Burlington, Vermont

Picture courtesy of Enoch Petersen

I spent the week before I moved to Portland in Vermont, visiting my sister who just had her second baby. My mom orchestrated the whole thing and stayed that week with Missy also. My mom is so gracious, and knew I would need some time to decompress after leaving Carl, and even paid for my plane ticket to Vermont! So, it was my mom, Missy, Chase, Enoch, new little Tessa, Jude, and me, for a week, just hanging out and playing a lot. Here are some pics. . .

Here we are enjoying some story time.

We went grocery shopping. (Enoch and Jude had a hard time coordinating their steering wheel movements and very little was accomplished)

Jude found the shoes of his dreams

We went to Shelburne Farms

And just played around

Jude finally learned how to drive a tractor, so now I can put him to work!

He was reeeeeaaalllly excited about the tractors

I know this is blurry, but Jude always had a fun time sitting back there with Enoch. I quickly learned that anything involving spit is funny to young children.

We visited the Cider Mill and got to drink fresh-pressed apple cider

And we saw this awesome rainbow. It was a double rainbow (don't know if that really shows up here)

Here is a sneak preview of our life in Portland, Oregon. We had a big family dinner the Sunday after me and Jude arrived. All the cousins were having races in the backyard, and when they came in, they told Briton they needed a car wash. So Briton graciously washed all their "tires" off. From farthest to nearest. . . Talmage, Joseph, Sydney, Isaac, Jude.

It has been really fun living with Robin and Briton (my cousin and her husband). There is always something to do and ideas to discuss and plans to make. Mostly, I am trying to be patient while waiting for my Oregon nursing license to go through. I can't apply for jobs until that happens, and it's a little frustrating. Also, though, it's a nice excuse to just sit around and eat bon-bons all day with Robin. Ha! Portland is the perfect city for running. It is SO EASY to stick Jude in the stroller and go for a nice long run. By long I mean 3 miles. I'm still "acclimatizing", right? Right?? Robin and Briton are running the St. George Marathon this weekend. That's all I have to say about that.

Jude seems to be adjusting well. He is always having fun, but he can feel that we're in limbo, I think. He's not sleeping as well as he usually does. He has Skyped with Carl a couple times, and that seems to put him in a really happy mood. I think Carl and Jude need each other. Maybe I just needed to get out of the equation. Anyway, things here are good. I have already been to a session at the Portland temple and I was overwhelmed with a feeling of love, and that Heavenly Father is intimately aware of me and Jude, and He loves us and is watching out for us. It was the most powerful temple experience of my life. I can never deny the love I felt there. I am grateful to be near a temple again.