Virginia Trip

Last weekend Eric's brother, sister & her husband came from Utah to visit! We decided to all take a little weekend family trip to Virginia. It was really fun, aside from the hours of annoying traffic. Who knew Virginia was so busy?
The first day we got in a little later than planned. We all went to Pizza Hut and got the buffet. Classy, I know. It was pretty gross, but hilarious. We had some good laughs there. After that Eric's parents were awesome enough to watch Sierra while the rest of us went to the movies.
The next day we went to Water Country USA! I love water parks! It was great, aside from the massive storm that attacked the park so we had to wait under a pavilion until they opened the slides and stuff back up. But it did clear a lot of people out so then there were no lines. After that we went to Texas Roadhouse. This was the only place I took pictures at. We had a pretty long wait but it was worth it. So tasty!
The next morning Eric had to leave for a work trip to Beijing (more on that later). The rest of us went to the Yankee candle shops which were so cool! They had all these different themed shops and lots of cute decorations. Then we ventured on to the Short Pump Town Center. If you're ever in Richmond, VA you have to go to this mall! It is outdoors and is so pretty! It's only been open for 6 years. They have lots of yummy restaurants and cool shops. I discovered West Elm while we there. I had heard about it but never been in one. I love that store!
Our drive home was torture! Plenty of traffic.
Here are the Texas Roadhouse Pics:

Andrew, Kye, Dad, Mom, Alyssa, Ryan

Sierra, Eric, Me, Dorian, Ashley

Sierra busy as usual.

Dorian fell asleep while we were waiting (that's how long the wait was). Apparently we thought it was pretty comical because we took about 20 pictures of him sleeping. He looked like a homeless man.


Sierra had a breakdown right before we got seated and was so tired the whole time we were there. Poor sleepy little angel baby.

Walking!

Man I have been such a slacker on my blog updates! Sierra has been walking for a month and I still haven't blogged about it.
I love it! It makes life so much easier for me. She was already getting into everything before so it didn't really make much of a difference in that department. It's just nice to be able to set her down in a store and she just stands by me instead of taking off on the dirty floor crawling.
She looks so cute stumbling around. Here are a couple videos I took of her. Don't mind the ratty hair. The second one is random. She just cracks me up. She is obsessed with the TV remotes and my cell phone.

New York!

FINALLY after 4 years of living only 2 and a half hours away from New York, we made the trip to the big city! Eric decided to take the day off work on Friday and we were planning on only going for the day, but at the last minute decided to pack an overnight bag just in case! So we ended up staying over and spent two days there which was necessary.
First day Pictures:

The Craziness of Times Square

A random chair display/art (I guess)

John's Pizzeria! Tasty, and really cool inside. Too bad I didn't take any pictures. I was too busy chasing Sierra around since we were seated by a cool staircase and she was obsessed with trying to climb them the whole time.

More craziness

Um, I forget what this statue (monument?)was for

Eric wanted a picture with the late show sign (cute)

He also wanted me to take a picture of this globe (also cute haha)

The tired little baby

This picture cracks me up because after we took it and after spending a decent amount of time sitting by this fountain, Eric informed me that he thought we were in central park.
Not so.

On a pretty bridge in central park

Sierra LOVED this AstroTurf area in central park and spent forever running around on it

In FAO Schwarz in the Madame Alexander Doll Factory (you know, those dolls Tori Spelling's mom always gave her for her birthday and wouldn't let her play with? lol)

Sierra with her new dolly

The cutest little book shop! Sierra did not want to be held down for a picture. She loved running around here.

A cool Tiffany's display. Too bad the store was closed by the time we got to it. Who closes before 8pm in New York? Lame.

The Empire State Building

The end of day one. We didn't find a hotel until after 1am and I didn't fall asleep until 4am because my legs were throbbing from all the walking. OH and because Sierra was hyperventilating when we tried to put her in the pack and play and got up screaming several times in the night. Apparently she hates sleeping at hotels. Other than that the hotel was nice and there's just something about staying in one that really makes it feel like a vacation!

New York: Day 2

The second day we went to Carlo's Bakery. From the show Cake Boss. I love that show and when we found out that it takes place in Hoboken, New Jersey (which is basically New York) we had to go! It was really cool to actually be there and we saw a few people from the show. It was pretty busy and the cupcakes and lobster tails were really good. Also Hoboken is a cute little town so it was fun to walk around and go in the cute shops.

Red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting. Yummy.

Lobster Tail. A crispy pastry with rich, delicious cream inside.

You can see Mauro and Grace in this picture. We also saw Buddy's wife, Lisa.

The New York Skyline. Wow. Our camera sucks.

On the first day we drove into NYC and parked in the city. The second day we opted for the Path train. It was a cool experience. Sierra did have a breakdown on the ride home though because she wanted to get down. We went to the world trade center site where there wasn't much to see since they're rebuilding the towers and have it all covered up because it's a construction site. We went to china town (which was insane, the streets were so packed you could barely move, let alone push a stroller. I even heard some rude person mutter as we passed "you can't bring a baby here".) little Italy, a disturbingly strange restaurant called the Mooncake Restaurant which was run by some Asian's trying to do American food. So basically they had normal American dishes with weird Asian twists. I opted for the fruit salad. haha Oh, and Jamba Juice. Eric has been craving Jamba for 4 years. Ever since we left Rexburg, Idaho. He was a happy camper. I will admit, it was quite satisfying. And that about sums up our trip. It was fun but next time we'd like to go without a baby, stay in a hotel in the city and go see a show. Because after all "you can't bring a baby here." HA!

So Fresh And So Clean

For some odd reason Sierra is obsessed with my clean, wet shirts. You know, the ones you hang up to dry? She loves them! The other day I had a few hanging on the chair in the basement and she took them all off and was cuddling and smelling them. When I tried to take them away from her she got furious! I relocated them upstairs to the kitchen chairs and she found them again. Then the banister (found them again) and then the couch upstairs. She was out of control! And every time I took one away from her she would get so mad. Its really pretty hilarious and strange.
Here are a couple pictures from a particularly fresh tank top hanging on the basement door knob today.

look at her taking it all in!

Wearing one of the shirts she was obsessed with from a few days ago(only it's dry now) Doesn't she look like a little monk?
What a funny girl!