Highlights from Our 2 Years at Dartmouth

Our two years at Dartmouth were wonderful - both for the education that Josh received at Tuck but also because of all the fun things we fit into those two years. We tried really hard (with a limited budget) to fit in as many fun things as we could because we thought for sure those two years at Dartmouth would be our only two years living back east. It turns out we only moved 5 hours south and we'll be back east for a while now, but I'm still glad we fit in lots of fun New England activities while Josh had a flexible schedule. Below are a few (ok, more than few) fun highlights from our time at Dartmouth. 

The Tunbridge World's Fair in Vermont was one of our first adventures.  

See the original blog post HERE

 You can't live in New England without taking advantage of the fruit farms.

Raspberry and blueberry picking HERE

Peach picking in Springfield, VT HERE

Apple picking as a family HERE

 Hiking to Boston Lot Lake

Our first time hiking it was with friends HERE

We hiked to Boston Lake about once a week in the warm seasons- sometimes with kids, sometimes without; sometimes taking the trail straight from our neighborhood, sometimes taking the main trailhead; sometimes catching newts, frogs, toads, snakes, sometimes opting to keep our hands clean and just watch the ducks. 

More Boston Lot posts HERE HERE HERE HERE  HERE

 The Newmans came for a visit and we checked out Sugar Bush Maple Syrup Farm in Vermont.

HERE

 Supporting Dartmouth Football. We went once in 2012 and once in 2013

2012 HERE

 Thanksgiving weekend in New Jersey with Josh's parents, the Fillmores and the Jake Hawkins fam.

The Macy's Day Thanksgiving Parade HERE

NJ park date with my cousins Diana and Cara HERE
Bronx Zoo HERE

 Christmas Lights at the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial in Sharon, VT

2012 HERE

2013 HERE

Successful Craft Fairs at Christmas time
Craft fair with friends 2012 HERE
Tuck craft fair 2013 HERE

Josh went on a Dartmouth-sponsered trip to Peru for a school project - one of the perks of grad school!
HERE

 Baking courses at the King Arthur Flour headquarters in Norwich, VT

Lasagna date night with the Laytons HERE

Pie class with my girlfriends HERE

 Getting all fancy for Tuck's Spring Formal

HERE

 Ben and Jerry's Factory in Waterbury, VT

2013 HERE
2014 HERE

 Day trip to Lake Champlain in Burlington, VT

HERE

A fun week visiting Josh's sister Jess in Virginia

HERE HERE HERE

 Lots of fun at Washington D.C.

Monuments HERE

Museums HERE HERE and HERE

Mt. Vernon HERE
National Zoo HERE
Washington DC Temple HERE

 Josh spent the summer of 2013 interning at Google, but he came home for the 4th of July weekend and we had fun at Lake Sunapee

HERE

 A dreamy, child-free weekend in Portland, Maine. Best time ever.

Day 1 HERE
Day 2 HERE

A few beautiful trips to Quechee Gorge

Our first time in 2013 HERE  

Our last time with my family HERE

 Such a fun weekend in Boston with our good friends the McKenzies

Day 1 HERE and HERE

Day 2 HERE

 Lots of good times with good friends

Our Halloween party HERE

Our Ugly Sweater Christmas party HERE

 Great hikes with my girlfriends. A few favorites were

Mt. Cardigan and Mt. Ascutney HERE

Mt. Tom HERE

 Three fun family hikes to Mt. Gile

Fall 2013 HERE 

Spring 2014 HERE 

With my family HERE

 An awesome day trip to Shelburne, VT

 Shelburne Farms HERE

Shelburne Museum and Stowe, VT HERE

 Two fun days in Montreal, Canada to visit our friends the Gillespies

Day 1 HERE

Day 2 HERE

 A great Thanksgiving trip to New Jersey for the second year in a row. Lots of fun things, but the best was the full day Josh and I had in NYC without the kids

NYC day HERE
Date night with Jake and Ty to the NYC temple HERE

The rest of our New Jersey trip HERE and HERE

Dartmouth Tree Lighting Ceremony

2012 HERE

2013 HERE

Sledding at Occum Pond in Hanover

HERE

 Supporting Dartmouth Hockey - the big sport at Dartmouth

HERE

 Playing in the forest behind our house, trying to survive the polar vortex of last winter

HERE

 A day trip to Boston's Museum of Fine Art with my friend Ashley

HERE

Rauner Special Collections Library to see a first edition copy of the Book of Mormon
HERE

Trip to Maine during Josh's spring break from Tuck

Day 1 HERE

Day 2 HERE

 Easter in Boston with lots of our Tuck friends from the year before

HERE

 A day in Vermont checking out the VINS wildlife museum, the famous Quechee Antique Mall, and the quirky Toy Museum of Vermont

HERE

 Nathan's Garden in Hanover

HERE

Monthly date nights to the temple in Boston. Thanks to the Kolstes for doing a babysitting swap with us again and again!
Our last time HERE

Canoeing on the Connecticut River

In 2013 HERE

With Jake and Tyra's family HERE

With my family HERE

 A weekend trip to the beautiful White Mountains of New Hampshire

HERE

A day trip up the Maine coast, stopping off in York, Perkin's Cove, Ogunquit, and Wells

HERE

A fun week-long visit from my family and Josh's MBA graduation

HERE

What a great two years it has been! It was fun to walk down memory lane and look back on our pictures from the past two years. 

(Of course, most of our days at Dartmouth were mundane and filled with dirty diapers and lots of studying, but those simple days aren't pictured :) ).

Our Last Week in New Hampshire

June was really a whirlwind for us. We had Josh's graduation, lots of visitors, a few last minute trips and outings around New England, and then before we knew it is was time to move and say our goodbyes. Our last week in New Hampshire was mostly just packing, packing, packing, but here are a few pics from the week...

Bear sightings! The girls and I had seen the bears in our neighborhood a few different times and Josh was always bummed to have missed them. He was so excited to finally see them a few days before we left :)

 Bryn is actually pretty good at yoga (which is so funny to me) and she fit in one last yoga session before we packed up the DVD's. Back in the day I would actually do it with her, but these days I've just been lazily watching her.

 When the toys got packed up we had to get creative with how to stay entertained. Luckily, Bryn is quite resourceful and she came up with all sorts of ways to keep herself busy - including working on her new swimsuit line.

 These two still found quiet spots to read, even when the house was filling up with boxes. I love these two buddies!

Awww..... Bryn and Amy's last play date. These two were such cute friends. 

I know this is a really unflattering picture of me (it was our actual moving day so things were wild), but I sure love these sweet friends of mine and they were so nice to plan one last girls lunch before I left. I made such wonderful friends in New Hampshire and I'm really going to miss living nearby them.

 This picture makes me sad. This is Bryn's sweet little buddy Emma who lived right across the street. :(

 And just for old times sake (and to show another really flattering picture of myself)- here is our family in 2012 on the day we moved into our home on 3 Drake Lane and then here are Mya and Bryn right before we drove away in our U-Haul. Our little family changed a lot in two years! Mya was just 7 weeks old when we got to New Hampshire and now she's a full on toddler. Bryn changed from a busy little toddler to a big girl who reads chapter books, goes to school, and doesn't run away from us in the grocery store anymore. 

I will always cherish the time our family spent in New Hampshire. It's a beautiful place with wonderful people....(and also the longest, roughest winters I could imagine, but I won't get into that!) I am going to miss our small town, our quaint neighborhood, and our simple life. Thank you, New Hampshire, for two memorable years!

It's a B O Y

 The day before we moved from New Hampshire I had my 18 week ultrasound. We were so excited to find out that WE ARE HAVING A BOY! You should have seen Josh's big smile when we heard the news :) 

Mostly we were just grateful that the baby boy looked healthy - I always get nervous with the ultrasounds. This little babe has the same Cori Plexus Cysts on his brain that Mya had, but our high-risk OBGYN wasn't too worried about it so we haven't been too concerned about it either. Everything else looked perfect! And he's measuring big, so I'm hoping for another early delivery :)

The girls were thrilled to hear the news of a baby brother! I had grand plans of doing a fun "gender reveal" party for the girls but it turns out that the day before a big move is not the best time for a party(!!), so we threw up some blue crepe paper, munched on blue M&M's and called it good!

We can't wait to meet this baby boy in 16 more weeks!