Kumquats and such

The day before Thanksgiving, Jason and I did a little bit of cooking in a desperate attempt to free up some kitchen space the following day. Jason prepped the turkey and I made a quinoa salad and butternut squash soup. Cleaning and drying the bird Creating a concoction to inject into the turkey Because deep frying it isn't enough, we injected it with a beer/butter "sauce" first I made the most simple butternut squash soup ever... And then I poured it into the blender, forgot to remove the plug on top (to release steam)! It exploded EVERYWHERE! I had to wash every kitchen utensil we own...and the walls! The temperature had been perfect on the day before Thanksgiving, and Thursday was boasting a high in the 60s, so we decided to keep the heat off in preparation for the crowd. Reagan wandered into our room around 5am with little ice cubes in place of her hands and feet! It was 53 degrees inside!!! No worries, we slept about another hour and then ...

On Thursday morning, Reagan and I headed down to Woodbridge (after getting my car fixed AGAIN!) to hang out with Grandma and Papa before the game. Uncle Kevin met us around 1:30 for a 2 o'clock departure. And we were shockingly out the door on time with Reagan happily settled in with Grandma. We had an easy trip down and Uncle Kevin kept me entertained:  As soon as we arrived, we parked at Alumni Hall and then wandered across the campus to the "Corner" where we were getting dinner. Before ordering sandwiches, I poked my head into Jason's old stomping grounds (He worked at Ragged Mountain Running Shop while he attended UVA): I even got the crew working that evening to pose for a picture! Then we walked across the street to the best sandwich shop EVER: I ordered a turkey on wheat with cucumber, sprouts, Havarti and crack sauce (ok, I have no idea what the sauce actually is, but it is amazing!): After eating our SECOND sandwiches (yes, w...

At our NC house, we had two trees, both super tall and skinny, both equally ugly. However, they served their purpose...holding up my hammock and a clothes line. That being said, we were really excited when we moved to Mt Vernon and discovered the most beautiful silver maple tree just behind our house. The rest of the yard looks (we're in the process of fixing it) like a jungle, but this tree is gorgeous! Moving in at the beginning of October was the perfect time to enjoy the red, yellow and orange colors of this beauty: Pictures don't capture it at all! After a couple weeks in the house, enough leaves had fallen that we were able to create a "leaf castle" for the little princess! Jason brought out the leaf blower and made a huge pile. Reagan had a great time jumping in them, tossing them overhead, and burying herself. The scrape below her nose is from falling off the couch earlier in the week. Yeah, we're great parents! What I d...

Happy Aunt Sheri?! :) Ok, so as all of you know, at the end of August, we moved to Virginia. We spent nearly 6 weeks with Mil & Fil before moving into our new rental home in Mt. Vernon. I doubt there are many daughters-in-law that could say this, but honestly, I really enjoyed that time! I cannot thank them enough for all they did to help us transition and to give us a break from parenthood! I'd love to go back and fill in the details of the past couple months, but unfortunately I can't. This is why... Upon moving in, we unpacked as quickly as possible. I eventually got around to booting up the computer and it seemed to be slow, but working ok. We didn't have internet set up, so I was really just interested in dumping 1000+ pictures I had taken on to the machine. I managed to get them all on the computer, but sadly, it crashed before any of the images were backed up!!! There goes August and September 2012:( Alas, there are worse tragedies in life, so I will not dwel...

According to the experts, we missed the peak leaf peeping by a couple days, but from the views we saw, you wouldn't know it. During our recent trip to VA, I convinced Grandma and Grandpa to drive out to Shenandoah with Reagan and look at the beautiful scenery. It was a short drive to the mountains and it was especially great because I wasn't behind the wheel for once. We turned on to Skyline drive just after noon and were treated to delightful views: We convinced Grandpa to stop at nearly EVERY overlook we passed! Then we drove up to the milepost where Jason and I used to camp and we all made the 1/4 mile walk downhill to the Gravel Springs Hut. I've camped in this hut several times and it brought back so many great memories. Reagan enjoyed playing by the firepit and in a large pile of leaves too:) The walk back to the car wasn't quite as easy. Reagan used the old, "I'm just a baby, you can't expect me to walk all the way up there" excuse so I g...