Matt & Josh Come To DC

I have lived here for over 5 years now and the last time Matt and Josh came to visit was when I was an intern - in 2001. It was high time they came to see me again, and when I found a great deal on airfare, I snatched it right up. It happened to be the weekend before I was in UT, but that's ok. Josh wanted to come before he went on his mission, and Matt wanted to come because he had some time off, so it was a done deal.

They flew in on a Wednesday afternoon, and we'd planned on going to the DC Temple on the way home so we could miss some of the traffic. Great plan. The boys were hungry, so I took them to the Continental Deli, a total dive of a place that my boss loves. I told Matt what to order (the chicken souvlaki with feta) and he was in heaven. I must admit, it was pretty dang good.

Then, it was off to the temple. I love the DC temple, and it was fun to go there with my brothers who hadn't ever been before.
On Thursday, I took them into work for a little while so they could see people there and then I dropped them off at the Metro and sent them on their way Downtown DC. They went to the Bureau of Engraving ("the place where they make money") and the Spy Museum and had an unfortunate experience with a bad food court. After work I met them downtown and we went to the Awakening statue and then to Georgetown.




















Matt wanted to do a little shopping but decided that everything was too expensive for him (he could buy it on eBay for cheaper). We went to my favorite little Italian restaurant, The News Cafe, for dinner and had a great meal before we headed home in time to watch The Office.
Friday morning Matt and I went to the gym and worked out and then I went to work for a few hours before heading home for our adventure to the Big Apple. It started out with traffic right by my house. We picked up speed for awhile and then it hit. Traffic City. What usually takes about 4 hours took us almost NINE. Yes nine hours in the car. It was ridiculous. I am not really sure what the problem was, but there were a couple accidents, lots of congestion, and just plain madness. We almost got hit by a couple busses who obviously couldn't see where they were going. It took us over 2 hours after we got off the exit to go through the Lincoln Tunnel into the City! And then my BFF Jill GPS decided to pull up the wrong zip code when I put the hotel's address in ... I should have double-checked it, but I didn't ... so we wound up in Brooklyn rather than in Manhattan. I'd never been across the Manhattan Bridge though, so now I have done it twice. ha ha Good thing Matt had his iPod with season 2 of the Office on it ... I think we probably listened to the entire season by the time we made it!

Finally we decided to just go straight to Christine's so we could eat dinner and then go to the hotel and relax. She took us to Justin Timberlake's new restaurant, Southern Hospitality and it was soooo good! We hung out there for awhile and then went to check into our hotel. I found an amazing deal on Wicked tickets on eBay (and the girl ended up being a BYU grad in AZ - small world!) and she also had a hotel that she was trying to get rid of, so we took advantage of that and wound up at the Affinia Dumont, a pretty posh hotel that we never would have stayed at otherwise! The concierge told us all the great clubs and lounges that we needed to go check out ... unfortunately we didn't do any of that!

Saturday morning we got up and went down to Battery Park to buy fake watches and sunglasses and purses ... I mean to see the Statue of Liberty. The street vendors are all over the place trying to get you to buy stuff all day long. The lines for all the ferries were way too long and we just looked at Lady Liberty from a distance. That was good enough for us! We then walked over to Wall Street and saw the famous bull and then walked in front of the New York Stock Exchange. Then it was to Ground Zero, which is under construction now for the new building and memorial. It is always a humbling site to see.

We did a little shopping, a lot of walking, and thanks to their directionally-challenged sister, wound up on the wrong side of Broadway before the matinee of Wicked began. But, we made it, and thank goodness we did because it was absolutely incredible. I loved it! Great story, great performers, awesome music, etc. All of us really enjoyed it.

Then we headed over to Central Park and sat there for awhile. Finally some peace and quiet! ha ha We met up with one of Matt's friends for dinner and went to The City Grill, a totally cute and very delicious restaurant. We hung out with her for awhile and then headed back to our hotel, via a cab. I decided the boys needed the experience of a NYC cabbie, and he didn't let us down! We left a little after 9 and just under 4 hours later, we were walking into my house - even after stopping twice on the way home. Now that's more like it! Sunday morning we visited some friends and then headed to church. Then it was party time. Ok not really ... but we did have about 15 people over to our house that night for Katie's birthday dinner. Matt grilled steak & chicken for us and Jenny made the rest of the meal. It was a great night and it was fun for me to have Matt & Josh there to hang out with my friends and get to know them. Just after church that day, Josh said "I like talking to your friends and hearing stories about you Shan, I feel like I really know you now..." I had to give him a hard time for that since he's known me my whole life, but I get what he was saying - it was so much fun to have them be a part of my world (not to sound like Ariel or anything!) for a few days :) I'm sooo glad they were able to come. It was too short, too rushed, and we didn't get to do nearly enough things, but that just means that they'll have to come again! I love having visitors, and family is the best kind to have.