sugar rush...

UVA students who live on the lawn open their doors every year to all the kids in c'ville to come trick-or-treat. it seriously seems like thousands of kids donned in the most adorable costumes are there and it is a lot of fun. lily warmed up to it a lot more this year than last and by the end of the night she was loving her "bee cos-ume" and "buzzing" all over the house.




dr. david charles III


yohan the skunk!


ainsley as a beautiful angel




her first bite of a candy bar from ryan...


and LOVING it!


happy halloween!

for all you tony dungy fans out there...

lily's a.m. halloween costume.
eat your heart out, mom!
happy halloween!
(p.m. costume to follow...)

"go home with muffy, too?"

this was the statement made by lily last night when my mom was giving her a goodnight kiss. my mom so kindly came to visit us for a long weekend during her fall break. we just relaxed and cherished time together. it is so precious to us to see lily with our families. thank you so much, mom for coming to visit. we love you so much.


lily feeling SO big in muffy's heels and loving the sound that they made on the hardwood floors!

a sporty 24.

being the peace-loving couple that ryan and i are, we try to compromise on the movies that we watch. well, we have found that what usually suits us best is to go back and forth from a girly movie one time to a more boy movie the next. and i must admit, that we both usually enjoy what the other has picked. occasionally, we don't quite agree (case and point: court's recent pick "go further" - a documentary on organic living. ryan's recent pick "transformers.") but, for the most part, we end up really enjoying one another's movies.

well, this past friday, the movie that was next up on our list happened to be one of ryan's picks. i will readily confess that i was immediately not looking forward to ryan's selection of "kicking it" for several reasons:

1) a documentary
2) a documentary on sports
3) made by ESPN.

yikes. it didn't have much going for it.
however, i will admit i was far too quick to judge this movie.
it was a documentary about the homeless world cup (which i embarrassingly didn't even know existed) and it was fascinating! it interviewed coaches and players from around the world and told their unbelievable stories that led them to be homeless and then find themselves playing in the homeless world cup. it was a very humbling story and made me have a whole new compassion for those that are homeless. we would certainly recommend it!



well, to continue our sporty 24 hours, ryan and i had been planning to run in the c'ville 10K saturday morning. maybe it was the rain that kept ryan from running with me... or maybe it was that he was required to go do laparoscopic surgery on pigs that morning and sadly i ended up running alone. but, i have a whole new love for a 10K and think it might be my new favorite race distance! i even managed to come in 3rd place in my age group. so, next year, i will be sure to have ryan by my side!

a week in review - part three...

the third part of our trip we traveled to the mountains in north carolina. our amazing friends, the hammocks, had invited us to come and stay in a gorgeous cabin with them for a long weekend.


we hiked to a couple of waterfalls that were breathtaking with the autumn foliage.






wouldn't it have been sweet if we had happened upon this in the wild?? we went to grandfather mountain, which is the highest peak in the blueridge mountains, and they had tons of animals in a zoo of sorts.


preston and ava on the mile high swinging bridge.

thank you so much, preston and kristi for a wonderful mountain getaway!

and thank you so much to all of our friends and family for the most perfect week!
we miss you all already!

a week in review - part two...

the second part of the trip we spent at kathy's house. it was wonderful...


lily loving every moment of it!


after months of petting this horse, she finally decided it was time to ride...




we made a quick trip to IU to see everyone. it was way too short, but so great to be together!

sam and ryan rocking the same shirt.
ryan's first words to sam upon seeing him, "you gotta change, man."
did sam change? nope.


the IU crew.

we were able to have dinner with our amazing friends, the wrights. we don't see them nearly enough, but when we do, it is always wonderful.

avery and brady couldn't be cuter. i promise this is the pacifier that avery chose for him - adam is loving it in all its pinkness...




adam being an amazing multitasking dad.


they are the best!

a week in review - part one...

ryan had the last week off and we were able to travel and see family and friends and just enjoy being together. i treasured our week as a family...

the first few days...





were spent at my parents' house and lily couldn't get enough of the leaves!

we took a family trip to a nearby pumpkin patch that had tons of goodness for kids!

doesn't get much cuter than this, does it?


they had big boxes filled with thousands of corn kernels for the kids to play in. lily adored it!


lily loved the baby animals and did a very accurate pig imitation that sounded nothing like the typical "oink!"




soaking up some time with muffy!


colin and stefanie and kathy made the trip out to the patch with us!


choosing her very own pumpkin (which she thought was fun to throw like a ball. i do understand the confusion, but the poor pumpkin took a beating!)