The best part...

...of visiting the New England states was seeing Dave, Courtney and Charlie! We had such a fun time with them visiting Boston, Cape Cod, Hyannis (some person may accidentally mispronounce this on occasion) Port, Plymouth and going to the Red Socks - Yankees game at Fenway.  We enjoyed a delicious Italian dinner at a restaurant with our niece Catherine, her husband Ryan and their baby girl Elizabeth.  It was fun to be together and see how these young couples are doing.  Pat stayed several days with Catherine and enjoyed their time together. 
I absolutely love seeing our children and their children in action!  I'm so impressed with Dave and Courtney and the life they are making together with Charlie boy.  They are doing so well and have enjoyed their time on this rotation in Boston. They were such wonderful hosts and made us good food and took such great care of us.  It was so fun to see Charlie in his home environment and watch all his new tricks and stunts.  Dave's job has been challenging and he has learned a lot.  Now it's back to Charlotte, NC at the end of October for their third and final rotation.  What a great experience they have had living in Boston and seeing all of the New England states while there. 

Story time with grandpa

On our "duck" tour of Boston seeing the sights

Rick having a bonding moment with his second cousin
 Mitt Romney at the Massachusetts state house

Baseball game at Fenway!!  So much fun.

Riding the train to get to the game

Choo Choo!

Learning the ropes

Visiting the Mayflower site in Plymouth

We couldn't have been there on a more beautiful day

Enjoying the Cape with Charlie

Too bad we didn't have our swimming gear

Walking the Freedom Trail with Courtney and
 enjoying some pastries from Mike's pastry shop

The North End

Pubs galore

Old State House where the Declaration of Independence
 was read.  It is read each 4th of July and Dave
 and Courtney were able to attend that event this year. 

In front of the Harvard Law School

Cannons used in the Revolutionary War

On the way to the game

Enjoying our seats and the good view of the game

Love those fat little crossed legs!

Charlie took a powder during the game...so sweet!

In front of the Massachusetts state house

In front of the Harvard library

Loved being with our son and his sweet family!!!

Marvelous Maine

 We absolutely LOVED visiting Maine a few weeks ago.  We'd go back in a heart beat.  It was such an interesting and beautiful place.  It has a coast line like no other state and the harbor towns are quaint and very inviting.  I'd love to go on a vacation for a week to Maine, but alas, we only had two days to explore this green, wooded, coastal state.  We got to experience a lot of firsts too. We got to drive through much of Maine as we headed to New Hampshire and to Vermont.  It's hard to imagine the difference between the New England states and the western states.  It's like being in a whole different country.  I love the huge variety we have in this beautiful country of ours. We also got to visit Acadia National Park and enjoy the majestic scenery there.

Freeport, Maine.  Home of L. L. Bean and some mighty fine shopping.

Crossing the state line into Maine!

Following Route 1 in Maine was awesome!

The beautiful State Capitol building in Augusta, Maine

Enjoying the view in a harbor town -  Camden, Maine

At the top of Cadillac Mountain where the sun first
shines on the good ole USA every morning.

See what I mean??  Stunning beauty!

Bass Harbor lighthouse in Acadia

I enjoyed LOTS of seafood at every meal.
 Lobster rolls, New England clam chowder at four
different restaurants, halibut, and...

fresh lobster.  $14.99 what a bargain.
 I needed the bib.  I got cracking and ate every
succulent bite of that poor lobster.  Rick opted out.

Camden, Maine.  I'd love to go back some day.

Acadia National Park, wow, what a beautiful place

Ranger Rickeee

Entering Acadia

Rugged coast line of Maine.
 No wonder they need so many lighthouses.

More beautiful scenery as we drove
the Acadia loop through the park

Lunch at Jordan Pond inside Acadia
with clam chowder and popovers!  YUM!

Here's a little glimpse of Bar Harbor, Maine

Rick's mom went with us and we enjoyed
her company.  The harbor at Camden, Maine.

Enjoying the only sandy beach at Acadia.
 Rick was sorry he didn't have his swimming suit.

Pre-game fun ~ post-game agony

Andy and Chelsea celebrated their birthdays over the weekend.  How fun for them that their birthday's are only one day apart!  They invited a group of family and friends to gather at their apartment before the BYU-Utah home game for a tailgate party.  It was so much fun!  Our great friends the Philipps came in mass and their kids and grand kids all came dressed in Cougar blue.  The weather was beautiful (unlike the tailgate party we did two weeks ago) and we enjoyed eating chapotle burgers with great sides and birthday cake and ice cream.  Special guests were our son-in-law Jake who came from AZ and our nephew Romney who came from CA for the game.  Rick, Jake and Jake's brothers and father had hiked to the top of Mt. Timpanogos earlier in the day, so they were feeling the affects of the 13 mile arduous hike to summit at 11,752 feet. (see the mountain in the background).  They showed their grit, determination and courage and made it to the top and back to the game in time...which wasn't too difficult because of the late 8:15 pm start time.

Two of Chelsea's friends came to the game from the U of U
 and we even allowed a couple of Utes to join us.

This recipe is from Jord and Jake.  It's a humdinger!

We had a great evening until the game started.  Then the smiles faded...

My daily dose

Every day I have a 12-15 minute drive to work at BYU.  There are about  2 stop signs and 13 stop lights, depending on the route I take.  Over the 20 years I've driven to work, I've listened to a bunch of books on tape, to music on the radio, to music CDs and to talks on CD.   Years ago, Rick use to record the LDS General Conference sessions on cassette tapes so that he could listen to them again later.  Then he discovered that the talks were put on CDs and distributed through the LDS Distribution Center.  Since then, he has ordered the CDs every year so that we can listen to the general conference talks again in our cars while we drive to work.
Since General Conference comes every six months and lasts for two days, it's hard to absorb and learn from all the talks given one right after the other.  By listening to them again on CD, we have come to enjoy the talks more and to learn and feel the spirit from them.  The length of a talk is almost exactly the same length of time it takes me to drive to work.
I've found that listening to one talk a day gives me a great spiritual lift.  I get to hear one message a day and let it roll around in my heart and mind and think about what I learned/relearned.  Listening to the talks has given me a broader gospel understanding and has strengthened my testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  My sister Mary Ann has loaned me a bunch of her gospel/inspirational talks on CD and I've enjoyed listening to those as well.  I've also listened to the scriptures on CD and have really enjoyed this way of "reading" the scriptures.  I've found that using my commute time to listen to talks while driving really helps the time go by faster and it gives me my daily dose of spiritual insight, strength and hope.