Hey familia,

So, I wanted to post pictures up from my "Gilmore Girl" thanksgiving in Santapoint, Idahohoho....but my computer is not letting me upload pictures. Anyway, I just want to give everyone a heads up that our Christmas will be one to remember! I am so excited and love you all very much, and thanks for all the family support I got about Romania when the only person I told was mom...davis family never keeps secrets:D

Props to Emily once again for finding these cute backgrounds! By the way, who would've thought that Ryan would be the most talkative/active member of our family blog?

Our Thanksgiving

So as you may have heard already, Rachel and I had a great Thanksgiving. We enjoyed four days and three nights at "Paws and Reflect" cabin in Shenandoah. We had nice scenery, a hot tub, and lots of time to rest and relax. We fully intended to hike everyday and sleep a lot, but we ended up replacing the hiking with eating! A sure formula for a great vacation! Thursday, Rachel made us a beautiful Thanksgiving feast for two with: home-made mac-n-cheese, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, and topped it off with a roasted mystery bird (we're still not sure if it was chicken or turkey). After the meal, we went in to the cute little town to see August Rush, which was a great, heart warming movie. We finished off with some pie and ice cream, some board games and hot tub. We sure missed family, but we had a lot of fun just the three of us...

Parker, You Never Call Me Anymore!

I miss you lil bro. I think you should give in to the digital age, you were after all born in it, and just post on our blog. I'm sure we'd all love an update on basketball and your new school and Penny. And you're the guy to give us that!

Anyway, I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving! Ryan and I are headed back to Shenandoah where we rented a small one bedroom cabin for the break. We're treating it as an Anniversary/Thanksgiving trip as we never get to do much for our anniversary (being at Christmas time and all). We're pretty excited to go hiking everyday, laze around in the cabin, watch old movies and relax in the hot tub!

Can't wait to hear how everyone's break goes!

Much love to all of you!

WOW! I have never had a homecoming as cool as Marshal's...elephants and a Hello Goodbye concert!!! SO JEALOUS...and again sorry about the $20 a plate turning into $40 a plate:) I had a great weekend because Mom came out to surprise Christian for his senior recital but I got to spend just as much time with her blabbing away like I do best. Thanksgiving break is coming up real real quick and I am so excited to go home and decorate with Parker and Marshal in the cold! I will be missing the rest of our family though too, even though I will be able to see you at Christmas. I just wanted to put a post up because it has been awhile, family I LOVE YOU! I hope that everyone has a supercalifradgilicstiousispialidocious day!!! haha

KINSEY XOXOXOXO

RE:Lars And The Real Girl

This looks pretty good. Unfortunately the national release hasnt happened yet. But looks good tough, cant wait to see it.

Homecoming :]

So homecoming was overall a pretty fun night. So after spending the whole day getting ready (eg. Hair, Nails, Makeup) just kidding after spending 10 minutes getting ready I headed over to Kelleys house to pic her up at which point these photographs where taken...

We then went to the $20 a plate restaurant to realize that the cheapest thing on the menu was $40. (dont panic, I'll sell the house and move in with mom and dad :p). Anything else that took place at dinner will remain between me and Kelley.

Then we went to the dance and while waiting to take a picture with the elephant took these pictures.



Then we took a picture with the elephant and rode it :p


Then we danced a little. Went to a hellogoodby concert. And went home. (I have no digital pictures of any of these things) so i'll talk to you later.

Shenandoah

Rachel and I had a great Saturday. We went to Shenandoah National Park, which is a long, skinny strip about 150 miles long or so, about an hour and a half away. We had heard that Virginia was at its peak of fall colors (from mom), so we went to drive around a bit and have a little hike. Not only was the drive up there gorgeous, but the hike was great too. It was a little overcast and a bit chilly, which made it even better. The town just at the base of the mountain was great too, just one small street with a bunch of little mom and pop shops. We found a little family run diner that served home made black berry cobler and hot chocolate...and almost ate there. Overall, it was beautiful, and I'm pretty sure we'll be hiking and camping there much more as they have some backwoods camping that you have to backpack too, waterfalls, rivers and all; we just scratched the surface this weekend. It was a romantic, being gratefull for where we live kind of day. We might even spend Thanksgiving there. Anyway, it was great, you'll all have to come visit next fall and we'll take you down there. Here's a few pictures I took there. Unfortunately about 15 minutes into it the batery died! They just don't do it justice still...

Lars and the Real Girl

You all need to go see this movie.

Finished English, now its time for the ACT

So i finally finished english. But now i got the ACT this weekend. And this prep book can only be so entertaining. Well this is how I feel about being done with english.

watch the whole thing
-marshal

Exams Part Deux

So, yes I finished my second set of exams! Follow this link to see how it made me feel... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cavFoyYJwPQ. I havn't gotten the grades back yet, that's tomorrow, but the important fact is that its over. I took a couple days off, had cinammon rolls for breakfast, grilled a t-bone steak to perfection along with some asparagus, then washed it down with some gourmet root beer. My next exams aren't till finals before Christmas, so I'm free to enjoy the next few weeks. I also had an interesting day in anatomy lab. we started dissecting the neck so we had to undrape the face. the eye lids shrunk back and the skin around the mouth shrunk leaving the eyes open all coudy and the mouth open with the teeth showing. I think I might see that in my dreams for a long time, it looked like a zombie. The eyes feel kinda like weak ping pong balls...

My Faves for November

Movie of the Month

Across the Universe

Appropriate for anyone over 18.

It is a beautiful and unique movie set to a soundtrack that is primarily Beatles. It follows a British sailor on the evolution of his life journey, the evolution of the times (1960’s) and the evolution of the Beatles music. Despite an overly long and psychedelic LSD trip sequence ( a la Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds), the movie is entertaining and very moving. And the music is, dare I say, better than when the Beatles themselves sang it. It is most definitely worth purchasing the soundtrack.

Book of the Month

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaleid Hosseini

Appropriate for anyone over 16

Thank you Christian and Emily for this fantastic book recommendation! I first read The Kite Runner by the same other and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, A Thousand Splendid Suns was on an entirely different level to me. It was the kind of book that was so intriguing that I didn’t put it down from the time I started, Sunday afternoon, til the time that I finished Monday at 3am.

It is two women’s interwoven stories as they struggle to survive during the many years of war, oppression and extreme poverty in Afghanistan. It is equal parts beautiful and tragic and the kind of book that, as a woman, has me thanking the heavens I was born in America.

TV Series of the Season

Chuck

Appropriate for all ages.

If you haven’t already, you need to get into the new series Chuck! It is charming, hilarious and exciting all wrapped into one. Chuck is the story of a computer nerd who is sent an e-mail with all of the government’s top secret information before it is subsequently destroyed. The information is downloaded into his brain, and as a result he is the only one with this info. He becomes an unofficial CIA agent, while maintaining his cover job with the Nerd Herd (equivalent of Geek Squad).

The number one thing that makes this show stand out is the lovable and hilarious characters, particularly Chuck’s best friend Morgan.