Twas A (few) Night(s) Before Christmas...

The Christmas holiday is always an exciting time. Its a time full of family, friends, and great adventures. This holiday season (December 2012) I had the great pleasure of teaching Jackie how to ice skate at the ice skating rink in Reston Town Center. 

Early on during Jackie’s first ice skating experience (in the past 10 years) I noticed that she was only using one of her legs to gain speed while the other leg was just used to glide her along. When I noticed her skateboard like style of ice skating I tried to fix it. All of the pushing coming from her left leg and the constant weight of her body on the right leg made her get tired quickly. I started to evaluate her technique as we went around the ice rink. She attempted to use both feet but was now used to her unique technique. We had lots of fun skating together! It was first quite hard for her, but she is a very fast learner. After the ice skating, we ended the evening at Clyde's in Reston Town Center with her family.

About one week after our first ice skating adventure together, we were invited out to on of our favorite restaurants. Katerina's is a Greek restaurant located in Manassas, VA (you have to order the gyro). We had a great dinner there with some great friends. We all decided it would be best to keep moving after such a large meal.

Following dinner, we all decided to go ice skating across the street. It was a nice ice skating rink that seemed to be a very popular teen-aged kids. This gave Jackie a chance to perfect her new skill! 

Jackie first started off pushing only with one leg like she had taught herself before. This still unique technique made her tire quickly. She then asked me, “How do I push with both feet?”. I tried to explain the best I could. I told her to use both feet to push to the side so that you would use the edge of the skate as traction. Being the athlete she is, she quickly mastered the skill! She was zipping around the rink like a pro!

But the night was not over yet and the best was yet to come!

A quick stop at 7-11 got each of us a big cup of hot coco (thank you Cory). With the sweet taste in our mouths we were ready to set off on our journey. Jackie was navigating us to our first destination. We had multiple destinations that night all of them were heavily decorated houses full of Christmas lights.

Some lights were more creative than others. Some looked like they were more centered around Easter (the death of Jesus) rather than Christmas (Jesus’s birth). Great effort though.

After driving about 50 miles we had finally seen enough and everyone was ready to call a quits. It was a great evening with great friends, food, ice skating, and Christmas decor!

Trail Ride

On December 1, 2012 we went to Marriott ranch to do a trail ride with Gary, Joey, Pam, and my mom. On the way up we all decided tried to stop at several wineries but they were not open yet, because it was only 10am. We had to get our wine in before risking our lives in the woods on seasoned horses. 

We ended up stopping at a winery called Chester Gap. During our tasting we were a little nervous because the woman serving us kept scratching her dreadlocks. In between pours, the woman serving us would go into the back room and let off loud burps.  She later explained to us that she was very hungover. After some wine and snacks we made our way to the ranch. We all got on our horses and began to ride. 

Will rode on a horse named Bentley and I rode on a horse called Tanker. I'm not sure what Joey's horse was named, but it seemed like he was very thirsty, because he would stop and drink at all of the creeks we crossed. 

Overall it was a fun time and a beautiful day spent outside!

Thanksgiving 2012

Our First Turkey

Thanksgiving 2012 was a wonderful time with both sides of the family. One day before the actual holiday, Jackie and I had my family over to celebrate. It was a wonderful to spend time with everyone and see Owen again! Jackie spent hours preparing for a great meal with my family. Jackie did a great job with all the food and decorations, but Owen was able to steal everyone's attention. 

+Lydia Harshbarger and +James Harshbarger dressed him up for the occasion. 

Everyone was keeping Owen very busy. Soon Owen got a little upset and started to cry. My dad picked him up and walked him around until he stopped crying. 

It was a great night, but the Thanksgiving fun was just beginning. 

The next day, Thanksgiving day, we started off with a race. Jackie, Esther, and I ran the Virginia Run Turkey Trot. It was lots of fun, but it was really cold out. While waiting to run we were jumping up and down to stay warm. This extra time allowed us to see some good costumes people wore during the race.

She is the butcher and he is the turkey

Everyone did a great job and had lots of fun running the race! Now that the race was over it was time to head to Jackie's parents house to begin cooking. Once we arrived I noticed all of the animals were fast asleep. It seemed like they already ate their turkey.

After dinner we had a fun round of Pictionary. There were many laughs and interesting drawings. :-)

It was a fantastic holiday with good friends and family. Donna brought over some silly hats for everyone to wear and they were a big hit! 

Decorating and Picture Hanging: Easier Than You Think

Decorating and hanging pictures can sometimes be challenging. I have realized with some recent finds that it doesn't have to be! Purchasing a picture hanging kit will give you help when you are trying to mount pictures in a fashionable manor. Follow this link, Bed Bath and Beyond, to see just one example of a kit that gives you paper templates to use and reuse to create perfect works of art! (Where can you find that table? IKEA)

The many different paper templates allow you to easily see what you like and what you don't like. You can also add in other objects such as these letter "Mr. & Mrs.". 

Its easy to hang pictures going up steps using paper templates!

Use some tape to secure the paper to the walls while you decide their best place to go. Once you have decided that all of the paper templates are where you want them, just put screws right through the paper. You can then rip the paper, carefully, off the wall (not all at once!).

Its best not to tear all of the paper off at once. This will make you forget which frame goes where. Doing each picture one by one insures that you will have the right picture in the right spot.