See our NY post below...finally!!

Chelsea took this amazing photo in Central Park by 5th Ave.- watch for more fun photos soon!!

Our fun New York trip!

Over 300 of us from the High School (band, orchestra, dance, drama, drill team, etc...) embarked on a 4 day trip to the big city and what fun awaited us...

click on any of the collage photos to enlarge them...

DAY 1

~ We got to the airport at 5:30 pm for our 8 pm flight to Long Beach, CA on April 15th-we had to back track a little before our "red-eye" flight to NYC- which then left at 11:00pm from Long Beach-

~We arrived in NYC at 3:30 am (Utah time) 5:30 am (NY time) and hit the ground running. We weren't allowed to check into our hotel rooms until 5 pm that night because there were over 300 of us and it was too confusing I guess? Gurrr! We had an eye opener to the subway system right off--busy is an understatement with all of the business people heading to work. We all bought "metro-cards" that allowed us to use the subway as much as we needed to for 7 days. - We were able to put our luggage in a holding room at our hotel-"Hotel Pennsylvania"right across the street from Madison Square Gardens and then went to our first attraction which was the Empire State building (only a few blocks from the hotel). It was an awesome view up there with visibility of 25 miles (so they said). Chelsea got busted for making a paper airplane to throw off- oops!

~ Chelsea and I saw "Phantom of the Opera" at 2 pm on the first day we got there and it was amazing! Too bad I fell asleep in some parts but after a "red-eye" flight and 15 minutes of sleep in a 24 hour period I couldn't help it. I really wanted to sleep on the plane but wasn't able to for too long-- This trip was arranged by "American Experience" travel and I'm sure they had a big job with 325 people to schedule for but come on-- Our only 2 broadway shows on the same day with no sleep wasn't right! Chelsea kept nudging me to wake me up--

DAY 2

On day 2 We went to "Rockefeller Plaza" where they film the today show and we hung around the side as they were filming-- I guess there is a show that they film in the morning with Kathi Lee Gifford that they don't show until 1 pm each day and that was why noone saw us on t.v.-- It was fun to see Tim Conway who was their first guest-- I have always loved him on the Carol Burnett show--We spent the rest of day 2 messing around and seeing stores like FAO Schwartz where they have the big piano from the movie "big" (which is only $250,000 if you want one) and American Girl and Tiffany's, Trump tower, St. Patricks Cathedral (the oldest building in NYC), the Disney Store, Juilliard school, etc... that night we went to the Mets game and it went to 14 innings against the Washington Nationals and the Mets won-- that was fun--

DAY 3

On day 3 we started our day out with a Ferry ride out to Liberty Island where the Statue of Liberty is and I thought that was pretty awesome-- we then went to the island next door which was Ellis Island which is also awesome and pretty eye opening as to how many immigrants came through there. From 1892 and 1924 there were 22 million immigrants that came through that most of us are probably descendants from--It was a neat experience!

A little battery acid in the eye never hurt anyone!

Okay- so no trip is going to go without some drama right? After we got back from the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island tour we wanted to go through the Financial District- We went to see the New York Stock Exchange building, Wall Street, etc... As we were visiting inside of The Federal Hall Memorial building where the Bill of Rights was passed and George Washington was inaugurated as our first president, one of the girls in my group opened her camera and a battery was leaking (or some crazy thing like that) and she got battery acid in her eye, I don't know how but that's beside the point-- She went to the restroom downstairs where I helped her flush her eye out and a few minutes later, 4 swat guys in full uniform including some pretty big guns came in to see what was going on because they heard someone's camera "exploded". They helped Morgan flush her eye out and then she got to go in an ambulance-- ($1500 dollars later) There was some pretty heavy security in NYC because the pope was in town that morning and the next day--Wow-- What a story she gets to tell her kids huh? This is the same girl who on the band tour last year broke her arm just before going in to Disneyland. She is ok and her eye didn't have any permanent damage.

After our fun and interesting day in the financial district-- Chelsea and I had a dinner date with my Aunt Christy who lives in upper West Manhattan. It was fun to see her again-- It has been awhile since she moved there (14 years) and I've only seen her a couple of times since she moved. She met us at our hotel and after a quick subway ride we went right to dinner at a yummy mexican restaurant called "Mama Mexico"- I liked the name because I was nicknamed "Mama Macula"on this trip by the kids I was chaperoning-- we had fresh guacamole made right at our table and it was fabulous as well as the salsa and chips-- and of course the chimichanga's--

Fresh guacamole anyone?

yummy chimichangas!

The pink blossoms were amazing!

Central Park

Another beautiful photo that Chelsea took at Central Park

We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art after our walk through Central park and down 5th Ave. and while at the museum, Chelsea found an interesting art display she had to take a picture of-- it was cool! -This is an amazing museum that everyone needs to experience if you go to NYC--It was dark when we left the museum and we said our goodbyes to Christy(thanks for a wonderful time) and took a bus down to our street-- the streets were filled with a lot of T.V. crews since the Pope was in town. What a fun day--

OUR LAST DAY

Day 4(our last day)

We went to China town down and went to Canal St. and bought some jewelry, hand bags and of course "I love NY" t-shirts among other stuff you would buy in China town. We had fun and it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be-- there are always rumors that you would get mugged or taken to a back room somewhere and forced to buy stuff- You have to be careful but the reason you would go in a back room is because they are selling knock-off's and legally can't sell it in their stores. Anyway, it was an experience!--after shopping, we found a yummy chinese restaurant and we all got full to say the least. The food was amazing-- we were well taken care of by the manager-- I think he felt bad for us because we had no clue what we were doing or how to order-- anyway after eating we headed back to the hotel-- Chelsea wanted to go shopping down 5th Ave. so a few of us took off to do that but I have to tell you it had to be window shopping since most of the stores she wanted to go to were all of the really expensive stores like Tiffany's, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Prada, etc... It was fun to look for sure!!!

We got up Sunday morning and got a bite to eat at a place that served eggs that were already cooked that they microwaved --over easy eggs which was hilarious--(blah!) but I have to admit, that was the only bad meal I had the whole time! Chelsea hated her toast and had to take a picture--

After breakfast we headed out to the airport at 11:30 am on buses and spent the rest of the day travelling back home--after a 3 hour lay-over in Chicago we were finally on the last stretch and arrived in SLC at 9 pm--That was fun and would highly recommend NYC to everyone--the last picture in the collage above was what NY looked like as we were leaving-- we were so lucky to have 70 degrees and blue skies for most of the week--FUN FUN FUN!

I've been tagged...

Tagged ABC'S of ME!
A. Attached or Single- Attached for almost 17 years!
B. Best Friend(s)- Amy, my family and my sisters in WP ward
C. Cake or Pie-Pie(Coconut Cream)
D. Day of Choice- Saturday
E. Essential Item- blow dryer
F. Flavor of Ice Cream- chocolate
G. Gummy Bears or Worms-Gummy Bears
H. Hometown- Lehi
I. Indulgences- A bubble bath and a book
J. January or July- July
K. Kids- 3 wonderful kids
L. Last movie I saw in theatre- Penelope
M. Music(favorite)-I'm into Maroon 5 right now
N. Number of siblings-7
O. Orange or Apples- Oranges
P. Phobias or Fears-I don't know- eating spiders while I'm sleeping cuz we all do :0)
Q. Quote-"If you do what you've always done you'll always get what you've always got".
R. Reason to smile-My family, living in America and having the true gospel in my life.
S. Spring or Summer? I love Spring but I'm still waiting for it to arrive :0)
T. Tag 4-Steph E., Tanya, Sara L, Steff U.
U. Unknown fact about me- I rode in an elevator with Jay Leno and I actually chatted with him-about 17 years ago just before he took over the Johnny Carson show--
V. Vegetarian or oppressor of Animals- I'm not a vegetarian!!
W. Worst Habit- Diet Pepsi
X. X-rays or Ultrasounds- Ultrasound
Y. Your favorite Food-anything at Cafe Rio-their fired grill chicken salad is divine!
Z. Zodiac- Capricorn

Lacrosse

Chelsea has taken up Lacrosse and starting to really enjoy it. I say starting to because it took a little bit of time to get used to 2 hour practices every day where she does a lot of running and sprinting to get conditioned. She can say that after a month or so, her legs are very strong and she is feeling really good and she is loving it. Lehi High School has only had a Lacrosse team for a couple of years and the first couple of years they were pretty much the bad news bears. This year things are coming together for the team and they have won some tough games and the girls are a fun group. They even get together for dinners and have had a sleep over at one of the coaches house. Go Chelsea!!

The "Wicked" post I promised from last weekend...

Debbie, Steffanie, Heather, me, Sheryl and Annie just before we left on our trip-

we are just a little bit excited!

The first night we stayed the night in St. George at Sheryl's Inlaws and had a great night sleep and the most amazing breakfast the next day. Martha made us wonderful scones with homemade honey butter and sausage and O.J. Mmmmmmm!(thanks Martha)We left Friday morning at 10:30am and headed for L.A.- Woo hoo!We got a hotel that night and all 6 of us stayed in one room-we wouldn't have it any other way-- I was nervous about bothering everyone because I snore but noone complained :0)
As you can see it was tight quarters but we managed just fine!!

Friday night- our first night in L.A., we really wanted to find a Cheesecake Factory restaurant and weren't having much success. We were on San Vicente and Santa Monica Blvd in Beverly Hills and we decided we would stop at this street that had a bunch of outdoor tables and looked like a nice place to stop. We paid a valet $10 to park and we all excitedly started walking to find us a place to eat. We got to the corner and I looked at all of these people eating outside and I noticed that there was not a single woman to be found. What I did see were a bunch of men oogling at each other and enjoying each other's company way too much. Gurrrrrr!!! We crossed the street at this point and I think a few others were starting to figure it out but we had to prove it so we kept walking...We had to look like a bunch of naive tourists and we high tailed it out of there as soon as we were all figured out that this was not where we were going to hang out that night. We finally did end up at a Cheesecake Factory and I never felt so glad to be someplace familiar in my life! The sad thing is that before we stopped at the "happy" place before the Cheesecake Factory, Heather said she had a bad feeling about this(stopping there) and we all ignored her- sorry Heather- I will listen to you next time :0) by the way- i have to give Sheryl credit for the photo collages-- i wished I could say I knew how to do that but I don't-- thanks Sheryl!!!!In the parking lot of our hotel, these cute kids were entertaining themselves with a shopping cart--they were taking turns riding in it and coasting for a distance before almost crashing-- they were giggling and having a good time, so much so that I had to give it a try. J/K -- I did want to sit in it for a minute though.

On day 2-(Saturday) we all wanted to go to the beach. Unfortunately, there was a cold front in L.A. and so the beach wasn't exactly laying out weather but we still had fun! There was an old man with a cart and he had these beautiful parrots. Before I knew what was going on he was trying to get me to kiss one of them. I wasn't doing it right and he was practically yelling at me--Good grief-- I thought my face was going to be pecked off plus I like to get to know those who I make out with-- sheesh! After all of the craziness he charged me a dollar for the picture--You have to admit, that was a pretty bird though!

Heather is a show off (hee hee) she had no problem kissing the bird and the old man didn't yell at her at all, where is the justice?

Sheryl was pretty funny here... as you can see she was writing in the sand with her toe and was making people around her giggle as she was being silly and embellishing her artwork in the sand. Everyone was writing "wicked 2008" but Sheryl was putting a witch hat and all kinds of stuff on hers. We were entertained to say the least.

We were striking some cheerleading poses-- Ok I know I look like a clock but I just wanted to break up the monotony. We are cute though aren't we?

We ate outside at a cafe right on Newport Beach and I had to have my clam chowder. It was a little spicy but good-- The drinks had my favorite little pellet ice and the weather was divine (70 degrees) and the company was great too-- good times!

Annie and Sheryl- "soakin up the sun"

Our manicured toes enjoyed the beach and the sand-- there is definitely something therapeutic about the beach and the ocean.

After the beach we all went back and got ready for "WICKED" and we were extremely excited to say the least. I thought it would be funny to take a picture of all of us exiting the hotel room after we got ready to go. My favorite picture was Sheryl(top left) I loved the way her hair flipped up from the wind at just the right time- she looked like a model. I laughed hard on that one-- Everyone looked beautiful and ready for a fabulous Broadway play! Sheryl made us all beautiful bracelets to commemorate our weekend and we painted our fingernails black.

The Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, California-- What a beautiful Theatre it is!!

The Hollywood walk of fame is along Hollywood Blvd. (Right in front of the Theatre) --everyone got toe rings to show off but i didn't have the right shoes to show off mine--

Thumbs up for "The Fonz"

Before we went in to see "wicked"


Sheryl, Steff, me and Annie in the theatre before the show

We got to pose with the "Wizard of Oz"after the show-- he was fabulous!! I was absolutely blown away with the play. I didn't have a clue about what it was all about before we left--I heard the music but it didn't mean too much without knowing what the play was all about. All I can say is "WOW"-- The play was top notch and the cast was beyond amazing. Sheryl was a little concerned because an understudy was playing the part of Glinda but she was not disappointed as were any of us. A few of us were actually emotional it was so good--crazy huh? I recommend everyone to see this!

One more cheerleader pose in our "wicked" t-shirts the day we were leaving-- The time went by way too fast but was much needed fun and a great get away--Everyone got along great and it was good for me to get to know everyone better. Thanks everyone for a great weekend!!!

We had so much stuff-- Sheryl set the timer on her camera and took this photo showing us with all of our "stuff" before we left to go home. I can't believe we pulled it off so well- 6 women and 1 bathroom in one hotel room-- The ride home was uneventful and as usual not very quiet. It is amazing how much 6 women have to say and I loved every minute of it. Thanks again to all for such a great time and wonderful break from reality!!

All of the pictures from the trip at the link below if anyone is interested:

http://picasaweb.google.com/smacula33/WickedMarch08

Some things that were said on the trip: "my bestfriend Michelle", "It's high time" , and "I'm dead inside"(hee hee), and of course "dad-burn it" or "dad-blast it" or "dad gummit"

Things I learned about everyone: Debbie is calm cool and collected yet pretty funny- she is fun to hang with and has cute stories about her kids. she said she was dead inside when she was tickled and wouldn't laugh but I don't believe that :0)

Heather is always happy and has something to contribute no matter what the conversation is about-- she has a big heart and is funny and has great cheerleading kicks and poses.

Annie is wise beyond her years and is funny and has great cheerleading poses too especially with her face :0)

Steffanie is witty and has funny stuff coming out of her mouth at the most random times- she is a great clogger too!!

Sheryl has the best tips on how to get a stain out of anything and is funny as well (we're all funny what can I say?) she also is very creative and had us pose in some pretty silly ways while taking pictures.

My Mom is arriving tonight!

This is Grandma Folsom at her 90th "surprise" birthday party a few years ago with my brother Darren and his wife Claudia and baby, Max

I'm so excited to pick my Mom up from the airport tonight-- She lives in Washington State and I don't get to see her too often. My Grandma Folsom, (her Mom) is 93 and getting to the end of her "wonderful" life and she is going to help take care of her in Provo for a few days. Grandma is in a lot of pain but is sleeping a lot which is fortunate because she is in no pain while she is asleep. We don't know how long she is going to hang on but Grandma is anxious to be with my Grandpa again and we feel it will be pretty soon. We love you Grandma!

What a "WICKED" fun weekend in Hollywood

As soon as I get my photos from one of the gals from the trip (she's putting all of the photos on a cd) I'll be able to share my amazing weekend...Stay tuned!