It's the MOST wonderful time..

Don't worry, I'm not skipping over Thanksgiving.. We had an UNFORGETTABLE Thanksgiving here in NYC. I'll be posting about it shortly! In the meantime, I'm getting SO excited for Christmas this year! In fact, I don't think I could be any more excited for it.. Unless of course, I happen to win this dress. Please, oh PLEASE!!

I Heart Fries..

One of the things I love most about New York is the food.. I don't really consider myself a picky eater, but that's probably because deep down in my heart I know I am. There are a lot of very normal things I don't particularly care for-- french toast (with the exception of Kneaders), German pancakes, chocolate milk, cooked mushrooms, more than one and a half drips of milk on my cereal, just to name a few.

I've tried to approach New York eating with an open mind. This place was NOT hard to approach with an open mind.. I did a little research and found Pommes Frites. It's down in the dirty NYU part of town, but well worth the trip. What do they serve there? Oh, just french fries. And 23 different dipping sauces. I. Was. In. Heaven. Are you planning a trip to NYC soon? Let's go here. I'm ready for more.
The sauces are all mayo based (which is another thing I didn't like until I married Tyler who can't get enough of the stuff).. We tried the pesto mayo, mango chutney mayo and my favorite by FAR--the Vietnamese pineapple mayo. It was a very delightful date night. So, seriously. When are you coming to Pommes Frites with me?

Favorites..

Hopefully someday I'll need this.

Please bless I get both.. Both are favorites.

D.I. Style..

So, I'm totally missing the DI out here..

Luckily for me, Ty's cousins Mike and Daniel started this gem:

http://d-i-style.blogspot.com/

Check it out. It. Is. Hilarious.

Once upon a time..

We went to Puerto Rico. On a poor man's budget.. And we liked it! A lot.

This post has been a long time coming, and it's probably two months past embarrassingly late. But you know what? This is our blog.. and you're not the bosses of us.

We came home with a little over 800 pictures, and upon further review.. We realized we spent an awful lot of time in our swimming suits. That means we have an awful lot of pictures of us in our swimming suits. Next time we go on a tropical getaway, PLEASE remind us to take some cute/cool clothes along. I'd really appreciate the gentle reminder.

If I post too many swimming suit shots for your liking, I apologize in advance. You were forewarned and only have yourself to blame if you're traumatized :)

Our trip started out with a very early flight, which meant a very early train ride to the airport. Ty had finished up his first semester hoopla very late the night before, so we were a little exhausted.. Or maybe a lot exhausted.

But then we remembered we were going to Puerto Rico.. By the way, I'm not trendy enough to pull off the hippie headband flower thing. I tried, but after looking at the picture, it came off.
Since we'd decided to do this trip on a budget, we bid on our first two night say at the Caribe' Hilton Resort. It was the first time we'd bid on anything, so we really didn't know what we were doing. We ended up paying $100 a night, which was NOT bad considering the rooms were closer to $350 a night. It was GORGEOUS, had its own private beach, and the most comfortable king sized bed ever. We'd recommend staying at the nice resort last, not first. It was all down hill from there..

After getting all checked in, we decided to hit up the pool. The pool bar was highly overpriced (as they always are), but we decided to splurge and share a burger and some fries. It was probably the best burger I've ever had.. The fries were also incredible. Isn't my husband handsome?
After a quick swim, we decided to explore the surrounding beaches. We found this delightful mural and I was so excited to see my "first" sea turtle. Sadly, it was the ONLY sea turtle I saw.
The next morning, in keeping with our Rest and Relaxation agenda, we started out with a little hammock time. As you can tell, I didn't exactly get "ready" for this.. We followed the hammock with a little morning yoga on the beach. Ty is very good at yoga :)
We found this chess set on the lawn, and Ty was very excited to teach me how to play (many have tried, not one has done so with success). Luckily, I was able to distract him and we never got around to it, alright..
How did I distract him, you may ask? Oh, just a giant floating iceberg in the middle of the ocean. He's so hot, and makes jumping off things look easy.
I, on the other hand, manage to look incredibly awkward.. "Try again.. And this time, try not to look like a flying monkey.." I tried. I failed.
We found some free beds, and took advantage of an afternoon nap in the Puerto Rican sun. I love this picture, it looks like he's fluffing clouds.. Hehe.
The next day was Sunday.. We didn't think it would be too terribly difficult to find the church, so we hadn't done our homework the night before. It ended up being a LOT of work.. So much so that I wondered if it'd even be worth taking the cab into San Juan to find it.

I think I was still bitter about what had happened the previous Sunday (we were robbed in Harlem after volunteering with the stake at Harlem Days teaching the Harlemites how to do their genealogy.. It ended up costing us $45..). Luckily, Tyler was pretty determined.

We FINALLY found the church in time for Priesthood/Relief Society. So, I sat through the lesson (in Spanish), catching every fourth word and trying desperately to put it all together.

Afterwards, I met up with Ty who had become acquainted with our new best friend, Jonathan. He was a Dominican who grew up in Puerto Rico and had returned home from his mission in NYC last summer. Jonathan invited us over to his house for dinner, drove us into Old San Juan and gave us the BEST tour of the city.. He also doubled as our personal photographer.

Meeting Jonathan saved us about $700.. We were very grateful we went to church :)

Old San Juan is beautiful.. We went up to El Moro, which is a very old lookout fort. Just below it is this incredible cemetery. Jonathan said they still make room for people..
It's right on the ocean, and it's incredible.. I took a lot of pictures, but I'll spare you. Come over for a Family Night one night if you want to see them all.
Meet Jonathan. I guess they don't make Puerto Ricans like they used to.
The town of Old San Juan itself and buildings are just gorgeous. I peaked through a boarded up front door and took this picture. I think it may be my favorite of the trip..
This is my kind of town..
I'd like to live in this little pink house. I told Tyler he could have the blue one next door. He thanked me.
We bought some oranges to munch on.. I've eaten a LOT of oranges, but none of them peeled quite like this. They made a hole in the top and you just sucked the juice out. My mouth is watering right now just thinking about it!
Our original plan had been to stay the night in a town close to the rain forest (where we'd planned on hiking), but after meeting Jonathan he persuaded us not to. He said it's a pretty sketchy town. We bid on a hotel in San Juan and stayed at the Marriott for $50. Jonathan picked us up early the next morning and drove us the two hours down to the rain forest (saving us hundreds in the cab fare it would have cost us). He showed us some cool places the locals love.. And took pictures for us :)
There were these cool vines all over the place! I swung on one, and it broke. I landed hard in the water.. Just another awkward body day in the life of Elisabeth.
The water was FRIGID.. but we loved exploring here. It was one giant long staircase of waterfall after waterfall.. I was kind of hoping it'd be like that waterfall in Hawaii that Uncle Jesse jumps in when the Tanner family goes to Hawaii on that crazy episode of Full House, but it wasn't deep enough. We decided to choose life.

Why does my face look plastic? I don't know either.
Tyler was holding me up.. It was THAT cold.
These are my special shoes. Mama said they'd take me anywhere..
Jonathan dropped us off at the ferry, we thanked him a thousand times over, and headed off on our next adventure.. Culebra. It's a small island off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico, and home of the most beautiful beach in the whole world.. Flamenco Beach.

Here's Ty in front of the ferry..

Your leg looks broken, please stand like a normal person.
Ok, wait. I was laughing. Stand like a man, not like a 5 year old.
Still laughing.. I'll just take one of the boat.

One of the reasons we went to Culebra was to dive.. It was much more fun than when we went on our Honeymoon because the water was probably 20 degrees warmer (and I hadn't just had a blood transfusion). Last time I was so freezing, Ty had to just pull me everywhere. He ended up using all his air and we had to surface before everyone else. Ty didn't have to use all his air dragging me all over the place because I was a stiff log. We saw a LOT of cool things, but no sharks or sea turtles (both of which our Dive Master HAD seen the day before). We saw GIANT lobsters.. As in, as big as me. How come mermaids' hair always looks beautiful on and off shore?

The other reason we came to Culebra was for Flamenco Beach. And it definitely did NOT disappoint.. We just missed tourist season, so we practically had the beach to ourselves! We camped on the beach for $20 a night..

Someone in our family claims that pictures are always better with people in them.. Here's a picture with a person:
And here's a picture without. Both are favorites :)
We rented some boogie boards and spent a LOT of time in the water. It was incredible.. Sitting on the beach, or in the water.. Soaking up the sun with my soulmate. Life does not get better.
We bought some delicious granola bars for breakfast. Tyler loved them..
I want to go back..
Duh.


About that camping on the beach for $20.. It saved us a lot of money, but we didn't exactly sleep. We borrowed a tent, but that's all we had. So we slept on sandy towels and were eaten alive by mosquitoes.. But we made a memory. And we saved a lot of money doing it.
We left Culebra and headed back to Shady Ferry Town (we can't remember the name..) just to turn around and hop on another ferry to another small island off the coast of Puerto Rico, Vieques.

It's another cute island, a little more commercialized than Culebra, but still very cute. We stayed in a darling bed and breakfast.. I can't remember the name, but it was adorable. And cheap.
The purpose of THIS trip was to go to the Bioluminescent Bay.. It's one of only a couple in the world, and it's one of the last you can actually swim in. What's a Bio Bay? Imagine swimming in a sea of fairy dust.. Where every spec of water you touch lights up the moment you touch it. I don't have any pictures, but it was incredible. Google it. I dare you.

Here we are on the ferry ride back.. We were very sick of the ferry. On our way back, we got a text from our best friend Jonathan (who really was totally awesome, in every sense of the word). He offered to pick us up at the ferry and drive us across the island to check out his favorite caves. He didn't have to twist our arms or anything!
We stopped by the side of the road and got some coconuts.. This guy even chopped them open for us with his mother's lucky machete.
We got to the caves, and they were totally creepy.. Way dark, TONS of bats (and bat poop), kind of dusty and buggish. After about half an hour of climbing around, I was seriously regretting taking the two hour trip. I mean, seen one cave, seen them all.. Right? (Unless of course, it's Nutty Putty caves or somewhere you can just crawl around in the mud) I was a little bored, and then all of a sudden.. The cave opened up and we came upon the most exquisite sight I think I've ever laid eyes on..
It kind of reminded me of Land Before Time (the first one) when they get to the Great Valley..

Anyway.. If you're still reading this, you win the prize. I left a LOT of things out (and spared you a lot of swimsuit shots). All in all, it was a fabulous trip. I love my husband.. And I love that no matter where you are in the world, you can make amazing connections through the Gospel.

We had a safe flight home (and celebrated our two year anniversary of the night we met at Crepe Night).. I am such a lucky girl.

Earwax turnovers and a big midget.. .

Many of you know that I basically have clear eyelashes.. I inherited them from my Mom. This is how I feel about having clear eyelashes.. Just kidding. I was trying to be artistic.

When my parents were on their Honeymoon, my Dad looked lovingly into her mascara-less eyes and said, "You know? Without mascara on you kind of look like a guinea pig." He didn't mean it like that. My Dad really is quite the charmer, but my Mom wasn't charmed.. And I'm pretty sure she cried for hours.

Fast forward about 16 years (I was a Honeymoon baby).

We were in town, visiting our cousins the Rollins. I'd just climbed out of the shower and hadn't finished getting ready for the day. One of my cousins made the comment.. "You know. There are some girls in this world who are just naturally beautiful. They don't have to wear any makeup and they look beautiful all the time. There are other girls who need to wear makeup to look beautiful. You're kind of one of those girls." He's so right!


Fast forward 10 more years.


I sleep with mascara on. Even if I shower at night, I put some on before heading to bed. Call me vain.. Go ahead. Ty, being the helpful problem solver he is, has told me that it'd just save so much time and money (in the long run) if I just had my eyelashes dyed. I've explained several times that it just wouldn't be the same.. that I wouldn't achieve the "look" I want. I've never been able to really explain it to him, but he hadn't pressed the matter for a while.

Fast forward a year.


We were sitting on the Subway, and he stared at my eyelashes a little longer than usual. After some thought he said, very seriously.. "You're right. Even if you got your eyelashes dyed, you'd still have to do something everyday to clumpy them up."


Aren't manly boys cute when they try to talk "beauty"?


Here are some other favorite quotes, as of late..

He cannot ever remember the name of Qtips.. So he just changes the name every time he talks about them (which isn't that often, that'd be weird). Tonight? He called them Earwax Turnovers. Kind of gross.. but it made me laugh for a long time.


This summer I experimented with nail polish. Ladies here have painted finger nails, and I'm trying to be a little more ladylike. I've always painted my toes, but whenever I've tried painting my fingers in the past and they feel a little claustrophobic. I lasted quite a while this summer.


Several days after one such nail polish adventure, Ty noticed that my toes and fingers were different colors of pink. I could tell he was feeling a little uncomfortable about it. I had to really push to get anything out of him, but he finally said something like.. "Don't most girls try to schedule their colors?" In other words, it bugged him that they didn't match.

And last but not least.. Ty noticed tonight that my sweatpants were a little baggy. I think Ty took it as a chance to reassure me that I'm really not a giant person (don't you love the birth control crazies).. It actually came out like, "Well, you're just a big midget, aren't you?" Which was followed by, "I mean, tall midget. Not big."

I love this boy. So much. He makes me feel beautiful and feminine and funny and amazing. Every day. Plus, he's good at lots of things. Like skiing. Ranked 4th in his division in the state of Utah. Haaay.

Sidenote--This post is in no way meant to throw Ty under the bus. He thinks I'm beautiful with and without mascara :) I promise. He's the best husband. Ever.

Let me esplain..

No. There is no time to esplain. Let me sum up.. And by sum up, I mean ramble on and on and throw a few pictures here and there.

Since our last post, I started my new job. They were just a little misleading. As it turns out.. I'm not the Patient-Coordinating-Administrative-Princess after all. I'm the Front-Desk-Slave-to-Paperwork-and-Scanning-and-Being-Yelled-At-By-Co-Workers-and-Patients-Alike. Who would have thought. I'm really trying not to compare this job to my last one, since that was my dream job, but it's hard not to. I'm trying very hard to be positive and am counting my blessings that I even have a job. Some days I try harder than others.

Apparently, I'm leaving quite the impression on several people here. The other day I got a package from a patient.. It was a whole lot of information about Jehovah Witnesses. She wants to save me! Bless her heart. Don't you worry, I got a follow up call from her making sure I'd received it. We also have a borderline-creeper for a driver. He's very.. friendly. A little too friendly. And he talks in a baby voice to me. Imagine an Indian (as in, from India) baby voice. On a 35 year-old man. AND he actually hit (very softly) a pedestrian the other day with THE CAR as he tried to catch my attention to say goodbye. Eww.

We decided to make a trip out to the beach with our friends the Woodburys in August.. They are also from the SLC area, and Josh is in the program with Tyler. We love them alot. It's quite the trek getting to the beach without a car, but we had a good time and their little guy Jesse was so good! Some of you are probably cringing at the though of a NY beach, but it's not as bad as you think.. It's alot like California. Just multiply the number of people by about 24. I was AMAZED at how many people there were just standing around in the water, etc. The beach we went to was called Jones Beach. It made me think of your little guy Jones, Errin :)

Can you spot the white girl?

Told you there were alot of people..

It was soo hot. Someone in our family got chocolate all over his face.

And that someone didn't know it for a long time.

This guy didn't want to get ANY sun.

No, we don't know him.

There were so many happy happenings in August! Jenn Mabray got married, and I was able to spend two and a half glorious days with some of my BYU Sisters (and Kyle) to celebrate! It was heavenly. She was heavenly. And Jon is a fabulous roommate-in-law. I very highly approve. The sealing was absolutely beautiful, the wedding dinner was perfect (despite the awkward seating arrangement), the reception was a BLAST, and the food, CANDY, company and music couldn't be beat. We did miss the other Sisters and I missed Tyler.. but we did what we could to enjoy the time together.

I love us!

I want this wall in my living room..

But I like living with a boy, so I won't do it.

They are so cute!

There kids will have AMAZING eyes.

She's a good kisser.

Don't you just love love?

In August, we got a SUPER FUN visit from Ty's sister Ann and her husband Bryndon! They came and stayed with us for 3 days for their one year anniversary. We were so sad we couldn't spend all day every day with them, but had alot of fun at night while they were here. We're still not the greatest hosts, so I hope they had a good trip. We put them up on a very wimpy air mattress, and I'm pretty sure they ended up on the floor one night. I wish I'd taken more pictures while they were here. Ann got some classics, so you'll just have to come look through them at our house when you come. We love, love, love Ann and Bryndon. Alot.

We went to Dinosaur BBQ in Harlem. It was good.

And no, I'm not pregnant. My shirt just billows.

I made them do this :) I never knew I married an alien.

I also had a quick visit from my Uncle Chris and Aunt Maria!! They were in town for a big project Chris is working on and had some time to take me out to dinner :) We went to a very yummy Vegan restaurant. I LOVED it, and want to go back. They have the cutest little guy Moses.. it was so fun to see them, and to play with Mosey. He's SUCH a sweetheart.

There's Moses' nose!

I love him. SO much.

We went to Puerto Rico!! I would HIGHLY recommend this as a vacation destination.. Seriously. I'll tell you exactly where you need to go, and what you need to do. And what you need to eat. Our trip could have been entitled Puerto Rico On a Budget + Alot of Miracles= The Best Trip Ever. Hey, sounds like a great title for a post. To be continued..

The morning after arriving home from PR was spent packing our bags, and cleaning up our first place in NYC. That's right.. The fellas came home from Iceland and we were approved for student housing!! We moved about 10 blocks south (aka.. 10 blocks away from the border of Harlem) and we're LOVING our new place! It feels like our home. Don't get me wrong, we liked our other place (didn't like the plastic bed protector we had to sleep on) but we LOVE our new one. I'm still in the nesting phase, but I promise to post pictures.. It's darling. And it has a kitchen built for a midget. Good thing I'm more on the midget side of things than the giant side of things.

We finally met our little niece Abigail Lynn Williams. She's soooooooooooo darling, and two days was not nearly long enough with her. We're both counting down the days until we get to see her again. I wish it were tomorrow. She was blessed over Labor Day, and we were SO excited to be part of it. She's just beautiful, and sweet and VERY loved by her aunts and uncles and grandparents. I could (and kind of did) spend all day just squishing those cheeks. Kari posted about the weekend, so if you're dying for some more pictures check them out here. WE LOVE OUR NIECE!

Told you we did alot of squishing!

Everyone trying to get Abigail to smile :)

The famous Abigail Donut Face!!

Beautiful, beautiful Abigail Girl.

Please bless our babies are this cute!

We loved seeing Ty's family and spending time with them that weekend.. Again, it was not a long enough weekend. We were even able to plan a long layover in SLC to meet up with my family for brunch. We found a little secret place in the airport and cozied up. It was so delightful!

We really do live in NYC.. We just didn't spend much time here for about a month.

We had the privilege of being here on September 11. The week leading up to it was remarkable, and it's amazing how reverent the city is on that day--and the whole week before. One patient told me that her husband worked in the WTC, but was miraculously at a meeting off-site that morning. He wasn't able to reach her to tell her because cell phones weren't working, all communication was down. None of the trains were running downtown, so he piled onto a ferry with hundreds of other people just trying to get off the island. He was finally able to catch a train and rode home. She told me about seeing him standing at the door, COVERED head to toe in debris and dust.. I cannot even imagine. I don't think it affected the rest of the country the same way, so it was really special to be here for it.

We went to a memorial service held on the harbour where they let off Japanese lanterns in the water to celebrate the lives of those who were lost. Ty and I later walked down to Ground Zero. I don't know if you can tell, but on September 11 they shine lights in place of where the buildings were. The clouds were so thick that they stopped the lights, but it still looks amazing.

Just next to Ground Zero, there was a firetruck that had been converted with TVs playing an amazing documentary about the events. It was very moving, I'm going to look for a copy. We were very proud to be New Yorkers that night, and don't think September 11 will be the same for us ever again.

Through the construction..

We are alive. We are well. We heart NYC (most days). We welcome ourselves back to the blogging world.. Thank you for receiving us with open arms.