Christmas happened

Here's the proof.

Enjoy the pictures, and my minimal narration. ;)

This year was crazy busy. I got out of school just over a week before Christmas, but at the same time, Tara and her kids were in a car accident that left both Tara and Aubrey in the hospital. So I flew out and spent a few days there helping Tara out who now has a couple of pins in her ankle and can't get around.

And poor Aubrey who now has a little metal plate in her forehead, finally came home after 4 days in the hospital.
But in other Christmas activities, there was a trip to the North Pole:
Mason smashing Katie -



And playing in the snow!
It only lasted 15 minutes before the kids were COLD and wanting to go home.
A trip to the Mesa Temple to see the lights.
This cute boy made me a Christmas gift that he kept asking me to open. I told him I wanted to wait for Christmas but finally gave in. A super duper cute ornament he made for me at school.
And finally Christmas eve:

Decorating cookies for Santa.
Ryan on the guitar, singing Christmas carols.
Christmas eve games.




And finally Christmas.
The kids were so cute, and on their own decided to use their own money to buy gifts for each other.
Gwen loved her "high heels" and has only taken them off her feet to wear her new roller skates.

All in all, we had a wonderful Christmas, and gave thanks for our many blessings.

Wassail

It's that time of year! For the non-chocolate lover (such as myself) have a nice hot cup of Wassail when you get chilly. It's so yummy and spicy, and it feels awesome going down if your throat is starting to get sore (again, like me).

You can find some really good recipes out on the interweb, but here's a basic super easy recipe:

(picture courtesy of google)

Wassail -

2 C Tang

1 1/2 C Country Time Lemonade Mix

1 C Sugar

2 t Cinnamon

1 1/2 t Cloves (ground)

Add a couple of tablespoons to a mug of hot water and enjoy!

My School Budy

Drake woke up with a horrible sounding cough and sore throat. So he didn't go to school today, but joined me instead. This is how he kept busy. And the class was entertained by his random little bursts of excitement when he did particularly well at one of his games.

Been busy!

I've been out of commission. Scrambling to get things done before the end of the semester. That's right the END of the semester!!! Today is my last day of classes and then the dread of finals. This is always about the time that I'm tempted to just drop out of law school. Not really. But kind of. ;)

Ryan started a new job, the Taylors were in town for Thanksgiving week, and my washing machine broke. That's something I've taken for granted. When was the last time you hauled off eight loads of laundry down to the laundromat? Me? Saturday and the Saturday before. But my new one is super sexy, and it comes tomorrow!!!

Also, remember a couple of posts ago when I was running like crazy? I did the Nike Women's marathon, then five days later Ragnar Las Vegas, and then the following weekend the Red Mountain Half Marathon. It was a lot of running. Well wouldn't you know it, my crappy osteoporosis bones didn't love it. I tried to run hard for the half, but after four miles, couldn't keep up my pace because of the pain. Why? oh, just another stress fracture. This one in my left FEMUR!!! Yep, the biggest bone in your body. While stress fractures to the femur are not nearly as common as other bones, it's almost always because of endurance running.

That means it's time for a break. And while it's hard to come to grips with the fact that I won't be running the new course for PF Changs Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon this year (tear), I can at least still ride my bike and swim. And I really need to be serious about resting and getting healthy because I'm signed up for this:
IRONMAN ARIZONA 2012!!!!!!

I'm so excited, and scared, but mostly excited!!
So excuse my absence from posting again, but I'm going to buckle down and study and hope to not fail out of law school.

Vegan Butternut Squash Enchiladas

I have been obsessed with butternut squash this season! Between my two pumpkin shakes a day, and all the squash and sweet potato fries I've consumed since the temps have dropped into the double digits, (Arizona fall) I can't believe I haven't turned orange yet. Oh well, I'm sure it'll come sometime before Thanksgiving!

This is so yummy!! And easy peasy.

So that's two plusses.

Now you have no excuse.

You need to make these!

1 Med Butternut squash cubed up (go to Costco and buy it pre-cubed!)

8 Flour tortillas (we go burrito size on these - also from Costco, the cook and eat ones)

1 can Black beans

1 cup Frozen Corn

1 med Onion

1/2 tsp. Garlic salt *

1/2 tsp. each Cinnamon and Nutmeg

1 tsp. Cumin

1 can Hatch green enchilada sauce

Shredded Mozzarella (we used Rice cheese and it was fantastic!)

I start by spaying a sheet with non-stick spray, dump the butternut squash on them, and then liberally salt and pepper. Throw them in the oven at 375º for about 25 minutes while you prep the rest of the stuff.

Chop the onion and sauté in a skillet over med high heat until translucent. Add the beans and corn and warm up.

Cook your tortillas if you bought the cook and eat kind.

Pull your squash out of the oven and sprinkle with your spices.

*I just dump the spices in my hand and guess to how much I actually use, but I think you'll be safe with these approximations. ;)

Then mash the squash all up. Oh man, it'll smell soooo good!

Then pour some enchilada sauce at the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Take your tortillas, and spread a good amount of the squash in the middle of them, then a couple scoops of the bean/corn mixture. Roll up and place in the pan, and when finished, cover with the remaining enchilada sauce.

Bake in your 375º oven for 30 minutes, covering with cheese for the last five minutes.

Enjoy your healthy enchiladas.

MONSTERLAND

In honor of Hallow's eve, a spooky post.

Earlier in the month, we went with our friends, the Gannons, down to Downtown Mesa to check out the new museum, Monsterland. It was more of a haunted house, and I don't know if it was just set up like that for Halloween time, or what? But it was scary for sure! They have a bunch of scary props from movies, and monsters, and all sorts of spookies.

I like how Drake is just paused in front of the doorman to get in.
It was so dark and scary that I just had to keep snapping pictures so the flash would light the way and we'd get an idea of what was coming up/where to go.
Steve and Jack. Jack was a little scared!
Seriously though, can you imagine walking through a room with this guy?? In the dark?? I was so glad we had kids with us because I'm sure they went easy on their efforts to try to scare us because of them.
Creepy much?
How about the skull walls?



Afterwards, we had to take the kids to get ice cream in an effort to alleviate the scary tension. But the kids loved it!! They want to go back. So if you're looking for something to do tomorrow night besides trick or treating, go check out Monsterland!

Vegas Baby!!

Ahh Ragnar, sooo much fun! This one was especially fun because it was a family affair. Tawnya and Kolby, Tara and Andrew, Ryan and I; and Cec and Clint, Misty, Justin, and our new friend Joseph.

And what do you do when you have kids and you all are going to be running all day, all night, and all day?? The Taylors and Collards brought their kids to Vegas with them and then had Grandma's watch their kids. We opted for leaving our kids home with a very responsible babysitter. (she really was awesome, and the kids LOVED her) That way the kids could still go to school, do soccer, and practice for the Primary program.

Also something to consider when you're doing a destination Ragnar. If you are starting first thing Friday morning, you'll have to spend the night there Thursday night. Well I, ever being the cheapskate, booked an $18 hotel room.

Well, not until we were driving there, and I was telling my mom about our sweet deal, did the gravity of the situation start setting in. She asked "Can they even wash the sheets and clean the room for that cheap?!" Umm, no way! Crap, what did I do? Then as we were driving to the hotel, in a seedy part of town, we kept passing bail bond shops, and XXX stores, I vowed never to book a hotel that cheap again.

But, much to our surprise, we walked into a nice new lobby, and we were so thankful when we found that not only was the lobby re-done, but the rooms too! Clean towels and sheets!!! Yes! So I'm happy to recommend the Plaza Hotel (the one in all the old Vegas movies) to anyone looking for a cheap room in Vegas.

Okay, back to Ragnar. Our team name was "How the West was RUN", and we dressed up as cowboys and Indians. (I realize that dressing up as Indians is offensive to some, and I apologize to you if you are offended... but we ARE Indians, and I'm proud of who I am, so I'm totally not offended. In fact I love it! Just like the team "Curry in a Hurry" who were the India-Indians team.) Our girly van was the first van, and the manly van was van 2.

One little, Two little, Three little Indians...

Ceci was our first runner, heading out an hour late. But we couldn't help it. Our sixth girly runner wasn't able to make it out because of flight delays and travel problems, so we got a late start after figuring that all out. That meant that us girls had to pick up her legs too! We ran A LOT!

And here's Tara coming in from her first leg. Tara did awesome! In fact it was Tawnya and Tara who talked me into doing this Ragnar. (not that I took much convincing) It's so fun to be able to go running with my sisters!

This was in honor of Destinee, who couldn't make it. We dubbed her the Wind Runner.

And here's our team (minus Justin who was running) at the first major exchange. By this time, the boys had slept in, ate breakfast and went out to lunch. Us girls had gotten up super, duper early, and hadn't had a single meal! We totally got the short end of the stick!

This picture was from my night run. It was off on some trail in the middle of NOWHERE in the pitch dark of night. I could only see what my headlamp pointed to. And this trail had CUH-RAZEE hills. But the cool thing about it, was that at the top of each hill, I had a spectacular view of the city. I couldn't get a picture to turn out, but you get the idea.

Can you tell we're sisters?
Why is Misty pulling up her skirt over here? What was going on?

Um yep, that's what you gotta do during Ragnar.

And yet again, it is us girlies who welcome the sun on day 2.


And here's Tawnya, finishing up the last leg for us females.

Do you have any idea how nice it is to see that blue sign?!
And finally, finished.

And then a nice relaxing night at the Paris (after hanging out with the Wevers) and an easy Sunday drive home. Thank goodness the kids didn't burn down the house while we were gone.