

I also might as well get this blog up to date before December, after which point I will never be able to accomplish anything ever again, because I hear babies are QUITE the time suck.

We went to NYC over Thanksgiving (and my birthday) to see Hamilton! My parents and Annie flew out, too, and it was basically the trip of a lifetime.

Jon was working in Chicago so we met at JFK:

Ma 'n me, top of One World Observatory.

The elevator ride and the "reveal" are a Disney-like production - I actually cried at this view. (I am not a crier)

Seaglass carousel in Battery Park

Paying our respects to A. Ham

Inside the Oculus

One World from inside the Oculus

911 Memorial

En route to Ham!! Pockets full of kleenex.

Obligatory playbill/stage shot. Balcony, first row!!

Had to. Thanks for obliging me, sisters.

A little rumpled. The only original cast member was Mulligan/Madison. (We actually got our tickets so far in advance that I didn't dare dream we'd even see ONE original cast member.)

We started to suspect we'd been had when we looked more closely at our tickets.

Well it WAS a ferry that took us to view the statue of liberty, and we didn't sink, so I guess it wasn't a complete con. Still, we were shuttled to a sketchy pier and kept waiting for an indefinite period of time before our ancient-ass boat showed up.

I loved passing under the bridges, which we wouldn't have done had we actually found the real ticketing station, so I'm not mad anymore.

We walked from the sketchy pier to Chinatown for lunch/ice cream. (I got thai tea flavor and I still dream about it.)

Jon's perch!

My mom ordered a hot chocolate that came with a little mug of melted chocolate to pour into it. I LOVE her sheer delight in this photo.

Central Park was in FINE form.

Some of these are out of order. Ehh. Five years ago I would have cared. Can you believe this tree?? Such a show off.

Waffles (round 1)

Fantastic Beasts at Alamo Drafthouse. (Now there's one in Chandler!!)

And suddenly, it went from sweater weather to "Holy sh**, I'm wearing everything I brought and I still may not survive."

Second Broadway show of the trip

I've always wanted to walk the Brooklyn Bridge but it's always been too hot to consider, until this trip.

 It was magical (and sheer luck that we were there during the golden hour).

MoMA

MoMA

Somewhere in Brooklyn

3rd (and last) Broadway show of the trip

Jon got sidetracked by work on our way to gallery hop with Corinne, on the most pleasant little street.

Gallery hopping...looks like Annie, no??

Karaoke in K-Town! My happy place.

Super into it ("Foolish Games" is my #1 karaoke song, always and forever.)

I met Whitney Reynolds!! She was my second Twitter follower of all time, and that was 9 years ago.

BEST BIRTHDAY OF MY ENTIRE LIFE. Thanksgiving dinner at Fraunces Tavern, with the ghosts of Washington and Hamilton.

Hard to capture the beauty of this place. Needless to say, it was hygge AF.

Rainbow tree! #loveislove

I can't not post a million pictures from our stroll in Central Park.

I mean.

Come on.

Ridiculous.

"I never had a group of friends before; I promise that I'll make y'all proud!"

And we ended the trip with front row seats at the Slipper Room.

I was a burlesque dancer in a past life!!

Now I'm getting sad thinking about how much I love NYC and how long it will probably be until my next trip : (

Next up to blog: Christmas.