Chili Fest 2010: West Virginia Edition

Last weekend Chili fest 2010 was held. You may remember that chili fest is one of Chris' family traditions. We started chili fest here last year and it was a huge hit. We had it a little early this year, but everyone was so excited and anxious for it that we went for it! That's just some of the chili...we had 9 pots in all!!

We got all professional this year and even judged the chili and announced a winner. I think Chad is getting bossy here!

The poor judges.....there was so much chili!!

Sarah was pretty excited to get to the eating part!

It was a great night filled with all different types of chili! However in the end, there can be only one winner and the winner this year was Natasha!! Somehow, I forgot to get a picture with her and her award...oops!

A Day in the Mountains

Yesterday we decided to head out to Seneca to see how much the leaves have changed. So we packed up and spent the day in the mountains with some great friends! We ended up with several unplanned stops, but it was a fun-filled day!

Our first stop was The Sinks...an area known for their sink holes. We stopped by to look at a cave.

We waded in a little. Some of the guys when on in, but their flashlights weren't bright enough to get me into a dark unknown cave!! However, we may re-visit next weekend with all the right gear and actually go explore it!The view from the mouth of the cave....love it!

Our next stop was Spruce Nobs. The scenery was gorgeous!! The leave had really started to change beautiful colors!
Ben, our tour guide, telling us that was the highest poin of West Virginia....he's a compulsive liar!

My handsome hubby and I at the true highest point of West Virginia!

After a minor incident when our caravan got seperated with no cell service (seriously, how did we do road trips without cell phones??), we made it to Seneca Rock. We ate at a great little resturant then headed up the trail!

Taking in the view at the top!Chris, me, Chad, and Ben...the only ones of the group that made it clear to the top!After our full day we headed to the Purple Fiddle for a concert and baklava. The Purple Fiddle was a great little hippy coffee shop. I definately plan on visiting this quaint little town again during the daytime! The concert was not the best, however I highly recommend the baklava!

Wedding Madness Recap!

This weekend is the first weekend we haven't had a wedding to go to for a month! The last 4 weeks have been filled with weddings....2 of which Chris was the best man! It was great getting to see so many of our friends start their new lives together!

As you may Remember, the wedding madness started with our cousin Jason getting married in Missouri.

Next, was Britney and Mitch's wedding. It was a beautiful out door ceremony. Sadly, I forgot to put the memory card in my camera, so I didn't get a lot of pictures!


The following weekend we had the honor of being a part of Nate and Tasha's wedding Chris was the best man in that wedding as well. Chris and I with the beautiful bride and groom!

Adam, Ben, and Sarah dancing the night away at Nate and Tasha's reception. We all had a great time!
Lastly, was Kai and Bethany's wedding. Kai is from Hawaii, so the wedding had an awesome luau feel to it! Sadly, I didn't get a great picture because of where we chose to sit. We also had to cut out before the reception so we could head to DC.

It was great to be at all the weddings. They were all so different and unique to each couple. However, we felt a little weird not being at a wedding this weekend!!

Final Day in DC

Our plan was to go to Arlington Cemetary on our last day, so we could head back to wv early. However, after sleeping in we made a couple mistakes getting on the metro and a 20 minute metro ride turned into an hour of confusion! None the less, we managed to finally get to Arlington!Packing up while Greg and Nicole continue sleeping in the background!



Hanging out in the metro with our iphone during our morning long metro ride!!



We were fortunate enough to see the changing of the guard while we were at Arlington.
After a day of walking, Nicole was pretty happy to be resting in the car on the way back to West Virginia!



It was so great to have Nicole and Greg here, and we had a great time! We love visiting DC; it's such a great town with so much to do!

DC: Day 2

We managed to squeeze a ton of stuff into our second day in DC. We started the day at the National Zoo. As you probably know by now, Chris and I enjoy seeing different zoos. The DC zoo is special because it's one of only 2 zoos in the country with panda bears.Next, we headed to all the monuments and war memorials. This involved a TON of walking because all the monuments and memorials are way far apart!Greg and I mapping out a plan to see everything.All of us at the Missouri part of the World War II Memorial.The Korean War Memorial...Greg's grandpa and both of my grandpas fought in the Korean war.

The view of the Washingtion Monument from the Lincoln Monument.

The Lincoln Memorial

Finally, the soldiers at the Vietnam Memorial

It was a packed full day! But we managed to get it all in! We ended the day by meeting up with The Halls, who were also in DC, for dinner. We enjoyed dinner at a local Mexican restuarant. All in all, it was a fun filled day!

Labor Day Weekend: Day 1!

Chris' sister Nicole and her boyfriend, Greg came out to West Virginia for Labor Day weekend. We drove into Washington DC to spend the weekend. Here's a few pics from our first day in DC: Outside the capital building

On our tour of the Capital Building....apparently this picture suprised Greg!

We decided to go check out China town and managed to find bubble tea!

Greg also found a fire house in Chinatown!

We walked down to Georgetown for dinner that night. It was great area of town and we highly recommend Clyde's!

Future Royal Fans!