NYC + DC

Oh how I love New York City. Such a fantastic place, I wished I could have lived there pre-babies! Matt and I had such an amazing time there last year, we decided we needed to go back, but this time I wanted to go during December so we could soak in all of the Holiday decor and events.

Jess and Ben took on the task of watching the kiddos--totaling in at 7 under the age of 8. We are so thankful we have them, they are so wonderful!

We flew into NY and the weather was warmer there than at home which was unusual and awesome! Since we feel like we "know" the city, we didn't plan to do any of the touristy things with the exception of the Brooklyn Bridge because we didn't get to do that last time.

So here we go....NYC 2011:
"Grimaldi's" under the Bridge is hands down, 100% the BEST pizza I have EVER had! SO worth the wait. Matt and I devoured an entire pizza ourselves without hesitation!

The "bridge" "Grimaldi's" is under is the infamous "Brooklyn Bridge" and we loved walking across it.

Since we had lots of energy from our HUGE lunch we decided to keep walking and shopped in SoHO where I HAD to see "Dash" owned by the Kardashians. I wanted to go inside, but there was a line wrapped all the way around the city block because they only allow 10 people in at a time for security reasons. I really just wanted to see it, so we kept going.

We ended up walking the entire way back to our hotel (over 4 miles), but barley noticed because NY is so fun to walk around!! We definitely earned a treat break at "Magnolia Bakery" with all that walking :).

Finally, we ended the night at "The Nutcracker" at the NYC Ballet.

SO amazing! This was the main reason I wanted to go NY in December! One of the best parts was that the best dancer was from SLC!

Before going to NY, we debated back and forth over if we were going to see the broadway show "Book of Mormon." Jess and Ben saw it when they went in October and thought I would be offended, but Matt would think it was funny. After lots of thought, we decided to drop the big $ and bought tickets to the show. I can't say that I wish I didn't see it after it was done, but what I can say is that I wish we would have left before the last 10 minutes of the show.

The music was fantastic and the jokes weren't too bad. I kept thinking, "wow, I'm glad we did this", but my mind was severely changed during the last 10 minutes of the show. They wrapped it up with a song and dance that was so over-the-top offensive it took me a couple of days to shake it off--literally! It's ok, it was our choice, but I do not recommend that show to anyone!

We saw the matinee so the rest of the day was filled with sightseeing down 5th ave, french food at "Pastis", "Dylan's Candy Bar", a really fun carriage ride through Central Park and the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller!

You simply cannot visit NYC without going to "Serendipity" and ending your meal with some frozen hot chocolate. It's to die for and we LOVE it!

We got VIP tickets to the "Dave Letterman" show and had the BEST time! One of my favorite things of the trip for sure! We were on the third row--Dave was less than 15 feet away from us! So cool! The set was so much smaller than I thought it would be, but still so cool! Jonah Hill and Kirsten Johnston were his guests and SO funny.

That night we got to go to dinner with my Aunt Char and Uncle Sam at a fancy restaurant called "21 Club." It is always a treat to spend time with them and we loved it!

I have never been to Washington DC so we decided to venture out from NY and see the Nation's Capitol and it did not disappoint! LOVED, LOVED, LOVED DC! The only downfall was that is rained, HARD, the entire time. It definitely put a damper on things and we did not get to do everything we wanted, but what we did do was SO fun.

We started in Georgetown (SO COOL!) and ate at "Clyde's"--oh my! So Yum! Followed by "Georgetown Cupcakes"--OH SO GOOD! And then, we went on the "Monuments by Moonlight" tour where an open top bus takes you to see all the amazing sights DC has to offer in the NIGHT so everything is lit up and even more amazing! We loved it!

The next day we went to see the outside of the White Houseand we got in! I even got to sit at the President's desk!!

HA HA! Just kidding, we did not get into the White House, but they did have a fake Oval Office set up in the White House Gift Shop! :)

We also toured the "National Museum of Archives" and saw the original Constitution and Bill of Rights which was seriously amazing! Next was "The US Capitol Building" tour
and we ended the night at dinner with my super fun cousin Mattie and her awesome hubby Erich! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time--love those 2!

Back to NY, we ended the trip with another broadway show "Jersey Boys", which was A LOT better! We ended up on the 5th row!
After the show we met Brian and Kristy in true New Yorker fashion :) for dinner at "STK" in the trendy Meat Packing District. Reservation time: 10pm! Thankfully we were on Eastern time so it was really only 8pm our time (still way too late for dinner for me :).) It was SO YUM and SO FUN! We wished our trips could have crossed over a little better so we could have seen more of these two!
Such an AMAZING trip!! I cannot wait to go back to both places ASAP!