new york city

taking an Anthropologie break - good thing someone remembered the M&M's - I love Sarah feeding Rachel - she's always so nice and always shares her chocolate.  Kristen never shares her chocolate, only Sarah.

A girl's trip to NY with my 3 sisters and 4 sister in laws - need I say more?? Need I say how fun, how funny, how awesome a sister's trip to NYC is? And to get to see my parents and hang out with them - we all had so.much.fun.

yummy food - we trekked far and wide to go to this little Cuban cafe - look at that cute baby, Liam

and made sure we got in our rice to riches fix - Rice pudding always reminds me of my dad, he loves it - me, not so much...who wants rice in their pudding??  but dad, that does NOT mean I love you any less:)

my sister, Brooke, never reads this blog, so I feel perfectly fine posting this really pretty  picture of her:) 

New York at night

In front of the Lincoln center waiting for our play to start, but more importantly, waiting for Sarah and Rachel to bring us  some Magnolia cupcakes - Again, Sarah is sharing her chocolate:)

I have gotten probably a good hour of laughs from this picture - I'm not sure I'll ever know how the camera caught this shot of the Rachel's doing a horse impression, but it did and I'll forever love my cheap-o camera for catching it:)

my dad sporting a sweet tan

Mandy's baby shower - it's so fun that the youngins in our family are just starting their families - can't believe little Scottie Nelson is going to be changing poopy diapers

taking a walk around my parent's neighborhood, it is so dang pretty there - The horse Rachel's are once again doing some sweet poses for the camera

At the Brooklyn Flea Market, Rachel is sporting the All the Single Ladies glove - we tried to learn that dance on the trip, but our white booties were nothing compared to that beyonce's sweet moves

biking through Central Park

A consensus could not be had as to who has the smallest head in the family, so resourceful Sarah pulled out her iPhone cord and took charge on the Subway - Mandy won for the smallest, Rachel for the biggest noggin and we all won for making an obnoxious scene on the Subway

lunch in central park - i never use this adjective, but it was totally delightful:)

mom explaining her "Jimmy Dean diet"  Lauren transcribed it and will get all the publishing royalties if it makes it to the diet books....

There is not other woman in this world that I love more and get a bigger kick out of than my mom.  Recently, she unintentionally lost 8 lbs and here she is captured sharing her secrets. She calls it the Jimmy Dean diet and I don't think any of us have laughed so hard in a long time.  Ever since Mike introduced my mom to Costco Frozen hamburgers (that's right), she has been an unwavering consumer until she discovered the Jimmy Dean frozen Breakfast Sandwiches (as most of you know- she does not like "healthy" foods- gas station potato logs and sprite is her meal of choice).  Well since then, she has been dropping the lbs thanks to the "Jimmy Dean Diet". 

For all of you out there hoping to lose a dress size or two, it goes a little something like this:

-Wake up- eat a Jimmy Dean sausage, egg and cheese sandwich hot and fresh from the microwave

- After breakfast it is crucial to FAST... wait for it... fast until it's lunch time. BUT you may get a "hunger attack" between meals, and if you do, you are allowed to have ONE costco chocolate chip cookie to hold you over until lunchtime

-For lunch have a sandwich on WHITE bread- the kind that will "stick to your ribs"... also, it is highly recommended you have bread for every meal- again, preferably white bread

-FAST until dinner

-For dinner... to be honest we all had lost it at this point and I don't recall what the dinner recommendation was. If I had to guess I would say it was something along the lines of a meatloaf TV dinner- hold the frozen brownie.

LOVE.MY.MOM!! Too bad not everyone has her metabolism

oh man, i love these two people - they are so, so great and are such wonderful examples to me of  being selfless, kind, funny and putting great importance on keeping their priorities straight

church in Long Island

Rachel was having some stair issues on the trip - this is after her dirty laundry stair slip

I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family - I love all my sisters and sister-in-laws so much and I wish we were able to spend WAY more time together than we do, it is one of the best things ever~