Sadie meets fowl and a Sunday stroll

Sunday afternoon we headed over to University of Richmond which is a beautiful campus to introduce Sadie to the art of feeding ducks. I have fond memories of feeding ducks when I was little and I have always thought it would be fun to take my kids.  Love at first sight.

What magnificent beasts.

                              Oh I love my little lovers. 

Okay... geese can pretty scary. These guys were a little aggressive. I didn't get a picture of there aggressiveness because I was too busy running away from the beasts.

                             Fall and all of its glory 

Halloween Olsen style

All you former and current Innsbrook peeps might recognize this guy...

Yep you guessed it. BP (aka Bishop Palmer).  Mark decided to spend countless, unneeded, unnecessary  hours on this bad boy.  I said it couldn't be done, I said it was creepy, I said you're wasting your (and my) precious time.  But he insisted and sat there on our floor with all his dental instruments in hand and created this masterpiece. BP was awed, he was stunned, and he gave Mark 2nd place in the pumpkin carving contest. Here is Mark handing it over to BP. I think he put it in his office.  Pretty good, eh? 

...And then there is my pumpkin which I took a drill to. It was way too much fun. I just pretended like it was my 9th grade Math teacher. JK! JK! I'm not that crazy. I can't wait to see this sucker all lit up. 
I wanted Mark to get a picture of me drilling the heck out of this poor pumpkin but he was to busy creating this......  Oh only the nastiest chili in the universe.   And the hottest, I might add. And of course he had to have some heinous display for it. This pumpkin reminds me of my prego days: large, round and always barfing.  Doesn't that chili look appetizing? I apologize to any one who tried it at the ward party; I hope you did not get 3rd degree burns on your throat and tongue and even worse, I hope you are still alive. This garbage made grown men cry. 

Oh, and did I mention I got 2nd place in the chili contest?  Because mine was good and mine didn't have every kind of pepper in the world in it and mine wasn't from a can and mine was just dang good.

We went as Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

Saturday after the party we of course had to get some pictures of our funky little monkey. I love Richmond in the fall!

Saturday we went to Beau's 4th birthday party. I was Beau's nanny for 2 1/2 years. It was a costume party and Sadie went as herself: a little monkey. She got to see her good friend Olana, Beau's little sister who is 1 month older than her. She was a pirate. There were a bunch of little ones Sadie's age to play with. It was cute to see them interact.

Oh my goodness gracious!

So I was Google-ing clever Halloween costumes and ran across this one.

Busch Gardens

On Ashley's birthday we went to Busch Gardens. It was fun. And crowded. And cold. But we experienced some great coasters and hung with our Hart friends. Even with all the technology of these super coasters, I think our favorite ride was that old carnival one that goes around and around in circles. I think Ashley liked it because it goes so fast that she gets squished up next to me.

The Nibbler

We found Sadie after a nap one day with a bunch of white stuff on her face. We thought maybe it was dried-up crusty rice from breakfast or barf or lint or something. Wrong. Dead wrong. Without us knowing and without our permission Sadie had been nibbling paint off of her crib. What a little weasel. I guess that is why those clear plastic crib barriers are so popular among parents of little weasels.

look very closely

Wow! More shirts! More Fun!!

I know that the blogosphere is not here for us to get gain, and I hate to do this, but I do want to take a quick second and use it as a promotional forum:

Endure to the Endzone has newer, better, awesomer shirts out. Still supporting BYU, still scripturally based, still one of a kind. Check them out and tell your friends!

www.enduretotheendzone.blogspot.com

Sadie, Sadie, Sadie!

This is all Sadie wants to do all day long: walk, walk, walk. We borrowed a little push walker from some friends and it is so funny to watch her push it up and down the hall and living room.  She is getting so close to walking by herself. She thinks she is so cool when she walks.

Mommy and Sadie pictures are rare...

Last week I was getting all the Halloween shwag out of the shed and I came across the ball of fun. Thats what we call it. We have had a few dance parties that would not have been such a smash if it were not for the ball of fun. Well to my pleasant surprise the ball of fun was a total hit. It's exactly what we needed. As you can see the ball of fun brings joy to everyone.

I swear my child usually wears clothing when she is out side but I guess it was one of those special days. Dancing on top of cars is new too.

Gettin' our bronze on!

We just found out some exciting news.  That's right, this is Mark with more exciting news.  As you may know, I will be finishing dental school in May, and we will be leaving our beloved Richmond, VA.  Anyway, I got my orders from the Air Force.  I joined the AF after I started school, so they have been paying my billz.  In exchange, I'll work for them on their bases for four years. We learned that we will go to Eglin AFB near Destin, Florida.  I'll be doing a 1 year advanced education in general dentistry program (AEGD), which I am pretty excited about.  So expect me, Ashley, and especially Sadie to have awesome beach bods by this time next year.

Flo-Rida here we come!

(...in several months)

Big Lick 2008

Three weeks ago Mark completed his second annual Big Lick triathlon with much success. It was at Smith Mountain Lake in south west Virginia. So beautiful there. I'm so proud of my man in black. Mark was so excited that we came to cheer him on.  

It was a long day for Sadie. 

 

Just havin' some good old fashioned fun at the hotel pool. 

About 2 weeks ago Sadie started crawling and boy oh boy life just got a tad bit harder. She is the biggest wuss  when it comes to blow dryers and vacuum cleaners, but when it comes to bugs and stairs the girl is fearless. I spend most my day chasing the little booger and making sure she doesn't kill herself. But hey I'm lovin it!