time out for halloweekend get away

Ever since the MD Horse Trials, Jimmy has been a little off (someone forgot to remind him he's 22 and shouldn't be so exuberant cross country) so we have unfortunately not been able to show the rest of the season.  The good thing is that this allows me to actually do other things on weekends.

Several months ago, Gram wanted to organize a girls weekend, and planned for any family who was available to attend Time Out for Women in Richmond.  Time Out is sponsored by Deseret Book and reminds me of an EFY for adult women. Unfortunately, Gram's sister passed away the week prior and was unable to attend, but it still provided for a fun weekend.

Fantastic pizza place in downtown Richmond

Capitol building? I guess? Also, some good stairs to add to our morning run.

The whole group- my sisters & mom plus aunts Melody and Melaney and cousin Bethanie

Me, Pagie, mom, Ashley, Reagan and Truman

After watching all 5 X-Men movies in the past week, Beau and I were feeling the super hero love when thinking of Halloween costumes.

SuperBeau and SuperMackenzie.

Me and T-Man at the ward party.

Beau and I did something last weekend we've never done before. We took off work Friday and went away for a weekend JUST FOR FUN.  And by "away", I really mean a hour and a half south to Front Royal.  Although anyone who's familiar with northern Virginia knows that an hour and a half south can feel like you actually traveled into another state, country, or possibly decade.

Friday night dinner- Element in Front Royal. Highly recommend.  The menu was quite short, so I was a little disappointed at first that there was nothing I was super jazzed about ordering.  The table next to me got the black bean and beef quesadillas, and they looked super yummy so I went with that. Beau got pork chops with cabbage and root mash (what?) and it was AMAZING.  Root mash, in case you were wondering, is a mashed concoction of carrots, potatoes, rutabegas, parsnips, squash, or any other tuber.  Then I wanted to try a bite of everything on the menu because if they can make cabbage delicious, I can only imagine what the Blue Cheese Crusted Mignottes would be like.

Anyway, the next morning we went for a bike ride in Shenandoah Natoinal Park.  Lovely lovely.

I thought this sign was cool. 

Who spells Mackenzie with out a "c"? This was our lunch destination on Saturday.  30 different burgers on the menu, and Beau chose this monster:

Of course, we stopped by the barn on the way home and Beau sat on Jimmy for the first time.

Fuzzy, fat, and ready for retirement.

I was talking about Jimmer.

horses and seagulls

In October, I competed in my very first horse trial.  Horse trials are different from the shows I've done since I was a kid- those were typically a jumping or flat class that was judged on either the horse or the rider's performance.  Recently, I've gotten into eventing, kind of a triathlon for riding.  There are three phases: dressage, stadium jumping, and cross country.  Dressage is on the flat and judged on the accuracy and performance of a prescribed test.  Stadium jumping is over about 10 jumps in an arena, with penalties for going over time or knocking rails down.  Cross country is over natural obstacles on a longer course in fields and woods and such, with penalities for time.

Jimmy has competed in the highest level of eventing in his younger days, and I entered us in the lowest  divison. :) It's always good when you're super nervous at a show for the jumps to seem small.  Anyway, rather than getting unnecessarily super detailed about everything, here are some photos from the photographer's site.

Beau's photography skills

smiling because I'm finished!

I finished 6th, so I was pleased to be in the ribbons on my first time out! There were lots of professionals in my division, and I saw later I was 3rd among the amateurs.  Yay for horses.

Speaking of event pictures... check out this shot of Beau at the Seagull Century!

Beau went with some guys from our ward down to Assateague and fought head wind and wild ponies for several hours.

Beau's awesome post race hair, with little ridges where the air vents are in his helmet.

Next up is the Mistletoe Half Marathon with my sister in Winston-Salem, NC.  On Saturday, Page asked if I had done a long run that day, and it occurred to me I have done absolutely zero preparation.  Oops.  Let's see if I can squeeze in some training in the next 4 weeks.

no longer a fraud

Want to hear something embarrassing?

I finished my last semester at BYU in April 2010.  I had one GE requirement left to fill- Civ II. I originally planned to take it spring semester, but since I was able to find a job so quickly, it made more sense to take History 202 through independent study so I could work full time. My goal was to finish it by the end of the year, when we'd be leaving Utah anyway.

I just took the final a week ago. And was sure I failed it. But miraculously, I passed! So I can finally proceed with actually graduating from BYU.

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, we did survive the aforementioned Civil War Century just fine. I would even say it was one of the more enjoyable centuries we've done.  The first quarter was a killer and I was contemplating doing the short route, but then I had a little conversation with myself and was able to finish with no problem.


First rest stop at Gathland State Park

Nothing beats a PBJ.

Finished! With free ice cream!

Beau's got the Seagull Century in Assateague, VA this week. I opted out because my month is so full of horse stuff, so this will be the first century we haven't done together.

This picture cracks me up. Every Sunday when we come into our class, the accordion divider is open and Beau closes it with the kids "helping". This week, Beau and I must have been setting up chairs or something because before we knew it, the kids had  closed it themselves. Teamwork. It was so cute how they were evenly spaced out pushing it shut.


Also, we have a new nephew! Truman, or "Big Baby" (both from Toy Story and referring to his 10 lb 8 oz size).

We love having 6 nieces and 6 nephews! And 2 more baby girls on the way!

Finally, last weekend I competed in my first recognized event with Jimmer. Stay tuned for more pictures.

rainrainrainrainrainrainrain

this weekend:
The Civil War Century.  105 miles

It has been raining non stop all week and while this race is rain or shine, I'm wondering how accessible these roads are going to be. Also, the pre race email stated that the roads will probably be too wet to mark and riders will have to rely on cue sheets.  AWESOME.

By looking at this map, one would think that things are pretty smooth sailing when you hit mile 62, right? Somehow these maps always lie to me.

Either that, or it will be pouring the whole time and we'll call it quits after a couple hours.

Even if we end up doing a shorter route, this ride will still be fantastic with the scenery.  It's so much easier to do long distances on supported rides because of the plentiful fuel and company.

my four loves

In the past few months since I've been doing the 40+ hours per week office job, I have made sure to utilize my Saturdays to the best of my ability.  Almost every week I have a schedule written in my planner to make sure I can get it all in- running, riding, going to dinner with a friend, horse shows, bike rides, temple trips, hiking, shopping, etc.

This past Saturday was one my favorites.

Made a friend on my 8 mile run.  I usually park a couple miles from the W&OD trail, hop on the trail for a few miles and turn around and come back.  Shortly after I joined the trail, a girl came the other way in Vibrams. We did the "sweet shoes" comment to each other, and she turned around and asked if she could join me.  We had a grand time talking about running, cycling, triathlons, families, the church, and all sorts of things. 

Then I went to a dressage clinic with Lorna Donahue at the barn. 

Learned a ton and Beau was able to come watch as well.

Beau and I went to Middleburg, one my favorite places in the world.  It is hunt country and horse person heaven.  It seems like every little shop has something horse related in their name, decor, products, or logo. At the grocery store, the ratio of people in barn clothes to normal is about 1:1. The locals are all snobby and I love it.

After picking a few things up at the Tack Exchange, Beau and I went to lunch at the Upper Crust bakery, which was documented by the Daily Dollar!

Then we went on a bike ride through Middleburg and Philomont. Beau's new smartphone showed our elevation profile like this:

yikes.

"How come I'm always the one in pictures?" "Because you're prettier than me."

To finish out the day, we changed clothes and went to a friend's wedding reception. 

There are few things I see at weddings that I feel are actually worth the time and money that went into them. Here is one exception: after going through the receiving line, we were escorted to a little bench and the photographer took our picture.  At the end, we were handed the framed photo to keep. Genius!

Best Saturday so far. Running, horses, cycling, and Beau.

i got the moves like jagger

This week was a good week because...
- Cheddar Bunnies were on clearance at Harris Teeter.
- My bike and I became best friends again. We had a little bit of separation and she got jealous that I was spending more time with the Vibrams.
- I competed in my first dressage show and it was fantastic.
- Beau had more fun at said dressage show than was expected.
- There is a not-dead turtle somewhere in the woods by rt 606.
- I completed my first bid proposal at work.
- I learned the magical properties of fabric when cut diagonally to make it stretchy.
- We saw HP7.2 with Katie and Joe
- I unexpectedly needed to buy a new dressage saddle this week and found a smokin deal on CL.

I have started so many blog posts in the past little while and have yet to finish any of them.  On one hand, we are super busy over here with work, riding (horses for me, cycling for both of us), vacationing, looking for an apartment, deciding to not move, making future plans, etc., but then when I look back to see what needs to be updated, it doesn't seem like there are many exciting things to tell. And a lack of photos, as per usual.

Thankfully, I have sisters-in-law that DO take pictures, so I can give a decent account of our lake vacation to Colorado!

The main reason for this gathering was to celebrate Beau's brother Brady coming home from his mission in Brazil. Yay Brady!

 errbody

Check out these beautiful children.

Beau's family is big into waterskiing, and they are all amazing at it. I prefer to watch from the boat.

Isn't this the cutest?

Models, I'm telling you.

This is me surviving and feeling uncomfortable because water is frightening to me.

Other stuff? We went for a jaunt on the AT with the Anna and Rob and baby.  This is us in the swanky Ed Garvey shelter.. when I die I want my money to go to building nice AT shelters like this. Well, some of it anyway. The rest can go to the church.

I don't think I've introduced the world to my new man, Jimmy (who also answers to Jimmer). He is a super athlete, imported from England, and a former Advanced level horse.  Which means he used to do stuff like this:

And now he has to be bored and do this:

Okay, we usually jump much higher than this, but it was our first show when I'd only had him for a couple weeks.  But we competed in my first dressage show last weekend, and did really well.

The End.