A super SLO Thanksgiving!

It started with a Monterey Half Marathon for me!

It was sooo much fun.

It was beautiful running along the ocean, down Cannery Row, through old town Monterey.

They do an amazing job organizing this event.

I shaved 20 minutes off my time.

It was awesome.

Then we had a little Christmas at Hearst Castle.

Everything was so pretty!

We had LOTS of family beach fun!

With some of our extended family staying in Avila.

Tide pool fun with our cousins & our favorite Uncle! :)

Me & my sister Kari!

The big college Kidos!

A little bit of a challenge to cook a BIG Thanksgiving dinner in a little college apartment but it was fun!

My parents & my sister joined us!

Tables ready for our feast.

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving!

What was I thankful for the most........

that I was able to be with my kids, all of them! :)

Wordless Wednesday

6:30 am

5:55 am

Wordless Wednesday

Canning Party

Want to make a TON of homemade gifts for Christmas??

Have a canning party!

It's much more fun to share the work with some of your friends.

We made a gigantic mess, made a TON of stuff, & had a blast!

Ready to chop onions & jalapenos for BBQ sauce!

In the midst of the mess!


A whole lot of apple cutting for pie filling.

Amber got cold. :)

Sunny maning the canning!

We canned 60 jars of homemade BBQ sauce & 55 jars of apple pie filling!

Sunday

Morning

I love watching the sunrise.

Noon

Ugh. 8 painful miles.

Night
Breakfast is ready for a busy Monday morning.

Happy Monday!

Apple Cinnamon Bread

On one of my loooong runs the other day my running buddy starting talking about apple cinnamon bread. Of course, we were starving at that point. I had never had apple cinnamon bread before but it sounded amazing. She went into great detail explaining it to me......torture.....but I thought "hey, I can totally duplicate that."

So here's my attempt.

It is everything I imagined it would be.

Delicious!

I started out by making a basic sweet dough in my bread maker.

Here's my recipe:

3/8 cup milk, 3/8 cup (warm) water, 1 egg, 2 cups white flour, 1 cup wheat flour, 1 tsp. salt, 4 tbls. butter, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 1/2 tsp. yeast.

Make sure all your ingredients are room temperature & set your breadmaker to "dough."

While your dough is going, make the filling.

I peeled & chopped 3 medium sized apples.

Melt 6 tbls. butter in a skillet & add apples.

Sprinkle with 2 tbls. sugar & 1 tsp. cinnamon.

Saute on low until apples are tender.

When your dough is finished roll into a rectangle on a floured surface.

Yes.....that's a rectangle!

Ahem.....clearly you don't have to be perfect at this recipe.

Spread your apple filling over the dough rectangle. Don't get too close to the edge so that you can pinch your seams.

Next, sprinkle with an additional 2 tbls. of sugar & 1 tsp. of cinnamon.

Roll the rectangle into a log & pinch your seams closed.

Mine wouldn't stay closed.

Not to worry, it still turned out.

Again, perfection is not required.

Place log into a well greased bread pan.

Cover & let rise in a warm oven for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven & preheat to 350 degrees.

When your oven is ready bake for 30 - 35 minutes.

It smells so good when it's baking.

Let cool for about 15 minutes in the pan & then remove to a cooling rack.

Slice & EAT!

It's delicious at 6 am with a hot cup of coffee sitting in front of the woodstove. :)

I bet it would also make some seriously yummy french toast.

Thanks Jean for the inspiration!

I am sharing @

Choosing Peace

Most days I dread my email inbox.

Bills, ads, junk.

One day last week a blog post popped in from a blog I regularly follow.

The title caught my eye.

Peace......we all need more of it.

We all strive for it.

This blog post spoke to the very core of my being.

It is beautifully written & so very true.

Please, take a moment & read this very short but very powerful post.

What Choosing Peace Does Not Mean by Steady Mom

Pumpkins

Did October FLY by for anyone else or was it just me????

Wow!

Where did the month go?

We did find the time to introduce Tobi to American pumpkin carving.

It was such a beautiful fall day!

We sat on the front porch & made a HUGE mess.
Lucky for us, our chickens LOVE pumpkins & they cleaned it up for us!

We ended up with some double sided jack o' lanterns.

Some of the chickens "carved" the back side of our pumpkins.

Wordless Wednesday

Recharging

My brain.

That's what I have been up too.

It feels good.

These past few months I have been taking a break from:

My blog

My business (the being gone every weekend at shows part)

The feeling of being overwhelmed right before the holidays

I have been focusing on:

Adjusting to my 2 oldest being gone in SLO.

Having a foreign exchange student from Germany.

Running my next half marathon.

Helping others with the 28 day detox.

Getting outdoors as much as possible (hiking, backpacking, running, farming).

Spending time with my youngest 2.

I have to say, it's been nice.

It's giving my brain & my body exactly what it needs right now.

I feel so ready to tackle all that lies ahead.

Reorganizing & getting my business back on track.

Continuing to spend as much time outdoors as possible.

Running more marathons. (I am an addict)

Continuing my healthy eating habits & sharing with others.

Spending more time investing in people; my farmgirls, my family, my friends, & even total strangers.

And this might sound silly but......working hard to cross things off my "bucket list."

& I will try to blog more.

It's just been hard. Sometimes I feel like blogging is putting myself on display. At times I am ok with that & other times not so much.

I will try.

I promise.