I LOVE NYC

A while back Tess and I decided we were going to go on a trip to New York City!  Well, mainly I decided and Tessa hesitantly followed…but she followed, and that's what's important!  So, in December we had enough money from scrimping and saving and slaving away at the plasma center and we announced our big trip!  Dad didn't think we were serious. Mom was a little nervous.  Our brothers wondered why in the heck we would want to go to New York City of all places.  Our sisters were excited for us, slightly worried, and a lot jealous.  We opened the invitation up to all, but we didn't have any sure takers.  Taffy was kind enough to lend us her services as an awesome travel agent and she found us some cheap plane tickets and a hotel for a great price at a great location!  Through all the planning she caught the bug and decided to come along for the first couple of days.  We're so glad she did!  So, here's the rundown of our trip :)

Wednesday April 23rd: 

We left Cokeville around 7:15 to meet Taffy in Evanston and we headed down to the airport for our 11:59 pm flight.  The flight got cancelled, we had to rebook for a 5 am flight and we slept (or didn't sleep) in the airport.  

Thursday April 24th:

Because of some complications at the ticket counter we were running a little late, so we ran to the gate, but despite our efforts, we barely missed our flight… And yes, this candid photo is one of pure devastation.  

But, things always seem to work out and they rebooked us with a direct flight to JFK leaving at 8:30.  Thank you, sweet ticket lady!

When we got there we checked into our hotel, Hotel Carter.  This little gem of a hotel was half a block from Times Square.  The location couldn't have been better!  It was a little dumpy, but the price and location made it totally worth it!  And let's be honest, all we did in there was sleep and shower, so we didn't need anything too fancy.

Then, that night we just walked around Times Square and tried to get a little bit more familiar with our surroundings.   

Friday April 25th:

We picked up our New York Passes (a must have if you plan on doing touristy things in NYC) and headed off!  The first thing on our list was biking in Central Park.  It was amazing!  We laughed and talked and just had a ball!

Next, the Empire State Building.  We did the audio tour and learned so much about NYC.  I seriously felt like I was in the movies way up there!

Then we did the New York Skyride.  Seriously people, don't waste your time.  It's supposed to be a simulation of hang gliding over the city, but it was really horrible.  I had to close my eyes halfway through because I was so motion sick.  It took me about an hour to recover.  

That evening we went on a twilight river tour around the south end of Manhattan.  It was so much fun! The views were surreal!  

Saturday April 26th:

Our morning started out with a beautiful run in Central Park.  We really loved that place. 

Then we cleaned up and headed to Discovery Times Square where the Body Worlds exhibit was on display.  It made me a little queasy, but it was still pretty interesting.  Taffy and Tessa loved it and took their time in there exploring every detail of the human body while I chilled outside.

Then they humored me and we went to a couple museums.  First stop was the Museum of Natural History.  Then we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  I loved it!  I got to see the original of one of my favorite paintings, Washington Crossing the Delaware.

We also got to see some really cool Egyptian stuff that dated back to about 2000 BC.  

Next was my long awaited trip to the Brooklyn Bridge.  I finally got to walk it, in the rain no less, and it was everything I always dreamed of :)

That night we went out to eat at a place called Stardust Diner.  It was so fun!  They entertain you while you eat some good ol' fashioned diner food.  We loved every second of it!

After dinner we headed to Madam Tussaud's Wax museum where we snapped some shots with our favorite celebrities.  It was more fun than any of us expected!

The last stop of the night was Cold Stone where we ended up enjoying ice cream 4 times throughout the week :)

Sunday April 27th:

First thing in the morning we took the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  The Spirit was so strong at both places and I learned so much about how important the birth of our country was, and how important immigration was from the audio tours. 

Brooklyn from the ferry

 The Registry room at Ellis Island

When we got back we went to the 9/11 Memorial.  This was the site in NYC I was most excited to see.  The attack on the Twin Towers changed my life, and I loved learning about the details of the events that occurred that day.  So many people volunteered and helped out in a time of crisis.  Americans came together to help out in a time of terror and even though I was just a young 3rd grader, that was the first time I remember feeling proud to be an American.  Going to the memorial and the tribute museum have just made me prouder.  I love America.  

We walked around the financial district a little more and then went to a Jewish Heritage Museum that was very interesting as well.  

Then we headed uptown and saw the temple and went to the Art Students League of New York where my great grandma Minerva Teichert attended art school.  We were pretty pumped about being there.  

Monday April 28th:

Taffy headed back to Wyoming really early.  We LOVED having her with us!  I'm so glad we have such a great relationship with her even though we're so far apart in age.  We had so much fun together!  After she left, it was just the two of us in the big city!  A little intimidating, but we did pretty darn good, if I do say so myself :)

Our morning started with a beautiful run along the East River.  Isn't Tess a babe?!

Then we went and walked around Little Italy, Chinatown, and Soho and did a little shopping.

Later in the day we headed up to the Bronx and Yankees Stadium. We couldn't go inside, but it was still really cool to see it! 

We got off the subway at Rockefeller Plaza and had fun walking around there for a bit.  

We did some more shopping and just walked around Times Square and enjoyed being in the big city.  

Tuesday April 29th:

First thing in the morning we made a quick stop by Madison Square Garden.

Then we headed to the High Line.  We LOVED this!  They restored a section of the old high line railroad system that ran in Manhattan and turned it into a garden/walkway.  The views were great, the gardens were beautiful, and we just loved it.  I snapped this gorgeous pic of Tess while we were there.  

Then we headed up to the Temple.  The city is so busy and crazy, and you walk through the doors and it is so calm and peaceful.  It was so refreshing.  We performed baptisms for the dead and it was such a great experience.  The Church is true people. 

That night was the big finale: WICKED!!  We were so excited, and it definitely did not disappoint!  Those people are so talented and the story line was great!  We left speechless.  We've been talking about it and singing to the soundtrack ever since.  

Wednesday April 30th:

This was our last day and we had to check out of our hotel at 11:00, so we decided to just take a good run in Central Park.  Well, it was pouring rain!  We did it anyways and loved every second!  We were soaked to the bone.  

Then we came back to our hotel to shower and clean up, but there was no water that morning at our hotel because of a fire hydrant that was gushing water out in the street…  So, we cleaned up as best we could, checked out of our hotel, hauled our luggage to the bus stop in the rain, and said our last goodbyes to the city.  

We sure loved you New York City!  Don't worry, I'll be back :)

(If you made it to the end of this, you're a champ!  But seriously, sorry it was SO long!)

Endings.

One of my least favorite things are endings.  Right now I'm facing some of them, and it's kinda killing me.  I'm not good at them.  I've know this ending was going to be coming for quite some time now, so I've been trying to prepare myself for it.  One of the things that helped me was this quote by Buddha.  

So, obviously this isn't the end of my life or anything, but I think this can apply to us all the time.  I'm trying to love all the things I'm doing as well as all of those around me.  I'm trying to live without stress.  I'm trying to not get mad or frustrated about the things that I'm having to let go.  Thanks for the advice, Buddha.  

I also was able to receive some comfort and advice from General Conference.  I didn't remember hearing this quote, but Mary told me it reminded her of me.  It's perfect!  

This is the ending of my time in Provo for a while, but it's not the end of the friendships I've made with people, the memories I've shared, or the lessons I've learned.  So, instead of looking at this time as an ending, I'm going to look at it as a BEGINNING.  Doesn't that sound so much better?!

Another great talk that gave me a new perspective on this change was a talk by Bishop Gary E. Stevenson.  He asked us: 

I got thinkin', and I realized that my summer is just like four minutes of my life.  It's going to go by so fast and I AM going to make the most of it.  I'm going to do good things with those four minutes.  It's going to be great!  

So, enough about sad endings.  I'm just going to look forward to the new beginnings :)

#QUESTIVAL

All of my Instagram friends that want to defined me because of all my posts the other day, I have an explanation!  I was participating in an adventure called Questival and it was awesome!  

So, what is Questival? 

Questival was an adventure event organized to launch the company Cotopaxi.  Teams were made up of 2-4 people.  You could have an all boy team, all girl team, or co-ed team.  Every team was given the same list of tasks (there were over 100).  Each task was a different amount of points.  Each team had 24 hours to earn as many points as they could.  Included in these 24 hours was 6 mandatory hours of sleep.  The quest started on Friday at 6 pm and went until Saturday at 6 pm.   

How did I get roped into this?

My roommates Heather and Kimmy came downstairs Monday or Tuesday and told me about it and asked if I wanted to do it.  Of course I said yes!  This was right up my alley!!  

What is Cotopaxi?

Cotopaxi is an outdoor gear company like Patagonia or The North Face.  They're pretty special though, because a lot of their proceeds go to helping children around the world in locations like Peru and Tanzania.  They are doing a lot of really good things for a lot of kids.  So, they had a genius idea to get the word out about their brand and their cause.  

Did we win?

No.  But we had a BLAST doing it!  I don't know how we compare to other teams, but we scored 228 points, and I'm pretty proud of that.  The teams that did win get to go on an awesome humanitarian trip.  The trip locations are Machu Pichu, Angkot Wat, and Kilimanjaro.  Pretty legit.  

Why all the Instagram posts?

We had to document ever quest with a picture and four hashtags: #questival #gearforgood (Cotopaxi's slogan) #shrimpshackshooters (our team name) and #q12 (or whatever the task number was).  So, every picture taken by the 450 teams was uploaded onto Instagram and hashtagged with Cotopaxi's stuff!  They were definitely trending.  Genius social media marketing!!  Luckily, my teammate Heather also had an Instagram, so you didn't have to see ALL of the posts.  Thanks for putting up with me.  You can start following me again now :)

Why are there backpacks in all of the photos?

They gave us these backpacks when we registered.  (Registration was $15 per person, but the backpacks are a $30 value, so we felt like winners)  Then, each photo we took had to have each team member's backpack to prove that they were there and not off doing some other task.  Once again, genius idea, and can I just say, I LOVE these packs!  They have these sporty ones, more basic ones, as well as backpacker deluxe ones! Go check 'em out at cotopaxi.com.  

What quests did you do?

It would take me a really long time to list all of the tasks, so I'll just throw in a few of them.  

We rollerbladed for 30 minutes.  Kimmy and Heather are PROS!  This was the first time I've been since I was like 10. I only had one biff, with minor injuries. 

We enjoyed a sunset, and it was gorgeous!

Kimmy swung on a rope swing into the Provo River (in the dark no less).  She's so brave!

We hiked to the Y in spandex pants by the light of the moon. 

We hiked to Stewart Falls in the middle of the night.  This hike was super snowy, crazy, and so much fun!! 

We had eggs, tinfoil dinners, and s'mores for breakfast over a fire we built, after we slept for 3 hours under the stars.  

I slept in a public place (a park) while Kimmy slept in a hammock nearby and Heather slept in the car.  This was our second 3 hour segment.  Each were worth different amounts of points.  I've never felt so homeless in my life.  

We hiked the G in Pleasant Grove and did some yoga in nature while we were at it.  

We hiked to the U. 

We hiked Ensign Peak.  What an awesome view!

Finally, our last quest was to take a picture in front of a water fountain at Thanksgiving Point.  This was the location of the finish line.   

After it was all over, we got a picture with some Llamas.  

Would I do it again?

Absolutely!  It was so much fun!  The worst part about it was having to sleep the second set of 3 hours.  I loved every adventure and every task.  I included mostly pictures of us hiking (which we did a LOT of), but we did a lot of other fun things like:

Yodeling in a public place

Planking in a public place for the length of an Instavideo

Riding the elevator in the SLC City Library

Eating a street taco with no hands

Sending a postcard to a Veteran

and many, many more!  

This was such a fun experience and I'm so glad I got to do it with Kimmy and Heather.  They are such awesome girls, and I'm so glad I got to know them better.  We were within 10 feet of each other for 24 hours straight, and I was smiling the whole time :)  They are great!  I definitely hope they do it again!  If they do, I'll try to help spread the word so that all of you can join in on the fun as well :)  

#QUESTIVAL

Sundance

It's hard to believe that four months have gone by, but it's true.  The ski season is over at Sundance, and oh was a season it's been!  I absolutely LOVED being a ski instructor up there this year!  I learned so much--about skiing, and more importantly, about myself.  I had the opportunity to meet so many great people who came up for lessons.  Those kids just made my day!  I had so many great lessons and great experiences that taught me so much!  Each day was an adventure.  

It's hard to pick, but here are three of my favorite experiences:

One day I had a group of four boys, three eight year olds and a six year old.  The six year old could tell he wasn't doing as well as the others.  I was giving him most of my attention to ensure that it would be a good experience for him.  As we were skiing I asked him if he was having a good time.  Slightly frustrated he said, "Yes, because everyday I get to choose if I'm going to have a good day or a bad day, and I'm choosing to have a good day!"  What great parents that kid must have?!  

I taught so many determined kids.  I had a little 5-year-old girl over President's Day weekend who became my little buddy.  She did so well!  She was always happy and willing to try whatever I asked her.  Her parents were great, and I was so sad when they left.  I didn't know I could grow to love someone so quickly.  What a great experience!  Then, on my second to last weekend, a little girl came up to me and asked if I was Olivia.  She then told me that she was Caroline's neighbor back East and that Caroline says hi!  Seriously made my day!  

The season was winding down and there weren't too many lessons anymore.  I taught in the morning Saturday and figured I'd get the afternoon off.  That's always kind of nice.  So, I was standing at line up when I got called over to do a lesson.  My supervisor told me that the student had some learning disabilities as well as a few physical disabilities.  He was ten years old and about as big as me.  Needless to say, I did NOT want to teach the lesson.  I taught the lesson, and I think it ended up being the highlight of my season.  This boy was so determined!  I worked so hard with him, picking him up each time he fell (literally), staying positive, and convincing him that he could do it!  When I started the lesson his mom told me that she'd be happy if he lasted an hour of the two and a half hour lesson.  We made it the whole two and a half hours and he wanted to do more!  I was so proud of him!  When I got into my car, I collapsed.  My adrenaline was gone and I was exhausted, but I had just had an amazing experience, one I will never forget.  

More important than all of my lesson experiences is the friendships I made with the people I worked with.  There were so many great people up there!  Each day I went up, I was so excited to see them!  They always made me feel so good about life.  So many of them made a huge impact on my life and I'm so glad to call them my friends :)  I can't wait 'til I can see them all again!  Sundance was good to me.  I think I'll go back.  

The "Three Musketeers"  Oh how I love these girls!! 

  Last day!!  Ski/Snowboard crossover. What a fun day with some fun people!

Livi's Logic #6

Some pretty sound advice.  If you don't like what's happening with your life, change it.  We're all in charge of our own happiness :)