New York-the end

 Our final day in New York was my birthday! we decided to try a frozen s'more which also happens to be at the same bakery as the famous cronut. We didn't plan on getting one because we figured at 11 they would be sold out. We walked up there and the line was so short! We only had to wait about 20 minutes and the cronut was completely worth it. So freaking good. Worth the hype, worth the wait. Ours was peach and i have no real words to describe it except for amazing. We also got the frozen smore there which was my favorite treat of the entire trip. It is ice cream wrapped in a marshmallow torched right in front of you. It was delicious. 

After we went to Central Park and walked around there for a little bit and then went down to the high line and walked around there for a little bit. After that we went back to Bleeker street pizza.

We saw the flatiron building which David had been talking about the entire trip. And we made our way back to the hotel to go home. 

We had one last shack burger at the airport and headed home. 

I always hate leaving New York. I would pack up and move there tomorrow if I could. Until next time.. 

new york pt.2

After some much needed sleep on day two... we headed to coney island because that is one thing none of us have ever seen. it was such a fun place. as david said... every vacation needs a beach. we just walked around had lunch on the pier, and headed back into the city. 

we went to grand central for some black and white cookies from zaro, which is hands down are the best black and white cookie in the city. we explored the station a little, showed david whispering alley, got a smores cupcake from magnolias and went to macys to play on the old wooden escalators. 

After that, we went to soho and got the much anticipated BIg Gay Ice Cream. Oh man was it delicious. I think it was one of the best ice cream cones I had ever tasted. Yum. We also tried pizza from Joe's which was reccomended to us and  it didn't disappoint. I think we ate more pizza in three days than I have in one year. 

After that we called it a night. 

Day three- we took a walk through Washington square park to get to a little shop called bantam bagels... Sound familiar? Do you watch shark tank? They were on shark tank last season for their stuffed bagels. They were delicious. We finished our first set and decided we wanted a couple more flavors.

We explored and then made our way to the upper west side. We saw the temple, Lincoln center, and made our way to the famous Levain Bakery which had the best chocolate peanut butter cookie ever. 

I guess we really just had a lot of treats because that is all I have pictures of. We walked around some more and made our way back to soho for... You guessed it, more pizza. This time at Bleeker Street Pizza which according to their sign was voted the best pizza in New York for 4 years or so. It was delicious. 

Another fantastic thing we tried in between treats.. The grilled corn at cafe Havana. I still dream about that delicious corn. It was incredible. 

We took a ferry ride later that night and saw lady Liberty. After we walked around battery park to watch the sunset on our last night in New York. It was gorgeous. 

stand together

12 years ago our nation was brought together by an act of terror. i remember sitting in my 7th grade learning experiments class and hearing the news. i had no idea what this meant. i remember my teacher turning on the tv as we watched the second plane hit the tower. it is a day i will never forger and i am still speechless at this tragedy and am so humbled to be an american. what a great nation we live in. we are meant to stand together, not divided. i love that this special day brings a country together to remember all that we have been through, fought for, and conquered. 

although i am not a new yorker...i very much wish i was and will one day be. i was fortunate enough to have visited this great site twice this summer. what a humbling experience it was. this incredible place holds a great spirit. you can feel the greatness of it. 

an epic vacation pt 1

i am quite blessed to be a member of the harding family. growing up their were many vacations and opportunities to see world we live in. while living back east many years ago, we went up to this little town in new york where history was made. i do not remember it very much and am grateful to have this new trip to have seen it. terry is one amazing father and i am so lucky to have him.

we started the vacation out on wednesday flying from slc->jfk->rochester, long day of travel. meg took the red eye and her and terry met up with us (my two aunts and i) and we journeyed to palmyra. we walked around the ground of the smith family farm and toured their small cabin. i have always heard it was this tiny one room place but seeing it, i was astonished at how large it actually is (compared to what was in my mind). it was humbling to stand in their home and realize the history made there. the spirit was so strong and as the sister missionaries bore testimony, i knew without a doubt what they were saying was true. it was incredible to see the places where the things i testified of for 18 months took place. 

we ventured to the sacred grove and while inside a tremendous storm started. we were soaked within minutes even with the cover of trees. it was quite the experience. one i am so happy happened. later that day we went back to the grove after it had stopped raining. there is nothing better than being able to ponder the gospel and mortality in the sacred grove. 

it was awesome to tour the place where the book of mormon was first printed. the hardwood floors are original to the building as were some of the other things inside. it was neat to see that those things had held up after all these years.

the pageant was incredible. they had 10,000 thousand chairs set up and it was quite the production. the cast mingled with the audience before the production and it was fun to hear all the places people traveled from. what an amazing thing to see the book of mormon played out in a short amount of time.

we also got to do a session at the palmyra temple. it is the only temple in the world with a clear glass window. it overlooks the sacred grove and is an incredible view to see.