October Highlights

I love October! The cooler weather, the changing leaves, the food, all of it! It was even better that I married someone with an October birthday because it was even more reason to love October! We had a very busy month thanks to work and school but we still managed to have a blast!

For Greg's birthday we went up to Vermont and hiked in the Green Mountain National Forest at Grout Pond. We stayed the night there and then the next morning we took a train ride through a bit of Vermont to see the leaves. It made us pretty excited for Murder on the Orient Express. The leaves were amazing and it was so fun being on the train.

That same weekend, my aunt and uncle were in town for a conference and they took us to dinner Saturday night. We went to a tapas restaurant in Boston, Barcelona Tapas and Wine Bar, and it was all delicious! Even the crispy eggplant was delish and I hate eggplant. Eating all that amazing Spanish food made us so excited for our trip to Spain next summer. On Sunday they came to church with us and then after church I made birthday dinner for Greg. I made French style pork chops, Parmesan garlic puffs, roasted broccoli and candied ginger and apple pie. All of his favourite things!

The next weekend was one I had been waiting for for a while! My cousin Jessica bought a plane ticket out to come see us! We picked her up at the airport Friday after work and we brought her back to our apartment. She and I love to cook together so we made dinner together. We made spicy maple roasted butternut squash, farro risotto, and spicy roasted shrimp. That night we kicked Greg out to go do some work at school so we could have a girl's night. Saturday morning Jess and I went and got pedicures before we all headed downtown to show her the city. We saw Little Italy, Old North Church and the harbor before it started pouring rain on us. We hurried in to a restaurant on the harbor for lunch to escape the rain. After lunch we headed to Mike's Pastry in Little Italy which is a big deal in Boston. Supposedly the best cannolis but we had never been. We got a chocolate cannoli and a limoncello one. They were both delicious! Definitely worth the huge line. Then we headed to the Common and took a good sitting break which was well deserved after all of our walking. We showed her some of Back Bay before we headed back to our apartment. We were wiped after exploring the city so we crashed on the couch, ordered sushi to be delivered and watched Harry Potter on Freeform. Sadly, Jess had to catch a super early flight back to Utah so our time was short, but we had so much fun. She's getting married in December and it was so fun talking wedding plans with her! Side note about this first picture, one time Jessica and I went to EFY together. She packed in California and I packed in Utah and we showed up at EFY at the U and we had both packed the same shirt. We thought that was hilarious. Then when we picked her up at the airport she and I were both wearing jean jackets. The whole night we both kept rolling up and unrolling our sleeves on our jackets and we thought it was hilarious and I wanted to remember that.

We've also had a game night with friends playing Oregon Trail, really brought back elementary school memories haha!

L to R: Greg, Waldir, Jenna, Caitlyn, Steven, me

For Halloween we got dressed up and went trick or treating at Beacon Hill with Steven and Caitlyn. Beacon Hill is one of my favourite neighbourhoods in Boston! The cutest red brick buildings with cute doors and shutters, red brick sidewalks and lots of trees. They go all out for Halloween!

Draco and Bellatrix

Best part of dressing up as a Death Eater

This car had 2 skeletons sitting in the car and a bloody head and hand propped under the tire

From October 1 to January 2, I am a happy camper and I am so glad the start of the holiday season was off to such a great start! Can't wait for the rest of the holidays!