Tacky Lights.

December in Richmond has to include the Tacky Light Tour.
Thanks to the Stewart's for joining us.
The last picture was my favorite house.
If I lived next door to one of these houses, I would do the same!

Merry Christmas.
We fly to Utah tonight! So excited :)

White Elephants.

Before we all head home for the holidays, we enjoyed some Christmas Parties.

And of course, they included white elephants gifts,

which are always a good time!

First, one with all the girls, then with the 2nd years.

(Sorry Brockbanks, you left before I got a picture!)

Thanksgiving.

We enjoyed Thanksgiving here in Virginia with friends from Utah.

All of us graduated from Ogden High School and now live in the East.
We had a full house with 9 adults and 2 kids but it was a lot of fun.

We started the day with the first annual Gilbert Turkey Trot

and ended the day with Dance Central on the Kinect.

Med Ball

This year we decided to go to the Med Ball. 

 It took some work to convince Todd to go but in the end he enjoyed it.  We had a lot of fun dancing the night away! 

Richmond Marathon

I never planned on running a marathon.  A half marathon, 10k, 5k... yes, that's prefect, sign me up!  I have a bucket list and running a marathon is not on it.  However, my husband had a different idea.  Last New Year's Eve, we were talking with some friends and she said she had just signed up for the Richmond Marathon.  I said I thought that was awesome and the next thing I knew, Todd had signed me up.  Apparently he thought that I meant I wanted to run it!  That marathon wasn't until November and so I just kept telling him that a lot can change in 11 months so he may be running instead.  Well the months went by and I had no excuse of why I couldn't run.  So the training began...  

On November 12th, I ran the Richmond Marathon.
 I'm glad I did it but I'm SO glad it's over!!

At the start with Catherine, not really knowing what was coming.
But, it was nice to run and talk with someone! 

And the picture Todd got of me running to the finish line.  

Todd was very supportive and I was able to see him at different points in the race.  Some of my coworkers even came out to support me.  It definitely helped seeing people cheering me on.  After we got home, Todd gave me this gift from my parents and him.  It was a day at the spa and it was amazing!  

Halloween

This year, we decided last minute to dress up for Halloween.  I went to the dollar store about a hour before the party we were going to and this is what I came up with.  A Pirate and a Parrot! I know I don't really look like a parrot so I made Todd carry me around on his shoulder the whole night so people would know what I was! Just kidding, but at least for a picture!! 

Our friends we're a lot more creative then we were! 

The Homestead

Todd and I traveled to Hot Springs, VA to enjoy a weekend at The Homestead.  My aunt sent us a free 2-night stay voucher that included golf and passes to the Jefferson pools so we knew we had to use it.  We didn't fit in too well being young and poor students but thats okay- we tried to act the part of fancy, country club goers!      

We got there Thursday afternoon and enjoyed exploring the resort.  This resort is huge! There are so many different hallways and places to go and its full of history.Later that night we enjoyed dinner at Sam Snead's Tavern.  Not being golfers, we soon learned who he was and his ties to The Homestead.  He was a professional golfer and started his career there.  He has the most PGA Tour wins then any golfer. Friday, we went to the Jefferson Pools, named after Thomas Jefferson who enjoyed bathing in them in the 1800's.  They have a men's bath house and a women's bath house and bathing suits are optional! Luckily, we went during "family swim time" so we were allowed to be in the same bath house and bathing suits were required!!  The bath houses weren't exactly what we pictured but when they were founded in 1761 and are part of the National Historic Register they can't really remodel! We also enjoyed a game of golf and tee'd off the oldest tee in continuous use in the US.  Thanks to the Olson's for letting us borrow their clubs, we were set.  

That evening, we ate dinner at the 1766 Grille.  Apparently 22 US presidents have eaten there.  It was delicious and didn't disappoint! 

Saturday morning we woke up to snow! Yes, snow in Virginia in October! It looked beautiful! We decided to go on a little hike before we had to check out.  I think we were the only ones that went outside to enjoy it.  

We had an amazing weekend!On the way home, we stop at some of the scenic views to take in Virginia's beautiful fall colors!! 

The Baker's Visit

Our friends, Jason and McKenzie decided to do an East Coast road trip for fall break and we were lucky enough that they chose Richmond as one of their stops! They arrived on a Tuesday night and left Thursday morning.  Todd and I both took Wednesday off so we could show them around.  Unfortunately it was pouring rain all day but that didn't stop us!

We also enjoyed some real Barbeque at Buz and Ned's with Matt and Natalie.

Tough Mudder

October 22nd

Todd and his buddy, Nelson signed up for the Tough Mudder in Wintergreen, VA.  Tough Mudder is a 10 mile obstacle course designed by British Special Forces.  It's not really a race because they don't care about times, it's all about finishing and working together.  There were 27 different obstacles through out the course and most of them had to do with mud and water.  They had to swim in ice cold water (and had to submerge their heads completely), run through fire, crawl through dark tunnels with mud and other things under them, and run through live wires and get shocked with electricity. The temperature that day was only in the 50's and they were crazy and wore only shorts, gloves and bandanas!     

(the video from Tough Mudder Website)