Amanda's Birthday

This weekend we celebrated Amanda's 29th birthday Saturday night and Sunday with our friend Jeff and Cindy. Saturday night we decided to go check out what Soho had to offer and ate at this great little restaurant called "Nolita House". The food there was amazing and we loved the great weather. After dinner we stayed at Jeff and Cindy's apartment in Hoboken overlooking the Hudson River and looking out on the NYC skyline. Sunday we got up and went to brunch at the famous "Tavern on the Green". The food wasn't what it is all about but the place is amazing. This weekend is the first official heat wave so after brunch we walked through Central Park to enjoy seeing everyone out and loving the weather. I'm so blessed to have Amanda in my life and it was so fun to celebrate her 29th with our friends in the big city!

Happy Birthday Madison!

Today this beautiful little girl turns 2! It is hard to believe she is getting so big. Chris & I will never forget the first time we laid eyes on you, Madison Mizell. We were home for a visit and Mason was so excited for us to meet you. He immediately introduced you as "my beautiful Madison". So sweet! You captured our hearts - just like your brother and cousin. This past year was a real treat for me because I was able to see you a few extra times. We played at the mall and I got to tag along for Halloween. Your personality continues to develop and we love to hear all the stories about you! Chris got to love on you at Thanksgiving and I think he is smitten :) We hope you have a very Happy Birthday!

In Your Easter Bonnet.....

Happy Resurrection Day! He is risen...He is risen indeed!

Today on this special day remembering what Christ did for us and still continues to do for us today we decided to celebrate with friends in the city. We had brunch at Tribeca Grill(Robert DeNiro is part owner) which was really good. After brunch we made our way down to the Easter parade on Fifth Avenue. Evidently the parade is a big deal - there were so many people out and it was fun to walk around and see every ones Bonnet. I decided to stick my head in and enjoy a little of the Easter Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral. The wind was pretty strong and the temp was in the 40's but the sun was out and it was a beautiful day to play in the city. We have so much to be thankful for but most of all we should be thankful for what Christ did for us in dying and raising from the dead so that if we place our faith in Him we might have eternal life. He is risen indeed!







The parade is a tribute to the traditional Easter Bonnet. There were many to see....here are a few we caught on camera. Keep in mind this is NYC. In case you have forgotten the tune, here is the chorus as a reminder.

In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it,
You'll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade.
Ill be all in clover and when they look you over,
Ill be the proudest fellow in the Easter parade.
On the avenue, fifth avenue, the photographers will snap us,
And you'll find that you're in the rotogravure.
Oh, I could write a sonnet about your Easter bonnet,
And of the girl I'm taking to the Easter parade.

THE VIEW

Last week Chris & I got to be a part of the audience at THE VIEW. It was a really cool experience. We are not regular watchers - or watchers at all for that matter - but it was definitely a great way to spend part of our day! We were there on St Paddy's day, dressed in out GREEN! We had really great seats and Marisa actually got to do the commercial break with Whoopi. How cool is that!! Elizabeth Hasselbeck spoke directly to Chris which he thought was AMAZING! They had three guests, Gary Sinise was there promoting the documentary "Brothers At War" which is the executive producer for, Dr Drew from Celebrity Rehab promoting his new book (if you really want a copy we have 2 and would gladly give them away :)) & last but certainly not least Jay Mohr. Jay was hilarious! Probably the highlight of the show that day. Afterwards we headed to Little Italy for some pizza. Another great day in NYC!

In case you missed the show you can view it at ABC's website.

Beantown Roadtrip

One of the great things about living in the Northeast is there are so many fun places that are within driving distance from us. One of the great places we'd never been before was Boston so we along with our buddies Jeff & Cindy Thompson decided to make a road trip of it. Since three of the four of us are unemployed we decided to see how we could do this on the cheap and still hit the major things we needed to see. It was a quick Friday evening to Sunday afternoon but we did it!

For those of you who have been to Boston you know that you can't do Boston without at least three things: Fenway Park, Clam Chowder, and JFK. Saturday was a busy day of walking the Freedom Trail so that we could see all the historic buildings and eating lunch at the oldest constant running restaurant in America...Ye Old Union Oyster House. Later that afternoon we toured the JFK Presidential Library which I thought was really cool. Saturday evening we rocked out Harvard Square so that we could see the university and eat some Cajun/Mexican food...it was seriously spicy.

Sunday we got up and on our way home took a tour of the oldest US battleship the USS Constitution, had lunch at the House of Blues and saw Fenway Park. We had a great time and did it all for about $250! Who says you can't have a cheap vacation!

Side Note: Chris failed to mention that we also got to visit a childhood friend of mine. Rachel & I have been friends since sometime in Elementary school. We recently reconnected. It was great to see her and meet her husband Stephen and new baby girl Marlee. We rarely see each other, but always enjoy catching up! Here is to seeing each other before another ten years passed :)

Brooklyn Kale Cox

We are proud to be an Aunt & Uncle again. My sister gave birth to Brooklyn Kale Cox this morning at 8:10am. She is a big girl, weighing in at 8lbs 13oz! Susan is doing great! All the grandparents are loving it! Drew has been all smiles since she arrived - what a sweet big brother. We look forward to seeing more of Brooklyn later today via Skype and maybe this summer we will get to love on her in person. Congratulations Susan, Andrew & Drew!

Disclaimer: Some of these pics are mobile uploads so they are a little fuzzy.

O-H-I-O

Anytime there is a holiday or just a 3 day weekend we take serious advantage! So for the Valentines/President's Day weekend we headed to see friends in Columbus Ohio. Home of THE Ohio State....but even more important...home to Chris & Rebecca Testa! We flew in late on Thursday night - after a short 5 HOUR delay out of Newark. The weekend was WONDERFUL! It exceeded my expectations :) We basically just hung out and caught up on life. It had been a full 18 months since we left Phoenix together. Hard to believe so much has happened in that time. The BEST and BIGGEST change....the addition of Shayden Joseph! Such a cute and sweet little guy! We really enjoyed loving on him and he really enjoyed Chris' growling entertainment :) To top off the weekend we got another trip to Sonic & lunch at Abuelos. Columbus gets 2 thumbs up from us! The Zoo was great too. Here is to not letting 18 months go by before we get to see our friends again!

Thanks for all the fun and hospitality Testa's! We love you guys!