Hello To All!!!!

I know, I know...Thomas and I are the worst at updating our blog. So sorry. Well, I finished up my assignment in Manhattan Dec. 16th and made way back to Tennessee to make our rounds. We didn't have much time home this time,so needless to say it flew by. A few days in Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Lebanon then it was back in the car to drive cross country for the "third" time. We made it to Salt Lake City,UT after 3 days on the road. We were here this time last year for the snowboarding season, so we were excited to get back.
Once we got here we slowly adjusted to the altitude...no joke. All we wanted to do was sleep the first week. At 4:oopm we were seriously wanting to go to bed. It took all we had just to make it til 8:00pm. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to "shred" yet b/c off all things to leave in Lebanon, we left some of our snowboarding gear. Although we don't have any Utah pics yet, we have plenty left from NY that we haven't posted yet.


My friend Lindsay and I watching the football game with fellow UT football fans in Manhattan back in September. As soon as I walked into this place I thought I was back in Knoxville. UT football fans in NYC....what!!!! My friend Lindsay is on staff with Campus Crusade in the city and she was such a blessing to have in the city. We were roommates in school, so to be in the same city again was a total blast.
The Brooklyn Bridge at sunset.

There was a Halloween parade and this guys were dressed up as Ghostbusters. Everytime they said " Who ya gonna call" in there thick Brooklyn accent, I almost lost it laughing so hard.
Watching the balloons being blown up the day before the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, right by our apartment.

We had a great view of the parade. Right across the street of Macy's. Pretty sweet gig uhh!!!
Lacing up for ice skating in Central Park. My best friend Bethany and her husband Aaron came up to visit the week before we left NYC. Ice skating in New York was so much fun. Thomas and I think we missed our calling as figure skaters. We were pretty much doing 360's as soon as we hit the ice!!!



The tree at Rockefeller Center.



Wasting time on the Staten Island Ferry.
NYC's first snow from the top of our apartment.
Thanksgiving dinner at our friend, Caroline's, apartment. It was home away from home and Thanksgiving.

Good laughs at Thanksgiving dinner.

Thomas the tourist at the Statue of Liberty.
We got to go up to the top pedestal at the Statue of Liberty. I must say, my heart broke when I found out I couldn't go up to the crown.
The last pic is my favorite coffee shop in NYC. They knew my order when I walked in the door. Single shot extra chocolate large iced mocha....ummm. If I was a millionaire I would seriously fly there just to get a mocha from there.

Long time, no blog......So sorry it's been so long since we've sent out an update.
Thomas and I have now been here for a little over 2 months and it's been interesting to say the least. We've been so busy here, or maybe it's just the new york city mindset that we just always "feel' busy." I put a ton of pics so enjoy!!!

O.K...so Thomas and I went biking through Central Park one day and stumbled upon a "roller-skating disco block party" I seriously was the biggest tourist, I just stood there for 30 minutes and took pictures. The video above is absolutely histerical. This guy is like Mr.trying-to-be-cool-and-show-off-my-dance-moves-guy, and the next thing you know he almost falls and tries to play it off.


The view from biking through Central Park.


This was one of my favorite places to go to walk or read. It's the Hudson River,right across is New Jersey.


For Thomas' b-day in September we went to this restaurant that's on the top floor of a building and revolves. The view of the city is wonderful. We ended up getting the dessert bar...we both had a sugar crash on the way home.





I love this building. Everytime we pass it I take a picture. It has all this beautiful sculpting. It reminds of of buildings in Europe.
FAO Schwartz Toy Store.Ummm...I feel like a kid everytime I walk in this store. I seriously want to by the entire line of barbies!!!

You're probably wondering why in the world we're holding up the number 2. Well, we're standing out in front of the theater where "Wicked" the musical is performed. It's the number 1 broadway show right now so the cheapest tickets are $120. Obviously we can't afford that so every night before a show they have what's called a lottery. What you do is line up and sign your name on a card and they draw 13 names. Normally there are between 200-300 people there. So this picture was taken the time we won tickets a second time. WE have now won tickets 4 times in a row. This is seriously impossible!!! Every time one of our friends is in town we all go to try to win tickets. So far all of our friends have been able to see the shoe front row center for $26. Thank you Jesus!!! This show is amazing, if you're ever in NYC go to the lotto and try and win tickets.

This is the apple store here. You go inside this glass building and walk underground to see all the apple stuff. How cools is this building!!!
This is down in Battery Park. This sculpture is actually debris from the World Trade Center buildings.Thomas and I went to Hoboken which is a quick subway ride to New Jersey with a great view of Manhattan. We were walking around and almost passed out when we saw a Panera...why must you ask. Well, there are hardly any chains in the city, its really expensive to eat out, and there are no free refills on drinks. So Panera was familiar cheap and had free refills!!!!! Thomas had like 12 diet Pepsi's.

Thomas and I also went to ground zero on 9/11, went to "Top of the Rock (the top of the Rockefeller center,which has a better view than the Empire state building) and found some amazing places to eat.
One of my best friends Lindsay lives here and is staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. So it's been so much fun hanging out with her. It's such a blessing to have a friend on one of our travel assignments. Thomas and I are here until the middle of Dec then it's back home for 2 weeks and then we're back to Salt Lake City to snow board again for the winter!!!! We miss everyone and can't wait to see you. Love and Blessings Thomas and Crystal

Finally...New York

Well, it has taken longer than we originally anticipated, but we have finally made it to New York. We learned a lot during this "In-Between", but we are definitely ready to get back to semi-normal life.

Today we moved into our new studio apartment on West 80th Street, which is a couple of blocks from Central Park. The apartment is the Swiss Army knife of the apartment world. You get everything you would find in a normal apartment...all in one room. It is impressive if nothing else.
Here are some pictures of the new pad.

Come and visit if you get the chance.

Love,
Thomas and Crystal

National Parkin' It

We just got back from an exciting few days camping and hiking throughout the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks. We had a blast and saw some amazing things.

The first two nights were spent in the Grand Tetons National Park. The first night it was made clear to me that Crystal was not playing around when came to the threat of bears. No precaution was overlooked. And to her credit, we didn't get attacked by any bears. We did however see a few. Our first full day there we did a ten mile hike that took us 3000 feet up to some mountain top lakes. It was a tough hike, but it was all made worth it once we reached to top. The lakes were beautiful and we even saw a young cub on our way down.


Surprise lake was the first of the two lakes at the top.



About 4 tenths of a mile up was Amphitheater Lake.



Unfortunately our cameras zoom ends about here, so getting a better shot would have required getting closer to the bear and just couldn't put Crystal through that.



The next day we took a little easier because of the effects of the day before and went and saw the hidden falls next to South Jenny Lake.

That night we camped in Yellowstone and spent the next day seeing all the sights there.
We of course saw Old Faithful, but my personal favorite had to be the hot springs. The colors of the hot springs were incredible.





Today we went to Mount Evans which is one of the many 14er's found in the Rocky Mountains. I would like to say we got up early and spent all day hiking steep trails, but that was just not the case. We drove all but the last quarter mile or so. The views were great, but it was hard feeling like we had earned it.






Wednesday we are making the trip back to Tennessee and we are a little sad to leave Denver. We have had a blast here and we hope to make it back one day.