a heart in new york 1 ~

October 17-22, 2018

We arrived in Buffalo, New York, Mindy picked 

us up, we dropped off our luggage and off we went!

Our first stop was Judes' soccer game!  It was freezing cold and windy! 

Fortunately, I was dressed real warm and Mindy brought lots of heavy blankets.

Jude is fast and does a great job out on the field!

Mindy and I left a little early to drop Tate off at Football practice.  All the 
boys are super athletic and are fantastic in each sport they participate in!

~Let the Party begin~

New York, New York 3

October 12-17, 2018

~TEMPLE DAY~

I accidentally took us to one of our Chapels (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints)
instead of the Temple.  By this time we were about 20 minutes from the Temple (by car)
and wouldn't make our session if we continued to walk or even take the subway
so we had to get an Uber.  This is a picture of Bill forgiving me!

We've had quite a bit of problems with our GPS here in New York,
but between the 2 of us we've managed to make it to all our destinations!


Made it to the Temple and had a wonderful session; Bill had gotten a large pair of pants and
since he has lost so much weight and didn't have suspenders his pants kept falling down 😂!
The Temple is very unique here in New York as they have wards on Sunday that meet on
some of the floors and if you need to rent clothes for the endowment it is on another
floor and then the session and other ordinances are all on another level.  It is pretty
awesome how they utilize the space in Manhattan for this beautiful building.

On our way home we came across KOBEYAKI ~ I wanted to get a picture
of it as our first grandson is named Kobe (we will be visiting them tomorrow)!

Taking the Subway and Path home ~ it is always good to have a copy of the subway schedule on your iPhone as it can get quite confusing for newbies like us (or maybe I should say, "old folks" like us)!

Wonderful Day!

New York, New York ~ 2

October 12-17, 2018

Mikey, our Nephew (who's lived in Manhattan forever), suggested we go to the "Black Tap" restaurant for dinner. We took PATH and then walked about 15 blocks.  On the way home we also took the subway so it made our trip much 
faster (although it was good for us to walk considering the size of our meals!
😋👫💕👫😋

Needless to say our tummy's were more than full! Mikey was right as this is a fabulous place for dinner and dessert!  The hamburgers was cooked to perfection and the fries were super tasty. There was a huge slice of cake (my favorite ~ 
yellow with white frosting and sprinkles) on top of my delicious ice cream 
and a brownie on top of Bill's! This for sure will be one of the places we will 
come back to when we visit NY again.  Thank you "Black Tap" for letting us 
enjoy our (cheat) night ~ we were not disappointed in the least!

It was a little pricey as you can tell but so fun nonetheless!

New York, New York ~1

October 12-14, 2018

Bill was asked to be on the Optifast Ad Board panel. 

OPTIFAST is a doctor monitored diet. Bill lost 75lbs (I lost 10lbs)! 

They paid for his ticket to New York and put us up at the Hyatt Centric. 

It was less than a block from Times Square!

The next morning he was sent to makeup and hair (fortunately 

he didn't need much of anything done)! The makeup gal does makeup

and hair for many famous stars.  Right before Bill was done Juju Chang, 

anchor of ABC News "Nightline", came and had her make up done; she was 

really nice. You can also see her on "Good Morning America" and "20/20.

Pic 2 the two girls on the outside were the Optifast crew and 

the cute one in the middle is Tara; she won a couple years ago 

and was asked to come back to be on the panel. Pic 1 & 3 are of the

 photographer, Jolene and the filmographer (I forgot her name). 

Then the photo shoot began in the afternoon and lasted about a half hour.  

Bill did great but for him this was a bit embarrassing, especially 

when they asked him to give a "Yahoo" at the end (hopefully those 

picture won't make it onto any Optifast advertising billboard)!

 

This is a 10 second video of the photo shoot.  The 3 gals that 

were shooting and filming were so sweet and great to work with.

It was so funny cuz everyone would stop and stare.  On the other side of the 

street they could just hang around and watch but on the side I was standing on there was a lot of pedestrians so they really couldn't stop but as they walked by I would hear stuff like: "It must be a celebrity", "Is it someone important?" "Do you recognize him?" "Who is it", "Are they making a movie?" It was hilarious!

They took a couple dozen pictures but Bill was a good sport!

Here is our new friend Amy Sabel.  

She's a mother of triplets, was adorable and lost 83 lbs!

The last activity was the actual Board panel meeting.  I 

wasn't allowed to stay but just got a little breakfast and let 

them at it! The man standing up on the left side (first picture) was David 

C. Green the General Manager of Optifast ~ super nice.

After 3 fun filled days we took a taxi to Jersey City for a few days at 

an Airbnb that happened to be right down the street from the one 

we stayed at last Thanksgiving with Mindy, Jakob and the boys.

BYU Institute Refreshments

2017~2018

 Chips, Chili and Cheese

Each Wednesday evening Bill and I head down to the MARB 

building at BYU and we set up the tables and get refreshments 

ready for anywhere between 70 ~ 150 kids that attend Institute.

Here are some photos of the few times I've remembered to 

take pictures (most of the decorations are from Dollar Tree)!

This is me and Sherry having the time of our life ~ 
we get to party once a week. How fun is that!

~Apple and Pumpkin Pie~

Sept 24, 2017

ready, set, go ~ BYU institute

September 12, 2018

BYU INSTITUTE REFRESHMENTS

One of my favorite parts of our calling is decorating the tables for institute!

   I try to keep the cost down so the Dollar Tree is my favorite place to shop. 

I had bought the BYU items years ago and felt like the beginning of the Fall 

Semester was the perfect time to use them. This week I took pictures as 

I did each step.  We started off with 3 tables (the one in the back is a 

bit smaller than the other two). Next we added the table clothes.

The white balloon weights were added towards the back of 

the table which will leave the front part for all the other items.

The balloons are tied at different levels to make it more festive and give it some height.

I add the bowls and fill them with chips and rolls.

The grapes are added next, then the plates and napkins.

After all the decorations are set up I take the blue confetti and sprinkle it all over the table, add some decorative blue/white wrapped mint candies and toss a few mini footballs to complete the look!

Bill helped me string the blue tissue balls along each of the glass stairwells.

This is a view from the back side. We will be having pulled pork sandwiches (along with chips and candy) so we set up the 2 crockpots behind the balloons. It varies each week and each semester as to how many kids will show up.  We bring enough food for about 150 kids.  It ranges from 70 to 150.

Close up view of the table ~ GO BYU!