Thinking of Utah

We bumped into Linda Brown, a lady from our church in Utah, here in Connecticut yesterday!  It was so fun to see a familiar face!  She gave us each a big hug and we chatted for a while.  Apparently she is here visiting her sister, who happens to be the wife of our institute teacher.  Small world.

I am starting to get excited to see our friends and family in November when we come to Utah for Thanksgiving.  If you haven't heard, we will arrive very late on November 21st.  Michael will take a red-eye back to CT on Saturday, the 26th and I will fly out on the morning of the 29th.  This will be your one chance to see me pregnant and larger than life so make yourself available that week!!

Things are going well here.  It has been yucky humid the last week and a half and I'm ready for it to pass.  I can't wait for fall to arrive!  You better believe my blog will be overwhelmed with pictures of New England in the Fall.

I started crocheting a baby blanket that has many colors.  I forget how long it takes, but I am excited about the stitch because it is a new one that I just taught myself.  I will post pictures when it gets a little bigger and worth seeing!

Michael is enjoying school.  He says it's just like a vacation. :)  We added it up, and he will have completed 15 classes by the end of the semester.  Not 15 credits, 15 classes (more like 45-50 credits)!  How is this possible one might ask??  The semester is divided into 2 blocks.  And some classes are even further consolidated within a block.  He has already had some finals for certain classes and started new ones!  He's hanging in there.

I am eagerly looking forward to General Conference coming up (LDS semi-annual conference).  The chance to be spiritually and mentally challenged and uplifted sounds like just what I need...Plus, it will give me lots of time to work on my blanket!

Well, 

That's all for now.

XOXO

The Secret Unveiled...

We decided to take our first venture down to New York City together.  After hitting some major construction resulting in major traffic, we parked the car in the parking garage and set off on our bikes to explore The City.

The first notable site we passed was the Juilliard School, followed by the LDS Manhattan Temple.

LDS temple

We went upstairs to purchase some clothing from the distribution center before heading on our way...we were off to Central Park!

Central Park (the next several pictures were all taken in Central Park) 

Central Park was beautiful : people were out running, biking, taking carriage rides, and children were playing on the grass.  We stopped to enjoy a live band on some lovely park benches.

Michael enjoying the music

We continued our bike tour around the park observing a restaurant protest and visiting the Belvedere Castle on our way to the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir.

Belvedere Castle, Central Park

Me and junior at The Reservoir

A smaller lake in Central Park

The park was bigger and more beautiful than I could have ever imagined.  I know what you are thinking, "With the many dozens of movie scenes shot in The Great Central Park, how could you not know how beautiful it is?"  Well, call me naive I supposed.  Regardless, I loved Central Park and can't wait to go back.

We grabbed a late lunch from a Deli and continued biking the streets of NY.  We tried to squeeze in some more of the classics, visiting the Rockerfeller Center and Time Square.

Time Square

(Some cool building) 

Hehe.  They need lots of these signs around BYU.

Me and the babe at Time Square

Time Square 

The Empire State Building from Time Square

Ok, so here is a little secret.  I have been wanting to know the sex of baby Escalante, and therefore had devised a plan to open "The Envelope" (concealing a sonogram picture of the baby announcing it's sex) from the top of the Empire State Building.  I thought that would be a cool place to find out what we are having.  However, Michael was still unsure if he wanted to know or if he wanted to try and keep it a surprise until the birthday.  So, take a look at some of our pictures below from atop the Empire State Building.

(Note the Statue of Liberty in the background)

Well, turns out we forgot the envelope in the car so we just enjoyed the view!  Talk about anti-climactic, I know.  But we still had a great time photographing the city from above.

We spent the rest of the evening doing a little shopping and continued sight seeing.  We rode past Union Square which was bustling with street dancers, musicians, chess players, etc.  Here is a clip that I captured of a duo rockin' out, fantastic percussion:

I wish I had taken video of the break dancers, but I was too enthralled to pull out the camera.

We stopped by a nice Italian place for dinner (Thanks to Lisa for the recommendation).  The evening had grown late (11:30-ish) and we were exhausted from a long day of exploration.  With the drive home lurking before us, we made our way back to the car some 20+blocks away.  But the adventure was not over.  The valet went to retrieve our car, and after waiting for what felt like too long, he returned informing us that the car would not start.  Another employee went to get the lot's jumper cables, and after what seemed like entirely too long, returned to inform us that the cables could not be found.  It was now well after midnight with a nearly 2 hour drive ahead of us.  Fortunately, some other customers waiting for their car tuned into the predicament and offered the use of their jumper cables.

Before long, we had the bikes loaded on top of the car and we were on our way home.  

So what of the envelope you ask?

Despite my disappointment, Michael seemed slightly relieved.  However, with a long drive ahead of us, I couldn't help but think about the envelope laying on the back seat.  I guess you'll have to stay tuned to see if we ever peeked.

To Be Continued...

Mormon Helping Hands

I had a great day yesterday volunteering with my church for Hurricane Irene relief efforts.  I didn't realize that some of the houses along the coast had been hit so badly despite the fact that Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it reached Connecticut.

I went with a group of other volunteers to help a lady named Luba.  She was born in Romania but has lived in the U.S. for many years.  She is middle aged and has blonde hair and was very sweet (she was not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints).  The main floor of her home been completed flooded by the waves coming ashore.  She said that the waves had hit the chimneys of the houses they were so big!  Apparently some of her neighbors just opened their front and back doors for the Ocean to pass through in hopes that not all of their windows would be broken by the pressure of the water passing!

When we first arrived I was amazed to see the condition of the home (two weeks had already passed since the Hurricane).  Her yard and driveway were a giant sand box.  The main floor of her home was in shambles.  And to top it off, she slipped on Friday and broke her leg (Fibula) so she was sitting in a chair with a splint on her lower leg.   Needless to say, she was very grateful to have our help.  I set about cleaning the sand and gunk that had filled the cupboards and refrigerator, while 3 of the men starting tearing up the linoleum with crowbars so the floor could dry and eventually be replaced.  A few of our other crew members began working in the yard to try and clean all the sand and debris.  One of the volunteers power washed the sides of her home and garage.  He tried to power wash the sand out of the lawn, but was not successful.  We eventually took wire-bristle brooms and swept out the sand.

Luba was very grateful and asked multiple times how she could make donations to our church, or if she could throw us a thank you party, etc. :)  I tried my best to make her comfortable.  Having broken my leg in high school it was easy for me to sympathize with her pain!  However, unlike me, she had no couch to lay on during recovery and no mother to tend to her every need.  She was just sitting on a kitchen chair in an empty kitchen with the floors torn up and the sheet rock cut apart apologizing that she couldn't help.  She was such a sweet lady.  (I didn't mention this, but the bottom 2 feet of sheet rock around the interior of her home had been cut away so that new sheet rock could be placed).

After about 3 or 4 hours at Luba's house, we came to a stopping point and headed to a nearby house where one of our other crews were working.  They had been working equally as hard, but there was still work to be done so we grabbed some shovels and got to work.

I wish I would've taken more pictures but was too busy.  Here are a few I did manage to take to give you an idea.  Unfortunately, the only photos taken inside Luba's home were left for her on a disposable camera to give to the insurance company.  I thought the camera was for before and after shots for the Helping Hands organization or I would've taken more photos.  There was another guy taking pictures and hopefully I'll get a hold of some of his photos.

Trying to clear the drive way of the sand (2 missionaries on the right)

The guy on the right (a Bishop from a nearby area) power washed the walk way while the others shoveled up the debris

Luba :) She had to go to the doctor to get a cast put on about the time we were finishing up.   She started on crutches down the walk way and almost fell over because she wasn't very good on the crutches.  Fortunately me and her friend caught her and kept her from falling!   The men insisted on helping her to the car. (A young missionary on the left and her Bishop on our right)

The house on the left is Luba's.  Talk about Ocean front property!--Gorgeous view

Notice the red deck, it's no longer attached with the home to which it belongs :(

The view from the Ocean, Luba's house is on the right.  All these homes, and many more, were severely damaged during the storm.

This was a neighbor's garage at the second place we helped.  This garage used to be adjacent to the building that is barely visible on the far right of the photo.

I didn't get a picture with my whole crew, but these were the other women in my group: Gengy and Tammy...they were fantastic. This photo was taken at the end of the day.  If you can't tell, we were tired.  I'm grateful that I can still be so active 5 1/2 months pregnant!

I loved working with the Mormon Helping Hands group.  Here is a link to their website-check them out!  http://lds.org/service/humanitarian/helping-hands?lang=eng.

I left my house before 8am and didn't return until about 5pm...it was a long day, but the relationships I made with my crew and the people we helped was priceless. (not trying to sound like a Mastercard commercial).

Love you all!  Hopefully we all take a minute to reflect on 9/11 today.

Update: I did receive a few more pictures from another guy that had his camera and was shooting pictures more officially.

The whole group of volunteers--we divided into several smaller groups before going to the work sites.

5 1/2 months pregnant.  I hope the baby appreciates this when "he's" older.

Boston MA!

My first trip to Boston was a quick one merely wetting my appetite.  We carpooled up with some friends to visit the LDS temple in Boston.  We baby-sat their 10-month old son while they went in together and then we went in after.  Because it was Labor Day, the last session started at 11:00am and just happened to be in Spanish.  What a cool experience!  It was Michael's first time doing it in Spanish since his mission, which he enjoyed.

After we left the temple, we grabbed some lunch and did a little shopping.  However, the other couple was ready to begin the trek home (about 2 1/2 hours) because their little guy hadn't really napped all day.  I wish we could've seen/done more...but there is always next time!

I have now been to 16 states.  Prior to this year, I had only been to 7!

Baby update:
The baby seems to be doing well...kicking and squirming all the time.  I am continually peer pressured by many of you and others to open "the envelope" and yesterday felt myself caving in.  However, I held strong and haven't peeked yet so the surprise remains!  Here is a fun picture of me that Michael took last week on our way home from the climbing gym where you get a pretty good glimpse of my baby bump.

Hope you are all doing well.  Hugs and kisses.

Still Climbing

Despite the fact that Michael has been crazy busy, he still climbs harder than most of the regulars at the new gym.  I recognize that some of you reading this blog are rock climbers, and others aren't.  But check him out sending this technical project.  Look how hard his body and muscles have to work to achieve this climb.

As for me, I can't exactly say that I am climbing hard right now, but check out this video michael shot of me climbing a few days ago.  I do have to admit a sense of pride in the accomplishment - It's not easy pulling me and the little one up the wall.  Not bad for 23 weeks pregnant if I do say so myself.

This evening we dined at a quintessential New England chowder house and enjoyed some outstanding comfort food.  Lobster bisque and clam chowder followed by the entree: scallops, lobster, and shrimp baked in a brandy cream sauce.  Worth every calorie.

Monday we get to attend the Boston Temple.  We look forward to seeing some friends in Boston.

Hope everyone is well.  We miss our friends and family in Utah!!!!