Sunday, August 31, 2008

Did It!

One last trip to the temple before I leave here. We've been waiting for this particular trip ever since my mother joined the Church 38 years ago. It was wonderful.

Boston Temple--The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints

Just a few more things to do--leaves, beach, apples, shopping--before Wednesday!

Thursday, August 28, 2008

A Little Creepy...


I have GOT to tighten up those email settings...

Monday, August 25, 2008

Check. Check. Double Check.

We (Sam, Jake, and I) drove to Farmington on Wednesday, August 20th for Jake's patriarchal blessing. It was a lot of fun being with the boys and it was a beautiful drive. They were very impressed with the UM-F campus.

Yesterday I took Eden, Kait, Ezra, Moses, and Sean to the fair. My kids have really been looking forward to this all summer. Promising them a trip to this fair got me out of having to go to the Liberation Day carnival back home, so I was locked in. I'll try to post a couple of the pictures I took of them on rides when I get back home.

I had told Kait about entering flowers in the fair when I was a kid and so she went along the old railroad track bed and picked as many different wild flowers as she could find. She also included a pine tassel here and there when I told her that was the Maine State flower (we couldn't find many good cones at this time of year). From what she picked she made up 4 arrangements using assorted containers from around Grammie's and ended up winning 2 blue ribbons (1st place) and 2 red ribbons (2nd place). If you click on the photo above you can see one of her blue ribbon arrangements right in the center of the picture. (It's the one with Queen Anne's Lace and the jar it's in is sitting on the edge of the ribbon.)

I entered braided French bread from the same recipe that I entered before we moved to Mt. Desert all those years ago--I guess the judges still like French bread! I'm still not a carnival fan, but I'll admit that it was pretty fun to take the kids to a place where I had so much fun and excitement growing up. It marks the end of summer here in Dover--school starts Monday!




Friday, August 22, 2008

Got the Blueberries!

Check. They're not only delicious (and soooo much better than the big cultivated kind you find in the stores), but blueberries are without a doubt the most beautiful of the berry plants. In the spring they flower and even when the berries have gone by the leaves turn a beautiful red to end out the summer. Every time I lift a stem laden with plump, juicy berries I want to break it off and take it home just like that. So pretty.


Today we picked over at Blinn's, friends of ours in Brownville. Even being as far into August as we are the picking was incredible. It took us just over an hour to hand-pick 5 1/2 quarts!

Fall is coming--the sky seems to be getting clearer and clearer by the day as the humidity of mid-summer evaporates. My favorite time of year in Maine. Beautiful.

(Blueberry barrens in the Fall)

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Before I Leave I Really Hope to . . .

...pick blueberries.
...go out to the beach.
...go to a movie downtown.
...get Jake's blessing.
...do some more shopping.
...see some of the trees change.
...buy/pick some new apples--preferably Macs.
...have one last temple trip.
...go to the fair.
...did I say pick blueberries?

Monday, August 18, 2008

Picture Tag

I saw this on Susannah's blog and it looks like fun so I thought I'd give it a try. The rule is to post the info by searching Google images and choosing from the first page only. It takes some time, but here we go:

my age


my favorite color


my favorite vacation spot


where I live


where I grew up



where I'd like to travel


my favorite food



my favorite treat



my favorite animal


a past love


my first name


my middle name



my last name

a bad habit



my first job




college degree




what I'm doing right now

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

MAINE RECEPTION PHOTOS

Here are some of my favorite photos from the Maine reception--Thanks to our dear friend Galen for these:

the bride & groom--




friends & family--



Visiting

Mallory & Michael's open house was very nice--Brother Pratt (he used to live in Ellsworth) was there as well as Elder Arnold and his family, Joe , my cousins Justin and Eric and their families, one of my former Seminary students, Julia and her husband, the Willden's, and Sister Knickerbocker's parents came because she couldn't make it. We went to Spanish Fork and picked up Moses so he could come. Mallory and Michael have posted some pictures that were taken at the Maine reception on their blog at www.mikeandmal.blogspot.com.

The day before the open house we toured around Temple Square in Salt Lake City. We went to the Conference Center--WOW! What a place! It's huuuuge, but very beautiful. On Friday we spent much of the day in Provo walking around BYU and on the way home we stopped and had a very nice visit with some friends that Casey used to play in a band with when we lived here.

On Saturday we helped Michael and Mal move their wedding gifts and other things into their apartment in Idaho. We set up and made the bed and got a shower curtain and some towels up in the bathroom so that when they get back from their honeymoon they'll be able to at least have a place to sleep and get clean. The rest of the apartment is filled with boxes and stuff, so they still have a lot of work to do there.

It's been a lot of traveling around from here to where the open house was held (1 hour both ways) and from here to Idaho (4 hours both ways), so we were happy to stay here yesterday and just go to church and rest. I've been having a great time watching Veronica cook--she should have her own show on the cooking channel!

It's been wonderful being in Utah after all these years. It's so great here--the scenery is spectacular. So many amazing places in the world and all so different. I think our spirits thrive on variety as well as beauty and I'm happy to be able to enjoy as much of this earth as I have. Tomorrow it's back to beautiful New England!