The Marvelous Manic Month of May-Part 1: Traveling, House Hunting, Chels' Birthday

May 1

 We drove 2 hours to Niagara Falls and walked around to a couple of viewpoints. We even spotted a rainbow or two...

We grabbed some lunch at Taco Bell then drove 2 hours to Palmyra. We started in the Visitor's Center and talked about Christ with the sister missionaries while viewing the Christus. Then we walked up the Hill Cumorah and my calves were burning! 

James' first time visiting Palmyra.

 The last time I was here was for the Hill Cumorah pageant when I was a girl.

 Then Sister Christensen gave us a tour of the Joseph Smith Family farm. We saw Sister Hall who was from the Arrowhead Ranch ward we were in when we lived in Arizona! She and Sister Christensen are companions! Small world.

 Our favorite part of the Palmyra experience was walking through the Sacred Grove together. It would have looked like this back then when 14 year old Joseph Smith had the First Vision because it was in the early spring. We felt the Spirit testify to us that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ did appear to Joseph Smith. 

Next we walked around the Palmyra Temple grounds on the Smith farm.

 It's the only temple built with a clear glass window in it. When the temple was being built, President Hinckley wanted there to be a view leading directly to the Sacred Grove. The picture above is the view of the temple from the Sacred Grove. So cool!

 We took a short drive to The Book of Mormon publication site. It was really cool to see how the book was made. We got to see some of the original artwork that is printed in the Book of Mormon. Below is a picture painted of the Nephite prophet Mormon abridging the golden plates which contain a record of the people. Later, Joseph Smith translated the golden plates  which is The Book of Mormon by divine revelation from God. You can read The Book of Mormon yourself by clicking here or request a free copy here.

 Cool souvenir. 

 One of the first editions of The Book of Mormon.

 

Following our experience in Palmyra, we drove 3 hours to Albany. We ate dinner at Chipotle then checked in the Holiday Inn Express in Latham where James was the guest of the day and received a bag of treats! We ended the night watching The Big Bang Theory.

May 2

We slept in and then devoured cinnamon rolls at the hotel. We drove through Vermont, then stopped for some chili at Wendy's in Ayer, Massachusetts. We drove to Mansfield, my childhood hometown, and stopped at the Old Country Store! Love this place.

We did a Gilbert Street House driveby (the house I grew up in), then ate at Town Spa pizza, my childhood favorite restaurant.

You can't go to Town Spa without having Crescent Ridge ice cream for dessert.

We drove to Nana and Grandpa's old houseand saw the Sharon Carnival was in town. Next stop: Gillette Stadium for a free New England Revolution game thanks to our old Frisco 4th ward bishop! We even had club seats! They played against the New York Red Bulls. It was a good game, 2-1. In attempt to escape traffic, we tried a short cut when walking back to our car which resulted in us walking clear around the stadium on the grass and roads and construction site to get to our car. Not a short cut at all. Oh well haha. 

That night we drove to the Bergeson's house in East Greenwich. Andy is a second year EM resident at Kent hospital and his wife Bri welcomed us into their home to stay with them for a few days.

May 3

Our first day visiting the Narragansett Ward! Thank goodness for LDS residents being in our ward. We talked with the Lehnhofs-Brian is a 3rd year EM resident at Kent and also attended Midwestern University in Glendale AZ like James!, his wife is Bobbie and their young kids are Finn, Remie, and baby Livie was just born! We talked with the Levins-Adam is a 4th year EM resident at Kent, his wife Ashley is from North Attleboro, Mass. and is an engineer in Boston, and their young kids are Odette and Eddie. I sat next to Bri and her little girl Faye at church. Everyone in the ward is so nice and welcoming, a lot of people talked to us! As we were leaving church someone rolled down their car window and said, "hope you find a house and move to our ward, good luck!" After church we drove around looking at houses for sale, then we hung out with Bri at her house. The Levins invited us all over for burgers at their house. Adam wanted me to keep eating lots of jelly beans! We went for a walk with them and met the Levin's neighbor, Charlie. Their house is right by the water so we got to see the ocean!

May 4

May the Fourth be with you, Star Wars day! Haha. We had our first meeting with our real estate agent Mark Leeman. He's great! The first house we went to was gross. The second was better but still not good- it had 3 wood stoves! The next house was better but it didn't have a dining room. The next house was better, but no finished basement. The next house had lots of space, and while it was built in 1950, it has good bones, a great location, fair price, and only in need of cosmetic updating! It had a funky smell due to lots of glade plugins, but it was James' favorite. The next house we saw was crap. The next was cute and was being newly updated, but it didn't have a dishwasher. James' favorite on Hunts River was one we need to move on quickly if we wanted it because someone put an offer in and already signed some paperwork for it. So we went back to the Bergeson's house and made a pros and cons list while we ate lunch. We were pretty nervous because this was our first day of house searching! We went back to the house on Hunts River Drive. It seemed better to me the second time walking through it. The house has major potential. After looking at it again, we drove straight to Texas Roadhouse to meet the Levins for dinner, then we went back to Andy and Bri's house and prayed about the Hunts River Drive house. We felt good about it, but still a little nervous, so we called Mark and made an offer. We were so nervous because we wanted to get it, so we distracted ourselves by watching a movie...

May 5

Cinco de Mayo! So...we dropped off a check to the realtor...We went to the Lehnhof's house for lunch-homemade burritos and tacos! Their house is so cute-they put a lot of work into it so of course it was an inspiration to us. Their kids are adorable! Brian drove us to Kent hospital and gave us a tour of the Emergency Room. Then James and I went shopping at Marshalls, TJMaxx, and Kohls where I bought a pair of shorts to beat the humidity! We got a call from Mark and found out that we got the Hunts River Drive house! We drove to see our house to look around the neighborhood and we met our soon-to-be next door neighbor Linda who is so nice! She told us she loves the neighborhood and neighbors and she's lived there forever. Whew! Then we went to Walmart where I bought a swimsuit and headed to Newport Creamery to celebrate! I had the Brookie sundae and James had the Oreo Awful Awful (their famous shakes). It was delish! What a happy day!

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May 6

We packed up our stuff, ate burritos for lunch, got to the airport, flew to Baltimore, had Chiptole for dinner, flew to Dallas, and my dad picked us up. Paxton our sweet pup was thrilled to see us! It was great to see Piper and Chandler too.When mom came home from work, we chatted with everyone about our adventures then collapsed in bed from exhaustion!

Leaving Rhode Island

May 7

After breakfast and exercising, I had a fun time showing James the model home of our old Canterbury house with Mom and Pi. We had Wendy's for lunch and took Paxton on a walk. James got a haircut and went for a run while I helped Piper with her homework. Dad made some juicy ribs for dinner and we watched the storm roll in with some serious thunder and lightning!

May 7

We slept in and then took Pax on a walk. We visited with Nana and Gramps from 1pm to 10:15pm! We had a blast. Nana made fish "chowda" (chowder) and we ate Gramps' fudge and oatmeal cookies too. So many laughs with them. Love them so much.

May 8

We woke up earlier and went to Einstein's bagels with James, Mom, and Pi for free breakfast bagel sandwiches for my (and Mom's) birthday month. Shopped at Target. Mom surprised me with a birthday gift of a Planet Tan diamond membership so I could get unlimited spray tans to get ready for the cruise! We went to the mall and got some MAC makeup. Mom and Pi and I went to see Age of Adaline and Dad, Chan, and James saw Avengers Age of Ultron. Then we all went to Red Robin for dinner and Mom and I enjoyed free birthday burgers and sundaes!

 The kid across the hall had the exact same outfit on as Chan haha!

May 10

Happy 25th Birthday to Me! Happy Mother's Day to Mom! We went to church in a flash flood. Mom made homemade pizzas for lunch/dinner and Nans and Gramps came over. I had a Nothing Bundt Cake's chocolate chip bundlette I got for free for my birthday and they ate strawberry shortcake for Mother's Day. I opened some birthday gifts and I gave mom my gift of her favorite things in her favorite color, purple! I gave Nana stationary from the Old Country Store and some lavender soap. James left for a 2 day trip to Arizona but promised to come back with a birthday gift for me!

May 11

Smoothies, exercise, spray tanning, salad...can you tell I'm getting ready to go on a cruise? I helped Piper with homework and we had burgers and zucchini for dinner. We had family home evening and scripture study and York peppermint patty for dessert while talking to sweet hubby on the phone.

May 12

Exercised, tanning, Target, Dollar Tree, Wendy's, Chase, Kroger, Pi's homework, Vampire Diaries with Pi, picked up James from the airport. Surprised me with a birthday gift from Charming Charlie: a bright coral orange/pink purse! The picture looks like hot pink but it has more orange in it.

May 13

James helped Gramps move rock in his yard before the rain came. Nana and I planned on decorations and designs for our first house. Tomato soup and grilled cheese, cookies and fudge, a long talk, a free printer, 3 "inherited" framed paintings, and boxes from the attic. 

May 14

Exercised, tanned, frozen yogurt with Mom. Bank, Walmart, laundry, packing, Pi's homework, bunnies in the backyard. We baked the brownies that Piper made the mix for as a birthday gift to me!

May 15

Smoothie, exercise, homework, errands with James. Over to say goodbye to Nana and Gramps, and pizza for dinner. Helped with the last of Pi's homework. Watched Vampire Diaries with Pi and went tanning. Basically we did all the last minute things to get ready for our cruise!!!
Goodbye pooch!