Voting Time

Caleb and I got out and voted today. The lines have been horrendous from mid-morning on, so we went bright and early this morning and got in and out really quick. Unfortunately for this election, I felt I was voting for the lesser of two evils. It doesn't look too promising for McCain, however.

Murder Mystery

Matt and I were so excited to participate in a Murder Mystery Party. I have heard about these but have never been invited or seen the game at the store to purchase. Matt played a priest named Father O'Malley, and I was a woman named Mary Walsh, the newest girlfriend of the guy who died. It was such a fun night! Our friends Tahlia and Jeff hosted and did a fabulous job with all the food!!! It was a fun date night.

Brag Moment

I just have to take a moment to share what an amazing run I had this morning. So I've been working up to running 5 miles for the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving day. Monday - Friday I run with Ariane and my good friend Tahlia, and because there is always so much to talk about, we do some walking so we can talk easier. We do a 4 mile stretch and probably run 3 miles of it. Saturdays I go alone though in my neighborhood and really concentrate on pushing myself not only to run the whole time but I also push myself in distance as well. My neighborhood doesn't have nice running trails so I have to run the same 1/2 mile loop over and over again, which is why I drive over to my sister's neighborhood everyday. Today I set out to run 4 miles, but after I finished, I still felt really good and Caleb was doing really well, so I decided to keep running until either Caleb or I got too tired/bored. I started picking up the pace after that and still had energy to sprint the last 1/4 mile to round out the most I have ever run in my entire life: 5 1/2 miles. The amazing thing was that I felt incredible after I finished. I guess the endorphins gave me this high so that I didn't want to stop. I probably could have continued to run, but I have to admit I was a bit bored doing the same loop over and over again 11 times and there was stuff to do at home. I had been out about an hour (I didn't time myself because I wasn't working on speed today), and Saturdays are always a busy chore day.

I had to write this down though because this is the best I have ever felt in my life: I weigh the least I have ever weighed in like the last 7 years and I feel like I am in the best shape I have ever been in before. This may never happen again! I have officially lost 22 pounds since my sophomore year in college (which is the most I ever weighed in my life...no dating life and wasn't super close to my roommates until the end of the year). People keep asking what sort of diet I'm on etc., and my answer is always nursing. I only set out to lose 10 pounds after my sophomore year in college and met that goal by the time I got married. I have lost the additional 12 pounds solely due to nursing. I have to admit that this last year has been one of the most enjoyable of my life because I could eat pretty much whatever I wanted (I was exercising too), and still lost weight. Those that know me understand how much I love food (sometimes I have trouble with the moderation part), so I have been totally living it up this past year. Now that nursing is over, my goal is to maintain where I am because I feel so good with where I'm at physically. Doing a 1/2 marathon has recently become a goal of mine ever since one of my college roommates just did one. I'm going to hopefully start working my running up to that. We'll see :o).

All Things Pumpkin

It's difficult for me to pick a favorite season, but I have to admit, Fall is at the top of the list solely because I love pumpkin treats. Growing up I did not like pumpkin pie, but now I am a big fan of all things pumpkin. I hosted a book club a few weeks ago and served pumpkin cobbler for dessert. Several people asked for the recipe, so I thought I would include a couple of my favorite pumpkin recipes here. This pumpkin cobbler recipe is probably my MOST favorite dessert ever, so definitely try it out!

Pumpkin Cobbler

1. Set aside 1 C of a yellow cake mix.
2. Mix the remainder of the yellow cake mix with 1 egg and 1/2 C butter.
3. Press into a 9 x 13 baking dish.
4. Mix a 30 oz. can of Pumpkin Pie mix with 2 eggs and 2/3 C canned milk.
5. Pour over crust.
6. Mix 1 C yellow cake mix with 1/4 C butter and 1 t cinnamon.
7. Sprinkle on top of dessert.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Hints: Make sure that you use a can of Pumpkin Pie mix rather than a can of Pumpkin. My sister made this mistake before and it tasted awful. Also, my experience has been that you can't sprinkle the topping onto the dessert. Instead I have had to press into a thin layer in my hands (with flour because it's sticky!) and lay it on top of the pumpkin part. It might depend on what type of margarine you use. I serve it with light whipped topping, but vanilla ice cream would be yummy as well.


Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 C butter, 1 1/2 C sugar, 1 C pumpkin, 1 egg, 1 t vanilla, 2 1/2 C flour, 1 t baking soda, 1 t baking powder, 1 t cinnamon, 1/2 t nutmeg, 1 C chocolate chips.

Cream sugar and butter. Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla. Add all dry ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes.

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:

1 C pumpkin, 2 eggs, 1/2 C vegetable oil, 1/3 C water, 1 1/2 C sugar, 1/2 C evaporated milk, 1 3/4 C flour, 1 t baking soda, 3/4 t salt, 1 t cinnamon, 1/2 t nutmeg, 1/8 t ginger.

Mix pumpkin, egg, oil, water, sugar, & milk. Add all dry ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour.

I believe it makes one loaf of bread. I sometimes will add 1/2 C chocolate chips too.

Enjoy! If anyone has any yummy pumpkin recipes, send them my way. My friend just made a pumpkin cheesecake to die for. I can't wait to get my hands on that recipe!

Tagged

I've never been tagged before, so I'm excited. Here are the rules: I have to answer the following questions with one word answers and one word only! Then I must pass it on to six others. The questions are as follows:

1. Where is your cell phone? Kitchen
2. Where is your significant other? Work
3. Your hair color? Blonde
4. Your mother? Charitable
5. Your father? Stalwart
6. Your favorite thing? Reading
7. Your dream last night? Random
8. Your dream/goal? Righteousness
9. The room you're in? Study
10. Your hobby? Sports
11. Your fear? Death
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Here
13. Where were you last night? Temple
14. What you're not? Charitable
15. One of your wish-list items? Clothes
16. Where you grew up? Houston
17. The last thing you ate? Applesauce
18. What are you wearing? Casual
19. Your TV? Cheap
20. Your pet? Someday
21. Your computer? hand-built
22. Your mood? Relaxed
23. Missing someone? Habitually
24. Your car? Van
25. Something you're not wearing? Make-up
26. Favorite store? Kohls
27. Your summer? Busy
28. Love someone? Permanently
29. Your favorite color? Green
30. When is the last time you laughed? Yesterday
31. Last time you cried? September

I award the following 6 people with the "I love your blog award" and in so doing tag them to complete the above questions (if you want to!)

Ali
Angela H.
Ariane
Eva
Kari
Laura

Race for the Cure

We partcipated in Race for the Cure on Saturday, October 4th with our good friends Tahlia and Jeff Butler. We thought the Sprint for Life race that we ran about 6 months ago was big, but there were 30,000 people who showed up for this race. It shows all the support for breast cancer. It was neat to see the survivors participating in the race, who were wearing pink shirts. They divided the race into three categories: competitive runners, non-competitive runners, and walkers. We ran in the second category. I thought the last race was difficult to weave around people, but this race was twice as hard. There were people everywhere, and I wasn't even pushing the stroller! I felt like I was booking it the whole way and my side ached pretty bad when I was done, but I sprinted the last stretch and felt so good about my run until I saw my time. I set a goal to run under 27 minutes (it's a 5K...a little over 3 miles) and my finished time was 29:30. I guess all the weaving I had to do around people took more time than I thought! I'm running in The Woodlands' Turkey Trot in November which is a 5 mile run, so now I've got to work up to running 5+ miles every day in order to prepare. It's fun to run in an organized race to mix things up a bit.

Picture Updates

Caleb loves to help us vacuum. It makes the whole process 3 or 4 times longer, however, which we usually don't mind because it's so cute. One day we were in a hurry, so Matt put Caleb on top of the vacuum and gave him a ride while he vacuumed. It was a little bit faster than him helping us.
Caleb wearing a tie for the first time to church.
Caleb's first really bad owwie. He did a face-plant on the driveway when chasing a ball and skinned his nose.
Our new rug with our new couches. We're so excited to paint!
My latest haircut since I had a request for a picture. This is a month's worth of growth, so it was shorter, but my hair still doesn't all fit in a ponytail. It's still my normal style. I was ready to go bold, however, so I actually paid to go get my haircut this last time (as opposed to having my mom do it because it's free and she does a great job). I took this picture of Tea Leoni with me because I LOVE her hair in The Family Man. The hairdresser I went to, who was recommended by a friend who just got an amazing haircut, was having bad morning sickness that day. So I didn't pipe up about wanting it shorter, or that I didn't feel it had the same effect as Tea Leoni's in the picture. I just felt too bad because then it would have taken longer. Bottom line, I'm going to stick to my mom from now on!