In NEW YORK!

My lifelong dream since childhood came true in July as I finally made it to the Big Apple!  New York I have arrived!  Too bad I couldn't stay...although as I've learned before, humidity is not made for natural curly/frizzy/wavy hair.  The trip was a generous gift from my MIL Robyn who took my sis-in-law, Britney, and I for our birthdays.  Get ready for lots and lots of pictures! 

Our first stop was right off the red eye flight at eight in the morning at the Today show where we caught a glimpse, literally, of Blake Shelton singing about his 'Honey Bee'.  He was great!

Next we went straight to see the Statue of Liberty!  My MIL and SIL were great to go do all the touristy things with me even though they'd gone several times before and done the same things!  There's nothing like seeing this monument up close and in person.  It's truly majestic!

We loved the iPhone's 'flip the camera so you can see yourselves' feature on this trip!  We like it much better than bothering strangers to take your picture :)

 Times Square!  It was so cool in person!  And oh so many people everywhere.  I could people watch in New York for days on end I'm sure.  We wanted a picture with the naked cowboy and he forced this pose upon us.  I was unaware of his hand position until after I saw the picture.  I'm sorry if it's offensive grammy! :)

Seeing this piano at FAO Shwartz was so great!  My dad, sis, and I have watched and laughed at Big several times over the years.  It was a lot of fun to see this childhood memory in person.

 Now what I've been waiting for...a broadway show!  There wasn't anything in particular I was dying to see, so Momma Mia was a great choice since it's an all around fun show.  There was no disappointment here!

 We waited in a long long line to go up the Empire State Building for the view.  It was quite remarkable and worth the wait!

The night life in times square!

 On the last day of our trip we got to go on a bike tour through central park and eat lunch at the boat house!  (From the adorable movie 27 dresses).  Don't laugh at my awesome bike helmet that was necessary for such an intense ride on paved roads :)

The boat house!  We are smiling despite the stifling heat.  If you look closely you can see how sticky I am!

I've seen this shot in like 3 movies since I've been home!  I watch a lot of movies and I can't believe how  much  NYC is used.  Bryce is already sick of me saying "hey, I've been there!"

Taking pics on top of the J.W. Marriott where we stayed.

We walked approximately 5 miles a day, rode the subway, and hollered for cabs.  We shopped, shopped, and shopped some more.  We stopped by Ground Zero which is a giant construction site that will have a new large world trade center, a transit station, and a memorial for Sep 11.  The church across the street which housed thousands of volunteers during the cleanup was really neat to see.  I love the powerful men and woman in our country! We had DELICIOUS food, but amazingly stayed the same size because of all the walking and heat!  I loved shopping on fifth avenue and looking at all the window displays.  I got some cute clothes and a purse from Chinatown (now THAT was an experience!).  We even went to church in the building that has the Manhattan temple!  I really feel like I got a taste of New York.  It was a great girls trip!  I sure missed my hubby, but if Robyn has an inkling to go again, I'm always going to be up for this trip!

Rexburg, Idaho

Yay for so many blog posts!  It's probably because we have actually been away more than we've been home.  Since my Grandpa's funeral was on the 5th of July, we decided to go a few days early to spend some time in Rexburg with Bryce's grandparents.  They had plenty of fun in store for us as soon as we arrived.  We basically played with all of Grandad's toys including tractors, 4-wheelers, trucks, fire trucks, and wave runners.  Grandma was in charge of feeding us delicious food including some amazing grasshopper pie.

The 1931 fire truck Grandad let Bryce drive in the parade on the 4th!

Bryce isn't nervous at all about the unreliable manual transmission and hardly existent brakes....

Bryce and his cousin, Austin, and the TEAM BAGLEY t-shirts :)

The parade!  Lots of people where there and lots of children didn't like me because I failed to bring a bag of candy in the truck with me!

Parade fun!

Bryce had the chance to cruise around in his Uncle's original mustang.  There is such car envy in his eyes!

Trying to look the part ha ha.  We look forward to going to Rexburg again!

Nolan and Grandpa Leath

We were surprised when we returned from St. George and only a week later we heard my cousin Nolan, who we had just visited with, had passed away during an afternoon nap at the age of 18.  Nolan is the third son born of six to my Aunt Lorna and Uncle Ryan Anderson.  He was a great young man with a wonderful spirit.  I love all my cousins, but Nolan was especially easy to love!  I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ being restored to the earth so we have the knowledge of where Nolan's spirit has gone and that we will see him again.  I'm grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who gives us peace through hard times in our life.  My aunt and uncle along with their boys are truly my heroes as they expressed such strong testimony that families can be together forever.  Nolan was excited to turn in his papers next year to serve a mission for the Lord, but his life mission had ended and he was needed for his next mission on the other side.  I'm posting Nolan's obituary because I'm so proud of this young man and the accomplishments and physical hardships he was able to overcome in just 18 years.  His funeral inspired me to live every day to the fullest, live with no regrets, and never take a moment with my family for granted.  It's true we never know what life will bring.  

Nolan's Obituary

With my siblings, and husband, at the cemetery.  I love my siblings and  need to remember to enjoy every moment I have with them!

I absolutely love this picture!  Nolan's favorite color was blue and someone brought blue balloons to be released in honor of Nolan.  We did a countdown and shouted "Nolan" as the balloons were released.  It brings tears to my eyes seeing my Aunt, Nolan's mom, so joyful on a day she could be so depressed.  She has shown nothing but faithfulness throughout this time and has been in tune with the spirit confirming to her that Nolan is where he needs to be and he's happy.  Lorna is such a great example to me of faithfulness, perspective, compassion, and motherhood.  

My dad and his little sister, Lorna Lee

The Amazing Andersons!

As we arrived home from Nolan's funeral late Monday night we received word that my Grandpa Leath, my dad's dad, had passed away.  He's been struggling with Alzheimer's for awhile and came down with a fever and slipped away with the help of a caring hospice and VA staff as well as my dedicated grandma Dawna by his side.  It's a much different feeling to discover someone has died when you know they have lived a full life and are suffering with disease.  I'm happy my grandpa is back to his normal self and mind and reunited with those who have passed before him, including my cousin Nolan.  I'm very proud of my grandpa who served as a WWII B-24 bomber pilot who flew in over 40 missions.  It gave me chills when the Pocatello Veterans Honor Guard performed the Military Rites at the grave site.  I am proud to be an American and proud my grandpa served our country!  It was a perfect place to be on the 4th of July with all of our family.  I'm thankful for the wonderful life my grandpa lived as a worthy priesthood holder and family man.     

All the granddaughters got a flower off of grandpa's casket.  I love my grandpa!

Birthday, Father's Day, Gateway & Trax, Midway, & REAL

Another birthday snuck up on me this year, good thing I love birthdays!  We started off birthday week early because we'd be in St. George on my actual birthday.  We didn't have a cake, but we had a SmartOne frozen dessert to use and we had a number "2" candle from Bryce's birthday, but not a 3, so we improvised!  I was insistent that there was singing and candle blowing.  Bryce gave me my present that started out with milk duds, sidewalk chalk, and bubbles.  I thought that was very cute because we'd already given each other longboards for our birthdays...but then tucked in the bottom of the box was the white iPhone!  I didn't ask for it, I wasn't really dying to have it, but I was squealing from excitement.  It's a lot of fun!

  

Another birthday present was new eyeglasses as my eyes have started changing and clip-in extensions because I've ALWAYS wanted long hair!  My sister bought me a shirt and necklace from Express so I'm basically sporting all of these items in one picture :). 

         

We love living in Salt Lake and having so many options with things to do.  We had dinner with some friends at the Gateway and took Trax there & back.  It's great not hassling with parking!  Plus we saw the sidewalk chalk festival where people put my childhood chalk days to shame with their amazing drawings!  

I promise I try a little harder these days to look cool when we go longboarding!  Our favorite place to go is definitely Daybreak where the roads are wide, flat, and not much traffic.

My birthday continued with a party at my mom's with all of my favorite things and traditions.  I was born at 11:21 pm on the OR table to the song "Old Time Rock 'n Roll".  My mom remembers the staff changing shifts and ordering Domino's pizza right as I was about to be born. SO...as a result, every year we order Domino's and listen to Old time rock 'n roll at 11:21.  I usually hear from my dad and grandparents at that time as well.   It wouldn't be my birthday without cheesecake for dessert!  My mom is awesome for getting all of this organized for me, she's the best.  Plus, mom, Linds, and I had a fabulous dance party the rest of the night. :)

I forgot there was Dr. Pepper too!

Time for Father's Day on June 19!  My dad is the best, and yes I'm totally bias.  We have a pretty special bond and I feel very lucky we are so close.  We got to see him for a bit at a BBQ with some family and write him a card to tell him how much I love him!  Next we headed to see Bryce's dad and Bryce snapped a great yawning picture :)

I love seeing these kidlets!

Silly faces!  Please excuse the accidental immodesty...

Last but not least, we went to the Leishman's cabin in Midway where we BBQ'd and rode scooters all over town.  It was beautiful!  We stayed up late playing games and watching movies and really enjoyed sleeping in the next day.  We got ready to go the REAL game next and represented in the "Bagley" jerseys.  They played a great game and won!  We really like the Leishmans for always inviting us to do fun things.  We saw the midnight showing of Harry Potter with them last week and loved it!

St. George - Tuacahn trip

Ahh I have so much to blog about!  I'll probably get bored about half way through and really wish I hadn't even attempted to blog about my life, but the longer I procrastinate the more there will be!  (obviously).  I'll just write about one event at a time...let's go back to June 11ish...

We went on our annual Tuacahn trip with my dad and the fam down to St. George where it was HOT and I LOVED it.  We had a pit stop in Cedar City to see Chris and Shea and Chris took us shooting.  He even made us ceramic targets to shoot at and they would explode.  It was fun!

Bryce being a sharp shooter

Lindsay stayed in the car at first, but I finally talked her into trying shooting for her first time!  She did great

I won't even attempt to say what kind of hand gun this was, but I felt super gangsta.  I really did shoot it sideways... 

It was super powerful...Chris is laughing at how scared I was to pull the trigger 

Yes sparkly headbands are the new shooting attire

We stayed at a nice hotel and went swimming pretty much every day, ate lots and lots of food, played with our cousins, went to church, went shopping, had a BBQ, played games, and of course the highlight of the trip being Tuachan.  This year we saw The Little Mermaid and Grease.  The Little Mermaid was fabulous!  There were so many creative elements that made it so fun, the actors were very talented, the costumes were great, and the weather being perfect completed the show.  Grease was also fun, but definitely not as rehearsed as Little Mermaid.  You really can't go wrong with songs like Grease Lighting and the Hand Jive, so I was entertained, but we all agreed Little Mermaid was our favorite.  Not to mention my Uncle Ryan played Grimsby so that was extra fun.

Susan vowed never to return to Walmart after this trip...their pharmacy was being very difficult.  We had fun in the car! :)

The traditional "fountain" picture

With the group

Uncle Ryan!

Bryce and I at Little Mermaid

Bryce and I at Grease

I'm glad this tradition has continued and we were able to go this year!  My parents are awesome for taking us "big kids" on this trip.  If you have the chance to go to St. George, I highly recommend it!