November happenings....

Well this picture can sort of sum up how we've felt in November....Nate looks a little disheveled and I look a little tired.... Actually, Tom took this picture of us the other night at dinner and I thought, "Do I always have this "sort of angry/tired/frustrated" look on my face? I hope not! It's just been a long month but it has still been a good month. Nate has been super busy with classes and both of his jobs...he works so hard! And me, well, I usually don't do so well at the beginning of winter...I DREAD the lack of sunlight, cold temperatures and having no energy. But there are some good things about winter coming: Christmas for one (don't even get me started on how ridiculously excited I get about Christmas...Nate has to make me wait to decorate and start listening to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving at least) AND we have a fireplace in our house this year. Most people might not get excited about that but I've been waiting 5 years for one....and we've had a fire practically every night since! Other than fires and pre-Christmas excitement, we've done a few other things...
Here's Steph, Molly and Julie at dinner last Friday. Molly and Zach had us all over for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner and it was the best! Everyone just ate and talked which are sometimes the best sort of nights to have. We did engage in vicious game of "Celebrity" (guys against girls) where you have to write down some famous person and then try to guess based on clues. Nate sort of threw everyone off with his random people (Alexander Campbell, Frederick Law Olmstead, and Jane Austen to name a few). I mean, how would you begin to give clues about those people? And Tom chose only obscure sports figures for his names. In conclusion, the guys cheated and that's why we lost. Seriously.
Me, Megan and Julie
Steph, me, and Megan
Zach trying to reign some control over Lily Bell and Booker...Yes, Lily is wearing a sweater....the result of a traumatic haircut that has left her cold and shivering at all times unless clothed (at least that's what Molly says).
The girls hanging out in the kitchen...Julie, Sarah and Brooke
I believe this is Zach and Molly's first Thanksgiving turkey dinner as a married couple, so it called for a picture.
Nate and I did travel to Grundy, VA a couple weekends ago and I only managed to snap one picture! Russ and Nate outside of Walmart because that's seriously what we did...we went to Walmart. Now I haven't walked the aisles of Walmart since my college days and it was still a horrific place. You may be wondering why we went to Walmart...Have you ever been to Grundy? Probably not. It has some redeeming qualities (mountains and Mountain Mission School where Russ and Jess teach) but if you need stuff you've got to drive to the next town 30 minutes away, which is what we did. Seriously though, we had a good time visiting with Russ and Jess and were happy to get out of town with them even if it was just to shop for curtains and shampoo. They are two of the most selfless people ever b/c they devote not just 8 hours a day to teaching but pretty much 24 hours a day to being dorm parents as well. And they have such a giving and positive attitude about it! They definitely deserve more than Walmart on a Friday night, that's for sure!
And finally....on our way down to Virginia we stopped at the Breaks State Park and did a little hiking. We actually hiked down to the bottom of that ravine behind us (which was the easy part)....on the way up...I felt like I'd run a marathon or something! There's some serious uphill climbs in VA!

So that's all for November now....Thanksgiving is of course later this week and we're going to my parents' house Thursday and then on Friday Nate's family is coming up. I can't wait because I LOVE to have people visit, especially Nate's family who we don't get to see nearly enough. And Saturday, even if I do live with a Scrooge, I am putting up my Christmas decorations and listening to all the Christmas music I want! He secretly likes Christmas I think....