Broken foot blues

Well, my fractured foot has made my life about as dull as...I don't know...beige. I can not really go outside and do anything. I'm stuck in the house trying to keep myself amused. Therefore, here is a post dedicated to our pets. They are all kinds of entertaining. At least I think so. So friends, enjoy this little post about how sad my life is with a broken foot, and how I've convinced myself that my animals are hilarious entertainment.

We got the animals a whole mess of new toys recently. Cali got a complicated new contraption that holds all of her toys. She has to fish them out play with them. We thought she could use the extra challenge to keep her entertained. Enjoy a video of her trying to figure it out for the first time (Note at one point, she is much more interested in my camera, which is cute):

Well it turns out, she did just fine. Here is what I came home to the next day:

She is also pretty content in my box of yarn. Awe...

Neit also got some new toys. One was a ball that talks. We call it talky-ball. The other was a ball the rolls on its own. We call it rolly-ball. Neit's reaction to both is the same. Frantic chasing and making horrible dog noises. Enjoy a short clip that captured Neit doing a little bit of what he does best:

 

Ian also was kind enough to buy me keyboard for my birthday. I had a hard time getting any time on it during the first week. I am on it more than he is now, but here's a pic of Ian not letting me play. Neit enjoys it too.

One thing we have been able to do, now that fall is here, is have some backyard fires. They are the best.

In fact, I think we are going to go gather some wood for one RIGHT NOW!

Hey-o Hokieville Readers!!!

Look Hokieville faithful! A lost post from March of this year! What a treat! Enjoy :)




Hey Hokieville followers. Hope I haven't lost you all by now. I have been thinking about doing a Hokieville post lately BUT what did I have to talk about? My camera has been acting shady, I couldn't find contraption that gets my pictures from my camera to my computer, etc. This weekend, however, I FOUND the contraption that gets my pictures from my camera to my computer and upon looking on some of the pictures on the camera, I have plenty to post about. So lets go waaaay back. Back to Judy and John's visit back in...October maybe? We took them to the local (well local-ish) safari park, where you drive your car through and check out all the exotic animals. And you feed them. And they love it. And my camera was dying when it all went down, but here is what I captured.

Zebra in the road. Judy getting a little information from a handout.

Some sort of deer or something with ridiculous antlers.

Another sort of deer, eating from our car.

They had a tiny zoo at the safari park too. Here is a monkey mom, with here monkey baby clinging to her stomach. The baby was about three days old wen we saw it.

So next, Ian and I hiked up the Appalachian trail to an area called McAfee's Knob. They say that McAfee's Knob is the most photographed spot along the trail. It was the first and only time when have been there. It is about 4 miles from trail head to the outlook point. It was really pretty, we'd be glad to take you there sometime. It was a pretty difficult climb, if I can remember all the way back then.

Trail sign.

Neit and Ian at the overlook.

Neit enjoying the view.

The view. You could see for MILES!

Striking a pose on a rock.

There was the one weekend that we decided to be swanky and cultured and go to the Taubman Art Museum in Roanoke. It is a tiny museum that hosts a few different rotating exhibits, and a small permanent exhibit. It was a good experience, but its such a small museum we enjoyed ourselves all the same.

How about the time we had Thanksgiving dinner all by ourselves in Hokievillle? It was a good meal.


Put down the camera! Let's eat!
 
 :)

And lastly, some pictures from a hit we went on at the Cascades even though it was winter and icy and snowy. That's fine, we had our safety hiking poles.


Looking bored of the camera.

Looking pretty sturdy on the snow.


Frozen water every where.


Including the falls.


Happy I didn't fall. I don't think Ian could say he had the same luck.

Relaxing in Hokieville

I'm replacing my old post with a new post. And I'm using a new feature of the photo manager I'm now using. It lets you format your pictures a lot of fun ways. Here is a "collage" of the photos I wanted to post from my last try. We'll see if this works any better. The last post was having trouble finding my pictures on my server.

From the last post:

Hi Friends! Did you hear? I passed my dissertation defense! That means, I earned my Ph.D. Yay.  
I'll do the graduation ceremony in December. Then I will have a goofy robe and hat to wear to commencement ceremonies for the rest of my life. How exciting.

Since last weekend we had our big wedding bash, and a few days later I defended my dissertation, we took this weekend to just relax. We got pretty bored with relaxing, though. We like to do stuff. I saw that the VT girls volleyball team was hosting a tournament, so we decided to go support them. We weren't much luck for them, however, because they lost. We appreciated the entertainment though.

In and closing, I have officially been told I have a stress fracture in my right foot. I have to wear this stupid boot for a few weeks. The doctor told me it was an "overuse" injury. So when I get back to running, I'll have to take it easy. Stupid running. Ruining my foot. Here's a pic of my foot fashion for the next few weeks. Stylish, no?

Still playing.

I'm still playing around. Enjoy some more decor pics :)


Center pieces for the tables

Thanks to Martha for the flamingos!

Post from the new Bloggie!

Just jumping on the blog to see how easy it will be to post pics from my fancy new Bloggie camera. Pretty cool! Here is some decor from our big wedding bash this weekend. Thanks to all that came out and celebrated with us, rain or shine.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!

I just spent an hour doing a major update on this blog and when I went to post it...GONE! Blogger lost my post!!! AAHHHH! I'm going to retry later tonight.

Happy 2011!

Happy New Year everyone! Long time, no blog! I've got the house to myself tonight. Ian went to Orlando for work and his flight got canceled for tonight. Sounds like the perfect time to update Hokieville. So, what's been going on here in Hokieville? Oh, not much. Most of you who read this saw Ian and I over winter break. We were home for about two weeks, which you would think would be plenty of time to see everyone but I still feel like we were stretched pretty thin. And the really bad news? I forgot to bring my camera home. Which means no pictures. But don't lose all hope. I have a few fine photographers in the family who volunteered to send me a few pics so this thing wouldn't be blank. Mom, thank you, and Mandi, I don't know if you knew I was going to steal pics from you and put them on the blog, but I did. Hope you aren't mad :)

Now that we are back in Hokieville, things are back in full swing. I am trying to finish up the Ph.D. thing by May, which will likely happen but I will be busier than ever trying to get it done. Ian is busy at work, and probably going to get busier because they have had a few personelle changes in the office and he is under a new supervisor now, and a member of his work group just took a new job elsewhere. I really don't mind the busy schedules during the day, it makes the hours go by faster, and the faster the days go, the faster we can come home and relax a little.

Well, not too much more to say. Like I said, I have been home alone for the past few days and apparently I am more boring than usual when Ian isn't around. Want to see the pictures I stole?

Even the dogs enjoy Christmas at home! Here is Neit anxious to open his present.

Santa's elves helping spread some cheer at Christmas.

Annual Christmas bowling, this year with our swanky new bowling shirts.


After-bowling game night time. Kalow won big time. Good thing we were only betting plastic chips.

And, hey, did you catch that good looking sweater vest Dad was wearing? Where did you get that, Dad?

And here we are embarrassing Judy for her birthday. Happy birthday Judy. Nice necklace by the way :)