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.