Ain't She Sweet

Ingy and I went to Wolf Trap a couple weeks ago for one of their Children's, Theater in the Woods shows. It was a lot of fun! We saw Mr. Steve from Steve's Songs on PBS. Ingrid wasn't too into it until he sang a song she remembered from TV, then she got really excited and ended up having a blast. While we were waiting to go in, Ingrid wanted me to take pictures of her and they're just too cute not to post. Seriously, I love this girl, she cracks me up! Not one of these are posed, she did these all on her own. Well, except the last one when I told her to make a silly face. :)

Got To Be There

I just saw Night at the Museum



at the museum!



How cool is that?! I love living in DC! :)

Going Back To Nashville

I figure it's been long enough, I can blog about my 4th of July weekend now. :) I was able to go visit my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew in Murfreesburo, TN. We had a great time visiting and going various places around the area.

First up, Nashville! Now, I'm not really a country music fan and I was reminded of this multiple times as we walked around the city, but it is still a fun place to visit!

Walking down Broadway St. in Nashville!

Landon and I spent some quality time riding in the back seat, so of course I pulled out my camera . . .
At first he was a little skeptical . . .

Then he was having fun . . .

Then he was done.

On the 4th we headed to a little town called Bell Buckle. It was cute little town out in the middle of nowhere TN. They had all of about 8 shops that sold antiques, knick knacks, accessories, and of course food. Every year they have a Moon Pie festival, but unfortunately we were a few weeks too late. If only we would have brought a side dish we could have joined the town for their 4th of July picnic! Next year . . . ;)


Here we are enjoying our Moon Pies and RC Cola!

Me and Landon hangin' out in Bell Buckle!

And of course, what 4th would be complete without fireworks? Too bad it rained! But don't worry, we got in a few. Mostly we wanted to see how Landon would react. He didn't act too scared, though he had a tight grip on my arm. :)

Me and my favorite nephew!

Landon loved running around the parking lot!

Checking out the remnants of the nights fun. :)

Thanks Ben, Kyra, and Landon for a great weekend! Can't wait to see you again soon!

Gone To The Movies

A few weeks ago a friend and I saw The Bloom Brothers and I loved it! I and when I say love, I really do mean love. Anyway, after the movie I started thinking about all the movies I've seen this year, and I can honestly say I have thoroughly enjoyed 99% of the films I've seen in theaters in 2009.

It all started off with Taken. Not the greatest movie by any means, but it was incredibly entertaining, not too short, not too long, and we got to see Shannon (from LOST) well and alive. Okay, maybe the "well" part is a little off . . .

-He's Just Not That Into You and for a chick flick it was pretty darn good! I liked that it wasn't the typical girl movie and that, to a slight extent, a bit of reality was portrayed. And we got to see Will's face on the big screen and that is always a treat! If you don't know who Will is, go watch ALIAS. ;)

-Coraline 3D. I went and saw this on Valentines Day with a friend but I wasn't excited about it, so my expectations were pretty low. I was pleasantly surprised sitting in the theater by how much I was enjoying myself. And the 3D part was awesome!

-Slumdog Millionaire. I realize this came out last year, but oh well, I LOVED it! It's on my top 10 favs of all time list, maybe even top 5. If you haven't seen it yet, RUN to the nearest Red Box!

-Wolverine. Love, love, loved it! I went into the movie super excited and I was prepared to see a superhero movie, so my expectations weren't set too high. I was entertained the entire time! And let's not forget Charlie (Dominic Monaghan)! And of course a little Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds never hurt anyone . . .

-Monsters Vs. Aliens 3D. I took the kiddos to see this one and it was okay. I never would have seen it, but the kids really wanted to. Nothing to write home about though.

-Star Trek. I have never once in my life seen anything Star Trek related, but the movie looked good and I support all things JJ Abrams. I really enjoyed the movie. I'm sure it would have been way better had I had any sort of Trekkie in me, but I liked it anyway.

-Up 3D. Quite possibly my favorite Pixar movie of all time! I'm usually not very excited about Pixar, but I tell you what, had I not been so tired, I'm pretty sure I would have bawled! It was just so so cute! I want a dog like Doug!

-The Brothers Bloom. I wanted to see this when I saw the trailer. It looked like a decent movie, so I thought, why not? As I was sitting in the theater I kept thinking to myself, if this doesn't end in some ridiculously stupid way, this will be one great show! And the ending was perfect! The movie was also pretty darn funny, I laughed out loud several times. One of my top 3 favs of the year for sure!

-The Proposal. I probably would have waited for the DVD release before seeing this, but a friend suggested this or Year One and I have less than zero interest in that one, so The Proposal it was! I'm a much harsher critic of chick flicks than I use to be and this one definitely passed the test! Somewhat predictable, but not loaded with too much cheese or anything annoying like that. I got some good laughs and well, it was Ryan Reynolds.

Well, there you have it folks, my 2009 movie review thus far. Not that you asked for it, but hey, it's my blog! :) There are plenty movies I have yet to see and would like to, so I'll keep you posted.

A Change Will Do You Good

There have been a few changes in my life the past couple weeks. Let's start off with the hair. I decided it was time to give up my beloved purple hair . . . at least until the fall. I was a lot of work and with all the activities of summer I know it would be tough to maintain the look. So off I went to the salon where I not only went for one solid color, but I opted to chop a few inches off. This is the result:

Not too short, not too long.

Here's the best shot I could get of the back, and it shows the color well. I wanted a black/brown color and the stylist suggested this one. If you look closely you can see a slight purple tint . . .

There's nothing quite like getting a new hairstyle and loving it! Good change, I'd say!

Next, school is out! So that means more quality time with the kids and lots of water play!

Ingy and her cute friend Emily at one of the water parks we frequent.

Ingy and Caitlin (Emily's sister) chillin' at the water park. Caitlin is one of my favorite little girls ever!

Playing army with Matty!

Matty built a tank to destroy my armies . . .

Then the biggest change was about two and a half weeks ago when my best friend (emphasis on the friend for all you non-believers), Spencer moved away. Sad but true! He is moving to LA to be an actor, so keep your eyes peeled! :) This is the kind of change that you really wish didn't have to happen, but in the end you know it'll be for the best. I'm grateful that we were able to live so close to each other and have the kinds of schedules that made it possible for us to spend a lot of time together. I miss having him here like crazy, but this gives me an opportunity (or forces me, depending on how optimistic I'm feeling) to pursue other friendships and before that wasn't very high on the priority list. I'm not going to promise that all the tears have been shed, but I'm doing much better than I anticipated and I know a big part of that is Heavenly Father blessing me.

Here are a few pics of some of our latest adventures.

At "The Awakening" sculpture at the National Harbor. The sculpture is a man coming out of the ground, and it's really cool. We didn't get very many pics because there were tons of people there! We totally intended to go back, but just didn't have the time. I'll have to make another trip. :)

We're just taking it all in on the dude's arm. We ate some yummy gelato and sat on a bench on the dock while we watched people and talked. It was a beautiful evening!

This was the second to last night he was here. We ate dinner at Vermillion, arranged flowers, and got soaking wet!

I guess change isn't the worst thing in the world . . . Now when's the next flight to LA? :)

Video 06.15.09

One of my friends posted this on Facebook and I thought it was hilarious! WARNING: If you have not finished watching season 5 of LOST, you probably should hold off on watching this one . . . ;)

All The Pretty Little Ponies

Last weekend Spencer and I went to Chincoteague Island. It's one of two long, skinny islands, technically in Virginia, but to get there you have to drive through Maryland. Here's a little map so you can orient yourself. ;)



It was such an amazing day! We started out with a 2.5 hour trip to the island filled with mad libs, great music, and a stop at a road side fruit stand to pick up peaches, pumpkin butter, and some delicious barbecue sauce. When we got to the island we drove around a bit and saw a few wild horses and marsh deer while taking in the beauty. Then we hit the beach! The ocean was pretty much freezing, but we were brave and had fun playing in the Atlantic. We brought some delicious fruit and some goodies we bought at Eastern Market the week before to enjoy as we relaxed on the beach and worked on our tans.

One of my favorite things about going to the beach is playing in the sand, I love it! Spencer and I had fun making sand "sculptures" and digging holes. The hole digging started when I wondered if I could dig a hole deep enough for a person to stand in. Eventually curiosity got the best of me and I started to dig. The hole I dug was deep enough for my leg to stand in, but as I was digging I found the ocean. So I guess you could probably dig a hole deep enough for a person to stand in head to toe, but they'll be standing mostly in water!

As we were turning Spencer into Buddha in the sand, I looked up and saw a herd of wild horses coming up to the beach. It was so so SO cool! They were followed by several other herds. We got to see stallions fight, baby horses that couldn't have been more than 3 months old, and then we may or may not have pet them. I know the sign say not to, but how can you get that close and not!? Here are some pics for you to see how cool the experience actually was . . .

Here's me and Spencer on the beach!

Spencer did a cool face, but he destroyed it before I could get a pic of the final product.

This is my sculpture . . . It's a bird! Tell me you see it . . . Spencer couldn't.

This hole was a lot deeper than it looks!

Marsh Deer crossing the road

Wild horses! We pet wild horses! How cool is that?!?!

Mom and baby!
Spencer the horse whisperer! It never ceases to amaze me how much he knows!
Stallions fighting!
This is the first group we saw . . .

I have tons more pictures, but I'll stop now, so I don't bore you . . . :)

The whole day was so much fun! It was a great way to spend our last weekend together before Spencer took off for LA.