Jackson...Part 1

Before I post about the big event, I'm going to fill you in on everything else we were up to for our 5 days in Jackson. We were so lucky to have such a great excuse to go back to such an amazing place where there's so much fun stuff to do :)

To begin, here's a picture of the sweet ride they rented us for the weekend.



The first thing I did was hop into the mom-mobile and drive out to my favorite views of....

The Tetons



And the Sleeping Indian....see him laying down on his back?



Then we did some real western style shopping with Matt's parents.



The next night, I attended a bridal shower where our instructions were to wear white...like my outfit? Meg approved it ahead of time.



It was great for all of us visitors to meet the bridesmaids - and of course to spend some time with the bride!



We played a game where Samantha had to prove how well she knew Hadyn - she answered about 80% of the questions right! I think that means she knows him pretty well - I don't think I could have gotten that many right and I've known Matt about 11 years now...



Afterwards we all met up at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar.





On Saturday, we went hiking in Grand Teton National Park. My hiking companions wanted an easier hike with pretty views so I chose to hike around Jenny Lake up to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. If you ever head to Wyoming, it's a good one! Please forgive the iphone photos - I left my camera at the house!











All the wedding guests were pretty lucky when it came to animal spotting. A few people saw bears (of course not me, something about me is a bear repellent and I only saw a few during the 2 years we lived there).



However, we did see a moose on our drive home from hiking - Maybe Kate is good luck!



Isn't she pretty? We also saw a male on our way up to the wedding but I didn't manage to get a picture of that one.

You might be wondering where Matt was this whole time? He isn't in many of these pictures yet due to his illness. Poor thing had a rough sinus infection/cold/virus (who knows!) the first few days that left him miserable. At least he felt better by the wedding and rehearsal dinner!

Fast forward to the day after the wedding....

We also had the chance to eat at one of my favorite places that's only open in the summer - Dornans! It's located in Moose, Wyoming and has the most gorgeous view. See?







Check out what we saw the day before we left - that's right - it was a cattle drive that held up quite a bit of traffic. Only in Wyoming!





It took us 3 flights and over 12 hours of travel time to get back to Vermont but it was well worth it! Matt was so sad to leave that on the way home he wore his best man gift and was able to bring a little Wyoming back with him :)



Rehearsal dinner pics coming up soon...

WOW...

We are on our looooong trip home after spending 5 fabulous days back in one of our favorite places on earth!



Where we attended the wedding of two of our best friends :)



We had an amazing time and I can't wait to tell you all about it. We had gorgeous weather and spent lots of time with great friends. The only way I was able to drag Matt onto the plane was by reminding him that we get to return to Vermont, our little nug, a visit from my brother, and a month of weekends left at the lake!

Double Rainbow

I saw this on my way home from work the other day! WOW - It was amazing....







Personally, I think rainbows are good luck....I wondered if there was any truth to that so I googled it. (I know - the most scientific way to determine the truth behind things). I didn't find much but I liked this blog post on the subject!

I also couldn't help but think of this...

Happy Friday!

Finally!

Travelers - 6
Airlines - 1

Our friends from Richmond finally made it to Vermont! The trip felt too short but we had such a great weekend :)

Friday night was opening night for the South End Art Hop.



We headed down for a drink and to join in the fun...We stopped for a picture in front of Matt's office first :)



Saturday was sunny and beautiful so we tried to cram everything Vermont in at once. We took a windy boat ride (in a smallish boat). We made a trip to Dakin Farm.

We also hiked Mt. Philo...







Barrow especially enjoyed seeing the garden he has been dreaming of all these months :) It was hard to pull him away - look at the smile on his face...



We attempted to play cards...but all we could find were the jumbo ones.



So we settled for a nice game of Cranium.



Do you think Matt was able to guess this sculptorades?



Finally, they managed to squeeze in a brunch here.

And an outdoor shower...




WOW - please come back again soon - we miss you already!

xoxo

Meg's Visit #2!

I was MUCH better about taking pictures on Meg's 2nd visit :) If you feel like settling in for a nice long post you can see what we've been up to!

Our first adventure was a day trip to Stowe. Meg had never been so we hit up all the fun tourist spots.

Outside the ski museum...





The covered bridge! It's not hard to find one of these in Vermont...



There are lots of beautiful photo opportunities on the way up the mountain.



For my Mom's birthday we arranged for the three of us to go to a cooking class at a culinary school in Essex, Vt. It was so fun!

Getting ready to leave....





Mom working away while our Chef Donna reads the recipe (wouldn't you think she'd have the recipe memorized?).



For dessert we made a Blueberry Galette. I'd never heard of it before - it's a type of rustic pie - delicious!







Meg's friend Margaret came to visit for Labor Day weekend - on Saturday night, Matt and the three girls visited the Champlain Valley Fair to see Keith Urban in concert!



This fair was much bigger and more crowded than the Addison County Fair I attended with my cousins...It had some of the same attractions like the ferris wheel as well as the delicious fair food...





However, it also had some new and exciting attractions....









Just as I was thinking to myself...who really falls for this stuff? I lost track of Meg and Margaret in the crowd...Matt found them here.



They said the horse really was small, so I guess they weren't disappointed that they spent 50 cents to see it.

One thing we weren't disappointed in was the produce contest (I guess that's what you'd call this). How could you resist seeing a giant pumpkin?



They really were giant! WOW - can you read the sign? The winner was over 1,000 lbs!





There was also a giant zucchini...



And many more giant things...



Before leaving the Expo tent - Matt found a shirt he wanted to buy for me. I would be offended but I already know it's true...



Before heading into the concert, we made a stop at the beer garden...





Finally - a picture of Matt - I told you he was there!



Now for the main event!

Kris Allen opened for Keith Urban - I love American Idol so this was a great surprise for me!



Keith Urban was amazing! He puts on a great show for sure.



At one point the two played a song together....



I would call Margaret a semi-professional concert attendee. She managed to upgrade our bleacher seats to some in the section directly in front of the stage (ones that would have cost us about $100 more a piece). It was worth my worry that we'd "get caught" for our semi-illegal upgrade. At one point during the show, Keith Urban came down into the audience and sang about 8 rows in front of us! I felt fortunate that I hadn't decided to make a bathroom break during this song.....!





We weren't on the go for Meg's entire trip...there were a few chilly days spent doing this too.



We also spent some time with the grandparents :)







Finally - the last day we drove up to Breadloaf (Middlebury's writers' campus) and saw Robert Frost's summer home...Very cool.





Whew that's it - if you're still reading - good for you!