Emma Griffitts birthday at the park. Like how Zea is eyeing those cupcakes!
The water was turned on & I forgot to bring suits. The boys just played their shorts/diaper until Zea got sick of that also and was streaking it for a bit (until I realized what had happened that is). I will not be posting those pictures but it was pretty funny. We miss you all!!!
Our beautiful Nathan sucking his hand.
Brothers "reading" to each other.
Playing with Dad.
Just being Taft...man I love this kid!
We decided that we had to see the Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island before we left the east coast. So, we bought tickets for our only Saturday without a thousand things to do, left at about 4:30am and went to New York. I am so glad we did! I think this made my 9th or 10th trip to New York in my 2 1/2 years in Philly & I have loved them all. I will really miss this city of energy. On my first visit I was not sure what all the hype was about but by the time I left that day I was feeling the excitement, culture, activity...energy of the city and loved visiting it whenever I could.
Our ferry ride to Manhattan from Staten Island. It was cold but the boys were enjoying the outside.
Until it got too cold for Zea and we went inside. ;0)
I thought this was a great picture, not only of the Statue of Liberty but of my cute boys!
Sorry about this picture...I couldn't figure out how to save the changes made to this section of pictures on my computer.
The view from the ferry leaving Liberty Island for Ellis Island...majestic...what that view would be like after months on a boat, giving up all you had to come to this new country and finally arriving and seeing this! What we take for granted now...
One whipped out little man!
We are now on Ellis Island. These are examples of what luggage was brought with them & some very touching pictures of actual people/families that came here at one time.
This is Taft standing in the middle of the main hall people would sit for hours (at times days) for their names to be documented & recieve the papers & go ahead to enter the United States.
That was the ferry we took behind us. After we were done seeing thing the boys enjoyed running around in the water.
Yeah...family picture. I think you could tell we were all pretty tired by this time. :0)
Yummy popsicles from an ice cream truck on the in New York. A great end to the day! 
Our ferry ride back to Staten Island to head home (of course we had to stop at "White Castle" to get our ghetto cheeseburgers one last time). I will forever remember & charish my trips to New York & especially taking the ferry back to Staten Island & seeing the beautiful skyline...I will always look forward to seeing that again.
I am usually a slow-melting popsicle fan but all I had left in my freezer at the time were fudgesicles...not like they were complaining but they made for a fun mess to clean up. Oh well, they enjoyed them & I got a cute picture. They are only kids once...I really should let them get dirty more often.
We had the Johnson boys & Lincoln come over one day to play with the boys while I was packing. It was fun. Then when it was time to go Jordan had to pin Brannon down to put on his shoes (a fairly regular occurrence). I had to get a picture because (although I am sure she gets sick of it) I love watching her put her shoes on him. She really is the funniest mom & perfect for those boys.
For my 31st birthday we decided to go and get slurpee's from 7/11 since I am not a huge fan of cake. It was fun & good. Man, do I miss that green grass & trees.
Here was the ward pioneer day picnic. Not a biggest turn out but it was fun. The kids had a blast eating watermelon & all the junk food they wanted (less people means more for them...they weren't complaining).
Good buddies...we miss you guys!
