This last month and a half has been filled with a lot of traveling, hiking, baking, spending time with new friends, seeing old friends, and taking in all a Virginian fall has to offer.
The biggest news, before I fill you in on our personal adventures, is that my baby sister is married!! I cannot believe how fast the big day came and went, but her wedding was beautiful and her husband is wonderful, and I am so excited for Jennifer and Philip's new life together. Speaking of which, tomorrow marks 6 months for Joe and I! WOW how time flies. It feels like it was just last week that we were getting married, especially since I can remember our own wedding day so vividly! However, we have learned so many new things about each other and about relationships since that glorious Saturday. I know I am certainly still finding new reasons to love my husband more each day.
CONGRATULATIONS!!
We also got to see many tried and true friends during our trip home for Jennifer's wedding and it was wonderful catching up. It's amazing how we can be gone for months but it only takes a minute to feel like we never left. I feel so blessed to have such great friends.
Other than our 13 hour drive home and back (yes that's 26 hours of total driving and my poor darling made the first 13 through the night... alone) we've also voyaged to D.C. to see the sights with some fellow law schoolers. We had a blast seeing D.C. and Arlington and having what we now fondly remember as a "couples decathlon weekend"...you know with the usual games such as Ladder Ball, Catch Phrase, Euchre, Cranium Hoopla, and an American History board game... All I can say is that it was a riveting weekend.
Joe and I have also spent alot of time enjoying God's beautiful creation. We've been hiking a few more times (lots of pictures on facebook), went to a cider press party with a group from our church, and recently went apple picking in an orchard just 10 minutes from our house. Nothing says fall like picking apples in a sea of red, orange, and yellow then drinking hot cider and finally arriving home to unbundle and watch some college football. Are you jealous yet? I am! I cannot believe all of the new opportunities we are getting to experience. I feel like every weekend is a vacation!
Proud of our freshly picked Pink Ladies.
It looks like someone left off all the "y"... some people just don't know any better here.
I was also inspired, at Joe's constant probing, to make some autumn inspired cupcakes which we shared with our neighbors and favorite cat-sitter. I, as per usual, couldn't make my mind up on someone else's recipe so I pieced several together to make my own delightful pumpkin spice cupcakes with a spiced brown sugar cream cheese icing... just talking about them makes me want to go eat another one! They turned out great and I'd be happy to share the recipe.
That pretty much summarizes our journey to this point, though I would be amiss not to mention Joe's constant and very diligent studying. Pray that he makes it through this first semester. I know if he (we) can make it through this semester, the rest of law school will be a breeze... or at least easier. Oh, and my living room is painted!! It has taken many painstaking hours, but we love it. Now just on to the other 5 rooms... we'll update on that soon!
