Visit with the Sheldons :)

We had a wonderful weekend hanging out with the Sheldon family :)  Shane's parents haven't had a chance to come down to Blacksburg since we moved here, so it was so nice to share our little town and life with them. 

 Shane and I both took Friday off work, and they arrived Thursday just before dinner.  When we welcomed them at the door, they were adamant that we come out and help carry stuff in.  We were trying to get them to just sit down and relax and said we can unload the car later, but they weren't having it!  So, Shane and I headed out to the parking lot around the corner, and there we found Hannah and Cooper standing by the car!  They had surprised us and traveled down with Doug and Diane.  Best surprise EVER! :)

We started the visit with a beautiful drive out to Mountain View in Ironto for dinner - Yum!  It was so nice to share the mountains with the Ohioans! 

Juno wasn't sure what to think of this new center of attention :)  She LOVED licking Cooper's toes and face!  It was interesting to see how she might handle a baby in our household someday.  She was really good with him overall, she just occasionally had to be told to stop licking his face (although he seemed not to mind!) and that the cute toys were not hers.  But Aunt Hannah gave her lots of lovin!

We were trying to get in as much as we could in the 2 full days we had with our visitors!  We had a fun, lazy Friday morning feeding Cooper and watch him roll around on the ground and get SOOO close to crawling!  I could spend all day just watching that cute lil human :) 

Then we headed off to the botanical garden on campus with a sleepy Coop!

We went out for a walk at Heritage Park, one of our favorite places in the area.  We were fortunate enough to have great weather all weekend. 

 I had way to much fun pushing Cooper in the stroller and giving him leaves and grass to play with!

And the rest of the family had way to much fun racing leaves under the bridge :)

Cooper loves being outside!  We hung out in our backyard and watched Juno and the neighbor dogs play a few times.  Anytime Coop starts to cry, if you just take him outside he's so much happier! 

When Shane saw what Cooper was wearing... he decided to bust out his Batman shirt too.  He loves his little nephew so much :)

Thanks to Matt for staying at home to take care of the animals and letting us steal your cute wife and child for the weekend!  We did get to Skype with him a few times, which was really fun!

 Day two we packed in even more fun!  We started out with some shopping - stopping first at Imaginations, an awesome local toy store in town.  Shane and I often go in there because it's so fun and they have the neatest toys and games.  But it was definitely way better going in there with a little one!   I think Cooper had fun.... especially bouncing on his new cow!

Next stop, Annie Kays, a great natural food store where Doug picked up some fun bulk goodies and Cooper to play with a train set! 

Of course we had to swing by the western store while these country folk were in town :)

Followed by a walk around Pandapas Pond!

We had so much fun!! It was a great way to celebrate the first day of fall!  We even saw a few trees starting to change color.

 We had such a great visit with the family.  It's always so hard to say goodbye... Shane and I were sure to soak up extra Cooper hugs this morning before they took off!

We miss you already, Sheldons and Nixons! Come back soon! :)

New Camera Fun :)

Juno playing with her new friend, Henry :)

Can you tell who our main photo subject is?!

 After a couple of years of talking about it and dreaming about it.... we finally did it!  We bought a Digital SLR camera! We always drool over them when wandering through Best Buy and love asking anyone who has one what they think about it and of course the answers are always the same - they LOVE it!  So, a few weekends ago when we were in D.C. (after my half marathon!), we met a new friend of a friend who had the Nikon d5100 and raved about it.  He had past photography experience and showed us some of the amazing photos he's taken with his new camera.  Shane and I immediately looked at each other and said "let's do it!".  So, a couple of days later we found ourselves walking out of Best Buy with a fancy new camera (that we had no idea how to use!) and a fun little camera bag to keep it in :)  Normally I feel nauseous after making such a big purchase, but this time I was just giddy!  We love taking photos (Shane's way better than I am at remembering) when we travel, hike, make fun foods or hang out with friends.  We debated a while between the Canon rebel series and the Nikon, but after reading some reviews and a great sale price, we settled on the Nikon.  So here are a few fun photos we've taken just playing around with the settings.  I'm hoping it'll beef up my blog a bit, too :)  Looking forward to learning more about our new toy! 

Fun setting!

Juno paw :)

Our tiny little kitchen :)

Amazing olive oil from Asheville!

Cute kitchen lights :)

My first fall soccer game

Second time making banana pancakes in a week!

On the road! 

 What do you think?! I just love how crisp the colors and images are!  A big upgrade from our little point and shoot :)  Happy snapping!

My first half marathon!

I did it! :)

The start of the race - 214 women headed to the trail :)

It's hard to believe!  It's been a goal of mine for a few years now, but running has never been easy for me.  Even during training, the short 3 mile runs were still challenging.  Running is so mental, and it seems that no matter how far I'm running, it's always hard and I always want to walk.  But I did it!  I did it!

I really enjoy trail running over pavement running, but I don't think I'd recommend it for your first race!  Or at least not a course as hilly as this one!  I'd read online that most women walk up the hills on this course.  Before seeing it, I thought that seemed ridiculous!  But after running up the hills for the first 3 miles, I soon realized why people walked.  In fact, I can almost walk up some steep hills as fast as I can run up them, so it seemed like a waste of energy.  By mile 4, I was happily speed walking the hills.

8 miles in!  Getting my second wind :)

I think the first half of the race was the most challenging for me.  I felt pretty disappointed in myself, not only for going soooo slow, but for walking so much!  But everyone I saw was walking the hills, too.  I guess it just wasn't what I expected.  But at about 8 miles in, Shane was sitting there cheering me on (and gave me a swig of water and a GU gel!) and I really got my second wind.  I think I decided not to be upset with myself for walking so much and to just have fun! I mean that's what I paid $45 to do, right?! So I just kept on chugging away and not feeling guilty when I stopped at an aid station for 3 minutes or walked up a steep hill. 

Recharging -- thanks to Shane! :)

I finished my first half (trail!) marathon in 3 hours and 7 minutes.  Yes, that's really slow!  I could almost walk that fast :) But I did it!  And I'm so proud of myself.  I felt really good crossing that finish line!  And yesterday I signed up for my second half marathon (flat, pavement run!) in Richmond on November 10th!  Andrea and Paulette are both running it too!  It's so nice to have running buddies.  So, just when I thought I could take a break from training, I'm already at it again.  Here's to another 13.1! 

Paulette, Andrea and I before the race

Our cheering squad!

Me finishing!

After!

Love this guy :)

Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes

You should seriously stop what you're doing right now and go make these pancakes! They are so delicious and melt in your mouth... seriously! Last weekend, we were having a lazy Sunday (one of my favorite things!) and slept in until like 9am and decided to make a fun breakfast when we woke up!  We usually just eat something quick and simple like granola or a smoothie.  But this day we were in the mood for pancakes!  I always make basic whole wheat pancakes, but wanted to try something new.  I looked up a few recipes and used my favorite parts of each to create my own and I must say... they came out GREAT! There's no added sugar because I think the banana, vanilla and maple syrup topping make it plenty sweet!  The recipe is also vegan - but feel free to substitute real milk, oil or eggs.  I hope you try them on your next lazy Sunday... or right now :)

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Dash of ground cinnamon
Dash of teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground flax seed mixed with 3 tablespoons water, let stand a few minutes (great egg substitute!)
2 tablespoons apple sauce (healthy oil/butter substitute!)
1 1/4 cup almond milk (any milk will do!)
Dash of vanilla extract
1 ripe banana, mashed
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Flaxseed applesauce mixture

1. Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. 
2. In separate bowl mix together ground flax seed/water mixture, milk. apple sauce, mashed banana and vanilla extract.
3. Stir flour mixture into banana mixture, batter should remain slightly lumpy and bumpy.  Add in the chopped walnuts. 
4. Heat a lightly oiled frying pan and spoon or pour about 1/4 cup out for each pancake. Cook on first side until you see air bubbles on top of pancakes, then flip and cook until golden brown on other side (second side takes less time). 
5. Enjoy with a topping of your choice!  Pure maple syrup is great with these!

Flour mixture

Adding in the walnuts

Love my little griddle :)

Love my pancake bowl from Alison & Tim!

Recipe makes about 8 this size!

And... in other news, we just bought a new SLR camera!  So stay tuned for more recipes with better photos - woohoo! :)