a little bit of paradise...: November 2011

27.11.11

so long richmond

we had the best time in richmond and it was so fun to get to spend time with them there. it was really hard to say goodbye but we will see them soon! love this little family!

now it's time for me to bust out the rest of the semester!!

26.11.11

we kept the history coming the next day and headed to Monticello, which is where Thomas Jefferson's home is. monticello means "little mountain," which is where his house was built. the landscape is gorgeous and i can see why he wanted to live there. we were able to take a tour through his house and around the grounds and we learned a lot about who he was. Jefferson is also buried there on the mountain. Paige didn't feel good enough to drive all that way so she stayed home.. but she was missed!

turns out that our cousin jackie (on the left) and her family live only about a couple of minutes from kurt and paige and also our cousin cydney (2nd from the left) and her family were visiting jackie for the thanksgiving holiday. so before we took off for monticello we stopped by to see them! it was so fun to see other familiar faces out there since we haven't seen them in forever!

us cousins together!

the barno's

the shafer's

we miss being able to see them!

kurt me and benson at the monticello gift shop.. i know you wish you had a hat too!

us and good ol thomas jefferson

his gardens

the side of the house where all of the guests would arrive from

side of the house with an amazing wrap around deck

more familiar part of the home

i loved the lighting while we were there and the trees were amazing!

i loved the grounds... everything there was so gorgeous!

love this picture

25.11.11

a little bit of history

on black friday we usually hit the outlets in park city... but alas.. richmond had some outlets too! so we took off and got our shop on there. we all found some awesome deals and couldn't quit shopping but we still wanted to save some time to head to williamsburg. this history filled town brought us back to the colonial days. it was the capital of virginia during those times but is now a quiet college town, the College of William and Mary. Some of the buildings are originals and have been preserved and some have been remade to look like it did before. All of the workers were dressed up in their colonial wear. It was really neat to see the history there!

cute benson!

benson didn't want to eat lunch with us so he rode on the horse and ate goldfish

my cute parents

WILLIAMSBURG

the governors mansion

a little colonial boy

haha

how fitting.. kurt the med student and the apothecary building

kurt thought my boots were fitting for this place...

cool roots all over the ground

once it got dark all of the buildings had candles in the windows.. it was really neat

24.11.11

let's give thanks!

it was our off year for thanksgiving and we hadn't been out to richmond yet to see kurt and paige... soo that's where we went for our thanksgiving. kurt and paige are doing so good and they have the cutest house! it was so nice to finally be able to spend time with them out there and get to see them again.. i have been missing them and mr. benson! it was a much needed trip to virginia!

on our way over there, we had a layover in dallas and if you know me, you know that i have an obsession for texas... so here is the gorgeous texas sky and we are about to land in dallas.. love it!

the next day we started it out with presents and the thanksgiving day parade! benson got an awesome cars tent that we climbed in and out of countless times!

so much fun!

look at these cute cooks! how fun... kurt prepared and cooked an excellent turkey! and mom, with the aid of everyone else, made a fantastic thanksgiving dinner!