NYC Visitors

The visitors keep coming, and we absolutely love it! Last week we had my brother and his wife (Rick and Barb) come and visit us for a few days. It was so much fun! We had an absolute blast. We went to the Moma, Met museum, Central Park, Chinatown, Madison Sq park, Wall St, and even took the Staten Island Ferry. We even had times for some cards! It was so much fun having them here.

They left Wednesday morning, and my Aunt Jean and 2 cousins Krista/Shelley came. Emily was able to go see 13 with them on Saturday afternoon, and then we all went to Mary Poppins Saturday night. It was a fun to chat with them and catch up. We are grateful that they came and stayed with us, especially since they let me stay in their basement one summer and let Em and I stay there for a few weeks while we were waiting for our apartment to open up. Thanks guys! It was fun having you out.

Rick & Barb

Brian & Sonya

Random Pics

I stumbled accross these and thought it would be fun. This first one is my freshman year at BYU 2001 with all of us Gilbert boys getting together to paint our chests for the BYU football games. We made it in the front page of the newspaper - but then coincidentally Pres Bateman the next day came out and said that we should no longer paint our bodies for football games since they are holy and temples. We spelled "Go-Cougars" and I am the "-" (also promoting KSL)

The other 4 pics are just random from the Mission in Ukraine. One is at a mafia-owned/run bowling alley (gotta love the KGB), another is on P-day for the big Turkey Bowl on Thanksgiving, another is our 4th of July celebration at English class.

Family ... isn't it about time

I know it has been a while since I posted. Em and I are doing really well. Work has been super busy for me with the whole financial market crisis & meltdown. At least I still have a job - there is much to say for that.

We have been enjoying the political debates, hanging out with friends, and hosting visiting family. 2 weeks ago we had my brother Brian and his wife Sonya here from Colorado. We absolutely had a ball! They are such a fun/happy couple - we really enjoyed ourselves. I think they beat the world record of seeing the most in NY in the shortest amount of time. It was phenomenal what they were able to accomplish.

On Friday - we met them for dinner at Ellen's Stardust Diner, then we went and saw Mamma Mia! It was such a great play. We really had a lot of fun.

We got to hang out with them all day Saturday - we went to the MOMA (there is a new Van Gogh exhibit), Central Park (saw Strawberry fields, rode the carousel, Bethesda fountain for all you Enchanted fans, and Bow bridge) Museum of Natural History, Metropolitan Museum, then off to Chinatown/Little Italy for illegal purse buying and pizza at Lombardi's. It was such a fun day.

We were sad to see them go but hope that they come and visit us again soon. My other brother Rick and his wife Barbie are coming out to visit us this Friday and we are really excited.

Attached are some random family pics. My fam - color coordinated by family.