First Thanksgiving Dinner

I have enjoyed a nice home cooked Thanksgiving dinner every year of my life and have never played a very big role in its preparation. It's probably just because I am the baby in my family, but I have never been asked to prepare anything very difficult for the meal. In fact until the last 5 years I was never asked to bring or prepare anything at all. Since my family decided that I was old enough to participate they have always given me assignments like, rolls or mashed potatoes...things they figured I could handle by myself.

Well this year I am not going home for the holidays and Abe has some younger siblings that live near us and would like to get together along with a few friends in the ward. This suddenly makes me the cook! I have to make almost everything myself and I am totally stressed about it! Well I am really only stressed about the turkey. I realized that not only have I never made a turkey before but I have never even watched a turkey be made or helped in anyway with the turkey. It was always magically there at dinner time I guess. Now that I will be making one for myself I am open to tips. My mom was kind enough to write me step by step instructions but if anyones has an awesome recipe they want to share with me I would love to get it. Otherwise I will be picking one at random off the internet. The easier the better, remember, I am a novice.

Walking for Donuts

I had a vision weeks ago of Abe and I and all of our friends dressing up like Super Hero's on Halloween and going for a morning run around Reston. Today my dream became a reality.

We made a few changes though...not everyone was dressed as a Super Hero; only the coolest did, especially our friend Steve who really is Super Man! And instead of a run it was a slow walk because of the kids that came with us.

We walked through the Town Center Mall near our condo and even though it was pretty chilly and windy it was worth it to get the strange looks from people as we went by.

After our walk a few more friends joined us for Super breakfast of Donuts and Orange juice, Yum! P.S. this is my good friend Danni and I apologize to her that once again I am posting a picture of her with her eyes shut. Every time I take her picture she has her eyes shut! It's all right though because she is so pretty nobody would notice.

It was a fun morning and I think Abe and I may have created a new tradition for our future Super Ford Family! Thanks to all my friends that could come and bring my vision to life. Too bad it made my cold get worse and turned it into a sinus infection...oh well, we had fun.
Happy Halloween Everyone!

Ward Halloween Party

Yummmm! Doesn't this look delicious? I made this cake for the desert contest at our Ward Halloween party tonight. It was red velvet cake with butter cream frosting and a layer of Cherry preserves in the middle. All the viens are made from Twizzlers pull and peels dipped in red butter cream. Sadly I forgot to eat some at the party and didn't get a chance to taste my creation. I heard it was good but who would tell me if it wasn't? If you are wondering right now if I won or not let me save you the suspense right now and tell you no, I did not win. :(
I got second place. First place went to someone that brought a pumpkin cheesecake which apparently was super delicious...but come on how much creativity went into that? Just kidding, I am sure they deserved to win. I just get really competitive sometimes.

This is a cute little girl from one of the families that Abe home teaches. She was very excited to show Abe her hat once she saw that he had one too.

These are a few of Abe's cub scouts. The two on the ends are also in my primary class. It is fun to work with these kids, they keep us on our toes.

I knew there would be another opportunity for me to wear my Minnie ears somewhere other than Disney World. I had Minnie Mouse gloves for my hands as well but I wasn't wearing them in this pic.
It was a fun party with a great turn out. Besides the desert contest there was also a chili cook off and Abe was a judge so he got to taste every kind of chili there was. He had no idea that there would be 21 different chillies to taste! He definitely didn't have room for any desert after all that chili. I played it smart because I was sitting with Abe at the judging table, I waited till I heard which chili was the best before I got in line to dish me up a bowl. They picked a good one and it turns out that it was the same person that won the chili cook off last year that won. We really love the Reston Ward!

The end of an Era

For anyone that knows me, they probably noticed my wooden beaded hand bag that I have had forever! The first one I got was a much smaller wooden beaded hand bag, the same style as my current one only smaller. I was about 15 years old when I got it and because I liked it so much and it went with almost everything, I stuck with the same one all this time. Each time one purse wore out or I accumulated so much stuff that it wouldn't fit any longer in the size bag I had I would upgrade...same purse just larger size. Until last week.

I was in Anthropologie with a friend of mine when I saw this super cute bag! It was love at first sight. I picked it up and it just so happens to be the softest leather I have ever felt. I wasn't really in the market yet for a new hand bag but I just couldn't help myself, I had to have it!

Two days later my sweet, loving husband took me back and bought it for me! Yeah!!!
So I would like to introduce everyone to my new hand bag. She my look quite different from all that came before her, but she is just as special. I am looking forward to taking her to new and exciting places and many wonderful years together. Welcome home super cute hand bag!

Quick note to my old hang bag...I hope you know how much you mean to me. You have always been loyal and treated me and my things well. It was not you, it was me. I hope we can still be friends and I promise to still take you out from time to time. Thank you and farewell.

Autumn is here

My favorite season of the year is here! I love Autumn especially on the East coast because of how many trees there are. This is the lake that boarders our condo complex. check out the rest of the views in our neighborhood, it is just a taste of how beautiful it is here right now!

These are the trees surrounding the pool area.

A few weeks ago Abe brought me home these pretty flowers. What a sweet husband I have. He said that they reminded him of lions...I can see where he was going with it because they look like giant dandy lions. P.S. this was almost 3 weeks ago and two of them are still alive and looking pretty good.

Navy vs. Air Force 2009

We decided that since we couldn't go to a BYU game this year, we would go to the Air Force vs. Navy game instead. We thought it would be fun to see the events leading up to game time.

This is the Air Force Falcon. I am actually terrified of birds especially the large ones with huge talons and sharp beaks. I won't even hold a parakete I am so afraid of it pecking me. So standing this close was pretty daring for me. I even got up the courage to pet his belly! It might have helped that the bird's eye's were covered with a blind fold and the guy holding him held the bird's face while I touched him just in case he tried to peck at me.

It was cool to see all the Navy men and women filling the stands all in White.

At the beginning ceremony they had the Navy come out to on the field in their troops and they filled the entire field. It looked really neat. Once they got into the stands the Navy Choir sand the Nation Anthem and it almost brought Abe and I to tears hearing our countries armed forces singing throughout the stadium. There is definitely something different about hearing it sung by the people that fight to protect our freedom.
At last the football teams took the field and right as the Navy team stormed out 3 fighter jets did a fly by over the stadium and they were so loud that you couldn't hear anything else. That was the coolest part. The game started and for almost the entire first half Air Force looked really bad and we thought it was going to be a blow out. Abe and I were sitting on the grass and there were tons of fans with no where to sit standing behind us. We both decided that we didn't really care who won and we felt like we saw what we had come to see. So we packed up just before half time and left early. We love Annapolis so it was really fun to go and experience this long time rivalry game. When we got home we found out that the game had turned into a much more exciting game in the second half and had even gone into over time with Air Force losing by a field goal! Oh well, at least we didn't have to battle traffic and Abe was home in time to go to Priesthood session. It was a really fun day and the weather was so beautiful that it was nice just to be outside.

Last Day

The last day we were there we woke up and got ready to go to the Orlando Temple. It was really beautiful and we were so glad that we were able to go while we were there. It was not without some struggle getting there though. I left my temple recommend at home and didn't realize till we were leaving and when we got there both Bonnie and Chris noticed that there's expired 2 days earlier. Luckily we were able to get a hold of our awesome bishop and stake president and they let us in.
By the time we got back to the hotel we didn't have time to go to a park so we thought we would go to the pool for a bit. We ate lunch and while eating we started watching the funniest movie ever, "The Incredibly Shrinking Woman."
It is a classic eighties film where this woman start shrinking and they don't know why. Long story short she ends up living in a doll house wearing barbie clothes, she get catapulted off a pillow by her sleeping husband, she is rescued by an ape and in the end she becomes normal size again by falling into some spilled chemicals. Need I say more??
We were so into this incredibly stupid movie that we never made it to the pool that day and by the time it was over it was time to pack up and leave to get to the airport. It was a great trip and we had a ton of fun, but it was good to get home and back to normal again.

Epcot

On day four we went to Epcot. One of the first things we did was go on this ride called, "Mission to Mars." For anyone going to Epcot in the future, DO NOT GO ON THIS RIDE!!! In the picture above I am obviously sick. It is a virtual reality ride that simulates a space shuttle launch. I am serious when I say it really feels like you are on a space ship getting launched into outer space. They warn you about 20 times before you get on the ride that you shouldn't go on it if you get motion sick and we all laughed about it and went on it anyway. Well...we all got sick! Luckily nobody actually through up but we all had to sit on a shady bench for about 30 minutes before we could anything. After we got our stomachs back a little we walked around the lake and visited the different countries. It was fun. We ate lunch in a Mayan Temple in Mexico and got disgusting deserts in Norway. Unfortunately, we did not have the energy to stay for the night show. Although we hear that it is a really cool show. We were just way too pooped and went back to the hotel for a soak in the hot tub and hula show.

Magic Kingdom

Day three we did the Magic Kingdom and it was super fun. I just want to point out that the second day we were there Bonnie and I both bought Minnie ears but I just noticed that in all the pictures I have posted I am the only one wearing them. I promise I was not a geek by myself. The Magic Kingdom was really fun. Although we took a vote at the end of the day and all of us like Disney land better than the Magic Kingdom. There are a few more adult rides at Disney Land. Our favorite part of this day was Splash Mountain.

Our hotel

Thanks to my parents we were able to stay at this beautiful time share resort. This is the view out our breakfast area screened in balcony.

It was 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and fully equip. Basically bigger and nicer than our condo.

This is my very favorite part...the bath tub in our room was the size of a small swimming pool. It was great to soak in after a long day of walking in the humid heat.

Abe in the living room on the computer just like at home. We went to the pool a few times and the last night we were there they had a Hawaiian band play with hula dancers and everything it was fun.

Hollywood Studios

Day two was Hollywood Studios. It was the only day that we were able to stay from open to close. Mostly because it wasn't quite as hot, and also because most of the attractions there require you to sit for a long time so our feet didn't get quite as sore. We saw some cool things but the best part about this park is the night show is "Fantasmic". It is a little different than the one at Disney Land in California but still a great show! We were all glad that we stayed to see it.

Animal Kingdom

We flew in Monday morning and after checking into our hotel and dropping off our things we went straight to the Rain Forrest Cafe located at the entrance of the Animal Kingdom for lunch. It was more for the atmosphere but the food was really yummy too. After that we went into Animal Kingdom. We only had a few hours because the park closes at 5pm but I think we packed in all the best things. We loved the animal safari tram ride because we saw so many cool animals. At one point a bunch of Rhino's came right up to our tram and even walked across the path in front of us. One of them got so close to wear Abe and I were sitting that we could have reached out and touched his tusk! It was really cool. The two funnest rides are the river rapids ride which we went on and all of us got completely soaked...hence the above picture where we are all wet. The other ride was the funnest ride I have ever been on in my life, the Mount Everest Ride! It is so fun, I laughed I screamed and then we went on it again. I recommend this park to anyone on the fence about it. There is a lot of stuff that we didn't even have time to see. I was kind of bummed that we didn't have a full day at this park because I think it was my favorite out of all of them.

Orlando Slide Show High Lights

Visitors

Our good friends the Nate and Cass and their baby Bridger came out to visit us a few weeks ago. It was so fun to have them here. Bridger is so stinking cute and was such a good little traveler. Abe did much of the tour guiding for them because I had to work. They did a ton of fun stuff and I hear that they had a lot of fun. I did get to go with them on a tour of the Capital building and the American History museum. We also went out to eat a few times. This picture was taken at the Cheesecake Factory on Cass's birthday. It was really yummy!!

BYU Football

Our friends Jen and Peter hosted the second game and Jen made the cutest little treats!

These little things that look like footballs were just about the yummiest little deserts I have ever had. They consist of crunched up Oreo cookie's mixed with creme cheese then you dip the whole thing in chocolate and decorate with frosting. They are to die for! I will have to come up with a reason to make these some time.

They set up two TV's so they could have another game going on mute at the same time.

They won again, go BYU! We are now 3-1 and if Max Hall can try to not throw the ball the the opposing team so much I think we will have a great season.

Ragnar 2009

Just imagine for a moment...six sweaty men crammed into a van for about 31 hours straight. That is Ragnar!

Stretching is twice as fun if you do it with a buddy.

Team "Hold the Mayo" after completing this incredible feat of strength.

Way Behind

Okay okay... I have heard your complaints and you are right it is time for me to start blogging again. I have been so busy lately that is has been hard to find time. Now that I am so far behind the task seems so daunting that I have been putting it off even when I have had time. So here is my recap of what we have been up to.

I have been very busy with my day job as a nanny for the cutest little girl in the whole world. She is getting older and much more mobile which means that I have to now be much more mobile in order to keep up with her. Other than that I have been very busy in the evenings doing friends and ward members hair. I am also busy on the weekends with doing wedding hair. August and September were the busiest wedding months I have had yet. It is great, but it is also exhausting at times. Especially when I have a picky bride or a huge wedding party to work with. I am also training to do the Richmond half marathon on November 14th. I have never been a morning person, Abe can attest to that, and pretty much the only time I have time to run is in the morning. So I have been getting up early to run which means that I am usually wiped out by about 7:30 pm each night. Basically Abe and I are now 80 year old people that go to bed at 8 pm. It is really good to be busy though, I actually really enjoy it most of the time.

Abe has been working hard at Freddie and is now in his third out of four rotations and he really likes it so far. He got to take off 3 days in a row last month for a training class and today he got the day off to go to a Freddie Mac recruiting thing. Two weeks ago he ran the DC Ragnar Relay Race with some of his friends from church and they had a blast. Those of you that don't know what that is, it is a 200 mile relay race and you are in groups of 12 runners. Abe ran 3 different times and his total mileage was around 13 miles. They start on Friday morning and they run all day, through the night, and into the next afternoon. Crazy...I know! People that know Abe know that this is right up his alley and to make things even better, his team's name was "Hold the Mayo". Abe actually had nothing to do with the name funny enough. I was surprised he would even wear a shirt that said "Mayo" on it at all. I have a few pictures from his race that I will put in the next post along with picture high lights of the last month.

Funniest Video Ever

Good Bye Kohn's

We said good bye to our good friends Lauren and Phill a few weeks ago. They moved to Reston at the same time Abe and I did and they are such a great couple. They moved to California and we miss them a ton!
(left to right Me, Dannie, Jen, Bonnie, and Lauren)
We had a going away party for them and went to dinner and got some gelato. We are so blessed to have such good friends!

Great Hike

Two weeks ago Abe and I went hiking with some of our friends in the Shenandoah mountains. It was a little over 8 miles and we went up apx. 2000 feet and back down 2000 feet. It took us 7 hours from start to finish, including stops. It was a pretty tough hike, but really fun.

All along the hike you pass by various swimming holes, waterfalls and natural rock slides. Luckily it wasn't too hot because of the shade by all the trees, but it was crazy humid! You can actually see the humidity in some of the pictures.

Abe's favorite part was the slides.

We had a great time!