New England--Oct 2011

Near the end of last year, I realized that we only had a short time left before we had to pay for Hallie to fly with us. So we took advantage of her free passage to the North East, always hoping that the flight wouldn't be full so we could have a whole row to ourselves. And on some flights our dreams came true. Regardless, she is a great traveler. She fits right in!

We went to 5 state capitols in this order: Boston, Providence, Montpelier, Albany, and Augusta. The weather was perfect. The air smelled "woodsy." It was nice to have a taste of a real fall, where the changing leaves are abundant. Not that I ever really want to move from San Diego, but it was nice to visit.

We spent some time with Ashton's cousin and her family in Boston. It was nice to see them for it has been a few years since we've seen them. We spent some time with my aunt and uncle who live in NH. We are hoping that they will actually move to San Diego some time in the near future. And we spent lots of wonderful time together as our own little family, long car trips, seeing sights, jumping on the hotel bed. Joy and Happiness. Although we did enjoy us some yummy Ben and Jerry's straight from the factory itself, our favorite place was the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial. The spirit there was strong and beautiful. We are grateful for the restoration of the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the wonderful man who helped bring that about.

The only tragic incident was that we could not find our original croquet set right before we left (and it is still yet to be found). So we had to buy a new one. The lost croquet set doesn't bother me as much as the fact that our little map that tracks all the states we've been to was in there and is lost forever. It's a good thing we took lots of pictures. I just have to go back through them all to figure out our order. Nevertheless, we only have 4 more capitols to go: Bismarck, Boise, Honolulu, and Juneau!