Ah yes, the Salamander Resort

After our anniversary weekend, I rushed home to pack and head up to a work trip at the beautiful Salamander Resort & Spa in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is set on 340 acres and is located right in the middle of Virginia's horse country and vineyards so they have a full-service equestrian center as well as a winery amid other amazing features. Even though it was for work, I was able to spend some time and explore the grounds and services. I was also so lucky to visit the spa and get a facial. I sure was a lucky duck to visit and work a couple of days here. 

Always a Shirley Temple.

The food was incredible! I even tried some of the crab and lobster cakes as well as the sea bass. I was proud of myself. 

The adorable dessert bar.

They prepared the bed for me at night with the cutest slippers tucked in by the side, ready for my feet. 

THE SPA. Amazing! I could have spent all day in there.

Heated tile seats.

The interior design and decor were also breathtaking. After moving into our new apartment,

I was trying hard not to base my new decorating after this level of fancy (and cost!).

It was nice to work hard and relax after a long day up here. I was excited to get back

however and walked in to find that this little guy had found yet another yogurt lid.

Here's to Two Years

I can't believe it's been two years since Kyle and I got married! It's been a crazy road but I have loved every stretch of it including our time spent in Washington DC. Kyle planned an amazing getaway up in Northwest Pennsylvania to a little town called Peddler's Village. It had a fun hotel in the center surrounded by a variety of shops. We just hung out and would go out to get food or shop whenever we wanted. 

That weekend happened to be super rainy and we weren't prepared. The front desk said there was a wedding the week before and the wedding party left a bunch of white umbrellas so they let us take and keep two of them.

These white beauties ending up saving us from getting soaked.

It felt like we had stepped into a small European town.

What's a trip without ice cream?

Despite the rain, the grounds were beautiful, including this pond with tiny trains on tracks.

We were in a furniture and decor store at one time during our stay and I turned around to find

Kyle had found some heavy stone glasses (probably used for decoration somewhere).....and I remembered why I married him.

One of the highlights of the weekend was riding this carousel.

Kyle and his loyal pig.

I love that we did this on our second year anniversary.

It was the most charming area and I loved it including our little rain spells. 

Happy Anniversary Kyle! I am so lucky to call you mine. Thanks for being the best friend and husband I could ever ask for!

Here's to many more years and memories ahead.

A Ragnar and A Storm

I was going through my emails one day and saw one asking if someone wanted to join in (FOR FREE!) as a member of a Ragnar Relay team. I know Kyle is always up for a good race so I made sure he emailed back and reserved his spot. And OF COURSE Kyle was going to love it since it was the trail version of Ragnar and they would be running over parts of the Appalachian Trail. I helped him load up and said goodbye while he went up on Friday and Saturday. And then I took a look at the weather.... 

This was only the start. Over the next few days, it would pour buckets. Our front door even clouded over with all the fog. 

Boo was still getting used to our area so I took him out and about before it got really bad.

I think the rain combined with the stress of being in a new environment wore him completely out.

I kept checking the weather and once Saturday hit, the severe thunderstorm warnings started pouring (pun intended) in. Kyle didn't have great service so I wasn't sure if the race was going to be cancelled or if he was going to have to be running in mud. 

Meanwhile, Boo watched me while I unpacked. My oh my the stress of unpacking/organizing. It was slightly therapeutic...but only slightly. 

This is when the thunder started hitting. It was the WORST thunder storm I have ever heard! Like giant baseball bats cracking in the sky. I was filming part of it when I turned around and saw that Boo was scared of the sounds too. 

Kyle eventually called when he was on his way home. They hadn't canceled the race and it was raining the whole time they were there. He said there were times when he would be running on the trail and he would have to walk because running would have made him slip. When he brought his shoes in later that night, I couldn't even tell what color they used to be...they were COVERED in mud! There was one point on his drive home that he had to pull over to the side of the road and wait until the storm had moved on since the roads were starting to flood pretty badly.

Kyle finished strong with his usual speedy times. I'm glad he was able to go and run his heart out on parts of the Appalachian Trail.

The McOmber Place In a New Location!

I couldn't believe the time had finally come for us to move out of our first married apartment. I remember when we first moved in, it was VERY different from what I was expecting. The cost of living near Washington D.C. is really hard to come to grips with and we were happy we found a little basement apartment that we were able to somehow pay for when Kyle was in school.

After we moved in, I realized how amazing it was that we were led here and that we were able to stay as long as we did. Martina, our landlady and angel friend has been there through the ups and downs, the mice problem and purchase of Boo, and was even my visiting teacher for some time. She was always there to give advice or listen and kept us laughing when things were hard.  

Oh, a basement apartment. For the most part, we loved it!
 
The lack of light was a struggle, but we lived and made so many happy memories here.

We knew we had made it officially to Virginia when we noticed our car
showing in front of Martina's house on Google Maps!

The next couple of pictures are crazy because we were moving out but I wanted
to make sure I documented them all for memory's sake. 

Our guest bedroom where my mom and two of my sisters
(at separate times) stayed in when they visited.

I actually LOVED the kitchen. It was so roomy and I had
plenty of counter space to work with when baking or crafting.

I was worried about how this little guy would do since he was used to hanging around the backyard and down by the trail of Martina's home. So far, he's been okay and will come back in the morning when we call after he's been out all night. 

I love our new apartment! The family in our ward that was here before us let us know they were moving and we jumped on it. Even though it is more than we are wanting to spend while Kyle is looking for a job, we know we will want it for the future and some littles that will eventually come. Plus, it is still in our same ward and is right by the same town home area as our bishop's family which is fun.  It has beautiful wood floors and a lot of lighting. It's been a little crazy moving everything over and kind of setting it where there is space until we can get organized.

The fireplace! I can't wait for winter to start a fire there and
curl up with a book or some hot chocolate (or both!)

We eventually got a FREE kitchen table (that we are going to paint) and made tons of trips to IKEA for some other furniture. Before we got our couch, it looked like this....and that was for a good two months or so. It's overwhelming to work full time AND move AND set up a new home!

I can't end this post without sharing some of the best (and not so great...Kyle cleaning out the bathroom drain...)
moments of our two years in this amazing place. 

Kyle, thanks for choosing to go to grad school here so we could have this amazing adventure. And thank you Martina for letting us stay in your home and get to know you. We will always treasure the time we spent here and the memories we created.