New York!

Two weeks ago, we went to New York for Matt's middle brother (Peter) and future sister-in-law's (Anna) wedding. It was a small and beautiful ceremony and we are so happy that we could make it out for the big day. Peter was so handsome and Anna was stunning. They are a perfect pair and we are very happy for them! We are also looking forward to the fall when they move out here and we can spend more time with them.

Surprisingly, it was our first time to the Big Apple and we loved it as much as we thought that we would! We flew in on Thursday afternoon, the wedding was on Friday, we toured the city on Saturday, and departed on Sunday. A quick weekend, but boy was it fun! Matt's parents (Tim and Cindy) and youngest brother Danny were also there, of course. Madison also had a great time and was a super trooper despite missing naps, long plane rides, time changes, etc!

We've arrived! I was SO excited to be here! As a kid, we took big trips every year with my family, but I had never been to New York and it was SO cool!

Our first night, we went to a true New York Kosher dinner. It was yummy! Madison is eating a lemon here...clearly very sour!

The morning of the wedding, we met Anna's family for the first time at the coffee shop.

Ahhh... technology!!

The bride and groom are here...Madison of course wanted Uncle Peter's hat!

Showing Madison "thumbs up"

Madison was the flower girl in the wedding and here she is practicing throwing the flowers out of the basket...she did a great job!

Setting up the wedding

First dance after the ceremony :)

Snacking on raisins after the ceremony

This was the only picture that I had of the 3 brothers so I had to post it, but it shows how silly they are...Peter is covering his pants because the boys like to play a not so nice brotherly game ;)

The Fargo Family

(Matt, Madison, Mel, Peter, Anna, Danny, Tim, Cindy)

The Girls

Madison, Mel, Cindy, Anna, Lesley (Anna's step mother), Jessie (Anna's step sister), and Melissa (Anna's sister in law)

The Boys

Danny, Matt, Tim, Peter, Jeff (Anna's Dad), David (Anna's brother), and Isaiah (Anna's step brother in-law)

Dancing with Uncle Peter

In true brother style...a Dumb and Dumber movie moment where Lloyd hits Harry with the cane...it looked just like the real movie scene :)

A cute posed boys picture

Little Miss New York

Family picture :)

After the ceremony, we went back to Anna's dad and step mother's house for a casual brunch then we visited President Roosevelt's house...it was neat to see!

Aunt Anna got this bib for Madison :) It says, "My Aunt Rocks"

Drinking the special grape juice

Peter cutting the challah bread (a special privilege for Peter since Anna is Jewish and Peter is Catholic)...I love how Anna is looking at him with such pride

Eating special Challah bread

The wedding dinner was in a tent outside of Anna's dad's backyard and unfortunately it POURED rain!! The electricity went out and there were literally puddles of water and mud. Luckily, Anna was so relaxed about the whole thing and it turned out to be a fabulous evening regardless of Mother Nature! The whole day was very special and a great way to celebrate their marriage!

Saturday morning, we all went into the city and I was so excited that I was acting like a little giddy school girl!

Traveling in real New York City style!

I am such a silly tourist!

Beautiful Lady Liberty

Ground Zero...

Such a good traveler

The new Ground Zero tower...its HUGE!

Seeing all the tourist attractions...Wall Street

NY Stock Exchange

Matt and his mom, Cindy at lunch at a yummy Irish Resturant

Tim (Matt's dad), Danny (Matt's youngest brother), and Mel (Madison was still sleeping in her stroller)

Up from her nap, Madison enjoyed NY pizza in real NY style...folding it in half :)

Such a hat stealer :)

Saying goodbye to Unce Danny...he had to go back on Saturday because he had to work on Sunday :(

While Tim and CIndy took Danny to the airport, Matt, Madison, and I went to the Top of the Rock...AMAZING!! This is the view from the top (69th floor) that ha a 360 degree view of all of Manhattan...this is obviously the beautiful Central Park

"Hi Dad!"

Empire State Building

It was awesome to go up there

Looks liks she's about the fall back into the buildings!

30 Rock!

The Rock

The Rink and United Nations flags

NBC Studios...seeing all this was so exciting to me! I am such a silly tourist!

THE TODAY SHOW! I love it!

The Today Show Plaza...now every time when I watch that show, I say, "Hey! I was there" :)

Studio 1A

Unfortunately she was dozing off in her stroller, so we didn't get a picture of Madison with her sign.

The Chrysler Building...I think of the show Sex in the City when I see it :)

Grand Central Station

Riding the metro to the Yankee's game...Madison was fascinated by how fast it went!

They were both sleepy tired and tired of me taking pictures :)

The new Yankee Stadium...it was beautiful

It was so surreal to go to the Yankee's game...we had a blast! THANK YOU Tim and Cindy for the tickets!!

Time Square ball

Time Square...we stayed a block away on Saturday night. It was so fun to stay "in the city"!

On Sunday, we went to lunch at one of Tim's board member's house on Larchmont Harbor (30 minutes outside of the city) and it was gorgeous! We had a great lunch outside with amazing views!

Madison was dying to get into the water, but Grandma Cindy was close by to keep that from happening

They even brought out toys for Madison

And a pool!

A little soccer player already

On the airplane ride back...Madison did great, but was awake the entire 4 hours since she slept the 1.5 hours in the airport while we were waiting for our flight

It was such a fun surprise to see our friends Lindsay, Lucas (pictured), Piper (pictured), and baby Charlotte (who we had not met yet) at the La Guardia airport counter. They were coming back from a week in Martha's Vineyard and were on our flight! While we did not sit together on the plane, it was nice to visit with them while we waited to board.

Overall, we had a great trip and wish that we could have stayed longer! Unfortunately, we had to get back to unpacking...

Goodbyes are SO Hard!

Well, we are finally back! It's been quite a while since our last post, but we have been very busy to say the least! Moving and a trip to New York have kept us quite occupied! Through all the craziness though, we have still been enjoying summer and our new home!

This post and these pictures are very bittersweet for me to write/show...I am writing it from our new home which we are loving and are very happy in, however I dearly miss our friends on Hoover. We are not even a mile away from them, but its just different not being so close (you would think with how dramatic I am though that we moved out fo the country!!) :) It was the right time and right move for our family but saying goodbye to our first home and dear friends & neighbors was very hard. I was quite the emotional wreck on for a few days and while happy now, I often think about Hoover :( The move and closing on our new home were slightly hectic, however all is well now and we are looking forward to creating many new happy memories in our new home.

*Pictures are out of time order, sorry! Had so many to upload!

:( Many good memories were made here!

We moved in as a family of 2 and are moving out a family of 4 (Matt, Mel, Madison, and Ellie)

"Oh please dont move this table...I'm not ready to go!" While this is what this picture looks like, Madison's transition throughout the move and into our new house has been seamless...you would never know that anything has changed for her. She is happy, sleeping well, eating well, and is her same silly self! We are very blessed to have such an easy going, flexible child!

Playing outside with Quinn on Hoover move out day (Saturday)

The girls had so much fun playing with bubbles

Last playdate at Hoover with Quinn...fortunately, there will be MANY more playdates...these girls are friends forever!

Last playdate at Hoover with Elliot....MANY more with Elliot too...these kids will probably get married :)

See, I told you! :)

Snuggles with Amanda...I love the way that Madison is looking at her

Playing around in her room as we are packing it up

A closer up picture

Last night in Hoover :(

It's all the little things to pack up that are such a pain! The big boxes were the easy part, but boy, the baskets of stuff were everywhere!

A picture after the moving trucks had left and it was all cleared out...looks so weird!

Madison's empty room...I think this made me the most sad :(

We apparently did not realize how much stuff we had, so in addition to the moving truck ,we also had 2 smaller trailers! Yikes! Time to get rid of a lot!! This was Madison in one of the trailers.

We closed on Monday the 18th on both houses, so we had to be out of Hoover the weekend before so we were set to close on Monday morning. For the two days that we were "homeless", we stayed up in Evergreen with my parents...thanks Mom and Dad! This is Madison, Daddy, and Nana headed up the driveway for a walk.

My parents house in Evergreen

Riding on Daddy's shoulders

Silly Papa!

Back to Hoover on Sunday to close up shop and for one last walk down memory lane...I'm SO cheesy!! Ellie and Matt in the backyard.

One last little plie to the dump and moving the trailers, then we're done

Not sure that the new owners would like this, but we had to do it! In the basement storage closet (not an area anyone would really see) we wrote this on the wall just so that the house always knew we were there and that it had a special place in our hearts...another cheesy thing I did in my emotional state!

We will miss you Hoover! Thanks for all the great memories...

At the closing table for Hoover....Matt was clearly more excited than I was...it was all I could do to stop crying. I was determined not to cry at that table, and I did well until I handed over the keys...

At the closing table for Mulberry...excited here too, even though things were hectic for a while!

Welcome Mulberry!!

Those movers worked so hard!!

Thanks Taylor Moving!!

A big shopping trip to Target!

One of the many things we love about our new house is that the Elementary school is directly behind us. Madison is loving that aspect and frequently asks to go to the slide and swing! Its so close now and its great!

First bath/night in Mulberry

First walk from Mulberry...Matt does not look too thrilled that I am taking another picture!

Silly girl! Playing out front in the car

First family dinner outside our new home

**More posts to come soon...pictures from Kauai (oops! still behind on this one), our New York trip, and more summer pictures to come**