Surprise!

The other night Doug and I went in to do our nightly check on the boys before going to bed. Much to our surprise, when we looked into Gabe's crib, he was naked! We started laughing so hard that we had to leave the room for fear of waking the boys up. It seems that Gabe has learned how to take off his pajamas all by himself. I love the little things these boys do that make me laugh.

Both boys have been very interested in photos lately. They love to point at people they know and tell us who they are. Oliver has everyone down, except apparently he can't tell himself apart from his brother. Every time he sees a toddler boy he says, "Gabe". That includes when he is looking in the mirror and when we point to him and say, "Who's this?". We get "Gabe" almost every time. Occassionaly, he also seems to think he is Elmo.

New England Vacation

DAYS 1-3 {just me at my conference}

It has been almost two years since the boys came into our lives and in that two years it has been a very rare occurrence when Steph and I can get out alone. So when I had a conference in the Adirondacks of New York I thought it would be just the chance to have some quality time with just the two of us. My parents took the boys for the week and we headed off to visit church history sites and my old mission stomping grounds. It really was great to finally see several church history sites I had not visited and a bunch of people I worked with on my mission. The pictures really do not do justice to the fall foliage, it was beautiful. We stayed in one bed and breakfast and several inns along the way; they rekindled my dream of owning an inn someday myself (Steph smiles at this but thinks I am crazy). So in a rambling sort-of chronological order here is the recap...

DAY 4 {Steph arrives}

After three days in an "old money" lodge on Blue Mountain Lake in upstate New York Steph and I headed to Palmyra. We first visited the Hill Cummorah followed by the Palmyra temple and the rebuilt Smith farmhouse, the site where Joseph was visited by the Angel Moroni. We ended the day in the sacred grove, by far our favorite. It was a very rainy day and we were the only ones there but in the quiet of the afternoon it seemed as though the trees were trying to tell me that they were here when Joseph prayed, and were the sole witnesses to the event. Like I said... amazing! For good measure I collected three walnuts the squirrels had somehow missed and will plant them in the spring.

DAY 5

We started the day at the Peter Whitmer farm, where the Church was organized. It is amazing they fit 60 people in that tiny little cabin at the organization of the Church. After a long drive across New York we ended up at the Joseph Smith Memorial, Joseph's birthplace. Not many people know of, or visit the site but it is special to me as I served 5 months of my mission here. It is really where I came to know the Prophet Joseph. The monument is 38.5 feet high, one foot for every year of the Prophet's life. It was thought to be impossible to find a single piece of granite this size but as you can see the Lord provided. Finally, the weight of the monument was so heavy (40 tons) the wagons were sinking into the mud on the journey to the site. On the day the crew was going to quit a wicked bad nor'easter blew in and froze the ground so solid the crew was able to get the monument in place in time for the pre-planned dedication on the 100th anniversary of the Prophet's birth -- just a bit of trivia. We also were able to see Evelyn True, an amazing woman I was able to teach and baptize. She is a great example to me of faithful, dedicated membership in the Church.

DAY 6

The day started out in Woodstock, Vermont where we braved the worlds longest covered bridge into New Hampshire (it has only collapsed 3 times before). I only served in this area for 5 months and rarely spent time in New Hampshire but I have to say it was probably my favorite state to visit this go around. Every village looked like it was right out of the coffee table photo album, "The World's Most Picturesque Villages". OK, I just made that up but that's what it seemed like. Steph and I got a kick out of the Civil War monuments in every town that were inscribed with something akin to, "Dedicated to the brave young men of {insert town name} who gave their lives for the Republic in the war of the rebellion". They were not too pleased with the South in these parts.

Along the way we had a great overlook of Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire -- beautiful! We ended up in my favorite inn by far off an island on the Maine coast, The Squire Tarbox Inn. This inn was awesome, they farmed and supplied all their own organic food including cheeses, meats, vegetables, etc. Check it out on-line, I definitely recommend it if you are ever in Maine looking for a place to stay http://www.squiretarboxinn.com/. The row boat was available to guests for a morning row among the tidal flats.

DAY 7

This day was spent driving along the coast of Maine in the last area I served on my mission. We spent a bit of time in Castine where I finally convinced Steph to let me get a picture of her, only to be ruined by my inept camera skills (out of focus). Her beauty makes up for the fuzziness of the photo. We stopped to see some people I worked with on my mission including this rag-tag bunch of Mainiacs. Another bit of trivia -- people from Massachusetts call people from Maine "Mainiacs" a badge of honor to any true Mainer. However, more often than not, the only reference to Massachusetts folk I heard from a Mainer was a "Mass-hole"! Bottom line, don't mess with Mainers.

DAY 8

Our last day was a gloriously sunny fall day in Maine. Galen and Janice, very good friends, took us on a whirlwind tour of Acadia National Park. It was a special way to bookend the trip since they were moving to Denver a couple weeks later. I somehow associate Maine with them to some extent and I am sure it will feel a bit less Maine-ish next time I visit due to their absence. All the same it really was a wonderful afternoon and a great trip in general. That night we flew home and I drove to Logan at midnight to pick up the boys because I missed them. So as much as I would like to say the trip was the best, and it was great, it was missing the best part -- our two little critters.

Halloween 2008

Halloween was super fun for us this year. The boys were finally old enough to kinda understand what was going on. Originally, we were going to do the Wizard of Oz foursome with Doug as the Tin Man and me as Dorothy. But, unfortunately, I lost all steam after making Oliver's scarecrow costume (which was very easy, ironically) and borrowing Gabe's 6mo Lion costume. :) That's some hard work. All in all, they really enjoyed getting candy from everyone they saw. The trick was to keep them moving so they didn't chew through the wrappers of every piece of candy in their buckets. I had a blast and honestly, am really looking forward to future Halloweens with the boys!


Gabe giving a great lion smile.

Oliver's scarecrow costume. He was in such shock at the entire holiday that he carried this look on his face for a good amount of the time.

Oliver enjoying a piece of candy (including the wrapper) on our way back from an event.

Off to see the wizard!