Life is Beautiful

Remember my favorite couple from several posts back? Well, they got married two weeks ago! Pete and I were able to fly out to Boston for Brian and Ashley’s wedding and spend a week in New England.

Here’s what we did:

Drove to Lexington and rode bikes around town to see the sights---the Battle Green where the Revolutionary War started, Buckman tavern (tiny headquarters of the town’s militia), etc. Next we drove to Concord, to Walden Pond (famous because Henry David Thoreau lived there for two years—and mentioned by Elder L. Tom Perry in this awesome talk). Pete needed a break from all the historical sites (and the humidity that we are so not used to), so we swam for a bit in the pond-that’s-more-like-a-lake. However, there was one more place I wanted to go see in Concord…the house of Little Women! Louisa May Alcott wrote and set her book, Little Women, in this house, known as The Orchard House. Since I really love the book, seeing this house was pretty neat. The only sad thing was that it was closed…we got there too late to tour the inside.











Went to the same beach in Ogunquit, Maine that we had gone to on our honeymoon two years ago. So fun and nostalgic! The only sad thing was that the tide was coming in, so rather than hop in the river and float in it out to the ocean, the river was flowing backwards. Though the day was a little overcast, we still got deep enough into the ocean to taste some salty water. After the ocean, we went to some little shops, didn’t buy anything, and then ate at a little café (which I thought was yummy, Pete thought was mediocre. To be honest, the cuteness factor probably had a little too much play into the fact that I approved so well of the food—how adorable sounding is “Wild Blueberry Café”?). On the way back to my uncle’s house, near Boston, we decided we needed to stop at Wal-Mart to grab a few odds and ends. The Wal-Mart we happened to be closest to (according to the GPS) was the same Wal-Mart we had gone to on our honeymoon once. We got lost trying to find it then, and let’s just say the same thing happened this time. Eventually, though, we made it 











Wednesday was a day of much driving. In the morning, we left my uncle’s house at 8am for Manchester, NH where we picked up a 12-seat rental van (which will fondly be referred to as the “fun bus”). We then drove to Burlington, Vermont where we picked up Pete’s parents and younger siblings from the airport (hence the need for the fun bus). After that, we went and checked into our hotel in Burlington and ate lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent driving through beautiful Vermont (I basically fell in love with this state from the time we entered it). There are so many rolling hills covered in trees, along with beautiful rivers and lakes. The highlights of the day were touring the Ben & Jerry’s factory near Stowe, seeing the house-now-made-into-a-lodge where the von Trapp family lived after leaving Europe, and watching the sun set over beautiful Lake Champlain.









The next morning, Pete and I went running on a trail along Lake Champlain, and then John B. (Pete’s older brother) gave us all a tour of the Medical School at the University of Vermont where he just finished up his first year. It was cool to get a taste of what Medical School is like. Next, we all rushed to get ready and packed to head back to Georgetown, MA for a family dinner with all the Hoyts and Ashley’s family. I must mention the wonderful place we got breakfast from in Burlington that day, the Pennycluse Café. The most beautiful, fresh, and delicious tasting fruit tray plus these incredible ginger pancakes (http://www.pennycluse.com/recipes/) are reason alone for me to visit Burlington Vermont again. Soon (I wish).

After getting to Georgetown, we went to Ashley’s house. It was super fun to meet her family, see her and Brian (It had been a while since we had seen those two as they were off on all their almost-married adventures like finding housing in Texas, visiting the Hoyts in Washington, etc.). Ashley’s house has this amazing pond IN THE BACKYARD (and when I say pond, I mean more like lake). So we swam and ate food and had an all-around good time.

Friday, July 23rd, was filled with wedding festivities. The morning consisted of breakfast and swimming and getting pretty (as well as me running through the hotel buildings in high heels trying to help people get ready). In the afternoon, we went to Brian and Ashley’s sealing in the Boston Temple. The temple was so gorgeous and Ashley’s grandpa sealed the couple which made it extra special. It truly was a beautiful time. I am so happy and excited for them! We then ate sack lunches and Pete and I headed back to my uncle’s house to drop off his car (which he graciously let us use during our whole trip!) Pete’s older sister, Elise, and her husband picked us up from my uncle’s house and we went to Brian and Ashley’s reception (note at this point in time we spent over two hours in traffic making what should have been a 40 minute drive…thus I became slightly disenchanted—for the first time—with New England). The reception was beautiful—it was so fun to celebrate with the new couple!





On Saturday, the Hendricks family drove us to the Boston airport on their way to the Plimouth Plantation and we flew back to SLC. It should be known that I hate flying and shall have a loooong break from it now.

All in all, our entire trip was so fun! We are so happy for Brian and Ashley and so happy that we were able to have such a fun vacation! Thanks Hoyts, Hendricks, and Morrisons for making our trip sooo fun!