Our week started at battery park, the southern most tip of Manhattan. It get's its name from the days of the revolutionary war, when it withstood a battery of gun-fire and military attack as the colonies fought off the British. We had a beautiful view of the statue of liberty and Ellis Island.

Between Monday and Friday we had a busy week, Michelle navigating through another week of her internship and DJ working on the DUP site and his statistics class. Michelle's internship is going well. The pieces of my project are starting to come together and I am enjoying the relationships I am forming with the people in the company. DJ's DUP site launched Saturday and we're hoping that marks the end of that project. Stats is going well, but he's looking forward to finishing this class and moving on to sports psychology.

Friday night we went to Zarcana, the new Cirque Du Soleil show playing at Radio City Hall. The acrobatics were incredible and the talent displayed by the performers was breathtaking. Radio City Hall has a beautiful theater and a perfect venue for the event.

Saturday we finally made it to the Manhattan temple. It is a beautiful temple but very small. On the session Michelle was the only woman and DJ was one of five men. The peace in the temple is certainly a stark contrast to the noise and chaos in the city! After the session we had dinner at one of the best Mexican restaurants we have ever been to! It is called Rosa Mexicano and it was delicious! They start your meal with guacamole made fresh at your table. We had delicious entrees of enchiladas and tortilla pie, then finished the meal with blackberry tres leches cake. Wow, it was worth every single pound we gained!

Sunday we went for a walk along the river in the morning then went to church where we were called as substitute primary teachers for the summer. Aparantly in Manhattan they celebrate Father's Day with a 10 minute lesson in Elder's quorum followed by cookies, crackers and hummus, and chips and salsa. Definitely the Elder's quorum DJ has experienced in his life! Then home to our Sunday roast and our weekly blog. Happy Father's to Dave and Conroy. Maybe when we get home we can celebrate with you Manhattan style :)

Outside Radio City Hall

Before the show the performers come out and mingle with the guests.

We were literally in the last row of the theater, but still had a great view of the stunning performance. This was our view of the stage. Radio City has one of the best fly-systems in the world, and Zarcana was choreographed to take advantage of this unique feature. This tremendous fly system supported the great aerial performance we enjoyed by many of the artist. Check out their website for a cool video preview of the show:
http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/zarkana/default.aspx

This smiling-pig bowl holds the incredible guacamole that started our dinner. They put in the whole avocado, diced onion, tomato, jalapeno, cilantro and salt and smash it all together like grain in a mortar and pestle.

After dinner we wandered through the Lincoln Center plaza where they had flea market with goods from local artists. Michelle is standing in front of the fountain located inside the plaza

View from Battery Park

In the neighborhood called Chelsea there is an old elevated Subway line they have since moved underground. What was the subway track has now been converted into a plaza extending from 34th street to 16th street. It is called the Skyline and affords a beautiful view of the Hudson River to the west and the city to the east. The performers above were dancing some kind of expressive dance. These moments are what make New York what it is, there is a place for everything and anyone in this city.

Today we had a fun day with Stephen (Michelle's brother) and Kayla (his girlfriend) in the city. We met them for lunch in Hell's kitchen (a New York neighborhood), near the place where they are staying. We had sandwiches at a great little sandwich shop. Though none of us was adventurous enough to try the blood sausage sandwich, we did taste some delicious new European flavors, the work of our attentive chef. We then went to Wicked, the one broadway show we wanted to be sure to see. It was fabulous! Great acting, great music, great stage work...we really had a fun time. Thanks, Whipple sibblings, that was a perfect wedding gift!

After the show we went to dinner at an Indian restaurant, a cuisine Steve and Kayla really enjoy. Michelle had gotten a recommendation from one of her Indian fellow interns so we decided to give it a try while they were in the city with us. DJ was quite hesitant at first but didn't take long to warm up to the delicious Indian flavors. Even Steve and Kayla admitted it was the best Indian food they have had outside of India.

Getting excited to see the show! Outside Gershwin Theater

Wicked!

Inside the theater, Kayle, Steve, and DJ

These pictures are pretty dark, but this is inside the Indian restaurant... Baluchi's Indian cuisine, very good!

Two blog posts ago I posted about how DJ's toughness protected us in the rougher neighborhoods of New York. Today he got a chance to display his real strength for a few of our neighbors. Walking out of our apartment he could see a woman walk out of the elevator and the door begin to close. He runs to catch the elevator and, with a crack just large enough to fit his hand, he shoves his hand in. With a strong, incredible hulk yell, forces the door open. There, standing in the elevator, were three men, presumable our neighbors. Pretty sure they won't mess with us after that! ;)

Today was a simple Sunday. We finally attended the ward we'll be in for the summer. People seem to be pretty nice. We found out that we have several fellow members in the building just south of ours. One couple was especially friendly and invited us over for dinner and dessert. This is just one more step that helps this feel more like home...Brother and Sister Shelton in the Manhattan first ward, making friends and meeting the neighbors.

With all of the change over the past several weeks we both totally lost track of the day or even the month we are in. Church is at 1:00 so we woke up to a lazy Sunday morning and made a huge breakfast of french toast, bacon, scrambled eggs and fresh peaches. We waltz in to church totally stuffed, sit down and look at the program. It's fast Sunday! Oops....maybe next week ;)

Today we went back to Chelsea Market to fully take in the food delights the market has to offer. We literally went from shop to shop eating treats and samples of all the goodness the market has to offer. Bakeries, artisan cheese, gelato, crepes, fresh fish and lobster, produce from the common to the obscure, the whole place was a foodie's delight! I could easily make this my weekly grocery store.

Outside view of Chelsea Market

Enjoying a pork sausage roll at on of the shops

DJ in deep contemplation over the raspberry bread pudding. Seriously, this is the best bread pudding I have ever had! Finally, someone who really knows how it's made!

Main thoroughfare inside the market

Fancy pants cup cakes...I wonder if they're as good as they look? A definite investigation for next time.

Alice in wonderland cake. The question is, when you eat it do you get bigger or smaller?

Today I officially finished my first week as an employee at American Express. It has been a great and exhausting experience. I think I've figured out the subway; with a transfer to the express line at time square the commute isn't bad. It takes about 40 minutes from door step to door step, but that includes a lot of walking. The business leader I will be working with on the Healthy Living project is very organized and very supportive and nice. There are four BYU alumni in HR; one is in our ward. The other day he gave me the low down on two of the neighborhoods not to visit...DJ and I had already managed to walk right through the middle of both of them. Luckily it was broad daylight, and equally lucky, DJ looks pretty tough.

Today I had lunch with the other HR interns and a couple of the HR employees. Once it was established that I am from BYU: "didn't they have a scandal around the basketball team?"...yes, one of the stars violated the honor code and was kicked off the team..."what exactly is the honor code?"...I explain to them..."wow, that's way different than at my school!" Yes, very different! So far it has been four days and I have been invited to four happy hours. My happy hours are at home :)

We got a subway sandwich Thursday night and went for a walk. For the first time the weather was dry and cool, a nice break from the humid heat! We went for a walk in the park along the Hudson and found these cool tables to watch the sunset on as we ate our dinner.

Friday after work I went to Chelsea Market, a cool collection of shops and food markets around 9th ave and 15th street. Above the market they film many of the food network shows. I bought this artisan bread, gouda cheese, and triple berry chutney for our dinner Friday, the day of our one month anniversary. It was a delicious dinner!

Delicious Chelsea sandwich

These pictures show the view from the windows on my floor at work. On the left is a zoomed in picture showing the Statue of Liberty. That is what I get to look at every day. Above to the right is a zoomed out view, you can still kind of see the statue on the island in the far left. It doesn't look so small from our window. Below is our view of ground zero. You can see they are making significant progress on the north side of the plaza. New sky scrapers are beginning to rise (not shown in the picture) and trees are growing around cement walk ways. Apparently 11 AmEx employees died in 9/11. The AmEx tower had front row seats to watch that tragety
















On Wednesday the comp and benefits team (my team) had a service day at the New Jersey food bank. The picture on the right shows some of my new co-workers hard at work sorting food into the correct boxes. The picture on the left shows my intern group, Julia, Kate, Maria, and me. After the food bank we went to a ritzy restaurant near the Jersey shore in Jersey city. We played games, ate a lot of food, and, of course, had cocktails. After it was all said and done we took the ferry back to Manhattan.

This week DJ has been busy working on the finishing work of the website, working out the remaining bugs, and getting it to launch. He is making good progress and looking forward to when this is finally done. Oh so close!