October Reviews

Yes it's halfway through November but I'm just now getting around to writing these reviews...

Turning Point – Laurel Mouritsen
This was no better (okay, worse actually) than your average LDS fiction novel. It was sort of a cute story, but not very well written. Slow moving, predictable, and confused about what genre it really wanted to be, it just didn’t keep my interest. A young woman who has just graduated from college goes on a biking trip with her roommate and ends up in a hospital near Nauvoo, Illinois. She meets an attractive guy who starts teaching her about the ‘Mormon’ church… and you already know the rest, don’t you?

My Sister’s Keeper
It’s not very often that you find a movie which actually does justice to the book. This one comes close. Some things are necessarily omitted, but the movie certainly stands on its own and doesn’t feel like it is lacking anything. An alternate ending throws in an unexpected (if you’ve read the book) twist at the end, which I think actually made it more satisfying. This may even be one of the best movies I’ve seen. It is an amazing story and the movie adaption was very well done.

My Best Friend's Wedding

Happy Wedding Day Bonnie!!

The story of how Bonnie & became friends is a long one, but suffice to say that she was there for me at a time in my life when I very much needed a friend. Since then she has continued to be there for me and to be a wonderful example and true friend throughout the years. She is really the most amazing person I have ever known. I look up to her in every way! I am so happy that she has finally found a great guy that deserves her. I wish them all the happiness in the world!

I wasn't their "real" photographer, but I had some fun with my camera & photoshop anyway. I love doing this. :)

It was such a gorgeous day!

the Shupe's - I love these people :)

the sisters

the brothers

I love this picture!

Me with my two best girlfriends - Bonnie & Katie!

And they lived happily ever after...

New England in the Fall: Day 1

It's hard to believe that this trip which I've been planning for months (and wanting to take for years) has now come and gone! We had a fabulous time and I got lots of pictures to add to my "fall scenics" collection. Thanks a billion to Malisa & Dave for letting us stay with them and helping make my dream a reality!

DAY 1: ARRIVAL

We got up at 5am to head to the airport - shout out to Katie for getting up that early to take us! Our first flight, from SLC to Cincinnati, was great. But the second one.... not so much! We were on a claustrophobically teeny plane and I got really nauseous. Motion sickness was a new experience for me - I can now officially say that it is not fun! I'm afraid I was terribly rude to the clerk at the rental car office when we arrived in Connecticut. He was going on and on trying to sell us upgrades & insurance policies and making me mad because I thought I had already worked it all out when I booked the trip weeks ago. Quite literally, I had much rather been puking than talking to him. At last, we arrived at Malisa & Dave's house. Dave was really sweet and let me take a nap in his comfy bed while he went out and fetched us dinner. I didn't feel up to eating, and I was starting to get a headache so I decided to just take some painkiller instead. That's when I finally got to puke. Thank heavens I felt much better after that! So Day #1 wasn't so much fun, but Dave and Malisa were wonderful to their crummy, barfing house guest.

On our way!

Landing in beautiful Connecticut!

New England in the Fall: Day 2

DAY 2: THE COAST

On day 2 we left Malisa's house early and drove out to the coast. One thing that really amazed me about New England was all the trees. Now, I knew there would be a lot of them. Obviously. Everyone knows that, and it's half the reason we came. But seriously, there is an INSANE amount of trees there! We would be driving through a big city and have no idea because all we could see was trees. It's kinda neat because even though the East is very populated it makes it seem like it's all rural country. Very beautiful.

When we reached the coast we spent the afternoon at North Hampton Beach in New Hampshire. It was beautiful and the weather was perfect! We loved everything about New Hampshire, and we saw some pretty nice huge-o beach houses that we wouldn't mind living in!

After a couple of hours at the beach we continued up the coast to Cape Elizabeth, Maine. We went to Two Lights State Park, which was as pretty as it was deceptively named! I chose to go there because I wanted to see Cape Elizabeth's famous lighthouses. Well it turns out the lighthouses are not in the park and you can't even see them from there. But we had fun playing on the rocky shoreline there. Just before sunset we found someone to give us directions to the lighthouses, so we got there just in time to get some fabulous pictures.

We found a restaurant called the Lobster Shack located right on the beach at the tip of Cape Elizabeth. Mike wanted to have the experience of eating a Maine lobster, and what an experience it was! They keep them live until just before they cook them so it was super fresh, and completely whole. I’m talking legs, eyeballs, everything. It was pretty entertaining (and kinda gross) watching him try to figure out how to eat that thing!

New England in the Fall: Day 3

DAY 3: SCENIC DRIVE
We spent the night in Portland, Maine and woke up to a very rainy morning. It rained off and on for the rest of the day but that didn't spoil our fun - it was still a beautiful trip! We took the scenic route on Kancamagus Highway through the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It was so gorgeous! We bought some apple cider from a dude who was selling it out of his truck on the side of the road, and it was amazing stuff! Best I've ever had, by far. We stopped along the way so I could take pictures of a few of the beautiful covered bridges for which New England is famous. Mike got a little bored and hungry while I was taking hundreds of photos, but I had a great time! Near the border of New Hampshire and Vermont we saw a sign for Maple syrup, which Mike really wanted to get, so we stopped by. We entered a little wooden shack and found a man sitting in a rocking chair by the door. He began telling us all about the process of making syrup. We bought some delicious homemade maple syrup right from the man who made it! Mike thought that was the coolest thing ever.

Our last stop of the day before heading back down to Connecticut was to see the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial in Sharon, Vermont. We drove up a beautiful path lined with trees to a peaceful and secluded spot up on a hill. There was Tabernacle Choir music playing and a very comforting feeling in the air. We strolled around the leaf-strewn walkways and watched the sun set on the monument. It was the perfect ending for a beautiful day!

New England in the Fall: Day 4

DAY 4: BOSTON

We didn't spend as much time in Boston as we would have liked (we slept in) but we got to see quite a few of the highlights.

Boston Common was my favorite part of Boston. I'm not really a fan of huge crowded cities so it was nice to spend some time in this big park.

Eating "fried dough" (basically what we would call a scone) topped with Bostone Creme, sitting in the grass at Boston Common.

Paul Revere, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams are among the people buried in this cemetary.

Benjamin Franklin in front of the Old City Hall.

Old South Meeting House, where Benjamin Franklin was baptized and where the Boston Tea Party began.

Quincy Market, where we stopped and had Greek food for lunch!

Lovely view of Boston from Paul Revere Park. This is across the river in Charlestown, which I really liked.

Bunker Hill Monument, which is actually on Breed's Hill.

Old North Church, where Paul Revere displayed the signal lanterns to warn of the British advance on Lexington & Concord.

And... Paul Revere. We had a hard time finding him (long story), so by the time we got here it was too dark to get a very good picture.

We were completely worn out and tired of walking by the end of the day, but we decided to briefly stop at the Boston temple anyway. I forgot to bring my tri-pod with me that day so I had to use anything stationary I could find to set my camera on. Mike was laughing at my creativity with the different spots, one of which required me to lay on the ground on the sidewalk. I would love to know what the people who walked by just then were thinking!

New England in the Fall: Day 5

DAY 5: SICK DAY :(
We didn't do much of anything on day 5 because I got sick!! I came down with an awful head cold on Thursday morning and then spent all day & into the eveing walking around Boston, so by Friday I was beat! I slept in, watched movies, took lots of drugs, and shoved tissues up my nose all day. Very fun things to do on vacation. NOT! When Malisa got home we went to a place called Panera Bread which has yummy bread and warm delicious soup! Then we got carmel spice cider from Starbucks, which is super good! It was just the right thing for crummy feeling sicko.