Yeah!!!!

I have finally stepped up in the world of digital photography. My dream of owning a digital SLR has come true. I was so excited to come home to a big box! Check it out...

This is a very good day for me :)

3 Thanksgiving Dinners

We had a busy thanksgiving this year. The night before Thanksgiving Brian and Kimberly came over and had a sleepover. We had hamburgers and watched Shrek 3...very funny, especially when pinochio tries not to tell them where Shrek is. You just have to watch to know what I'm talking about.

We woke up early and had waffles - yum. We watched Cory, Brian, Brandon, Davis, and Linda run in the 'Turkey Trot'. Matt, Kimberly and I had fun walking around the beautiful University of Richmond campus taking pictures. We tried to get some of the runners- some turned out better than others. We even saw some turkeys running the 10k. Before the race began Brian showed us his winning starting position. I'm sure it helped him in the race.

Later that day we went to Davis and Linda's house for a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner. Jeff and his family joined us. His wife Andrea ran in the turkey trot. They have two cute kids that entertained us. We ended by playing games - charades and mafia. We are so thankful for the good friends we have met in Richmond.

Friday morning, instead of rushing to the stores for all the door busters, we drove up to Maryland to see Corey, Jill, and Maya. Maya got to spend the week on the east coast and we spent her last two days with her. Jill's sister Linda and her husband Toby came too. We had a great after-thanksgiving dinner. We had a good discussion (started by Toby) on what food each person started with and why. Most people tried the homemade macaroni and cheese - which was delicious thanks to Corey and his love for cheese :) Dessert was chocolate fondue. It was so good! We chilled, flipped through the channels to see what Christmas specials were on, played "pet shop" and playdough with Maya, and played Sequence. Linda and Toby left after games and the rest of us settled in for the night.

Saturday we had yummy omelets for breakfast and saw an early showing of Ratatioulle at the dollar theater. Matt and I said our goodbyes and left right after the movie. On our drive home we saw a hot air balloon. We went straight to the dental school lab so Matt could practice before his test on Monday. I kept busy by playing with dental putty.

Sunday we were invited to Cameron and Haley's for dinner. We walked around their neighborhood picking up flyers for the homes that were for sale. These homes are way out of our price range but it was still fun to look. We ate our third thanksgiving dinner and had delicious homemade egg nog that Cameron and Brian made. While we were waiting for dinner to start, Matt came up with a fun game. The goal was to get the most magnets to stick to the fridge by throwing them. The catch was you had to have your bum up against the wall. It was really funny to watch everyone. Davis did the best and got 4 magnets on the fridge. We also had fun putting together a puzzle that Brian and Kimberly brought. Matt and Cameron helped as soon as the Simpsons was over.

We had a great Thanksgiving and we have so much to be thankful for.

Happy Birthday Mindy!!!

Hey twin :) I hope your birthday was wonderful!!

My birthday was pretty relaxing, which is just what I wanted. On Friday, we invited some friends over for burgers and fries at our house and then went bowling.








Everyone had nicknames: Me- Birthday Girl; Matt- Legs; Linda- D Dawg; Davis- Princess; Kimberly- Better than You; Brian- Brian. Can you tell who thought of all the nicknames? We decided that Brian's nickname was Candy Cane because of his shirt. I am usually pretty good when it comes to bowling. Matt said something must have happened on the drive between Utah and Virginia. It was not my night, but I still had fun. I guess I'm only a Utah Bowler. I need the ghetto bowling alley with the chipped balls, cracked shoes, and leaning lanes. Matt won both games. Way to go! You finally beat me!













Saturday we slept in and Matt made me a wonderful breakfast of waffles and hot chocolate. We hung around the house, drove by some houses that are for sale, and ate dinner at my favorite sandwich place - Quizno's.

And check out one of my birthday presents. Brian and Kimberly gave us a Mr. Potato Head Family. It's pretty awesome.

Nag's Head, NC

This last weekend we headed south to Nag's Head, North Carolina. We stayed in Haley's Mom's beachhouse. It was the coolest 70's house with wood paneling EVERYWHERE! Her house looks right over the ocean. It wasn't always oceanfront property. But because of all the hurricanes during the past few years, the houses that used to be between her house and the ocean have either been washed away or moved. And most of the other houses along the same row are now condemned. The only thing keeping them from washing away are huge sandbags, which they will no longer be able to keep for much longer.




We got to the house late Friday night and quickly chose our different bedrooms. We walked on the beach in the dark for a few minutes and then came inside to play Guitar Hero III (provided by Brian).









Saturday we woke up early for the sunrise that never came. It was too overcast to see anything. That morning we played on the beach - it was too cold for most of us to get in the water. But not for Cameron and Brian-they're crazy.

We found some cool shells -ones that had been rubbed really smooth by the waves- to the point that they look more like striped rocks.















We drove to a visitor center and talked to the nicest guy who told us all we needed to know about the outer banks; most of which we forgot in a matter of seconds.






We went to the North Carolina Aquarium where we saw all sorts of aquatic life. We also went to a discovery class and learned about different types of turtles. The instructor was really nice and let the kids try on the turtle arms. Aren't they so cute?!?
We also went to the lost colony of Roanoke. It was pretty interesting. Historians still don't know what happened to the colonists.











It was pretty windy, so Matt (you know how he is with kites) decided now would be the best time to build his biggest kite ever. Cameron was so excited to help him accomplish this. They started out at the dollar store then went to the hardware store to get all the materials. That night Matt and Cameron made the kite while the rest of us watched TV and played Guitar Hero.

We ordered pizza and watched Ratatouille. It was good. I liked it. There were a few minutes in the middle that we didn't see because we started smelling something burning, which freaked us all out. We're thinking it was from the furnace that had been worked on earlier that day. As a precaution we slept without the heat on that night. Luckily we had lots of clothes and blankets to keep us warm.

Sunday morning we enjoyed the sun and the sand as Matt and Cameron flew their masterpiece- the 7 foot 6 inch tall kite. They had to make several adjustments to the tail to get it flying straight. But they eventually got it in the air and quickly realized they may have bit off more than they could chew. The force of the wind was so strong that they needed more than their own body weight to control it. They found an 8x8 frame post to wrap the string around. They had to keep extra weight on it because the kite was still dragging it along the sand. pretty crazy.



































Later that day we went to Kitty Hawk to see where the Wright Brothers had the first flight. We went back to the house for some lunch and then drove to the Bodie Island lighthouse. For some reason the sign in the lighthouse says BODY but all the street signs and markers say BODIE. So I'm not really sure which spelling to use.













And during the course of the trip the guys found a wig in Haley's Mom's van. Whoever had shotgun had to wear the wig. Doesn't he just look gorgeous?!?