Christmas Eve's Eve

In keeping with this year's theme of "sequester the Grinch" I offered (with B's suggestion) to host Christmas with my dad. The two youngest brothers, Nik and Alix, have been working out of state/town and miraculously they were both home on the eve of Christmas Eve.

Pulling from the decorations already placed around the house and a great clearance table cloth from Target, I very inexpensively created a festive table. Madison cut snowflakes and made place cards with them.

For dinner I made pork loin which was brined over night then stuffed and rubbed with a garlic rosemary paste and baked in a bath of white wine. It turned out devine! For sides we had sage sweet potatoes and pan roasted Brussels with bacon and pine nuts, and rolls. I had made the sauce for my favorite green beans the night before and completely forgot about that dish. For dessert we had applesauce spice cake and cheese cake. I think it is safe to say no one left hungry.

After waiting very patiently through dinner and the after dinner conversation Maddox prompted us to move on to gifts. Machelle gave Madison a plethora of scarves- which she loved! Maddox got a razor 360 bike that he had been asking for, and Megan and Nik got the kids this great puzzle game that we have been playing with all night and this morning.

We all enjoyed watching Maddox ride his new bike in the frigid night just to show off the sparks it emits when he pulled the emergency brake.

Alix and his wife ended up not coming- revealing I have a double standard, and causing me to reevaluate my own attitude of Christmas and the "required" visits. Giving me all the more reason to continue my quest to "sequester the Grinch".

So here's to the beginning of a very merry Christmas- spent with FAMILY.

Spring Break 2011 Sun Kissed and Snow Kissed

This was the first spring break in a few years that was absolutely beautiful!

We had great weather nearly all week, and took full advantage of it. We headed to Ouray for our annual trip with Allison and our kids, the weather was perfect (actually any warmer and it would have been too hot to be in the warm water). Maddox was swimming like a little fish, he even ventured out with out the floaties he usually clings to. Allison and I got a lot of time to just chat, but it is never enough for us.

We also spent an entire afternoon at the park with Ari and the kids, in which both Madison and I got a bit sunburned. We took bikes and scooters, and balls, and the dogs. This proved to be plenty of entertainment for several hours. We ended the evening with a complete St. Patty's day meal at Ari's house topped off with a Snakebite and Guinness chocolate cake.

The kids and I went to a movie with my niece and mom. We tried to go to Rango, but were advised to not take a 3 year old because it was too scary, so opted for Mars Needs Moms. Even though it wasn't the movie we planned on going to (and it was still scary for my niece and they left early), it turned out to be a pretty cute show...

Brian had the day off on Friday, so we took advantage of the freshly fallen snow, and sunny skies and headed up to Sunlight. The snow was perfect, and the kids skies great! Maddox has come so far with his skiing ability in just 4 trips up. Madison continues to improve and try new things. This trip she attempted to ski in powder and took a pretty good digger. "How do you turn in this stuff!!" she exclaimed from her back buried in the snow. We skied hard all morning and by 2 Maddox was D.O.N.E. Madison and Brian were going to ski a few more runs but it had gotten so warm they were skiing in slush, so we headed home.

Saturday I headed to Moab to run the Canyonlands race. I had been training so hard for this half marathon, but got hurt/sick, which sidelined me several weeks from the race. I just couldn't get my training up to the mileage I had before so I changed my entry to the 5 mile run. I am glad I did because I would have tried to run the half when I got there... as it was I was even trying to find a way to pretend to be Anne and run her half, or have them change my entry back, the entire drive there. In the end I mad the smart decision of just running 5. I expected the weather to be beautiful, instead it was cloudy and windy, really windy! After I finished (47:30)I headed back out to the highway (the worst part of the race) to find my friends running the last mile of the half. I found Jan, and paced with her for a while, but she was running too fast for me...7:30s even after 12 miles (she finished in 1 hour and 44 min)! So I cut out early with her and headed back in hopes of finding Lisa or Christie... I must have missed Lisa, and ended up finding Christie and running with her all the way to the shoots. It ended up being a pretty good run, and I am excited to begin training for another race...maybe the Grand Valley half in May, and maybe the Denver Rock and Roll Half in October.

Now here I sit on Sunday afternoon, only a few hours until I return to work, and I still have a few activities to attend... First up, a bridal shower for my husbands cousin. Following that is a get together for Anne's birthday... YEAH! BBQ, Margaritas, and time with a great friend!

Hey Good Lookin', Whatcha Got Cookin'

I go through spurts where I will plan out a menu, tirelessly searching my magazines, friend's blogs, and websites finding scrumptious meal ideas. While other times I just open my fridge and cupboards and throw something together. For the last month or so I was on the "throw it together" kick, we were all pretty impressed with the meals I came up with. Well that ship has sailed, or my culinary creativity went into hibernation, so I am back to searching high and low for some delightful dinner ideas.

Most of the meals below came from my friend Anne's favorite recipe site: Good Housekeeping. I'll let you know how they turn out!

Fish Tacos with Tangy Slaw
Sesame Salmon with Bok Choy
Chicken and Cabbage Stir Fry
BBQ Salmon with Roasted Asparagus

And Tonight we had Jerk Chicken Kabobs with Jalapeno Black Beans and Spicy Corn.
As you can see, Maddox helped me prepare dinner, and I modified and cooked the chicken and veggies in a pan rather than on the grill. With by recipe you make your own Jerk seasoning for the chicken, and I was surprised how easy it was. It calls for a whole jalapeno, but I have a sissy mouth so I just used a half. I cooked the black beans with the left over jalapeno, and added some red chili seasoning to my corn. We all really enjoyed it, I am sure that it would be even better on the grill. Maybe some tangy summer salad would zest it up a bit too!

Learned? Giving Maddox a safety knife and allowing him to help saved so much of my sanity while trying to prepare dinner. I will need to do that more often!

Souper Bowl 2009

Friday night we went to the PHS Souper Bowl with our friends Jason and Summer and their girls. The souper bowl is a fund raiser for the art club and culinary students at PHS. You purchase a hand made bowl, then get to eat all the homemade soups, bread, and desserts you want! I was pretty impressed with the quality of the pottery for high school students, and the soups were pretty good too!

Here are the bowls that my family chose:



Learned: It was kind of neat to break out of the normal "dinner and a movie" family activity.

FRESH!

I discovered a perk of working at a Palisade school....



Learned? I am loving my decision to teach at the middle school more every day!