Dog Walking

Alright everyone (mostly parents) here are some pictures of a few of the dogs I walk in a few of the areas I walk in.

This is an an area called The Fan, and was taken only yesterday. As you can see, we still haven't had a big burst of fall color. Just random splotches.

And this is Lily, one of the dogs I walk who lives in the Fan.

And this is sometimes what we call a "Lily Walk."

This is Java. He is actually my boss' dog, but she has me walk him some of the days I work.

And this is the area Java lives in, called Carytown.

This is Henry... one of my very favorites. The picture is the best I could do because he hates cameras and hides his face every time you pull one out. He's pretty much a big chicken about a lot of things, but he's such a cutie and as soon as you say "treat" he forgets all his fears.

These two are named Klaus and Vladmir, Vlad for short. Sorry the picture is blurry, but they would not hold still. They're very big and VERY hairy. I actually don't walk them. We just get to play in the backyard together.

Then we have insane Bella. Really, she's a nutbar. She's still a puppy which explains a lot, but one of her favorite things to do it jump up and bite your chin. It hurts.

These two are so cute! Unfortunately we only get to walk them when the family is gone, so we don't get to see them very often. Finnley and Huckleberry are their names, but we call them Finn and Huck. They also happen to be puppies so they're a little insane, but my favorite part about them is that they are brothers. ... really. Do you see the family resemblance?

So those are just a few of the dogs I serve. If you're lucky I'll post some more of them later. :)

Halloween Happenings

Thanks to the Halloween decoration Lisa gave us, we were inspired to do some crafts of our own. Unfortunately I still don't know where everything is in Richmond, so I limited our craft options by a lot. These were made out of paint buckets bought at Lowe's and painted with our very few paint colors, lacking especially in Halloween colors. (Which tends to make Halloween crafts a little difficult.) Nevertheless, we had fun with it.

Then in the spirit of Halloween, and in celebration of two more classes completed, Josh and I rented The Rope by Alfred Hitchcock and made some delicious Halloween treats. Josh says he loves these rice crispy treats even more than the regular kind with no food dye in them. :)

Trip to DC and Adam's Visit Part 3

Towards the end of Adam's visit we had yet to explore Richmond itself, or do much shopping... This store here was a special find.

After finding a great pair of pants for Josh and a fantastic tie for Adam we headed off to do a little sightseeing in the city. We discovered an awesome Civil War museum that was actually built inside a building partly destroyed during the Civil War.

We found some cool looking black powder candy to buy. Turns out it was just plain sugar with something in it that made your mouth black. Not tasty.

We also spent some time exploring the James River and the surrounding areas. Kind of bigger than most the rivers one would find in Utah.

Across the bridge was an area called Belle Isle. It was sweet and looked like the world of the lost boys.

And here they are... the lost boys. :)

Then we took Adam to see more of actual downtown Richmond, including where Josh goes to school. This picture should look a little familiar.

And of course we took some time to snap a few model shots up by the capital. He's a natural.

After all of our adventures we needed some nourishing food. And two nights in a row of Buffalo Wild Wings? What more could boys ask for? Truly a great vacation for all.

Trip to DC and Adam's Visit Part 2

Day two started off with a bang... not really. The night before we had the fun adventure of having our driver's side window quit working while it was down. It had just started to rain when this happened and we had two hours of driving to do to get back to Richmond. After 15 minutes of driving we decided to pull over to a gas station and Josh and Adam managed to get the window up halfway before the gas station turned its lights out on us. Luckily it had pretty much stopped raining by the time we started again, so the ride wasn't as bad as it could have been. Anyway, this is us the next morning angrily taping up the window (a momentary fix) so that we could take a trip to King's Dominion.

Before King's Dominion we HAD to stop off at Waffle House for Adam's first experience. The place is fabulous! The little space in the two walls behind Josh and Adam is where the old dirty waitresses come and ask, "What'll ya have hon?"

Next stop... KING'S DOMINION!!!

The first ride of the day was a great lookin' wood one. It was pretty awesome, but Adam and I were in agreement that it hurt a lot.

Here we have what is called the Anaconda. It really did look like a snake and it was out over the water which was fun. There is even a tunnel that goes down through the water.

Then, of course, we have the Dominator. Highly enjoyable with the most twists and turns I think I've ever been on. I don't know what I'm doing in the picture so please just ignore it.

After going wild all day in the park we took a little break to go to the top of the "Eiffel Tower." We timed it just right and managed to catch the sunset. It's amazing how many trees there are in Virginia. Amazing.

Before our trip up the "Eiffel Tower" we had noticed the beginnings of smoke machines being turned on throughout the park, and after coming back down we immediately discovered the thrill of taking pictures in the fog.

After many minutes spent playing in the smoke we headed over to what was going to be one of our last rides. The map we had of the park had rankings of the rides and our goal was to ride as many of the high ranked rides (5's) as possible, which this one was.....n't. Instead it was some gay haunted house that wasn't even scary and we waited in line for way too long and witnessed too many muffin top boobies. (I will spare you the details.) This is what we did to pass the time.

So, after waiting in line for the dumb haunted house we came to the conclusion that the once nearly empty park was beginning to fill up for the Halloween activities and decided to make our way back home. Our heads needed the break anyway. And that ended our second day of non-stop walking. We were all very thankful to return home for a relaxing evening. You can see how Adam enjoyed his on the bed Josh made for him. (Couch cushions, camping pads, sleeping bags, and a sheet to hold it all together. It felt like a real bed.)

Lastly we have a video Josh took of "The highest ride in North America." The video doesn't do it justice, but it was REALLY high, and REALLY fun. Oh, and sorry it's sideways.

Trip to DC and Adam's Visit

Thanks again Adam! We were lucky enough to be visited by Josh's brother Adam two weekends ago. On Friday of his visit we decided to make a our first trip to D.C. to explore our nations capitol. We took LOTS of pictures, and since they upload so darn slowly on our blog I've decided to post a few here, but the rest of them I put on facebook. (Sorry mom and dad, I told you wrong.)

Anyway, our first stop was the DC temple. Very cool.

After we attended a session we made our way to the train, boarded it, and headed into the middle of DC. First stop... the White House!

Then we made our way over to the Washington Memorial, which was particularly fun to take pictures of.

Then we decided to head over to the one of the smithsonian museums before they closed. On the way we passed this giant map of the world, so Josh or Adam (I'm not sure who.) thought of the great idea to do the mission pic.

We were too late for most of the museums, but we did manage to get into the modern arts exhibit. This art piece is made out of cardboard and aluminum foil. It was pretty intense. The best part was when Adam sat on the chain blocking off the art and broke it. :) This picture was taken after the fact, hence the face.

Another favorite of ours was this art piece...

And the caption for it...

We were in the museum for quite some time so when we finally started our march to the Lincoln memorial it was dark. We tried our hearts out to take good pictures, but it was quite difficult with the camera we had. These are our best... the WWII memorial.

And the Lincoln...

Oh, and I forgot to mention we got to see our first real live white house picket? I guess you could call it. It was all very exciting. :)