Pizza, plays, and Mickey too!

 Well, its about time I let you in on a few of the fun things that Brody and I have been doing while we've been here.  First off, about a week and a half ago, we just had to start off our NY adventures with some pizza!  Brody has always been a huge fan of pizza, but he has especially LOVED the pizza out here.  So we went to a little pizza place around the corner called "La Margherita" and ordered a "grandma style" pizza.  It was really good!  Brody said that he's had better since he's been out here, but I really enjoyed it.  It's such a different type of pizza that they have out here.  Everything on it is fresh so the toppings slide all over the place instead of being like cardboard pizza.  After pizza we went to "The Gateway Playhouse" and saw "West Side Story" which was really fun!  It was close by our place here in Long Island so we figured we'd try it out.

 The next day we decided to drive out to the end of Long Island to see Montauk Point (which is basically the end of the island).  As we were driving out there we realized we'd be driving through the ever popular "Hamptons" where all the rich people with incredible mansions live.  But it was quite the let-down.  There are so many trees here that there is no way we could have known where any of the mansions were unless we had known the exact streets to turn on to see them.  So we drove right on through never seeing a single mansion.  I think that's partially why famous people must live there... it's private!  (Not to mention that its New York and right on the beach too.)  The point was beautiful and had a pretty lighthouse up on the hill that we walked around and enjoyed the ocean view!

 Then this past week on Thursday morning we braved the DRIVE into New York City!  It was crazy to say the least!  Have you ever heard the phrase "Zoo York"... yep... right on!  But Brody picked up on the flow of cars and the driving style very quickly and I was just happy to be sitting in the passenger seat rather than driving.  I just had to post a picture of the parking lot that we parked in because I could not believe how packed it was!  Talk about making the most of a small space.  No wonder they park your car for you!  After we found our parking we walked around the city for a while and saw a small portion of Central Park and Julliard and then headed to the temple for an 8am session.  I just had to laugh about the temple location there. It totally suits downtown NYC.  Its just crowded on this corner and connected to the buildings around it with shops and a museum right underneath.  And yet, it was still just as magnificent on the inside as all the other temples.  When we went into the session, we were the only people there at first, but were relieved to see a few other people show up (though we were still the only couple).  Randomly, we ran into a friend from high school's older brother Brody Priest (yep, he has the same first name!)  So I guess even in New York the church is still a small enough place to find friends and connections.

 Then this weekend we did what I've wanted to do most of all here... we saw WICKED!!!  It was SO amazing!  We wanted to make sure that we went before our baby came because we knew we couldn't take her and it would be hard to get a babysitter to go later.  And man am I glad that we did!  If you haven't seen a Broadway show yet and have the chance, you will not go wrong to make the extra effort and pay a little extra to go to Wicked!  It was worth every cent!  Before the show started, we had some extra time, so we met up with some friends from Utah, Matt and Kenzi Komenda.  They are out here for an internship this summer and happened to be living in the city.  It was so good to see them, and talk to them about how different the NY experience is in comparison.  We all did a little walking around Time Square before heading back to get seated for the show.

 I just have to insert a quick funny story about this picture with the Komenda's.  Sorry Matt!  The story has to be told!  So, I suggested that we all get a picture together, and we just happened to be on a corner full of dressed up Disney characters at the time (as you can tell by the Winnie the Pooh in the background).  So Matt, just trying to casually ask someone to take our picture, asks Mickey if he would mind.  Haha!  The guy in the suit obviously misunderstood his question (which was probably also because he hardly spoke any English) and grabbed onto me like he was ready to have his picture taken with me.  Matt then tried to explain that we wanted him to take a picture of the four of us, but after much confusion on his part, we just gave in and took a picture with him.  So naturally he expected a tip afterwards and none of us had cash (which we are learning is kind of essential in NYC).  Haha!  So we proceeded to offend him for not paying to have our picture taken with him.  Oops!  Don't ever ask someone in costume to take your picture in NYC!  So, all-in-all our adventures so far have been a great success!  I can't wait to see more of what New York has to offer!  We just have to figure out how a baby will play into everything when she comes.  :)

P.S.  I can't wait to not be 9 months pregnant in all the pictures we have in New York!