Spoiled Rotten!

My mom's been here at our house since the Richmond Marathon last Saturday. It's been SO much FUN hanging out everyday! We've been quite busy (hence no post for a whole week)! Having already done the DC site-seeing before, mom just wanted to hang out with Spencer, Madi and I and do what we normally do in a week. I've lOVED it!! Mom has seriously spoiled us rotten!! She's gotten Madi a surprise everyday, including her first Barbie, Elmo (a new obsession this month), and a stuffed monkey! Along with spoiling Madi, having her here has allowed me to do tons of stuff I normally don't get to do very often, such as:

*Date night out with Spencer- including dinner at Cheesecake Factory with Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake!
*Getting a nice long work-out in EVERY morning (thanks mom for getting up with Madi)!
*Going to the temple- TWICE (once with mom and the other time with Spencer).
*Running errands withOUT Madi!
*Making Christmas Cards (mom totally came up with the idea)!
*Etc. Etc. Etc.


Then just today we decided to brave the 30 degree weather and head into the city to go to Eastern Market-a famous flea/farmers market in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Our good friends told us about it and I've been dying to go ever since. Despite the cold wind, we had an awesome time!


While Mom and I went out shopping, Spencer stood in line for a hour so we could all get the famous "Blue Bucks" (blueberry buckwheat pancakes)!


They were definitely worth the wait!


After patiently cruising around in her stroller, Madi finally had enough and wanted to get out and smell the beautiful flowers!


After breakfast we headed out to look for more bargains. Mom and I found one booth that we absolutely loved-with great prices! I ended up getting two hats for $15 and a Dolce & Gabbana (knock-off) wallet for $13!! Mom bought the same wallet first, but payed $15 (ya, I know how to get a good deal:)! Along with the wallet, she also got a purse and some jewlery. Here we are showing off our goods!


We were only gone for a little over 4 hours, but it totally wore Madi out! She decided to take her nap in the stroller today. It was nice to have a quiet Metro ride home.


Thanks mom for the fun week! Luckily we still get her at our house for 3 more days! So stayed tuned for more pictures and an update on how Madi is no longer my "shadow". I've got Gram to thank for that one!

Richmond Marathon

Yesterday was the Richmond,VA Marathon that my sister and her husband have been training the past 3 1/2 months for. Spencer, Madi, and I drove down for the day to meet up with my Mom, Adley & Ani, and to cheer on Team Calhoun!! We got to see Tisha and Curteis at mile 19 and show our team spirit!


Madi, Ani, and Adley were a great (and probably the loudest) cheering squad! Madi had fun with the blow horn!


So much fun in fact that Ani became more interested in what Madi was doing.


So, Madi agreed to switch for awhile and hold the sign while Ani got to blow the horn! Such nice sharing!!


Tisha and Curteis both did an AMAZING job! Tisha finished the marathon in her goal time of 4 1/2 hours and Curties was just a little behind her, coming in at 5 hours 11 min. WOW!!! WAY to GO you guys. I still can't imagine running for 4 1/2 or 5 hours straight! Pretty crazy if you ask me! I got these pictures at mile 25- only ONE MORE MILE LEFT!!!



After mile 19 I mentioned how I wished I could have run with Tisha for awhile. Luckily my mom was prepared and I did a quick change in the car. I was able to meet Tisha at the end of the race and run the last mile with her. Then I headed back up to meet Cuteis and run the end with him as well! Pretty exciting- it made me feel good to provide some encouragement and support at the end of the race when they were completely exhausted! I find this picture funny because Tisha looks better than I do- after running 26 miles! You're AMAZING Tish!!


Here's Curteis, taking a rest at the end of the race! Adley was pretty worn out too- with all the cheering he did!


Curteis, with his sister Holly, who also lives in DC and drove down for the race!


I had to throw in this video of the girls because it was just so cute when they first saw each other. Ani grabbed Madi's hand and began leading her down the hall. They held hands the entire time. It was fun to see them excited to be together. Madi's already excited to see her cousins again at Thanksgiving!

Fall Family Photo Shoot

With hopes of actually sending out a Christmas card this year, Spencer and I have been talking about needing a good family picture for awhile now. Well, as I've mentioned before, I have an incredibly talented friend who does everything from making necklaces (yes, the adorable necklaces you might have seen Madi or I wearing in past pictures were made by her), to creating cool blog headers (yep, a BIG thanks goes to Melissa for our great new header), to doing hair (she's basically been my hairdresser since we moved here), to recently becoming quite the professional photographer! Being the amazing friend that she is, Melissa volunteered to take our family pictures so that we could send out Christmas cards this year. So, last week we were able to spend the morning out in our neighborhood with Melissa and her camera. What a perfect day it was, we really couldn't have asked for better weather. The sky was overcast, the leaves were golden, and the temp was in the 60's. Fall was here and I love how Melissa captured it! Thank you Melissa for being such an incredible friend and giving us our Christmas card picture! The rest of you will have to try and guess which one we're thinking of choosing! To see more of the pictures she took, click here. Sadly, I dropped Melissa and Lexi off at the airport this morning and will not see them for the next three months. Have fun in Arizona you guys! You will definitely be missed!!!

Sleepover!!

Being the 2nd counselor in the Young Women's presidency in my ward, I have the privilege of working with the Beehive aged girls. And what a FUN group of girls they are! So much fun in fact, that we decided we HAD to have a sleepover! So last night, with Spencer off at a Wizards/ Knicks game, and Madilyn fast asleep in her bed, all the girls came over to my house for a night FULL of FUN!!! We started the night off with facials, pedicures, and manicures. And of course, LOTS of delicious treats!!





Thanks Emma for making the incredible face masks!


Thanks Madi for bringing your wax machine. Here we all are getting our hands (and some of us- our feet) dipped in paraffin wax.


A BIG shout-out goes to our wonderful Beehive advisor, Sarah Draper, who came to join in on some of the evening activities!


I love this picture of Tayden showing off her waxed hands and masked face. She quickly learned how hard it was to smile while wearing the mask! :)


After enjoying our in-home spa, we moved onto games- specifically Catch Phrase, Cranium, and Balderdash! Check out the great team work!!


We all tired ourselves out playing games and decided to pop in a movie. . . or two! After a couple of hours of sleep, the girls awakened to Spencer cookin' up a hearty breakfast of waffles and eggs!


Breakfast was topped off with Yoga and Pilates! Even on a full stomach the girls insisted on fitting this one in! Ya, I tell ya, these girls are AMAZING! Is that a sucker you have in your mouth Madison?? Nice!! :)


Thanks Madison, Emma, Tayden, Naomi, Madi, and Sarah for the awesome night!! We missed you Arika! But don't worry, we'll be having many more sleepovers to come!!!

A Preemptive Thanksgiving!

Now that Halloween is over, we are looking forward to the holiday season. The other day, I sent Spencer to the grocery store and he came back with a half gallon of egg nog (which Spencer and Madi nearly polished off at breakfast) and a 10 pound turkey. I wasn't too happy when I saw the turkey! As I saw Spencer haul in his grocery shopping exploits, I expressed concern of a 10 lb turkey occupying our small freezer for weeks! But Spencer quickly responded, "Be of good cheer, we're cookin this bird tomorrow!" So, instead of a large frozen bird taking over my freezer, I had a large frozen bird unthawing in the kitchen sink all day!! To really appreciate this story, you have to know Spencer. He just loves to cook pretty much anything (and he is pretty dang good at it, too!), and because we are going away for Thanksgiving, he didn't want to pass up on his yearly opportunity to hone up on his turkey roasting skillz. So, unlike most normal American families, we had a turkey feast on November 1st! The great thing that I cannot complain of is the leftovers. No meal planning needed for this week! So here's to the holiday season!! Gobble gobble.

Carving Pumpkins & Trick-or-Treating!

Since Madi had a rather uneventful Halloween last year, we wanted to make sure we got our family traditions going this year. Pumpkin carving (which we had procrastinated from doing at the beginning of the week) was Spencer's #1 priority of the day! Madi was excited to be involved! She intently watched her dad get everything prepared.


Then she stood up and decided to get in on the action!


She insisted on helping with the carving!


WALLA!!! The final product! Nice work Spencer and Madi!


And here's a helpful hint: Sprinkle a little nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves into the pumpkin (and on the lid), and once your pumpkin is glowing bright, your home will smell like holiday delight! :)


After pumpkin carving and naps we got dressed up and let the trick-or-treating begin! Before heading over to our friends, we hit up a few of our neighbors who adore Madi (and were ok with her going back for seconds and thirds). She did great at knocking and waiting patiently at the door.


After wishing our neighbors a Happy Halloween, we headed over to our friends, the Lundell's, where Madi's girl friends were waiting to go knock some doors! Thank goodness Lexi brought over her cool wagon! This was Madi's favorite part of the whole night!!




After a handful of doors and a bag full of candy, we headed back to the Lundell's for some dinner and treats. Madi went right to work counting all her goodies!


Krista's house was definitely SPOOK-TACULAR! From the food to the decorations- she really went all out! Thanks for the great time Lundells! In case you're wondering what my costume was- I was Cinderella (pre glass slipper days). Big thanks to Melissa for letting me borrow the costume (made specially by her)!


The whole gang- expect Melissa (always the one behind the camera :)!