Mass & Maine

Had to take a trip to Boston to see my grand babies, the birthday boy and the Blessed Kate♥, that amazing girl who has the honor of raising my grandchildren. :-) hahahah








Had a delightfully fun time hanging with the fam and friends and sight seeing. They took us to this amazing food place called Mr. Bartley's that has been in Cambridge forever, well my whole lifetime that is. I can't wait to go back. The menu was hilarious. The "Obama burger" One and done. Too funny and too bad I can't remember the other 29 items with funny titles like that. I loved the Cherry lime Rickey and The Elvis shake was so delish. That's really what I'm going back for. Chocolate, banana and Reeses Peanut Butter Cup. hmmmmmmmmm


Did some apple pickin at the Honey Pot Farm in Stow.









Pumpkin Pickin

or maybe just sittin


or how about a little kissin


Candlepin bowling - only in 3 northeastern states and Canada. Totally fun and I liked it a whole lot better than regular bowling.






Our scorekeeper
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York,Maine - the hottest I've been all summer except for the week spent in AZ. Strange we were on the coast and I expected it to be cold like the bay area, but nooooooo. Actually beautiful weather. Couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.













Love finding quaint outside food places like this. "The Daily Grind"





Birthday Boy with his Ultimate t-shirt quilt. Kate is amazing!

Yep, Mass and Maine a great place to visit, especially when cute kids like this live there.

Boston Roots

The past several months I've had this urging to get back to my family history. Right after Christmas I finally made the time and chose to work on my Grandmother Dorothy Evelyn Bullards family lines.

I hadn't researched any of her family since 2003 and it was time.

I dove into the Bullard line tracing them back to the early 1800's in Kentucky. Then dead end.
In the meantime my grandaughter Evelyn was born in Cambridge,Massachusetts so we went to meet her in the middle of January.

I stayed an extra week to help out with her sister who is two and adorable.

When Ellie was napping I looked up to see how far the New England Genealogical Society was, turns out it was 10 minutes (an hour and 15 minutes during rush hour coming home - if you know Boston traffic, you know what I'm talking about) Really? - MIT, Harvard,Boston College nor any of the other 23 colleges in Boston can figure out better street planning?

Anyway on with my story. Off to Boston's Back Bay Town we went and I must say I want to go again. Not only the Genealogy junk but all the fun shopping on Newbury street and I'm not even a shopper. It was hopping in the dead of winter, snow everywhere, didn't matter.
(sorry I didn't take a pic and obviously this is copied from Wikipedia)

Upon entering the building I had to pay a $15.00 fee or I could pay 79 bucks and become a member of the New England Genealogical Society. Thanks for mentioning this on your website. NOT. I'm so used to libraries being FREE that I was surprised. Then I remember that I had to pay 30 Euros to walk into the Scotland Library in Edinburgh so about half the price in my own country.
Well worth it though, it was just that nothing was mentioned on their website that ticked me off. Ok so I just looked again and it is mentioned at the bottom on their site "Visit the library". Just so you know.

I headed to the sixth floor where most of the books on Families in the New England area were.
NEHGS has been collecting information for 165 years. Their library has more than 200,000 titles and 28 million items.
I actually went looking for my Welton, Baldwin, Scott and Delamater lines since I knew they were in Connecticut back in the day.

I walked into the room full of books and there above the copier was 2 brand new books with BULLARD written on it. I snagged them and headed back to a table to peruse and to my amazement I think I found the connection from my Kentucky Bullards to Robert Bullard who came from England in 1636 and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts. I copied and copied.
I asked my son where Watertown was. He answered, "It's where the mall is. It's the town right next to us."
That night as I was looking over my treasure I realized that my family has made a complete circle of the United States from 1636 till present, from the east coast to the west coast and back again.
My grandaughter who was just born in the same area as her ancestors from 375 years ago. Then to top it off her name is the middle name of her great great grandma who carried that line. I didn't even realize that at the time til I started this post.

The next afternoon I went back and to my astonishment, the books were not there.
It then dawned on me that the shelf I had found them on the previous day was a restocking shelf for patrons to use when done copying.
I would never,ever,ever have gone looking for that Bullard line.
I had no idea they were in the New England area let alone Boston.
Someone within the hour I had arrived the previous day had put those books there. I firmly believe this statement from an apostle back in the early 1900's said,

"The spirit and influence of your dead will guide those who are interested in finding those records. If there is anywhere on the earth anything concerning them, you will find it."
-- Elder Melvin J. Ballard (Sermons and Missionary Services of Melvin Joseph Ballard, p. 230)

Not realizing that I was being guided at the time but that's how it turned out and what a wonderful experience it is in finding my roots, not only for me but for my children and grandchildren. This fifth generation Californian girl has Boston Roots

Allred Adventures - Part 1

It's been a busy, busy time during the past few months in the Allred household.
Early morning seminary ended in May, which saddens me yet quite thrilled that I don't have to prepare lessons and get up at 5am every school day.

Not all of my students were here. A couple from the other class jumped in so it all works out.

Then my adorable granddaughter moved in with us for a week and she brought her parents as well. Isn't she sweet?

They now live in Hyde Park, 50 miles away while Jonathan works downtown. Don't get to see them as often as I would like, but take any second we can get.

A week and a half before girls camp, our camp director had to relenquish her duties due to shingles. OUCH!!! I won't even go into the chaos about getting ready for camp as the ward camp director. Love the youth, love my girls and since it was Anna's first time - why not?
I'm kind of embarrassed to call it girls camp compared to what I experienced in AZ. It's more like a girls getaway. Camp Matawa. We stayed in nice cabins with bathrooms, showers and even a kitchen.



Lots of fun activities for the girls such as tomahawk throws




Canoodeling - Only 4th yrs.


Because of the rain the first day, archery was moved indoors, here's my Maid Marrion


Horseback riding (not our girls - just gleaned it from the camp site)


Service project besides mulching the camp trails, they made baby quilts for Haiti children. (Anna is down in the corner with her hand over her face)

Anna's favorite - swimming in the pool during FREE Time

You're probably wondering why all the boy scout shirts - well the theme was super heros and we were "Wilderness Explorers" from the movie "UP" We even had grape soda cap pins as well as a couple more that matched our personalities, thanks to Hannah & Co. (I'm the cyclops in the back with the visor on - Running on fumes) These girls do not like to sleep.

Hannah is going to kill me if she sees this pic, but she doesn't read my blog only FB. I love Hannah!! She's an instant Party!!

Now my favorite part about camp was watching Molly shimmy up the Alpine tower, not once but three times. She was the ONLY girl in camp who went up more than once and the ONLY girl who chose the most difficult side to climb.





Let's just call her Spiderwoman.



Scariest climb of all. Jump out to the suspended log, then climb up top, jump to the other suspended log. She did not get nerves of steel from David or I. Just for the record.





Notice her swinging from the top - aiyyyaii yaiii!!




The thrill of accomplishment. AMAZING!!!

Hey Kylie going up? The view is awesome!!

Thus ends part 1 Adventures for the Allreds
(Thanks to Kelly Sadowski for letting me use her superduper camera)