Our trip to Maine and New Hampshire

Alrighty, so here goes our whirlwind of a vacation to Maine and New Hampshire. We flew into Portland, ME on Tuesday afternoon. The girls did great on the plane rides. They even slept the whole time on the 2nd plane. Yay! Once we landed we headed straight to Two Lights State Park to meet my mom's long lost biological family. They were great. My mom had a wonderful time talking and getting to know everyone. She has 6 half sisters and brothers and 1 full blooded sister who is sitting next to me in the picture (blue coat). And then a bunch of kids and grandkids. How fun!

After we met them we headed off to the cemetery where my grandparents were buried for my dad to dedicate their graves. It was a sweet dedication and a fun time of sharing our memories of my mom's parents. (The one's who raised her, Agnes and Calvin Davis, Bicky and Grampy to me). They are buried in the churchyard where my parents were married. We then got to see my grandparents old house.

The Saco river across the street from my Grandparents home in Bar Mills, ME

The house my Grandfather built and my mom grew up in

Kevin and Jane in front of the house. My sisters, cousins, and I spent many days out on that lawn, making up dances and just enjoying being outdoors.

After having a great dinner with Uncle Billy, Auntie Cheryl and some of my mom's cousins, we headed off to New Hampshire and the White Mountains in North Conway.

On Wednesday afternoon, Kevin and I took our girls and Mikayla on a 2 hour scenic train ride. It was beautiful. My uncle Larry, my dad's brother, arrived on Wednesday also to visit with us all. It was fun to see him too.

Mikayla got to try on the Conductor's hat

Alice wasn't so sure of putting it on, but she touched it. Jane didn't even get close. She just scowled at the man.

Another train about to pass us

Jane and Mikayla hanging out the window. It was safe!

The train ride was over

That evening we all drove up to Cathedral Ledge to see the view. Beth, unfortunately sprained her ankle right after getting out of the car. She was a trooper though.

Some people cheering the rock climbers on

Alice loved to play with my hair

Ski slopes in the background

The next day we hiked down to see a waterfall

The boys set up an ambush!

A friend from high school lives in Maine, so she and her husband and little boy, Nathan, came and visited for a few days. It was so good to see you and your family, Dawn.

The shot Kevin was trying to get before he fell and broke our camera. He almost fell in the water, so luckily he only broke the camera and not himself, but now we are in the market for another camera and alas those are all the pictures we took of our trip.

Here is how the camera takes pictures now!

It does however still take videos, so we did get some videos of the rest of our trip. Friday we took another train ride, just an hour this time, and with the whole group. It wound up being Thomas the Tank Engine day at the train station, so we even got to see Thomas. Pretty exciting. We had a great time. For more pictures you can go to Beth's blog, or Kim's. They should have more. We had a great trip. New England is home for me, just a lot of great childhood memories.

Communication is great!

When Jane was a baby I only taught her to sign "all done" when she was finished eating. It kept me from trying to figure out if she wanted more of something else. Now Jane can speak in full sentences, which for the most part is great (whining, nagging, repeating the same thing over and over, not so great), but I love that she can tell me what she wants. Alice is another story. Sign language is becoming my best friend. I've seen other mom's do it and now I am a firm believer in it.

Anyway, I was trying to get Alice to smile for a picture so I was saying, "Say cheese." Then I thought I'd throw in some words she knows the signs to and she started doing all the signs. Who says they won't perform for the camera? So I switched to video and caught them all on film. Yes, she is wearing a diaper, and yes, that is a bumbo she is sitting in. It is their new movie and book reading chair.

Here are the pictures I was trying to get her to smile in. She was reading Snow White in the Bumbo

Lately...

So if any of you have been to my house in the last 6 months, you've seen paint color cards all over my living room. I finally decided on a color and with the help of 3 young men in my ward who needed work to earn money for scout camp, we painted 2 walls and then Kevin painted the 3rd one! I am so excited. My sister, Beth, used to sell vinyl lettering and so I got the phrase, "It's good to be home." But I didn't want to put it up until I painted. Kevin is a huge fan of white walls, but I wanted a little color. It's not drastic, but it adds a lot to the room and makes the pictures and furniture look better. The color is called Garden Fairy by Valspar. We'll see what I tackle next. Oh, and a gigantic thank you to my wonderful husband who painted for me while I boogied the night away at a Relief Society pool party. I love you, Kevin!

Yes, those are all of our Christmas cards. It is handy to have a magnetic door. My nephew Joshua is in the picture too.

I even moved some of the furniture around, which is huge for me. I don't like change, deal with it well, but don't like it.

Kevin and I were doing yard work, so I set up the little pool for Jane to cool off in while Alice took her nap. She had fun.