Christmas in Vegas and San Diego

Early Christmas in Vegas, before we left for Provo!

Tyler showing off his new jacket!

Nicole's new jacket!

Madison all dressed up in her princess clothes.

Chad and Madison!

New clothes from Grandma Sue and Grandpa Richard!

Poor thing got sick after our return home from Provo, and crashed in the chair after throwing up!

We headed to San Diego on the 24th of December!

Stocking time!

Ok, Tyler thought it would be a funny gag gift to give me sham-wow! Totally NOT amused!!

I got this cute ballet leotard in New York for $2.00...I know, it was quite the bargain!! It was marked down to $12, and I had a $10 off coupon...I know, I Know... :)

The LaLanne/Hansen crew, well at least some of them!

Family picture! I'm convinced that we will get 1 where all of us are smiling...ugh!

My sister in-law Amber, and her little girls Gabby and Brooke!

Grandma Marlene and Madison on Christmas day!

Corvette diner on our way out of San Diego. It is such a cute little place near Hillcrest.

Madison and I flew home a few days after Tyler left.

Grandma and Madison having fun at the diner!

This is us killing time before our flight left. Too bad the fog rolled in, because our flight was cancelled, and we had to fly out on New Years Eve morning!!

New York Trip!

Finally, I can post about our girls trip to New York! I went with Sue, Bethany, and Brook, my mother in-law and 2 sister in-laws. We had a blast!!

Bergdorf Goodman window on 5th Ave! My jacket is a bit big, so I look like a FAT marshmallow next to the manikin...HA! :)

If you look closely, you can see Central Park way off in the distance!

The Plaza Hotel.

Just an example of one of the many window decorations we saw while walking 5th Ave.

The Empire State Building....well, at least the TOP half!

Central Park! I had NO idea how BIG Central Park is....it's HUGE
This is a picture of Times Square!

We went to Rockefeller Center on Wednesday within hours of landing at JFK, before we could check into our hotel. We took the red eye on Tuesday night, so I look haggard in this pic, but oh-well! This is a picture of me in front of "the tree," the one you see on TV all the time! We did an NBC tour while we were here - we saw Conan O'Brien's studio (super small), and SNL's studio (also very small), and the MSNBC news room. We also saw them filming live on the Today show!
We saw the Rockettes on Wednesday night, and the dancers were amazing! This is a picture of Sue and I before the show started. I know it looks like I am sitting on my mother in-law's lap, but I assure you, I was not!

Regis and Kelly Show! It was really fun to see how they run this show. Kelly is so skinny (I'm talking 90 pounds skinny)! I learned that the camera really does add 10 pounds.

The four of us at Regis and Kelly!

This is a picture of Regis and Kelly interviewing Keanu Reeves.

Statue of Liberty! Can you see her off in the foggy distance?! It was so cold and rainy on this day! We wore long underwear everyday, because it was so cold!

The NYSE...there it is folks, located on good ole' Wall Street!

A picture of me on Wall Street. Again, cold and wet!

We went to the 9/11 memorial, and it was so emotional for me. They had 3 walls covered with pictures of those who died that day.

This is a picture of what they are planning to do with the land where the Twin Towers were. They haven't done anything yet, but the work is under way.

This is us at Canal Street, famous for haggling! They sell Knock off purses out of vans - it was pretty crazy! These people stand on the street and just ask wondering tourists if they want to see Louis Vuitton, etc. If you do, they ask you to follow them. The first place we went was down in a basement, and the second was in a van. We decided we were NOT comfortable with the van idea..it was a little too much for us!

Brook and I in the van! The guy kicked us out of the van after Brook decided she was not going to be forced into buying a purse!

The TRUMP TOWER! The door man was not allowed to move from his post, so I grabbed his arm and told him to smile! :)

This is Little Italy, just outside of the restaurant we ate at for lunch.
This is a picture of me on our carriage ride through Central Park! It was seriously FREEZING, so I wrapped my head in my scarf! I look like an idiot, but at least I was warm!

The Empire State Building! It was sooooooooo freakin' cold up there, but the sky was clear, so we were able to see everything! It was really amazing to see Manhattan from the top of the ESB.

This is a picture of Financial District from the Empire State Building. Do you see the hole in the city scape skyline? That is where the Twin Towers were.

Mary Poppins Play! I had to break out the umbrella for this picture!





















The New York Subway! I was just pretending to ride! We took taxis everywhere we went, because we heard there were some serious threats of bombings in the NY subways during the Holidays, and we didn't want to take any chances!

Just outside of the NBC studios before we went in for our tour! I bought Tyler a "Serenity Now" Seinfeld t-shirt, and a "they're real, and they're SPECTACULAR t-shirt for myself while in the NBC gift shop. Ha! I will post a picture of us wearing them in the near future!

Our trip was awesome! My in-laws are so great! I can't wait to go back to NY again. We went to a show/play every night we were there. We saw the Rockettes on Wed., Wicked on Thurs., The Little Mermaid on Fri., and Mary Poppins on Saturday! Wicked was by far my absolute favorite, that's favorite with a FA! :)

Thanksgiving 2008!

We celebrated Turkey Day in Vegas this year at Tyler's parent's house! Trevor, Bethany, Jeff, Alexa, Uncle Jim, Aunt Sherry, Tyler, Madison, and myself joined Richard and Sue for the weekend. Thursday morning, Bethany and I went to the park and watched the boys play football while the kids ran around and played. Unfortunately, the game was cut short, because two guys knocked heads, and both split their heads open. Both of them had to get stitches, but luckily it was no one in our crew. Then, we went home to a wonderful feast prepared by Tyler's mom, and it was so YUMMY!!
Madison fell asleep on her daddy..so cute!

Sue Hammond, Uncle Jim, and Aunt Sherry. Jim is Sue's brother, and they live in So. Cal.

The tryptophan kicking in - Tyler and Jeff were both napping within an hour of eating!

Madison and Alexa had a blast together!

Candy bingo - a Hammond tradition! We each get 2 treats for our movie night!

Madison selected her choice of candy before the game even started! We went to see "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" this year - it was really good, but very sad! We all left the theater very somber!!

It was so great to be with family this weekend. We are so blessed, and I am so grateful for my life and the comforts that I enjoy! Mostly, this year I am thankful for family. Although I was not able to be with my side of the family this year, it was sure great to be with Tyler's family. We are lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives!