America's New Favorite Past Time... Cupcake Style

That's right, Angry Birds. It's definitely taking over EVERYTHING! Good thing it's a fun game :) It was my mom's idea to make it for this month's Page family dinner. Definitely a great idea! So we'll take a quick tour through the levels...

Now the blue ones that multiply:

Then my favorite, the ones that accelerate and break through all the wood barriers:

And the mean (and laughing) little piggies:

The whole group that joined us for dessert:

Marcus' (& Our) Fun in NYC

While in New York, Marcus (and sometimes Marcus & Erica) had a lot of fun seeing various sights. New York is so large that it is difficult to see and do everything over the course of a few months--but here are some highlights:

Marcus is a huge fan of all things airplane. He was able to visit the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space museum on one of his weekends. The museum is on the east river, and features a number of exhibits and aircraft all floating on the Intrepid, a WWII era aircraft carrier that was later retrofitted for service during the 1960s and 70s. This picture is of Marcus with an A-6 Intruder, an airplane he loved as a young boy.

This is a view of the Empire State Building from the ground just below it--Marcus walked past this building every morning on the way to work (until he moved out to Queens). It is currently the tallest building in the city--and will be until the One World Trade Center tower is completed.

This is a picture of Times Square that Marcus snapped on his first night in the city

Marcus going into central park for the first time

Our good friends Misha and Jen visited the city for the day on their way to Europe. They spent the morning walking across the Brooklyn bridge and seeing a few sights. Marcus got to hang out with them and enjoyed Misha's massive muffin that he bought him (he looks chubby here--you wouldn't believe how much skinnier he is now).

Marcus enjoying a Yankees game with his company, CooperKatz as a part of their 15th anniversary celebration. The Yankees gave up five runs to the Blue Jays in one inning (what that Canadian?). Regardless, it was a fun night in good company with good food.

Marcus went to Amateur Night at the famous Apollo Theater. It's steeped in African American culture and history, and he really enjoyed the evening. White folk invent disco. These folk invent funk. Enough said.

A nice exterior shot of the Intrepid during Marcus' visit to her.

The front of the Intrepid.

"RAWR! My arms are useless!" Marcus visited the Museum of Natural History and was quite excited to meet Mr. Rex--they even have the actual bones on display, not just a cast.

Marcus' with a long neck--he didn't remember the species. He took all these pictures with Severus, his new little smarty pants phone.

Marcus' favorite pizza spot was Mariellas near Columbus Circle. New York pizza (the good kind anyways) is crispy, and the cheese and sauce are WAY better than anything you might find in Utah at a more "normal" pizza place. This is good "slice pizza"--there is other stuff that is fancier, but if you're looking for a quick lunch, this is the spot.

A view of the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) line at Woodslide in Queens, where Marcus lived. As you can see, he's a ways away from the city.

Yay! Marcus and Erica @ Grand Central Station.

After seeing The Lion King (which was astounding by the way).

Lady Liberty!
Us standing by the statue. We're both so excited to return to NYC for Marcus' new job at CooperKatz. We leave in December and he starts in Janurary.

My birthday week!

Last Tuesday was a pretty exciting day. It started bright and early when I went to the school district's office to work with the Nutrition Department, like I have for the past two summers. Gail had brought me a birthday muffin, which was really good! And extremely cute ;)

I worked on mailing out letters and manned the fort while there were training meetings for about eight hours. My day was divided by an email and a call from Marcus telling me that he was formally offered a job at CooperKatz! Definitely a great birthday present! And then it was back to work. This picture doesn't show the part of the pile I was working on. Both those stacks were originally equally high!

It is such a phenomenal group of people in the Nutrition department. They invited me to go with everyone to lunch at Iggy's where of course they embarrassed me by having the waiters sing and bring out a beautiful sundae.

Then that evening, I worked at the store until close. So I guess it was a little busy :) I figured a nice paycheck would be my birthday present to myself. That, and Marcus said we'd go out once he was back in town to celebrate some more.

He flew back in town on Saturday, very late. And he brought me a special New York birthday present. Definitely a fun surprise, since my present was supposed to be the Lion King tickets from last month.

Naturally, cupcakes :) These are from Crumbs, and if I remember correctly, the founder was on Cupcake Wars. They don't look as fancy as some of the cupcakes around here, but they were by far my favorite! We've been splitting them whenever we have a sugar craving so we can both try them all.

I think my favorite is either the Red Velvet or the Cookie Dough cupcake. Marcus agreed about the cookie dough :) We've also tried the Raspberry and Cosmo, but still have to try the Brownie and Lemon Meringue.

Then on Monday, we finished up my birthday celebration with lunch and a movie. We saw The Help, and it is fantastic. Read the book. See the movie. You won't regret either decision.

I don't know if I could've stretched out my birthday any farther :) But it was fun to have excuses to eat lots of treats and see a great movie.

Our Next Adventure

This week, Marcus was offered a job at CooperKatz! (That's where he's been interning in New York all summer.) He has a job! Seriously! Woohoo! He starts in January after he graduates from BYU. Congratulations Marcus--he's so amazing! So at the end of the year, we'll be off to New York...

Oceanside

In July, we went on our annual Gardner family beach trip to Oceanside, California. It was sad that Marcus couldn't be there, but luckily everyone else (minus Brian of course) was there. We were in a new house this year-- it's getting harder and harder to fit everyone in one house, but it's a blast. And I know for a fact it is a favorite family tradition! Be warned, lots of Ada pictures :) Well, there are lots of pictures in general (since I actually took my camera and didn't just steal my mom's pictures), which is why it took me longer to post about the week.

The house

The "backyard"

The pier-- we were a little closer to it this year

Apparently that's some military ship off in the background that helicopters land on-- Marcus would know what it was called :)

Nighttime

Our home base

the big tent

Notice, I'm under the umbrella to not fry in the sun-- you can see the shadow

Gage

Gage

Reading-- with crazy CA hair

Sunburn? I was so careful.

Ada wanted to see a picture of herself and her toys

She assembled them all for the picture

And then she decided to scoot up really close to me to steal my cake, one little bite at a time.

Ada and G-Daddy

Dad, my mom's cousin Paige, and her two dogs

Ada helping Grandpa and Mimi open their 50th Anniversary present from my mom -- two books she put together online with pictures of all our beach trips and the family growing up.

Grandpa reading inside

Trevor being a 'lame old person' -- sitting under the umbrella napping :)

Kade

Alyssa (Jake's girlfriend) napping. She and Jake drove all night to get to the beach as early as they could after work.

Gage watching Kade and Jake play paddle ball

Yoga. Seriously. A lady on the beach asked my family if they wanted to join in yoga a couple days, and most everyone participated :)

Trevor and Jake

Jeff

Trevor, Jake, Alyssa, Jeff

Kade and Jeff

Trevor

Jessica helped demonstrate

Kade skim boarding

Ada was afraid of Trevor, until she had him read to her -- she loves books!

Brad, Ada, and Jessica

Debbie reading to Ada

Ada wanted to show off her shell

my dad and mom

Brad -- Ada kept cracking up every time he fell playing paddle ball

Trevor digging a hole (with Jake and Jake's friend Michael)

Trevor taking out some boogie boards

Mimi getting some sun

To celebrate the big 50th Anniversary, we all went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner. Mimi's choice :)

Jake, Alyssa, my mom, and me (I was obviously searching for the non-fish option)

Getting ready for some crab :)

We walked around a little after dinner

Michael, Trevor, Alyssa, and Jake

we ALWAYS take pictures the last morning we're there.

Jake, Alyssa, me, Grandpa, Mimi, Kade, Gage, Trevor

(not pictured: Ada, Marcus, and Brian)

the currently small Page family

me and my big little brother

Waiting for a table at Mimi's Cafe. If I remember correctly, we're all watching Ada. Naturally :)

We LOVE Oceanside!!!