Wedding deal-o-rama

For all of you who are traveling to the wedding, there are some great hotel deals I found online. Here is a link to one I found on Kayak, it is $26 a night. Yes, $26. Definitely worth looking into.

I'm excited to come out and huck some rice.

http://www.kayak.com/r/ATzxzQo

Pumpkins, Squash & Gords...Oh My!

Valerie is one of Macie's Girl Scout leaders and they went to a local farm that has lots of fun activities for kids. The whole family tagged along and we had a great time.

Entering the Labyrinth

Riley protecting her and Carver's pumpkins

Charlotte and Carver ride in a sea of pumpkins

Lots of cool squash, gords, pumpkins, etc.

The corn box

Stopping along the hay ride to pick pumpkins

Charlotte picks a perfect pumpkins

Painting pumpkins after the hay ride

Carver amongst the scenery

Macie going for a spin

On the hay ride - minus the hay

the Johnsons Take Manhattan

 The kids posing with one of the pieces in the Donald M. Kendall sculpture gardens on Pepsi HQ campus where I work.

Cute picture of Margie and Daphne at the sculpture gardens at Pepsi

A shout out to uncle Todd from one of the 'hoods in his mission (I think?), while riding the NJ transit train into Manhattan

Felix and Rex taking in a headless Lady Liberty from the Staten Island ferry

Walking with the kiddies in the SoHo neighborhood on our way to Washington Square park

Couple cute pictures of the girl in Central Park

Margie and the kids in Central Park, atop a rock the boys discovered, climbing and playing on it for some time.

The boys on the "top of the rock"

Felix and Rex posing with a Lego Statue of Liberty in the Lego section of the FAO Schwartz on 5th Avenue

Felix and Rex "pole dancing," to quote Margie, on a mostly-empty subway car.
The man behind Felix gave no signs of letting their antics interrupt his sleep.

Margie and Daphne riding on the subway

Felix checking out one of the dinos at the American Museum of Natural History

Rex interacting with one of the high-tech exhibits.

Happy Birthday, Amy!

Since I wasn't able to call you tonight for your birthday, I wanted to send you a quick birthday wish here and let you know how much we love and appreciate you...especially your tireless and enthusiastic cheer leading for everyone in our big, happy family!

Engaged at 64!!!

I was really "out-foxed" by Charles last night! I thought we were going to dinner...one of our regular dates. Because he worked late, he arrived after 7. He showed up with a bouquet of roses, and a jar of Hershey's candy. He brought his own knife to cut the roses. When we had arranged the roses in a vase, he said we should have a piece of chocolate. I was ready to go to dinner, and told him there was some candy opened on the counter, so we didn't need to open the jar. He really wanted a piece from the jar! When I took the lid off, there was a ring box inside!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't have been more surprised. It's beautiful, and I am thrilled!!! Honestly, I still shake my head in disbelief. At this point in my life, I never thought this would happen to me, but am so very grateful for his love.

Daddy Daughter Night

I took the girls to the Chick-fil-a daddy daughter event last night. I didn't have high expectations; I just figured it was ploy to get me to buy more kids meals. Anyway, they threw a great event with a man in a tux greeting us at the door, black tablecloths with a rose center piece, the cow, a man playing a guitar, and the girls' favorite...A ride in a horse-drawn carriage. This was one of the pictures they provided. Thinking it wasn't going to be much, I forgot to take our camera. They are the best and I'm glad I'm their dad!

Cross Country

Riley had her 2nd cross country race yesterday. She did awesome and finished in 6:32 (3/4 mile). Macie decided to sit this one out.

Couple Pictures of CT and NY

 View looking out over Greenwich Harbor toward Long Island on what was a truly lovely evening, Friday, 9/9.

 View of a fancy-pants restaurant and some expensive boats docked in part of the Greenwich Harbor.

 A view of the Manhattan Temple on Saturday, 9/10/2011.  I was street contacted just outside the temple, though not by anyone from the Church but rather by some marketing representatives for General Mills' Fiber One brand, who gave me a free sample of their Oats and Chocolate bar (which I have already had many, many times).  Just glad I didn't take the second sample they offered...just ask Rex about the effects of eating too many Fiber One bars. : )

A view looking uptown toward the Empire State building.  Please note the obligatory Pepsi billboard in the foreground of the Empire State building. : )

Missing My Family

Count me as bummed Margie and the kiddos (and uncle KJ for that matter) didn't end up coming to visit NYC this weekend.  I was really looking forward to spending the weekend on the town with them.  I took a few low-quality pictures, e.g. of the angel Moroni atop the Manhattan Temple, that I'll have to post online later.

At least we can count our blessings that we're all safe: no floods, no traffic accidents, no car bombs, or any other impediments.  We're going to try to get Margie and the kids out here soon, perhaps the weekend of General Conference, when Felix happens to have a three-day weekend from school.

When and if Margie and the kids are able to make it out here, they will have covered a lot of ground this year, traveling from coast to coast (Huntington Beach, CA to NYC), and north to south (Galveston, TX to Niagara Falls).  And mostly without me!  They're troopers and superstars, especially Margie!

The most unexpected part of my overnight trip to the city?  That would have to be sitting two seats over from Glenn Beck in the High Priests' group meeting in the Manhattan 2nd Ward on the 10th anniversary of September 11th no less.

Hello from the 'burghers

I've done a little blogging if you're interested.  BLOG

Just an update on what's going on, Scott is working in NY and coming home on the weekends.  He rents a room in a house in Connecticut with a few other LDS guys.  The kids and I were supposed to drive out to NY this weekend and stay in Manhattan with Scott, but due to the flooding in Eastern Pennsylvania we opted out.  Scott is going to stay at the sublet we reserved tonight by himself...hopefully far enough from any car bombs as possible.  We're just waiting for a full time job offer to come through for him somewhere, but for now, we'll take what we have. 

Louisville Zoo

Here are a few pictures from our trip to the Louisville Zoo on Monday. Our internet connection is super slow right now so I'll try and post the rest of the pictures another day.