New York City!

In July Bryant, Garrett, and I had the amazing opportunity to go to Washington, DC and New York City. It was one of the funnest and most entertaining trips I've ever been on. We left on Wednesday (July 13th) and spent the first three days in Washington, DC (That's a totally different post that's in the works, I promise!) then we took an Amtrak train to New York and spend Saturday and Sunday there. (Garrett went and visited one of his friends in Philadelphia on Saturday and met up with us in NYC on Sunday)

This was taken right before we boarded the train:

Going through Maryland. The scenery was beautiful!
We arrived at Penn Station, which is located under Madison Square Garden
We had quite the adventure trying to figure out the subway system to get to our hotel, which is located next to Ground Zero. The construction around that area is CRAZY!! This is looking up at one of the Freedom Towers they are building in the same spot.
We took a slight detour while walking to the hotel (not really by choice, but the view was beautiful!)

This is the view from our room Apparently this was a huuuuge giant hole not too long ago. The construction crews were working 24/7 to try and finish the 9/11 Memorial for the 10th anniversary this September.
Steve's Pizza- Where we had our first "authentic NY Pizza"
Wall Street- Only a couple blocks from our hotel
Wall Street

Tiffany & Co!!!! I was pretty excited...

This is the Jacqueline Kennedy Reservoir at Central Park
It was so pretty!

Eventually we made our way on the subway from Manhattan up to the Bronx for our FOURTH Paul McCartney Concert. I'm starting to feel like a groupie.
Yankee Stadium!

At this point we were enjoying our Philly Cheese steaks that we got from the stand that was literally right next to our seats. (We left smelling of beef and onions. I'm sure the people we were squished next to on the subway loooved that.)

--Billy Joel made a surprise appearance and sang "I Saw Her Standing There". I screamed like a 13 year old girl.

Yankee Stadium was gorgeous!
The next morning we ate breakfast at the restaurant at the top of our hotel that overlooks the 9/11 Memorial


After breakfast we walked down to the boardwalk to see the Statue of Liberty
Bryant and Garrett
We didn't have enough time to take a ferry out to the island. (Kinda wish we would have...)
One of the major MUST-SEE sites for Bryant was to go to John Lennon's (Lead singer of The Beatles--for anyone who doesn't know) apartment where he was shot and killed. The building is called The Dakota.
And here we're standing right where he was shot. Kinda creepy...
This is the corner of the building looking over at Central Park
In Central Park there is an area where John Lennon and Yoko Ono would always go-Strawberry Fields.
There was also this beautiful mosaic dedicated to one of John's most famous songs- "Imagine"
It was pretty cool to see in person since Bryant has a poster of it at our house.
Central Park
Radio City Music Hall

Rockefeller Plaza

I watched way too much "Today Show" growing up so I was excited to see this.
GE Building for all you "30 Rock" Fans!
I think I love "30 Rock" a little too much...

Times Square
"The Naked Cowboy"- A lovely NYC Attraction
...and the nasty Naked Cowgirl who's boobies were hanging out

Bryant decided he wanted to buy some Beatles stuff from one of the street vendors. He didn't really barter with the guy. Garrett decided this was unacceptable so a block later, Garrett showed us his foreign country bartering skills. I was impressed!
(I still like Jay Leno more...)


If you watch David Letterman, you'll appreciate this.
Times Square!

Sooo...it was super hot. And SUPER humid. And we didn't want a lot of luggage on this part of the trip so we cramed everyting into a backpack that poor little Bryant had to pack around the city. This is my favorite picture from the entire trip...

Mad Men!
Empire State Building
My cousin Cole is going to NYU for medical school and he gave us some awesome recommendations for visiting the city. This picture was for him :)
Down by the East River with the Brooklyn Bridge behind us. Also- Please notice that I was wearing the backpack at this point.
Bryant was complaining so someone with real muscles had to take over

Grand Central Station (Sooo pretty inside!)

Our train didn't leave New York until 11:45 PM and we didn't arrive back to DC until 3:30 am Monday morning. Before we got on the train we had pizza at NY Pizza Suprema by Penn Station. When I asked the guy what kind of pizza this was he looked at me like I was crazy and said in a thick NY accent, "It's Sicilian! It's just the plain Sicilian! Do you want the Sicialian?"...Uhh...Yes?

Turned out to be the best pizza I've ever had in my 22 years of life.

New York City was absolutely amazing! I wish we could have spent a little more time there, but we got to see some amazing stuff--Paul McCartney at Yankee Stadium (With Billy Joel making a surprise appearance!) was definitely my favorite part.

Hopefully we can go again soon!

Spoiled Little Pup!

It was really hot today.

And I feel a little guilty constantly leaving Willis in our backyard day after day.

So today I decided to go buy him his own swimming pool.

As you can tell, Willis LOVED his new pool!

Now the only issue I have to deal with is when he's soaked and wants to come into the house...

One of My Favorite Web Videos

I thought of this video the other day and I figured I'd share it with my blog readers...all 2 of you. (Bryant and I'm assuming my mother...)

Our D.C./ NYC Trip Post is coming soon, but until then...

ENJOY!

Happy Birthday Boys!!

So...This is a few days late...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYANT & CLAY

Birthday's like to come in pairs in my family.

• Clay & Bryant- June 30th


• Saxon & Radley- October 27th


• Cam & Jordan- November 7th


• Laurel & Our Wedding Anniversary- September 12th


• Jayda & Keslee- March

So I'd like to wish Bryant a HUGE Happy 26th Birthday! (Love you TONS and I'm super proud of all your hard work. Also, thank you for putting up with me and the animals. We love you!)

And Happy Birthday to Clay-Dough. You're definitely in the Top 2 as far as favorite brothers are concerned. (I actually miss having an office next to yours so I can harass you all day and steal gum and lotion from your desk.) Love ya!

Happy Birthday Guys!- You'll forever be sharing birthday cake at the Buttars family parties!

My Puppy is Smarter Than Your Puppy

WILLIS GRADUATED!

For the last 6 weeks Willis and I have been going to the PetSmart Puppy Education Class in Orem. There were 5 puppies total:

• A Malamute named "Cache"
• A Maltese named "Zoe"
• A Beagle/Pug Mix named "Max"
• and a German Shepherd named "Onyx"

Not surprising, Willis was definitely the delinquent of the group. He was constantly trying to slither over to the other dogs and say hi. He never really outgrew that... In the 6 weeks of class he has gone from weighing 19 pounds to 40 pounds! Another accomplishment is he is very well behaved in the back of the car now. (That took some getting used to.) Willis thinks he's a big dog now and that he can jump out of the Murano with no problems. Tonight when I opened the back for him to jump out, he did a solid face plant into the pavement. He's still not used to his EZ-Walk Harness.

These are the commands Willis has mastered:

• Watch Me
• Sit
• Lay Down
• Take It
• Leave It
• Drop It
• Come
• Stay
• Shake/High 5
• Puppy Pushups
• Loose Leash Walking

Tonight for graduation they had a few competitions to see how well the puppies learned. Willis came in 3rd for the Loose Leash Walking race (He was easily distracted by the boxes of Greenies in the aisle). He won the "Stay" Competition quite easily. (I had to make him stay, then walk to the end of the aisle and back to him without him moving. It's quite the accomplishment for a puppy with a short attention span!) He came in dead last in the "Come" Competition (He and Cache were having too much fun playing with each other to care about their owners yelling "Come here! Come here!" repeatedly.) He was the only puppy to successfully complete Puppy Pushups (Sit, Down, Sit). And the final competition was "Leave It", which Willis dominated. (I had to put a dog biscuit on the ground in front of his paws and he couldn't eat it until I gave him permission. None of the other dogs could do it and Willis sat there like a good boy until I released him.)---The picture below was taken while I made him leave his ball so I could take his picture.

As a graduation present we bought him this soccer ball that you put his treats inside and he has to roll it a certain way to get them to fall out. It's definitely shot to the top as his favorite toy. (Anything involving treats always has his full attention.)

So Congrats to Willis! You're the best puppy anyone could have :)

Happy {Early} Birthday Bryant!

It's Bryant's Birthday!!!...on June 30th.


So what better way to celebrate him turning 26 then by throwing him a surprise party at his parents house 26 days early? (I really didn't plan for it to be 26 days, it just happened to be the only time we could both go up to Logan on a Saturday and have his family all be there.)

While Bryant was golfing with his brother and my brother, I hurried and bought his favorite cake (Sam's Club- White cake with white frosting) and the other party supplies and ran back to the house to set everything up.

In order to get him outside to see everything, I had to tell him that his parents cat, Kramer, had been digging a huge hold in the back that he needed to see. He walked right past the decorations, his mind focused on finding the hole I was talking about.

A week or two before this, I told Bryant that I had purchased his birthday present. He kept pestering me to try and get any information he could. I finally told him that I bought him tickets. That wasn't enough information. He wanted to know dates, locations, if I was going to be with him or not...(I think he really wanted the Miami vs Ohio State football tickets). The following picture is Bryant opening up the decoy present with two tickets that said, "Cache Valley Center for the Arts Presents: Couples Pottery, June 24th, 6:00 PM". He kind of stared at them for a second and tried to think of a tactful way to say, "Seriously??"

I actually held my smile off for around 45 seconds, long enough to make him think I was offended he didn't like his "Couples Pottery" tickets. (Couples Pottery? Seriously?! I impressed myself, coming up with something that Bryant AND I would absolutely hate!)

So then I told Bryant his real present was somewhere in the house and he had to go find it.

After a few minutes of searching, I basically pointed it out to him.

Bryant is now officially the proud owner of an iPad 2

Happy 26th Birthday...in 26 days

His dad picked out a lovely birthday card that resembles Willis

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYANT!!