SNOW....

Over the weekend it snowed about 20 inches in Salem, VA; which is crazy because we typically don't get snow here. On Friday at about 2:30 it started snowing, and didn't stop until about 1 on Saturday. As Virginia typically doesn't get snow, it made things quite interesting. People just are crazy here and cannot drive in any sort of weather conditions!! Andy and I went out on Sunday afternoon to find countless cars just parked in the middle of streets, neigborhoods, etc. Apparently, the motto is to just bail out wherever you are around here because no one pulled off to the side of the road!! It took V-Dot about 2 days to get some rough plowing done, but its still a mess. Obviously, they are not very well prepared here as the state hasn't seen this much snow since the early 90's. Luckily, the highways are clear, so we should be able to make it to Illinois this week. We may have to alter our plans a bit on account of the still bad roads in West Virginia, but hopefully, the majority of our drive should be smooth sailing.

Fall in Virginia

Its not hard to guess what Andy's favorite time of year is, of course fall because of deer hunting, but I'm guessing that not many people know that it is also my favorite time of year! I love when the weather starts to turn crisp and cool and autumn colors start making their way out. This year has not doubt been the prettiest fall I've ever seen. The trees have turned magnificent colors this year because of all the rain and cool summer. Everywhere you look there are bright reds, yellows, and oranges on the trees. It is really one of the coolest things I have ever seen. We feel so lucky to live in the mountains of Virginia during this time. Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous day. We decided to start off the morning on a drive through the mountains behind our house. It was sunny and about 65 degrees, which is just about perfect. Then we hiked up our backyard to see the view from on top of our own personal mountain. You can't say that when you live in Illinois!!

Sout Dakota

So 2 weekends ago, Andy and I went to South Dakota for 4 days. We went to the Robertson family farm near Winner, South Dakota for opening weekend of pheasant season. I decided that Pheasant hunting is probably the only thing to do in the town of Winner, SD. This town is in the middle of nowhere, about 2.5 hrs from Sioux Falls. It is so small, it doesn't even have a Wal-Mart remotely close. Even with not a lot of nightlife, we still found plenty to do, including hitting up the Pheasant Bar 1 night!! It was a pretty interesting trip for me, someone who has never been pheasant hunting. It is a very orchestrated event with very specific tasks for each person during the hunt. I just enjoyed being outdoors in the gorgeous weather. 2 of the days it was perfect weather, sunny and in the 60s. I day it got up to 80, which is just too hot when you are walking through fields all day long!! My favorite part of the trip was seeing how happy and relaxed Andy was. Its been a pretty stressful year for the both of us being in the construction industry during the largest economic downturn since the great depressions, so it was nice just relaxing and not thinking about work at all!! We had a great time catching up with friends and family and of course, shooting some phez. I even shot my first (and only) phez on the trip!!

Baby Otey is here too!!

Well there must be something secial about September 18th because almost 12 hours after Luca Campo was welcomed to the world, Hayden Scott Otey was born. Erin and Kevin Otey are our wonderful neighboors and friends here in Virginia. They welcomed their 1st child on Friday. We can't wait to see the little guy!! Luckily he is right down the street so we can see him all the time!!

Baby Campo is here!

Congrats to Jill and Tyler on the birth of their little guy, Luca Thomas Campo. Luca was born at 3:45 am weighing 8lbs 40z and 20.5 inches long. Everyone is doing great! Andy and I can't wait to meet him, although we have to wait until Christmas when we are home next :(

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Summer time and Trout Fishing

Andy and I have really enjoying our summer so far. We've been trout fishing a ton already which is awesome. I've never really been all that excited about fishing, but its so cool up here. We go to this place in the mountains about 40 minutes from our house called Roaring Run. Its about a 2 mile hike along the stream with all these beautiful waterfalls. Trubs absolutely loves it!! We usually go early on Sat or Sun morning that way there isn't too many people around so she can run the trails without her lesh. She is pretty good about sticking with us and she will run and get a drink out of the stream while we are fishing. Trubs is for sure in her element. You wouldn't expect a small dog to be such an outdoor loving adventurer, but thats our girl!! The last time 2 times we went I've caught some giant rainbow trout. Unfortunatly since I have begun fishing, Andy hasn't caught a single thing....I had to rub it in!! In fact the picture below is actually him with my fish; I figured I should throw him a bone, haha. Its just a nice relaxing time when we go. I love being outside hiking and taking in the scenery. The waterfalls are so gorgeous. Its probably our biggest hobby out here. The last 2 weeks its been unbearably hot, so we haven't done a whole lot of outdoor activities. We usually just take Trubs for a walk and do a little yard work before heading inside to cool off.

Trubs and us have some new friends! We got some awesome new neighboors who are about our age and they have the cutest little Cockapoo named Bella. Trubs and Bella are best buds and love to play and chase each other around our yards/houses. We probably just sit outside and all talk while the dogs play every night. Its been so nice!! Our other neighboors big chocolate lab, Chi, has also been getting in on the action!! They all place so well together and its so nice to have so many great neighboors/friends. We are all getting together for a cookout Friday night which will be fun. We are so ready for the long weekend to be here! For the 4th we will prob just try to find some local fireworks to check out. No big plans, but it will be nice to just have the long weekend and chill.

Feb Update

Hey guys...sorry I'm so lame. Let's see, whats happened... Last weekend Andy and I finally bit the bullet and bought a new couch. It is a very large dark brown, microfiber, dual-recliner couch that is pretty much the most comfortable thing I've ever sat in. We have just become useless to the outside world!! We love it and Trubs loves all the extra space, although she still has to sit right on your lap!! V-Day was pretty lowkey around the Robertson household. We went to Texas Roadhouse (my fav) on Friday to beat the rush. We ended up having so many leftovers we just ate that for our dinner on Sat!! We also fell asleep at about 9pm watching TV....like I said, lame. We're looking forward to some upcoming visitors/trips. My mom will be coming in March and then in April we will be heading to the keys with the Ralphs for a little beach vacay!! Sometime after that Amy and Alex will be coming to visit, so it will be nice to have visitors. I'm looking forward to the weekend. I'm sure you are all as excited as I am about my 25th bday on SAT!!! Andy is taking me shopping to Greensboro, NC for the day and to a nice lunch at PF Changs. I'm super excited!!
Trubs is doing good. She is just so darn cute!! She loves going to doggy day care to play with her little friends. We take her about 1 time a week (usually Fridays), and she comes home exhausted!! She has a lot of energy to burn off...
Other than that not too much going on here. We are for sure ready for warmer weather and a better economy!!

December/January Update

Well, its safe to say that I'm not too good at keeping this thing up! Nothing too exciting. I'll start in December when Ashley my gf from Chicago came to visit. We went to Washington DC to check out the sites and have an overall fabulous time!! I'm glad that I go to show her the new house, which was all decorated for Christmas, and introduce her to my baby girl Trubs! We took off Saturday morning for DC and had a great time. It was a little snowy, but we got to see the White House and a little of the Smithsonian. Then we had a fabulous dinner at a Brazilian Steakhouse. It was probably the best meal we've had in a long time! Good food, good wine, good friends, what more could you want?

After her exciting vist, Andy and I took it easy. We had a couple of work Christmas parties during the month, which were a lot of fun. Then we just settled in until the big day, Christmas!! We didn't make it back to IL this year, but we had fun with our own little celebration. After dinner with friends Christmas Eve, we came home and opened presants, just the 3 of us. Lots of lovely presents, I love Christmas!! Then, we tucked ourselves and little infant puppy into bed because my Aunt and Uncle and 3 little kids. It was fun to be around little ones on Christams (it was also great to be in Charlotte to go shopping the day after Christmas!!) Andy even took me to lunch to my favorite resturant, The Cheesecake Factory; he even braved the line at Crate and Barrell with me to help me shop!! Overall we had a great holiday, nice and relaxing!!

I spent the week between Christmas and New Years relaxing!! Luckily, I had the entire week off, so I slept in late, watched lots of movies, and did a little house work! It was great. NYE we went to dinner with our friends the Emlen's and Roosa's. We had a nice dinner and then headed home. we really tried to stay up to midnight, but as with last year did not quite make it, next year for sure!!!

Now that the holidays are over, its back to the real world. Not much besides work and taking care of the puppy. The Roanoke office had a sweet little addition last week, Nick and Selina welcomed their baby boy, Anthony. We've already been over to see him, and he is just adorable (but don't expect any babies from us anytime soon!!) Also, the Roosa's found out that they will be having a boy in June, lots of little ones!!

As boring as that sounds, thats a recap of our life!