thanksgiving

Last Tuesday we headed up north to celebrate Thanksgiving with Chris' family. Fun. Fun.

LOTS of games were played. Catchphrase was really fun with everyone. I'm not a card game fan at all...so I bowed out of those. :)

The weather was great, which made it so the kids spent tons of time outside. Here they are playing kickball with the dads.

Our Thanksgiving feast was exactly that. A huge feast! My favorites? Sweet potatoes and corn casserole.

No visit would ever be complete without a trip to their favorite childhood restaurant, Espe's.

Kendall loves her grandma's homemade biscuits, so she was quite helpful in the kitchen one morning.

This was the first time I was able to watch Hallmark Christmas movies this season (since we don't have cable). We watched more than one. ;)

We had zero traffic on the way home yesterday, which was great! Tomorrow starts real life again and I can't tell you how NOT ready I am. :)

a night with friends

*Last night we had two families over for dinner. Jen (whom I've been friends with since 7th grade) and Emily (whom Jen and I met in college) and their families drove over an hour to meet up and we had such a fun night. We had eight kids total and it was one, loud house! :)

Here is Kendall helping me prepare our dessert. I've found that trifles are pretty and feed a ton of people! We had so much left over that I was able to bring dessert to my parents today since we were celebrating an early Thanksgiving.

*Last week we took a day off from real life and headed to the happiest place on earth. I had enrolled the kids in a homeschool/charter this past summer and we were able to use the funds we received for Disneyland tickets. Despite it being a tad (okay..maybe more than a tad) crowded, we had a wonderful time. My parents were able to join us and it reminded us of old times, when we had passes and went all the time. Ahh...the good ol' days. :)

*This afternoon I really didn't feel like going for a walk due to some chilly and windy weather. I told myself I would change into my walking clothes and then just see how I felt. It's amazing how simply getting dressed for exercise actually gives you that little extra motivation to head out the door. I'm so happy I did as it ended up being such a beautiful walk/podcast/meet up with Cam on his bike time. ;)

*I have to work tomorrow and part of Tuesday, but they will be nice and easy days, so I don't mind too much. We are then headed up north for Thanksgiving!!

skinny cow protein

*This week I made a recipe I hadn't made in a long time. I realized it had been too long because it elicited 10's all around!!

Roasted Red Pepper Pasta

 

*Last week I was chosen to be on the jury for a criminal trial. Was I bummed that I wasn't excused? Initially...yes. Was (and is) it hard to catch up on all the work I missed? Yes. Was it a good experience? Absolutely. The whole trial was incredibly interesting and as cheesy as it sounds, I have so much respect for our justice system. We found the defendant guilty on all three counts (resisting arrest, assault of a police officer, false imprisonment).

*Our family movie nights are chipping away at each and every Marvel movie. Last night was, Avengers Age of Ultron.

 

*Cameron has been REALLY into collecting cans lately. He'll walk around the neighborhood and ask our neighbors if they have any extra. He'll then crush them and ride his bike up to the recyclying place to turn them in. He made $23 on his last visit!

 

*I discovered a new Skinny Cow that is amazing. These are my same beloved sandwiches, but are packed with more protein. For some reason that added protein makes them so much more creamy and yummy. I'm officially a fan.

*Had a one night visit from Noonie and Deb last Sunday as they were on their way to the desert for a few days. It was a short, but fun visit!

 

 

the last couple weeks

*Last weekend we left the kids with my parents and went out for a belated birthday for Chris. We had brainstormed fun ideas and had even made reservations at a steak house we had never been to. However the night before Chris decided a celebration is only truly a celebration unless it takes place at The Cheesecake Factory (and I was fully on board)!

We also enjoyed some time beforehand at my happy place...Costco. :)

  

  

*Chris recently did something many golfers dream of...he got a hole in one. I know so little about golf, yet I do know what a huge deal this is. :)

 

*Trick-or-treating was fun this year. The piggies accompanied us. :)

 

*I had to report for jury duty this past week. I didn't have to report until 9:00am, so not only was I able to take the kids to school, but I even treated myself to a Starbucks. I was even more excited when I realized it was, "Free reusable red cup day when you by a Holiday drink." I got a Caramel Brulee latte. So good.

 *Yes, this is the earliest we have ever decorated, but it just happened to work out to where we had a free Saturday and I'm excited for Christmas!

 

*Me and my sis :)

"epic" bike ride

*Today was a bike ride day for dad, Cam, and I. This time, however, we decided to join a group ride, which was put on by a local bike shop. It was so fun. So. Fun. To put it in Cam's words, "Mom! This is epic!" There is something very cool about being with a group of people...all of whom were so nice! We did 30 miles, which luckily were pretty easy miles (hill wise). I was so impressed with Cam because he made his way to the head of the pack, where he remained much of the time.

Here we are stopped to make sure everyone was together. You can see Cam in the middle of the pack (bright yellow shirt with black backpack).

Afterward everyone headed inside the shop for bagels and coffee. What a FUN day!

*Kendall had some fun of her own. Her group at church spent the whole day in Oak Glen. She brought the quad girls, which made it extra special. Before Chris dropped them off in the morning, he and Kendall went to breakfast for a cinnamon roll the size of her face. :)

*I'm just finishing up the most addicting podcast I have listened to thus far (Chris is a fan too). Wow. I would listen every chance I got, even if I was in the car only a few minutes. Here is the description:

"Christopher Duntsch was a neurosurgeon who radiated confidence. He claimed he was the best in Dallas. If you had back pain, and had tried everything else, Dr. Duntsch could give you the spine surgery that would take your pain away. But soon his patients started to experience complications, and the system failed to protect them."

desert flippers

*I've never been into trying different flavors of coffee because I figured, since I use flavored creamer, I wouldn't be able to taste the difference in the actual coffee flavor. This past week, however, I tried a Starbucks Toasted Graham k-cup. Oh, my goodness! It was the best cup of coffee I've had. The Starbucks brand makes the cups more pricey, but I figure 69 cents for one k-cup is much better than $5 if I were to actually go to Starbucks and get a drink. :)

*Yesterday Chris had a golf tournament and so the kids and I went to Costco. I still feel like Costco is a super fun outing. The kids aren't in as much agreement as they were years ago, but I still look forward to going. :) 

*This morning I made cinnamon rolls for the kids and we all watched our new favorite family show, Desert Flippers. It's your basic house flipping show, but it takes place in the Palm Springs area so it's fun to see if we can guess where the different house flips are. :)

*Our train tracks are one of the few toys I've held onto from when the kids were young. I'm glad I did as every now and then, the kids get in a train zone.

*Here are Chris and Cam, hanging out watching the piggies run around. Full disclosure...Chris is a pretty big fan of the piggies. :)

*Today we took the kids to see, Free Solo. It's a documentary about a man who free climbed (no ropes) El Capitan in Yosemite. Pretty amazing.

*I've REALLY been into podcast listening on my walks. I've mostly listened to healthy living/eating ones, but have grown tired of them. I've been wanting a good, Christian podcast. My favorite are interviews, rather than someone just talking/preaching. I think I finally found one that I like. In fact, the kids and I listened to this one on the way to Costco yesterday and they were very into it.

joshua tree

*And we are back! I've surprisingly not cried the first two episodes, though I've been watching each one pretty much on the verge. :)

*I've started back with Jillian Michael's in the morning. I've read (or podcast listened) a lot lately about how much muscle you lose as you near your 40's. So while I still enjoy my walks for the relaxing/stress aspect, it's been good to feel like I really accomplished something (though I sure wish I enjoyed the workouts as much as my walks!).

*One of my past fails as a mom was not feeding my kids eggs starting when they were little. I never ate them much, so I never made them. Now that Cam is endlessly hungry, I've been trying to find some other form of protein besides a gallon of peanut butter a day. Enter eggs. I decided I would make them the most appetizing I possibly could. What could be better than eggs, sandwiched in a Costco croissant?? Result? Kendall loved it. Cam tolerated it (but I think he'll still eat them). ;)

*Yes, please.

*To celebrate Chris' upcoming birthday, we headed to Joshua Tree for a few hours with my parents. We had such a nice time and both kids kept saying, "This is so fun!" We climbed boulders, ate a picnic lunch, and relaxed while we talked and watched the rock rappelling folks who were camped right in front of us.