Josh + Melissa

An Ode to 2011!

2012-01-16T17:03:00.003-05:00

Hello Everyone!

Its been a couple of months, soooo to sum up our end of the year I have thrown together a little slide show with some cute pictures and a touch of my random style! Enjoy!

"Picnik Show"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

Halloween!

2011-11-01T13:24:00.007-04:00

Hello to all you dear faithful readers of this blog ;) I have returned! Yes, it has been awhile, and not because I have had nothing to write about and zero awesome pictures of adventures, a handsome husband, and adorable children. It's quite the contrary. With all the fun, adventurous things our family participates in, I just have not had time to tell you all about it here on this blog. You could have called, texted, emailed, or written a letter and I would have told you all about it. But if you were just counting on this blog, you were waiting for quite awhile, or perhaps, gasp, thought that we had fallen into the oblivion of boring! Not true and I shall prove otherwise! But first things first, Halloween was yesterday and here was our Halloween!

As our family costume, (yes, I like to have Family costumes) we were the Incredibles, if you can't tell from these pictures...

Jesse was getting hot in this costume, so hence the semi-frowny...

This would have been an awesome perfect picture, but I didn't have my crime fighting gloves on...oh and Jesse should have put his candy bag down...

I remembered my gloves this time but My hubby and little boy had some crooked masks on...We were supposed to look like an imposing crime fighting family but...instead we just looked cute ;) (And really, I don't think it is physically possible for me to look imposing - silly, I can do, but not imposing)

Noelle and Jesse also had a second costume: Little Pumpkin and Thomas the Train

Unfortunately, I didn't get too many pics of Jesse as Thomas because, he would take it right off as soon as I took the picture.

And Noelle wouldn't keep her hat on.

Hey give me some credit for those almost perfect family pictures of us as The Incredibles. It's tricky getting everyone to have all their costume elements on, looking at the camera with a smile or an imposing crime fighting face AND making sure that their emblems were facing forward. Yes, they are great sports and very patient with my Halloween craziness.

By the way, besides going to Josh's work as the Incredibles, we also went trick or treating in those costumes. I should clarify, TOOK Jesse trick or treating. We aren't that childish ;) And, wow, were we a hit, for the little ones at least. It was like we were working at Disneyland and all the little kids would point at us and say, "Look, there's the Incredibles!" It was funny. And beneficial! We, as parents, were even offered candy! I just don't know if it was because they thought we were cool, or just felt badly for how silly we were walking around in red spandex on Halloween night.

My little kiddies

2011-07-20T16:18:00.006-04:00

I am so in love with my kiddies. I feel time goes by so quickly and I just desperately want them to stay 7 months and 4 years old for just a little longer! That sounds crazy to some. Yes, at times I feel like pulling my hair out. But those moments are endearing...hehe...just look at those faces. You cannot be upset, at least for too long, with those faces.

Serious Jesse.

Silly Jesse. What a tease...

Jesse is not afraid to come near his sister even when she is sticky with mashed bananas.

Noelle. Just look at her. I don't need to say more...

She has the greatest baby giggle and squeal. It just emanates from this picture, doesn't it? :)

This is how Jesse "eats" his strawberries with cream. Just bites off the ends, lines them up, and says "I ran out of my strawberries". When he is not looking, I just bite the rest of his strawberries until they are really gone.

Jesse saw me taking pictures of his strawberries and so the next day he made me take another picture of him with the strawberry he "finished".

Now can you see why I want them to be 7 months and 4 years old a little longer? They are endearing...hehe

Summer Days on the Lake

2011-07-20T15:59:00.004-04:00

We went out to the lake with some family and I just had to post the pictures of my kidlets going tubing! Kids always make things more fun...To my hubby, I am not saying you are not fun enough, you are like my big kid. :) So you are included in that sentence.

Josh and Jesse on the tube

Noelle was a good sport in her squishy life vest.

Jesse on the "Red Baron"

Testing out the waters...

Noelle's first tube ride! She fell asleep on the ride!

Our Fourth of July

2011-07-20T15:25:00.007-04:00

Our Fourth of July Mascot!

Neighborhood Breakfast and Parade

Jesse was determined (just look at his face) to be in the front of the parade.

Jesse wanted to highlight his swollen allergy eyes with the parachutes that came from the fireworks

Noelle in her patriotic glory

We made homemade peach ice cream (heavenly by the way) and Noelle had a bit of a taste...

She was just fine, no allergic reactions to the dairy:) In fact she even slept better that night.

Sparkler Writing! Yes, it is so COOL!

We had a blast on the Fourth of July weekend! And by the way, we had an awesome BBQ, with yummy food. I will post that on my food blog.

The "Mod" do

2011-05-10T19:52:00.005-04:00

Noelle at 2 months

Noelle at almost 5 months

Just demonstrating Noelle's hairstyle. Again I don't do this to her, it does it all by itself! Since she was 2 months old! Let me explain the style as the pictures don't really show the true essence of it. Just the hair at the crown sticks straight up and it sweeps together in the middle forming a very stylish faux-hawk. So sweet. David Beckham, you've got nothin' on this faux-hawk. A little lady can pull it off just as lovely.

P.S. Jesse's hair did the same thing at the same age

Miss Noelle

2011-05-10T19:41:00.005-04:00

Here is the most recent picture of Noelle. I just took them as of 10 minutes ago and loaded them on the computer! She is pretty cute if I do say so myself! Such a fun age too (FYI - 5 months)! And her hair, it just sticks straight up all by itself. No product, no styling:) Miss mod hair-do girl! Au naturale, at that.

Jesse and Noelle

2011-03-10T18:33:00.005-05:00

Noelle at about 1 month old, and Jesse at crazy 3 years old

So here are my updates on Noelle, as promised!

Jesse adores her, almost a little too much. Well, I guess that is not such a bad thing unless you are three years old. He just can't stand not being 2 inches away from her face. And it's like she anticipates it too, her eyes grow wider and she tenses up a little every time. But we know it's because Jesse loves her so much, he just can't help it. But for now he needs a little

supervision ;)

These are my pictures from Christmas as you can tell. They were my little Christmas Elves:)

Close...

closer...

Maybe a little too close...

Another case in point...

Leaning over...

Nooo...Not close enough...

Much better!

Noelle's a lucky little girl to have such a awesome big brother!

Finally a post! Dedicated to our Bundle of Joy!

2011-03-08T16:09:00.010-05:00

Three days old and peacefully asleep, of course!

First of all forgive me because it has been far too long since I have written anything on this blog of mine. And second, I have not blogged because I just haven't. But I do have plenty to blog about!

I feel that I should finally introduce you to the little bundle who looks like a Madame Alexander Doll, our baby Noelle. My little Mini Me but, of course, much, much cuter, so much cuter.

Noelle Maria

December 13th, 2010

7lbs, 9 0z

20 1/2 inches

Who is now a delightful almost 3 month old (Um, sorry for the lack of blogging) who smiles like it's nobody's business but her own. Love, love her! What can I say, I think it is safe to say that we are all in love with Noelle. And you should really come see her in person because she will steal your heart, too!

To answer those of you with one little bambino, having 2 munchkins is slightly more tricky, and to those of you with 3+ little tykes, I know you are laughing at me right now. I'm just taking it one at a time. I am just blessed to have 2 darling little kids!

p.s. I will post her other more recent pictures in a day or two. I want you to "relish" her newborn cuteness, since I didn't post these pictures earlier.

Day at the Park!

2010-11-18T18:26:00.006-05:00

So our little family and our dogs went to the park and I just wanted to post some of the pictures. So fun!

Penny thought the plastic bag was alive!

Crazy Dogs

Funny Looking Penny!

An unusually calm Bosco!

Penny may be funny looking, but she is fearless!

Cute Jesse!

Jesse likes to pretend to be a spider on the web!

OctoberFest!

2010-11-18T16:24:00.004-05:00

This digital slideshow made with Smilebox

Here is a slideshow of our Halloween! You may need to turn off the music of my blog so it doesn't clash with the music of the slideshow?

P.S. I already made our summer and vacation slideshow way back in the early days of fall, but it is not posting! But I am trying to figure out what is wrong! So do not be confused if suddenly I post a summertime slideshow in the middle of winter! It's just the madness of my method.

Just an update.

2010-09-30T17:06:00.002-04:00

I have been posting some new recipes on my recipe blog, so check them out please. Even if it is just for the cool pictures I took with our new camera. I am still trying to catch up. So I will post the slideshow of some of our summer adventures, and I will also post something about our trip to New Orleans, so fun!

I HAVE RETURNED!

2010-09-02T14:07:00.005-04:00

If you haven't noticed, I have disappeared off the face of the blogging world...just because. I just decided to take a summer hiatus from blogging. Our summer was busy and blogging was honestly the last thing I thought of doing. But now it is September and to me the glorious days of summer are officially over. Sniff, sniff. But, I do like autumn and almost everything that comes with it. But before I get going with our autumn activities, it would be only fair to share some of our summer festivities and news.

First news, if some of you don't know yet, Jesse is going to be a big brother! He is excited for his little sister, who is expected around Christmas time! We are excited, too! Don't have a name for her yet...but we will keep you posted. No, I don't think this is what she will look like!

AND to prep ourselves on what it is like to have TWO kiddies, we got ourselves ANOTHER dog! Yes, we have two doggies...and yes, we could be crazy, and not know that we are crazy, but we like dogs (I know it's not quite like taking care of kids, but it's close.)

She is a Olde English Bulldogge named Penny. One of those so ugly they are cute type of dogs. She's pretty hilarious, she reminds me of a little piglet! She even has a curly piglet tail. And so far Bosco and her get along. They are quite a funny pair! A labradoodle and a bulldog. I have thought about writing a children's book about the two! Haha, I'll tell you this much, it would be amusing!

And because having a 3-year-old, 2 dogs, and a growing belly that seems to turn my little universe (meaning my brain and body) upside down isn't enough to keep us entertained, we are selling our home. We shall keep you posted on that too!

Oh, and let me tell you, I don't think I have travelled so much in my life as I have in just the past year! Just between the month of May and June, we had been to over 13 cities, from New York City and cities in between all the way to Honolulu, Hawaii. I am not complaining by any means, it has been lots of fun. I think I have found that I am the traveling type. It's refreshing to see different places! So I will post a slide show of our family escapades.

Here is a teaser of what to expect in our slideshow:

Congratulations Josh!

2010-05-31T22:49:00.006-04:00

"Our Group of Guys"

We had a GREAT time hanging out with them and their families, and will be great friends for years to come

Late post, but yay and hooray for Josh for graduating from school, again! So proud of him! We are officially done with being "students" and can move on to our next chapter in life! But unfortunately, that also means that are time in New York has come to an end...sniff, sniff. A year in the Big Apple went just too fast! Ahh, New York, you will be greatly missed, and though it was just 365 days, the city that never sleeps will always have a place in my crazy heart.

So I have waaaay to many posts to catch up on! We had a incredibly busy and exciting and fun last month! And I have so many pictures that I would love to post about our last Hoo-Rah in New York. But that will have to wait...but it will be worth it. You know it.

But guess where I am right now? We have began our road trip home. We sold most of our belongings in NY, packed all that we could into a mini van, and are on our way back to where we came from. Here we are taking a break at our first stop, Rochester, NY. The hotel had free WiFi and I decided to take advantage. So just letting you know you will hear about our adventures very soon, but I am very tired and putt-putting on 5 hours of sleep after a crazy weekend of moving...And I think I am going to sleep. But please stay tuned...

Gettysburg Trip

2010-05-19T14:21:00.007-04:00

Yucky weather!

Jesse was hiding from the cold and the wind!

But what a pretty drive...

Funny story about our bright yellow, gold rental car: We were just driving down Amsterdam Avenue near our apartment and an elderly man jumps out into the street trying to "flag" us down. He thought the car was a taxi cab! Josh and I had a good laugh. Such a "beautiful" color, isn't it? It's not TRUE taxi yellow, but I can see if were are an elderly person and your eyesight wasn't 100% it could definitely look like a taxi:) It definitely made an impression. I guess you had to see it in person. In fact Jesse still talks about this car. It was his "favorite".

This spring we decided to visit Gettysburg on our second trip to PA. Very cool place, in both senses of the word. We wanted to jump out of the car during our audio tour to see the cool sites, but at the same time wanted to stay in our car because it was so cold outside!

My Muddy Buddy!

2010-05-05T15:35:00.007-04:00

"Wait, how did I get in here. Mom and Dad don't even know... Hmmm...wait...nope...I think I'm stuck."

"Hey, somebody, help me..." (laughing in the back ground, not from his Mom, of course;)

"Never fear, Daddy to the Rescue..." Oh, Daddy, you look so tough in that leather jacket of yours.

"What was I thinking going into freezing cold muddy water, and ruining the new shoes Mom just got for me, I mean JUST BARELY got them."

"Hope you learned your lesson about dirty New York mud, buddy."

Trip to D.C.

2010-05-05T15:21:00.002-04:00

This is how much it rained!

The Potomac River flooded and the walking paths around the Tidal Basin were under water!

Here is glimpse of our trip early this spring to D.C. Just barely missed the Cherry Blossoms Festival. It was rainy all four days we were there but that did not stop us! We went to 6 museums, the National Aquarium (which was pretty much the smallest aquarium I have ever been to, but we will still count it), the old Post Office Bell Tower (Jesse has a peculiar/cute obsession with bells), and ALL the National Monuments! Take that rain! Pretty good efficiency for parents of a three-year-old. Yes, we're getting good practice for future family vacations!

Jesse's Birthday and Easter!

2010-04-20T15:10:00.002-04:00

What a lucky day for 3-year-old whose a glutton for presents and attention! That lucky boy would be Jesse. That's right Jesse. His birthday and Easter happened to fall on the same day, and that meant all kinds of fun activites as you can see above. I pretty much just let him do what ever he wanted to do. If he wanted to eat a popsicle for breakfast, why not? If he wanted to have 3 Easter egg hunts, sure! Eat his Easter candy before dinner? Of course! If he thought he would look so great running around with his shirt off outside, I'll support his confidence. The chocolate face went really well with his shirtless appearance. If he wanted to wear his dinosaur shirt, why not, boys should like dinosaurs. If he felt like another popsicle, okay! If he wanted to be the chef and help make an awesome Texas beef brisket dinner with roasted vegetables, blue cheese mashed potatoes, and homemade Lion House rolls, he's a little boy after my own heart. If he didn't want to eat dinner and just wanted to blow out the candles on his cake twice, hey, these things only happen ONCE, so of course! Oh, did I mention that he didn't want a nap and I thought that would be okay? Well, you can only imagine what a day this turned out to be...A Happy Birthday for Jesse. And a Happy Easter for all of us including my brother and Dad who came to visit!

So cool...I want it!

2010-02-01T23:30:00.002-05:00

Oh my goodness! I saw this Wii game on the Ellen Show and I really want it! It looks so fun! It's more of real dancing compared to Dance, Dance Revolution where you just step on the arrows on the pad when you see them on the screen, this game is actual dancing! How fun is that? Just a good way to get your dance on and be crazy and get points for it! Hahaha! Here is the link to see what it's like. Now I just have to get a Wii console first... Anyone offering a free Wii?

Us and Philly!

2010-01-30T14:30:00.026-05:00

So we decided to rent a car and drive to Philly since it's only 2 hours away and because we have friends and cousins out there to visit, so why not?

To start off, I will say this was my favorite place, Reading Terminal Market,

everything you could imagine eating is there. It was amazing! These pics don't do it justice...

Other than the Philly Cheesesteak, The Liberty Bell is in the running for the Philadelphia mascot..haha

Here's Independence Hall...

In the movie/musical "1776", there was a dancing scene on these steps in Independence Hall, and Josh just had to dance on them, too.

In that head seat, right at the front is where my Great, great, great, relative sat doing something or another with the Declaration of Independence. Yes, it's pretty cool, I'll let you guess who that would be...

We visited Betsy Ross' home...I think it's "haunted", but don't ask how I know that...because that is a entire other post/story!

Oldest residential street in the country, Elfreths Alley...quite a cute little street, actually...

So we posed for a picture.

This is Christ Church where many founding fathers came to worship. In fact, the bells in the tower are the exact same ones that rang the day independence was declared. Pretty cool, right?

Here we are sitting in Mr. First President of the United States, George Washington's pew. Yes, some of the big wigs had their very own pews in this church.

We had to stop at this old fashioned ice cream shop with a huge chocolate brownie sundae...much to his dismay, it wasn't all Josh's dessert, we shared this with 3 and 1/2 persons, Me, Josh, Landon, and Jesse...and we had plenty of ice cream!

Out to dinner with friends at a downtown restaurant...finished up with a huge chocolate dessert...if you didn't notice that would be our second huge dessert of the day.

A trip to Philly wouldn't be complete without eating a, or I should say, THE Philly Cheesesteak sandwich from the famous Pats King of Steaks...

Cheese Whiz and all...mmmm.

Okay, this was another day, not the same day as the "two huge desserts in one day" Day...It probably was, I think...uhh, the next day, maybe? It's vacation, so we're in good standing with the Diet Fairy, wait, we're not on a diet, are you kidding me?

We visited a cool children's museum called the "Please Touch" Museum with our cousins and their little girl.

Mr. Shoe Salesman...making a funny pose

Working the McDonald's counter...

Filling up the tank...

Painting the roses red for her highness, The Queen of Hearts...

I've always wondered what it would be like to be TALL...but it was all too temporary

- just visiting Wonderland wishing I could be Alice...how fun would that be?

As you can see, we had a wonderful time in the city of Philly! Thanks to our friends and family! Please come visit us!

A little taste of Jesse's Christmas!

2010-01-21T14:56:00.004-05:00

Pretty much it was a Thomas the Tank Engine theme! Got his Thomas trains, oh, these are just SOME of the trains he got.

Thomas the Train tent

Playing with his Thomas toys in his Thomas tent...Basically his life is complete...according to Jesse.

So overwhelmed by his feeling of completeness from the fact that he had every Thomas the Train toy imaginable thanks to his Grandmas and Grandpas, I mean Santa, he fell asleep while drawing. He was, in fact, still drawing while he was sleeping. His hand would burst into scribbles. It's so Jesse, still trying to play even when he is completely exhausted. Couldn't help but laugh, and I got it on video!

Our Christmas was great! We had a blast with our wonderful families! And we love them all very much! Thank you for an awesome Christmas Break!

Christmas in NYC 2!

2010-01-21T14:53:00.002-05:00

A ride in a carriage through Central Park!

A Family pic by the big tree!

Christmas in NYC!

2010-01-21T14:42:00.003-05:00

The windows at Saks Fifth, a little creepy with a touch of cute.

Aww, so pretty.

At first I really thought someone had stolen the baby Jesus, but then I realized, ah, yes, they but him in at Christmas. (this was at St. Patrick's Cathedral)

It was freezing, and I considered maybe going into Tiffany's to warm up...

How perfect was that? It was the first real snow for Christmas time.

During December we tried to do everything Christmas in New York that we possibly could. New York is a great Christmas city!

To be continued...Thanksgiving!

2010-01-21T14:19:00.004-05:00

Poor Ronald awaiting his release for the Parade

Energizer Bunny, of course!

The Parade from our seats! (Actually, we had no seats, but a pretty good spot)

Mesmerized by the balloons!

Ah, Shrek, He's awaiting his release, too!

And Jesse's favorite character, if you can't tell, Mickey Mouse

Ughh, It's the end of January and finally I am putting up some Thanksgiving pictures! Thanksgiving pictures! I just am not a good blogger! Here is a taste of it!

The day before thanksgiving we went to the Pre-parade Balloon festivities where all the balloons to be used in the parade were being inflated and netted down. It was actually really cool to see how big they are in relation to the buildings and the streets, and hello, they were giving away free Tollhouse Cookies!

The next day we went to the Macey's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Thanks to our good friends who had been saving a spot since the wee hours of the morning, we had an awesome spot to watch the parade from!

We later had Thanksgiving Dinner at a diner with our friends, not exactly the awesomest Thanksgiving dinner we've had (it was good, but I've had better), but most definitely wonderful company!

Our Holiday in a Nutshell!

2009-12-15T16:02:00.004-05:00

Not the tree at the Rockerfeller Plaza but still pretty big.

Playing with friends at the Lincoln Center during the Winter's Eve Celebration

Jesse and his friend Lily rocking out to the music, you should have seen them dancing! (I will try to post the video)

Our first encounter with Santa this season!

Jesse wanted my shoulders instead of the stroller!

About time I post! Here is a wrap up of our Thanksgiving here in New York and what we've done since then!

The day before Thanksgiving we went to see the Macey's Parade balloons come to life (they filled up the huge floats for the parade). On our way there, Jesse had fallen asleep in the stroller. After pushing the stroller through the crowds, he wakes up to all these huge, colorful balloons surrounding him and with us giving him Tollhouse cookies that the event was handing out for free to everyone. Talk about the way to wake up from a nap! He seemed really dazed and deliriously happy.

The next morning, we made our way to the Macey's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Yes, we knew the crowds would be crazy, but we had to experience it at least once since we are in New York.

We had great spots to watch the parade thanks to our friends who went EARLY to save spots. What would you do without friends! Jesse was definitely captivated by the festivities! It made it extra exciting to have a 2 1/2-year-old who was so happy to see all the floats!

(I am posting these pictures in the following post)

As for our Christmas activities, take a look at the pictures above. New York City takes the holidays to an extra level. It's pretty awesome being here during the holidays! We visited Santa at Macey's, and can I just say, wow! I was just expecting a long and painful line winding up to the throne where Santa sits, but not that we would actually walk through the North Pole to be greeted by Santa in his little, cozy cabin for some one on one time. I'm serious, that's practically what it was like. Josh and I were very impressed and as for Jesse, you can only imagine how excited he was! Especially since there were about a dozen trains riding around the "North Pole", not to mention the big train we had to "ride" in to get the the North Pole. It was like going to a Santa at Disneyland - over the top decorations and sets, and don't forget the long lines. But the lines weren't as painful since we were entertained by everything around us. Ahh yes, we had a good time, and it made me wish I was a little girl again! Hehe!

*Sadly, the only pictures of our experience here were cell phone pics and the pricey "Santa with us" picture we bought, so I will try to post those. I had misplaced my camera for a few days...that is a story for another post.

Oh, and tonight we are going to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular with The Rockettes. I'll let you all know how it goes.

I love Christmas time!

Potty Training, here we come!

2009-11-24T15:41:00.002-05:00

So I have been trying to prepare myself the last few weeks to potty train Jesse! But just keep putting it off , due to my own laziness! But we got Jesse his cute little underwear, Mickey Mouse and Lightning McQueen, and a Lightning Mcqueen potty cover! What 2-year-old boy would not want to potty train with these things, right? I am borrowing my friend, Errin's, training book since she just potty trained her little guy. So I can do it... Here I go. I purposely posted this as a way to make it official so I don't back out! I'll keep you posted...wish me luck!

I had to put a picture with this post...hehe

Fall in Central Park

2009-11-24T15:15:00.004-05:00

Tire Swing! Whoohoo, I felt sick in 0.2 seconds after spinning around! I am no fun!

The leaves are a little better in this picture above...

A few weeks ago, we tried to take some pictures at the park at the peak of the leaves. Unfortunately, I think it was getting too dark, but here they are for your enjoyment.

Halloween, about time I post you!

2009-11-24T14:46:00.004-05:00

Trick or Treating, awkward pose for me!

Roaring Jesse with his cousins!

So we had a lovely Halloween in Salt Lake, a bit busy, but fun! It was too short, unfortunately! And I realized how I miss the luxuries of Salt Lake- family, a car, Cafe Rio (I crave it all the time!), a "real" grocery store, so close to Target, cheap prices of just "things", the beautiful mountains, clean smelling air...Ah, yes...but don't worry, we still love you, New York!

So I made Jesse a make shift costume of Max, from "Where the Wild Things Are." His costume was a pair of pajamas with the footsies (found it online), and I added some claws to the feet and made the hood with ears all by hand, no sewing machine here. Oh, yes, and I found a tail online, too. It worked, but I think that he kind of looked a little like the Easter Bunny instead...but I didn't tell Jesse that! He just roared his terrible roar, and gnashed his terrible teeth and ran around like he was the king of all Wild Things! It was so cute to see him running around like a crazy "Max". He loved trick or treating, too! He was a natural! Wouldn't expect anything less from a candy fiend!

All in all, we had a good Halloween, and most of it did have to do with the fact that we spent it with our families! It was fun to see you all!

I added more recipes! Check it out!

2009-10-27T20:56:00.003-04:00

This a shameless plug for my recipe blog. I just added some more yummy recipes. You must check it out. Come on if you are reading this blog it won't take to much more effort on your part and you could get some ideas for dinner this week! My favorite is the mushroom soup! So good! I think my advertising efforts come from the fact that I really like to let people now about good food and recipes I have found so that they can indulge in it too! It's like when you find something awesome and you just need to tell people! That's me with good recipes and food! So there you have it. I begging you to just make my recipe blog a part of your everyday reading! Or even if it's weekly, I'd be fine with that, too.

Autumn in Vermont

2009-10-13T20:02:00.012-04:00

On our way, we stopped at this place in Connecticut that was featured on the Food Network Show, "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives"--we really like that show by the way! It was a BBQ place, we shared this baking sheet filled with food--mmm, good!

Jesse doing his "thinking/smart face" since we were at Yale University.

Playing at a water fountain at Yale University (Beautiful campus, just so ya know)

At the Apple and Crafts Fair in Woodstock, Vermont. Jesse loves tractors!

Visiting Billings Farm in Woodstock, Vermont

The Apple and Crafts fair had yummy small town, homemade desserts!

Just apple pickin'

Beautiful Drive!

Beautiful town we accidently stumbled upon when we got lost! Where is the town? Yeah, it was only like 2 houses and a church.

Posing in the middle of I don't know where! But it was very pretty and we needed to get out of the car to stretch!

Jesse didn't quite understand the concept of this apple game. He just used his hands!

Jesse decided on this trip that he really liked cows!

Marching through the apple orchard

Helping carry the apple picking contraption

Mmm, good apple.

We had ourselves a little trip this weekend and drove up to Vermont to check out the beautiful autumn colors in New England. Supposedly, Vermont has one of the more vibrant of autumn colors because they have a highly concentrated population of Oak trees. I guess Oak leaves have the pretty colors? Okay, there is your science fact for the day.

Anyway, it was absolutely beautiful in Vermont and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in taking in beautiful autumn in New England. You have to go when the leaves are at the peak of the colors. We went up to Woodstock, Vermont and the drive to this destination was gorgeous. Okay, maybe Josh and I were so "nature struck" by our surroundings during our trip because we have been living on Manhattan for the last few months and being suddenly surrounded by rolling hills with orange, green, yellow, and red trees along with clean rivers running through the hills was very refreshing. We had a great time! We visited Yale University on our way up to Vermont, visited an apple and crafts fair, a farm, an apple orchard, and a monument at Joseph Smith's birth place. Just small town, countryside stuff. I took lots of pics, these are just a few of them, just so you get the idea!

Carnegie Deli, Oh my!

2009-10-13T17:20:00.005-04:00

After months of subtle hints from Josh (as to were we should got out to eat), we finally ate at Carnegie Deli! Oh, no this sandwich is just the starter sandwich, they get much bigger then this! The deli is known for their corned beef and pastrami sandwiches that are piled sooo high! I had so much left that I took the rest home and made something out of the corned beef the next day for dinner, which you can check out on my food blog! :) Curious... what I would make out of the corned beef from my sandwich? One of Josh's favorite dishes, of course! Just being resourceful.

Our Weekends in the the Park

2009-10-13T16:28:00.004-04:00

Jesse helping his dad row a boat

Clearly, Jesse was a little uncomfortable in his life jacket!

Watching the ducks in a pond

Enjoying a popsicle in Central Park before the cold weather officially blows in!

Jesse telling his dad that the boat was about to crash into some rocks!

Climbing some trees!

He is a recap of a couple of things we have done over the last couple of weekends! Autumn is lovely in New York!

Jesse's Got Soul...Choo Choo Soul

2009-09-24T13:51:00.006-04:00

Jesse loves to sing! It's really the funniest thing, because I'm sure not a singer! I remember when we were in the hospital, and newborn Jesse was crying very loudly. The nurse walked in amazed at his crying. "Wow, he's got some lungs," she said. And ever since then random people have always commented what a loud voice he has, and that perhaps he will be a singer. Haha, I sure wouldn't mind since I was not blessed with the gift of singing! Sure, I can sing, but it is not a gift! Haha.

Here are the songs that he loves to sing:

Disney Channel's Handy Manny theme

Disney Channel's Mickey Mouse Club House theme

Life is a Highway song by Rascal Flattson Disney's Cars

AND this one below in the video!

Seriously, he SINGS these songs! Maybe not the whole thing but a couple of the sentences over and over! He has the melody and rhythm! Its really so funny!

Well, lately Jesse sure likes to sing out loud in public a lot! This one song he is singing in this video is from the Disney Channel's Choo Choo Soul. He will just burst out in song while riding on the subway, singing, "All aboard the Choo Choo Train!" It is pretty funny, especially for those riding with us! I do have another video of him singing on the subway, too! Will have to post that later!

Oh, Jesse's Hair! We will miss you!

2009-09-16T14:16:00.009-04:00

He looks funny in this pic! He wasn't feeling very well and he is silly! He likes to make funny faces when I take pictures of him!

I initially wanted to simply "trim" his sweet, precious hair, but cutting hair when he was in the bath might have been a bad idea. He was wiggly and I was in a hurry, and didn't notice that the front chunk of his hair that I grabbed would be a little more than a trim. And right when I closed the scissors on his hair, Josh said, "Melis! That's too short!" It was too late, his precious, dark hair fell down like tears... I grabbed the pieces, "Noooooo!", desperately trying to stick the pieces back to his forhead. Realistically, I knew it wouldn't work, but by some magical sticking force, I was hoping it would. I felt so badly... I don't know if it was because I realized what a horrible barber I am or because Jesse looked like a funny-looking monk and was still as happy as can be!

In positive desperation, Josh and I, as a team, began trying to trim his whole hair, thinking if we could just make the other parts even out, it would look just fine. Much to our dismay, it only got worse. The final decision was to buzz it. The one thing I was trying to avoid! I kept tellling Josh "No, it's fine. If we just get some gel, and like, style it all funky, nobody will be able to tell. We just will get him some gel or mousse." But I knew better. Buzzing it would make it look a little more respectable.

So we buzzed it. We tried to leave it as long as possible. It's not perfect. I still use gel to make it look all "funky" so the uneven parts are not as noticeable. Oh. If you only knew how lovely his long, hair was... Maybe I am only overreacting because I am his mom, but it was his little trademark since he was an itty-bitty baby

But the two good things about this story is that Jesse still looks cute, and hair grows back.

Here is a funny video of Jesse seeing himself for the first time after his haircut. He has always had long hair, and I guess was never used to seeing his eyebrows and ears! He seems pretty fascinated with himself! Hehe

Announcing my New Food Blog!

2009-09-08T11:36:00.004-04:00

I HAVE A FOOD BLOG! CHECK IT OUT!

I have been wanting to do a food blog since last year, just to share all my favorite recipes, and to also keep track of them too! I finally got around to it. It will just be a blog about recipes I've tried, restaurants I like, and entertaining ideas I come across and other cooking stuff. It's kind of targeted towards the cute little wives and working and stay-at-home moms who want to follow me in my adventures in cooking, eating, and entertaining as a wife and a mom!

So here it is, Check it out (:

myediblelife.blogspot.com

Blogging, Schmogging

2009-09-05T22:15:00.004-04:00

I had set a goal to be an avid blogger, to share all my little life's morsels with those willing to indulge. Unfortunately, I have become a little sloppy with my blogging. I have seemed to forgotten that goal...So here's to those who are wondering: more to come when I am able! (: Right now I have a little 2-year-old who likes to ask me to find pictures of lightning McQueen whenever I am on the computer! I'm serious. He already knows about searching on Google Images!

Random Pics

2009-07-19T19:22:00.009-04:00

Jesse being a monkey on the bars

Waiting in the TKTS line for broadway tickets...you can tell we were having a fun time...

Jesse and Cannon. Jesse making one of his silly faces

The huge cathedral down the street from our place has cool seals on the floor

A Michael Jackson memorial by the famous Apollo Theater in Harlem

That posing MJ thing was made of flowers

4th of July

2009-07-19T16:20:00.009-04:00

My camera can't take pics of faraway things in the dark, but this is the Empire State with the red, white, and blue colors...it turned out kind of cool...

Jesse hanging out with his daddy!

Our group are the people looking at the camera and plus the little boys,

The other side of the group...yes, I am in this picture, too and I'm not looking at the camera

The front of the group...yep, I'm in this one, again.

Here we are crouching trying to see all the fireworks. Those darn trees! (p.s. Jesse is on my lap)

We watched fireworks from the Hudson River with a big group of friends. We all got there early to save spots and found that when the fireworks came, we could only see half of them. The bottom half was cut off because of the trees along the street! So frustrating. And we though we had good seats since we got there 3 1/2 hours before! It was still fun, though!

So many things, so little time...maybe

2009-07-19T15:49:00.013-04:00

We went to a Yankees game and Jesse, on his own, learned to say, "Let's Go Yankees!" So funny!

Jesse loves baseball games! He always asks to go to one!

It was Cannon's birthday and so Errin but a cute little picnic together at Central Park!

And she made yummy homemade Oreos!

Rob and Adrian also visited us this month! We had lots of fun showing them around! Here we are on the Brooklyn Bridge!

Jesse and Amelia taking a rest and a drink on the pillow! Jason and Kim and cute, little Amelia visited us a couple weeks ago. That was definitely a lovely highlight of the month!

So I haven't been very worthy when it comes to updating the blog. But maybe nobody has really noticed? Anyway, we have done lots of fun things, as there are so many things to do in this cool city! But whether I have not posted it because I have had little time...umm, I am not so sure that is accurate. It's mostly because I am a little lazy when it comes to updating this blog! I have to be honest. I really have other things I would rather do than virtual reality blogging/facebook/twitter stuff. But I know there are a small few of you who do care about this blog and I would love to share our adventures with you, so here is a recap of the last couple of weeks! p.s. And I also love reading about how others are doing, so for that I am grateful for blogs (:

This Takes the Cake for the Coolest Cake!

2009-07-08T15:11:00.003-04:00

So this is on one of the food blogs I like (FYI: I love to cook!). If you are looking for a fun birthday cake or an April Fool's dessert, here it is. I'd like to say its awesome and a little gross at the same time!

Where The Wild Things Are

2009-07-08T14:22:00.005-04:00

So LAST Halloween, Josh and I had already planned to dress up for THIS Halloween as the characters from the children's book, "Where the Wild Things Are." A book that we both love, and Jesse loves! And Jesse was going to be Max, in the cute little monster outfit with the bushy tail and pointed ears, etc. If you don't know this book, that's crazy! and look it up...it's a classic! So Jesse totally reminds me of Max, because he doesn't like to eat his dinner, and throws a fit, and often goes to bed without eating dinner, and likes to roar and boss us around (don't worry, he is also a sweet boy). He even has quite an imagination at this age! So I thought it would be really fun to all dress up as characters from the book(we, of course, would be the Wild Things)! BUT I found out that there is a "Where the Wild Things Are" movie coming out THIS OCTOBER! Which sounds really fun, but it sort of takes the Hooorah out of our "creative" idea to dress up as characters from "Where the Wild Things Are". I think that everyone and their little boy will be dressing up as that, and Josh and I don't want to dress up with the masses! SO-- just so you know, we had planned to dress up as the monsters and Max this Halloween WAY before we knew there was a movie coming out...just wanted to get that out there(:

So much for our cool idea...but at least I am excited for the movie! We will just find another idea!

Here is the link for the trailer:

http://wherethewildthingsare.warnerbros.com/

Oooooh, Pizza!

2009-06-23T10:45:00.004-04:00

Yes, that is real!

So after the Mets game, I was soooo hungry! We hadn't eaten dinner, so on our way home we stopped at a pizza place and picked up a slice each....when I say slice, I mean like a New York style slice which probably equals 3 slices! I have this to say...I ate it ALL! Yep, all of this cheesy yummy pizza at 11:30 at night! Heaven forbid, if I was a carb and calorie watchin'! That's probably a big taboo! Hey, I was happy and full. And I like being happy and full!

Our First New York Baseball Game!

2009-06-23T10:13:00.010-04:00

Apparently, the apple that comes up after home runs just below the big screen is like their "trademark thing" , it didn't get in my picture, but it was there, a big, shiny apple that spins around.

No popcorn at this game, we had grapes for our snacks, I know, a little boring...

Jesse is yelling about the game...

This weekend we had the chance to go to the New York Mets game with a group of our friends. We had a great time and better yet, Jesse loved it! It was cute to see him so interested in a baseball game. We even got him a Mets baseball hat to match his daddy! We may just have to go to more...Josh sure wouldn't mind that!

Colors of the market

2009-06-14T21:06:00.010-04:00

One of my favorite things about New York are the green markets they have out on the streets. I love all the tents with the fresh fruits, vegetables, plants, flowers, fresh seafood, breads and pastries. This one here is the Union Square Green Market. This market is the one where Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan walk through in my favorite movie, You've Got Mail

Some Sights of New York

2009-06-14T20:14:00.016-04:00

An "sign/ad of the times" painted on the side of a building.

The U.N., unfortunately, the flags weren't up.

I believe this is the Woolworth Building...

I can't remember this...a church somewhere in Greenwich Village?

This was the first Macey's building

Fifth Avenue with taxis

Flatiron Building

A random memorial for Titanic, the clock is stopped at the time it sank.

Macey's and The Empire State Building

Vertical view of the Empire State Building

We went on a double decker bus tour in New York City around Downtown. Here are some of the things we saw.

Central Park Zoo

2009-06-14T19:59:00.009-04:00

The zoo is in a very cool setting, completely green with tall buildings surrounding it

The boys running off!

We went to Central Park Zoo to entertain ourselves and the little guys, but found that it is not like a traditional zoo. There were no lions, zebras, giraffes, or hippos. There were birds, monkeys, a couple of polar bears, a leopard, and sea lions. I guess that's not bad, it was just smaller than I thought it would be. But it was very beautifully landscaped.

Visits from Family!

2009-06-14T19:54:00.004-04:00

Desserts, my favorite!

Josh's mom and aunt were headed out on a cruise and stayed in New York for a couple of days before they left. We got to see them and went out to dinner at a yummy restaurant! It was lots of fun to see them!

Toys 'R Us

2009-06-14T19:38:00.008-04:00

All Legos

Not the real Lady Liberty, but every bit as impressive--made up of little legos

Jesse was terrified, but luckily I was able to charm T-Rex out of eating us!

Jesse had no clue that a semi-truck was about to crash into us, but thanks to Superman we are alive!

Showing Jesse the carousel

We stopped at Toys 'R Us in Times Square before meeting Josh's mom and aunt for dinner. The store is an amazing place. It could cause sensory over-load for the faint at heart! But Jesse loved it. Jesse wanted a lot more, but we left with just two Pixar movies, A Bug's Life and Finding Nemo (Jesse's really likes those Pixar movies and we were tired of watching the ones we already had over and over!).

Food Festival!

2009-06-08T21:26:00.013-04:00

Jesse wasn't too happy being stuck in a stroller amidst the crowd--So, Errin, aka. Mary Poppins, pulled out a toy airplane out of her bag, and it made a world of difference! Gotta learn her tricks!

This guy was playing a CLEAR Guitar. He was very into it! He was moving his head so much that the picture of his head is a little fuzzy!

A small break in the crowd! The crowd made it difficult to maneuver the stroller! I may have ran over a few feet!

Something close to my heart--BRAZILIAN FOOD!

May not be the best looking picture, but this mac and cheese was yummy!

A delicious bread pudding! I will be back to that restaurant!

Me, Errin, and Elisabeth--Getting ready to fill our tummies with goodness!

While our husbands were at school all day, we went to this fun food and music festival called the Taste of Times Square. All these restaurants set up booths along the streets and we got to sample all these yummy delicacies for a couple of dollars--very cool.

Life's a Beach!

2009-06-08T15:23:00.016-04:00

Josh "trying" to get Jesse in the cold water
It took Jesse a little time to get used to the sand...
Me and my little boy who doesn't like looking at the camera!
The boys playing together, Now they are both used to the sand!
The big boys trying to body surf in the COLD water!
Getting in "trouble" by the lifeguards...
A funny horseshoe crab washed ashore

Daddy and Jesse digging in the sand, Jesse is distracted by an airplane (the beach is really close to JFK)
See! A wide, sandy beach in New York!
Jesse playing with his buddy, Cannon

On Saturday, we took a train out to Long Beach. Much to my surprise, it was a nice, sandy, wide beach! I don't know what I was thinking when I thought about a beach in New York--rocky beaches, I guess. We went with Josh's cousin and his girlfriend, and also our friends, Bryan, Errin and Cannon. The day was surprisingly sunny and warm, considering the rainy week.

Cupcakes make it all better!

2009-06-07T19:44:00.012-04:00

Here are the carrot cake and chocolate cupcakes, I am partial to the chocolate! Sorry, no pics of us eating, we devoured them too fast!

Jesse eating a sugar cookie! It was also really good!

Me and Anne showing off the awesome cupcakes!

(Sorry I didn't hold my cupcakes down enough!)

So It had been raining all week long! On Friday, it literally rained ALL day! But we braved the rain and hung out with our friends Ryan and Anne, who live here in NYC. We went to a yummy pizza restaurant in Times Square and then visited Magnolia Bakery. This bakery is famous for their cupcakes (On Oprah's list, etc.)! And I have been wanting to try it! We had a good time with our friends and are so happy that we have them here to hang out and of course, show us the ropes of living in this crazy city!

Whoohoo

2009-06-05T16:10:00.005-04:00

My blog is getting a little more exciting! I added some music! Makes it more fun to read, don't you think? (: I will try to make my blog multi-sensory...next, I will add sugar cookie smells coming from the blog as you read!

My Blog Needs Help!

2009-06-04T21:52:00.001-04:00

I definately need to polish up my blog! It is a little lame right now. Everybody's blog is so cute and fun! I love looking at them! How, I ask, do you make it so cute? I am deficient in the tech/virtual reality creativity thing. I need to take a tutorial or something! My goal is to polish up my blog and take better pics!

Outdoor Tour of Our Place!

2009-06-04T20:32:00.001-04:00

Home Sweet Home!
Cute, little play garden next door.
Our Friend Fire Station 47
The conveniently located hospital emergency room.

Here are some interesting facts about the street we live on. First we are conveniently located near the emergency room of the hospital kitty-corner from our apartment-- just in case we get into a mishap (heaven forbid!). And in case my crazy cooking gets out of control, never fear, Fire Station 47 is next door. Now, what is that you say? What about the sirens we hear day in and night out? That is great. Jesse loves the ambulance and fire trucks. Weeooo, weeooo, is what he has learned to say. It's pretty cute. As for our ears, they don't think the real sound is that cute!

Okay...it actually hasn't been as bad as we anticipated. The sirens, you get used to it. The siren sound is actually a bit different from the piercing siren sounds back home.

Well, to make up for the fact that they placed us near siren central, we are next door to a lovely little play garden. Complete with every imaginable toy Jesse could have if he had a backyard. The only thing that bothers me is I caught a random little boy relieving himself quite freely, and I mean very freely, and became worried about the sanitation of the place. Maybe I did not need to share that story, but I guess it happens in a lot of places... I will just make sure that Jesse gets a good scrub down of his hands after playing there.

Next will be a tour of the inside of our place as soon as we get a little more settled!

The American Museum of Natural History

2009-06-04T19:58:00.000-04:00

Taking a rest on the ground...

Learning all about the animals... that an elephant's gestation is a long 22 months, and it is distantly related to the Aquatic Dugong!

Josh is supposed to be acting scared in this picture, but he looks like he is smoking something! hehe
Jesse's favorite animal- the elephant!
Rolling on the ground...
just talking about how huge the moose are...
Whoa, a dinosaur!

We visited the Natural History Museum, which is really cool! And huge! We only got through some of the animal exhibits and that took us 2 1/2 hours! We had Jesse and that may account for the less than efficient tour. But it was still fun. We went with our friends Brian and Errin, and their little boy, Cannon. Jesse and Cannon had a good time, especially rolling on the ground. (Something about the floors here in NYC, Jesse just loves to lay down on them?! Anywhere we go-restaurant, grocery store, subway, unsanitary, I know).

A Day in the Park!

2009-06-02T15:15:00.001-04:00

Central Park is awesome in the summer! Nothing like swinging and eating strawberry popsicles!

And going for a long walk, we are famous/notorious for our looong walks, in case you didn't know!

Taking Pictures of Jesse

2009-04-22T16:44:00.000-04:00

I didn't want to go to the studios to take pictures of him. I wanted some outdoors pictures since the weather was so nice, so I took them myself. He's pretty wiggly and likes to make funny faces, but we had fun! They are by no means professional pics but he looks pretty darn cute!

What a helper!

2009-04-08T22:39:00.001-04:00

Jesse loves to help out! So here he is helping out his dad with new hardware on the cabinets. In fact, he is so helpful with banging the hammer onto the wood cabinets that he got his own set of tools, made of plastic!

Jesse's 2nd Birthday

2009-04-08T22:06:00.000-04:00

Blowing out his candle with a little slobber...

Playing with his cousins and his new toys!
Jesse would not look up for the pictures with his grandparents. The new cars were too captivating!

He always asks for pizza, so that's what he got. Pizza for his birthday.

We didn't have a friend party, but we had a casual get together with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. And because Jesse is obsessed with Disney Cars, I made him a glorious Lightning McQueen cake! Now just take a look at the cake and you will see why I am rather proud of myself! It was a lot harder than I thought it would be, so you can imagine my surprise when I saw the outcome of my sweat and tears! Not only did it look good but it tasted good, too! I thought that I may just open a cake shop! (I'm sorry, I just had to brag.)

Okay, now back to Jesse's birthday. Can't believe he is 2! Until... he starts throwing tantrums in restaurants, talking jibber jabber to his heart's content, throwing toy cars at our precious wood floors, and making his daddy play basketball on his knees, then I remember, Oh, this is what they call the "wonderful" twos... It really is wonderful, and we have had lots of fun with our little buddy! Happy Birthday Jesse!

SLC to NYC

2009-04-08T21:46:00.001-04:00

Congratulations to Josh for getting into Columbia University! So that means we will be moving to NYC! We are quite excited about it! So we will keep ya all posted with all the happenings within the next month as we need to be there by June 1st! New York City, here we come! P.S. Anyone looking to buy a house? Car? Dog? JK, only about the dog.

LINE 'EM UP!

2009-02-27T16:34:00.000-05:00

Jesse loves to line things up! That's all this post is really about. The picture explains it. And I think it is funny--obsessive compulsiveness, or something.

Boo Nannie

2009-02-27T12:47:00.000-05:00

Here is Jesse's First Official Pet. His Name--Blue Lighting. Now for those of you not familiar with the Disney Cars movie, Lightening McQueen is blue instead of red in one part of the movie (when he's dreaming about being sponsored by Dinoco). I know this movie a little too well for being a 20 something-year-old girl, thanks to Jesse! So since his betta fish is BLUE, it only makes sense to call him Blue Lightening! Of course! The funny part is that when he says it, it sounds like Boo Nannie. So welcome to the family Boo Nannie! Our little Betta Fish!

SNOW!

2009-01-25T17:23:00.000-05:00

I believe this is the first time Jesse has truly realized the snow. He was literally squealing when we got outside. He kept trying to eat the snow. He calls it ice. For those who don't know, ice is one of his favorite food groups.

The Wonderful (and Scary) World of Disney!

2009-01-24T23:31:00.001-05:00

We went to Disney World after New Year's with Josh's family. Jesse loved some of it... and with things he didn't love so much he would simply cover his eyes. The jungle safari can be pretty scary. His most favorite ride? The bus ride to the park! He would wake up in the morning saying, "bus, bus!". As if Disney World could be any more fun! Just take your toddler. They make even the tamest ride pretty entertaining.

p.s. I am trying to figure out a way to post all of our pics from the trip.

New Blog!

2009-01-24T23:12:00.001-05:00

Here is our new blog! I don't know about improved...but it's simple, elegant, and probably one of the most used templates on blogger! I don't know how to make my own fancy one! This is pretty much the default template. But I will say this... I will improve on how often I update this blog! At least one post every three months. Just kidding.