Saturday Sledding

Our friends took us to a great new sledding location, 

that now makes 2 spots that we know of...

after all there very few hills around here.

Aspen was a brave little thang and insisted on going all the way down by herself.

At the beginning I was nervous to let her do it, but soon enough she was up and down 

hat hill just as fast as the other girls.

Adam was the mighty pusher sending the girls down the hill with force.

Cody was Avery's sledding partner and just barely escaped an injury to his tailbone 

after hitting the jump at the bottom countless times.

Leslie and I assumed our motherly role of stand by paramedics and camera women!

It was freezing, it was fun!

Kid Friendly Science

Submerge one egg in vinegar and let it soak for a few days.

Then take it out and gently wash the shell away.

Check out how you can help my cousin save

Paso Pacifico

HERE!

Simply Sweet Potato Pancakes

Sweet potatoes are packed with nutrients 

AND a delicious addition to your favorite pancake recipe.

TRY THIS and you will never want to go back to the normal pancake again!

First roast your sweet potatoes in the oven until cooked through. Scoop the pulp 

into a food processor, add a little water and blend until totally smooth.

I typically make lots of puree at the same time and freeze it in 1c. baggies so 

I can just pull one out whenever I need it.

Second, make your favorite pancake recipe...real not from a mix or else it just won't taste good because pancake mixes are not good.

Then add your puree at the very end right before cooking.

I use either 1/2 C. puree for one batch or 1 C. puree for a doubled batch.

The puree changes the texture so they are more dense and moist!

You won't regret trying this!

And here is a darling little, well actually quite big,

decal I added to the playroom wall several months ago.

Doing What I Love and Loving What I Do

Every time I enter the Group X room at my gym to start a class I feel happy!

Even when it's been a train wreck of a morning with the children,
perhaps especially when it's been a difficult morning,
I delight in escaping to my happy teaching place.

I LOVE my job!

 I thrive on getting to know my members by name and learning bits and pieces of their
lives when they come chat with me after class.

My classes are composed mostly of regular participants,
many who have been consistently attending my classes for years now.
I've grown to love 'em and depend on their smiling faces in class.

Part of my job description includes encouraging and motivating members
to help them achieve their goals, how cool is that?

I can still clearly recall advice given at a training event I attended back in Utah.
The master instructor said:

"Members should ALWAYS feel better when they walk 
out of your class then they did when they walked into it."


And so my goal is for each member to leave feeling
happy, accomplished, successful, encouraged and with a renewed determination 
to come back again, and again and again!

Studies have been conducted indicating that consistent challenging exercise is
just as effective as prozac and I can testify to that!

 

This is Ellen, Group X Director (my boss) for THREE of our clubs.

She may look tiny, but boy does she pack a powerful punch in all of her

high energy spinning classes!

Ellen is the women who keeps our Group X world spinning too.

Her job title is quite extensive and as I see it, very overwhelming,

but she handles the chaos with great character...and a lot of patience!

Patience as in when I called her in the wee hours of the morning 

once when I was sicker than sick and she got my classes covered for the day...

and patience as in when 

I kept needing more and more classes covered because my leg would not heal...

or patience as in when any one of the many instructors has a last minute emergency 

and she scrambles 

to help them get a class covered. 

Thank you Ellen for keeping it all organized running smoothly!

A message about patience found HERE.

And now I am off to memorize choreography for tomorrow's class.

Back Again

Kelly made a long journey all the way from Japan to visit during the Holidays!

It was SO wonderful to see her and her two children several times during their stay in town.

Kelly was one of the first friends I made after moving here.

At that time she was the President extraordinaire for our resident spouse group.

She was always helping other spouses in the group to feel welcome,  

comforted and befriended

...so naturally we were all quite sad when she moved to Japan.

On the last day of her visit we went bowling and out for lunch.

We also managed a dinner out minus the children while she was here.

Ashli and Julie also made a quick trip for the weekend to visit the group while Kelly was here.

Mary hosted the annual ornament exchange party...

which I had to show up to late because I was teaching a class.

Ashli and Mary were some of my first demonstrator recruits in town.

We gathered for monthly stamp clubs at mi casa and soon

enough they were putting on monthly stamp clubs of their own as demonstrators!

Current "survivors club" ladies who attended the party and

a few "post-survival" attending wives.

It's a given that at any gathering up to half of the group may be missing due to
husbands call schedules, so we did miss some of the group that night.

Thanks for coming back to see us Kelly, Ashli and Lisa!

Watch This

Good films are like healthy food, 

they can help us grow stronger and nourish our soul.

 My favorite films are documentaries and true stories.

THIS

is a fantastic one based on a true story.
I highly recommend it!

In the beginning you may think I was nuts for recommending it, 

but keep on watching it all the way through

AND THEN

watch the "special features," trust me just do!

Thanks Vic and Molly for telling us to watch this!

Grandma Ginger

We recently enjoyed a fun filled few days with Grandma Ginger!

The girls were over the moon excited to spend time with her.

Boy did they pack a lot of fun activities into their time together!

Their favorite experience was going to the pet store with Grandma two or was it three times?

Each visit spending lengthy periods of time in a special room playing with various dogs.

Aunt Kelty started this tradition during her visit here.

They also found this tiny little robot like bug, a Christmas gift Grandma brought with her,
to be quite amusing. 

If you look closely in the picture above you can see it in the middle of their legs.

(PS- Avery is sleeping with the bug under her pillow now, she thinks she is pulling a fast one over on Mom
but I am just letting her get away with her sneaky little fun)

What is a trip to our stomping grounds without a visit to good 'ole  

Graeters Ice Cream.

We drove across the city to go to the location which boasts an indoor playground

perfect for kiddos and grandma's too!

The older girls also enjoyed going to an indoor swimming pool with G.G.

and afterward they attended a trial Irish dance class!

Here are the girls showing off their new toe socks from Grandma.

We sure love you LOTS

and are so grateful for your visit here!

More about the trip HERE.

Announcing...

 The newest members of the family!

From youngest to oldest.

RYLER REID ANDERSON

Son of Mandi (Cody's sister) and Darren

 Born December 27 at 11:47 pm.

5 lbs 7.4 oz

18.5 inches long

 

Zaylee Marie Young 

Daughter of Stuart (Cody's brother) and Christie

Born on November 23rd, 2010

6lbs 13oz, 

20 inches long

LUCAS GORDON YOUNG

Son of Tim (Cody's brother) and Robyn 

October 2, 2010 at 5:53pm

7 lbs 11 oz

19 1/2 inches long

We welcome the little darlings with open arms and lots of love!

'Till be the LAST

'Till be the last

Christmas dinner at the Christensen's home.

Cory has a contract in hand which will relocate the family way out west to

sunny California. This makes me very sad, but happy for them that their

residency will be a thing of the past...

and just for the record, I am not at all jealous that they started 

after us and are finishing before us, not one bit!

We begin this tradition with the most delicious ham dinner accompanied by a

variety of scrumptious side dishes.

Shown above are about half the children there that night.

Then we move on to the games! As part of one of the games this year Angie (who has gagging tendencies) had to stuff as many jumbo marshmallows into her mouth as possible.

I think Brinley enjoyed this game the very most!

Cody and I endured a head stand contest in the middle of the dinning room. 

I won, only after kicking Cody down...and he was grateful the next day when he discovered that several blood vessels around his eyes had burst during the competition.

Spencer had to eat as many club crackers in one minute as he could. 

Side note: Aspen LOVES Spencer, the tickle man!

And Stuart ended off this game of fun challenges by singing a 

full Christmas song opera style.

Next up was the gift exchange game brought to you by Angie and the dollar spot at Target.

Amy's rad Santa slippers were stolen by Brinley and have now 

become a part of our family.

We were not up to the task of gathering the children together for a photo at the end 

of the night, but we did manage the parentals.

Amy thought it was simply 

brilliant to pick my nose and Angie's simultaneously during this picture. 

Cody snapped a few seconds too late and caught the after laughs.

We sure will miss the Christensens next Christmas!