Get ready to Shutterfly.

I am getting ready to send out Christmas cards and there are so many options, but I think Shutterfly has the best deal out there! If you haven't heard of Shutterfly's Christmas card promotion, get ready because I don't think it can get any better than this!:)

Seriously, my friends!

Shutterfly is offering 50 free Christmas cards to anyone who writes about their beautiful Christmas cards!

I have heard such great things about Shutterfly and this is my first time using them. From all of the good recommendations, I don't think they will disappoint! I'm excited to get my Christmas cards and send them out to our friends and families!

They have such cute selection of Christmas Photo Cards, and not just photo cards but they also have a wide selection of Gifts, and you can also order Posters from them (very reasonably priced.)

I think I'm going to have a hard time choosing a Christmas card this year, because I LOVE so many of their designs!

These are just a few of my favorite ones:

Bright Blooming Tree Christmas Card

Oh Joy Joy Christmas Card

Send Holiday Cheer Christmas Card

These are just a few of the options that you can get when you use Shutterfly for your Christmas cards!

Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly! So don't wait to sign up HERE.

Peace & Blessings.

We had a full house this Thanksgiving.

Ryan and Kara with their two little boys and the belly made the trip out here from Cleveland. We were glad to spend time with them.

My cousin Coco and his girlfriend Rachael also joined us for Thanksgiving dinner. It was so fun to have everyone here!

This year, I planned a lot better, so things didn't get as crazy.

The food was yummy and we were all stuffed! (as it should be on Thanksgiving!)

My cousin Coco is such a fun loving guy. It's a blessing to be able to see him...we used to go to their house in Perú, when Kem and I were little and spend a month there during the summertime. They lived two blocks away from the beach and we literally would spend ALL day long there, while he and my other older cousins would surf. He still surfs until this day...he's pretty good at it.

Such great memories.

The day after Thanksgiving, we headed to D.C. to show Ryan and Kara around.

It was a chilly day but all the walking kept us warm.

Brothers.

Brielle and Braden had a grand time with their cousins, Nathanial and Christopher.

They had a blast throwing leaves up in the air at the FDR Memorial.

I love the joy kids find in the little things.

They seriously were throwing leaves up in the air for a while.

They were so entertained.

We walked around the FDR for a little while.

It's one of my favorite places here in D.C.

Brielle and Braden were admiring that cool wall. They were mesmerized by it.

We had to make the kiddos stand and pose with these guys.

We had some lunch and then headed to the Lincoln Memorial.

There were lots of people.

Kara, Ryan and Scottie in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

Christopher, Brielle, Nathanial and Braden had the time of their lives just running around and exploring!

We walked along the reflecting pool and headed to the World War II Memorial.

The kids asked Scott to throw them in the air! They LOVE it when Scott does that!

...and I'm always so scared!:)

I LOVE the WWII Memorial!

I don't ever get sick of visiting D.C.

A bunch of Idahoans!

(All 7 of them born in Idaho.)

Nathanial and Brielle were such good little buddies the whole time they were here!

Right when we were heading back to our cars, we saw this.

A beautiful sunset.

Have I mentioned how much I love living here?

Saying goodbye came all too soon! Thanks for making the drive all the way here Ryan and Kara!

We loved having you here!:)

We had another successful Thanksgiving with family and friends!

Every year, around this time, I am reminded to count my blessings.

I have many.

Ballet.

Brielle took a ballet class this fall and they had their last day the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. The last day is open to families to come watch and take pictures.

Brielle was such a hoot! Oh man! Does she have the wiggles! She cannot hold still! Her teacher kept telling her to hold still!

But she does get into it and it was so cute and fun to watch her. It reminded me of my time when I took lessons at the Miami City Ballet and I dreamt of going to Julliard and dancing for the Miami City Ballet company!!! :) ha ha! The dreams we have when we are young!:)

Brielle's teacher, Ms. Judy, is great. She's strict. Brielle needs that!:)

I was so glad that our little friend Lilly and Brielle took this class together!

...and here's Braden giving Lilly a very tight hug!!!:)

Braden is so good at waiting with me while Brielle is in the class...and he was really good when we were watching her on her last day!

My little Bri bri is not so little anymore! May be some day I'll be dropping her off at Julliard!!!:)

I {Heart} NY.

Thanks to my dear brother (who watched the kiddos-what a brave brother I have), my good friend Brenda (who let us stay with her) and the Chinatown bus ($35 round trip fare from DC to NYC), Scott and I were able to visit New York City last week. It was a much needed little vacation for Scott and I...and now I can understand why people say I LOVE NY and most every other movie takes place there.

I have been trying to think of adjectives to accurately describe New York City and the only one that I think comes close to it, is:

Spectacular.

Scott and I were able to stay with my good college friend Brenda. I'm sure some of you have heard of Brenda before as my friend who comes from a family of 13 children-all red-heads. She is a farm girl, living in NYC! I have always loved Brenda. She lived next door to us, but she was basically our 7th roommate. She is a superb cook, flawless seamstress, a great conversationalist, a professional accountant working in NYC, and a wonderful friend...oh! and she is a night-owl, just like me!

Our first night there, Brenda was kind enough to show us around her neighborhood. She lives right on Wall Street. I loved seeing and being part of Brenda's life, just for a couple of days. It seems, like yesterday when we used to sit around the kitchen table in our Beehive Manor apartment in Rexburg, talking about life.

Pictures don't do justice. This bull is enormous! It was late enough that we were the only ones around the bull. Brenda was answering all sorts of questions that Scott was asking her about New York City! She was an awesome tour guide!

After our little tour, of Brenda's neighborhood, she made us tacos, Scottie stayed up talking for a while and went to bed. Brenda and I stayed up talking until almost 3 in the morning!

The next day, after eating our delicious crepes breakfast with bananas and homemade whipped cream, that Brenda so kindly fixed for us, Scott and I headed to the Rockefeller Center, to the Top of the Rock.

The view was amazing!

New York City is just an out-of-this-world city. It's like in the movies, but better. When you are there, you get to experience, everything. The smells, the people, the busyness...it was very interesting to me...I bet sociologists LOVE this city...there's a contrast of superficiality (fashion and money) but there's also so much charm....I LOVED the way New Yorkers talk with so much expression...

The Top of the Rock was definitely worth it! :)

This is a fun light room on top of the rock, the lights follow you along as you walk around the room. Scott thought this was so cool!

NYC in all its glory.

On the way down, we grabbed a Starbucks peppermint hot chocolate. It was delicious!

After the Rockefeller Center, we headed to Central Park.

I had to take a bunch of pictures along the way...

A hot dog stand.

Beautiful architecture...and lots of yellow taxis.

People and cars, everywhere.

Daija told me about FAO Schwarz, so we had to go in, it's right in front of Central Park. It's where they have that big piano and lots and lots of toys. Brielle and Braden would have been in heaven here!

Scott was in heaven when he saw all the varieties of legos they had...he started dreaming about the day he and Braden will be able to do intricate lego designs.

Central Park is HUGE! I totally didn't realize how huge it is! It's like over 800 acres of park. It's a much needed area with trees and grass and some open spaces in such a big and busy city!

It's beautiful and full of charm.

The guy with the saxophone was really good.

...and then we saw Spiderman! ha ha! totally random!!!

After walking around Central Park, we decided to head to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

After trying to find the Subway FOREVER!...we couldn't find it and couldn't figure out how to get from Central Park to the Met...we finally asked this nice New Yorker and she told us to take the bus. We were on 66th and we had almost 20 blocks to the Met, so the bus was perfect.

Scott was VERY excited to have finally made it to the Met!!!

By the way, that man (Scott) makes me laugh! He made me laugh our whole trip! It was fun to be with him and spend time alone with him. I am so in love with him. :)

The Met was beautiful. I think it is one of the most beautiful museums I have ever visited.

They have some amazing collections.

We saw Monet and Van Gogh...Picasso. It was just beautiful... we saw a lot of nakedness though...:)

I love how open it is there.

After walking around admiring all of the beautiful and interesting art, we were so tired and hungry.

We decided to head to Times Square for dinner.

The Subway was good to us...a lot cheaper than here in D.C. and we had free entertainment!

This little boy was amazing!

Then we got to Times Square...

My camera did not capture what my eye was seeing.

Times Square is simply, SPECTACULAR...

...and there are hundreds and hundreds of people every where you turn.

We stopped for a few seconds trying to figure out where to start heading to eat...and this lady told us:

"You can't stand in the middle of the sidewalk like that! You are on Times Square!!!"

Scott and I were laughing our heads off!

We finally found a place to eat. This cute little restaurant called Bella Vita.

We ordered pizza and it was the best pizza I have ever had!

Scott and I ate the whole thing!

We walked around for a little longer, admiring advertisement at its best. I'm telling you, I'm sure sociologists love this city!!! You are literally BOMBARDED with advertisements! Amazingly HUGE screens everywhere!

There is this cool area with chairs and tables.

You just kind of have to sit down and absorb it all...what all of this flashiness means.

These guys were playing for charity.

After eating our yummy dinner we headed back to Brenda's, we were so exhausted, we were literally on our feet for almost 12 hours!!!

We decided to go to bed early, at least that was our intention...we ended up going to to bed after midnight!

On Sunday, we slept in. Brenda made these AMAZING raspberry bran muffins for breakfast. We decided to skip church (we were naughty, I know...) we had such limited time, our trip was definitely not long enough!!!

We said goodbye to Brenda and her roommate (who by the way is a dance student at Julliard!!!) I kept telling her that she is living my dream!!!...

...and we headed to the the ferry to see the Statue of Liberty.

On the way to the ferry, I noticed this sign. All I have to say is,

City Life.

The Staten Island Ferry is awesome because it's free and you get a pretty nice view of the Statue of Liberty.

It was so windy and cold!!!

Beautiful.

We were glad that we did the ferry!

I saw an Asian tourist doing this and I thought it was awesome!

Asian tourists always have the best poses!!!:)

After the ferry, we headed to:

Queens!

To see these guys:

We could have gone to see more, like the Brooklyn Bridge (which I'm sad I missed)...but we HAD to go see these guys in Queens. Out of all the places in this world, meeting Justin and Stacey in Queens was awesome!!!:) Stacey's parents are serving a mission there. It was nice to see them all and spend a couple of hours with them. Stacey's mom made such a yummy dinner, I was a complete glutton! It was hard to resist!

Queens is a little ways from Manhattan and we barely made it to our bus in Chinatown!

We had to take a cab. I think, taking the cab, completed our NYC experience.

I'm glad that we got to see Brenda one last time before we left!

...and now Scottie and I can say that,

We {heart} NYC!