The Big Apple

A few weeks ago Kaylie and I had a priceless opportunity. A family that I had taught and baptized on my mission in New York was getting sealed! Not only was it an opportunity to go see one of the coolest cities in the world, but I would have a chance to see so many people whom I love so much and to have Kaylie with me! We decided to make a vacation of it and skip a few days of school so we could do some sightseeing too.

We flew in on the overnight flight, which gave us the opportunity to see the city lights as we descended, which was really cool.

Our first stop after a quick nap was the temple for the sealing!!! The E train to the 1 train transition went super smoothly and we made it just in time!

If you've never been to the Manhattan temple, put it on the bucket list. It's right in the middle of the city and is a completely unique experience.

 After the sealing, we took some time walking around Central Park since it was about a block away. Even though I spent two years in New York, I had only been to Central Park once and that was only because we got to walk through it on our way to the temple. So it was cool to get to see it for reals this time. We'll include some pictures down below under the touristy part of this post :)

What a happy family!!!

So glad we could be with the Diaz family. I'm so grateful to have come to know them!!!

It felt good to see the culmination of years of preparation from this special family. They are great examples to me. It is a wonderful feeling to know that this family has been sealed by the Lord and can partake of all of the blessings of the gospel!!! I wish we had some videos of the dancing after the wedding dinner...

Not only did we get to attend the Diaz family's sealing, but we also got to see a lot of other people that I had taught and worked with on my mission. Even though we couldn't see everyone, I was grateful to get caught up with some wonderful people.

Edin Godoy

The Bejarano family

The Elejalde family...love these three kids

I was dumb and didn't take a picture with the Gomez family even though we stayed at their house. But here is a picture of when Juan Carlos got baptized!!! I was chubbier then because I was living on a steady diet of pupusas.

We also got to have a lot of fun! Even though we were only there for four days we got to visit all of my areas (except one) and do all of the touristy stuff on our list too. It's amazing how much you can pack in to just a few days in this city!

Under an archway in Central Park

What a cutie! Central Park really is pretty cool 

Grimaldi's under the Brooklyn Bridge. A New York classic!!! In case you can't tell from our blog, pizza is important to our family... 

View of Manhattan from Brooklyn

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge

The 9/11 Monument: A chilling reminder of what happened here
 

Manhattan from the Staten Island Ferry

Freedom.

Times Square at night is a must. Such a cool city!

I'm so grateful that I was able to make it to the sealing and to get a chance to see so many wonderful people and have Kaylie meet them too! It was so fun and hopefully we can go back soon!!! Until then, stay classy NY!