Tuesday, September 30, 2008

From Our Catholic Neighbors

My Aunt Kris e-mailed me this link and I thought it was great. Definitely worth sharing. So, take a minute and watch this short video. There are good people out there, trying to do good things, and stand up for what is right, so let's all do our part.


http://www.catholicvote.com/

In Love With New York

WARNING: This post may contain A LOT of pictures!!
(sorry if they are way out of order, but I'm still not very good at uploading them in order)
This is St. Patrick's Cathedral in NYC. It was huge and very pretty. almost compares to some I saw in England. I loved all the stain glass windows.
This is the place we stayed in NY. After MUCH searching, we found a clean, cheap room to rent. It was the master bedroom in someone's apartment. They were very nice and it was in a safe, clean neighborhood, which was great. I suggest looking into this kind of place to stay if you plan to go to NY.
Here's Ground Zero. There's really not a whole lot to look at right now, other than a huge construction site. However, the feeling there was neat. I was glad I had the opportunity to take a few minutes and remember what happened and those who have lost their lives.
One of the murals nearby. They are working on a memorial, but there really isn't an official one yet.
We did stop at the fire station across the street and looked at their memorials and fire trucks. The firemen were all very nice and they got called out while we were there. It was crazy to think that they were right there on the front line when it happened. They lost many friends and co-workers. I'm grateful for men and women who serve in these professions.
Ahhhh, here we are at the Top of The Rock (the Rockafeller Building). That is the Empire State building in the background. The view up here was phenomenal! I recommend this to anyone who goes to NY, even if you are afraid of heights. It took my breath away! Definitely one of my favorite stops!
Another view from Top of The Rock. This is Central Park...another one of my favorite places for sure!! Isn't it amazing how the buildings go right up to the edge of the park? You can easily spend hours, or even days here.

The Center walk way at Central Park. You may recognize it from movies and pictures. So pretty. The leaves were starting to change, but it's hard to see in this picture.
The skyline is amazing here. I LOVED the park!!
The Manhattan Temple. Kind of crazy how it's in the middle of downtown. There are high rises all around it. Really cool.
Logan and I chilling in the subway. He was such a good sport!
Lombardi's famous pizza in Little Italy. I guess the first pizza place in America. Expensive, but yummy!!

Kristi and I had a wonderful trip to New York! Our first night there we went to Times Square and checked out all of the shops and restaurants. Times Square was amazing! If you go, definitely see it at night. Someone told us that within just a few blocks, there are over 80 million advertisments. Crazy!
Kristi at Bubba Gumps, where we ate for dinner. Very fun.

Can anyone tell I have a sweet tooth?? M & M World was cool, a lot for one chocolate lover to take in. We also stopped at Serendipity and tasted some of their famous Frozen Hot Chocolate. Mmmmm was it goo. Dylan's Candy Bar was also fun, with tons of old fashioned candy. I was sooo tempted by their carmel apples.





Friday, September 12, 2008

Mmmmm Berries




This Tuesday my sister Becca and I (and Mae, her baby) went berry picking. We mostly picked raspberries, but we also picked some blackberries. I decided that since the peaches were a success, I would try jam; which was MUCH faster and quite yummy. There's not much better than homemade raspberry jam. Don't worry, I also ate some on vanilla ice cream and have some frozen to use in other recipes too! Someday I will have my own raspberry bushes!!




The blackberries where huge! They had a ton coming on, so I may go back and pick more for blackberry jam. mmmmmm.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Peaches for me!!

Yes, I learned to can yesterday!! I had a lot of fun canning peaches yesterday. I decided that since I can hardly eat store bought canned peaches (since my mom spoiled me with home canned peaches), I had better learn how to can them myself. So, that was my day yesterday. I spent from 2-11pm canning. My sister Becca and my sister-in-law Jannae helped off and on between taking care of kids. It was a lot of fun and I'm so excited to have yummy peaches this winter!! I'm going to try rasberry jam next week, so wish me luck!