Sad Story

The cute old lady downstairs passed away. Betty was over a hundred, so she's probably feeling pretty good right about now...but our landlord, her son, is selling the house. So time for Ali and the roomies to check out the housing market! I already found a street that should work...

We looked at a few places today, and I realized how much I'm going to miss living with these girls! Boston has been a lot of fun, and the ward here is great. But I'll be back to visit, no worries :)

Road Trip

Church history weekend! Loved it. We took off for Palmyra last Friday afternoon to make it right in time for the Hill Cumorah pageant. I loved that it was 6 hours away, driving through all the trees and rivers around here is my favorite.


The pageant started the second we got there. Everything looked exactly how I remembered it, I was really excited to watch it again.
I went to the pageant 3 years ago, and Ali went last year, so it was exciting to finally go together!

The next morning we toured some more of Palmyra. This is the fireplace where Joseph Smith hid the Golden Plates.

The Smith Farm! Last time I was in Palmyra I convinced/begged/lovingly forced my parents to go through the Sacred Grove at sunrise, so none of the tours were open that early. It was really fun to meet all the missionaries serving there and tour the house and farm,
View of the temple from the Smith farm! There's 2 sisters and 2 brothers here, but not a lot of family resemblance going on at all.

The monument on top of the Hill Cumorah is beautiful.

The Sacred Grove is one of the most peaceful places I've ever been.

You should know that these cones are Kiddie sizes. We went to a place that had a very distorted view of portions.

Everyone went to the Palmyra temple, so I had a little bit of time to explore on my own. I found the Martin Harris farm, but you can't take tours of it. I went back to the Sacred Grove to wait for the group; it was a nice change from all the other times I've waited outside the temple, usually I'm watching a large number of cousins (and sometimes strangers' babies, but that's another story.)

The whole road trip crew outside of the temple.

We drove home late Saturday night and went to church a little exhausted the next day. Ask me to tell you a story about what happens when you're super tired and you're the ward chorister...it can be a bad combination :) Anyways, we got right back in the car the next day to continue our little church history tour and check another state off of my list. Vermont!

Sharon, Vermont to be exact. Joseph Smith's birthplace! It's about 2 hours away, so we added a little more driving to the weekend. That's never a problem with me, I love love being in a car. No one else seemed quite as excited about it, but I think they got over it.

The monument at the Old Smith farm is beautiful! It was a great weekend.

Total hours spent in the car: About 17
Total # of deer hit by anyone we were with: 0
The odds are back in our favor.

Loving Independence

This might be a little late, but Boston is the BEST place to be for the 4th of July! So I need to do a little rewind. We woke up early that Saturday and went downtown for all the patriotic excitement :)

First we went to a flag ceremony downtown, and I realized I haven't said the Pledge of Allegiance for an extremely long time. It was a good way to start the day.

Next we went to Faneuil Hall to listen to the Mayor and a couple other speakers. It was more exciting than it sounds. Well, Ali fell asleep actually...

They read the Declaration of Independence right downtown at the Old State House, from the little balcony. You can't see the cute people dressed up in costumes reading it, but they're there!

That afternoon we all headed down to the Esplanade to hear the Pops and see Boston's famous fireworks! I could sit and watch fireworks forever.

So the next Monday we decided to head back down to Franklin to watch their fireworks that were postponed. I pretended it was the 24th of July because I know I'm going to miss fireworks that day! Boston isn't too excited about pioneers for some reason.

Then we wrapped Ali up in a blanket and carried her back to the car. I'm not really sure why, but it was a good time :) She said it's exactly how they lift residents when they fall at work so I'm glad she finally got to experience what that feels like.

I love the 4th of July! Plus it means I'm halfway to Christmas so that makes it even better :)

June Job

I spent a lot of time with these cute kids last month! They're a family in the Cambridge ward that needed a nanny for June. I loved playing with them!

We made up some pretty good piano duets, be sad you can't hear them. Driving a van in Boston traffic was one of the more interesting parts of the experience...I'm so glad Utah requires zero parallel parking skills. Space is a beautiful thing.

Good old Candyland. Princess Lollipop has a special place in my heart, a select few of you understand why. Andrew is 5, and he always kept me laughing.

Favorite Andrew-isms:

-"In primary they keep telling me I need to be like Jesus. They tell me that all the time -- so when I have a son, I'm just going to name him Jesus. That way it'll make things a lot easier for him."

-"I just can't catch a break from Milo. He really likes me, and I try to like him, but I just can't catch a break from him."

-"No, I don't want a drink of water. That'll completely undo all the bathroom I just did."

-"Maddie, dogs don't get married right? Then how do they have puppies?"

-"I don't look anything like my dad because my mom had me, but my dad says he invented me."

-(Andrew what did you learn in primary yesterday?) "How to sneak out."

-"I'm too tired to go outside, I feel like people make me go outside every day."