Halloween 2009

I know many of you were interested to see what we were going to dress Brody and Sadie up as this year for Halloween. Unfortunately, we weren't able to find costumes to fit Brody's long body so Joe and I decided to dress up instead!! We traveled to Virginia Beach for the weekend and are fortunate enough to have friends, Megan and Rick, that absolutely love Halloween and throw a big bash every year. So on Saturday we got dressed up in our fabulous Tacky Tourist outfits and set out to entertain everyone for the night. The best part about it was that I could eat as much as I wanted that night and you could never tell!! Hope this adds humor to your day!

(Pictures below include Peggy Bundy, The Cleavers from Leave it to Beaver, and a Gorilla with his Banana)

Army 10 Miler

We did it...we finished the Army 10 Miler race in Washington, D.C., all in less than 2 hours! Way to go Team Household 6. For those of you that don't know what the term "Household 6" stands for; in the Army it is commonly used by the spouse who is in the Army (our husbands) referring to their "commander" of the house (us, the wives) because we normally have to take care of everything. An example of using the term would be, "Household 6 told me I have to be home by dinner time today". I hope this better explains it. After a great visit from Sarah and Addie in Charlottesville, we were then blessed with Megan and Rick's presence in Charlottesville as well for 2 nights. We headed to D.C. on Saturday and walked around Georgetown all day. Sunday was the race, which I will admit I was not looking forward to. I blame the peer pressure from the girls for me even participating in this event. And even though I feel like a 90-year-old woman and that my knees are no longer attached to my legs, I have to admit it felt good to accomplish the task of running 10 miles. We all ran the race under 2 hours and our team as a whole came in 9th out of 18 teams. Not too shabby!! I've included some pictures of the race below.

Mine and Joe's Birthday Weekend

Yes, a Virgo actually married another Virgo...Joe's birthday is September 20th and mine is September 19th. It was a very relaxing weekend. We tried a great restaurant called Mas downtown that is a Tapas bar. The food was amazing...reminded me of my vacations to Spain! On Saturday we hiked Humpback Rock with the dogs which was quite a workout, or was it that we were turning a year older?! When we finally got to the top the view was beautiful. We then watched Texas crush Texas Tech with wings and fries. Joe went to a cupcake bakery and bought my favorite, red velvet with cream cheese frosting! On Sunday we went and saw Love Happens with Jennifer Aniston, which was really good! I then made my first cake FROM SCRATCH for Joe's birthday! It didn't turn out very pretty but it was soooo good! It was a great weekend and I can't wait to see what's in store for us for the next year!

Sadie eyeing the cake

What Happens When a 29-Year-Old Plays Rugby!

Joe has decided to play Rugby on the men's team while we're at UVA. Little did he remember how rough the sport is, especially for a 29-year-old! While practicing last Tuesday he tackled a new guy on the team who had never played before. Out of defense of Joe's crushing him, the guy put his head down resulting in a blow to Joe's nose! After Joe walked in the front door with a blood covered tshirt we went to the doctor's office to get xrays. Good news...it's not broken! Just tissue damage and black eye! The question is: did Joe learn? Nope, he'll be back at practice next Tuesday!

Our 4 week vacation in Virginia Beach

The advantage of Joe back in school is that we get great vacation time! In between summer and fall classes we had 5 weeks of vacation, which we spent 4 of those in Virginia Beach. Most of our days were spent on the beach in the sweltering sun, according to Joe, or according to me, the relaxing sun! We had a quick, unexpected visit from Sarah and Addie and got to catch up with friends at dinner. We found a great "doggy daycare" that Brody and Sadie were having a blast at every day rather than staying in the house...until they caught kennel cough from there! So they weren't able to go back the remainder of the trip due to being contagious for 12 weeks!To wrap up the trip, Jeff and Kristen came down from NY to visit and got engaged on the beach while there! So congratulations to Jeff and Kristen! Wedding bells seem to be contagious as Megan and Rick also got engaged during our 1 week that we were in NY during the vacation time! Megan and Rick asked Joe and I if we would be a part of the wedding next December...so we'll get to relive the moment of walking down the aisle together!! Haha!! Below are some pictures of our trip! ENJOY!

Joe and Addie/Sarah and I

Day at the beach with Sarah and Addie

Dinner with friends

Engaged August 14th
Celebrating Megan and Rick's engagement!
The biggest pizza I've ever seen!
At a Yankees game
Tommy's graduation party

Brody and Sadie's Birthday!

I know you're thinking we're a bit crazy because we actually celebrated Brody and Sadie's 1st Birthday today. Their birthday, day didn't start off too well though after Joe and I came home to find my brand new sandal chewed into little bits of leather all over the carpet. They got time out for that! The rest of the day was good for them though and we had a cake made at Sammy's Snacks (a dog store) to celebrate. This is what happens when you don't have children...Here are a few pictures and a video of us singing (don't mind the terrible voices). HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRODY AND SADIE!!

Charlottesville, VA

YAY!! We have officially settled into our new home for the next year, Charlottesville,VA! We moved in the first week of June and Joe started classes on the 8th. He finishes that class on Friday and will begin another class for 3 more weeks on Monday. After that we'll have summer vacation for about 6 weeks. I had my work cut out for me when I arrived on the 10th unpacking boxes, cleaning, organizing, and putting up pictures which we finished doing yesterday. I have to admit it was pretty difficult going from a 2-story home to an apartment as far as storage so I was forced to use my imagination! The apartment is a perfect size for us though and I actually enjoy cleaning now because it doesn't take the entire weekend. Joe loves the idea of no yard work either! The dogs love it as well and have adjusted well to the area. There is a large fenced in dog park in the neighborhood that I take the dogs to every morning when Joe leaves for class that they exhaust themselves in, chasing eachother and meeting other furry friends. Brody is quickly realizing that he cannot put his face in other dog's faces though as we have encountered a few not so friendly dogs! Joe's legs have finally adjusted to the 6 mile bike ride including many up hill challenges to and from class every day! We'll see if that will continue once it begins to snow here! There are 4 other Army officers in the same program as Joe and will continue to be in all of his classes for the next year. We met all of them last night for dinner along with their spouses and it was very comforting to know that we will be with all of them for the next 4 years! I have included lots of pictures of the apartment and a video of the dogs in the park. We would love to have our friends and family take advantage of us being in this beautiful place so please plan to visit us at some point!