Girlfriends Weekend in Vegas

Last weekend My friend Paula and I flew to Las Vegas for a high school/college friends weekend. We met up with Kathy Richey, Lisa Nielsen and Suzie Fitts. We all grew up in the Fresno fifth ward. This was such a fun and involved ward. We had so much fun talking about memories of growing up together.

This weekend was so fun! We stayed up late every night talking. laughing and catching up on everyones lives.

One of the sweetest parts of the trip was attending the Las Vegas Temple with these amazing women. It reminded me of Alma and the sons of Mosiah, to realize that we are all still sisters in the gospel.
This was our second time getting together. We met in Las Vegas five years ago. Last time we all brought fun little gifts for each other. This time was the same. Paula and I did bracelets and charms for everyone.
Lisa gave us cute aprons, Kathy some amazing face cream from her hubby the dermatologist, and Suzie gave us these cute Christmas Anna Lee dolls. It felt like christmas opening the gifts and seeing each other.
crazyEven though we are all getting older, we still were pretty crazy. When you hang with these gals, it is never dull and there is definitely a lot of laughing.

One of the days we shopped and went exploring at the Bellagio Hotel. These shots were take in the beautiful atrium garden room. We also had fun shopping and eating at some super yummy restaurants.

Pj and I

Lisa and I

One of the nights we went to the Cirque de sole performance Beatle-Love. It was so fun! The music brought back memories of ward and stake dances. The performance was so creative and enjoyable to watch. I would highly recommend it.


I didn't make it into this picture. We were all cracking up that we use readers. It is kind of a bummer to be getting old.
When Paula and I arrived home. We were greeted by her son-in-law Nate holding this sign. What a great way to end an amazing weekend. Now I need a rest from my vacation.

muffin update!

My friend just called and she made the muffin recipe and Yikes! I forgot two ingredients. There is 1 tsp of baking soda and 1 Cup of sugar. She made the recipe and they turned out like hard rocks. I am so sorry! I fixed the recipe below.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

One of our favorite family recipes is Pumpkin Chocolate chip muffins. I usually only make them in the fall. They are to die for! They are moist and super

yummy!

It's kind of like having a little pumpkin with your chocolate.

I bought these cute tins at Target in the dollar section and fixed and filled them up

to share with family and friends.

I thought I would share, because I thought it turned out pretty cute.

Below is the recipe.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Mix all dry ingredients together

1 2/3 C Flour

1 Cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp salt

1 tsp Baking soda

1/4 tsp Baking powder

Mix all wet ingredients

1 cube margarine melted

1 C pumpkin

2 eggs

I melt the margarine and then add the pumpkin and then the eggs. This helps to cool the margarine so that you don't cook the eggs.

Then I hand mix the wet and dry ingredients along with 1 1/2 C of Chocolate chips.

Use paper liners and fill. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes

I usually triple this recipe. a large can of pumpkin makes three recipes. These are so good and one batch is never enough!

ENJOY!

Third Times a charm!

This was my third marathon! I can hardly believe it.  Even though I did it I can't believe it.  Am I crazy?  Do I need to get my brain checked? A friend of mine asked me why I run.  I told her I like to run because it proves that I can do hard things.  If I can do this, I can do anything and I can endure many things.

Above is a picture of some of us waiting in line for the port-a-potties.  One of the joys of running a marathon is all the fun port-a-potties waiting for you all along the way.

This is me running the last mile of my 26.2 miles.  I was so happy to be done.  I was excited because I was able to run this marathon faster than the other two that I ran.  I finished in 4 hours and 30 minutes.  I enjoyed the training and the long runs more this time.  The other times I had a lot of worries.  This time I knew what I was getting into and I felt prepared for it.

These are my cute friends Tara, Talli, and Jen.  They are some of my  running buddies.  They were so sweet to put signs up for all of their friends.  I actually missed seeing my sign while I was running.  I appreciated knowing that I had friends and family cheering me on.

This is cute Reed coming in.  He was tripped at mile 2 and hurt his shoulder, but still came in with a time of 3 hours and 28 minutes.  He qualified for Boston with an injury.  What a man!

Jen, Reed and I with our MASH shirts on. We weren't able to get into the marathon with the lottery.  We donated to this charity and were able to run.  Jen said that this was the most expensive shirt in her closet.  Can you believe we paid to do this? 

At the end of the race they give you a finisher ribbon.  I am so happy and proud to say that I am a finisher.  Will I run again?  I will have to wait and see if my brain has another malfunction! 

How do you cook a roast?

   My cute daughter Amy, who has been married for a year called me today to ask me how to cook a roast.  I hung up the phone and it reminded me of all the calls I made to my mom when I was first married.  How to cook a roast was definitely one of those questions.  It is amazing how life comes full circle.  It is hard to believe that at one moment you are holding your first sweet baby in your arms and then in a blink of an eye she is married and asking you how to cook a roast.

  It made me realize how quickly life is moving and that I need to hang on and enjoy the ride.